Game Concept

Working Title:

Detention of the accursed 

Concept Statement: On your first day at a new school, you're sent to detention  but when the lights flicker and you step out, the world has twisted into something dark and supernatural. Trapped in a surreal version of the school, you must explore, solve puzzles, and uncover a disturbing truth that shifts with every step you take. What lies beneath the surface of this school and will you make it out before it claims you?

Genre: Psychological Horror, Puzzle, Exploration The game blends psychological horror with exploration to create a surreal and unsettling school environment. The horror doesn’t rely on jump scares, but instead builds tension through strange characters, eerie environments, and an overwhelming feeling of isolation. The puzzle elements come from the player needing to navigate locked classrooms, hidden passages, and memory-based challenges.  This genre mix supports a mysterious and immersive experience that keeps players engaged and curious throughout.

Psychological Horror

This is the primary genre of Detention of the Accursed. Rather than relying on cheap jump scares, the game builds tension through eerie environments, strange characters, unsettling sounds, and the constant feeling that something is deeply wrong. The horror is psychological in nature — meant to disturb and unnerve players on a deeper level.

• The school setting transforms into a surreal, corrupted version of itself.

• Visual distortions, flickering lights, and unnatural color palettes are used to create discomfort.

• Characters speak in cryptic dialogue or exhibit strange behaviors, adding to the unsettling atmosphere.

• Themes of fear, memory, and reality distortion are central to the experience.

Puzzle

Puzzle solving is a core part of gameplay progression. Players will need to think critically and piece together environmental clues to advance through the game.

• Puzzles are built into the world — such as unlocking doors, accessing secret areas, or solving logic-based or memory-based challenges.

• Puzzle complexity increases as players move deeper into the twisted version of the school, reflecting their mental journey.

Exploration

The game encourages players to explore at their own pace and uncover story elements by interacting with the environment and its characters.

• The player navigates a top-down world, moving room to room in search of clues.

• The world is semi-open, encouraging players to backtrack with new items or knowledge to unlock hidden content.

• Exploration affects the game’s outcome, leading to multiple possible endings based on what the player uncovers or chooses to ignore.

Why These Genre

Combining psychological horror with puzzles and exploration creates a uniquely immersive experience. Players are not just reacting to the world they’re actively investigating it, piecing together a mystery that feels personal and threatening. Each genre reinforces the others:

• The horror gives weight and tension to the environment.

• The puzzles give purpose to exploration and add challenge.

• The exploration ensures the world feels alive, with secrets waiting to be uncovered.

Audience

This game is aimed at players aged 15+.  Particularly those who enjoy dark, mysterious atmospheres and quirky characters. Fans of games like Yuppie Psycho, Omori, Little Misfortune, and Kraken Academy!! Will feel right at home. It’s also designed to appeal to people who enjoy urban fantasy settings, school-based stories, and interactive mysteries.

Player Interests:

• Narrative-rich games with deep lore and hidden meaning
• Exploration and puzzle-solving in surreal or mysterious settings
• A mix of quirky humor and unsettling horror
• Games with emotional resonance, choice-based outcomes, and distinct visual identities

Why This Game Appeals to Them:

Interactive Exploration – Players who enjoy uncovering secrets, piecing together stories through scattered notes or cryptic dialogue, and unlocking hidden rooms will find the gameplay deeply rewarding.

Relatable Yet Surreal Setting – The school backdrop is familiar, but warped. This combination of everyday teenage life and dark fantasy resonates with younger players and those who enjoy coming-of-age stories with a twist (like Detentionaire or Kraken Academy!!).

Concept Process & Influences 

Detention of the Accursed grew out of my love for psychological horror games and the strange, sometimes surreal experiences people have in school. I’ve always found it fascinating how something as familiar as a school can be turned into a place of terror, where the everyday becomes twisted. The idea of exploring a corrupted version of a school, where reality shifts and things feel just a little off, felt like the perfect setting to create a disturbing, immersive experience.

[1]

Yuppie Psycho - Detention of the Accursed grew out of my love for psychological horror games and the strange, sometimes surreal experiences people have in school. I’ve always found it fascinating how something as familiar as a school can be turned into a place of terror, where the everyday becomes twisted. The idea of exploring a corrupted version of a school, where reality shifts and things feel just a little off, felt like the perfect setting to create a disturbing, immersive experience.

[2]

Kraken Academy!! – This game’s eccentric characters and bizarre school setting gave me a lot of ideas for making the school itself feel like a character. The way Kraken Academy!! blends surrealism with humor helped me develop a world that’s not just creepy, but also full of oddities and weird interactions that make the player feel disoriented and curious.

[3]

Detentionaire – The focus on conspiracies, secret passageways, and hidden layers in Detentionaire really shaped the idea of a school with deeper, darker secrets. unsettling atmosphere in the game made me want to create a world where things don’t just look wrong, but the very structure of the school itself feels like it’s hiding something. That mystery and intrigue is at the heart of the game’s narrative.

The game’s horror is slow and creeping, letting the tension build up gradually rather than relying on cheap jump scares. I wanted the player to feel uncomfortable with every corner they turn. Flickering lights, strange sounds, and unnatural colors all add to the growing sense that something isn’t quite right. As the player moves through the school, these elements get more intense, creating a world that feels like it’s unraveling around them. The slow burn of the atmosphere, paired with odd, cryptic characters and environmental clues, pulls the player deeper into the mystery.

