Horror Level Design Theory - Developers

[B]Part One: Safe Havens[/B] [t]http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081220150807/left4dead/images/4/4c/Saferoom_door.jpg[/t] The purpose of this thread is that I wanted to share my own opinions and thoughts on what makes a horror-themed level "scary". I originally wanted to put everything together in a video, but I figured it'd be easier to keep it as a thread so others can refer back to it any time they want. So to start this thread off, I want to talk about something simple that new comers seem to avoid completely, and that's a "Safe Haven". New level designers tend to drop the player right into the action. Giving them a flashlight and telling them to go find some special items or something while a monster chases them around the map. Sound familiar? That sort of level design is something I want people to avoid doing. [U]What is a Safe Haven?[/U] My definition of a Safe Haven is [B]an area in the level that's evident to the player that they are safe from harm or other entities[/B]. A good horror level should (almost) [I]always[/I] start the player off in a Safe Haven. It should be instantly clear to the player that they don't have to be scared of anything...yet. No one wants to load up your newly made horror map, only to take a couple steps and then have a generic stalker scream sound effect play while their screen shakes violently. There's no build up to this, and it's a needless "jump scare", which I'll talk about in a later post. A Safe Haven that the player [I]starts out in[/I] (usually) shouldn't be "spooky". What I mean is, the room shouldn't be covered in blood and dead bodies. That doesn't mean it has to be cleared of dust and dirt from every corner, but too much of something can be a bad thing. Keep everything in theme of your map. Players need a rest from all the spookiness they'll experience. If you're designing a linear level, then know when to make Safe Havens along the way. You don't need to include a safe area after every scare the player experiences, but not having any place to go for a breather can be tiresome. If you're designing an open-world level, then add a Safe Haven that the player can retreat back to if they need to take a break or escape danger. Left 4 Dead might not be a good example of a horror game (although I guess some people find it scary), but it has Safe Havens at the beginning and end of every level. The player instantly knows that nothing can get through the safe room's door. At least not until you open the door. This gives players a time to step away from the computer and use the bathroom or get something to eat if they have too. It also gives them a place to save the game and quit for a while. [U] What are some things a Safe Haven might include?[/U] -Bright lights -Health/ammo -No spooky sounds/music [U]What else can Safe Havens be used for?[/U] Scaring the player. Yeah, I know I just wrote all that about giving the player a break from everything, but at certain times it's OK to trick the player into thinking they are safe, only to CRUSH THEIR SENSE OF SECURITY. This is actually really easy. If your Safe Havens are consistent throughout your level, then the player is probably accustomed to what your Safe Havens look like. When the player enters your "Safe Haven", they'll think it's all fine and dandy. Now, it'll take some creativity on your part, but there are all sorts of things you can do to keep the tension rising. Some examples would be: -Lights flickering on and off, or going out completely -Enemy makes its way into the room after a short amount of time -Scary ambient sounds playing [U]Minor notes:[/U] Players are attracted to light. Which is why a Safe Haven should be nicely lit and stand out from other lights in the area. Lights can also be used to show players the path they need to take, without placing a giant "GO HERE" sign every once in a while. [HR][/HR] I hope this post was informative. I think I know what I'm going to write about next, but if anyone has any suggestions on what to do or what not to do, feel free to add them.

Interesting guide. Hopefully this will decrease the amount of generic horror maps released for Garrysmod. How about Atmosphere for second one?

Atmosphere is a pretty big thing to cover, since it alone can make or break a good level. [editline]21st July 2013[/editline] Another thing I want to note is that I want to avoid making these a "tutorial" and just keeping them informative and sort of giving people a push in the right direction.

