itch.io

1) in FNAF, after the first power outage the “horror” definitely drops, but the tension stays, because you still don’t know exactly when you’re dead. horror almost never survives repetition, but tension can, and that’s what keeps runs exciting. here, the gun sequence is just too predictable - it doesn’t cash in on that tension, it just tells you what’s happening and then follows through.

2) yeah, pretty much. the key is when the game spends the tension. in this game, you feel tense when you pick a risky card, but then that tension gets drained before the actual payoff. in Buckshot, the tension and the payoff hit at the same moment (gun to head, blam, black screen). Magpie does the opposite: it tells you first, explains what's going to happen, then spends the tension after, which undercuts the scare.

on the horror-comedy thing: you can’t really have horror-comedy at the same, but you can have both horror and comedy. the trick is to keep them separate so neither undercuts the other. pizzeria simulator is a great example - it’s hilarious at times, terrifying at others, but it never makes you flip back and forth in the same moment. comedy works best when the player feels safe enough to laugh freely, horror works best when tension isn’t interrupted. segmenting them makes both land harder.a good place with this would be in the shop for comedy, and flipping cards for horror. or both in the shop and flipping cards for comedy, and outside of the for horror. 

for death animations: you could solve the “too long” issue by only showing the full version the first time the player dies, then replacing it with a snappier version later. first run gets the atmosphere, repeat runs don’t get dragged down.

and as for “but what if people don’t like horror” - well, the game is already marketed with horror aesthetics. anyone who hates horror probably won’t pick it up in the first place, so sanding off the edges just risks losing what makes the game unique without making it more appealing to people that don't like horror. this isn’t “a roguelike deckbuilder with a bit of horror if you like the vibe,” it’s a horror-comedy deckbuilder - and it should own that.