Your perspective on horror?

[Calvinchun 3]

There's probably tons of topics on the net already, all of them regarding about Atmosphere, puzzles and giving the player the feel of uncertainness. There are examples too. However, i did not get the message clearly. Thus, here i am, making a topic asking for everyone perspective on what could make a good horror game xD.

 

I really need answer so that i will fully know the true means of 'horror'. I'll accept any suggestions, but my main question is, should scary music exist in every room ingame or no?

 

Thanks!

[Foxkit 4]

I can only really answer your main question as I can't hold a controller longer than 30 minutes while playing a horror game. Should music be in every room? I would say depends on the music or the vibe of the game. If used sparingly music can become awesomely horrifying. Vice versa as well. It is more up to how you set up the atmosphere with either. The general rule of thumb is to not go heavy on the music though.

[Polraudio 122]

As fox said it depends on the music. I tend to get more scared when theres quiet to no music. music that is loud doesnt really make me feel scared cause thats all i can hear is the music and the scary sounds dont really stick out when music is playing. What i would do is try to scare yourself with what you make(hard to do but possible).

 

Personally i cant play a scary game for more than a few min at a time and have never really finished one. I only played dead space for 15min and gave up cause i hate things jumping out at me.

[Tomo2000 60]

I still remember one of the scariest parts of Dementium II was a huge, empty room that bugged out and didn't have any assigned music. It was designed as a big room with lots of columns with some resources here and there, the lack of being able to see too far in any direction and the sheer lack of music was terrifying.

 

And, in what Pol said, jumpscares are getting pretty old, pretty quickly. Jumpscares and sudden screaming (even though I had a section like that in an old Hope Afloat area) is a pretty cheap scare, and, in general, makes up for a lack of atmosphere, music, etc. So, if you can, avoid jumpscares, and work primarily on atmosphere; music, lighting, and so on. Good luck :D

[Calvinchun 3]

Thanks for the replies!

Wow, people did have different opinion about this! Keep em' coming! ;-)

(BTW, did you mean atmosphere such as dark and limited visibility?)

I have decided to take out music loops in ROH. It's definitely creepy, i think...

[Foxkit 4]

Atmosphere refers to the overall feel of the game. If the game doesn't have any sort of tension in the gameplay then it won't really have an atmosphere.

 

You can have some sort of visibility or else the game isn't fun to play. There was a recent game that came out that relied on you using your camera for night vision. You could see in the dark, but you lost some definition in the field of view. Another thing you may want to take into consideration. Keep your enemies/monsters in the unkown. Whether this is through how Lone Survivor did it by  making the monsters only obsticles. But you had no idea how they got there and don't really want to touch them. (Yay to atmosphere on that one.). Or, you can go the Signs route. Hardly show your monsters at all, if you do show them. Jump scares work once or twice based off of the atmosphere something like this creates. (Hey I heard something down the hall... what's down there? OH ****! DIE!). If your doing zombies... go full out and make sure that if the player tangles with them, they are going to have a huge ammount of trouble with it. (lots of zombies, or fast zombies.) If you couple this with keeping other stuff out of sight. (lickers, ala Resident Evil: I'm assuming this is what your working on). It could be terryfing to turn down a hall, see it full of zombies, but then hear something behind you, or see a shadow. Whatver you do, just keep in mind that atmosphere will make or break your game.

Disclaimer: I can't handle horror games or movies very well. So take this all with a grain of salt.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Foxkit

[ShinkuAura 15]

I heavily play horror games and i played so much horror games that to be honest no horror game scare me now. I really dislike 

that developers use the same formula again and again. 

 

I was developing a horror game but after revising the gameplay. I found out that it was just some casual horror game i just made and there's too much predictable things in-game. So instead of quitting on the project i focused on story, character progression, and a dark and depressing atmosphere. 
however there's still horror elements intact and re-making them is quite a task. for me horror has died in the early 2000's and nothing more.

There's nothing out there that scares me.

[Calvinchun 3]

Yeah... maybe i will seek to put some unique horror element. However, i did agree that redoing

horror elements is really a hard task to do. Plus, now i know that jumpscare should not be put as

The main priority in horror game.. i will maybe post a game screenies after this, to see if it really creep

You out...

Thanks everyone for replying.

[ShinkuAura 15]

Yeah... maybe i will seek to put some unique horror element. However, i did agree that redoing

horror elements is really a hard task to do. Plus, now i know that jumpscare should not be put as

The main priority in horror game.. i will maybe post a game screenies after this, to see if it really creep

You out...

Thanks everyone for replying.

Let me rephrase that. Creating simple scares are easy. However creating complex scares are quite the task and It's not  just creating just a jumpscare. What i tried aiming at was scaring the player psychologically, mess with the player and maybe break the 4th wall.

[Calvinchun 3]

You're right. Psychology scares mean... umh, for instance, a TV suddenly turn on? or could you list some examples?

Lol.. im still newb in this kind of psychology scare things.. however it sound great!

[ShinkuAura 15]

You're right. Psychology scares mean... umh, for instance, a TV suddenly turn on? or could you list some examples?

