How can i make my horror game more spooky?

how can i make my horror game more spooky?

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store.steampowered.com/app/234190/
youtube.com/watch?v=OS0o4nD3QFs
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Show, don't tell. Or don't show, and only hint at.

don't have the word "objectives" just list what to do

The scarier monster is not the one you can't fight, but the one you chose not to.

Come up with some kind of defense system but don't make it exploitable and try to come up with ideas to make the monster scary and intimidable.

Remember: A challenging scary game is one where the main obstacle to advance is your own will, and not the actual dificulty of the game. Keep in mind, too, that for this very reason not all your players will be scared.

i dont really get afraid when i play horror games so i thought making a mind fuck game might work better.

make a threat and don't deliver on it until far after the player feels that it's not going to happen.

make a monster that has a chameleon sort of ability to form into any object.
have the game take place in a crowded house and the monster moves when you aren't looking, but will attack once you look directly at him when he's in disguise

get rid of that "objective: go to bed xd" bullshit

Then you have to udnerstand what kind of audience you're aiming.

You can say a game like PT is scary but it's easy to find videos fo people playing the entire game with straigh faces the first time.
You can't please everyone, and even less with something like an horror game which realies on player emotions.

A mindfuck game is good, but don't overdoo it. Avoid jumpscares unless they are unescripted, don't be "2 deep 4 u" on meanings and try to udnerstand what kind of horror you're going for and how to archieve it.

Scariness often disappears the second you actually see the monster or whatever is trying to scare you. Noises and hints and a feeling of something being around you, watching you is way worse than actually seeing a 10 armed spiderbutt negro.

you wont see the monster until the end.

I have a weak heart for horror games and your picture is giving me the creeps
but if you have a demo somehow I could probably give you better input

silence is your best friend

actually the game is no where close to being done!

but add me on steam and i will hook you up when i got the alpha ready.

steamcommunity.com/id/LexieMang/

>only 5 hours of orange jews

Shit tier

you think i have time playing games nigger?

shit I don't use steam though
instead I will look forward to your next thread in the future
good luck and don't stress

get rid of your 2002 retarded as shit OBJECTIVES and GO TO BED options on the right. Get rid of it completely. If you absolutely need to give the player that info, give them a memo/note pad thing to act as your general context menu. Make it so you can only read it if the lights on.

it was the first thing that was removed from the game. Im now working on changing the concept a bit.

i want it to be played with the eyes of a cat!

so now im working on changing that.

make your soundtrack like this:

CLANG SMASH BANG CLANG BASH.......CLANG SMASH BANG CLANG

music ambience is key

youtube.com/watch?v=m7Knc3l8l9o

or you could even go full noise

youtube.com/watch?v=y4210Db2Zfg

Minimal HUD/None if necessary
Remove goals/objectives onscreen
Work on sound/ambience/little noises here and there

Have things in the dark that look like they're monsters. Like mirrors, and piles of clothes on top of chairs.
No jumpscares for the sake of them. Very sporadic so they keep their shock-value.

avoid the

>go into room
>look around
>game tries to push me towards something in the room
>something le spooki xD happens
>leave room


if I were to make a horror game I'd go full erratic arthouse desu

Ignore these idiots who haven't played a video game in their life.
Change that shit to OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE

The music of the game is played by a ghost on a piano, if you're in a dangerous room or something bad is about to happen he plays eerie dark stuff.
He hints you with soothing and beautiful music if you're in the right direction to advance in the game.
You can make him stop playing.

>pianos in horror games
stop

dumb motherfucker, kill yourself

wow, very insulting.

plot twist: the ghost is your dead older brother trying to help you

whatever you say man!

Don't rely on jumpscares for cheap thrills. Use actual tension and build up. Don't ever show the full monster/enemy. And definitely try to avoid non-monster cliches like spoopy dolls, manequins, etc

an erotic horror game where you play as a slut who at first is just whoring herself out, then gets picked up and brought into an upper class cabal, getting involved in progressively more grotesque sexual rituals involving satanism, black magic and witchcraft could be cool actually

DUDE
JUMPSCARES
LMAO

...

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You want a free idea?
Merge some actually spooky themes and visuals with this control scheme: store.steampowered.com/app/234190/
So you're fumbling trying to un-jam and reload your gun while Spooks McDook and his band of Jesus Christ What The Fucks chase you down a winding hallway.

