Greetings! Horror games? What defines Horror? Gore? Dead bodies? In games today, its all of those. If you remember Silent Hill, you'll recall the silence and then the sudden screech, generally meaning a monster was about to attack! What made this effective? The setting. Silent Hill used a varity of techniques to acomplish this: @- The lighting. You chould only see (in game terms) about 10 yards ahead of you. Of course you could use the torch and see twice that, but if you do, you'll alert monsters, and so putting yourself in danger. @- The scenery. There was alot of rust in the game, and rust connects with tarnish, which is related time and ruin. Also, there is alot of blood, and that makes you think, why is this? What caused it? @- The interaction. There is none really. You don't have encounters with people like in Final Fantasy. It doesn't happen, you are alone for most of the game. And even when you do, it'll be sinsiter, and you probably won't be feeling cheerful through out the dialogue. Well, those are my two shillings on Setting the Scene: Horror. I hope to update this with more ideas and thoughs as I get them! ;) I'll do more in the Setting the Scene series at some point. Please feel free to add comments and ideas! ~Jabbercat

Hello,

I would like to see more of your ideas. And also are you looking for a game to work on?I am looking for people who have some ideas or suggestions or concept art for a survival horror board game.If you want to see the first page of 60 pages please feel free to email me. This is what I have since the seven year production.

1. 120 city page map. 60 Pages above for the city locations. 9 communities on the large island.And 60 pages below for the working in some areas and non working sewer system conjucntions in the game.
2.100+ optional occupational character names
3.The monsters,subbosses,bosses,superbosses with all statistics
4.Bus routes
5.40 Transportation Vehicles to choose from
6.Ally character names
7.Layouts of the locations
8.Names of the various main locations completed
9.Dice system
10.Score data sheets
11.Fear system
12.400 weapons,armor,items,accessories that can be combined,seacrhed,used, and storedin 100+ numerous areas away from being ravaged throught out the 9 community area locations.

The island city is just where it starts but there is 8 other main locations for the entire game. The new world map is so large that it willnot fit in my fathers house.When completed the scale will be dropped so itcan be scanned for better packaging configurations.

The details on the map are as detailed as you look around the your room, down the street,driving in a car.going to the movies, the mall.Anywhere you can imagine its rightthere in the game.You caneven take a helicopter,a plane or jet liner to get around tehmain city island. The island is so large it has its own zip code.

You can have a party of 2 to 16 players laying in teams (in small groups or large groups),turned based,by themselves,
And you can play the game with a story guide or with out one as well.

The work that is not completed is the 100+ character story lines. Each character storyline will be able to conect in some way or another to play the game.

And much more.

See you in the future of gaming.

Other scenic areas:

Zoos
Parks
Train Stations
Mountains
Underground Caves
Dirt Tunnels
Sewers
Water Fronts
Schools
College Grounds
Libraries
Apartments
Homes
Buildings
Etc...........

In other words. As in real life you see everything right there is a location. I have 8 pages of locations. These were just samples of what my survival horror boar game contains.
Do what you want, Go anywhere you want in the game. But there willbe a few master keys you will need to enter secret areas.

See you in the future of gaming.

Setting the Scene: Horror
Now I am going to consentrate on making the player unsettled and nervous.

@- Music. The key to unsettling a player is creating noises they will connect with suffering and death and inhumanity. Violins and wialing instrements do this quite well. For a good example of non-musical wails, play hrough Hell in Diablo 1.

@- Gore. Gore must be tasteful and not over done. Occasional blood splats in a game can either help build up the suspense or destroy it. It must be consistant. If you find one patch of blood in an area, you must find more blood futher on, unless the blood is in a consentrated area for a reason. Also, if you can connect a type of monter or creature with a body or blood splatter, it will give reason for the body/blood to be there.

@- Interaction. It is good to have interaction in a horror game, but on a different and more sinister level. When you interact with NPCs in a horror game that doesn't normally have alot of interaction, the dialogue should contain abnormalities, the NPC you are interacting with shouldn't appear completely normal and sane. The under note of murder in an NPC's voice can help. Make the player never feel safe, the game will be better for it.

Thats all for Setting the Scene: Horror part 2! I hope to update again soon. Thank you.
~Jabbercat

Hi there :) I'm developing an idea for my own horror game (scroll down the page to the bottom, or possibly the second page for the thread).

My points:

Lighting - Dark is scary, yes, but how about something more in-your-head? You can use the combination of deep shadows and sound to, say, have a dark corner, with screams coming from it.


Scenery - Yes, you hit it right there. Rust, dirt, grime, all that is pretty scary to be with.

Interaction - Well, my idea was, a lot of stuff actually is cheerful. It uses the cheerfullness, and seemingly well-being of everything, to clash with the actuality of the situation. For all intents and purposes, and more standard horror games, there should be no interaction with others, unless it's directly related to the story.


Music - Two choices: None or little. Use ambient noise instead, not music. Music gives cues as to when scary things are going to happen, as the tempo increases each time, or it sounds funny. Don't use it, and instead provide screaming, rustling of leaves, etc.

Sound - This IS the BIGGEST thing in a horror game. Nothing scares someone more than hearing something they cannot see. Use this to your advantage, as you have deep shadowed areas, screaming from out of sight places, etc. Surround sound also provides a much more surreal enviroment.

Gore - Ah, yes, everyone's favorite. But the problem is, computer gore just ISN'T scary, or at least not as scary as some of the other game design elements. How should you use it then? Use it to set the mood. Use decaying bodies to signify that people have died there before, use blood splatters and claw marks to show where the beast might be. For added thrills, don't put the beast there, and leave the player expecting something that doesn't come until they're just letting their gaurd down.

Good Ideas and suggestions for jabber cat and unknown target.
For the board game I am designing, I will be heading towards the interaction with people that deal with the storyline.I also would like to use a cd for music or noises forthe players can play during the back ground.

Not sure yet if it will work or it will and if it does work, will it be annoying trying to talk over a low toned set of volume.I would like to get in the heads of each players.I also have alot of awesome ideas for sence of horror like detailed flashback effects for each person.Each 100+ optional occupational characters will have his and her own history the players can use or see if they can find a character the fits them just like in real life.

There is so much I would like to type in the forums but as you all have noticed I haven't said alot about it ever since i came to the forums. Just working on finding volunteers or writers who can help me out on figuring a way to combine the storylines all together.Which is a huge job. But I have a few started.

Jabbercat I will send you the picture of the map after this typed message.

See you all in the future of gaming.