tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post6551434305711782655..comments2023-05-20T12:08:52.031+02:00Comments on In The Games Of Madness: 10 Ways to Evolve Horror GamesFrictional Gameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00278352641328669040noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-85866093179681566322013-09-11T04:50:46.560+02:002013-09-11T04:50:46.560+02:00Perhaps you should have made some of these points,...Perhaps you should have made some of these points, especially 'open world', much more clear to The Chinese Room. What a disappointment A Machine For Pigs turned out to be. I am very sad that you chose to associate yourselves with them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-72731668919040250452013-08-13T20:42:00.389+02:002013-08-13T20:42:00.389+02:00The comfort thing is a huge issue. I am working on...The comfort thing is a huge issue. I am working on a sandbox horror game and as you might guess it isn't the easiest thing to combine the two. What you describe in the wandering around finding freaky things is what I'm trying to accomplish, but figuring out how to not be repetitive and not make the player get bored or frustrated with not knowing what to do next is an issue. Although making obvious objectives that become game mechanics in the players eyes is also an issue. I think SH2 handled it pretty well, though I agree that having a path to follow ruins the horror.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11660611359738450735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-34421591371010433092012-12-26T04:23:49.859+01:002012-12-26T04:23:49.859+01:00You Know what would be cool? if the player has low...You Know what would be cool? if the player has low sanity and he sees monsters (that doesn't kill him, of course.) everywhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-1918778947797637052012-09-30T03:15:45.360+02:002012-09-30T03:15:45.360+02:00I wrote recently my Bachelor Degree over how to ma...I wrote recently my Bachelor Degree over how to make Horrorgames with a psychological approach. After all the writing and suffering i had to go through, do you know what <br />i think know?<br />There is no "right" way to do horrorgames. And this is not because horror is relative and not objective. <br />This is because horrorgames are still games , and games will be experienced and judged differently from different people. Its all about expectations of the consumers and how the designers manage to fill in this expectations.<br /><br />If you are more like "i like being shocked and have a taste of fear what threats raise in me" then you will love Dead Space , fear and ect. If you want to experience anxiety and the uncanny feeling than go and grab SH2. <br /><br />Amnesia is a good game but in fact,running and hiding is not better than shooting and killing. These are just different mechanisms of eliminating a threat. And fear comes out of threats. It is not how you eliminate the threat but how you present it, which defines how strong your fear will be.<br /><br />But again the best methods of creating a horrorgame are not the 10 points here. <br />The best method of making horrorgames is to control the expectations of your consumers and achieve exactly what you communicate your game will be, so the consumers become exactly what they expected to and if you are lucky some of them were <br />game critics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-37189910235706162652012-07-26T20:58:42.914+02:002012-07-26T20:58:42.914+02:00I think in order to make the player feel scared/un...I think in order to make the player feel scared/uneasy, the game needs to make the player associate certain events/places/objects... with threats in the game. <br /><br />For example, You're walking in a corridor and open one of the doors. Inside you see a demonic, over-sized snake-thing.. (whatever), ready to devour you whole. You're scared, and you either run away from it, or engage it in a wrestling match to the death, or something.... <br /><br />After killing the snake the player begins to feel paranoid whenever he has to go through any door to progress. The nice thing is the player will be expecting something behind every door he goes through (even though there's nothing in there, in which case it's a good idea to remind him every once in a while). <br /><br />And it could be anything: doors, lockers, sounds, changes in lightning... as long as it's followed by something that wants to mutilate your private parts (again occasionally, not always), we'll usually want to avoid it (therefore feel uneasy/terrified).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-336387798564402952012-07-25T03:36:46.386+02:002012-07-25T03:36:46.386+02:00I think you missed one big one... humourI think you missed one big one... humourHenraldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-42125014057177807102012-07-10T06:22:56.276+02:002012-07-10T06:22:56.276+02:00While trying to improve the mechanics of the horro...While trying to improve the mechanics of the horror games is an admirable activity, I believe it is a step in the wrong direction. <br />To me, the thing that makes a horror game good or bad is the story and the atmosphere. <br />Contemporary horror games have a big room to improve here; I have encountered precious few horror games where the story is not poor.<br />I realize that creating a good story is very hard; yet this is where the energy should be spent.<br />I -as a player- want to uncover some monstrous purpose,some mystery as the game progresses; monsters, sudden noises and manipulating people's emotions are just secondary.