Horror Mechanics

[epiccorey]

Alright! So I am currently working on a horror based game, called Fear Nothing. In this game you attempt to stop a world wide Apocalypse created by some Big bad unknown evil. This is inspired greatly by H.P Lovecraft, So I have Implemented,

• Sanity System- My game has Big Bad Unknown to humans type Monsters so as the player encounters these Baddies they slowly go insane. The same effect happens when reading Occult tomes and learning the Magic spells in them. as the players lose Sanity the World will Change around them. 
  
• Various skills based off of Variables: Healing, Knowledge, Science, SPOT HIDDEN! This is also how the player earns new abilities, First Aid= 50 gives a healing skill that brings back 20 points of damage.
  
• Time System Events: Cultist need to perform rituals at certain times, Player has X amount of time to stop them. 
  
• Of Course creepy atmosphere, and sound effects.
  
• *Still thinking on this* 1 party member system or a full party system but implement permadeath on the extra Characters.
  

Things I am trying to avoid are.

• Kids as heroes, My Main Character is a full grown Middle aged Man. Kids as the Main Party Urks me so much. They can Barely cope with Highschool & Puberty how are they going to cope with taking down Cthulhu?
  
• Jump Scares- I know Jump scares are part of the Horror genre. But I feel they are the cheapest form to cause fear, Where fear of the unknown is something that anyone can be afraid of.
  

Things I would Like to add.But not sure how.

• Locational Damage for Battlers, IE: target individual body parts of the monsters you battle. 
  
• Serious Damage system- as in The clawed skinless Monster slashes one of the party members and instead of just damage taken from his HP he has a chance to get a limb mangled or looses his eye etc.
  
• Phobia System, Everyone is afraid of something right? why can't the "fearless" hero be afraid of spiders and refuse to go into the spider infested basement to grab that Cursed Idol. or a hero afraid of the dark and won't go outside after 11:00pm
  

My question to all of you is. What Mechanics would you add or like to see in a horror game? Do you like these Ideas I've Implemented,  Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm already aware of how the Horror Formula works, I just need ways to implement them. And maybe even find a new Mechanic to bring to the genre.


Thanks in advance and I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong forum.

 

[Dr. Delibird]

Well I will start with things you listed you wanted but don't know how to implement or at least how I would do so.

Locationl Damage for Battlers: I think there is a script that can achieve what you are looking for but if it doesn't exist or whatever you could also use an "invisible" battler graphic and place it over the, for example, limbs of the monster. You would need to make a seperate monster for every body part of a monster in the database which can be time consuming if the scope of your game is medium-big.

Serious Damage System: You can achieve this using states. You could make the slashing attack have a percent chance to mangle a leg/loos an eye or whatever.

Phobia System: You could implement this in a few ways. One of which is with states. Make a state called "pyrophobia", for example, and give it to the character before the player has a chance to do anything (just so that it seems like it was always there), just make sure to re-applie the state after events using the "inn" option (cannot remember what it is called from memory). Now in any event where a phobia will have an effect you can use the conditional branchs to make sure certain things do/don't happen when X character is affected by Y state (phobia).

I don't play horror games so this is the extent of the help I can provide, at least as of right now.

 

[Basileus]

Re: Locational Damage


I believe the standard for this mechanic is usually to just make multiple monsters. Make the graphics so that you can place them close together to "assemble" the full thing. Obviously this works better on a 1-on-1 fight basis. It also lets you do creepy stuff like spawn in grotesque looking things as you start chipping off the more normal parts. Look up the demons from Berserk for an idea on the sheer you can get just from the transformations from "relatively normal" to "man was never meant to see this".


Applying this to the party, like the "mangling" you mentioned, would probably be done through states. Make an enemy skill that has a chance to apply "Dismembered" or something which cripples attack damage. Give a really sickening message when it gets applied. If possible make some bloody, gory battlers to change over to when they get hit with the states. It should look downright grisly while terrifying the player as their combat effectiveness just plummeted.


Re: Phobias


This is...complicated. It can be cool for characterization, but it shouldn't adversely affect gameplay. A hidden state (probably applied to weapons) that makes the character do virtually no damage to spiders could be okay. As long as it doesn't make it too frustrating to get through areas of the game with spiders. Forcing the player to run from encounters can be a good way to scare them, but maybe limit these encounters to just times when you need a good scare.


