A fair bit of research I have conducted has been recorded in analogue form through pen and paper over the course of several weeks. Sadly, I didn't have the foresight to date my research, so it is all one big collection in my notebook. In this post I will share the research that I feel is most relevant.
Tropes to also be aware of: The Featureless Protagonist, Purely Aesthetic Gender, Audience Surrogate.
Mechanics:
Run, Toggle Flashlight On/Off, Recharge Flashlight, Trip Mechanic for Prolonged Running, Interact with Items, Interact with Environment, Switch between Security Camera Feeds, Put Away Torch, Collect 'Lore' Artefacts, Pin 'Lore' Artefacts to Security Room Wall, Pass-out from Antagonist Attack,
Exposition of Protagonist's vested interest in working at the Shopping Centre from a text message sent prior to the Game's start; This also shows that the phone is out of signal range and therefore explains why the Protagonist is cut off from any outside help and any hope of rescue from their predicament until they are relieved of their shift the next morning.
Creating Horror in Games (Not Official Title):
(Original Source Misplaced)
Katie Nelson and James (no surname given) - Blueprint Games
Their game: Relapse
- Franz Kafka
- "Everything must happen for a reason."; No random unexplained events.
- Slow build-up.
- Story & Narrative.
- Keep the Environment interesting, avoid repetitive Game Environments.
- "'Witness' the events".
- Texture Environments to match different time periods like in Relapse; I could have multiple textures for locations within the Shopping Centre to reflect its state/use at different time periods in the Game World.
- Clichés:
- Dark Room with Flickering Lights
- The Abandoned Building
- The Ringing Phone
- Sounds in the Dark
- Subvert expectations.
- The Four Elements:
- Story and Environment
- Relationships
- Anticipation and Pacing
- Moral Decision.
- Clichés > Reaction & Anticipation > Psychological Triggers > "Why am I feeling like that?"
- (The feelings produced in the player by the stimuli.)
Anticipation and Pacing:
- Pacing = Tempo, speed of reveals.
- Antici...pation = Waiting for things to happen.
- Arc; Rising Conflict (Pacing) > Point of No-Return ("Calm Before The Storm") > Climax/ The Final Showdown.
- Build anticipation around a focal point in the Environment.
- Slow Burn; Don't give everything away at the beginning.
- Be unpredictable.
- Pacing: Slow and meticulous.
- Introduce the Antagonist at the end; More effective scare. (I don't feel this has to be the case.)
- Like a rollercoaster; Slow build-up to a powerful release.
- Use hints; Sound/noise to build anticipation.
- DON'T GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY!!!
- Introduce Events slowly, meticulously and ensure it is well thought-out.
- Create enough space between Events to let the Player breath before the next one.
- Environmental Story-Telling; It's important.
- "Create calm before the storm...
- …THEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!"
Story-Telling and Environment:
- Story is king; It is what we remember when the action is over and the game is done.
- Tell the story of; The Environment, The Character/s and their relationships with each other.
- (What is the Player Character's relationship with the Shopping Centre in 'Night Security'?)
- Level Design requires depth of story-telling that comes through in the visuals.
- LOCATION = Horror Cliché > A place with human history.
- Essential Questions:
- Location? A Shopping Centre/Complex
- Setting? The Present Day
- Time of Day? Night
- Season? Autumn or Winter
- What is the mood I am trying to convey?
- The Environment has to complement the Story and Purpose in mind.
- Collect reference images.
- Familiarity breeds the uncanny when things start to change.
- Make the Player relate to the location to build identification, a physiological relationship and an emotional connection.
- The Player must relate to the Environment.
- Questions about the Environment:
- How was it used?
- Why/How did it get like this?
- Where is everyone?
- How was it created?
- What happened to it?
- Think of emotional impact and how this story can be used to create more depth in your Environment and relate it back to the Character and Player.
Relationship:
- Shared Experience, such as Sadness.
- Connection.
- Some of the strongest bonds come from highly emotional circumstances.
- Try to make an emotional connection; Do it early and effectively.
- Consider the emotional consequences of engineering certain in-game scenarios.
- Losing people is more impactful than losing material or 'stuff'.
- Using a recurring 'something' to elicit the same emotional response such as sadness, melancholy, fright or the like.
- If something happens in a specific location, the Player will come to associate that area and any similar Environments with that experience; This is especially true if the experience was perceived as negative, such as a jump-scare in a bathroom will lead to all bathrooms being treated with suspicion by the Player.
- Music can be used to add high impact to emotional moments. That emotion can be fear.
- Player relationship to an area: They have been here before and are familiar with it; Something is now different about it > Uncanny, Perturbing.
Gamescourse.co.uk:
'Come in, over.' - Alex Haddow Mendes
'Bethmoora', based on Bethmoora (1910) by Lord Dunsany - Saia Winterson
'Space in Time' - William Butterworth
'Valley of the Kings' - Andrei Crimson
Horror Games suggested to me by friends for research purposes (Horror Games that made good use of their Environments):
- Little Nightmares
- Alien: Isolation
- Slender: The Eight Pages
- SOMA
- Dead Space
- Darkwood
- Inscryption
- The Last Door
- Inside The Backrooms
- Choo Choo Charles
- No-Snake Hotel
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