<br /><br />I can put a claustrophobic person into a small metal container and leave him there for an hour. Will he be scared? Oh yeah, probably almost to death. But is this an accomplishment, or a 'horror game'? To me, not really.<br /><br />To me, horror means 'cosmic horror'. Poe, Lovecraft, Blackwood - the feats of these men have yet to be replicated in a computer game. I learned today that Amnesia 2 is subtitled 'A machine for pigs' - with a name like this, there is some chance it could end up being a good cosmic horror,so good luck ;-)DrBombaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-91686114619060638282012-07-07T23:26:05.456+02:002012-07-07T23:26:05.456+02:00The problem with horror in games could be easily s...The problem with horror in games could be easily solved for me: add snakes. Throw one of them when my character is in the shower. A tiny, poisonous snake, that move faster than me.<br />When I'm running like hell, make me fall in a pit full of snakes, or at least take a glance at one.<br />And they also spit acid in my eyes. Or lasers. Yeah, that'd do, I'll shit my pants every night and won't be able to take a shower anymore.Felipe Nanninoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-88567709199884060812012-06-17T01:20:17.140+02:002012-06-17T01:20:17.140+02:00Oh, thank you for someone mentioning Yume Nikki. I...Oh, thank you for someone mentioning Yume Nikki. It's a great example of really horror game, even with not-so-good paintings and simple gameplayAlexander Teuthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05669427201048544874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-40841131810970783522012-06-12T19:04:56.928+02:002012-06-12T19:04:56.928+02:00The beginning of Fatal Frame 3 has the normality a...The beginning of Fatal Frame 3 has the normality and doubt thing I think. You encounter enemies in your sleep and you are perfectly safe in your home when you are awake. That changes fast though, you begin to hear footsteps etc. in your home and doubt if that is real (since all the scary things exist only in your dreams). Then ghosts begin to visit you in your own sacred, tidy, modern Japanese home. I can't remember the game so well since time has passed but it had a good commentary on scary stories in folklore within the notebooks etc. in the game as well.sinanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02176491234173126968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-54566030904462434412012-06-03T01:48:47.653+02:002012-06-03T01:48:47.653+02:00I wonder if there is some way that a save system a...I wonder if there is some way that a save system and persistent consequences could be combined. If you went into a room full of children and screwed up somehow, killing both yourself and them, you could reload the save, but the second time around the children might be afraid of you and run away (when you need their help); or criticize your stupidity or clumsiness, "going to fry us all again? nice move, genius"; or follow you when you finally did get through and warn others that you were bad news. In other words, you could save and reload, but each save would "pollute" the game further and introduce complicating factors.sunsinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10443195432340459630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-11053766731094263422012-06-01T03:32:11.954+02:002012-06-01T03:32:11.954+02:00Silent Hill: Shattered Memories... I'll never ...Silent Hill: Shattered Memories... I'll never forget what that game did to me. It was scary, but near the end I realized creatures only appeared when it became "icy". But... at the very end, the true scare lied: The psychologist. After the game taking all that info from you passively or directly through the psychologist's test (even if they do or don't influence) it gives the feeling that the psychologist talks to YOU. That what he says, isn't aimed at your character, but YOU. Even if there's a limited number of endings, it feels that that ending was YOURS. And it's worsened when during the credits, you see more details written about YOU. And I still carry those words in my thoughts... haunting me. Human Interactions and Implications are done excellently there...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-78231348485707306172012-05-24T00:44:36.877+02:002012-05-24T00:44:36.877+02:00On the topic of normality I have to add this. Norm...On the topic of normality I have to add this. Normality is essentially conditioning. That being said conditioning doesn't have to be an existing, long term thing. Doom 3 demonstrates this well. I can recall one scare that I really respected. Doom is famous for it's "closets" and throughout the game you eventually get used to looking for them. At one point it used this conditioning against me by opening a false closet and then opening a second closet inside the first. Another jumpscare, but I was amazed when I realized, first, that the game had created and used its own "normality" against me, and second, how fast I had let my guard down. The three steps between the closets was enough time to go from action man to vulnerable child. It's and idea that could even be used in the next Amnesia game. Frictional Games noted that they didn't want the next game to be predictable. They can use this "Amnesia Normality" to their advantage. (Like small tunnels/vents being safe zones) Make sure the player knows he is safe only when the game tells him he's safe.Psychonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-2063017740865854802012-05-23T22:32:05.068+02:002012-05-23T22:32:05.068+02:00You need to watch that your attempts at "cons...You need to watch that your attempts at "consequences" do not create a game similar