Competition and Similar Games:

The primary competitors for Detention of the Accursed include psychological horror and exploration-based games such as Yuppie Psycho and Omori, as well as more mainstream title like Little Misfortune. These games share similar elements, such as eerie atmospheres, unsettling environments, and the absence of combat.

Yuppie Psycho – Both games feature pixel art and psychological horror, with a focus on surreal environments. However, Yuppie Psycho has a more corporate setting, while Detention of the Accursed takes place in a high school with a unique Australian cultural backdrop.

Omori – Both games use pixel art and focus on deep narrative-driven experiences with psychological horror. However, Omori incorporates RPG elements, whereas Detention of the Accursed emphasizes exploration, memory-based puzzles, and unsettling atmosphere without combat.

Little Misfortune – Like Detention of the Accursed, this game has a dark atmosphere and narrative focus, but Little Misfortune leans into dark humor, whereas Detention of the Accursed keeps a more serious, sinister tone with deeper psychological horror.

Gameplay

The game is a 2D top-down exploration and puzzle game. Players move from room to room, interacting with strange characters, solving environmental puzzles, and unlocking new areas as the story unfolds. Each school zone is themed and presents different mechanical or narrative challenges.

• Solving environmental puzzles
• Talking to strange or unsettling NPCs(dialog system)
• Finding keys, clues, and strange notes
• Navigating secret halls and hidden areas
• Piecing together the school’s dark history

NPCs

• The Janitor: A cryptic guide who seems to know more than he says. Sweeps up "memories" instead of trash.
• The Portrait in the Principal’s Office: Talks when no one else is around. Its expression changes based on your actions.
• Other Students – Lost souls trapped like you. Some help, some hinder. Their dialogue often changes between visits.
• Some teachers -

These characters exist in a liminal space between your memory and something more supernatural. Their dialogue often shifts mid-sentence, revealing fractured truths.

School Environment & Zones

Canteen:  Greasy, rotted food leaks from the benches. Walls are covered in hand-written menus that rewrite themselves. A bell rings constantly, but no one serves.

The Oval:  Grass becomes ash. The boundary lines pulse like veins. Empty uniforms stand motionless, as if still playing a game. Goalposts bend into crosses.

Gym: The echo never stops. Basketballs thud on their own. Climbing ropes stretch down from the dark ceiling like vines. A distorted school cheer plays in reverse.

Assembly  hall: A hundred identical chairs face a stage where no one stands.

Toilets and Locker Hall: all the lockers have the same number on it 101, the toilets are leaking a werid liquid .

Library: The librarian’s chair rocks gently, but no one sits. the shelfs reach to the roof .

Science Labs: Test tubes boil with ink-black chemicals. Skeleton models rearrange themselves when your back is turned.  Charts on the wall depict things that were never taught. A frog dissection tray pulses faintly, as if breathing.

Drama Room(optional): The curtains are alive. Stage props shift on their own. A script lies open, but the lines are all wrong. A spotlight follows you even when you stand still.

Player Abilities:

Basic Movement

player dash

Interact 

Inventory Access

Reality Shifting(most likly wont be in game)

No Combat: Enemies are avoided, outsmarted, or understood — not fought. This keeps the focus on exploration, puzzle-solving, and psychological tension.

Enemys:

The Hall Monitor -  Patrols with randomized paths, making it hard to predict. Must hide or reroute to avoid.

Drama Queen - only be found in the Drama Room must have the spot light on them if they dont they go into a rage

Principal -  Stays in the Principal’s Office, but sometimes flickers in and out of sight in hallways.

Core Gameplay

The game combines top-down exploration with puzzle-solving in a heavily atmospheric environment. The player progresses by:

• Exploring strange and shifting school environments

• Interacting with eerie and often cryptic characters

• Solving memory-based and environmental puzzles

• Discovering notes, keys, and hidden passages

• Making narrative decisions that affect the ending

Each area of the school introduces a new mechanic or story element, building a layered experience full of discovery and unease.

Art Style

The art style is heavily inspired by Yuppie Psycho's distinctive look: a retro pixel-art aesthetic with a high level of environmental detail, strong use of colour contrast, and expressive character animations. 

Environment Style

[4]

this is the style i would like for the school before going to the other version of the school.

Normal school: Clean, sterile whites and pale tones dominate. Classrooms feel safe and mundane, with soft lighting and consistent structure. Blues and beiges suggest routine and order.

Twisted school:As the world shifts, the palette darkens and fragments. Expect deep purples, acidic greens, harsh reds, and flickering overlays. These colors are used not just for mood, but to guide attention and signal danger or mystery. Occasional visual “glitches” and distortion effects emphasize the psychological breakdown of reality.

Player- [5]

[6]

i will try to have the art style be simpler to the yuppie Psycho one

[1]{Yuppie Psycho: Executive Edition on Steam. (2019). Steampowered.com. https://store.steampowered.com/app/597760/Yuppie_Psycho_Executive_Edition/}

[2]{Kraken Academy!! on Steam. (2021). Steampowered.com. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158220/Kraken_Academy/}

[3]{Johnston, C., & Franklin, D. B. (2011, September 12). Detentionaire. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2130507/}

[4]{Kraken Academy!! on Steam. (2021). Steampowered.com. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158220/Kraken_Academy/}

 [5] this art was done by me 

[6]{joie. (2020, July 27). Yuppie Psycho Style Zelda Sprites. Zelda | Aminoapps.com; AminoApps. https://aminoapps.com/c/zelda/page/blog/yuppie-psycho-style-zelda-sprites/L2wF_8...}