I found the final part of Medal of Honor Allied Assault quite scary, the bit where you are going around the lower levels of Fort Shmertsen(sp?) in a gas mask, so your vision is restricted, and you can hear your breathing...

quote: Original post by walkingcarcass
usualy the most terrifying experiences are when what you depend upon (like vampires being limited to dark) are the emotional crutch which gets plucked from under you.

Yes I agree. One thing I had in mind was a dark room full of monsters, and an NPC who has a light. When the NPC gets hurt, the light goes off, and you can only see the monsters by their red glowing eyes. Hopefully, it isn''t too frustrating for the player, since it makes the situation a little bit tougher, but not impossible.

quote: Original post by Fuzztrek
I think that by limiting yourself to fear, you are limiting yourself to insecure beings who watch horror flicks.

I _seriously_ doubt this is true, nor is it a valid argument for not putting fear into a game.

quote: Original post by Fuzztrek
Now, I agree that this is a valid emotion and yes, it is ONE way to access the user. But there are many more ways, and most other ways are much more successful and much more positive.

More positive? Maybe. More successful? Depends on what you mean by successful. Are you saying horror games don''t sell? Or they don''t effectively entertain their audience? I don''t think either is true. Well, look at Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, Eternal Darkness, etc. List goes on.

Hmm.. exactly what I thought, happend. I do not enjoy being scared, and I do not believe that anyone enjoys being scared. It is a negative emotion, and while suspense is one thing, horror is another. Suspense is much deeper and allows for so much more. With horror you limit yourself and do not have as much to offer. I think you should be focusing more on creating a legend, a story, than on scaring the viewer. I say again, that suspense is one thing. Suspense can be a positive or negative emotion, and is often mixed with anticipation.


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[edited by - Fuzztrek on October 17, 2002 12:37:04 PM]

quote: Original post by Fuzztrek
Hmm.. exactly what I thought, happend. I do not enjoy being scared, and I do not believe that anyone enjoys being scared. It is a negative emotion, and while suspense is one thing, horror is another.

Many people enjoy being scared to a point they can handle. After that point, it is not enjoyable. If you don''t enjoy being scared _at all_, that is your opinion and I don''t think most people share it.

I don''t think fear is always a negative thing. If you scare someone to a point they can handle, and they see that they can deal with a fearful situation, it can be empowering, which is a very good emotion.

I don''t think it is possible to *really* scare people with games, as most people know nothing will really happen to them.
My greatest moment of suspense however, was the tentacle creature in the pit in Halflife, where the guard walks towards you and whispers "..I think it can hear us..". You had to sneak down the pit, and if you moved a little too fast, the creature would start bashing its tentacles upon you. I still think Halflife is the best singleplayer game so far (just an opinion).

Another aspect would be to have fear/suspense/horror balanced with relief moments. Just driving up the tension all the time will eventually stress out your player. You can learn a lot by watching closely how they do it in the movies.
Dealing with the users'' emotions is the primal goal of any entertainment product, and it is very hard to accomplish the desired effect. No wonder the big companies have psychologists among their crew nowadays.

quote:
I don''t think fear is always a negative thing. If you scare someone to a point they can handle, and they see that they can deal with a fearful situation, it can be empowering, which is a very good emotion.

Exactly! This can be linked with security. People go to scary movies to "test themselves" because they are insecure. I mean, it''s one thing if you get scared by "accident" or something, like if a friend bumps into you from behind or something and you don''t notice.. and you get scared...... okay that was a bad example but you know what I mean. Your fear comes and goes when you realize that it is nothing to worry about.

I really don''t think that tolerance of fear is something to be proud of, nor is it something to base your whole game around. I don''t think people want fear, I think they want a mixture. It''s like a very good movie. At times it is happy, at times it is sad, and at times it is suspensful. It makes it MUCH more intersting.

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Humor can go a long way to make a scary game more interesting. (Or a scary movie for that matter). Take half-life for example. I don''t like the game all that much, but all the things the soldier say are generally pretty funny. Then they get killed, and you get a little scared. And you may not like to be scared, but a LOT of people do. Call it fear, or call it suspense, they really are very similar. I think this thread is really about how we can include this emotion in our games - not necesarily about how to make a game completely BASED on fear. As for if people like to be scared or not, look at amusement park rides. Many of these rides are quite scary, and still people enjoy them.
No one likes to be truly afraid, but I think even very secure people enjoy a little bit of fear in their entertainment. It''s the easiest emotion to toy with creatively I think as well, but it''s also easy to get wrong

quote: Original post by Prototype
I don't think it is possible to *really* scare people with games, as most people know nothing will really happen to them.

There are movies and other things that have "really" scared people. The Exorcist, for one, scared lots of people to the core. It's not necessarily about being scared of the movie. It's obvious that the movie can't hurt you directly. It's more about being scared of the ideas presented in the movie. The idea that the things in the movie could really be true. I think that was part of Blair Witch's appeal, as well as the whole War of the Worlds scare (yes I know that was a radio show, not a movie).

If a movie can do that, I think there is the potential for a game to do it. It's possible that with the added dimension of interactivity, a game could present a scary idea more fully than a movie could. Which is why I started this initial discussion...fear through gameplay.

[edited by - beantas on October 18, 2002 7:18:24 PM]

quote:
Exactly! This can be linked with security. People go to scary movies to "test themselves" because they are insecure.

So do people ride rollarcosters because they are insecure too? do people do other ''scary'' things like parachute from aircraft because they are insecure?

You cannot generate suspense without the element of apprehension...wich is a large part of fear...fear that the situation will go wrong...fear that the character will say/do the wrong thing...fear that the worst will happen...fear that the best will happen for all the wrong reasons...fear that you didn''t solve the mystery before Mr. Holmes could.

Scientificly when we feel fear, our adrenal glands start working overtime. Which in turn helps to "awaken" our senses...makes us feel more alive...biological this is to give us a "edge" in surviveing such fear induceing situations...in short it can produce a natural ''high''...Not the sort of ''high'' a Crack addict seeks...but more of a "charge"...they can feel refreshed from the experience

some people enjoy scary movies because of this...and for some a scarry movie isn''t enough, they need to push themselves farther by bungiejumping or other activity...

Think of the chemical reactions going on in your body as you do something you enjoy (like game programing, for example)...why do you enjoy such activities and not others?...Don''t you get a "charge" from doing things you enjoy? Or do you do them because you are insecure?

A programmer may keep working away in the seemingly futile attempt to make a better 3D game engine....does this meen that he is insecure for continueingly "testing himself"?