Embedded Files
Synopsis
Frightline is a cinematic 2.5D puzzle-platformer set aboard a haunted spirit train traveling through a surreal afterlife. A young boy awakens alone in a storage cart and discovers he can separate his spirit from his body, allowing him to possess objects, manipulate the environment, and uncover hidden paths forward. As he moves deeper into the train’s corpse-filled compartments, unsettling signs of past passengers and a looming Conductor turn exploration into a tense fight for survival.
Blending environmental storytelling, possession-based puzzles, stealth, and high-intensity chase sequences, Frightline builds from quiet isolation to relentless pursuit. The journey culminates at the locomotive, where the boy faces an ambiguous final choice — escape the spirit world, or become part of it.
Characters
NAME: VESPERA
AGE: 8
APPEARANCE:
Vespera wears a thick, short-sleeved blue shirt with matching gloves and socks, paired with brown shorts and black shoes. A starry beanie rests loosely on his head — a quiet detail that captures both warmth and wonder. Despite the simplicity of his outfit, it feels personal, almost nostalgic, as if chosen by someone else long ago.
PERSONALITY / BEHAVIOR:
Silent, curious, and introspective, Vespera mirrors the player’s exploration of the world, yet he remains distinct — an independent soul with subtle, human reactions. Though he never speaks, his emotions are conveyed through movement, posture, and hesitation. During spirit-walking sequences, his pain and fear become visible, exposing a vulnerability beyond the player’s control.
THEMATIC ROLE:
Vespera represents innocence, rebirth, and helpless curiosity. His silence creates space for the world’s sounds and memories to speak instead. Through his eyes, the player experiences both discovery and despair — a child navigating the remnants of a forgotten world.
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NAME: THE CONDUCTOR
AGE: Unknown
APPEARANCE:
The Conductor is dressed in a black suit, with a white shirt and black tie, adorned with golden buttons that give him a more distinct, imposing look. His face is obscured beneath a hat and a great white scraggly beard, eyes hollow and empty — as if void of empathy for the dead. His movements are deliberate, mechanical, almost ritualistic.
PERSONALITY / BEHAVIOR:
A terrifying and commanding figure, the Conductor is the keeper of the Spirit Train — tasked with maintaining its endless movement and ensuring the reincarnation of lost souls. Though they rarely intervene directly, their silent authority looms over every journey. Whenever Vespera draws too much attention or strays from the train’s “path,” the Conductor appears and pursues him.
PRESENCE IN-GAME:
Appearances are unpredictable, often emerging during critical gameplay or narrative beats. The air changes before they arrive — lights flicker, metal grinds, and the whistle of the Spirit Train echoes like a warning.
THEMATIC ROLE:
The Conductor embodies inevitability and control — the natural order that binds the Spirit Train’s purpose. They serve as the antithesis to Vespera’s fragile curiosity, a manifestation of law against innocence.
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NAME: THE REVENANT
AGE: Unknown (appears around 9–10)
APPEARANCE:
The Revenant resembles a fragile, doll-like child — a lifeless body left behind near the workshop by the locomotive. Oversized sleeves hang loosely from his thin frame, fabric torn and blackened with soot. His once-white shirt is dulled by oil and dust, ribbon frayed and limp. His eyes are hollow, glazed with a dark sheen, as though something inside him once tried to stay awake.
PERSONALITY / BEHAVIOR:
Once like Vespera — quiet, curious, and unable to let go of what he didn’t understand. Long before the player’s arrival, he wandered the Spirit Train searching for answers, leaving behind scattered sketches and newspaper clippings for anyone who followed. Though gone by the story’s start, his traces remain — a silent companion who once tried to defy the inevitable.
PRESENCE IN-GAME:
The Revenant’s presence lingers through drawings and circled headlines, each revealing his attempt to understand the train. The further the player progresses, the more frantic and desperate his markings become, as if he sensed the Conductor watching. Near the end, his body is found in the workshop beside the locomotive — his final resting place and a warning of what’s to come.
THEMATIC ROLE:
The Revenant represents resistance — the cost of curiosity in a world ruled by order. Where the Conductor enforces inevitability, the Revenant shows the consequences of questioning it. His story mirrors Vespera’s path, showing what becomes of a soul that reaches too far.
The characters of this game were rather interesting to write for because they all had to be distinct, (albeit you never actually see one of them, only ever read about them when finding newspapers) without uttering a single line of dialogue. Each character had to stick out not only due to exaggerated features but also by having different ways of moving. Size was played with as well in order to make the feeling of helplessness come across even stronger. These characters were interesting to write about because it forced me to work with minimal to zero exposition, so cutscenes and sounds became far more important. Facial expressions and limping movement also helped distinguish their characters even more.
World & Setting
WORLD NAME:
- Spirit Realm
WORLD OVERVIEW:
The Spirit Realm is a dimension suspended between the worlds of the living and the dead — a liminal space where departed souls linger, waiting for reincarnation. Various forms of ethereal transportation traverse this plane, with the train being only one of many ways to journey across its ever-shifting landscapes.
PHYSICAL RULES:
Time flows differently here; it bends and distorts without consistency. The realm is cloaked in perpetual twilight, absent of any natural sun. When great tragedies occur in the mortal world —such as war, pestilence, or famine — the Spirit Realm responds with torrential monsoons, mirroring the collective suffering of humanity.
SPIRITUAL / LOGICAL RULES:
The metaphysical layer is alive — objects can be possessed, phenomena manifest, and reality itself feels fluid. Here, conventional physics hold no meaning: falling, gravity, and distance bend to the will of the spirit. Yet in the physical layer, the world is cold, static, and desolate. Pain and mortality remain real — a soul can suffer, and even die, despite being between worlds.
