Horror Scenes and Progression

[Tralse]

What do you think makes a horror-adventure game MOST frightening?

• JUMP SCARES! LOUD NOISES! CRAP IN YOUR FACE!
• Physiological horror, for those who enjoy a deeper story
• Hard decisions, usually ones that have no good outcome: "Would you like to supersize that?"
• Other(specify below)

P.S. I tried making a poll but that crashed and burned horribly, but I really want to know what you guys think!

 

[orochii]

Well, I think I would be horrified if a game literally threw crap in my face. Mostly because I hate crap.

I think that what makes a horror game standout is the setting. I know I've not played horror games. Yeah. Never. Or never cared to play them much more than a couple minutes. Not even Silent Hill or Resident Evil, games that EVERYONE and their pets have played. But being frank, from the little I know, one of the reasons I don't like horror games at all is the overabundance of "jumpscare, then blank, then jumpscare". It seems more interesting things like (only heard of it) P.T., where people say it builds horror by atmosphere and anticipation. Same with Silent Hill, I've seen my brother play it. My bro was playing SH2, and I was feeling awkward when he was going down, and down, and down... I felt it was suffocating, and the character was burying itself. But then he reemerged from a random place and I was concerned about it. I didn't even played it and I can remember it.

I think that's a good way to play with the concept. Building expectation. Making you feel uneasy. Clinging to the false expectations, or the misconceptions, like being buried, being eaten, being in hell, hearing things that SEEM to resemble people dying. When you are unsure, you don't feel safe.

 

[Tornado Samurai]

In my opinion, I think what makes a horror game scary is fearing the unexpected or not knowing what will happen next. For me, that's the scariest thing I think about in a horror game.

For instance, the [iOS/Android] game Dungeon Nightmares, I play it all the time, but sometimes I'm too scared to even open the app. (Quick explanation ensues) basically, when you go to sleep in the real world, you wake up in a dungeon soon thereafter and the goal is that you have to find an artifact to escape. One of the most compelling and captivating points of that game is the replay ability and the instinctive fear of the unexpected. Every time you play a game session of Dungeon Nightmares, the maps are different, the artifact location changes, and the antagonist's (Screaming Lady) path nor location is never the same nor predictable. The same can be said about the jumpscares within that game as well. They're very terrifying, make me jump each and every time, and are never predictable nor cheap (for example: badly edited photos that pop up randomly, random screams that are included alongside with it, jumpscares that pop up every 5 minutes, [things like those may put people off your game if your game is practically dependent on jumpscares to be scary]). Along with the well crafted music and sound effects that built upon the eerie atmosphere and made me terrified to even leave and go in the hallways, when I can just stay in a safe room with the door closed or even stay in a room with the door closed. Each night you survived, the more harder it got the next night. If you died one night, you restarted to Night 1. I'd definitely recommend this game to any fans of survival horror.

I also enjoy psychological horror games with a deep story. A good example of that is a game on [iOS] called Forgotten Memories: Alternate Realities. It costs $5.99 at the moment, but I think it's very cheap a price for this amazing masterpiece of a survival horror game. Without spoiling anything, the game centers around a young woman known as Rose Hawkins, who is currently searching for a missing girl known as Eden. All her evidence and leads so far have led her to investigate an abandoned asylum. However, soon after she arrives, she loses her memories and wakes up in the asylum once more, but this time, it's quite different. The asylum has become a nightmarish version of what it once was and Rose has mysteriously lost a vital part of her memories. Regaining her wits, Rose realizes that she will have to overcome her most horrific of fears in order to escape the asylum alive. The direction the story goes from here escalates smoothly and never lost my interest not once. I enjoyed playing the game, being scared by the antagonists and monsters that appeared and running or fending them off, marveling at and examining the beautifully crafted, high quality, eerie and horrifying locations within the asylum, thinking of ways to solve the puzzle and finding joy when I had the right solution, enjoying the story along with it's twists and turns and character development all the way to the end, and witnessing an amazing ending that left me wanting to play more. Forgotten Memories: Alternate Realities was an amazing survival horror game and an amazing new entry to the vast horror genre.

So basically, fearing the unexpected is what makes a horror game scary, for me.

- Tornado Samurai, A Samurai of Storms

 

[mlogan]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, in my opinion, psychological horror is the worst. Jump scares and stuff, particularly in RM games just annoy me. For me it is the things that really get into your mind that do it. A large part of that would be atmosphere as muramasa mentioned (heck I feel anxious just reading his description, lol).

But it's also taking things and twisting them to a point of perversion (and I'm meaning the actual definition of that verb). For example, possessed toys can be pretty scary. Why? Because you are taking a symbol of innocence and making it do horrific things - the complete opposite of its intended purpose. It also preys on a common childhood fear - monsters or scary things lurking in your room.

 

[dungeon diver]

As far as horror games go, the most important design element is the monster.

Monsters are generally designed based around the collective fears and anxieties of the time they are made. Look at the ubiquity of the zombie today. The reason it is an effective monster despite being almost laughable out of context is because the zombie reflects a fear of conformity, imperialism, and the way that mobs subsume individuals and focus them into a singular, often violent motivation. This fear can be expressed many ways; for example, there's a reason that shopping malls are a common environment of media with zombies. The fear of conformity and imperialism is being applied to an environment of insatiable consumerism.

Monsters are not unique to horror games, nor are they necessarily grotesque physical beings. The most powerful and prevailing monster of Castlevania is not Dracula, but the castle itself. An environment itself can, too, be a monster. And needless to say, monsters are often human beings who have committed terrible atrocities.

Look at the fears of today, and see if you can be inspired to give them a physical form.

 

[mlogan]

And see, traditional monsters like zombies or vampires don't scare me. I don't like zombies but that's more of a rotting-flesh-is-gross kind of reason than fear.

Here's an example of something I have found horrific. I used to love watching Criminal Minds. There was an episode where a couple of teachers and their students were captured and being tortured/put to death one by one. The teachers basically had to watch and could do nothing.

As a teacher and parent - someone routinely used to being in charge of the welfare of young children - this was really tough for mentally and emotionally, because I could relate to being in their position. Not being able to adequately take care of the children in my charge is a big fear. It may sound silly but one of my biggest fears is backing over a child in a car.

So, for me, things that prey on fears like that are far more horrifying than any monster.

 

[dungeon diver]

And see, traditional monsters like zombies or vampires don't scare me. I don't like zombies but that's more of a rotting-flesh-is-gross kind of reason than fear.

Here's an example of something I have found horrific. I used to love watching Criminal Minds. There was an episode where a couple of teachers and their students were captured and being tortured/put to death one by one. The teachers basically had to watch and could do nothing.

As a teacher and parent - someone routinely used to being in charge of the welfare of young children - this was really tough for mentally and emotionally, because I could relate to being in their position. Not being able to adequately take care of the children in my charge is a big fear. It may sound silly but one of my biggest fears is backing over a child in a car.

So, for me, things that prey on fears like that are far more horrifying than any monster.

Crime serial villains are definitely monsters. I think your reaction is testament to that, the show built off a fear you and many other responsible adults have.

Not everyone has the same reactions to different monsters because each encapsulates a very different fear.

 

[Tralse]

Wooow i can't believe the well thought out and in depth responses! I gotta say this is a lot of helpful stuff! I love the idea of the perversion of innocent elements because that will fit perfectly in my game, and the imagining process of traditional horror monsters is a concept I would have never thought to research, that really gave me a new perspective on my my monster(s) because I thought all the character development was in the main character(s) and never the thing that would be chasing you down. 

Tornado Samurai I'm happy to see your interest in my project since you've kept an eye on what I'm doing and I gotta say you have great taste in the horror genre, Dungeon Nightmares was awful, in both senses of the words haha! I couldn't stand to play more than 15 minutes of that game and I doubt I'll pick it up for some time or just to scare the crap out of friends. The way the "Screaming Lady" runs at you, my god, she doesn't make any noise, appears randomly, and doesn't kill you, at least at first. When I first experienced her it was the first 5 mins of the game and I was simply searching a room and reached a dead end, and of course I was suspicious about turning around because you lose that sense of safety when you realize that the enemy/monster/pursuer can only be behind you. But when I turned around I saw a woman about 3 feet away running at me and I didn't have time to react, there would be not humanly possible way to anyway, and the fact she didn't make noise so I couldn't tell where to run, where this object was coming at me from, it was truly terrifying. However, the worst of it had to be, and I know this sounds ironic, was that I was alive after that encounter. I wanted the woman to kill me, for the game to be over, so I wouldn't have to worry about the constant fear of what was behind me, or ahead of me for that matter stumbling around in the dark. Finding the exit without the artifact was heartbreaking because I knew I had to leave possible safety and would have to go back into danger. Great game!