Lol.. im still newb in this kind of psychology scare things.. however it sound great!

 

Psychological scares are hard to pull off at times and you don't want to screw up the moment. One of the best psychological scares example is probably having the player in a level that's all dark and you expect a jump-scare or a monster itself. Sound effects in that map are good since the player now expect to see a monster or creature. However since you haven't evented anything to scare the player just yet. The player grows more desperate if the monster is going to scare him or not. But still nothing this creates an illusion to the player and starts to imagine monsters and start shooting at random things.

 

another perfect example is having mirrors in a game. The player feels weird seeing the main character in the mirror and expect to see something.

the effect here is that mirrors could be part of a puzzle and the player just sees themselves doing actions like pushing boxes and still seeing themselves in the mirror and when you less expect it bam! scare here.

[Calvinchun 3]

That's some good example you have there! Just imagining it makes me feel uneasy!

Thanks for the reply, i will try my best to come up with an unforgettable psychology

scare..

[FranklinX 37]

It depends on the environment and story's atmosphere. No music can be very scary with an unexpected surprise. I do think clam music can make scary moments when something horrible happens. 

[Marked 197]

Moved to game dev general discussion.

[madanchi 18]

I think for me a good horror game will envoke my sense of isolation and unknowing-ness, those two feelings make me explore, succeed and not want to play whislt still wanting to play.

[Calvinchun 3]

Yeah madanchi. The feeling of isolation is indeed a good scary game traits. The first time i play Ib,

It was great, the loneliness and unknown feeling was creeping me out to death! However when Gary joined Ib, the game scariness fade away rather fast, and then left me with only exploration genre and no horror element stands out anymore. So, i guess what you say is a strong point for a horror game...

BTW, thanks for the replies!!

Edited May 1, 2014 by Calvinchun

[vincestick 13]

Feelings of isolation and dread are pretty good starting points for horror. Occasional eerie music cues or sounds and lighting is also very key to creepy atmosphere. Also, dead silence works really well. That and persisting droning noises in the background. Helplessness like limited or no ways to defend yourself against- if your game is structured like this -some person or monster stalking you can work both ways. You are in no way completely helpless in a game like FEAR but it still manages to be scary through psychological imagery and silent pop-ins. A rising atmospheric build-up to someone expecting a scare only to have nothing happen works well, as in Gone Home, which is no way marketed as a horror game but the atmosphere of complete silence while alone in a house resonates with a lot of people.

 

It also helps to not feel the need to explain every single thing about your world or story. Exposition is nice but too much will just make it really technical and remove a lot of mystery. Also, try and experiment with phobias. Mess with them, and twist them to really get inside someone's psyche, but try to balance it in ways that don't make it mean-spirited. If you're making a horror game, chances are you want to disturb a lot of people.

 

Imo, jump scares are the lowest form of presenting horror, and the term is a bit misleading. They don't scare you- they startle you. There's a difference. If you insist on having jump scares, use them fairly few and far between so they don't come off as typical or the main aspect of your game. The only jump scares I can recall in Silent Hill is a completely out-of-the-way event in the women's bathroom in the prison(?) level and room 209 whispering in 2, and the mannequin room in 3. Overall, it's okay to have them, but don't depend on them as your horror focal point.

 

Also imo, Japan pretty much always nails the horror genre in every possible way. They really know how to mess with people, and their mythology has a ghost for pretty much everything, from toilet stall inhabitants to the echoing sound of footsteps you hear when you're walking home alone at night.

Edited May 1, 2014 by vincestick

[Calvinchun 3]

Silent hill is so scary that honestly, i never even get halfway in the game! BTW, that's a very nice example, vincestick!

Jumpscare, or should i say, 'startlescare' is currently not my game focal point, so that's okay. However, i do not know

What you mean by phobias. (Sorry, english is not my native language xD) and silent pops-in?

And yes! Imagery is another kind of factor that will make the player goes in scared situation. Gosh i still have much to

Improve... xD thanks vincestick!

[vincestick 13]

Oh, well, it was kind of difficult to phrase it, but for silent pop-ins I basically meant visual pop-ups that have very subtle to no noise when they appear, and they usually only happen for a split second. Think of them as hallucinations, which is probably the word I was going for to begin with.

 

For phobias, well...it's pretty straightforward. Like, in Amnesia there's a hallway filled about ankle deep with water that you have to go through, and you soon realize that there's something lurking in it that can chase you. You never see it, just the ripples with the water. That can freak out someone who has like hydrophobia and/or uneasyness about things they hear but can't see. Spiders are also a common thing people fear, so in a game make it so they have to progress through a web-filled tunnel or vent, or to get a key they must stick their hand in a spider pit. Stuff like vertigo (the dizzy feeling like your surroundings are moving when they really aren't) and acrophobia (fear of heights). Basically use what people fear to your advantage.

 

Speaking of which...holes. Holes are a great thing to use.

[Calvinchun 3]

Well, thanks vincestick! Thats a really nice one, definitely will experiment with them xD!