More than anything, you need a creepy sense of dread that just follows the player everywhere. Don't let the player feel too powerful. Make sure to show them that their actions are merely delaying the inevitable. BE MEAN. Be a cruel sadist to the player. Try to imagine to biggest gut punch you can deliver - and then do it.


Have them defend NPCs only to find them slaughtered later. Characterize them first to make it hurt harder.


Let that adorable little girl in the village be taken by monsters. Don't let the player find her. Just an uncomfortable blood stain and a doll or something.


Have monsters that are truly monstrous - let them heal off damage, let them take turns laughing as the player feebly tries to hurt them.


Make nowhere safe. Have villagers disappear. Let monsters lurk in every shadow. Let things go bump in the night.


If you are going to do horror, then go full ham on it. You don't need jump scares. Just suspense, powerlessness, and dread. Make the player fear that something is out there just waiting for them to let their guard down. And make sure they know for certain that the things in the dark are stronger than them. Don't let them feel powerful. Don't let them feel like their actions have meaning. Don't let them feel like they can make a difference. Make them feel like just another victim.

 

[epiccorey]

More than anything, you need a creepy sense of dread that just follows the player everywhere. Don't let the player feel too powerful. Make sure to show them that their actions are merely delaying the inevitable. BE MEAN. Be a cruel sadist to the player. Try to imagine to biggest gut punch you can deliver - and then do it.


Have them defend NPCs only to find them slaughtered later. Characterize them first to make it hurt harder.


Let that adorable little girl in the village be taken by monsters. Don't let the player find her. Just an uncomfortable blood stain and a doll or something.


Have monsters that are truly monstrous - let them heal off damage, let them take turns laughing as the player feebly tries to hurt them.


Make nowhere safe. Have villagers disappear. Let monsters lurk in every shadow. Let things go bump in the night.

This was totally my Intention, In alot of Lovecrafts Stories & Lovecraft inspired games, The main character is just an average person who stumbled onto things he really shouldn't, the result usually end in death or Insanity, I don't want the player to feel as if he has a OP character, and if they do it comes at a serious cost. and I want them to feel hopeless in a world crumbling around them. (I DM a lot of tabletop games and I'm known for being ruthless to the player, so messing with the feels won't be hard for me, (The Main character will potentially lose his wife and kids if the player messes up in a spot.


As for the locational Damage, You both are geniuses I never thought about invisible battlers and just placing them in the proper spots or even, Slicing the battler up in Photoshop, and assembling them in MV.


as for the phobias I didn't want them to affect the main story much, More of affect the side missions,  like the little girl goes missing but ends up in the dank dark basement, and the player is scared of the dark after being mauled by "Something" at some point. I'm not that great at making States so I may need to git gud, or look for outside help.


My next question for you all: for a horror game is front view or side view more preferred, In my opinion I love Side view, But with the style of graphics for the Actors I feel it hinders the aspect of fear in the game because they look so damn cute. what do you great folks think? 

 

[TehSom]

Bloodborne is one such game where a Sanity system was implemented to mimic the old roleplaying game of yore, Call of C'thulu. In Bloodborne, you have "Insight" into the world around you. I'd recommend if you're going to give yourself a sanity check, give it a meaningful name.


Insight in Bloodborne would do something similar to what you're proposing. As you began your tour in Yharnam as a Hunter of the Dream, you would gain Insight from the following sources (not complete. Just a few examples):


+1 for each Madman's Knowledge consumed (consumable item)


+1 for seeing a Boss (You gain your first for either seeing the Cleric Beast or Father Gascoigne early game in casual play)


+3 for slaughtering a Boss


Now, in true Lovecraftian Horror, you would immediately notice things change as soon as you got your first Insight. The Abandoned Doll becomes alive in the Hunter's Dream as soon as you make the jump from 0 Insight to 1 Insight. From then on, at more intervals of Insight, the game world evolves (which I won't spoil here), but you also become more susceptible to The Frenzy, which is a highly damaging debuff.


The Frenzy itself is supposed to simulate your madness, or caving into your inner bloodlust in the game. In Call of C'thulu, one typically just goes crazy. But there's lots of room to work with.


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As for the party system, the permadeath on other party members could give rise to a unique opportunity: Use other characters for their own unique questlines. You don't finish the quest if they don't make it, and they likely die at the end regardless. No one has a happy ending.


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On another note, make it unclear of how helpful your character's morality is. Is your protagonist truly the good guy? Are they truly doing what's right, or is there something a little bit more sinister at work in their motivations?


Make it unclear what actually drives them. Make it unclear if any choice you make is positive or negative.


A good horror scenario should not just be horror for the characters in the story but should have the audience and players questioning whether their actions were right or just. 


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Front View, personally, on your question.

 

[Dr. Delibird]

I think you can use the graphics in a more horror fitting way if it is front view as the badems are facing at the player. If the battles are in sideview I think it would be very difficuilt to keep the dred going inside of battles.

 

[AcetheSuperVillain]

I'm going to back up Basileus' suggestion, and I think you're right not to rely on jump scares.  I've never been interested in horror movies or games, but I saw a few horror game playthroughs on Game Grumps and the games just came across as silly or gross, not that scary. When I feel fear, it's in video games where I have something on the line, like a lot of work that I've put into a game is in danger of a game over.  A good way to do this is to give the player some connection to the characters, and then use mechanics that put the characters in true risk, like with permanent injury or death.  So for example, instead of injuring an arm, a character might lose an arm. Or if there's a party of player characters, if one dies, they might never come back, or even come back as a zombie or ghost or whatever to fight the player.  I know RPG combat can be very hands-off sometimes, so maybe something like they have three "continues" and after that they're dead, or they need to be resurrected within 3 turns or 30 paces before death becomes permanent.  


That said, I do think some jump scares can be valuable, so long as they involve something that the player perceives as genuinely threatening.  For example, a random zombie popping out at you or arms growing out of the wall can be surprising, but hammer bros jumping out at you is scary because hammer bros are a genuine threat, and the element of surprise makes them more of a threat.  


Front view is probably good for a horror game.  In ideal world, I would still want some way to see your characters during front view, like with a face graphic or the XP battlers, but if you can't do that well, it's better not to do it at all.  

 

[jupitersdaughter]

Kids as heroes, My Main Character is a full grown Middle aged Man. Kids as the Main Party Urks me so much. They can Barely cope with Highschool & Puberty how are they going to cope with taking down Cthulhu?

Games generally have this as the characters are supposed to be relatable to the player, who is most likely a teenager or young adult. I find people complain about this way too much. 

• Jump Scares- I know Jump scares are part of the Horror genre. But I feel they are the cheapest form to cause fear, Where fear of the unknown is something that anyone can be afraid of.
  

If done right, they are effective elements of horror. But thrown in every ten seconds it loses its effect. You'll probably need them at some point, just build it up right and use it sparingly.

More than anything, you need a creepy sense of dread that just follows the player everywhere. Don't let the player feel too powerful. Make sure to show them that their actions are merely delaying the inevitable. BE MEAN. Be a cruel sadist to the player. Try to imagine to biggest gut punch you can deliver - and then do it.

I agree with this so much. Games like RE:4 lose the horror element very quickly because you can kill everything and there isn't much danger. There is a fine line between horror and action games.

 

[AcetheSuperVillain]

I was thinking about the jump scares a little more.  I remember, one of the scariest but coolest bosses from Final Fantasy was FF8's spider tank boss.  If it were more dangerous and less scripted, it would terrifying.  Although the spider tank dishes out a good helping of jump scares, there is also something about its relentless plodding forward that makes it feel scarier the more you see of it.  Might be a good thing to study stuff like that.  

 

[Diretooth]

You are right to not rely on jump scares, but use them. Sparingly, they will only heighten the dread the player feels. If all you have are creepy empty rooms, players will get bold and not be effected by the game. I also suggest having areas where there are a higher than usual amount of jump scares, so when the player goes into a long stretch of none, they're constantly on guard waiting for the next jump scare. It all becomes a task of balancing Nothing is Scarier with Jump Scares, but if you're good enough with it, you'll make something memorable.