Time to play devil's advocate: I disagree, I think safe havens are a terrible idea. First of all, with a safe haven you are providing a guaranteed sense of safety regardless of positioning. Sure you could scare them but it's extremely obvious to distinguish between a fake safe haven most of the time. Take Silent Hill's The Room. (Possible spoiler) Instinctively with horror games such as these you know your safety in the room at some point would be compromised by some fear factor. Nowadays almost every game does it and it's extremely obvious. That's why I love Amnesia so much and their level design team a lot. They basically defined horror for me because I hadn't really played any horror games beyond an old SH game or some resident evils when I was young. Let me quote one of their "10 ways to evolve horror games": [quote="Frictional Games"]The worst thing about combat is that it makes the player focus on all the wrong things, and makes them miss many of the subtle cues that are so important to an effective atmosphere. It also establishes a core game system that makes the player so much more comfortable in the game's world. [b]And comfort is not something we want when our goal is to induce intense feelings of terror.[/b][/quote] My opinion on monsters is pretty much the same as Frictional Games'. They do an excellent job explaining the perfect equation for monsters in a horror game: [quote="Frictional Games"]No enemies. By this I do not mean that there should be no threats to the player lurking about. What I mean is that we need to stop thinking of any creatures that we put into the game as "enemies". The word enemy makes us think about war and physical conflict, which is really not the focus in a horror game. It also makes us think less about why these creatures are in our virtual world. The word enemy is such an easy label to put on other beings, and then not worry about anything except that we need to destroy or avoid them. This is how wars work after all. If we instead think of these creatures as merely inhabitants of our virtual worlds we need to ask ourselves why they are there, what their motivations are and so forth. This brings a new depth to the game which is bound to color the player's imagination. If we can establish our hostile beings as calculating, intelligent beings with an agenda, we vastly increase the intensity of any encounter and can make the terror so much stronger.[/quote] When I play horror games and they start to let me use guns that I can upgrade and destroy the "basic" enemy units, it becomes an action game which was the inevitable downfall of the RE series for me. If you give me a rocket launcher to take out the "spooky" boss then I'm honestly not too frightened. I have a bazooka for crying out loud. I guess I'll explain with why I disagree with some of your points now: [quote]A good horror level should (almost) always start the player off in a Safe Haven. It should be instantly clear to the player that they don't have to be scared of anything...yet. No one wants to load up your newly made horror map, only to take a couple steps and then have a generic stalker scream sound effect play while their screen shakes violently. There's no build up to this, and it's a needless "jump scare", which I'll talk about in a later post. A Safe Haven that the player starts out in (usually) shouldn't be "spooky". What I mean is, the room shouldn't be covered in blood and dead bodies. That doesn't mean it has to be cleared of dust and dirt from every corner, but too much of something can be a bad thing. Keep everything in theme of your map.[/quote] I could not disagree more. If you start a player in an environment without monsters around but has a horrific environment it's going to kick the player into survival mode and get the adrenaline pumping. Also if you ever have to resort to a jump scare to make your map scary then you are doing it WRONG and need to re-evaluate what you are doing. [quote]Players need a rest from all the spookiness they'll experience. If you're designing a linear level, then know when to make Safe Havens along the way. You don't need to include a safe area after every scare the player experiences, but not having any place to go for a breather can be tiresome. If you're designing an open-world level, then add a Safe Haven that the player can retreat back to if they need to take a break or escape danger.[/quote] No they don't? Both Silent Hill 4: The Room, and Amnesia(: Justine) didn't allow a "safe haven" until after a long string of horror puzzles. And typically these safe havens were traps. Just watch an LP of Amnesia: Justine to get a quick look at what I'm talking about. If you do have a safe haven, they should ONLY be provided as a reward to the player, not so they can take a breather. Because if I can hit up a safe haven when I need to assess a situation, that just destroys the scare factor for me (Ghost Hunt is somewhat an example but Breadman only used one safe haven with some surprises in them, so I guess it doesn't technically count). Frictional Games addresses the open-world aspect really well: [quote="Frictional Games"]Open world. By this I do not mean that horror games should strive to be GTA-like sandbox experiences, but simply that they should allow more freedom of movement. Most horror games set up a very strict path for the player to follow even if they have, like Silent Hill, a large world to explore. Instead I think the games should allow for the player to skip certain areas and to go about in the world in a free way. This increases the player's feeling of being in a real world, increasing any emotions associated with it. This is also closely related to the goal of achieving normality. Without a forced structure and more open world, it should be easier to give the sense of everyday life.[/quote] Anyway, not a bad guide but the entire idea of safe havens puts a sour taste in my mouth because I haven't seen anyone utilize it properly except Amnesia and SH. I don't know if Fatal Frame's series uses safe havens, but they might be another example as well.

pretty interesting article: [url]http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37075/[/url]

