I've been trying to do research on different types of horror techniques, specifically for games. Google searches so far haven't been very good. Does anyone know much about any types? Or could even simply offer their own opinions as to what scares them the most?

I believe one of the most effective yet also most jeered at effect is the simple jump-scare where something jumps out at you suddenly with a loud noise to give that easy scare. I'm more interested in other types of scares though that are apparently not so looked down upon as the 'easy' jump-scare.

Some scattered examples:
When playing Fear I found the short glimpses of the little girl just before she goes out of sight were very scary not in the 'jump' sense but like sending a weird chill down my spine.
Sounds playing or music building to a crescendo... but no actual monster ever coming out.
Gore/dismemberment/impalement - apparently they add to it but you can go 'over the top' as well.

Thanks,
OhMan.

In my opinion, the key to scaring your audience lies in contrasts. If you're constantly assailed by monsters or the game is too saturated with scary "special effects" (like the surprise attack you mentioned), you'll very quickly get accustomed to it and be well prepared for whatever lies ahead.

However, if you're lulled into a sense of false security by playing soft music, making encounters scarce and most importantly, making the player focus on certain tasks (like puzzle solving for instance) then the few "special effects" you have in store for them will be all the more effective.

It's very difficult to make starcraft maps scary when there are so few resources at hand but the ones that do manage to be scary become all the more impressive.

I personally like the more subtle "scares". I'm going to assume you mean more than just SC mapping because you gave us no context for what you're looking for.

If you can insinuate a sanity system, and these are all possible, then have things like whispers, a gradually worsening tilted screen, and random NPCs dying (preferably unimportant ones, but the occasional murder of a shopkeep is great).

Your actual game itself might incorporate an "anxiety" of sorts. For example, if a large enemy hunts a smaller enemy, there's no mystery about who should win. Same for a male hunting a female. We tend to attribute strength as bigger & male = better. Rather, if you take a small enemy hunting a larger one, there's obviously something that gives the small unit an advantage.

Also, making the player alternate between the prey, not the predator, sometimes at a moment's notice, is a nice method. In general, changing the situation your player is in helps foster a state of awareness, so things they might ordinarily miss while they're running around would be more noticeable.

Also, Youtubing for videos of F.E.A.R. now.

Absorb the people in your story. Make it become real.

The better your story, the more people will want to be involved and get into that game. (Not sure if it's the right way to do say it.)

Set the mood. Get graphics that fit. Get amazing soundtracks.

2 different ways (both mentioned already):

1. Get the player to let their guard down. Make them sincerely believe they are in the clear.

2. Immersion. Make them believe the avatar on the screen is really them.

Some of the best horror, I find, relies on the creation of tension and anticipation. While something jumping out at the audience can trigger a reflexive flight response, what keeps them on the edge of their seat is not a constant parade of jumpings but rather the expectation, created through the careful creation of an atmosphere, that something might jump out at them at any moment, though they don't know where or when or how. In other words, you want to keep them on their guard.

One time-tested technique is to make it clear that there's something to be afraid of, but then keep it indefinite for a while, don't let the audience see it. Think about Aliens, for example: it's over an hour before you actually see one of them, but you know that they're there; you know that because the colonists are almost all dead, the movie is called Aliens, the characters are getting crazy blips on their little motion detector thingy-- and so you always have the feeling that something is about to jump out at you. Once something actually jumps out at you, you lose that feeling...though, it can also be lost by nothing happening for too long. The trick is to keep that feeling going as long and as intensely as possible.

Alright, I've noticed something while watching the clips of F.E.A.R. The scary shit doesn't happen as often as expected, and I know it sounds like we're beating you over the head with it but infrequent = better. Make your environments give the feeling that something is there. The little girl popping up at the top of the stairs when there was no girl half a second before got me. The flickering lights, the crappy ass lighting in some areas, the report of a gunfight or sommat...it all contributed.

The corridor scene towards the end was a mix of overdone and just right...for example, the lights flickering and door slamming was great. That part got me even the second time I watched it, and I have no idea why. I expected to see something creepy on the other side of the door, but when there was nothing on the other side I still had the expectation that something was around. The screaming and baby's cries creeped me out as well.

However, not everything there was of the "split second scare" type. During the weird vision in that corridor, the flying guy got me once. Then, while typing this, I went back to the video to copy the URL (I played it once, did other stuff, then came back here after re-opening the URL, then went and wrote the second paragraph) and the flying guy was coming, but it didn't scare me again. The bloody ceiling was creepy, but it would've been better as the floor. I liked the bloody child's footprints, but since they kept the same amount of blood (I.E. they should've lost blood towards the end) it wasn't as good as it could've been.

