be back soon-ish, for now have the 90's nostalgia

(sorry for the white background flashbang)

Play my other games here

email me here for info

twitter link is here

There's a Gun in the Office

Imagine being trapped, kidnapped, and racing against the clock to escape. Locked in a room with nothing to protect you or even eat. You’re faced with a terrifying challenge: your captors return every day, so every action you take must be perfectly discreet. Each time you leave your room, you must leave everything exactly as you found it - or risk everything.

You have five days - Monday through Friday - to uncover your escape route. If you fail, you won’t survive. Every decision counts. Can you outsmart your captors and escape in time, or will you be trapped forever? Time is ticking.

I'm a solo developer currently also working full time in the gaming industry as a designer. Previously I worked as a Lead Programmer on World War 3, my current day work is still under NDA.

I've been struggling with depression and anxiety for the better part of the last 10 years and I wanted to make a game that showed how I felt and I think it worked. The game is very stressful and not really "fun" in a traditional sense.

Wishlist on Steam

lightweight presskit
4K trailer mp4

TGO Changelog

5.1.2025

• Bugfixes
  • Fixed day 6 objectives not letting the player go to sleep
  • Fixed UI issue that showed the name of the last interactable hovered when placing an item
  • Fixed capture room drawer taking players with it
  • Fixed the shower door collision
  • Fixed the gun that drops on the floor so it doesn't collide with the player and doesn't float
  • Fixed the gun crosshair staying after the gun is dropped
  • Fixed switches not showing up on the minimap
  • Fixed one of the endings not working
  • Fixed some objective wording
  • Fixed cat list not updating at the start of each day
  • Fixed living room door code showing when using the override panel
  • Fixed snoring persisting through the credits
• Gameplay
  • Added the minimap to the corridor wall blueprint so players can track their mistakes easier
  • Changed the phone ring to trigger when the player enters the kitchen, shortened it as well
  • Changed the UI blur when using the bed to fade out
  • Added custom voices to some objectives
  • Added a heading for the minimap so it's clearer what it represents
  • Changed how the bathroom security panel looks, so it's more realistic
  • Added a 0.1 second requirement to look-ats, so they don't trigger on quick mouse movements
  • Loggia door is now ignored in scoring and on the minimap
• Audio
  • Lowered the intensity of the jumpscare sound

  3.1.2025

Bugfixes

• Fixed restart button not working

Gameplay

• Added working settings for Resolution, Screen Mode and Frame Limiting
• Replaced the old settings menu

1.1.2025

Gameplay

• Replaced text mistakes list with a visual minimap
• Added a cat collectible tracking notebook to the capture room drawer

Bugfixes

• Fixed the gun not triggering the end-game
• Moved the kitchen cat to a more visible spot
• Reversed the utility closet doors
• Reversed the capture room doors
• Fixed objective wording
  • First night had no heading for one of the objectives
  • Fixed Thursday's time discrepancy (4:45 -> 5:45)
  • Fixed missing header for the living room exploration objectives
  • Fixed no get food objective for day 5
• Fixed last day having no objectives on the note
• Added an "ERR" message to the loggia door when the keypad is not programmable
• Fixed the find pills objective trigger size so it's easier to hit

8.12.2024

Added redistributables installer to the build

Made a new settings UI (not hooked up to actual settings yet, but the gamepad controls work finally),

1.12.2024

Fixed the Restart button not working

Failed to understand how to make the navigation work for gamepad

30.11.2024

Added a new, gamepad-supported language selector to the main menu

Fixed some of the navigation issues of the main menu

25.11.2024

Created a vision document for the dreams for an outside director

24.11.2024

Systems

• Replaced the font with one that supports more characters from different languages

Gameplay

• Added a flickering light behind the sleeping pills for visibility
• Added more camera movement to the main menu

Audio

• Added trailer music to the main menu
• Added a very bad implementation of outside ambient, needs revisiting

23.11.2024

• Gameplay
  • Added an extension to one of the endings, making it the true ending
  • Made the kitchen key locations more sensible and more varied, added more furniture to the corridor
  • Added 10 cat collectibles
  • Changed the utility closet light to be always off instead of on
  • Made the kitchen food situation much more logical
  • Lowered the intensity of the elevator stress ping so the player is not blinded completely
  • Added a phone jumpscare that also doubles as a guidance to the bathroom key
  • Added a light switch to the capture room lamp as tutorialization
• Audio
  • Added UI sounds to the maintenance and override panels
• Systems
  • Added steam cloud save support
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed the safe code not spawning in the proper location sometimes creating a soft lock
  • Fixed the voices telling the player it's halfway when - in fact - they're almost out of time
  • Fixed the voices telling the player to check notes after completing an objective - there's no objectives in the notes anymore
  • Fixed the floating locks in the main menu
  • Fixed the ability to interact with the bananas in the the fridge through the glass
  • Fixed voices telling the player that their captors are coming back at night as well as during the day
  • Fixed timing on one of the thrown items so it doesn't cut off the sound
  • Fixed the watch collectible staying visible for consequent days after adding cat collectibles, which should do so

