Presskit

About the game

Genres: First Person, Horror, Psychological Horror, 3D, Comedy, Indie

Total Playtime: About 1 minute 20 seconds.

Controls:
WASD = Move
Spacebar = Jump
Left Mouse Button = Interact with locked door (it is locked and just makes a sound)
Mouse = Move Camera

Colaphobia was made some time in October 2022 for an assignment in the course "prototyping", which is a part of the 3 year course Bachelor in Game Design at Kristiania University College.
It was later uploaded to Itch.io on May 14th 2023. More or less as an afterthought. I had intended to do it for a while, but never got around to it, and it didn't seem important as I didn't really expect anyone to play it, but thought it could be fun to do it just for the sake of it, plus so that I can show it if needed, and to have something to put on my portfolio.
Link: https://cyos.itch.io/colaphobia

The aforementioned assignment was to create a horror game prorotype based on something that is not normally considered scary. My thoughts were "anything can be made scary with the right use of lighting and sound, even something as simple as a can of cola on a table". And so that was my concept, and is exactly what I made.

The game is a first person horror game prototype, in which the player is locked in a room with nothing but a chair, lamp, locked door, and a table with a can of cola.

The game features a few ominous sound effects, lights going out, and 1 jumpscare, follwed by a very simplistic and amateurish "game over" screen.

The hook for the game is:
"You are trapped and a alone, in a room with a can of cola. It is terrifying!"

The game is not meant to be taken seriously, but is instead rather ironic. It "pretends" to take itself seriously, so to speak. The very concept about a can of cola being scary is rather silly, but by pretending to not think it is, the sillyness effect is exaggerated. However, as anything being scary with the correct usage of lighting and audio is something I believe to be true, there might be an element of real nerves involved, which in itself is silly considering it is over a can of cola.

The main goal of the game was to make something funny that will make people laugh.

The actual game was made in about a day, with help, using free assets. However, it was said by the teacher in the Prototyping class that it was made for, that it is one of the best horror prototypes ever made in that course, because, they said, the concept is silly and brilliant, and it is done well (considering the time and resources available). This in itself is rather funny as the actual assignment was, if memory serves me right, done very much last second.

The marketing plays on a running joke that the game is "award winning". This is TECHNICALLY true, as in cooperation with the aforementioned teacher, we decided it would be really funny if it were actually true, so it was organized that the teacher actually gave me a gold star (I actually have it) so that I can say everywhere that the game is "award winning" "AWARD WINNING", when in reality it is actually nothing impressive and more so just a silly joke pretending to be serious, again adding to the theme.

The reason this game has a website and social media channels and an official trailer, is because a part of the aforementioned bachelor degree is the course called "Game Marketing", and the game Colaphobia was chosen to solo market after a discussion with the aforementioned teacher, who also pointed out that no one before has ever managed to pass the "Game Marketing" class when working alone, as opposed to in a group, which is a fun challenge for me to overcome as I am working alone. The teacher did state they think I can do it, after I explained my strategies and plans for how I am going to do it.

Official Trailer:

For business inquiries, please contact: colaphobiagame@gmail.com