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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.

a lot of people are talking about the bomb, so here’s a quick summary. horror is all about the fear of the unknown. with the bomb on the table and the red lights filling up, you know exactly what’s going to happen - once the bar fills, you explode. there’s no suspense, no jump, no waiting… it just happens. clarity-wise, the bomb is perfect - you understand it’s a time limit, it no longer punishes greedy clicks, and it encourages you to keep playing instead of ending early. gameplay-wise it’s clear, but horror-wise it kills tension.

compare that to running out of health: when you’re at 1HP and flip a JERRY card, you know you’ve lost, but you’re unsure what happens next. that uncertainty drives real fear. it’s similar to running out of power in Five Nights At Freddy’s for the first time. Let's compare and contrast. 

in FNAF, you have a limited power supply each night, and if it runs out, the lights and doors stop working. you know you’re in trouble, but the game doesn’t immediately show you what happens. you wait for 10, 15 seconds in the dark... footsteps surrounding you, until suddenly Freddy appears in the hall, and begins to play a small tune for a while, his face, while somewhat visible, is still concealed with the darkness. and then... he stops, and the room is completely dark. more footsteps approach, until the iconic jump-scare. the entire time, you’re left holding your breath, asking “what’s going to happen next?” that unpredictability is what makes it so scary the first time round. 

this game, instead, just pulls out a gun let's you realize what's happening, drops all tension, answers the the tension before it gets to use it, and shoots you a second later - predictable, no suspense. the bomb mechanic suffers the same problem: it makes everything clear, so there’s no “what’s going to happen next?” moment, which is the heart of horror.  

alright, but what about the horror of Buckshot Roulette? that game doesn't draw things out. and, if this game made very game over 30 seconds long, it'd get more monotonous. let's compare with Buckshot Roulette, shall we?

in Buckshot Roulette, you take turns taking shots at the Dealer or yourself, trying to kill the dealer using live rounds before he kills you. Blanks deal no damage, and shooting the dealer with a Blank ends your turn, while shooting yourself with a Blank keeps it. This game is similiar to Buckshot, in that you take risks and gamble with the chance of taking damage, but the playout of taking damage from a JERRY, and shooting yourself with a Live in Buckshot Roulette is different. 

In this, you flip a card in your last health, only for it to be a JERRY. your player looks up at the person in front of you, and they pull out a gun, waits a second, then shoots you. It's too long for any point to be shocking, so going forward, taking any risk doesn't have much tension in it. In Buckshot, however, when you shoot yourself... you hold the gun up to you, aim, and then... blam! Gun shot in your ears, screen fades to black for a second, then you're revived. It has immediately tension, and a considerable jump, meaning there's more tension when you shoot yourself with the chance of a live. The tension is spent before it tells you what the result will be, where this game does the opposite, expending the tension before the payoff.

TLDR: add more suspense to lose conditions. either by drawing it out and keeping the player guessing, or by spending the earned tension at the peak. The bomb and gun diminish the tension by answering any questions the player has before it's spent.

"Our requirements are narrow. We prohibit the use of GenAI models which are trained on content without the permission of its creators. This rule prohibits the use of the most popular GenAI products. For example: DALL-E, ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and GitHub Copilot are all prohibited.": https://screamzone.org/wiki/policies/generative-ai

That answers that. 

If you want a Game Jam that allows AI tools within reason (and is Halloween themed), you can join the "Themed Horror Game Jam": https://itch.io/jam/themed-horror-game-jam-22, which starts in ~4 days, or the "GameDev.tv Halloween Jam 2025": https://itch.io/jam/gamedevtv-halloween-jam-2025, which starts around the same time this one does.

is so scary 😢

yay! nice work

(also my last account got deleted this is my new one)