the newly released The Walking Dead. Great game, but panic and horror are two different things. When you have actions affecting another the consequences create emotions of guilt or sadness. Like in Black Plague (Spoiler) when you accidentally killed the woman who had been trying to help you. (/Spoiler) It created emotions of guilt, sadness, and anger, but not fear. If you can get a heavy gamer like me to want to quit playing out of fear like in Amnesia, you're doing it right. Instead of promoting the idea of punishment on the player, keep focus on the immersion. The more the player is attached to the protagonist the easier it is provoke the emotions you want. Also, I use "attached" in an odd sense. The protagonist should feel kinda like a nice version of Clarence. He's not you, but at the same time he is. That's the best way I can put it. I agree with JohanAR about permadeath. It works quite well in more short/sandbox style games. Look up the GMod level "gm_ghosthunt2" It uses permadeath/starting over concept well. Also, as I mentioned it is one of the few sandbox horror games out there.Psychonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-35473970601413364002012-05-22T04:48:24.996+02:002012-05-22T04:48:24.996+02:00Yeah true.
I liked Dead Space but never thought ...Yeah true. <br /><br />I liked Dead Space but never thought of it as scary or horrifying. If anything - most of the popular so called "survival horror" games are actually "action horror". <br /><br />I won't lie though - i like the 'in your face' kind of horror a lot. <br /><br />Wish there was a balance between what Frictional games do and something like Dead Space. But looking at the list of things up top - I don't think it can happen.Clarence Dasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-57731284489082139462012-05-18T11:25:16.013+02:002012-05-18T11:25:16.013+02:00I think you imply spirituality in some linear comb...I think you imply spirituality in some linear combination of 1, 4, 8, 9, and 10... :p<br /><br />But perhaps spirituality requires its own dimension. cheersHawgdriverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04458456648720855678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-63738798521583178132012-05-18T11:20:07.215+02:002012-05-18T11:20:07.215+02:00Just finished DE. I see the promise that prompted...Just finished DE. I see the promise that prompted the collaboration. The experience leads me to another "tenet" of future horror.<br /><br />Spirituality.<br /><br />What games generally fail to offer is spiritual nourishment. This is where I would like to see more vision. You can give me an apocalypse, and let me brush my fingers along the contours of humanity's emptiness, but if you then give me a glimpse of salvation and redemption--then I am nourished.<br /><br />I may play an arcade of frivolous episodes of domination and titillation. Hell--we all have. It's our gaming fantasy.<br /><br />But when I am offered a sense of meaning to all this mystery, when I might catch a fleeting impression of reason and meaning amongst chaos and irrationality--then I might find a sudden stillness: what my soul has always sought, and continues to seek.<br /><br />Perhaps you understand where we are in our cycle of civilization, where we are in this slimy rock groping disaster: life. I hope you know that you are one of the few that might find purchase on the right rock, if you are both careful enough and bold enough.<br /><br />You "get it". It makes me terrified to think that you might take firm grasp of the next rock, only to find that the promise it offered was a fraud.<br /><br />I apologize for this drama; I'm sorry. But we need you to find the true rock.Hawgdriverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04458456648720855678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-12969887946299262502012-05-16T12:26:40.489+02:002012-05-16T12:26:40.489+02:00Your number 9 really jogged my imagination. I reme...Your number 9 really jogged my imagination. I remember Alan Wake making me afraid of the dark for some time. And I was so immersed I burst into tears when my flatmate jumped me in the kitchen. haha<br /><br />As always you deliver the exact notes for this, and I am extremely impressed as always. Please never stop writing/speaking about game design, Thomas.Torahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00924039475450511271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-17242504066815574222012-05-16T06:23:55.355+02:002012-05-16T06:23:55.355+02:00Genius, although I feel as though it is important ...Genius, although I feel as though it is important to limit interaction with other humans. I one can communicate with another rational being, you build a sense of security because now I have an ally who can protect me in ways. Maybe it's just me though. I do get scared easily.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-48147294379886438812012-05-14T09:17:36.422+02:002012-05-14T09:17:36.422+02:00How about a small and weak monster that is good at...How about a small and weak monster that is good at running and hiding. It drains people's energy while they are awake, but when they sleep it can enter their dreams and give them terrifying nightmares or even kill them, but when they are asleep it can't feed. As a result it does whatever it can to keep its victims awake while it leeches the life out of them, but if it can't wake them then they are useless and will be killed.