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;41538635] First of all, with a safe haven you are providing a guaranteed sense of safety regardless of positioning. Sure you could scare them but it's extremely obvious to distinguish between a fake safe haven most of the time. Take Silent Hill's The Room. (Possible spoiler) Instinctively with horror games such as these you know your safety in the room at some point would be compromised by some fear factor. Nowadays almost every game does it and it's extremely obvious.[/quote] I must disagree. An obviously fake safe room is only obvious because you make it obvious. I want to write a post about using psychological effects on players and keeping them on their toes, which would include an obviously fake safe haven. But a good level designer would be able to make their fake safe havens indistinguishable from real ones. [quote]That's why I love Amnesia so much and their level design team a lot. They basically defined horror for me because I hadn't really played any horror games beyond an old SH game or some resident evils when I was young. Let me quote one of their "10 ways to evolve horror games": [quote=Frictional Games]The worst thing about combat is that it makes the player focus on all the wrong things, and makes them miss many of the subtle cues that are so important to an effective atmosphere. It also establishes a core game system that makes the player so much more comfortable in the game's world. And comfort is not something we want when our goal is to induce intense feelings of terror.[/quote][/quote] Amnesia had plenty of safe areas though. Sure they changed over time, but players knew they were safe to begin with. [quote]I guess I'll explain with why I disagree with some of your points now: [quote]A good horror level should (almost) always start the player off in a Safe Haven. It should be instantly clear to the player that they don't have to be scared of anything...yet. No one wants to load up your newly made horror map, only to take a couple steps and then have a generic stalker scream sound effect play while their screen shakes violently. There's no build up to this, and it's a needless "jump scare", which I'll talk about in a later post. A Safe Haven that the player starts out in (usually) shouldn't be "spooky". What I mean is, the room shouldn't be covered in blood and dead bodies. That doesn't mean it has to be cleared of dust and dirt from every corner, but too much of something can be a bad thing. Keep everything in theme of your map.[/quote] I could not disagree more. If you start a player in an environment without monsters around but has a horrific environment it's going to kick the player into survival mode and get the adrenaline pumping[/quote] I agree and disagree. The way you worded it makes it sound like I was saying that the player has to start in a safe room and then walk out into a blood bath. If you want to scare someone, you have to build up the tension throughout the level. It's like writing a book. You have your exposition, rising action, and then the climax. [quote]If you do have a safe haven, they should ONLY be provided as a reward to the player, not so they can take a breather. [B]Because if I can hit up a safe haven when I need to assess a situation[/B], that just destroys the scare factor for me (Ghost Hunt is somewhat an example but Breadman only used one safe haven with some surprises in them, so I guess it doesn't technically count).[/QUOTE] Once again I agree and disagree. As I said, a safe haven shouldn't be provided after every scare the player experiences, but should be paced throughout the level. Level designers should know when to to give the players a bit of rest because you really shouldn't be trying to scare them all day. Sooner or later they'll get tired or just simply bored. Amnesia had plenty of safe areas in the game, but they did it in such a way that kept some of the tension in the players.

[QUOTE=cardboardtheory;41538291]Interesting guide. Hopefully this will decrease the amount of generic horror maps released for Garrysmod. How about Atmosphere for second one?[/QUOTE] Doesn't matter if you write the best tutorial ever, those little shitstains will still make babby's first jump scare map #456759 and upload it to the workshop.

I'm a real sucker when it comes to anything scary. I get terrified easy and cower/flip out/make my character do stupid things in the first few seconds of "HOLYSHtiSHFDALSDJSD'. But then after I've calmed down to the point I don't feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest, or I'm not sitting there staring at a random object in the game, or spinning around shooting randomly, I end up going back to the area or thing that spooked me and getting past or dealing with it. Safe Havens that are purely safe and there's no chance of monsters or death, well. I like them, but at the same time, speaking from my experiences in maps and games that include them, they're more like camp spots to run back screaming to or hide in or stare out of and 'maaaaaaybe you'll get to that part of the map' later sort of thinking. I'm not saying people should be screaming and dying within the first 20-30 seconds of logging into whatever, but there should be something in that room that either prevents them from returning when they run out of it or something in it that MAKES them not want to return, whether it be a sound/music change, popups (Not screamers, more like those horror games where things pop up and sit there until you notice them and usually you don't see them unless you turn around and they're in your face.), slow and progressive changes to details/props in the enviroment, or sudden flashes of a "alternate" area. My reasoning for this is it gives the players an area to sit in at the beginning/intermissions so they can AFK or ditz around for a few minutes, but at the same time provides both entertainment and the motivation to keep moving. On the other hand, no safe havens at all during a map or game level means I'm usually busting my ass to get from Point A to B because there is no real safe spot to sit in and I'd rather scare my pants off in one big burst of "AGHGHAFHSDGHSG" instead of slowly creeping around corners and having near-heart-attacks-every five minutes because I don't get an actual breather. This means I don't pay as much attention to the surroundings, or fine details. Sorry for any post screw ups, it's late and I'm sick :I

