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The "How" question. How do you scare the player through gameplay?
For the most part, most "scary games" use non-gameplay things that movies do to scare the player. Dark atmosphere, scary cutscenes, scary-looking characters, sudden bursts of sound and violence, etc.
Gameplay-wise, most games use the basic danger and difficulty of an enemy as the basis of fear. Some others use "the fear of the unknown" as the basis of fear (dark winding corridors). What other things could you do through gameplay to scare the player?
hmm...
maybe suddenly giving him a handicap to make even basic combat suddenly very dangerous.
and making a game where death isn''t going to happen so often that players get numb to it.
just a couple of ideas...
maybe suddenly giving him a handicap to make even basic combat suddenly very dangerous.
and making a game where death isn''t going to happen so often that players get numb to it.
just a couple of ideas...
just put him in a situation where he doesn''t know what to do to survive. don''t ever let him know where the enemy is. just let him know he _is_ there and he _will_gonna_kill_you_. hurt him, but never kill him. hurt him psychologically, by killing other things he can see, but again, without seeing the enemy.
and make a good story. let the player know that the enemy is no one bad, but you are. you hurt him damn bad and now he''s just here for the revenge.
all you need is someone good at designing stories/movies. he will help you for ingame as well, where you need what effect to scare the player till death.
surprise him:D
and don''t let much enemies be there. that doesn''t scare. except its something like in the mummy, meaning zillions of bugs, or what evers, and you know you have to go through but you don''t know how, and you know you have not much time to think anymore. let him run away as only chance to survive.
and if he got something he really needs to solve his problems, some key, or a person. let it get lost, let it die, or what ever. so that he''s now alone.
thats about my vague ideas. for all of them, you need one thing: a good story.
"take a look around" - limp bizkit
www.google.com
and make a good story. let the player know that the enemy is no one bad, but you are. you hurt him damn bad and now he''s just here for the revenge.
all you need is someone good at designing stories/movies. he will help you for ingame as well, where you need what effect to scare the player till death.
surprise him:D
and don''t let much enemies be there. that doesn''t scare. except its something like in the mummy, meaning zillions of bugs, or what evers, and you know you have to go through but you don''t know how, and you know you have not much time to think anymore. let him run away as only chance to survive.
and if he got something he really needs to solve his problems, some key, or a person. let it get lost, let it die, or what ever. so that he''s now alone.
thats about my vague ideas. for all of them, you need one thing: a good story.
"take a look around" - limp bizkit
www.google.com
If you can get hold of them, check out System Shock 2(PC) and Clive Barkers Undying(PC) for ideas, two of the scariest games I''ve ever played 
You don''t need to have a story in your game to make the player feel fear. Doom could scare the crap out of you...altho this was more or less a "make you jump!" type of scare...situations like the first time you encountered a Cyberdemon, allowed the players to face dread..as you could hear this beast walking around, before you could see it.
The biggest key is going to be the game setting...getting the atmosphere right.
A somewhat popular PSX game was Silent Hill...for me there were some very scary parts in it...but most of the time the game wasn''t nearly as scarry as it should have been...it got the setting right...the fogged over landscape..the pitch black nights where you are armed with only a flashlight....but the various creature you often came into contact with lessened the experience...for example:
the foot long cockroaches...they would have been much more scarey if they were able to walk on the walls and ceilings (where they could drop down onto the player)...if they were to run once they came into contact with the flash light, it would contribute to the "creepyness" of the situation, as players would only get a brief glimpse of the scurring bugs...combined with appropiate sounds, this would have really been scarry.
Other ways to make players face fear is to mess around with thier expectations...for example players are wondering around inside a ''haunted house'' and they stumble upon a phone....9 times out of ten then phone line is dead...players expect that...but what if players picked up the phone and dialed 911...and it rings, and rings, and rings...but there is no answer...this can be very scarry, as instead of the problem being "the phones don''t work" (a ''local'' problem), players must then face the idea that "the phones work, but there is no answer, what happened to the rest of the world?"...
The biggest key is going to be the game setting...getting the atmosphere right.
