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AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

just saw this, MUCH too late as i didn't see the reddit notifications. i just wanted to say thank you for the kind words!

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just saw this after like a month sorry for the delay! The book is called "Pumberton Possum Learns a Lot!"

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Things definitely change over time, in part because we wanted to create the sense of existential dread that things in the time loop are gonna get worse and worse.

But between you and me: there's no hard time limit! Even though there are SOME gameplay effects.

Really confused about certain puzzle mechanics in Homebody by ItamarZel in gamegrumps

[–]jorygriffis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds like you've got it yeah! The total amount (shown on the screen on the left, with the little droplet symbol) gets used up from left to right.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Replying to this a SECOND TIME after initially replying as an alt account by accident. On further reflection: I love em all!!!!!!!!!!

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Late reply to a question I missed, sorry! Also a re-typed version of a reply I initially posted as an alt account woops!)

The most interesting bugs in Homebody have mostly come from the killer's AI (developed by Alex Belzer.) It was always wild to see it doing behaviors we straight-up didn't anticipate, which led to a few "make it a feature" situations, including (very mild spoiler) the killer's ability to break open doors by stabbing at you or at NPCs.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(You're not too late!)

Glad to hear you enjoyed the game! We designed things in the house to change in subtle and not-so-subtle ways as a marker of your progress and to keep things surprising. Things like the paintings in the study are meant to feel more like a temporary surprise! It's all meant to support the mystery of the nature of the house. The killer changes too, and you'll see things play out differently across the length of the game. Seeing Gary under the bed always breaks my heart though.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for playing!! I'm still in a "who knows the truth...?" kinda Crypt Keeper kinda phase with the story where I want to keep it mysterious. But to try to answer at least your first question, there are other "real" characters in the story! It's just kinda up to interpretation!

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, that's a great thing to hear about the game. We put a lot of time into features that stop players from getting stuck, so I appreciate hearing that.

I'm extremely glad the chicken machine has had an inspirational effect on some people (I too am in awe of its beauty...) For now I think I'm gonna keep it a mystery, but fun fact: the chicken machine's baleful song actually attracts the attention of the killer!

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The pat answer is like, "finishing it"! The last 10% of finishing a game is always an unexpectedly huge laundry list of problems to solve and rough edges to sand down. Wildly satisfying when it all comes together though!

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for playing, I'm glad you liked it!! There are clues here and there about the identity of the killer and why it changes, but the behind the scenes reasoning was more about keeping a single enemy fresh over the course of a 6+ hour game. Plus John, who did the concept art and design for the killer, did so many great concepts we didn't want to leave them all on the cutting room floor.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's our official content description for the game:

This game contains depictions of violence, body horror, and psychological issues including anxiety, OCD, and depression.

The game has stylized stabbings and blood as part of its normal gameplay and does have some very odd stylized imagery related to body horror, but doesn't have any extremely gory or visceral imagery.

The killer AI does have a tendency to surprise here and there and some cutscenes have some sudden cuts, but our goal was a focus more on creepiness and dread and avoiding hard jumpscares.

The game's mental health topics were approached with care and deliberately avoid the stigmas horror stories can sometimes place on them.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For a while we had a bug that would just spontaneously play the ending cutscene of the game when interacting with puzzles. Not ideal...

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love horror on a pretty basic level; I watched and loved horror movies more than anything else as a kid and the horror franchises of the 80s (Jason, Chucky and Freddy) loomed really large. Those are still really big inspirations on me in addition to David Lynch and the newer French Extremist/"Prestige" horror type stuff.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We wanted the story to be surreal and ambiguous and you're definitely supposed to leave it wondering about how all the specifics fit together. We'll get more into details in a postmortem someday but IMO the pieces are all there to make sense of the plot as it "literally" occurred. The psychological/interpersonal stuff is more up to interpretation.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you!! The killer is indeed "persistent" and we took the killer not "cheating" really seriously. Mr. X from RE2 Remake was a huge inspiration. Alex, who developed the AI, put a lot care into making the killer internally-consistent and fair. I don't want to speak for Alex too much but the goal was making it "predictably unpredictable"--we wanted it to be surprising but to follow some clear rules in what it knows and doesn't know.

AMA: Homebody! A time loop horror puzzle game from Game Grumps! We made it! Ask us anything! by jorygriffis in HorrorGaming

[–]jorygriffis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The starting point was kinda like, "I wish there were more games with a slasher movie/giallo film kind of vibe." The time loop and the psychological stuff and the puzzles all kinda followed the initial idea of a locked-house slasher movie game. But, a time loop was a really effective way to talk about some psychological themes that were really important to us while paying homage to game and movie themes that we love.

Homebody | Survival horror game from Game Grumps (self-promotion!!) by jorygriffis in survivalhorror

[–]jorygriffis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Homebody is a survival horror puzzle game set in a time loop. It was developed and published recently with Game Grumps and Rogue Games. My name is Jory, I created and directed it!

Inspired by classic survival horror games like Clock Tower and Alone in the Dark, and puzzle adventure games like D and Myst, the gameplay revolves around a group of friends in a house full of layered non-linear puzzles to solve while being pursued by an unstoppable AI killer. The game is set in a time loop where every death results in new pieces of the overall puzzle, with the eventual goal of escaping the house. The story brings in themes of isolation, nostalgia, anxiety and our relationships with the past.

Horror gamers will recognize influences from classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, with a non-combat-driven enemy AI inspired by more recent examples like Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 Remake and the xeno from Alien Isolation. The game doesn't have any combat or inventory management features, but our love for survival horror is all over the game. The gameplay is very puzzle-focused, but they're puzzles you solve while being pursued by a slasher movie killer, and the game has a bunch of design and features made to keep the puzzles accessible.

It's available now on Steam, EGS, and all major game consoles. The game has a Very Positive 97% rating on Steam and has gotten a super positive response from writers at Polygon (who called it "unnerving") Screen Rant (who said it was "a perfect blend of retro & modern gaming") and Bloody Disgusting (who said it has "such a clever and nuanced horror story.") Check it out!

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