[QUOTE=slayer20;41538906]I must disagree. An obviously fake safe room is only obvious because you make it obvious. I want to write a post about using psychological effects on players and keeping them on their toes, which would include an obviously fake safe haven. But a good level designer would be able to make their fake safe havens indistinguishable from real ones.[/quote] You'd be surprised, which is why I abhor safe havens. Like I said, they should be given as rewards, not so your player can take a breather. Also, I believe the first "safe haven" in Amnesia (regular) is just after the water monster, often renowned as one of the most horrifying parts of the game. [quote]Amnesia had plenty of safe areas though. Sure they changed over time, but players knew they were safe to begin with.[/quote] I never said Amnesia didn't have safe havens? I said they provided them as rewards to players for overcoming their fears and getting through the game. [quote]I agree and disagree. The way you worded it makes it sound like I was saying that the player has to start in a safe room and then walk out into a blood bath. If you want to scare someone, you have to build up the tension throughout the level. It's like writing a book. You have your exposition, rising action, and then the climax.[/quote] Why do you keep insisting that horror must involve blood everywhere? To create a horror environment is not to shower a game in a massive blood orgy. You can easily build up tension as soon as you start the game, through environmental ambience, lighting, scripted sequences, etc. Amnesia easily does this in their first game just starting the player off. [quote]Once again I agree and disagree. As I said, a safe haven shouldn't be provided after every scare the player experiences, but should be paced throughout the level. Level designers should know when to to give the players a bit of rest because you really shouldn't be trying to scare them all day. Sooner or later they'll get tired or just simply bored. Amnesia had plenty of safe areas in the game, but they did it in such a way that kept some of the tension in the players.[/quote] Right, so if you put a safe haven I can run back to, what's stopping me from running back, gathering supplies/my buddies, and going back out far less scared because you know what's going to happen? Amnesia's safe havens...like I said again and again...provide them as rewards for getting past a scary part of the game the players had to overcome. ----- Dharja makes a good point with how Safe Havens should function. They shouldn't be easily accessible, and shouldn't encourage a player to return to them. Cowering in a corner and having a player slowly inch their way around a corridor wall to peek into a long dark hallway is going to have a far scarier effect than having the player sprint ALL THE WAY back to the last safe haven and recollect themselves. Dharja's last point, getting from Point A to B. I'm not saying you should be in danger consistently to the point you are in harm's way. You should be trying your best to scare them, it's a horror map/game. Also if you scare yourself in one big burst it's obvious there's probably going to be no more scares for that little portion (see ghost hunt 2's corridor with the doors). Often times players will retreat from those types of scripted sequences about fifteen feet and they'll come right back, as seen with S&B's lets play of GH2.

If someone wants to learn about good horror game design I suggest playing the original F.E.A.R. that game does a great job of making the experience scary without relying only on jump scares.

Interesting thread here.

I disagree. Safe havens can work in a horror game, but in my opinion they are far from ideal, and not necessary in the least. In a horror level, or game, the player should constantly be guessing what comes next. Anticipation is key. That's not to say that there shouldn't be areas where the player is safe, it's just that they shouldn't feel completely safe, and it should be far from obvious that they are. "Advertising" a safe haven as a frequent gameplay element, with bright lights and ammo, quickly introduces the player to the concept, and it breaks the tension and whatever unpleasantness they might be experiencing. It also introduces predictability. If the player has come across multiple safe havens, they quickly realize this system. And then later on ruining a safe haven for them seems more like a gimmick or a cheap scare. I don't think mental rest is a necessity either, as it also detracts from the horror experience. If they want a break, they can pause the game. A safe haven at the start of a game can be very effective though, as evident by the capsule at the beginning of Bioshock. The last thing I wanted to do was leave it.

