Horror Level Design Theory - Developers

[QUOTE=paulisdead18;41559508]Might it be a game called "Stairs"?[/QUOTE] That would be it! Such an intense moment.

Resident Evil's save rooms are the [I]perfect[/I] example of a safe haven. It's always so tense to get to one and always so tense to leave one.

[QUOTE=A big fat ass;41561518]Resident Evil's save rooms are the [I]perfect[/I] example of a safe haven. It's always so tense to get to one and always so tense to leave one.[/QUOTE] The newer resident evils aren't really scary. Being a heavily armed dude who's arms are bigger than his fucking head with like 4 shotguns isn't scary to me. Having an entire armoury at your disposal really kills the "horror" effect of it. The older games are relatively ok examples, though that's just my opinion. Also, is this relevant? figured it would be useful. [url]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SoYouWantTo/WriteASurvivalHorrorGame[/url]

[QUOTE=Gamershaze;41549866]Rather you've seen it before/it's been done before or not, doesn't mean something isn't scary at any point in time ever. You're completely correct, if we were to just see the FEAR girl copy/pasted into a corridor with the oh-so-familiar HL2 apartment complex textures, sure, it'd be laughable if someone were to pass it off as a horror map. But when a good level designer/team put together such a good atmosphere as they've pulled off in various scenes through-out the FEAR series? It can make a man wearing a banana costume look scary. Not giving FEAR too much credit either; I've never been truly scared in a F.E.A.R game as I have in say, Amnesia, but credit is where credit is due.[/QUOTE] Well, the problem with FEAR was that it was more intended as an "action movie" game rather than a horror game.

Music also plays a big role into a scary level. (it really depends on the theme though, some might not be able to have music of any kind)

[QUOTE=LATTEH;41565142]Music also plays a big role into a scary level. (it really depends on the theme though, some might not be able to have music of any kind)[/QUOTE] Audio is the most important part of horror.

[QUOTE=Zay333;41565562]Audio is the most important part of horror.[/QUOTE] I completely agree. Good sound design can be way more important than visuals when it comes to creating good atmosphere

[QUOTE=podthegod;41572131]I completely agree. Good sound design can be way more important than visuals when it comes to creating good atmosphere[/QUOTE] I hope you weren't being sarcastic. Just look at Slender: The Eight Pages; it had the graphics and effects of a N64 game, but it scared the shit out of people due to the sound and the atmosphere created by it.

Why would he be sarcastic? He was agreeing with it.

[QUOTE=Gamershaze;41572263]I hope you weren't being sarcastic. Just look at Slender: The Eight Pages; it had the graphics and effects of a N64 game, but it scared the shit out of people due to the sound and the atmosphere created by it.[/QUOTE] No, not really. In the end it was still all jump scares.

[QUOTE=Auto Taco;41575797]No, not really. In the end it was still all jump scares.[/QUOTE] Jump scares =/= annoying unstoppable entity that can teleport

[QUOTE=Chaoswolf725;41577223]Jump scares =/= annoying unstoppable entity that can teleport[/QUOTE] i think he meant that it has the same effect on people

[QUOTE=Auto Taco;41575797]No, not really. In the end it was still all jump scares.[/QUOTE] Yes, jump scares that were only 'scary' due to the sound effects that came with it. If you take away the sound, all you have is -the below- horribly unproportionate model that again looks like it was created for a reject game on the N64 platform. [t]http://levelsave.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/slender-bathouse.jpeg[/t]

[QUOTE=Gamershaze;41580410]Yes, jump scares that were only 'scary' due to the sound effects that came with it. If you take away the sound, all you have is -the below- horribly unproportionate model that again looks like it was created for a reject game on the N64 platform. [t]http://levelsave.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/slender-bathouse.jpeg[/t][/QUOTE] Golden eye, tall fucker edition

When it comes to the Design and Theory of Horror Levels. There is one topic people mostly miss out that I feel more people should know. And that topic is that ... --------------------------------- [I]"NONE IS BETTER THAN ONE"[/I] --------------------------------- Most of the times, horror levels face you up with antagonistic creatures. Decapacitated ghosts, failed test subjects and genetical projects of a desperate scientist who has hoped to change the world only to become a sobbing blob of rageful meat hunting you down in the hallways. That is NOT [U]in my prespective[/U] the best approach. People are allways advancing, trough evolution people become the new generation adapted to new methods, methods of antagonistic entities in horror and methods of jumpscares. Thus the only fear able to produce a genuine response of threat, is the oldest one. And just what is the oldest fear ? Fear of the unknown. Yes. You don't need to have a enemy in your map to force the player forward, you don't need big zombies, test subjects, slaves, mental patients. All you need is something undescribable. Often people see things in the dark that are not there, and that is the point. If you want to scare the player while he is immersed into your map at night with headphones, you have to get into their head. Use their cretaivity and imagination aginst them, acquaintance them with the fact that there is something of their worst nightmare, and once they ask "What !?" smile and respond "You know what lies in the dark..." If you show a monster that is hunting you, it will get horrifying only the first time, then the natural mind will only count it as an "Asset", however if you face the player aginst pure nothing, the player tends to attempt making out what is hunting or haunting them. And just that point when they imagine the monster under their bed from the childhood as the lights flash out and a whisper sounds the air... That is the moment when you got them.