Generally, I find that the more realistic the scary moments are, the better. Things that make me think "that couldn't happen...right?" tend to provoke a longer-lasting fear than do the "OMG WTF THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE".

idk. something about uncanny valley and stuff. It's something to avoid.

Thanks for the responses so far, keep them coming!

I think FoxWolf may be on the right track, it is all about building 'suspense' I suppose.

I have a horror section in my RPG which I have already done but the main reason I posted this because I just finished playing Dead Space 2 today and I swear I have increased my risk of heart disease by like 20% after playing it. The game has you're heart rate up almost the entire time yet I have heard it was criticized for having too many 'jump-scares'.

Other games I have been looking at on Youtube (just type [game name] scary scenes).
Bioshock 1 + 2 (finished them both but they were not as scary as Dead Space 2
Dead Space 1 + 2 (never played 1 apparently it is even more scary then 2)
Doom 3
FEAR series

Has anyone heard of a game called Silent Hill? Apparently it has got more of the 'psychological horror' element which I have heard is a really 'high quality' style of horror.


This thread could also be turned into a brainstorm for attempting to make horror work in SC1. I find it is very hard to do due to the Eagle's Eye view but perhaps with the right Fog of War, sound effects, etc. it could be pulled off?

My personal preference for horror is when the game does not explain "THIS IS HOW THE SCARY MONSTER CAME INTO EXISTENCE" and leaves the origins and inner workings of the horror unknown or not 100% explained.

Take Silent Hill or Amnesia: The Dark Descent for example.

Silent Hill focuses on psychological horror with creatures that don't make sense, environments that change suddenly, and the iconic siren noise that tells you "Everything you know is different now." I still get creeped out by the malformed monsters and the insane background.

Amnesia, on the other hand, makes you think everything is happening to you personally. Your vision warps whenever an unsettling event occurs.

Play Amnesia, Amnesia is a prime example of perfect immersion, suspense, and terror.

I once had a long and interesting discussion with a bunch of people about this very thing, but I can't find the forum topic (on a different game development forum). Anyway, what I can remember from it was that having periods of time when everything seems to be OK, and you think you're safe again, and then that safety is suddenly destroyed by another monster or something weird that happens, and the music and atmosphere builds up, etc. It's all about atmosphere, and building suspense. Games that have horrific things happening constantly become non-scary because, well, you get used to it. Games that have periods of calm followed by periods of suspense, which may or may not end with something jumping out at you, scare and horrify the player.

Another thing is that the player's imagination is at least as powerful as your artistic ability. Suspense brings more adrenaline than an actual scare where the monster jumps out at you. If you see a shadow moving, your imagination paints a picture of what it MIGHT be. Showing what it actually is may not be as good as leaving the suspense for longer, drawing out the scare-factor.

And yes, silent hill is very good for horror. I've heard the free game Penumbra is quite good, haven't had a chance to play it though.

I've found some of the scariest things have to do with psychological fear. For example, the scariest thing I've seen in a movie, was in a movie that I don't remember the title to anymore. Anyways, there is a weird couple who finds this kid, who had run away from home, and they take him to their house. They then try and make the kids do sexual acts and stuff, while filming them. In the end it turns out that they've been filming this and then killing the kids.

Thing was, it kept me up that night. It's hard to explain, but the creepyness of it actually made me scared. It was the weirdest thing ever. And I'm not often that scared about anything in a movie.

One of the key components of good horror in games is making the player feel like they are vulnerable and weak in comparison to the dangers they're facing, and messing with their minds by making it seem as though they are constantly about to run into trouble.

Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth, is a perfect example of a game which scares well. It has its fair share of "jump" moments but a lot of the horror is in the weakness of your own character. You can get injured in multiple areas of the body, and these injuries have different grades and cause different effects. Take a fall from a height and you'll end up with a fracture; get slashed by a monster and you might have a bleeding torso. Each type of injury requires one of four types of medical supply which you keep in a box, and rather than healing you instantly, you have to fiddle around in the box for ages and apply the bandages etc. If you're cut then you'll eventually bleed out. A broken arm makes your aim bad, a broken leg makes you walk slowly...

Also, your character has a hidden sanity level which is affected by seeing nasty things (like a melted corpse or a pit full of rotting bodies). Your vision blurs and tunnels, you breathe heavily, the screen tilts and eventually you kill yourself. The fact your guy is scared of heights is also a problem - don't look down when you're up high!

Half Life 2 did a good job of walking the line between horror and fun. The whole Ravenholm level was very unnerving and the zombies are unsettling creatures. They're weak and easy to take out, but the thought of what they are, what they used to be, and how they became zombies, isn't nice. Setting them on fire is similarly horrible. It's a different kind of horror where the player's values and sense of morality feel threatened, rather than their physical self.