On the visual side, high contrast is what makes an horror game, for the most part. That, and a low saturation, yellowish tone.
Pic related is just an example, but you can see it everywhere.

Also, set the enemies' animations to "stepped". That way it will look like they are jumping from one pose to another, instead of moving normal being. Uncanny shit

...

you literally can't. You have no talent or idea of what makes a good horror game, as evidenced by the Unity3D screenshot, shitty font, and your need to ask Cred Forums for basic ideas.

Oh, my mistake, I see by "Blueprint compile error" that you're using Unreal. Quality work there.

>unity

not even

Everyone is gonna say "The scariest monster is the one that you don't see ;)" because they heard that stupid advice from a source they can't remember a long time ago and people have collectively decided to parrot it.

What they really MEAN, is that you need to have good pacing. You need to ramp things up in a slow, tense manner leading up to a crescendo, then back off the tension a bit to begin ramping it up more.

Look at something like, say, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. You're not constantly being chased by the monsters, there were long stretches of you not really doing anything other than hearing spooky shit in the spooky castle. But you WOULD eventually have to deal with it, you'd *see* it, and you'd be freaked out.

Build the game based on the structure from this song and you'll be fine
youtube.com/watch?v=OS0o4nD3QFs

If you have an enemy, make sure it moves in an unnatural fashion. Not a simple slow walk, shamble or run.

give the game the atmosphere of this song

youtube.com/watch?v=BxuloVDZ3Eg

Needs to be darker. After all, you fear most what you can't see, right?

The reality is: horror comes at when you feel like you don't have (sufficient) control over the situation. Which does not mean taking away control over your action: in fact having options to take actions is necessary to make it feel like it is YOU how is in the situation in the first place. What it does mean is that you can't predict with certainity what your actions will lead to, and more importantly, you don't know if your actions are going to solve your problem.
There is a game called "Knock-Knock" a seemingly cutesy hand-drawn cartoony side-scroller of sort, that can induce nightmares and panic attacks by the fact that it intentionally obfuscating the ruleset of the game.

And again: it's not about keeping the player in the absolute metaphorical dark, because if the player simply does not know what is going to happen or what to do, he'll quickly become passive and resigned. You need to keep him UNSURE of what he is supposed to or what is going to happen. Which means giving him red herrings, possibilities. The fear comes from the tension between assumption and reality, about having to doubt yourself and your options, having to keep possibilities in mind (which also means that forshadowing and implications need to be present, the player must have some idea of what can happen to him, a scenario that scares him in his mind) and always doubting his place in the whole situation.

So in short: it's about tension between predictability and unpredictability, and offering agency, but not control over the grand scheme of things. Constant baiting into sense of (relative) security and taking it away.

GOD THAT SONG IS SO FUCKING AMAZING. The finale is just... god like. I haven't listened to this in a long while, thanks.

Music always actually illustrates the structure and psychology of anticipation so well... That song basically does what I described, with the way it changes pace.

1: Light your shit well. I don't want a fucking headache because I'm constantly straining to see muddy dark browns against a black background.

Think bright moonlight when there are no lights (except when you deliberately want a zero visibility), every object of importance should stand out.

Gas lamp lit manor lighting when the lights are on.

2: No instant death shit and no hide and seek simulators. I want a horror game, not a frustrating stealth game. Forcing you to confront a monster is often more scary than running.

3: A completely hidden monster is a cliche but limited exposure can do wonders. PT is a good example of how to keep a monster mysterious but still show it a lot. Sinister and Jeepers Creepers on the otherhand are films that go to shit when they show too much of the monster.

Make your monsters look creepy as fuck even when in full view, look to things like Silent Hill (1-4) for some of the best examples.

4: Make sure your game has notable cooldown periods. Being tense/scared is hard fucking work, reward players with safe rest areas/periods. It encourages players to keep pushing along and also stops them thinking "I'm not sure I want to put in the work to keep playing this...".

>The scariest monster is the one that you don't see
Meme all you want, but this is true.
The fear of not knowing what's behind you, or where is it, or what it can do.
Every single horror game once you die and see the monster you lose that breathtakin fear.

>Every single horror game once you die and see the monster you lose that breathtakin fear.
nah, Silent hill still has the scariest monsters

Bullshit. Nemesis never stops being scary.