<br /><br />The player is haunted by such a creature, and as a result quickly begins to suffer the full effects of insomnia. This helps solve the problem of how to get the player character to suffer several days-worth of sleep deprivation in a game that lasts only afew hours without skipping several days.ymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10839758776973265558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-39059959264798704752012-05-14T03:37:53.102+02:002012-05-14T03:37:53.102+02:00Well, pretty much, actually. Not having control is...Well, pretty much, actually. Not having control is sort of *the* cornerstone of every horror-oriented piece of anything worth its salt in the history of ever --it's right there with "understanding as little as possible about the nature of the horror at hand".<br /><br />That's why 99% of horror games suck: They insist on resorting to the tropes of every other game and their mother, and the moment you give the player a machine gun and a rocket launcher there's nothing to be scared of anymore.MartÃn S. Camargohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15302454803867699244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-47507408408356777192012-05-14T02:45:32.840+02:002012-05-14T02:45:32.840+02:00so basically just make sure the player character i...so basically just make sure the player character is not empowered to do pretty much anything except what the developer wants. <br /><br />It's like sticking a guy in a wheel chair, then telling him the only way out of a burning building is "up those stairs". of course he'll be terrified.Clarence Dasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-91807787819701053112012-05-13T16:31:50.472+02:002012-05-13T16:31:50.472+02:00Last night I didn't sleep. This morning while ...Last night I didn't sleep. This morning while I was in the shower I was thinking about the problem of making truly original games, and also about Frictional Games and Mirror's Edge. Then I wondered whether or not I was tired, as I wasn't sure. That's when I thought of an idea: a game where the main character is not allowed to sleep. I was thinking of taking Mirror's Edge but turning it from cold, bright, and clean to dark, dank, and run-down. The main character would be a 40 year old lawyer who can't do all those fancy athletic moves, and the enemies too overpowering for him to fight. The enemies are chasing him, hunting him down. He doesn't have time to sleep, and if he does perhaps he will get nightmares that culminate in his death like Nightmare on Elm Street, or perhaps the monsters can sense him when he sleeps and will close in on him until there is no escape, or something. As he grows more tired it becomes harder to stay alert, he becomes slower and weaker, gets headaches, maybe even his senses start to get distorted. You have to keep him moving or engaged to keep him awake, and if he falls asleep the player needs to wake him up ASAP, but that becomes harder over time, and eventually he will fall asleep standing up or even with his eyes open. If he gets tired enough he may fall asleep even while moving. You must finish the game before that happens, which also means that you are in effect playing with a time limit.<br /><br />I imagine the main character as a businessman, lawyer, accountant, or some such profession. I see him wearing a navy blue suit and a tie, and shiny black shoes.<br /><br />As to a storyline, I'd come up with one, except no one is paying me for my ideas.ymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10839758776973265558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-68932893132067957762012-05-11T21:53:24.401+02:002012-05-11T21:53:24.401+02:00I just watched about 3 hours of a Lets Play Biosho...I just watched about 3 hours of a Lets Play Bioshock. The beginning was scary, although not nearly as scary as Amnesia, but later it just become a creepy FPS with poor visibility and a few startling moment when Splicers just appear behind you without warning. And all the Little Sisters look and act the same.<br /><br />So far as I've noticed the game has no music except for whatever is being played by the vending machine or on the building's loudspeakers. It works quite well.ymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10839758776973265558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9193968969153274146.post-21341797625631751852012-05-08T19:04:26.568+02:002012-05-08T19:04:26.568+02:00This is what I've been waiting for. Games so f...This is what I've been waiting for. Games so far weren't very realistic and having weapons made you feel overpowered. Amnesia was the first horror game that actually made me feel scared like hell. I also like how no real monsters appear for quite a long time. You're scared all the time that one real will appear but it won't.<br /><br />Also horror games - actually games in total - do not have enough gimmicks. Amnesia has an relative open world you can walk wherever you want and it includes a lot of gimmicks like books you can throw or other stuff. The physics are cool too.<br /><br />The only thing I'd love to see are even more gimmicks, if that's possible. Opening stuff partly is awesome, just like in real life. The more stuff you can interact with the more fun the game is. Seriously I love throwing around things when I'm stuck.<br /><br />Talking about being stuck. Having to solve puzzles in a scary environment improves everything. Also games should try to use less music. Resident Evil has a lot of music. Music should only be used quietly or sometimes appearing but not being there all the time nor most of the time. I mean seriously. It destroys the normally. You don't hear music playing all the time while you're doing whatever you do in your daily live.<br /><br />I'm gonna expect great from the next game!GreenyNekohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17355572106999747113noreply@blogger.com