My Survival Horror Game

[Grave]

Yeah some fast ones would be sweet, like the ones that jump around the buildings in Ravenholme on HL2.

Damn, now that I think about it this would be like a full game similar to that level. Sounds fun to me.

[Niceshot23]

Anyone can throw some creepy looking zombies, give them eerie sound effects and yeah, you can make them a bit scary ......

But to be geniunely scared, give them what they can't see ... let their imagination overtake the person ... meaning, create a new genre of evil creatures and give them a theme ... make it so that when they come out, all the lights in the village dim to an almost black out situation .... and throw in the 3d sound effects ... the ones of footsteps in the distance or cracking twigs in the surrounding wilderness..... let them know the danger is there, but not have a real close look to what it is they are running from ....

oh, and the villagers, make them hesitant to talking about this evil ... and everytime you do, they shrug you off .... throw in a backstory to why they dont talk about it ....

[r.gun]

Originally Posted by Niceshot23

Anyone can throw some creepy looking zombies, give them eerie sound effects and yeah, you can make them a bit scary ......

But to be geniunely scared, give them what they can't see ... let their imagination overtake the person ... meaning, create a new genre of evil creatures and give them a theme ... make it so that when they come out, all the lights in the village dim to an almost black out situation .... and throw in the 3d sound effects ... the ones of footsteps in the distance or cracking twigs in the surrounding wilderness..... let them know the danger is there, but not have a real close look to what it is they are running from ....

oh, and the villagers, make them hesitant to talking about this evil ... and everytime you do, they shrug you off .... throw in a backstory to why they dont talk about it ....

I like this idea.

[Niceshot23]

thanks.

Its mostly cause I know what it takes to scare people .... Everytime I see a horror movie I think to myself how some have potentials and others dont and where they fail ... to this day I've never really seen a scary/horror movie that has put in any scare to me .... So I want to make one ... not the hollywood scary but a scary that you dont take children or elderly to .... one that people will have nightmares about for a long time ... remaking things that people are familiar to is one way of not making this happen .... you have to be unique ... something in the unknown, that makes things scary....

[Pancreas]

Scaring people is about exploiting insecurities and fears.

Fear of being alone, fear of death, fear of the dark, fear of mutilation are all common and used extensively.

However... this is typically done with agents that are grotesque, monstrous and vile. If you really want to scare someone show them a world that meets their current ideals and then show that they are completely incompatible with it. It is the reality already experienced by those who can not achieve material security. Give the audience the sensation that they are grotesque, monstrous and vile and they will feel discomfort long after the lights go up.

[Runnen]

Having just finished reading this thread, I can't help but think that this list of enemies, as well as the setting in a secluded village, is quite a bit inspired from Resident Evil 4. Granted, Resident Evil didn't invent anything, but zombies, monstrous dogs, and an evil cult all in a lost village?.. C'mon.

Other than that, the concept and ideas behind the game, especially the use of furniture and other objects as traps and weapons beside guns is a good concept in survival horror, since Resident Evil (one of the most successful survival horror series, I think we can all agree that it is successful) has become more of an horror action series nowadays (was anyone actually SCARED during RE4 compared to RE1?).

I think better enemies would be something like the strange monsters in Silent Hill. Now I'm not saying you should stop ripping off Resident Evil enemies and go rip off the ones of Silent Hill... but Silent Hill always freaked me out a lot more than Resident Evil. Wanna know why? Because in Resident Evil, if I see a giant spider, a cannibal zombie, a monster dog, or a fucking Hunter monster, I know what it is and how to kill it... in Silent Hill, half of my time is spent wondering what the fuck is that thing that is chasing after me, because it looks like nothing I've ever even imagined before... and the other half is spent running from it because I have absolutely no fucking idea how to stop it..

Just my two cents.

[r.gun]

Originally Posted by Runnen

Having just finished reading this thread, I can't help but think that this list of enemies, as well as the setting in a secluded village, is quite a bit inspired from Resident Evil 4. Granted, Resident Evil didn't invent anything, but zombies, monstrous dogs, and an evil cult all in a lost village?.. C'mon.

Well, I know it seems very similar but I was actually working on the idea starting in 2003 - when I hadn't seen any information about RE4 ( I was into MMOs, didn't keep up with the general gaming news). As proof, I present my archived moddb profile and urge you to look at the last news item posted, which was in late 2004, before the release of RE4

A Terrible Secret mod for Half-Life 2 - Mod DB

Actually, when I first saw gameplay footage of RE4 I literally thought to myself "omfg... thats pretty much my game". Which was pretty annoying. After playing the game, though, it was a lot different in terms of story and gameplay than anything I wanted to do, but the whole zombies crawling through windows and breaking down doors was something I had been toying with in the Doom 3 engine.

[Niceshot23]

scariest game ever played, the original alien vs predator playing as the marine

[kollos]

1000% agreed

[etchazz]

Originally Posted by Pancreas

Scaring people is about exploiting insecurities and fears.

Fear of being alone, fear of death, fear of the dark, fear of mutilation are all common and used extensively.

However... this is typically done with agents that are grotesque, monstrous and vile. If you really want to scare someone show them a world that meets their current ideals and then show that they are completely incompatible with it. It is the reality already experienced by those who can not achieve material security. Give the audience the sensation that they are grotesque, monstrous and vile and they will feel discomfort long after the lights go up.

you really want scary? forget zombies and other hideous monsters and just throw in some meth and crack addicts in LA (with a few gang bangers for safe measure). that way, it would be a great video game but could also teach kids to stay off meth/crack and how to handle these people when confronted. if you're alone and don't have any spare money on you, it's your ass! as a writer myself, i can promise you nothing is more disturbing than reality.

[Runnen]

Originally Posted by etchazz

you really want scary? forget zombies and other hideous monsters and just throw in some meth and crack addicts in LA (with a few gang bangers for safe measure). that way, it would be a great video game but could also teach kids to stay off meth/crack and how to handle these people when confronted. if you're alone and don't have any spare money on you, it's your ass! as a writer myself, i can promise you nothing is more disturbing than reality.

I agree to an extent. I don't know about actually setting the scene in such reality, but I agree that it is more disturbing and somewhat scarier to encounter deranged, dangerous humans than monsters. A good example would be the drug-addicts in Max Payne series, or the insane hobos in Condemned on X360.

[Rhaze]

Originally Posted by Niceshot23

scariest game ever played, the original alien vs predator playing as the marine

Thought I was the only one.

NEVER enough ammo.

[The Insider]

Originally Posted by Niceshot23

scariest game ever played, the original alien vs predator playing as the marine

Yep easily..never thought it about it till you mentioned it. Truly alone, can't see, the blip of your radar is like a hand squeezing your throat harder and harder. And your means of survival in very finite quantities= sweat

[kollos]

and the lack of quicksave option.

kinda reminds me of the neverending death penalty debates in every mmo

[Niceshot23]

what made it scary was the good sound/visual effects that it had mixed with the blip on the radar .... it was an awesome game ..... you're walking in very dark corridors and from the distance, you can hear aliens running by every now and then .... and they were able to walk on the walls and everything .... when all of a sudden they pop right in front of you .... very good gaming experience