Problem Child Game Studios

CIRQUE.
A survival horror puzzle game devoted to complex storytelling

Cam Atkinson, Caitlin Nairon, Jhananthi Janakiraman, Eman Kadura, Garret Walker, and Lexie McDonie

problemchildgamestudio@gmail.com - problemchildgamestudios.com

Contents
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Title Page 1
Level or Game Summary 3
Overhead Map/Game Example Screen 4
Gameplay Summary 5
Visual References 6
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Game Overview

A boy wearing a mask, in a town full of masks. A mysterious circus appears in town one
day, forcing the boy to confront his own actions and the memories he had buried away,
and to face the fact that he might not know who he really is.

The player character is a boy wearing a mask depicting Tragedy, frowning, with
downcast eyes. He wakes up to a world where no one speaks to him, no one looks at him; they
seem to go out of their way to avoid him. His own parents only speak to him through notes and
don’t look upon him directly.
Act I: The game begins with a circus appearing in town, seemingly set up overnight,
noiselessly, unbeknownst to any of the townsfolk. The player character wakes up in his room.
At breakfast, his parents warn him of the circus and cryptically, of the dangers of clowns.
Through the town, there is an air of foreboding, with very few people about, and whispers of
danger in the air. Later, however, when the circus is open to all, this uncertainty is forgotten,
and the town seems to come alive, intoxicated by the wild magic of the circus and its odd
performers. The boy finds himself enthralled by the hall of mirrors, finding that he can shuttle
through them, using the mirrors to move from place to place. At the end of the hallway, he
encounters a clown that leads him to a barren field where he passes out.
Act II: He wakes up in a room, identical to his except there are clown dolls slotted
throughout. The house seems like a fever dream, though it’s his house, and as he uses the
mirrors to move through it, he discovers an empty box in the attic that leaves him feeling odd.
He goes through a plain mirror in the attic and finds himself in the field once more, where he
once again passes out.
Act III: He wakes up in his home once again, but his room seems to be symmetrically
flipped this time. He goes through the motions, as in Act I, but this time a spectral boy, identical
to him save for his mask, joins him at the breakfast table. His parents also turn to look at them.
The specter’s mask depicts Comedy. There is a circus in town once more, but it’s being set up.
The boys go to watch the performers put up tents and practice, and they meet and talk to a
clown, identical to the one at the end of the hallway from Act I. Later that night, the spectral
boy begins to climb out of the window with a homemade rope, and the player character unties
it, leading to the specter’s death. He takes the body to the barren field and buries it, but is
caught by the clown, who he also kills. The clown is framed for the spectral boy’s death, and the
circus is run out before they even open.
He takes over the specter’s role, however, it seems like an imperfect swap, as the town
as a whole begins to treat him differently. He finds the empty box from the attic in the woods,
except this time there’s a polaroid in it, and as he shakes it, it is revealed that the boys weren’t
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identical and that the masks were due to the protagonist’s face blindness; his crime had been
an open secret in the town, everyone had known what he’d done except for him.
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Concept Art
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Gameplay Summary

Cirque is a 3D third person survival horror puzzle game with an emphasis on story-related mechanics
such as dialogue, mirror worlds, and interactive environment puzzles. The story follows a linear path
through five main levels: the house, the village, the circus, the forest, and the field.

● Act 1:
o The player is spawned into the House level in what appears to be the player’s room, the
player can interact with various objects in the house which warn the player about the
Circus
▪ Some areas such as the attic are locked
▪ After acquiring the necessary information, the player may exit the House into
the Village level
o The Village contains various interactable pieces which may be explored, but at this
stage, there are many locked pieces
o From the Village, the player can enter the Circus level where the only enterable tent is
the Hall of Mirrors
▪ The mirrors allow the player to move between mirrors in the Hall as a tutorial
for the mirror mechanic
▪ The last mirror in the Hall takes the player to the next level, the Field
o In the Field, a cinematic is cued in which the player faints and is taken to the next level,
the House, but this time the player character’s room has additional clown doll props
● Act 2:
o The player may continue to explore the House and its new elements via mirrors
▪ Upon doing so, the player finds the attic is now unlocked
▪ By going through the mirror in the attic, the player is again brought to the Field
o In the Field, the player character once again faints and is returned to the House where
the room is now mirrored from its original state
● Act 3: the gameplay loop cycles again with the addition of a new NPC, the specter in the Comedy
mask
o After acquiring the necessary information via interactables, the player may continue
onto the Circus just as in Act 1
▪ Upon entering the Hall of Mirrors and approaching the last mirror, the player
character may interact with the NPC cueing a cinematic
o After the cinematic, the player returns to the Field cueing an additional cinematic as
outlined in the Game Overview
o The game cycle repeats with the Circus now locked, instead the player has access to the
Forest level via a new mirror
▪ Entrance into the Forest cues a final cinematic also outlined in the Game
Overview
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