[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]...Again [/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]It turns out that we, the human species cannot help but try to stick a label on anything and everything. So when I first started researching horror in order to gain an insight into what people find scary, the first place I hit was Wikipedia. The below box is an edited set of quotes from Wiki.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][quote][/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Splatterpunk is distinguished by its graphic, often gory, depiction of violence and "hyperintensive horror with no limits." It is regarded as a revolt against the "traditional, meekly suggestive horror story".[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Monster horror combines good and evil and intends to evoke a sensation of horror and terror in its audience by presenting the evil side in the form of a monster.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Psychological horror relies on characters' fears and emotional instability to build tension. It typically plays on archetypal shadow characteristics embodied by the threat. Psychological horror aims to create discomfort by exposing common or universal psychological vulnerabilities and fears, such as the shadowy parts of the human psyche which most people repress or deny, whereas splatter fiction focuses on bizarre, alien evil to which the average viewer cannot easily relate.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Body horror, biological horror, organic horror or venereal horror in which the horror is principally derived from the graphic destruction or degeneration of the body. Such works may deal with disease, decay, parasitism, mutilation, or mutation. Other types of body horror include unnatural movements, or the anatomically incorrect placement of limbs to create 'monsters' out of human body parts.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Erotic horror in which sensual or sexual imagery (or even descriptions of the physical act of sexual intercourse) are blended with horrific overtones or story elements.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Gothic horror is a genre that combines elements of both horror and romance.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Lovecraftian horror emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown (in some cases, unknowable) over gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Survival horror is a subgenre of action-adventure video games. Although combat can be a part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less powerful than in typical action games, because of limited ammunition, health, speed, or other limitations. The player is also challenged to find items that unlock the path to new areas, and solve puzzles at certain locations. Games make use of strong horror themes, and the player is often challenged to navigate dark maze-like environments, and react to unexpected attacks from enemies.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][/quote][/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]This is by no means an exhaustive or even near exhaustive list of the sub-genres in horror that can be found.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Okay so we have this idea what game is about. It is going to contain some elements of Splatterpunk, Monster horror, Psychological, Body horror, Lovecraftian horror, Survival horror the list goes on and on and on...there is no all inclusive tag to describe our game that I have found so far except the following label: Horror.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]You may have noted that we did not include erotic horror or gothic horror, the reason for this is somewhat complicated but goes something like this: SEX=DEATH. Now every team member claims to not be a virgin which means of course the team is in for terrifying chase scenes by various troubled monster in our game only to end in ignominious deaths usually with a farm implement involved. However in the time honoured tradition of stereotypes and computer geeks/nerds/really fat guys, I suspect every member of our team will still be alive at the end of this horror...except myself of course - I aint no virgin! (as my pallid hand flails in the air to emphasize...ah whatever I aint Okay!).[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Seriously though, I remember George Lucas talking around the time of The Phantom Menace being released about how he got his artist to draw the scariest monster they could come up with that would be modelled for the sith apprentice.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]From Angelfire.com:[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][quote][/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]"George Lucas had described Darth Maul as a figure from your worst nightmare. So... I drew George my worst nightmare."/episode-i/features/maul/94310.html
"At the time, my worst nightmare was this," McCaig confides. "I'm inside a room during a thunderstorm. The hours pass by and I suddenly become aware that there's a lifeless face pressed against the window. It's dead, but it's alive, staring at me through the rain. I drew something like that for George--adding metal teeth...and blood red ribbons falling over the face instead of rain. When George saw it, he quickly turned the drawing over. "Okay," he said, "Now draw me your second worst nightmare...'"[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]That happened to be clowns[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][/quote][/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Clowns! Our game doesn't have clowns and now it looks like any hope of a successful horror game has just gone out the window. Except....and this is me thinking out loud to myself right now...we WILL have a clown (I will take a short break now to pitch the idea over Skype).[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]And Back again. I insert here the transcript of my pitch.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][color=#B22222]check dropbox - Horrific - read then ring me[/color]
k
[color=#B22222]brb - grabbing quick coffee
so have you read it?[/color]
Still reading
[color=#B22222]Ok
So anyway....This Games needs Clowns!
game*[/color]
ringing

Start of Verbal Transcript

What do you mean clowns?
[color=#B22222]Clowns are scary. George Lucas's artist is scared of them![/color]
What?
[color=#B22222]Look at this link[/color]
(posts http://en.wikipedia....ki/Coulrophobia)
We are not having clowns
[color=#B22222]But we need clowns. Clowns equals scare equals successful game.[/color]
We are not having clowns.
[color=#B22222]But what if we make one of the monsters like a clown?[/color]
We are not having clowns.
[color=#B22222]Are you sure I mean we are trying to make a horror game and clowns are scary.[/color]
(deep sigh heard)
What the f*** is it with you and clowns?
[color=#B22222]They are scary I mean look at this[/color]
(posts http://www.google.nl...29,r:0,s:0,i:70 )
Dude have you been drinking?
[color=#B22222]Umm..no?[/color]
We are not having that f***ing clown in the game.
[color=#B22222]Are you sure? I mean a clown will really put this game over the top![/color]
Okay. How about this. We put a clown poster in one of the houses...just not that clown.
[color=#B22222]So we can have a clown in the game?[/color]
A poster of a clown yes.
[color=#B22222]Okay cool beans thanks. Will get back to you with the draft for this new journal post in a bit btw.[/color]
Np. Am going to take a break so will talk to you later. Oh and I am not a f'''ing virgin either!

End of Verbal Transcript

[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]So the good news is this game will most definitely have a clown in it...which of course makes this the horror game to beat all other horror games.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Endnote[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]This is the last post I will be doing for a week or two. When we talked about opening up the Developer's Journal and using it as an historical record for ourselves as well as a circumspect marketing / feedback tool, it was decided that we would do a three initial posts to kind of familiarise readers with the idea that something different was going to be created here and to basically have fun in doing this Journal i.e. not take ourselves so seriously that we lost ourselves to deeply in the hard work that really does go into the making of a game. There will be other team members posting here in this Journal here and there. What they will talk about I have no idea but I hope you find the time to visit this Journal over the time it grows.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]If you have any questions, comments, or clown pictures you might want to see on a poster, please don't hesitate to use the comments below. I make no promises on the clowns by the way but if you do link something make sure it is your own copyright or acknowledge the fair use of it.[/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Will be back in a couple of weeks [/font]

[font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif]Oh and if you haven't realised it, I am one of the two writers involved in this project. Which is why you will see a lot of the posts (if you keep reading the Journal that is) that will be somewhat unusual from many of the Journals on this site by being less technical in scope and more oriented to the creative elements. Not to say that we won't have technical posts as well mind you.[/font]