Some other components of horror:
1. Instant death. There have to be a few courses of action which result in instant death for the player.
2. Breaks in the tension. Safe zones where you can rest or save, or a limited buddy system (where you have backup but only for very short periods of time), actually add to the horror effect overall. When you're out there on your own it makes you yearn to be back in a safe place, or to have the reassuring presence of another person with a gun.
3. Force the player to commit despicable acts. This has serious psychological effects and makes players leave a gaming session feeling dirty, drained and exhausted.

I'm more into psychological thrillers than into horror. I don't like gratuitous gore and blood when its unnecessary. Also, I don't really like the whole idea behind horror films which amounts to "the cheerleader always dies," and "don't wander out alone." The type of flicks that get to me are when I'm laying awake at night and fridge logic kicks in. You know, that missing piece that makes everything seem a little worse. And I can't stand screaming. I really can't. I don't know why it makes me react, but I can't even be in the same room as it.

So fridge logic is the idea that you're walking to the fridge in the middle of the night and something clicks. I know this isn't horror related - but there's a ton of Pokemon related ones. For example. In Gold and Silver you finish Johto and then go back to Kanto. When you go back to Kanto, you find places like the bike shop/department store/radio tower (I think?) pretty much shut down due to lack of business. So the "an economy is you" trope just became a bit freakier - because you were born, everything moved to Johto. Meanwhile the workers from Kanto were laid off, causing unemployment to run rampant in Kanto. And its all your fault. You had to be born in Johto.

There is a creepy pasta for Pokemon where it explains that your rival has a pokemon - you beat your rival, your rival runs to the pokecenter - and can't get there. The next time you see your rival, he's in the pokemon graveyard talking about death. In effect, because you had to accept his challenge, you killed his pokemon. You sick fuck.

Anyways I know those are lame examples. I do enjoy thrillers though. Its just that there aren't a lot of good ones more recently, so I'm out of the loop. I think the last horror flick I saw was the Ring. that was four years ago? I don't remember.

EDIT: Will reminded me. Wasn't there a psycho thriller game that would randomly shut off on you? That would scare the crap out of me too.

Here you go. He explains this better than I can.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1933-Where-Did-Survival-Horror-Go
and
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2092-Amnesia-The-Dark-Descent

errr okay for some reason the video to the first link is broken.... ><
Actually, all videos seem to be broken at the moment... o.O

Try checking the Penumbra series, specially The Black Plague. You can also try Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but personally, I like Penumbra more. They were developed by Frictional Games and they are very much like what people have been suggesting here: You do not know what is roaming out there, you do not know when it is going to jump at you. You are just minding your own business while solving puzzles, but you KNOW there is something out there, ready to jump at any moment. The Black Plague part of the Penumbra series made me jump a couple of times. Oh yeah this is the so called Lovecraftian Horror: What keeps you on the edge of your seat is that you have no idea of what is chasing you. Fear of the unknown.

If you want to try some feeling of isolation, all I can suggest is... Quite a simple indie game called Yume Nikki, or Dream Diary. All you do in this game is, explore, but you cannot shake the feeling something is "off" in this world. The game is free to download, so there you go, if you want to try it. Ah, the game is in 2d and it is much like an RPG game graphics wise.

Doom 3 and Dead Space kind of use the same tactic, and it gets old soon. Monsters jumping at you everywhere. It usually works for cheap or fast scares. Combining all those factors is the actual key to good horror, I think.

Oh yes, among other things, make the player feel completely vulnerable when he fights, if you do not want to remove fighting completely. Give him some obsolete weapons you cannot trust in to fight monsters that might appear at any time, and the player will be constantly worrying about how fucked he is going to be if he happens to meet a foe on the way. I think this is the reason why Doom and some other shooter games rely on fast, jump-type scares, because having a gun and a good amount of ammunition makes you feel you have the power. Condemned is another game you might want to check out. Like Will said, it makes the character take some questionable decisions, making the game have an eerie atmosphere as the protagonist slowly becomes what he is fighting. Also, in Condemned, you just fight... People. Criminals. But you get no extra ammunition Resident Evil style, by breaking boxes or killing enemies. You have to depend, pretty much on the amount of ammo you get at the beginning, making you feel much vulnerable.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 6 2011, 9:56 pm by Phobos.

Regardless of what game it is, having a cinematic in which they show Blizzard go out of business, therefore ending Starcraft and all other Blizzard-made games, would leave me traumatized for years.

And it was all YOUR fault.


Thanks for the opinions everyone.