Hollowlight

A 3-level stealth adventure. Sneak, don't fight.

Deep in the forests and along the storm battered coast of Gielinor, an ancient treasure lies guarded, and the goblins watching over it don't take kindly to visitors. You and your travelling companion aren't warriors. You're sneaks and survivors, and more than anything, you're friends who'd rather talk your way through trouble than fight your way out of it.

The Story

Two friends set out on a journey they probably shouldn't have agreed to. You need to sneak past goblin patrols, cross a forest thick with watchful eyes, and reach a hidden treasure room somewhere along the coast. Your companion never leaves your side through any of it, cracking jokes and calling out encouragement (and hopefully not getting either of you caught). Every guard's light you dodge and every locked door you find your way past brings you a little closer to whatever's waiting at the end.

Gameplay

Across 3 levels, forest, coastline, and the treasure room itself, the goal is simple: stay out of the light. Goblin guards patrol with sweeping cones of vision, and getting spotted sends you right back to the start. Find the red spining keys, avoid detection, and try to make it through with your companion still by your side.

Controls

• WASD to move
• Space to jump

A Note on This Entry

I only found out about this game jam a week before the deadline, so this whole thing was built from scratch under a pretty tight clock. It's a small, focused stealth game rather than anything sprawling. What's here works and I hope it's fun to play. What's missing is mostly covered by the plans below.

Future Plans

• Actual textures and art direction across the levels (right now it's mostly placeholder/greybox)
• Randomized layouts for every level, trees, enemies, and item placement, so it plays differently each time
• More enemy types beyond the basic goblin patrol, each with its own behaviour and threat level

What I Learned Making This

This jam was my first real go at Unity's NavMesh navigation system. Getting enemies to path around the world properly, wander between points on their own, and have a companion character follow the player across uneven terrain taught me a lot. I also built a light based detection system from scratch, where a guard's vision cone fills up a meter and sends you back to the start if it maxes out, which took some trial and error to get feeling fair rather than just frustrating.

All assets are made by me.