Many games are like the movie Aliens, with fast-paced action, but could we do a game which had more in common with the original Alien movie. Ie. Not a combat oriented game, but a slower-paced adventure game like experience one which concentrates on creating a sense of suspense and unease and providing the occasional shock too. Of course one problem would be a) the audience for it probably doesn't exist or wouldn't find out about it. b.) how would you maintain a feeling of danger but not relying on combat, ie. if you just used weird noises, and fake blips on a motion detector the player would soon learn that there was no real danger and wouldn't be on edge. ie. if each time you play a section, you realise that the noises are just there to unnerve you and the monster is in a different level. . Any ideas on how to do this?

Play the Silent Hill series ever? Yea those games keep me on a nice edge. They do have combat in them, but it's a slower pace than others.

Creepy they are.

Try any of the Thief games to see how it can be done.

Ditto for Sanitarium. Very little combat, but quite eerie. They key is creting the feeling that horrific things are hiding in the game world (not literal hiding monsters, I mean more like awful secrets waiting to be found out.) Then you put your player character in this tenuous little bubble of safety which might pop at any moment if some insane baddie happens to take notice of your lost and uncertain self...

If events require you to react fast, you'll be kept on edge.
Silent Hill was creepy because if a monster surprised you, it could easily kill you, and you had to be ready to fight at a milisecond's notice.
What about the latest Resident Evil system? where a cutscene requieres you to quickly push a button or sequence? that should keep you on edge if you think it's coming but can't really tell when.

edit: there's more to Silent Hill, but the above is the pertinent bit :) also could be pertinent that you were allowed to notice danger around you and allowed to escape within a timeframe. So you had to tread carefully as well as be ready.

Good ideas so far.

Playing with notions of safety/ unsafety.
Forcing the player into going into an unsafe space, from a secure space. Ie. They need to go through the (creepy / alien filled) access tunnels to restart the generator. They look forward to getting back in via the air-lock into the safe zone.
But when they get back to 'safety' they find that the area has been infiltrated by aliens which could be lurking anywhere. Ie. They see that some of the windows are broken and the security turrets are down.


Madster: yes having a quick reaction press the action button thing could keep the player on edge AND move the game-genre away from being a shooter.

There could be several things, ie. press action early enough and you hide before the monster sees you. Do it a bit later and it will attack, but you can still block it. Do it later and you take a hit.

The game could give you forking reaction points too, ie. press Z to dive left, press X to dive right / hide in a closet. Although this would probably detract from the sense of immersion.

Ie. Not all encounters are necessarily dangerous, it could use the equivalent of the 'cat-jumping' out trick (yeah, I know it is cheesy in the movies- but it still works as a Doom 3 style shock)

, ie. a fake event that just gives you a fright and keeps you on your toes.

Anymore ideas? Keep 'em coming.

[Edited by - Ketchaval on April 13, 2005 8:57:58 PM]

Quote:

Original post by Ketchaval The game could give you forking reaction points too, ie. press Z to dive left, press X to dive right / hide in a closet. Although this would probably detract from the sense of immersion. Ie. Not all encounters are necessarily dangerous, it could use the equivalent of the 'cat-jumping' out trick (yeah, I know it is cheesy in the movies- but it still works as a Doom 3 style shock)

yeh the cat-jump makes your trigger finger twitch.

About forking, if you plan to keep it easy and single-buttoned, you could make the choice "to fork or not to fork". For example, character arrives at an intersection and looks at one path for a while.. if you push the button at that moment, you take that path. if not, he turns around and continues the previous path.

Remember to signal players when there's a choice and what choice is that they'll make.

All of these games stem from the original Alone in the Dark series... anyone remember them?

I feel the trick is making something unexpected happen every now and then - Doom III has done some work in this area lately, though I felt having a monster randomly appear from out of a previously hidden doorway as soon as you turned your back got pretty tedious in the end.

In fact it happened so often that it was more worrying when something didn't try and jump you from behind...

One more recommendation: Try the original Clock Tower game. Super Famicom, as I recall. It's spooky. You're a schoolgirl, and you wander around this house finding your friends' corpses and running like hell whenever something creaks.

As long as there are alternatives to confrontation, and it's better to hide than to fight, people will hide. Throw in some mystery elements, like finding out the monster's weakness or finding a way to exploit it or finding a way to escape without letting the horror loose on Earth or something would add to the sense of purpose. Survival is fine, but solving the problem while surviving is a game.