Sometimes the monster being in plain sight can be plenty spooky

>Meme all you want, but this is true.
It's not true. Honestly, the real problem is that in most cases, the monster design is not good enough, which results in the situation where the way you imagined the monster is scarier than what you eventually see: that results in people "coping out" and just hiding it all together.

But really, with really good monster design, that is not the case. Think of fucking Alien and tell me that would be scarier if we did not see the monster. Or Albino in Pathologic.

The problem is not that the scariest monster is one that you don't see, but that most developers can't create monster scarier than what most people imagine.

And i've played Silent Hill, once you know the monsters they're not scary.
The game still holds up after that because of the sublime atmosphere, visuals and puzzles.
>Unstoppable huge killing machine that you have you run from everytime you encounter is scary
No shit?
Enter the fear of not knowing what it can do
You see it, you know where it is, but you don't know what it will do to you.
That shit happened to me the first time i played Dark Souls blind years ago and i saw frampt for the first time. I attacked him out of fear.

Nigga just make a first person Luigi's Mansion.

>Every single horror game once you die and see the monster you lose that breathtakin fear.
>Get direct evidence that this isn't true
>OH YEAH? NO SHIT U FUCKIN ASS FUCK U
ok

OP, can't you show a webm? Screenshots so dark aren't a good way to judge the level of spookyness of your game.

Put random eyes somewhere.

>And i've played Silent Hill, once you know the monsters they're not scary.
bullshit, even SH1 which had the least scary monster design was still creepy as fuck

By your logic Dark Souls is a scary game

The thing about alien is the buildup until you see him.
It's brilliant. That's why makes it so scary.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to see what haunts you all the time, i'm saying it should have a buildup and not be abused enough to allow you to get used to it.
You can't kill Nemesis until you can kill it mate.
Don't fucking lie to me and tell me by the time you were able to fight him you were still as scared.
>bullshit
Well, that was my experience with it.

>NO UR LYIN UR LYIN UR LYING I'M RIGHT REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Top fucking kek. Your hypothesis was shot the fuck down immediately. Accept it and move on.

What hypothesis?
I'm telling my experience, i think you're taking this too seriously.
Horror is pretty subjective, just like comedy.

>every single horror game once you die and see the monster you lose that breathtakin fear.
This statement is factually incorrect. You even go as far to acknowledge that even subjectively, you were wrong. Even in your very own opinion, your own satement is false, and yet you still insist you were right.

Baffling.

>Top fucking kek
Imagine typing this out and thinking anyone is going to listen to you.

>The thing about alien is the buildup until you see him.
First of all, that contradicts your statment previously: it's not about whenever you see them or not, but the buildup that leads to their reveal.
Second of all, no. While the pacing and buildup in Alien 1 was pretty good, it was not what made the Alien scary, it was the fact that the Alien was fucking scary. Which is why it was also scary in every sequel, or in that bloody Alien Isolation game. Hell, even the build-up in the first one was great partially because the movie was so damn brazen about it: you see the facehugger, the baby alien and the adult one pretty much as soon as they enter the story.
And the most terrifying scene of the whole Alien movie is not the build-up to Alien's reveal, it's that scene where Sexy McPanty girl finds the Alien sleeping in the compartment of the escape shuttle, and you see the bloody thing just sitting there, in plain view, lazily getting up.

>This damage control

Not him, but it would be if you're choosing not to fight enemies because you're afraid of challenging them. Usually however the player takes on enemies a few at a time with the knowledge that skill, luck, or good judgment will help them win. When players start choosing not to fight, it's usually because they don't care and are rushing past to get somewhere else, so of course they're not scared at all but bored or distracted.

I'm not right or wrong, does people need to spell out that they're stating their opinion or experience for you to understand that?

>stating their opinion
It's almost like you're illierate.

You, IN YOUR OWN OPINION, acknowledged that "no shit [Nemesis is scary even after he kills you]" which directly contradicts your own statement from before. You imbecile.

>While the pacing and buildup in Alien 1 was pretty good, it was not what made the Alien scary, it was the fact that the Alien was fucking scary
actually is both
>And the most terrifying scene of the whole Alien movie is not the build-up to Alien's reveal, it's that scene where Sexy McPanty girl finds the Alien sleeping in the compartment of the escape shuttle
The scariest scene is when they go to the vents

Make a monster without relying on scripted sequences or simplistic AI. Almost every time the spooky shit just spawns because I passed some coordinate trigger in the level, or I touch an item or object. And then it does one of two things: head straight for me to attack or patrol an area until it finds me, and then heads straight for me to attack.

