Creator Spotlight: Kharbor_ykt, the Mind Behind Short Creepy Stories

Happy Halloween, Creators! :jack_o_lantern:

Step into the world of Short Creepy Stories, an immersive collection of first-person horror experiences. Each story is crafted with a blend of eerie atmosphere and suspenseful narratives. From haunted houses to supernatural mysteries, Short Creepy Stories has become a standout experience for horror fans.

Kharbor_ykt started with a simple game for his kids, which then evolved into crafting terrifying experiences.

Let’s dive into his story.

Early Beginnings

@Kharbor_ykt’s journey into creation was fueled by his kids’ love for obbies on Roblox! His son would often get frustrated and lost. After seeing his son almost give up, Kharbor_ykt was inspired to create a simple, easy obby just for him. However, after a while, his son shifted his interest to the horror genre. After playing various titles, Kharbot_ykt realized, “I could create something similar, but better!”

His next experience, SCP Rooms, started as a small project just for his family but soon attracted a wider audience. “Seeing their enjoyment and the game’s growing popularity inspired me to continue making games.”

That led to the creation of Short Creepy Stories!

The Story Behind Short Creepy Stories

Kharbor_ykt drew inspiration from iconic horror games like Hideo Kojima’s “PT”, Silent Hill, Half-Life, Soma, and various indie titles. He’s always loved horror movies and games and it felt natural to create something terrifying on Roblox. For example, Nightmare Nextdoor is influenced by the work of horror manga artist Junji Ito.

He doesn’t break the story into pieces either — Kharbor_ykt likes to storyboard everything upfront, then adds new details or ideas as the game comes together. This approach lets him keep the story flexible and add extra depth as he develops.


A map overview of “The Dreadful Shower”

The stories in Short Creepy Stories vary in difficulty, offering a range of complexities, from straightforward tales to intricate challenges keeping players on their toes. In easier stories, players follow a linear sequence of tasks, such as turning on the TV, cooking food, or watering flowers. More complex narratives introduce riddles, like finding and remembering codes in the Homecoming story, or achieving a “perfect ending” by avoiding certain tasks in the Night Cleaner.

Kharbor_ykt shares how challenging it can be to predict player reactions: “Sometimes I think a story will be easy, but players get stuck. Other times, I anticipate a challenge, and they breeze through it.” Among the hardest for players is the Doll House story, a fan favorite for its twisted narrative and tense atmosphere.


Short Creepy Stories - Dollhouse

Mastering Horror Atmosphere

A key element in horror games is lighting, and Kharbor_ykt stresses the importance of balance.

“It’s all about balance. Too dark and players get irritated - not scared; too bright and the scare factor is lost. Mastering this balance is key to creating a truly immersive and scary atmosphere.”


Karen Carter awaits you…

To find the right balance, Kharbor_ykt playtests on different devices, including an old Android phone and an iPhone, and keeps performance in mind by “not overloading the experience with unnecessary models and scripts”.

Sound and music also play a pivotal role in creating the terrifying atmosphere in Kharbor_ykt’s experiences. He sources his audio from a mix of copyright-free libraries and online marketplaces like Itch.io, selecting tracks to enhance each story’s setting. For 90s-themed stories, he leans on nostalgic tracks, while for contemporary themes, he incorporates ambient sounds, such as wind, footsteps, and creaking floors, to create a lifelike atmosphere.

Some examples of what that sounds like:

Kharbor_ykt stresses that sound is key to building suspense, approaching it in layers. Tension begins with subtle sounds, then escalates as flickering shadows appear in the player’s periphery, gradually leading up to a climax—or sometimes, the absence of one. This steady buildup immerses players further, making each layer of sound an essential component of the horror experience.


The Noisy neighbor from Nightmare Nextdoor

Community and Future Plans

Kharbor_ykt’s community has been vital to his growth as a developer. He often engages with them through Guilded, Discord, and other platforms, where players share their feedback and ideas, and offer to help design certain aspects like character design.

Currently, Kharbor_ykt is working on a prequel to his popular story about the night shift on Highway 90, which he plans to release soon. The locations and plot are ready - it’s only a matter of finalizing the dialogue!


First Look at Kharbor_ykt’s next project. I don’t mind making a pit stop here… Seems safe enough. :eyes:

Advice for New Creators

For those just starting in Roblox development, Kharbor_ykt’s advice is simple:

“Don’t be afraid to begin to create games. Even if you don’t know how to program/model. Roblox is a great platform to learn fast. If you need more help, it’s easy to find friends and a community to lean on.

If you are a beginner, the easiest way is to make friends in the creator hub, there you can find a team for yourself or assemble a new team.”

Kharbor_ykt’s journey ranges from creating a simple obby for his son to becoming an expert horror experience creator on the platform and we can’t wait to see what he creates next!


A BIG thank you to Kharbor_ykt for taking the time to sit with us and guiding us through his journey! If you want to connect with Kharbor_ykt, please join his Guilded and Discord!

33 Likes

This topic was automatically opened after 11 minutes.

This sounds so corporate and inauthentic.

As a developer who made a few thousand dollars of the platform over a period of a few years, new developers should listen to my advice instead, which is less corporate and probably more beneficial and the advice mentioned:

“Start as soon as possible. Roblox keeps removing the essential tools needed for new developers such as public sounds, robux-paid plugins, user advertisements and countless more. This gives an unfair advantage to those developers who started early than those who started later. It is clear that Roblox has worsened, as they put priority for their corporate goals over new developers. As a result, you should to pursue your developer endeavours on this platform as early as possible, otherwise, not at all”

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public sounds

Roblox gave us access to the APM library - the world’s largest and most-used stock audio platform - for free.

robux-paid plugins

Having to purchase things with Robux doesn’t benefit new developers, it benefits those who already had access to Robux. It’s much easier to purchase something with USD than to buy more Robux than you need, just to get a plugin.

user advertisements

Advertising is now more cost-effective, since we only pay for plays, not for impressions. The only substantial impact of changing from the classic advertisements, to the new Ads Manager, was to improve the sponsorship system.

This gives an unfair advantage to those developers who started early than those who started later

Roblox continues to make it easier for small and new creators to be discovered on this platform. It would have been nearly impossible to launch a game without advertising when I first started on Roblox - now it’s easy to get picked up by Homepage Recommendations, even without the huge player count needed to make it to the front page. That wasn’t even a thing when I started developing - the only way to get organic plays was to make it to the front page by having 10k or more concurrent players. Which required a huge ad budget, which required either spending absurd amounts of money on Robux - or - being an existing developer.

There are for sure valid things to criticize Roblox on - but none of the items you’ve mentioned are negative changes. Everything you’ve mentioned has made it easier for new developers to get started on this platform.

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This is literally the least corporate thing Roblox has done in the last 4 years lol

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Correction: This is a very down-to-earth post. Where in any part of the post is it inauthentic and corporate?

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It does if said new user is under the age of 18…

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This article is very well-written! Good job! You didn’t make it

His games are scary shiver me timbers :cold_face:

Hope I can become as good as him…

that escalated quickly

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I don’t know anyone over 16 without a bank card, and anyone under that isn’t a professional Roblox developer.

Some europeans can’t get a card until over 18

Oh, they did a great job. Very memorable game.