Another long day of development ends in the twilight hours. The team has been working all day, incorporating the feedback from the Alpha testers. As day surrenders to night and the wind outside starts howling, one after another steps away from their workstations and seeks rest in their rooms in the old manor in the woods that moi rai games has rented for this Halloween work-vacation. As they say their goodbyes, Sersch shouts that he will quickly push the update live before going to bed. The hours pass, Sersch works and works, the cold white glare of his PC screen illuminating the dark room. Finally - Sersch pushes the update live at precisely midnight. Satisfied he makes his way to his room, clomping along the old wooden corridor. Not much time has passed when Sersch is abruptly torn away from his dreams. He wakes up to the persistent sound of Discord notifications. As he gets up to take a look at his PC, he sees the rest of the team, already up, standing around the big workstation table. He looks around and sees tired and noticeably nervous eyes. We get flooded with the weirdest bug reports, Aques Levaro says. Ntonisthier who is looking at his PC shakes his head in confusion. Something seems to be very wrong with this update Outside the manor, the fog covers the landscape with a heaviness you could almost cut with a knife. This is going to be a long night

"THE MONSTER BEHIND THE MONITOR"

Twinfox is sitting hunched over his desk, the dark room lit only by the cold glow of his monitor. Ever since the update went live he's been trying to make sense of all the bug reports that are coming in. His inbox is being flooded and each new report is stranger than the previous one. Just when he opens a new bug report, the silence in the room is interrupted by footsteps approaching the door. "Hey Lunate, do you know if Adam made any last minute changes for [REDACTED]?" he calls out, not looking away from his screen. Lunate peeks into the room. "Hm?" "I got a bunch of reports here claiming that a part of [REDACTED]'s Sprite is missing. Any idea why that might be?" Twinfox asks and continues to scroll through the report without waiting for an answer. "Also, I think [REDACTED] might be a bit too strong at the moment. Someone wrote, and I quote, 'My friend got absolutely slaughtered by the new monster'. Kind of weird that they sent that FOR their friend, right?" He chuckles nervously. "Anyway. I think Sersch added the new testing tools, so I think I'll just go and face [REDACTED] in combat myself to see what it's all about. What do you think?" Lunate takes a sip from his drink and smirks. "Yeah, that sounds safe." Without hesitation Twinfox starts the game and jumps straight into Forbidden Fortress. Cautiously he moves through the eerie corridors draped in cobwebs and dust. "Man, it's so filthy here... How do other games keep their horror castles clean?", he whispers to himself. Something is off today - the whole castle feels emptier than usual. "Where is everyone? Shouldn't there be NPCs around here?". He goes to the library, usually you can find Lily there. But the library was devoid of life.
A sound from outside makes Twinfox jump up from his desk. Is that... the clack of hooves on the street? He looks out the window. But all he sees is the foggy street, barely lit by the faint moon light. Shaking off a chill he turns back to the screen and ventures deeper into Forbidden Fortress. At last, Twinfox spots a familiar face. It's Sir Tiberion, the proud knight, who is huddled behind a stack of crates and looking anxiously at a worn map. "Sir Tiberion! Are you... hiding behind these crates?" The knight looks up from his map. "Oh, Bastian! Hiding? Who? Me? No, no..." He glances over his shoulder. "I'm just... between quests. Yes, that's it. I'm on my way to new adventures... Elsewhere... What is bringing you here?" "I just need to take a look at [REDACTED]. Have you seen it?" Sir Tiberion visibly flinches. He takes a quick look around the room before leaning closer to Twinfox and lowering his voice to answer: "I believe... it's down in the dungeons. Just follow the clatter of hooves." "Thanks, Tiberion." Twinfox starts to leave, but pauses when he sees the knight fumbling with his map. "Oh, and Tiberion? The exit is back that way."
Again Twinfox is startled by a noise - a low, mocking laugh. This time it is a lot closer, somewhere in the room. With a pounding heart he turns around. There's no one there. The room is as empty as before. Scratching his head he turns back to the screen. Slowly walking through the dimly lit, winding halls of Forbidden Fortress he finally finds [REDACTED], waiting in the dungeons of Forbidden Fortress. The creature stands there with flickers of ghostly green flames dancing around it, casting ominous shadows on the wall. Its hollow eyes locked on him with a disturbing glint of intelligence behind them. "Alright, let's find out what's behind all of these reports." Twinfox mutters. He takes a deep breath and summons his team. "Cherufe! Attack!" At first the combat seems to go as expected, but something feels off. [REDACTED] just shruggs off everything Twinfox' team throws at it. Then it starts laughing a slow, guttural laugh. "That... sounds like..." Twinfox gasps as he recognizes the laugh. It is the same laugh he heard in his room just moments ago. But the shock of the events that followed pulled Twinfox out of his thoughts again. Within seconds [REDACTED] launches into a final, brutal assault slicing through his team with surgical precision, leaving behind nothing but a trail of ghostly green flames and shards of Aether flying through the air, illuminating his screen with a sickly glow. Twinfox hastily tries to close the game, but nothing seems to respond. "What the hell!? Come on..." he says, hammering commands into his keyboard. But nothing works. Then suddenly the screen turns black. Twinfox is sitting at his desk, frozen, his mind racing. In the darkness of his monitor a reflection starts to form. Just behind his own wide-eyed face an eerie green glow becomes brighter. Just inches away from his shoulder he looks into a pair of hollow eyes with a demonic smile.