What if the monster was an actual hunter navigating a level, not just spawning out of a monster closet somewhere because I did X or opened Y. What if instead of going into bumrush attack mode it could stalk the player, watching him from its own hiding place - maybe even hiding from the player if he approaches - all just to wait for the one moment to spring an ambush. Imagine the player looking at something on a table, and behind him the creature slithers down from the ceiling, creeps up on the player, and at any time if the player turns around it either screeches in shock and flees or then decides to attack.

It contradicts nothing.
Nemesis is still scary because you can't fight him back and have to scape, but once you can he's not scary.

>Enemies aren't scary after they kill you
>No shit Nemesis is scary after he kills you

>It contradicts nothing

Horror requires tension. No one thing is tension, but rather a collection of many smaller things.

Structure your game so there is some measure of back tracking, and whenever you revisit a place you've already been, have it changed in some random and innocuous way. Nothing too overt, nothing the player would consciously recognize as having changed, but rather minute details that the player's mind will notice, creating some dissonance between front and back of their head. They'll know something is wrong, but can't say what it is.

>No shit Nemesis is scary after he kills you
More like
>Unstoppable huge killing machine that you have you run from everytime you encounter is scary
Which is what i actually said

>More like [the exact same thing in different words that doesn't change the core "he's scary even after he kills you'" issue]
Good job m8.

Honestly?
What scares you the most OP?
Put that into the game

dread > scare

I'd rather dread going into a room I know is full of monsters, rather than possibly be scared once or twice during the entire game

Create stuff which is hard to comprehend.
The unknown is mostly scary.

>More like the exact same thing in different words
Not really, it's reductio ad absurdum, which is a very petty thing to do.

You try to hard with your words user.

That's not what it is though. The second you acknowledge that he's still scary even after he kills you, no matter the reason you still find him scary, you forfeit your argument.

>two

what a minutiae, irreverent, reprobate post.

Invest of all your time on atmosphere, design of a monster and sound design, everything else only needs to be serviceable.

Thank me later.

He eventually isn't scary, so my point still stands.

Incorrect. You stated that monsters stop being scary after they kill you. Nemesis (in your opinion) stops being scary when /you/ can kill /him/. That's the exact opposite of what you originally presented as your argument. Try again.

The hydra in dark souls 1 genuinely terrified me the first time I saw it. I played the game blind, as you should, and seeing distant silhouettes of what looked to be arms flailing in the distance of a foggy forest scared me shitless. Even while I was fighting it, the prospect that I could walk too far forward and fall into the abyss of the lake instilled me with fear.

>You stated that monsters stop being scary after they kill you
Yes, i did say that.
Referring to enemies like the zombies or the monsters in Silent Hill.
You take Pyramid Head, or Nemesis, unkillabe monsters where the only thing you can do is scape and you're still scared.
It's not that hard to understand.
As i said in a previous post you took it too seriously and i'd add too literally.
When i made that reply we weren't talking about specifics. You brought that to the table.

>All these desperate attempts to move the goalposts

It's okay. You embarrassed yourself. It happens every now and then. Accept it and move on.

If you say so

The unknown and the vague can be great sources of tension. I think the argument the other anons are having about Nemesis ties in well in that even after getting a close up experience with Nemesis a few times he can still be a daunting and horrifying enemy because, at least the first few times playing blind, you're not sure about the rules he follows or the exact toll he'll take on your health and ammo.

Once you can compartmentalize Nemesis and create a wiki FAQ for him, he becomes just another gameplay challenge. It's kind of like how the wonder and excitement can be gone from a big RPG game once you figure out all the secret item locations, drop rates, and ways to game the system.

It's alright lad. It happens. Relax. Everyone has moments of outright retardation. You just need to accept it. We won't think any less of you.

Your game is too bright, it's impossible to have a scary atmosphere when everything is clearly visible.

That's the exact same reply you're all kinds of mad lol

>n-no u!
>u-umad!
Oh dear. He's trying to gain the upper hand but he's humiliated himself too badly to do it. Sad.

Whatever works for you mate.
Just remember to not take things too literally or seriously.