I always had this cool horror mod idea that I might end up making one day. A somewhat a mix of classic noir and Lovecraftian horror set in the post war 194x. The main gameplay elements being that enemies are invisible and you have to pay close attention to your surroundings and listen carefully to even be aware of their presence. On top of that the players weapons would be quite effective, but he would have ridiculously little ammo (the game would be very unforgiving in this aspect) and no melee weapons. this would force literally every shot to count as you navigate dark abandoned urban and rural levels. Would this work?

[QUOTE=Grenade Man;41616996]I always had this cool horror mod idea that I might end up making one day. A somewhat a mix of classic noir and Lovecraftian horror set in the post war 194x. The main gameplay elements being that enemies are invisible and you have to pay close attention to your surroundings and listen carefully to even be aware of their presence. On top of that the players weapons would be quite effective, but he would have ridiculously little ammo (the game would be very unforgiving in this aspect) and no melee weapons. this would force literally every shot to count as you navigate dark abandoned urban and rural levels. Would this work?[/QUOTE] difficult to see/hit combined with little ammo might lead to frustration/save and reload. Instead you could have guns scaring away creatures. Civilians in that time would have revolvers, shotguns or rifles. Rather loud weapons. This would also give it a feel of these weapons dont harm the creatures, its only a matter of time till they overcome their fear and get me EDIT: give player a choice. You can kill it but it will use alot of ammo. Might be better just to scare it and try to get past. Short ammo makes this choice difficult and will condition the player to avoid the monsters, fearing them knowing that a serious encounter might lead to them being unable to face a future (tho perhaps not immediate) encounter

Plus, I'd add a melee weapon anyways, but just make it very, very weak in comparison to the guns. If you're gonna give the player the ability to fight back, you might as well give him a last resort weapon. Making the melee very weak will make the player still rely on careful shooting to preserve his ammo, as opposed to going apeshit whacking monsters to death.

[QUOTE=Kahgarak;41623785]Plus, I'd add a melee weapon anyways, but just make it very, very weak in comparison to the guns. If you're gonna give the player the ability to fight back, you might as well give him a last resort weapon. Making the melee very weak will make the player still rely on careful shooting to preserve his ammo, as opposed to going apeshit whacking monsters to death.[/QUOTE] Killing stuff with melee weapon makes it abit arcadey. Run in hit it run back b4 it can hit you. A different last resort (if they are scared of light say) would be patches of light to a player to hide in. Then form the darkness they hear noises and see slight movement. USe hdr to make the dark darker when your in the light. Its a last resort but not in the convential game manner.

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;41624299]Killing stuff with melee weapon makes it abit arcadey. Run in hit it run back b4 it can hit you. A different last resort (if they are scared of light say) would be patches of light to a player to hide in. Then form the darkness they hear noises and see slight movement. USe hdr to make the dark darker when your in the light. Its a last resort but not in the convential game manner.[/QUOTE] This is a very good idea. It actually solves many problems I predicted. And thanks a lot of the input!

[QUOTE=Grenade Man;41625198]This is a very good idea. It actually solves many problems I predicted. And thanks a lot of the input![/QUOTE] Alan Wake does this very well, but it completely removes the enemies around you, which kinda ruins the feel of "OH SHIT THEY'RE EVERYWHERE" so it'd probably be best to find a way to make that not happen.

This is one of my favourite levels from dead space 2, as you constantly have to look around for the necromorphs, and there are not many places you can corner yourself in while fighting them (the guy in this video exploits the level a bit though and doesn't really show it to it's full potential) It's one of those areas in a game where I spend about 10 minutes standing at the entrance shitting myself :) If this is the style you are looking for then definitely take some ideas from it. [video=youtube;uTMN-xZWV_4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTMN-xZWV_4[/video]

I think Extra Credits has a brilliant series on horror in games. [video=youtube;4mHCG4zbCPM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mHCG4zbCPM[/video]