"THE GLITCH THAT CALLS"

Fabian sits alone at his desk in his room, the glow of his monitor casting long shadows across the dark corners of the old manor. The creaks and whispers of the aged building fill the air, blending with the gentle hum of his computer and the soft purring of his nearby cats. Outside, the wind rattles the window, adding to the eerie silence. A knock at the door breaks the quiet. Its Manoah, poking his head in with an apologetic smile. "Hey, sorry to bother you so late, but that bugs back ever since Denis uploaded the new update. Forbidden Fortress is making crate sounds again. But its different this time. You should hear it for yourself. I already checked the code, but it seems like it might be connected to Wwise maybe?" With a frustrated sigh, Fabian pulls up the game, loading into the sinister corridors of the Forbidden Fortress. The torchlit halls flicker on his screen, and as he maneuvers his character through the dim, cobwebbed passageways, he braces for the familiar bugged sounds. But this time, something is undeniably wrong. Every step on the carpet, every creak of the fortress, every stumble caused by sticky websall carry that distorted crate sound, but theres an edge to it. Its not just a dull thud. No, its sharper almost like a distant, echoing scream.
Annoyed and a bit unsettled, Fabian shakes it off. Its just a bug, he mutters, trying to convince himself. But the tension gnaws at him. He decides to take a break, and as he heads down the dimly lit hallway to the kitchen, his cats follow closely, sensing his unease. Just as he reaches for a glass of Caipirinha on the counter, it slips from his hand, shattering on the stone floor. The sound it makes is not the sharp crack of glass breaking. Instead, its the same eerie, hollow 'crate' sound from the gamethe one thats been haunting him. His cats dart away, startled, and just as hes processing what happened, he hears footsteps behind him. Its Lunate, drawn by the noise. He raises both eyebrows eyebrow as he sees Fabian standing over the shards of glass. Is everything okay? Lunate asks. Yeah, Fabi mutters, forcing a smile. Im Im just going to fix this stupid sound bug. Lunate shakes his head. Yeah, that sounds safe. I will make you another Caipirinha once I fixed this UI bug. Feeling the weight of Lunate's words, Fabian returns to his room, determined. He launches back into the game, guiding his character through the fortresss maze-like corridors. Each step feels heavier, his mind clouded, but he presses on, sure he can fix it and put this eerie feeling behind him. He steers his character toward another web-covered corner, but suddenly, the controls stop responding. Confused, Fabian tries pressing the keys again, but nothing happens. Then he realizes he cant move his left hand. Slowly, he looks down and freezes. His hand is wrapped in delicate, glistening strands of web. He tries to tear it away, but his other hand is also covered in the thick, sticky threads. Panic grips him as he realizes that his entire body is now bound tightly in webs, as if the fortress has reached out of the screen to claim him. He opens his mouth to scream, but the sound that escapes is not his own. Its the same hollow, haunting scream hes been hearing for hours. The screen flickers, and in the monitors dim reflection, he sees his own roombut something is missing. Yes, he is missing. One of his cats sits confused on his chair, looking around, while Fabian slowly becomes aware that he is now sitting on a cold, brick floor surrounded by high walls and a gloomy atmosphere.