Imagine being you. Imagine destroying your own argument by accident and then trying to accuse the other person of being the one in the wrong. Top kek.

oh god this.
Haydee did this perfectly, where there was an airlock-type corridor, and there were two cages with enemies, a button to cycle the airlock and a corpse in the middle.
the first ttime you think, sheeet I'm not gonna fall for that, so you prepare to fight.
nothing happens, neither does it the next few times.
Several HOURS later, during backtracking. BAM! spooked good, man.

ITT: we talk about routine and say how we feel about it never coming out

youtu.be/LaZqV0o7EW4

It's like you created your own reality where you want this to be true and you're trying to push it as hard as you can for some reason
The meme vocabulary and reaction images just makes you look like a tryhard by the way

>haydee
Kill yourself.

oh shit I had that favourited on greenlight years ago.
so this is pretty much kill, isn't it?

I don't need to create another reality, because you already created it. You already said "enemies aren't scary after they kill you" and then you immediately said "Nemesis is scary after he kills you" and then you actually tried to pretend that wasn't contradictory. And you're still going.

I'm so embarrassed for you.

>falling for "le tits" meme
Should've tried the demo, it was a lot of fun.
I wish there was more though, but maybe once the modding tools are out, that works itself out.

aparantly they are still working on it but I'm not tracking it so I can be pleasantly surprised when (if) it comes out

Last update was on christmas of 2015 iirc
As far as i know, they haven't said it's cancelled.
You're using reduction ad absurdum again, you're running out of ink here.

Its clearly a shitty meme game. kys

No, I'm not. I'm using the words you said. You outright acknowledged that this was true and tried to change your argument haflway through the discussion. Do you get off on embarrassing yourself or something?

>I'm using the words you said
Nah, you're not

The demo is still on the greenlight page, just saying.
You can't live in your sheltered reality forever.

>NUH UH!
>Even though I've already acknowledged my fault argument and tried to change it several times now
>BUT STILL NUH UH
Embarrassing.

Ill definitely check out your retarded meme game demo right away!

The moment you started using childish vocabulary and greentext posts like that you lost the right to be taken seriously.
At least you stopped with le epic reaction images

>N-NO!
>IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT I UTTERLY EMBARRASSED MYSELF BY DIRECTLY CONTRADICTING MYSELF IMMEDIATELY
>YOU SAID "kek" SO THEREFORE I WIN
Whatever helps you sleep at night, bud.

I didn't acknowledge my fault guy, i merely explained my words.
It just looks like you're trying to convince yourself at this point

>He eventually isn't scary, so my point still stands.
That's where you acknowledged your argument had failed and try to change it. Do keep up.

That's not even me
again
You were adressed here

You were already mocked for that post and its silly attempts to move the goalposts.

This is just funny now lol
You keep saying this stuff like mocked, or embarassing as if they were a huge big deal and they're really not
>destroying your own argument
That's just silly, i'm starting to think you were just trying to troll me

>haha I'm laughing now haha that means I win, r-right?
>T-TROLL

Okay then
The stutter posting just outed you, now i feel retarded for replying seriously until now

>you said a thing I don't like
>THAT MEANS UR A TROLL AND THAT ALSO MEANS ALL THE SHIT I GOT WRONG DOESN'T MATTER AND I ACTUALLY WIN HAHA
Whatever helps you sleep at night.

...

See: Done embarrassing yourself yet?

inb4 another reply that shows how desperate you are for the last word so you can pretend you "won" kek

...

>he thinks he's winning
Dude, stop embarrasing yourself

if you have to ask a question like that, you shouldn't be making a horror title.

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery and the most perfect concession of defeat you could've ever given me. Having thoroughly humiliated you both (with a lot of help from you both embarrassing yourselves), I'll take my leave.

I'm not insecure enough to need the last word to know that I won.

This is where you reply and prove how right I was about everything, including your insecurity and then your insecurity niggles away at you for the rest of the night because you lost an internet argument.

Adios.

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>female

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Disguise it as adventure game, make it get spookier over time.
Example: Eversion

Dont use default unreal materials

that's a good point actually.
Don't START as a horror game. Establish a reality first. Something the player feels comfortable in. goes hand in hand with .
It doesn't have to be realistic, just something you know the rules of.
Then, when they THINK they know what's going on, you can start creeping them out.

One example that DIDN'T do this at all was Pony Island. it plays its one card 10 minutes into the game, and then has nowhere else to go. it doesn't establish a base to escalate from, so nothing has context, and weird becomes the norm.