[QUOTE=wazanator;41543232]If someone wants to learn about good horror game design I suggest playing the original F.E.A.R. that game does a great job of making the experience scary without relying only on jump scares.[/QUOTE] What are you talking about, FEAR had loads of jump scares.

What you said lul -Bright lights -Health/ammo -No spooky sounds/music [U]What else can Safe Havens be used for?[/U] Blah blah blah scary Some examples would be: -Lights flickering on and off, or going out completely -Enemy makes its way into the room after a short amount of time -Scary ambient sounds playing [U]Minor notes:[/U] Players are attracted to light. Which is why a Safe Haven should be nicely lit and stand out from other lights in the area. Lights can also be used to show players the path they need to take, without placing a giant "GO HERE" sign every once in a while. Here's an idea. No bright lights. Flickering on and off is fine. But the lights shouldn't be bright. The player knows what they're about to encounter but doesn't know what they will encounter. I'm not saying you shouldn't have lights. Just don't make them bright. It's spookier..

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;41542822]I never said Amnesia didn't have safe havens? I said they provided them as [B]rewards to players for overcoming their fears and getting through the game[/B].[/quote] Rewarding them with a safe haven after scaring them a few times is essentially giving them a breather and time to cool down. [quote]Why do you keep insisting that horror must involve blood everywhere? To create a horror environment is not to shower a game in a massive blood orgy. You can easily build up tension as soon as you start the game, through environmental ambience, lighting, scripted sequences, etc. Amnesia easily does this in their first game just starting the player off.[/quote] I used blood bath as an example of bad level design. I thought that would have been obvious. "Horrific environment" could be a number of things, not all of which would " kick the player into survival mode and get the adrenaline pumping". You'd have to pretty specific on the kind of environment you'd enter that would put you into survival mode. [quote]Right, so if you put a safe haven I can run back to, what's stopping me from running back, gathering supplies/my buddies, and going back out far less scared because you know what's going to happen?[/quote] Dharja said it right about not being able to go back to safe havens. You're also implying that these safe havens are filled to the top with ammo and other supplies.

[QUOTE=Zay333;41544726]What are you talking about, FEAR had loads of jump scares.[/QUOTE] It did but it didn't solely rely on them, a lot of it was the atmosphere I feel.

[QUOTE=wazanator;41549722]It did but it didn't solely rely on them, a lot of it was the atmosphere I feel.[/QUOTE] That and how creepy little girls are scary as fuck.

[QUOTE=Gamershaze;41549758]That and how creepy little girls are scary as fuck.[/QUOTE] Outside of the psychic abilities and other shit, what exactly is there to be afraid of? Almost every horror game utilizes this. We've all seen it before. Evil dead, fear, nightmare house, feardotcom, etc. What's so scary about it? It's overused to the point where you just laugh at it.

[QUOTE=Chaoswolf725;41549803]Outside of the psychic abilities and other shit, what exactly is there to be afraid of? Almost every horror game utilizes this. We've all seen it before. Evil dead, fear, nightmare house, feardotcom, etc. What's so scary about it? It's overused to the point where you just laugh at it.[/QUOTE] 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=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] Problem is, there's not that many "good" level designer/teams out there. The majority of them fuck up one of the main details of scaring people, each one fucks up in a different area and it leaves you with a half finished horror map that gets boring and repetitive within 10 minutes of exploring it. Some developers though, they get shit right. Try playing through shalebridge cradle in thief. I am yet to meet someone who hasn't come close to shitting themself on that level. It's not a perfect example, but at least they understand the concept of using subtle details, to slowly push larger unsettling details into the player's view.