"QA STANDS FOR QUESTIONABLE ADVENTURES"

Rilvenar must have gone through hundreds of bug reports at this point. The discord notifications on his cell phone have woken him up. There were too many and they didn't let him get back to sleep. So he starts reading, assigning and testing the bugs. Something wasn't quite right and he couldn't figure out where some of the bugs were coming from.
Rilvenar was chatting back and forth with the programmers to figure out why so many reports were being sent until his questions didn't get answered anymore. In fact nothing was getting answered anymore. And he spotted an even bigger issue: Bug reports were getting deleted. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. So he wanders down the corridors on his quest to find answers. The hallway is barely lit and all he could hear was distant typing on a keyboard. Until he hears steps right behind him. He slowly turns around and sees dozens of eyes staring back at him. After staring at the eyes for a split second, Rilvenar blinks and so do two of the other eyes. And then it hit him. Lunate, why are you dressed up as a guaran tree? Rilvenar asks in disbelieve. Oh, I was out on a boardgame halloween party but I saw how many issues we were having with the new update, so I came in to fix some UI stuff, Lunate laughed, What are you doing down this hall anyway? I wanted to check on the programmers, none of them seem to answer me. Yeah, that sounds safe, Lunate nodded, Anyway, I'll check back with you later, I have so many things to fix. Lunate turned and walked into one of the barely lit offices. Rilvenar continues his way down the hall. The typing on the keyboard gets louder the closer to the end of the hallway he gets. He checks the first office: Nothing, just a computer in standby and a half-empty coffee cup. The second room looks similar, except for some papers on the floor with some sort of ... animal prints on them? He slowly moves to the last door and gently pushes it open. There was typing but he couldn't spot anyone. He glances at the floor. Dozens of ripped up, shredded bug reports with bite marks all over them or what was left of them. He had seen these before, right before they got deleted by someone. Hey, he said. Nothing. Hey, you can't just delete reports, we still need to check them! The chair slowly turns and two red eyes are staring right at him. Two red eyes that start growling, with a bug report still waiting to get torn up with its mouth. One second later it jumps towards Rilvenar. He dodges and starts running down the hallway as fast as he can. Trying not to bump into anything, he glances over his shoulder. A cat or a wolf? Maybe a dog? A schnauzer or a poodle perhaps? At the speed he was going he couldn't tell and he needed his focus elsewhere. He takes a turn into the break room and slams the door behind him. Rilvenar quickly pushes his back against the door before hearing a loud thud right behind him. Whatever was chasing him was stopped by the door and judging by the even louder growls afterwards, it isn't happy about it. He is scanning the room for anything he could use to keep the thing away from him, anything that could give him an advantage. He had almost decided on something, when he hears a loud Shoo! Shoo! Go away! from behind the door followed by banging on the floor and something running away. When he opens the door, he is looking into familiar eyes. Equipped with a children's bug net, Lunate must have fought off the evil spirit. What was that? How did it get here? Rilvenar turned towards the voice. Galina was standing next to Jorge with another children's bug net. We should really get going and check on the others, this update is causing a lot of trouble, Galina said, pointing towards the stairs to the first floor. As Rilvenar follows the others down the stairs, he stops for a moment to look back into the long corridor. He freezes when he sees two red glowing eyes in the corner and before he can make a move it takes a leap towards him and moments later red blood starts spilling out of where Rilvenar's hand should be. ..................... I cant find Twinfox! someone cries. Do you guys also hear Fabian screaming??? Where is he?, someone shouts. What is this update?!?, someone screams. The team is running around the manor. The last hours have been filled with chaos, screams, frantic typing. What is happening?, Sersch mumbles. Struck by the horrors he has witnessed happening to his team this night, Sersch desperately tries to find a solution. His hands are shaking while he is typing different commands pushing away the spine-chilling thoughts in his head. There has to be a way!, he shouts. Sersch stops for a second. Then he makes a decision. He opens up Git Hub and with one click, he reverts the whole update - not even bewailing the work and time he and the others had put into this update. He just wants to save this team. As he pushes the button, the lamps in the room begin to shine brighter and brighter, blinding him. Suddenly, the lamps tune down and when Denis is able to see again, he finds his whole team back in the manor, safe and sound. They look at each other, glad they survived the horrors of game development. Through the window one can see the sun rising and fog lifting.

We hope you enjoyed this absolutely realistic stories about game development and wish you all a happy Halloween!