A somewhat popular PSX game was Silent Hill...for me there were some very scary parts in it...but most of the time the game wasn''t nearly as scarry as it should have been...it got the setting right...the fogged over landscape..the pitch black nights where you are armed with only a flashlight....but the various creature you often came into contact with lessened the experience...for example:
the foot long cockroaches...they would have been much more scarey if they were able to walk on the walls and ceilings (where they could drop down onto the player)...if they were to run once they came into contact with the flash light, it would contribute to the "creepyness" of the situation, as players would only get a brief glimpse of the scurring bugs...combined with appropiate sounds, this would have really been scarry.
Other ways to make players face fear is to mess around with thier expectations...for example players are wondering around inside a ''haunted house'' and they stumble upon a phone....9 times out of ten then phone line is dead...players expect that...but what if players picked up the phone and dialed 911...and it rings, and rings, and rings...but there is no answer...this can be very scarry, as instead of the problem being "the phones don''t work" (a ''local'' problem), players must then face the idea that "the phones work, but there is no answer, what happened to the rest of the world?"...
Fear of the unknown is good. That''s why horror games are dark. You never know what could jump out at you. It''s important to have variance in the enemies. Like if you hear strange noises and you instantley identify it as a fat zombie man -- and enemy that you have killed many times -- it defeats the fear. Like in SS2, the first time you fight a zombie. I was cowering in a corner with my pipe wrench held back, because I didn''t know what the hell those voices were. When I got farther into the game the zombies were not as scary as they were annoying, because I knew how they fought and how to kill them. So sort of what MSW said about screwing with their expectations.i
Also, having handicaped weapons, like crowbars or muskets, where you cannot just shoot wildly to kill everything. Or on Undying, where the shotgun had to reloaded every two shots. If they gave you a shotugn with 8 shots, it wouldn''t really be a weaker weapon, but a handicapped weapon.
Just some ideas. . . I really want a fps with a flint-lock pistol. . .
Phriction
Also, having handicaped weapons, like crowbars or muskets, where you cannot just shoot wildly to kill everything. Or on Undying, where the shotgun had to reloaded every two shots. If they gave you a shotugn with 8 shots, it wouldn''t really be a weaker weapon, but a handicapped weapon.
Just some ideas. . . I really want a fps with a flint-lock pistol. . .
Phriction
Music...
The mac had a game called marathon that could scare the crap out of you, and a big part of it was that the background music made you paranoid.
Check out Alien vs. Preditor. I haven''t seen the new one, but the old one was good for making you jump.
The mac had a game called marathon that could scare the crap out of you, and a big part of it was that the background music made you paranoid.
Check out Alien vs. Preditor. I haven''t seen the new one, but the old one was good for making you jump.
Definetly the music adds to the atmosphere of the game. Even If you got the atmosphere right, the music could ruin the whole effect for you if you dont get that right too. Some pieces of music thaty I've heard say nothing but evil in it's tone. One of my favourite 'evil' pieces of music would have to be from ff7, the piece that is played when sephiroth is around. Man is that one evil riff!!
You could make it a little ...easier... for the character to die. In silent hill it was shit hard for you to die. But it was a pretty scary game. The player should care about the character, you get that through character development (if your game requires it that is ie: not for quake). The more the player cares about the chracter, the more afraid s/he would be to loose him/her/it.
(You could also make save points far away from each other, so that they would be scared to die for having to repeat everything again
)
just remember this one thing...
"things that are , dont make people scared...the thought of things that will be is what scares them"
The more you can make the player think, the more insane conclusions the player will come to about whats around the next corner. The more conclusions you make the user make up, the more suspense there will be. The more suspense there is, the more fear of whats to come there will be.
"I know sometimes I ask stupid questions...but i mean well
"
[Triple Buffer-My home]|[SCRIPTaGAME]|[My Old Site]
[edited by - alfmga on October 12, 2002 3:01:55 PM]
You could make it a little ...easier... for the character to die. In silent hill it was shit hard for you to die. But it was a pretty scary game. The player should care about the character, you get that through character development (if your game requires it that is ie: not for quake). The more the player cares about the chracter, the more afraid s/he would be to loose him/her/it.
