What do you guys think of RTS mixed with Horror?

Is it possible? Is it a bad mix for PC gaming communities?
I want to try out this design on my project but first I take a look at the past:

"They are billions" - very good RTS game with a nice Zombie theme but very far from being a horror game.
"Classic Xcom/Ufo" - the best tactical game that got a nice horror vibe/feel to it but not in real-time
"Darkwood" - good thriller & horror but not an RTS

This been said I will now present my core pillars for this project and you can do a "Nay"-"Yay" vote or even trow some suggestions or opinions if you want.




- Empathy for characters: This is not an FPS so emphasizing with the situation will be a bit hard but I plan to achieve that through Example:1. Each character will be unique( equipment/stats and most important personality, personality is shown trough out randomly generated speech text in result with triggers and situations) 2. The game got Perma-death .3 Character customization

- Adrenaline of making a choice: I want to make players feel each choice matters and increase their adrenaline by not only having perma-death but also saving game cannot be done at any time and it also costs resources according to how many people you got in the squad. Also in order for this to work units will not be fast or this will turn into a game of reflex rather than a game of tactics.

- Phobias: I plan to use as many phobias as possible, for example, there will be a room full of bugs that player must cross (optionally) to get an extra reward

- The mystery of the unknown: many random generated algorithms and difficult based on how you play the game

- Mechanics & visuals: for example, we have a monster that got eggs on his back, from those eggs worms come out and if not killed fast the worms keep growing larger and larger. Another example: a huge tentacle monster that only hides in the dark and snatches player characters. Anxiety can be very fast achieved with such gameplay especially if the player will have the possibility to barricade himself inside buildings and try to survive the coming monsters

- Theme/plot: I am going for a Lovecraft-alien invasion - demon zombie plot

Hope you enjoy it and if you have any opinion about such mix let me know.

(all gifs are from the game "Chromosome Evil", I will make a dev blog for it soon)

Thank you for reading!

Immediately after asking if you can mix RTS+Horror ("Is it possible?"), you announced that you're already well along working on such a game. https://www.gamedev.net/forums/topic/709807-chromosome-evil-rts-mixed-with-horror/5438349/​

It's very odd to ask if you can do a thing you're already doing.

Tom Sloper said:

Immediately after asking if you can mix RTS+Horror ("Is it possible?"), you announced that you're already well along working on such a game. https://www.gamedev.net/forums/topic/709807-chromosome-evil-rts-mixed-with-horror/5438349/​

It's very odd to ask if you can do a thing you're already doing.

Hey Tom,

I already answered your question on my dev blog a few moments ago.

If you think I break some of the rules please do tell me and I will reform but please consider my answer first.

Thank you

16Bitnights said:

Hey Tom,

Yes, I asked because if I work on this project it does not mean that I know what I am doing regarding this RTS/Horror mix so I wanted some neutral opinions and a bit of brainstorming not related to the dev blog entries. I am sure that many can have some good ideas about such a mix and others can also benefit from a design chat - I had no intention of causing problems if that is where you are aiming.

I keep the development blog just for regular updates, and sure, I will keep my dev blog to 1 time per month, thank you for clearing that out for me

You can mix anything with anything as long as the scope is right. Though if you're looking of instinctive fear or shock value, that will probably be lost between the real time strategy where players have to think more, so Horror will be based more on the theme than implusive gameplay from straight up horror games. Would be best to aim toward Psychological Horror for heavier elements & visual power + great RTS gameplay would be a sweet spot.

Need more variation in the Horror genre tho.

TacoBell_Lord said:

You can mix anything with anything as long as the scope is right. Though if you're looking of instinctive fear or shock value, that will probably be lost between the real time strategy where players have to think more, so Horror will be based more on the theme than implusive gameplay from straight up horror games. Would be best to aim toward Psychological Horror for heavier elements & visual power + great RTS gameplay would be a sweet spot.

Need more variation in the Horror genre tho.

Yes, I agree.

Mainly it is a bit hard for me to mix these 2 game types since I don't have many examples I can follow so all that gets finalized will be far from perfect.

If you have any suggestions about how I can implement Psychological Horror elements in an RTS / top-down perspective please do share with me.

I think it sounds and looks interesting and worth exploring. Don't be afraid like your characters with phobias! ;-)

Thread locked. Please don't necro!