Seven Nights in Horshaw House
About
In Seven Nights in Horshaw House, you step into the role of Detective Henry Ward, summoned to the mysterious Horshaw House to uncover its dark secrets. Your task is to collect seven hidden skulls and uncover the truth behind its haunted past before the seven nights run out.
Project Info
Role(s): Game Developer
Team Size: 1
Timeline: Jul 2023 - Dec 2023
Engine: Unity (C#)
Tags: 3D, Action, Atmospheric, Dark, Experimental, Horror
Updated: Mar, 2026
Seven Nights in Horshaw House was my Final Major Project (GDO750) for my postgraduate degree in Indie Game Development at Falmouth University, created under the same developer persona as my undergraduate project, Self-Made Games. Inspired by survival horror titles such as Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Dead Space (2023), as well as objective-driven horror games like Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014), the project explored how removing traditional respite mechanics could affect emotional and spatio-temporal immersion in survival horror experiences.
The idea was partly inspired by comments from Dead Space remake Realisation Director Joel MacMillan, who spoke about maintaining tension and player immersion through careful pacing. You can read the article that inspired this research here.
The concept is simple: you take on the role of Detective Henry Ward, summoned to the ominous Horshaw House to uncover its chilling secrets. With a dark presence lurking in the shadows and a haunted past waiting to be revealed, your mission is to collect seven skulls and bring peace to the restless spirits that haunt the house.
Researching different forms of immersion and how they can be used to create tension and suspense proved extremely insightful. After several rounds of playtesting, the project was published on itch.io and submitted as my final assessment, bringing my postgraduate degree to a close.
In the months that followed, the game was featured in Falmouth University’s newsletter, “Three Scary Releases from the Games Academy this Halloween,” highlighting it as an example of a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to game development.
On this project, my primary role was Game Developer, where I began by identifying respite mechanics commonly found in horror games. These are moments that briefly interrupt the flow of gameplay and give the player a break from tension. Examples I identified included cutscenes, health recovery, hints, interactions, loading screens, player death, quick-time events, safe rooms, checkpoints, static inventory screens, pausing, and tutorial prompts during gameplay.
My initial idea was to remove these mechanics entirely. However, in order to properly study their effect on emotional and spatio-temporal immersion, I realised they needed to be tested rather than simply removed. To achieve this, I implemented them as dynamic toggles that players could switch on or off during gameplay, allowing for A/B comparisons. This approach proved highly effective for analysing how the presence or absence of respite mechanics influenced the overall experience.
Alongside this research, I developed a number of gameplay systems, including the player controller, enemy AI, jumpscare triggers, a day–night cycle, interaction systems, the spirit realm mechanic, collectable notes, and a journal system. I also implemented a “King of the Hill” style gameplay mode inspired by the Halo franchise.
To improve presentation and atmosphere, I integrated the Cinemachine plugin for smoother camera transitions and worked on visual and audio elements such as fog, lighting, and sound effects to enhance the game’s tension and mood.
Following development, I conducted several rounds of playtesting and implemented a patch based on player feedback to improve the overall experience. For marketing, I captured high-quality in-game beauty shots and created a teaser trailer.
This project likely stands as the one from which I learned the most. Not necessarily in terms of development itself, but in examining the core components that define a genre, in this case, survival horror.
My initial assumption was that removing respite mechanics would create a more film-like experience, where the relentless tension would keep players constantly immersed in the horror. However, the results turned out quite differently. One important factor I had not fully considered was the game’s sub-genre. Seven Nights in Horshaw House leaned more toward an arcade-style, objective-based horror experience, where players were tasked with finding seven skulls within a time limit.
What the Experiment Revealed
Because of this structure, the objective itself often took priority over the horror experience. Playtesting showed that many players focused on completing the task as efficiently as possible, allowing the tension and fear to fade as they prioritised progress over atmosphere.
In hindsight, the results may have been different if the game had taken a more narrative-driven approach without time-based objectives. A slower, story-focused structure would likely have allowed the removal of respite mechanics to have a greater impact on emotional and spatio-temporal immersion.
If I were to approach this project again, I would lean further into the conventions of the survival horror genre. This would likely involve a third-person perspective and a stronger narrative focus, closer to the style of games such as Resident Evil or Silent Hill. With that foundation in place, it would provide a clearer framework for examining how respite mechanics influence player immersion.
Despite these insights, the project was still extremely valuable. It received strong academic results and provided a solid foundation for a first-person horror experience. More importantly, it gave me a deeper understanding of how genre structure, player objectives, and pacing interact, knowledge that I would carry forward into future horror projects.
If you’re interested in the research behind the project, you can read the full papers and blogs here:
