What do you think makes an horror game?

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    • What do you think makes an horror game?

      Hey,

      I am a 3D Modeler and a game designer, I am have been planing to make a horror game for a while now. But I have came up empty handed, if anyone has any ideas for a original horror game or what would be cool to include into it. It'd be more than welcome, I'm new to the forums but have been a long last bro.

      #Brofist
      A Game Designer
    • I want things to appear from unexpected places! Like... usually in horror games things jump on you when you open a door. How lame is that? I want you to stroll around and all sudden something grabs your LEGS. Like... and you'd feel the same when you watch a horror movie and lift your feet up because something could possibly grab them from under the couch. Even it's not real... and won't. And and then I'd wanna see unsuspecting "villains" ...like we've seen creepy little girls and Slenderman... I wanna see something you can't expect so easily. KITTENS... that kill you. Okay maybe not. But yeah... or or maybe the character you play could be a fat chick for once and you'd run out of stamina! xD And I'd like to see some difficulty in horror games - no health bars! :P If you get hit on the wrong place you die. And even if you'd heal yourself you'd be slowed down for a while... and you'd leave blood dripping all over the floor! And if you killed a monster you could fall over because it's blood was slippery! And if your eye was poked out your screen would go half! I wanna see your character piss their pants! I wanna...

      Uh. Actually, I should stop. I let myself babble a bit. Sorry. I hope you enjoy the forums! ^^

      EDIT: AND AND then I wanna see more work on atmosphere and sound! Like in Amnesia where you hear the weird sound when your sanity is low... it makes you crazy when playing! I wanna see monster sounds that make you close the game out of sheer terror! I wanna see things that CRAWL. That's scary for sure. And then... okay I'll stop now.

      EDIT2: And timed things! Like there's nothing more horrible in a horror game when you have to think fast/do puzzle so you get away from something. It gets your heart pumping!

      Darn I'm hyper...

      EDIT3: And what comes to storylines! I'm so bored of these Silent Hill "my little kid is missing in this creepy town" copy plots! And these "oh my I'm a soldier/cop/priest/whatever-cliche and this evil little girl is something I just must stop!" plots... darn. It has to be something new... and even if it was a plot as such it would have to involve things that people just CAN'T expect. And there's gotta be taboo breaking!! Child characters dying? Please, it's done. How about if the main character was different and new? What if he was a plain average Joe and not a athletic muscleman? I demand more fat chicks too. Forget Lara Croft already. More gay characters! More everything people are usually afraid to use!

      *forces self to stop already* xD

      The post was edited 2 times, last by peachvomit ().

    • This is the perfect combination of horror game, in my opinion:

      - Great atmosphere, emotional story, great and haunting soundtrack, clever puzzle, disturbing, and "mindfuck: (Silent Hill)
      - Good timinng and placing of jump scare (Resident Evil)
      - Make the player feel "hopeless" and in complete loneliness. (Amnesia, Penumbra, Call of Cthulhu).
      - Sanity effects (Sanit's Requiem)


      Formerly: Raven

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    • The game should have an excellent ambience, and a scary atmosphere that grabs the player and forces him to be one with the game. And he should be able to feel the game as he progresses.

      And, the music should be perfect and the sounds should be timed well. So should the scares. I prefer atmospheric horror games over jump-scare based games. Atmospheric, as in, you have the feeling that you're being watched by a dangerous entity.

      Another thing should be puzzles. Hard puzzles that makes the brain melt. And as peach said, timed puzzles. There should be a timer. Not visible, necessarily. [unlike The Walking Dead, I mean]

      Also, the player shouldn't be able to run for a long time without him stopping to catch his breath. And, make him go crazy throughout the game.

      The monster in the game should be as mysterious as it can get. So to say, during the start of the game, say, you're in a house. And you walk around and you see a face watching you through the window. You realized that it was there all the time. And as soon as you see it, it turns around and walks away.

      And at one point in the game, you turn around in the hallway and see a black shady figure walking towards you. Slowly. You turn around and see all the exits are blocked. That will force you to find and solve the puzzle there before the said monster gains on you.

      The story driving the game should be as real and believable as it can get. Not like "one day, you wake up and find a penis monster with tentacles made of penises infront of your room. and you two go to a coffee and he tries to rape you. collect 10 engagement rings before he gets you" ... ._.
      It should be filled with feels, that makes the player feel part of the game.

      And that is all.

      P.S : Add kitties with boobies. C:
    • Sharky wrote:

      The game should have an excellent ambience, and a scary atmosphere that grabs the player and forces him to be one with the game. And he should be able to feel the game as he progresses.

      And, the music should be perfect and the sounds should be timed well. So should the scares. I prefer atmospheric horror games over jump-scare based games. Atmospheric, as in, you have the feeling that you're being watched by a dangerous entity.

      Another thing should be puzzles. Hard puzzles that makes the brain melt. And as peach said, timed puzzles. There should be a timer. Not visible, necessarily. [unlike The Walking Dead, I mean]

      Also, the player shouldn't be able to run for a long time without him stopping to catch his breath. And, make him go crazy throughout the game.

      The monster in the game should be as mysterious as it can get. So to say, during the start of the game, say, you're in a house. And you walk around and you see a face watching you through the window. You realized that it was there all the time. And as soon as you see it, it turns around and walks away.

      And at one point in the game, you turn around in the hallway and see a black shady figure walking towards you. Slowly. You turn around and see all the exits are blocked. That will force you to find and solve the puzzle there before the said monster gains on you.

      The story driving the game should be as real and believable as it can get. Not like "one day, you wake up and find a penis monster with tentacles made of penises infront of your room. and you two go to a coffee and he tries to rape you. collect 10 engagement rings before he gets you" ... ._.
      It should be filled with feels, that makes the player feel part of the game.

      And that is all.

      P.S : Add kitties with boobies. C:

      Again, Sharky.. you just win this thread. Especially with the penis tentacle monster.

      Edit: Thanks for the rep Sharky :3, and can you draw that monster for me? c:


      Formerly: Raven

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    • refer to creepypasta wikia... There's 3 type of fears
      Let me put the examples from the games that Pewdiepie recently played.


      -Shock : The Jump scares on several Games
      -Paranoia : Several moments in Amnesia [a zooming screen, A sound of a grunts]
      -Dread : Slender Stalking on the Slenderman games [i have no better example to put here]

      Apologies if i'm wrong :(

      Few Horror Game can pull player into the Dreads. But when it do, it'll traumatized you for days
    • Hey everyone, what do you think of the following basic story line:

      You are laying down in a brush, slowly you prop your self up to rid your self of your grogginess. As you rise, you notice that your on a beach. You get to your feat and see that your on an inland island surrounded by an city. You slowly turn to take everything in, during the turn you stop to gaze at the large building behind you. The building down beaten and long out of service, after a long gaze you finally see that it is an prison. As you piece it all together you realize that you are at Alcatraz. You stumble back and chock up the sight.

      You will have to find a way to enter the prison, the further you delve into the prison the more you unlock your mind. As you try to find out why you are there.

      As you can tell. I'm no story writer, although feel free to say what you think and what will be better.
      A Game Designer

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Sean Hall ().

    • Sean Hall wrote:

      Hey everyone, what do you think of the following basic story line:

      You are laying down in a brush, slowly you prop your self up to rid your self of your grogginess. As you rise, you notice that your on a beach. You get to your feat and see that your on an inland island surrounded by an city. You slowly turn to take everything in, during the turn you stop to gaze at the large building behind you. The building down beaten and long out of service, after a long gaze you finally see that it is an prison. As you piece it all together you realize that you are at Alcatraz. You stumble back and chock up the sight.

      You will have to find a way to enter the prison, the further you delve into the prison the more you unlock your mind. As you try to find out why you are there.

      As you can tell. I'm no story writer, although feel free to say what you think and what will be better.
      Hmm... prison... I don't... prison isn't that original... I like the idea of Alcatraz tho'... but I don't know. To me it depends: is the place haunted? Zombies? Demons? Human enemies? It all depends. Also there's something about the 'waking up groggy' I can't stand xD it's so common... I wish games would sometimes start with a little bit more info! Not all info, but some background story.
    • It was xdayx of xxmonthxx. You wake up to the sound of your roommate/wife/pet satan/girlfriend knocking on your door. You open the door and continue normal stuff. During the day, something happens between you and this other guy who thinks he's better than you in every possible way. He is abnormal.

      At night, you go to sleep, but hear a scratching voice on your door. You go upto the door, open it, and you see a black figure run to the other side, you chase him/it. And finally, you go out side, chase him. You guys run for a while, and come to an abandoned place. The guy stops running. Turns around, smiles. You are puzzled.

      Suddenly, someone pushes you from behind and you fall to the ground. You look back and see an old figure with a straw hat. He had a long block of hard, black wood. [no penis jokes pls]

      He swings the piece of block at you, and the last thing you saw is the game's name written on the piece of wood. Which is white, and the background fades to complete black.

      The real game begins here. As you wake up, and your quest would be to find the person responsible for your abduction and the reason behind it.

      Note that the whole thing above would be playable as well. Opening the door, going out, back to sleep, open the door again, chasing the person .. each of the stuff are somehow interactive and playable.
    • What makes a good horror game? Lots of elements here...

      First off is no jumpscares in the game. Jumpscares just makes everything worse. Horror games appeal to your sense of fear. Jumpies have a lot to do with fear, but in a somewhat stupid way (but you could put at least one jumpscare in c: ). A creepy atmosphere REALLY appeals to me in a horror game. You could throw in a couple of monsters or demons in there too.

      There are many other elements, but I'll let you bros do the rest of the math :D.
      DON'T PUT THE FREAKING PUNCHLINE IN THE FREAKING TITLE!!