Smiley

Smiley, officially designated as ARC-608, is an entity that can be found in The Darkrooms. Although he is a non-corporeal entity, he has a humanoid and masculine appearance, which has led the community to refer to it with "he/him" pronouns.
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=== Description ===
==== Face ====
Smiley is a blue floating face, surrounded by darkness that hides a lot of his full face. He has a wide and constant smile, as well as a bottom jaw, a philtrum, and a slightly pointed nose. His eyes are wide, unfocused, and carry a sense of madness. He has faint but discernible eyebrows, which appear more like smooth ridges rather than hair. He lacks human traits, such as eyelids, eyelashes, a tongue, teeth or wrinkles. The absence of these details can give the impression that his mouth is only open, rather than forming a true smile.
Smiley’s full face model is obscured under normal gameplay conditions. However, players have uncovered its complete design following a glitch in the Custom Mode menu, revealing that his full face closely resembles one of the several drawings found on noticeboards within The Classrooms and The Darkrooms. These drawings are themselves similar to Smiley's original inspiration, The Jungler, a name given to the figure from a 2018 DeviantArt post titled “Welp, That’s Unsettling.” While The Jungler depicted white skin, Smiley’s face has a bluish hue due to the in-game lighting, though his base model is entirely white.
==== Body ====
Smiley’s body was introduced by the developers to provide a visible form for his floating face when illuminated by light from behind, which remains his oldest visual glitch. This body was designed to be simplistic, static, and minimally detailed, as it was not intended to be visible during normal gameplay. It is entirely pitch black and humanoid, featuring two arms, two legs, three sharp fingers on each hand, and two large toes on each foot, with feet similar to swim fins. Smiley’s neck is positioned on the higher front part of the body's chest, resulting in a hunchbacked appearance. He lacks walking animations, but does feature a subtle constant idle animation. 
Some players find the body funny or goofy while others think it makes him creepier. Still, the body has a small practical benefit. It occasionally helps players spot Smiley when only small parts of him, like his limbs or feet, are visible for a split second around corners. Even though the body being visible is technically a glitch, it became a recognizable and praised feature of his.
In one update, the developers removed Smiley's body entirely, deciding it was no longer necessary due to the multiple patches that prevented it from being visible. However, the patches were not enough, and upon discovering Smiley as just a floating face, the players missed the body a lot. It had become a memorable part of his design, and feedback showed that its absence took away from his uniqueness. After seeing the community's reaction, the developers brought the body back in the following update.
Smiley has a faint black, transparent circle-shaped fog surrounding him. Originally, this fog was rectangular in shape and significantly more intense upon release, appearing pitch black rather than transparent. However, it has since been toned down, and the developers said it was an improved fog.
==== Iterations ====
Smiley’s design underwent numerous iterations before the current model was finalized.
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=== Behavior ===
Smiley emits a series of low, slow grunts comparable to deep moans, which he cycles through one at a time. These sounds can overlap and include 3 distinct variations. 
Smiley remains oriented toward the player at all times, ensuring his face is always visible, regardless of the player’s position or angle.
Smiley is dependent on darkness and cannot manifest under direct light. Shining a flashlight directly on Smiley causes him to turn invisible, creating a blue hue in the illuminated area. However, he reappears as soon as the light is turned off or far away enough from it. If Smiley comes across a light he can turn off, he will take exactly 10 seconds to disable said light. This behavior allows players to temporarily delay Smiley by strategically manipulating light sources, such as luring him into a dark room, turning on the lights to stall him, and using the opportunity to escape, as he will take time to disable the light before resuming the chase.
When facing his approximate area with a flashlight while it is turned on, Smiley will rapidly drain a player’s flashlight battery, draining a fully charged flashlight in precisely 17 seconds. This time used to be shorter in older versions of Smiley.
Players can safely pass through Smiley while he is invisible, although a bug may cause him to briefly flash into view. However, this issue is part of a bigger bug: if the player is within a specific close range of Smiley while the flashlight is on, his entire body becomes fully visible. In this state, Smiley does not harm the player or trigger the usual blue visual effect, and the flashlight remains unaffected. This glitch allows players to observe Smiley's full appearance up close without any danger.
Although his movement is restricted to areas with no light, Smiley is capable of teleportation under certain conditions. This behavior has only been observed in The Poolrooms, specifically when natural light obstructs his path and the player moves closer. In such cases, he may teleport to a different location. The exact mechanism behind this behavior is unknown, but it has been confirmed to be a part of Smiley's abilities. Smiley is unable to interact with natural light sources, such as candles or the light from The Poolrooms' windows. In these instances, he remains still at the edge of the natural light, unable to advance further.
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=== Countermeasures ===
The Glowstick is particularly effective against Smiley. When thrown, it causes the entity to instantly disappear and reappear elsewhere, allowing players to escape or reposition themselves. This mechanic aligns with Smiley’s teleportation ability, though it does not reset his state of always following the player nor prevents him from respawning in the same general area.
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=== Quirks ===
==== Jumpscare ====
Smiley's jumpscare shows him lunging his face at the camera, which turns red as the screen glitches out. During this jumpscare, his neck actually extends to bring its face closer to the player, rather than pulling the player into the jumpscare like one could assume. This was likely chosen by the developers because it was the easier solution.
==== Bugs ====
* One long-standing issue causes light sources behind Smiley to reveal his body that should otherwise remain obscured.
* Another bug, patched in version 0.6.1, causes him to make surrounding lights rapidly flicker between normal and normal, creating a strobe effect.
* When viewed from a distance or under abnormal lighting, players have noticed that Smiley’s face extends slightly beyond the dark fog surrounding him, creating an unusual effect where his facial outline is visible whereas his body remains hidden.
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=== Development ===
Smiley’s ARC document describes it as a non-corporeal entity capable of phasing through walls and objects in darkness, a feature originally planned but abandoned due to time constraints. If implemented, the developers stated that Smiley’s behavior would bypass navigation rules, allowing it to float directly toward the player while ignoring all obstacles. He would also align himself vertically to the player to prevent unintended kills through the ground. The document also shows him within a gymnasium, a location hinted at by the developers and mentioned in a diary entry, though it has yet to be added to the game. 
One scrapped idea for The Playrooms gave the option for Smiley to switch between walking, floating, or even teleporting depending on the situation. 
While these ideas were exciting, the developers ultimately decided they were too ambitious. There were concerns about balancing these abilities and ensuring Smiley didn’t break gameplay mechanics by becoming impossible to avoid. They also considered saving these features for a more advanced version of Smiley, rather than reworking the original. 
==== Diary Entry ====
A diary entry written by a former ARC subject named Rosemary references Smiley and features a hand-drawn sketch of his face at the bottom. This diary entry already existed when the Smiler was still part of the game, and the sketch at the bottom initially depicted the Smiler’s face. This sketch was later updated to show Smiley’s face after the entity was replaced. 
The earlier version of the diary entry also stated that the Smiler was capable of moving through vents. However, this information was eventually removed when the entry was updated for Smiley’s inclusion. This suggests that this earlier concept for the Smiler was either abandoned or deemed infeasible due to time constraints. Alternatively, it is possible that the vent-related claim was left out by mistake, added while the developers were still formulating Smiler’s mechanics.