The Prairie House
A student finishes their prairie field work but has to spend the night alone at an old house. Follow the story from dark evening to mysterious morning and get all the achievements to think up your best theory about what happened.
This game is a classic parser style text adventure. Type one, two, or more word commands (usually two words) and press Enter.
Here is a list of some basic commands:
- Travel: North (N), South (S), East (E), West (W), Up (U), Down (D), Enter, Exit
- Actions: "take bin", "pick flower", "drive", "read", "look under rug"...
- Examine (X) all objects! (e.g. "x table")
- Other useful commands: "I" (inventory), "R" (clear/refresh the screen), "quit" to restart, "SaveF" / "LoadF" to save and load the game, and "choose theme" to change the theme (font and palette)! You can also "check achievements" to take stock of your progress so far.
If you need more help, an external map and solution guide can be downloaded along with the game. You can also type "hint" in-game to see what to do next at any moment.
This game was created within about a month - March 2022 - for the Spring Thing 2022 Jam and a local Winnipeg Slow Jam March 2022. My initial motivation was to make a pixel art horror game with switchable palettes - inspired by World of Horror by panstasz and The Horror of Salazar House by Ignacio Maldonado (Maldo19, through Torture Star Video). Local artist and musician Kelsen Hadder (Hadd_) was the perfect partner to make the music and art for this game a reality.
At first I wasn't sure what the story would be, but then I drew inspiration from past scientific field work on the tall grass prairie in Manitoba, and some creepy experiences staying at field houses (especially a night of "is there someone in that locked room?"). I supplemented my knowledge of the local flora with historical research about Ukrainian Canadians who live in the area and the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe presence on the land prior to settlement.
Finally I steeped myself in folk horror film theory and classic English ghost stories. At the time of making this game, I had an obsession with the beautiful open mystery of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) (especially the alternate ending) and an earlier viewing of the Canadian horror Deathdream (1974) (again, especially the emotional alternate ending).
Hopefully I was able to convey at least some of my enthusiasm for all of the above into this game!
Written by : Chris Hay aka Eldritch Renaissance Cake
Art and Music by : Kelsen Hadder (@kelsenhadder / Hadd_)
Additional Art: Chris Hay later created the fox/dog, hallway, stool, and window graphics.
Engine : Adventuron Version 1.0.0 Beta 82 by Chris Ainsley
Fonts :
Most are by DamienG - homestead (Prairie theme), byteletter (Gothic theme), zx times (Canada theme), zx sierra quest (90s theme), panda (Nature theme), cushion (Sunrise theme); November font by Brandon Schoepf of Tepid Monkey Fonts (Spoohouse theme); 7:12 serif italic font by Christian Munk, used under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (Old Mug theme).)
Palettes :
Mostly by Chris Hay / Eldritch Renaissance Cake (Prairie, Gothic, Canada, Nature, Old Mug); 90s was modified and built on from panstasz' World of Horror palette "Neon Slasher"; Sunrise is by SoundsDotZip (modified slightly); Spoohouse is by Hadd_ (he modified this one from his original Spoohouse); Old Mug was inspired from "Ancient Scroll" by Dr_Succubus on lospec.
Thanks to playtesters: Garry Francis, Christopher Merriner, Sony Duong, Scott Miller, Neal Pineda, Annie Wiebe, Cooper, and MrClockWorks (from YouTube). Finally, special thanks to the members of the Adventuron Discord community for answering to my coding questions and providing moral support!
Support the artist and composer : buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp or stream it on Spotify.
Support the writer/ additional artist - buy an album from Chris' Bandcamp.
This game features Ukrainian-Canadian history. If you are able, consider making a donation to support Ukraine in this dark time. For example, the Canada-Ukraine Foundation is a reputable charity collecting funds for humanitarian aid.
Download
Install instructions
For the downloadable version, unzip the folder and read the ReadMe for instructions. The Map, Solution, and Reviews are also included in the zip file.
Development log
- v2.2.0 Re-releaseFeb 20, 2024
- v1.2.0 Bonus GraphicsApr 20, 2022
- v1.1.0 Post JamApr 06, 2022
Comments
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okay am loving the game so far, but for some reason I can't figure out how to go upstairs. like I'm trying really hard but everytime I type "go upstairs" it says I have to go a direction like south or north and stuff and I don't know what to do pls help
oh wait nvrmind I was just stupid you just gotta type up I think
Sorry, I don't check the comments too often. That's right - UP and DOWN for vertical directions. I'm glad you figured it out. In the last updates I tried to edit anything that might get players stuck, but it's hard to account for everything. Thanks for playing =)
What a fantastic little game. You do spooky atmosphere so well and I can't wait for your next one.
This was just a perfect little game. Great length, excellent in terms of narrative and mechanics. Never obtuse, but never too hand-holdy. Wonderfully atmospheric. Great job to the both of you.
This was awesome. The horror was subtle and slight - I got a real chill when I saw the dusty soil in the bed. I liked that the mystery wasn't solved difinitively - that really helped the horror factor.
My score was 9/10. I especially liked the photograph of the grandma with a basket of mushrooms ;)
The music and art were top tier and matched the writing really well.
I loved this game! It was short, but full of interesting history and lore. I felt extremely compelled to keep playing and get that much-needed refreshing in-game-sleep. I liked how there were a lot of fun and interesting achievements available that weren't needed to reach the ultimate goal, so I could choose whether I wanted to spend my time on them or not. Great job adding an eerie vibe to the game. The music and images went well with the story.