Through His Eyes (THE)
- caderboden
- Oct 22, 2025
- 10 min read
Updated: Jan 14
Engine: RPG Maker MV
Genre: RPG, Action, Puzzle
Project: Game Jam, Collaborative
Job: Project Leader, Level Designer, Programmer
Description
Through His Eyes is an RPG and Puzzle game in which the player travels through their own mind. This game was created as a submission to the Spooky Jam 2025, where we were restricted to making any 2D game that is spooky and connects to the doppleganger theme. The time we had to create this game was from October 10, 10:00 am to October 12, 10:00 am. As RPG Maker was the first engine I ever used for game development, revisiting it was a fun experience.
Walkthrough/Video
Pillars
Doppelganger
Spooky
About the main character's bad mental state
Leading the Project
Leading this project was a new but fairly exciting experience for me. As my partners for this project were very new to RPG Maker, I had to help them throughout the creation process. While it put more work on my plate, I was happy with the feeling of other people relying on me. One part throughout the process that I felt bothered me the most was the feeling in the back of my mind that I was not doing enough for the project. This caused me to push myself even harder, but my group encouraged me not to overpush myself, or it could lead to my being burned out. While I think this is a weakness of mine, I believe that with some time, I can certainly turn it into something greater for myself.
Development Process
Characters
Harold
He is the main character of this story. Harold gets stuck in his own mind to face his own grievances that have developed through his day-to-day life in the real world. Through his many encounters, his personality changes and develops. Due to this takes place in his own mind. Every important character you encounter will be a variant of himself, each meant to reflect a part of himself.
Scare-old
He is a representation of the willpower within Harold. As much of Harold's life has become dreary and his confidence in himself has slipped, it makes Scare-old incredibly weak at the beginning of this game. As the story progresses and the main character develops, the stronger Scare-old will become.
Old Man Harold
The old man is meant to represent his future self. He is how Harold pictures himself in the far future. When he retires and has achieved all that he wanted to. Though as he changes, so has the picture that he used to envision for himself.
Dead Harold
This character is meant to represent how he imagines his life in heaven or hell would become like. How would it affect him when he passed on? It's also the thoughts that pass through his mind when he thinks about what lies beyond. He is very stuck-up and harsh toward the original Harold, but confident about his skills.
Level Design
Starting Map
With this map, it was important for me to make the player clueless about what the place is, along with giving the feeling of mystery and spookiness. To do this, I chose to start the level with the player simulating just opening their eyes by making the screen go black a few times before becoming completely clear. I was then able to use sound effects to create the suspenseful feeling that goes along with it.
Spooky Abandon House
The original making of this map was a premade asset before my team and I added changes to make it far more run-down and abandoned. This zone is also the first appearance of a character. That character is Scare-old, whom you save from an enemy attack.
Village
Subsections
Abandon Tent
Inside this tend lies a depiction of Harold, who eventually died from insanity. All the issues arose from the creation of the darkness within Harold. Voices appeared in this character's head and drove him insane. With the creation of this area, I felt that there was not a great amount of purpose, but it was a great way to introduce lore as well as fill space in the village.
Run Down Shop
I found the creation of the shop to be a fun encounter. When you go into this shop, you will find that there are slimes around that watch the player closely. The player can either buy from the shopkeeper and leave the item on the ground alone or make the choice to pick up the gem. If they choose to pick up the gem, the slimes will aggressively try to take on the player.
I found this map to be really fun to make and an enjoyable scenario. If I go back to this game, I hope to make a couple more similar to this one.
Torches
These three torches are to represent the 3 objectives that need to be completed in order to gain access to the main boss. Once all glow blue, it means you can enter the final boss's lair. We had a few issues getting these to work correctly, but we were able to finish them in the end.
Boss Entrance
Hidden inside the walls of the village lies the final boss's lair. As mentioned above, to access it, you must light all 3 torches. While I had to remember how to swap between sprites, this was one of the easier events to program for this project.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mansion
Subsections
Pathway to Mansion
This is the first place that we encountered that was added to. In order to start giving the player a sense of danger and a way to level up, we needed to create encounters through the map. Some of the math for combat is kind of hard at first, though once you get into it, it becomes a lot easier.
Mansion Entrance
Once you enter the mansion, we needed to give the player the usual feeling of an abandoned house, and we thought that adding a flashlight was one of the ways to do it. I thought it was a small detail, but pretty cool
Apple and the Mouse
Once you investigate the house further, you arrive at the mouse puzzle, which consists of grabbing apples and then feeding them to the rat in another room. If this is done, you will gain music notes that give you access to the next room. This was a fun puzzle to make, as it made the player look for 2 items and encouraged them to explore the level.
Secret Passage
Upon gaining access to the music notes, whether through the shop or the mouse puzzle, you will see sparkles coming from the piano near the center of the house. When you interact with it, it will open up a hidden passage that replaces the fireplace in the house.
I think this puzzle is simple but easy to make. I found that it was another puzzle that would encourage the player to explore, as well as make the player feel like they need to look at many more places in the house. I thought it was a simple yet helpful puzzle that I would consider using again in the future.
Old Harold Encounter
The secret passage leads to a hidden room below the house in which you encounter Old Harold, who blames you for everything that has transpired. When this conversation takes place, I give the player a few options that could lead to an easy route or a harder combat route.
The player is given multiple options to choose from. Many of the arrogant options will lead to combat in which the player must defeat the old man before he considers joining you. Alternatively, there is an option in which he will consider joining you immediately, but depending on what you do, he may fight you again later.