(You could also make save points far away from each other, so that they would be scared to die for having to repeat everything again
)just remember this one thing...
"things that are , dont make people scared...the thought of things that will be is what scares them"
The more you can make the player think, the more insane conclusions the player will come to about whats around the next corner. The more conclusions you make the user make up, the more suspense there will be. The more suspense there is, the more fear of whats to come there will be.
"I know sometimes I ask stupid questions...but i mean well
"[Triple Buffer-My home]|[SCRIPTaGAME]|[My Old Site]
[edited by - alfmga on October 12, 2002 3:01:55 PM]
Music is definitely a factor for fear in video games, but you also have to mess with the character''s mind, which is why I think companies should hire psychological consultants when developing horror games.
Oh, and Mike Patton should do the music, and if you don''t know who Mike Patton is...well then...you should find out who he is...because it''s a good thing to know.
Anyway, back to fear. If you''re playing a survival horror game, and you have a big, mean looking gun...monsters aren''t all that scary. Even if you''re running low on ammo, you have a couple of other not-so-big-mean guns to rely on. I don''t know about you, but a big mean dude with a huge gun and a malicious grin is a tad bit scarier than a winged fire breathing demon from the black depths of Hell...sometimes.
If you want real horror, these monsters have to get into your face, you have to see every horrific detail, every little nuance that makes you want to crap your pants, because...without that...it''s...just not scary.
Silent Hill did a pretty good job, in some ways, but it just ended up being annoying, because the guy could not hit crap. I mean, sure...he was just your average joe with no weapons training, and he was shooting at demons and crap, but seriously, he could have been a little better.
Also, I believe strongly in character development, you might even go as far as allow the player to create their own character, so it brings them a little closer to heart.
Also again...zombies have been done to DEATH...undeath? Of course they''re a staple of the horror genre, but come on, at least make them a little different, other than just your shuffling, moaning, mutilated zombies.
A horror game should be more psychologically scary, something that the player can actually relate to. I mean, have YOU ever fought zombies before? I haven''t...
Well, I guess that''s my two cents...That''s about twelve cents Canadian, right?
Why?!?
Oh, and Mike Patton should do the music, and if you don''t know who Mike Patton is...well then...you should find out who he is...because it''s a good thing to know.
Anyway, back to fear. If you''re playing a survival horror game, and you have a big, mean looking gun...monsters aren''t all that scary. Even if you''re running low on ammo, you have a couple of other not-so-big-mean guns to rely on. I don''t know about you, but a big mean dude with a huge gun and a malicious grin is a tad bit scarier than a winged fire breathing demon from the black depths of Hell...sometimes.
If you want real horror, these monsters have to get into your face, you have to see every horrific detail, every little nuance that makes you want to crap your pants, because...without that...it''s...just not scary.
Silent Hill did a pretty good job, in some ways, but it just ended up being annoying, because the guy could not hit crap. I mean, sure...he was just your average joe with no weapons training, and he was shooting at demons and crap, but seriously, he could have been a little better.
Also, I believe strongly in character development, you might even go as far as allow the player to create their own character, so it brings them a little closer to heart.
Also again...zombies have been done to DEATH...undeath? Of course they''re a staple of the horror genre, but come on, at least make them a little different, other than just your shuffling, moaning, mutilated zombies.
A horror game should be more psychologically scary, something that the player can actually relate to. I mean, have YOU ever fought zombies before? I haven''t...
Well, I guess that''s my two cents...That''s about twelve cents Canadian, right?
Why?!?
I can''t believe no one has mentioned Resident Evil! Play that game at midnight with all the lights off and it can scare the crap out of you. I think what that game has going for it with scaring you is the camera''s point of view, music, sudden things (dogs jumping through the window *shudders*), etc. Play that game a few times to get the idea. The newer games (like the GQ version) use a new camera system, and it works. But I don''t think it gives you the same scare as the old system...
Always remember, you''''re unique. Just like everyone else.
Always remember, you''''re unique. Just like everyone else.
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