17.11.2024

• Re-recorded the last parts of the trailer
• Rendered out localized versions
• Published the trailers on Steam, YouTube and Twitter

16.11.2024

• Fixed the floating black dot that appeared after taking the log
• Fixed stress cloud not being positioned correctly in built project
• Added a consistent outline to the bed once all tasks are complete in a day
• Changed the objectives input prompt to inventory, made it stay on the whole time the inventory is open
• Added debug commands so it's possible to record footage for the trailer
  • Movement smoothing
  • Look smoothing
  • Headbob disable

10.11.2024

• Added all missing item icons
• Fixed the fridge
• Added more items to the fridge
• Added a new look at type - one that disappears when observed
• Added a mysterious book to the reading corner
• Added more items to bathroom drawers
• Moved the bathroom key spawn so it's more difficult to find
• Added a customizable syringe blueprint
• Added a way of linking an actor with look at hiding
• Started setting up the bedroom
• Most keys now spawn more randomly

09.11.2024

• Trailer
  • Added SFX and the rest of the music to the trailer
  • Draft 03 trailer uploaded

4.11.2024

• Assets
  • Added a mailbox to the corridor
• Trailer
  • Re-recorded elevator side footage
  • Blocked out 2nd trailer pass
  • Added music to the apartment-side
  • Rendered out a 2nd trailer pass

3.11.2024

• Added a corridor for the elevator trailer
• Might be used to extend one or two of the endings
• Re-recorded apartment-side trailer footage
• Toned down the headbob

30.10.2024

• Added headbob

26.10.2024

• Admin
  • Created the first draft of the trailer
• Assets
  • Modelled, textured and animated an elevator
• Systems
  • Added an animated elevator with doors and a control panel that reflects the imaginary floor
  • Separated mouse and gamepad sensitivity settings

24.10.2024

• Systems
  • Changed how lookat triggering works, they should be more predictable and reliable,

20.10.2024

• Systems
  • Added localization support
    • Added a rough polish localization
    • The game will launch with current system locale by default, but can be changed in the main menu
  • Added a video player for day intros/dreams
  • Added a minimum trigger distance variable to LookAt objects
• Gameplay
  • Added temporary test dreams
• UI
  • Added a language selector to the main menu
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed the day summary calculating error score instead of error count
  • Fixed media player displaying the last frame of the last loaded video when playing a new one

19.10.2024

• Systems
  • Added a B_LA_ShowObject that can show a mesh for a split second
  • Added a global timer for jumpscare events
  • Added splash and icon images
• Gameplay
  • Added mild jump scares to each day
  • Removed outdated information on the main menu
  • Removed sounds from smaller and harder to notice scares
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed scares appearing too frequently
    • Added a global timer
    • Added a chance multiplier per event

17.10.2024

• Added a LookAt actor base that can detect when the player is close enough and is looking at the object
  • Added a child B_LA_ThrowObject that can throw objects and play sounds

04.10.2024

• Systems
  • Added a switch to Movables that uses the gathering collision to instead block the player - aka the office chair now blocks the player
• Gameplay
  • Added items on top of the code notes that have to be moved in order to see the code
• Miscellaneous
  • Changed the office computer to a laptop and had a lot of "fun" trying to download a model, it's still bad

28.09.2024

• Gameplay
  • Changed wording on the initial note to make sure the player knows they can take the watch as well
  • Moved the utility closet boxes around to make it easier to get closer to the control panel
  • Made it so the loggia door doesn't need to be locked to count as closed and locked
  • The safe now automatically locks when the door is closed
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed blank notes and no key when first day is failed
  • Removed the small black shadow dot following the player around
  • Fixed a possibility of completing a day with big mistakes present if the player is inside of their room with all objectives completed

27.09.2024

• Gameplay
  • The game is actually fully playable now
  • Objective log is now visible all the time instead of appearing when the player looks at the clock or when an objective is updated
  • Removed the necessity of picking up the watch to progress
  • Replaced the override switch with a touchscreen and added error display for when the living room door is opened when trying to disable the override
  • Added snoring to night runs
  • Added player footsteps
  • Added intercom sound before the elevator sound and added a random event with this sound to the list of random events
  • Rotated the bathroom door so they don't block the passage constantly
  • Added a debug command to load to any day
  • The bag of chips now disappears after eating it
• Systems
  • Added a way to bulk complete objectives to avoid soft-locks because the player did something too quickly
  • Added an animation to item combination event
  • You can now close a door that has been locked when open. To avoid soft-locking, the door will become unlocked when shut
• Bugfixes
  • Fixed door code not being saved properly
  • Fixed some instances of the capture room key not saving position properly
  • Fixed soft locks in day 4: finding tv key before water, finding override panel key before moving the basket
  • Fixed keys leaving collision behind after being removed from a lock
  • Fixed a scoring mistake making it impossible to finish a day with mistakes