Mansion State
As you first enter the mansion, you would see that everything is dark, run-down, partially destroyed, and abandoned. I thought this would be a good way to see how badly the main character's thoughts would be affecting his mind.
After defeating Old Man Harold and restoring part of the main character's mind, you would leave the hidden room to find the mansion fully restored and everything back in place. If you read the lore, you will see that the people are also revived in the house.
The Wandering Skeleton
While mystery exists about the skeleton that wanders the hall, it gives a hint about the identity of who she really is. After restoring the mansion, you finally find out her identity. You discover that it was actually his daughter who is said to have passed away. It's why she calls you daddy before the mansion's restoration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well
Subsections
Path to Underground Well
When you're in the village, you can take the left path, which takes you to this passage. This is the entrance way to the well area that will light up the final of the 3 torches.
Underground Well Area 1
Once you get to this area you you will not only encounter normal mobs but also a mini boss before facing the big bad of the whole area. This place is meant to be much harder if you visit this place before the mansion. While I decided to make it accessible, it encourages the player to check out the mansion first. It also doesn't restrict the player.
Alternatively, the player could just grind their level so that everything is much easier; however, I made it so there are only two ways to fully heal your party. That is, through the Coco or beating bosses. For that reason, it may not be the right option to grind in that area first, but in the end, it's up to the player. While the mini boss is difficult, it is completely beatable, and I have tested it many times.
Underground Well Area 2
The next area in the underground is the boss area, along with a few other encounters. The 3 encounters outside normal encounters you can face are 2 imps and the final boss. Being that this character is beyond the realm of death, I decided this place had to have a mystical look to it, which led to a fairly different setting while still looking destroyed.
This boss I found to be one of the harder ones due to the fact that it had 2 heavy debuff skills along with the ability to heal its own health. While it is very tanky, it's still very doable as long as your characters have enough health, which is very doable in this prototype due to Coco recovering you to fill health, along with every boss fight returning you to full health.
When defeating the boss of this area, you discover that it is a corrupted Spirit Harold who blames Harold for his corruption and demands that he fix the mess he made. He is willing to help Harold, but it's up to the player if they want help in the end. Either option sends them back to the entrance of the well, where they can head back to the village.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss
Subsections
The Lore Puzzle
This is the first of the 2 puzzles needed to gain access to the cause of all the problems that arise within Harold's mind. There are 3 questions that each reference lore within the story. The questions are also easy enough that the player would be able to guess them, though.
If you answer each of the questions, the statue will break and reveal another Harold inside, which is simply a statue that supports the main character. I liked this idea because even if the player did not really explore the world, they will at least know what the main character cares most about in this world. It sort of forces down some lore to the player.
Mouse Puzzle
By the time I was making this puzzle, there was not much time left. To still make a second puzzle to access the boss, I felt referencing a puzzle from earlier in the game would be a fun puzzle to add. It means if you don't have any leftover apples to feed the mouse, you would have to find another way to feed it.
Boss Battle
After completing both puzzles, the entrance that leads to the boss opens up. When creating the level, I assumed the player may need time to prep, so I made sure to give them the option of choosing not to go in, if needed, of course. After the boss is defeated, it will move to the credits before returning to the main menu, completing the game.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection
THE (Through His Eyes) is an RPG game that my relatives and I created for the 2025 Spooky Jam. The theme for the jam was “Doppelganger.” Using this concept, we built a game centered around the exploration of a person’s inner mind, where nearly every character is a different manifestation of the main character, Harold.
One of the parts of the project I’m most proud of was the level design. Our main goal was to evoke a strong sense of mystery and suspense, and I believe the environmental design played a key role in achieving that. The use of weather effects, especially the mist variations, helped reinforce the tone of each area. For example, the village and starting zone featured a moderate mist to create unease, while boss areas were heavily obscured to heighten tension. We also added cracks, holes, and decay to the mansion’s environment to reflect its transformation over time. These details I felt helped get the thoughts to the players
Another aspect I really enjoyed was developing the character interactions and how each version of Harold represented a different side of himself. For instance, his “Willpower” version embodied his hidden lack of confidence, while his future self revealed the emotional toll of his life choices. Writing journal entries and backstories for his imaginary daughter, wife, and others helped bring more depth and emotional weight to the story.
Of course, there were also areas for improvement. One of these was combat refinement and balancing. Some enemies turned out far tankier than intended, which made battles drag on. With more time, I would have modified the scaling and encounters to feel more dynamic and interactive.
Another hurdle was player navigation and event triggers within levels. After the end of the jam, some playtesters got stuck in areas or ended up facing enemies that far outscaled them, forcing a restart. This showed me other areas that I need to explore when doing the final testing for future games.
Overall, I’m proud of what we accomplished. This jam taught me valuable lessons about scope, time management, and the importance of clear player communication. It was a rewarding experience, and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned to future projects and continue improving with each game jam.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problems and What I Learned
Problem | What I Learned | |
My team and I overlooked some bugs on a level we considered finished due to the need to make a couple more maps before our time of submission. | Before making new maps, it may sometimes be better to make sure all bugs are solved before moving on. | |
We didn't have much time to have other people playtest, primarily due to the time constraint. This led us to not having a large diversity of opinions. | Depending on how much time is available, it might be worth reaching out to others to test parts of your game that are finished to know what you need to go back to during the development process. | |
Comments