[B]Part 2: "If I can't see it. It can't scare me."[/B] [t]http://www.fanhow.com/images/1/10/Green_Storm_Fill_Black_Color.jpg[/t] This is mostly a rant about lighting, and can really be applied to [I]any[/I] level out there. This mostly assumes that the player does NOT have a flashlight. I remember playing some Half-Life 2 mod that had some kind of Silent Hill thing going on. Everything was pretty good up until this one point where you had to walk across a metal grate bridge thing. There weren't any railings to keep you from falling off, and every so often the bridge would separate into different paths. The lighting for this area was pretty dark to begin with, with vents on the walls lighting up the bridge every so often. However at one point there just wasn't any lights. I can only assume that you were supposed to be able to just barely see the path you had to take, but on my screen you couldn't. You couldn't see anything in front of you. The only way I could get past that area was by walking backwards, away from the light and hoping that I didn't just randomly fall of a ledge. Anyway, my point is players shouldn't be put in a situation where the can't see [I]anything[/I] and be expected to know where to go. If you're going to make a dark area, make it light enough so that players can make out silhouettes. You don't need a giant green neon-glowing sign that says "GO HERE" to point players in the right direction, but you don't want to blindfold them and have them constantly running into walls while spamming their USE key in hopes that something happens. A long dark hallway could have a door at the end of it with some light in it, so that the player can see which direction they need to go. The hallway itself would be pitch black, but players would be able to see the light at the very end of it. Cry of Fear did something like this at the beginning of the game. They used little X's instead of lights, but the player was in pitch black rooms and they had a sense of where they needed to go. A well used env_fog_controller can be set up in place of any lights. The fog itself can help make silhouettes of objects so the player can see better. [t]http://filesmelt.com/dl/fog1.jpg[/t] If you're going to make a dark room, just use a regular light entity, give it a very dark grey and lower it's brightness down to around 10 to 50. That should at least get you started. This doesn't mean that you CAN'T put them in a pitch black room, but don't really expect them to be scared just because they can't see anything. You might temporarily put players in a room with no lights for a scripted sequence, such as playing a series of sounds or music. Just make sure that after you've played your sounds you give them a way out of the room without forcing them to hug walls and spam their USE key. Incredibly dark lights > No lights Just remember. If I can't see it. It can't scare me.

To add to your tutorial, you can also use some smoke stacks with fog : [IMG]http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5279/sf83.jpg[/IMG] I don't know how it would look like in Source, but in Amnesia the effect is perfect.

Darkness itself isn't scary, it's what you can barely make out of it is what scary. If you make a room pitch black, it's not scary, just annoying. But if you give it just enough of light so that the players mind starts thinking it actually sees something (figures, silhouettes, etc), you've achieved good lighting for a horror game.

[QUOTE=Burnout6010;41550682]To add to your tutorial, you can also use some smoke stacks with fog : [IMG]http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5279/sf83.jpg[/IMG] I don't know how it would look like in Source, but in Amnesia the effect is perfect.[/QUOTE] Unfortunately some of Source's smoke textures are pretty cheap and usually looks bad. But yeah, that works too.

Or you make it pitch black with the player having the ability to create light themselves/giving them a flashlight(or other source of light) as seen in many horror games. I believe fatal frame actually does this through the use of the camera obscura on occasion. Amnesia does it with the eyes adjusting to darkness but your guy starts to go insane.

This is the fourth time I've tried posting this... Spike & Barley played a small horror game where at the end the only thing they had to make light with was the camera flash. I can't remember the name of it but I would check it out because it's super cool.

I liked the dot line in Afraid of Monsters. You'd follow it because it would be the only lit up thing in the darkened room but at the same time you had to deal with the death pits and going the wrong way.

[QUOTE=slayer20;41559384]This is the fourth time I've tried posting this... Spike & Barley played a small horror game where at the end the only thing they had to make light with was the camera flash. I can't remember the name of it but I would check it out because it's super cool.[/QUOTE] I remember watching someone else play that game, can't remember what the name of it was for the life of me either. It was a very interesting concept, but I found myself more getting annoyed by the constant flashes and debating why they created a static light for the flash when it flashes rather than having a dynamic light- than being scared.

[QUOTE=Gamershaze;41559455]I remember watching someone else play that game, can't remember what the name of it was for the life of me either. It was a very interesting concept, but I found myself more getting annoyed by the constant flashes and debating why they created a static light for the flash when it flashes rather than having a dynamic light- than being scared.[/QUOTE] Might it be a game called "Stairs"?

[QUOTE=slayer20;41559384]This is the fourth time I've tried posting this... Spike & Barley played a small horror game where at the end the only thing they had to make light with was the camera flash. I can't remember the name of it but I would check it out because it's super cool.[/QUOTE] Hotel 626?