VISUAL LANGUAGE:
The physical layer is stark, lifeless, and brittle — a place of decay. The spiritual layer, in contrast, glows with warmth and fluidity, radiant and alive. Together, they form a living contrast between the impermanence of the body and the transcendence of spirit, a visual dichotomy that mirrors the realm’s essence.
I began developing a World & Settings Bible to clearly define the tone, rules, and metaphysical logic of the train. My goal was to ensure that every developer could understand not just what the world looks like, but how it functions — visually, mechanically, and spiritually.
This foundation was crucial because Frightline is entirely dialogue less. Every emotional beat — fear, tension, relief, curiosity — must be conveyed through environment, pacing, lighting, animation, and player interaction alone. There are no spoken explanations, and with little to no text to guide interpretation.
At first, designing within that constraint was challenging. Without dialogue, emotional clarity has to come from structure and atmosphere. Over time, however, that limitation became a strength. It forced stronger environmental storytelling, clearer mechanical symbolism, and more deliberate emotional pacing.
But if I were to tell you that any of this was easy then that would be a blatant lie, I couldn't tell you how many times I had to go back to drawing board just to make sure that the world stayed consistent and continued to make sense.
Except From Frightline
ACT: I – What A Peculiar Place?
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CART 1 – Storage A–01
CART 1 – Storage A–01
INT.: METAL ROOM – NIGHT
🔹 Cutscene – Spirit Focus
A whispering wind soothes a descending onto a spirit that lays on the ground, the boy is in a room containing boxes and a shelf, their spirit is drawn towards a box. Darkness consumes everything except the gentle light shining on one peculiar box. The spirit pushes themselves off the ground, allowing The Player to take control of the character.
GAMEPLAY START:
The Player is now able to control the spirit, their soul is drawn to one of the boxes and pressing the interaction button causes the body to be drawn into the box.
🔹 Cutscene – New Body Focus
A deafening silence lingers until The Player clicks the mouse button, causing the box to open and reveal the boy hiding within. The Player hears the boys hear beat as they take a breath before he pushes himself up to his feet.
GAMEPLAY CONTINUES:
The Player takes control inside the large metal room. They find stacks of boxes placed next to a set of oil drums. They won’t be able to see the upward path at first, but to the right, two cages lead up to a small platform, which slowly reveals a set of jumps leading to the other side of the room. The boxes dwindle out until they reach the section that leads to the next room.
PLAYER ACTIONS:
Walk, push, jump, crouch, and move around the silent room.
ENVIRONMENT REACTIONS:
Cold creaks and whispering winds. Minimal light glimmers through small holes with movement.
I found that writing this project was significantly harder, but as an author, I don’t exactly back down from a challenge — especially one that required me to utilize my main skill to the best of my capabilities. So I put my head down and focused on making sure I understood how a dialogue-less story was supposed to be written, considering I come from a background where dialogue is king.
I had severely underestimated this task, as it was significantly harder to keep control of a story when the characters don’t speak. Additionally, because so much is left to interpretation, I had to make sure to document everything and keep the developers in line. This became a little problematic as they — artists specifically — wanted to implement their own quirks into the world and characters, understandable seeing as this is a student project and perhaps narrative isn't as important to them but it nearly created a massive tonal shift from the game’s initial philosophy. Luckily, the lead and I managed to steer it back to its original tracks.
It was important that we informed the players just enough so they would continue toward the right path. This game could easily have fallen off the tracks and become just a silent puzzle experience with little to no bearing whatsoever, which would have been a shame, as all of our work would have been for naught.
Newspaper clippings
Number: 1
1. NEWSPAPER NAME:
THE SPIRIT GAZETTE
2. DATE:
3rd of May – 1947
3. HEADLINE (CIRCLED):
MYSTERIOUS “UNCLAIMED CARGO” FOUND MOVING INSIDE STORAGE CRATES – WORKERS REFUSE NIGHT SHIFTS
4. BODY TEXT (UNREADABLE / SMUDGED):
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed — ░▒▓ ▓▒░ — vitae nunc porttitor... text smudged, torn, and barely legible beyond the headline.
5. LOCATION FOUND:
Found on a box across from the second crank.
6. VISUAL NOTES:
Number 2. Dirty one.
NEWSPAPER CLIPPING #2
NEWSPAPER CLIPPING #2
1. NEWSPAPER NAME:
The Spirit Gazette
2. DATE:
13th of June – 1938
3. HEADLINE (CIRCLED):
COMPARTMENT FIRE CLAIMS 12 — UNUSUAL BLOOD CONSISTENCY BAFFLES AUTHORITIES
4. BODY TEXT (UNREADABLE / SMUDGED):
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed — ░▒▓ ▓▒░ — vitae nunc porttitor… text smudged, torn, and barely legible beyond the headline.
5. LOCATION FOUND:
Found under the bed in the cabin of the hanging mannequin in the first compartment level.
6. VISUAL NOTES:
Burnet one. Number one.
In-game representation
These were late additions to the game. I sat down with the designers and spoke to them about how most testers had no clue what was going on. No matter how much environmental storytelling we added, without specific cutscenes or more emphasis on the world itself, players would be left confused — especially since the endgame cutscene was only 50% completed, lacking the vision of home on the opposite end of the firepit. This left players wondering if the boy had committed suicide, when in reality he had rejected his comatose condition and chosen to return home to his family.
So, I handed out a couple of notes to each designer, wrote down which cart they were supposed to focus on, and let them come up with a short story about that cart that would relate back to the game. I then went through each one and made sure to edit them so the voice and context remained consistent across all of them. I believe this ultimately helped the game, as it not only gave players a reason to go back and find all of the newspaper clippings but also helped them better understand both the world and the character.
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