08.09.2024

• Gameplay
  • The game is now fully "playable" and completable with 3 different endings - the last door is broken actually
  • The mistakes list now shows small errors in a different way than the fatal ones (there's still a point cutoff if the player makes too many small mistakes)
  • The elevator sequence now starts when the intro ends, so players that read the text don't miss it
  • Moved the objective completion of the backpack being too heavy from the laundry basket to the backpack itself, added a wiggle to items that cannot be moved because they are too heavy
  • Fixed a potential sequence break with maintenance panel and spawning of the bathroom key
  • Added a new objective to the 3rd day that guides the player to finding the pills, but having no key, there's a less of a logical jump now
  • Added objectives for last day
• Systems
  • Added a way of replacing objectives by multiple other objectives on completion
• Level Design
  • Reworked the office
• Miscellaneous and bugfixes
  • The DoF ramp has been set so it's easier to read the watch now
  • Fixed the objective triggers blocking the interaction and DoF traces

03.09.2024

• Added a debug input to toggle the HUD on and off
• Created a script for a teaser trailer
• Recorder some footage for a teaser trailer

01.09.2024

• Removed a few lights and changed attenuation and indirect lighting intensity of others in order to improve performance, disabled shadows on some of the window lights
• Changed the tick rate of the sun and window lights to help performance
• Added a lighting manager that disables lights that are not visible by the player
• Did a performance pass through the lights, decided that proper quality settings are absolutely required
• Added a Psychosis Component, responsible for firing random events throughout each run. Currently, it can only trigger random sounds, but the possibilities are endless
• Removed look noise being dependency on fps

31.08.2024 [build: tgo-rc6]

• Gameplay and visuals
  • The kitchen light is on for the first two days so it's easier to see the utility closet and bedroom doors
  • Changed the note to show a plan of what to do today instead of the objectives (since the objective is visible on the HUD). This also makes it make sense for the player to have to pick it up every day
  • Added the enemy stress effect to the start of each day to explain it better
  • Fixed FPS-dependent features:
    • Crouch speed
    • DoF change
    • Notepad and watch animation
    • Interaction UI fade speed
  • Inventory Component:
    • Removed the animation for the item moving from hand to placement spot - it looks better and feels more responsive
    • Changed the material of the item ghost to a hologram, making it handle DoF better
  • Disabled shadows for the watch
  • Fixed table watch textures
  • Made some of the voices make more sense (especially the mid-day ones)
• System
  • Fixed a bug with a debug way of skipping having to pick up the notepad
  • Fixed the watch keeping its collision after being taken which sometimes meant the player got stuck on invisible collisions
• UI
  • Reworked the end of day UI so it's more clear what happened
  • Other UI elements don't overlay on the end screen anymore
  • Removed an option to inspect items since it wasn't used in any way and messed up the UI
  • The hunger icon now disappears when the player has eaten and doesn't appear until the first hunger event. Also, doesn't appear at night as the player doesn't need to steal food at night
  • Moved the HUD around, the hunger icon is now in the center, as well as the interaction prompts and mistakes list
  • Added testing guidelines to the main menu
• Miscellaneous
  • Created another "last TODO list" and a list of bugs to fix, got scared
  • Added the house geometry to the main menu

30.08.2024

• Disabled shadows for held items
• Fixed item combining on day 4
• Added an option to ignore seeded spawn, so items can change locations from day to day
• Added an option for the game to leave a mesh behind an eaten item
• Added a bookshelf to the living room
• Added a bookshelf generator and created a workflow to add custom books to the shelf
• Added 24 book textures
• Started the living room remodel, added a reading corner
• Tested a build on some people, found some issues

25.08.2024

• Fixed objective spawning for items
• Reworked Wednesday to not go into the bedroom, but the living room so it makes any sense
• Reworked Thursday to focus on finding pills and spiking water
• Reworked Thursday night to work with new objectives
• Fixed a bug with objectives that wouldn't allow to add a new one when there's 1 or less objectives
• Combined objectives so they make more sense and are not active all at once
• Fixed the day summary screen not displaying anything
• Fixed calculating of the completed objectives
• Runs 5/7 are almost fully completable (1 bug left)

24.08.2024

• Fixed the in-game performance, runs at 70fps+ in 4K now
• Fixed a major bug in item spawning
• Days 1-4 (out of 7) are now fully playable

17.08.2024

• Added an option to mark food as too obvious to steal
• Fixed bathroom keys spawning doubled
• Fixed naming for kitchen cabinets
• Added 3 more food items to steal to the kitchen

16.08.2024

• Added a warning state animation to broken keypad panels
• Added a Voronoi-based distribution to the voices spawn points
• Reduced voices text opacity closer to the center of the screen
• Added an hourly beep to the watch
• Added an alarm to the watch once the chase starts (last hour game time before being caught)
• Figured out day 3 and 4's script

12.08.2024

• Added a seeded location spawn to the code notes

11.08.2024

• Added modal type enum to modals for different colors
• Fixed an error in Programmable Keypad that would make it unusable if there are no doors unlocked when maintenance starts
• Added a list of maintainable items to the maintenance menu on the control panel
• Fixed code changing to make it more responsive
• Added more objects to the closet
• Added a flashlight (and removed it)
• Added a wristwatch item to the capture room
• Added collectibles items system
• Moved around the capture room and made it smaller

10.08.2024

• Added a new maintenance panel
• Fixed days 1 and 2
• Updated TODO

04.08.2024

• Recorder and added new sounds
  • Door open/close
  • Lock open/lock
  • Drawer open/close
  • Switch use
• Added new meshes for kitchen:
  • Lower and upper cabinets with doors and drawers
• Furnished and filled the kitchen with objects
• Added a new simple audio component for playing DA_AudioSet assets

26.07.2024

• Added different ping to signify different sounds and information: elevator ping, footstep ping, (enemy) door lock ping,
• Added a detection for not taking the notepad that blocks picking up other items,
• Fixed ping spawning so it stops overlapping itself

07.07.2024

• Made an Objective Complete sound cue, ability to play it and a setting for each objective to decide if it should be played
• Added a LookAt detection as a component and child components: LookAtObjectiveCompleter, LookAtVoicesPlayer, LookAtDialoguePlayer, LookAtAudioPlayer
• Added a see-through-walls ping spawner class to guide the player's eye towards important objects and as a possible hint mechanic
• Added a fridge and more food

30.06.2024

• Fixed food items not completing objectives and not loading their state properly
• Added a floor plan poster that updates with the game's progress
• Added a way to spawn items after a certain objective was completed
• Completed the first day's logic and tasks
• Added a way to complete objectives on not interactable objects (laundry basket)
• Added a B_SoundLocator for easily finding the override switch
• Day 1 is completable fully
• Day 2 is completable fully (missing a new control panel)

22.06.2024

• Written the new script

16.05.2024

• Added eating mechanic
• Changed the first day to require finding food in the kitchen
• Moved hunger logic to InventoryComponent
• Fixed triggers not being aligned with rooms
• Fixed item prompt being broken and not showing appropriate interaction

15.06.2024

• Reworked the day end so the player has to leave things as they were in order to be able to sleep
• Added a list of things to fix, including marking items to hide as safe or unsafe
• Added an item glint to items

10.06.2024

• Added an audio component to the player character for playing different sounds
• Added a hunger mechanic and audio

29.05.2024

• Added a crosshair change for the weapon
• Remade the gun tooltip for more understandable message
• Added a shoot-to-hold version for the suicide ending, added weapon animation and DOF animation

26.05.2024

• Added all 4 endings, 3 going into credits
• Added credits music
• Added gunshot sound
• Added the game end logic
• Added new settings UI (WIP)

21.05.2024

• Fixed doors passing through players when closed/opened with the player in the way
• Added a way to show on-screen objectives after they disappear

20.04.2024

• Added a timed objective completer
• Added a gun model
• Added an enemy into the game
  • With stealth gameplay
  • With a kickass postprocess
  • With a kickass material
• Added 4 endings to the game (still WIP)
• Added scary mode for the game ending sequence
• Filled up all the necessary objectives
• Added an on-screen objective log
• Added credits

06.04.2024

• Fixed bedroom door
• Added safe to the control panel list
• Added an ability to ignore certain items and interactables from day end scoring

28.03.2024

• Added a safe and a way to connect keypads to doors
• Added a gun case with a lock

26.03.2024

• Added escape menu
• Fixed gamepad support for summary screen
• Added pause

25.03.2024

• Added gamepad support for game over screen
• Fixed main menu gamepad support
• Reworked summary screens

24.03.2024

• Added security system control panel
• Added calendar
• Added day title text
• Added door code saving

Changelog start

The rest is a mystery even to me, but the project started around October 2023