No Mutants Allowed

[archont]

It's hard to create a good scare. Gameplay systems are logical and often simple constructs, gamers, especially the more experienced ones, will quickly dissect an experience and figure out the actual danger the horror element represents, when it's going to appear, what they can expect.

People fear the unknown and that's the key point. A game calling itself a horror game has to not only prevent the player from getting to know and understand the threat, but every so often intentionally shake and undermine his understanding of it, as it is. Plainly, a tactic that the player thought to be foolproof - isn't, the player's understanding of the underlying horror design philosophy and approach - flawed and outthought.

The player needs to feel that he is in control of his avatar, but build a sense of dread, never really making the player feel he can control the overall situation, even if it appears to be the case at the moment. That he has little idea of what's going to happen next, that once he thought he had an idea of what's going on, he really doesn't.

This means placing a lot of red herrings, toying with the player, surprising him. For example at a certain point in the game the player could recieve an awesome-looking weapon with subtle cues and indications that it is going to change the dynamics of gameplay and make the player the hunter. Then make the player shoot a civilian with it, make him waste all ammo on something else before the real monster is encountered or simply make it ineffective against the threat. If the game can make the player feel that he has made a critically bad decision (especially if, in reality, there was no decision to be made) the better.

I think a system like L4D2's director would be the ultimate tool for this. Player is closely watching doors? Make the monster appear in the window. Is the player paying less attention in a particular area, considering it's safe? Destroy that preconception. If done properly this could give the player the unnerving feeling that he isn't merely progressing through a static series of events, but something is actively watching and working against him.


And one important thing, horror often has to be subtle. Anthropomorphic characters are cute, but a nearly-perfect if emotionless human face on a robot can be unnerving. Nearly human is more alien than an actual alien.

Edit: There's so much unexplored potential in games. Like portals - open a door to a shack and see that the room inside is actually much bigger than the shack itself. Dynamically-changing geometry (was there a door here like two minutes ago or am I lost?) and 3rd wall breaking (why is my facebook profile picture plastered on the serial killer's dining room wall along with in-game victim characters?)

Edit2: And I'm still eagerly awaiting the moment when a game simulates a crash to desktop only for you to see that your desktop is melting and blood is coming out from under icons. But only if the game detects you've been playing for a long while and it's early morning/very late night.

Oh I can only imagine how many bricks would be shat with that trick.

[Per]

[archont]

[Alphadrop]

[C2B]

tons of games do similiar things to this.

I don't really think its that good and sometimes its downright stupid.

[archont]

[randir14]

[archont]

That game wasn't much of a horror game though, was it? Saw it on youtube - clever idea.

I generally don't think breaking the 4rth wall (did I type 3rd?) is something that should be done everywhere and at every opportunity. However it's invaluable for horror games, as it wrestles control from the player and breaks his preconception of what a game is and how it operates. Ultimately the goal of a horror game is to make the player terrified. Breaking the fourth wall means the game skips the player avatar as the proxy altogether and attempts to unhinge the player directly.

If done poorly it's nothing more than a stupid and silly distraction. If executed with skill however, the emotional impact, I feel, can be much bigger than anything that is strictly in-game. After all, it shakes the most fundamental coping mechanism for stress in games - "This is just a game, the player character is my proxy, everything bad that happens, happens only to this proxy and not me".

[Alphadrop]

[junkevil]