I have a lot of info to work with and a lot of revisions to make so I'll probably be tied up for the next couple days, but I'll check in to see what you guys post because I'm happy to see other people so enthused about the horror genre besides the usual "blood & gore"!

 

[metronome]

gotta have to agree with mlogan here.

first of all, where will you release this horror game? RM? if yes, then....may be you should go for psychological horror and/or hard-decision stuffs. jumpscare and chase scene in RM is....annoying.

and then there is atmosphere, but well....atmosphere can be created in many ways. you gonna have to decide on how you gonna create the atmosphere.

the fact is,

comedy and horror is the easiest genre to produce(in entertainment), but it is also the hardest genre to succeed. the market is getting harder and harder to please......>.<!

zombie, vampire, etc are used to be scary. nowadays, they are seen as something coming out of action genre. if you have pessimistic outlook, you gonna see that horror genre is getting diluted with action genre which ironically 75% of the "action" is concocted out of pure sadism..

people often mistakes sadism("blood and gore" in your language) with horror, which is sad.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, in my opinion, psychological horror is the worst. Jump scares and stuff, particularly in RM games just annoy me.

I agree 500%.  As someone who once employed (cheap!) jumpscares... they DO scare people, but only a very very very small percentage of people (like myself -_-; ) . The rest of them find it... kinda boring and annoying.

Grate me with sounds, let me guess. Fear of the unknown scares me a lot.  Feeding a live person into a grape crusher for example... *shudder*

 

[The Art of Gaming]

Knowing your audience is actually a huge point. This seems like something really obvious but there a lot of games that miss the mark. Also, you have to take reasons behind common fears, (nyctophobia (fear of the dark), coulrophobia (fear of clowns), and acrophobia (fear of heights)) instead of just placing them in haphazrdly. The difference is me going "Oh cool, a cliff." vs. me going "Eeek! This is WAY too high right now!  ". Hope my two cents helped.

 

[Naridar]

I think the greatest force of the horror genre comes from the powerlessness of the player. Look at two very successful, low-budget entries in the genre: Slender and Five Nights at Freddy's. Both operate by reducing the number of options the player has at their disposal.

In Slender (the original):

- The player is painfully slow, and gets tired fast, while Slenderman doesn't seem to be affected by speed

- The area is dark and vision itself is the player's enemy (you mustn't look at Slenderman)

- Slenderman is invulnerable, is in home territory (basically the player is at his disposal) and just looking at him has an immediate obvious negative effect (the screen glitches and white noise creeps in)

- All these contribute to the player feeling helpless and fearing its' ruthless and vile master (Slenderman)

In Five Nights at Freddy's:

- The player can't move and has no means to evade the animatronics

- The only means of protection are temporary and waste power (basically the only resource the player has)

- The appearance of the animatronics is sudden, disturbing and has barely any signs in advance, and carries an immediate negative effect (game over)

- Not even by stopping to play/progress is the player safe. (S)He's not in control of the pace, the animatronics are.

So the trick is to make the player helpless. A bloodstain on the wall is not as scary as knowing that only the monster who made the bloodstain decides your fate, you have no word in it.

 

[LucasGodzilla]

Well, although I'm late to the party, I think ATMOSPHERE is key in games. Believe me, creepy ambiance will bring your game up to the next level. Some dark eerie lighting mixed in with some low groaning and strings will be great. For a great example of creepy ambiance music, check out the video below.

 

[Tralse]

Crreeeepppy man! Good find and I haven't put much thought into the audio! Just visuals! Thanks!