New Horror-Game Mechanics

[teknoarcanist]

So such-and-such a studio is working on such-and-such a horror game. They come to you and go 'quick, we need an idea to frighten the player that's never been done before'.

Example: the player's life begins gradually decreasing, for no discernible reason. Certain actions cause it to deplete faster, vaguely suggesting some cause, but the player can't stop it running down. At 1/3 health, it stops, and the atmospheric 'scary noises' begin to grow scarier and more atmospheric, suggesting imminent attack. Whether or not it comes . . .?

That's my 2-cent idea. What are yours?

 

[Thick]

Oo this intrigues me. Horror isn't really my thing, but I'll see what I can come up with over dinner. =)

 

[HeySeansOnline]

You find a small weapons cache, the player automatically takes the big gun inside, put this cache right after an intense ammo burning firefight, now low on ammo he thinks he is saved thanks to this gun, he gets swarmed by a group of enemies, the gun jams.

 

[Silver]

The most important thing in a horror game is to not break the immersion. Ideally a player won't die a single time, but always feel really close to it, dying, and respawning or reloading will break the immersion. This shouldn't be done cheaply, the player should just be given the necessary means to escape death, at a cost, maybe being able to climb where enemies can't reach. Maybe being able to run faster by throwing away stuff in your inventory, or dropping your backpack (and losing everything).

Another important part is to not explain too much, that often ruins stuff. Let the players' imaginations run wild with vague hints, and don't explain things too well.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Looking, scaring the player isn't difficult. Have a zombie jump out of a cupboard while making a lot of noise will do the trick. If you really want to make them uncomfortable, make them do something hideous. Remember in Silent Hill 2 (oh noes, fanboyism) where you got locked in a room with a ton of bugs and you had to somehow open the door? That's something I'd love to see in a horror game!

 

[Last Bullet]

The most important thing in a horror game is to not break the immersion. Ideally a player won't die a single time, but always feel really close to it, dying, and respawning or reloading will break the immersion. This shouldn't be done cheaply, the player should just be given the necessary means to escape death, at a cost, maybe being able to climb where enemies can't reach. Maybe being able to run faster by throwing away stuff in your inventory, or dropping your backpack (and losing everything).

Another important part is to not explain too much, that often ruins stuff. Let the players' imaginations run wild with vague hints, and don't explain things too well.

Totally agreed, especially on the second 'paragraph' -- I really like some of Stephen King's work because there's sometimes just no explanation as to WHY the stuff is happening. Most explanations are usually a let-down anyway.

New mechanics... Random idea that could actually be very, very bad: The ability to commit suicide. And not "Ah, I'll just run at this thing and not fight back" or something, I mean like the character purposely kills themselves. Why? Because it coincides with the inventory/save system so that you get to keep something like... your items, but lose your actual progress back to a certain point (or vice-versa).

Or just have a sort of "stress" system, that sort of works like stamina, and if it runs out your guy kills themselves, and it works like a normal death.

 

[Blue Musician]

Real Psychological Horror. All what I'm going to say it's a mix between all Silent Hill games, American McGee's Alice, one of the places in Shivering Isles (cannot remember, sorry. Lets just say the most fucked up one), and you've got my scary game. I can elaborate how it could be my game if you want, but I'll just not write it unless someone wants to know.

 

[Tattaglia]

http://www.amnesiagame.com/#main

Everyone watch the video. A big plus for this game (for me, anyway) is the fact that you can't fight the enemy in any way, only avoid them. This should make the game waaaay scarier.

 

[Nvv]

Anyone here tried Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth? It hasn't aged too badly, and is well worth a try if you're into horror games/Lovecraft (Cthulhu Mythos).

Not really a new mechanic in that game. It's simply a horror game that utilize uncommon game design to make the game more immersive and scary.

I can't really describe it. If you're interested search for it on Youtube, though it's of course nothing like actually playing it.

 

[Save us.A7X]

*snip*

That would be amazing, it would be great to see someone finally using the 'your console is possessed/broken' trick again, never played Eternal Darkness but I've always loved the idea it went to that level to screw with the player.

 

[migo]

Enemies that can adapt to your weapons would be something that would be nice to add.

Before Voyager a Star Trek survival horror where you're fleeing the Borg would have been pretty sweet. Now though any bite the Borg had is long gone.

 

[Silver]

New mechanics... Random idea that could actually be very, very bad: The ability to commit suicide. And not "Ah, I'll just run at this thing and not fight back" or something, I mean like the character purposely kills themselves. Why? Because it coincides with the inventory/save system so that you get to keep something like... your items, but lose your actual progress back to a certain point (or vice-versa).

Or just have a sort of "stress" system, that sort of works like stamina, and if it runs out your guy kills themselves, and it works like a normal death.

Speaking of suicide, there was a game a while back I read about where dying was a major mechanic. When you died you lay there until someone came along, then you took control of the first person to see your body. Everyone had different abilities and skills. Seemed really cool, and something like that would be nice.

Having the player as something distinctly unhuman could be a very powerful thing, I think, if done well. If you play as a ghost-like being that can possess humans, it could be really cool. Add some bigger enemy chasing you, remove the players ability to fight back (humans can't hurt the ghosts, since they're incorporeal, but each other, so the host bodies can be destroyed, and you can't hurt the other, bigger ghosts in your ghost form), so you have to hide, and dodge, and come up with clever solutions. Maybe you can't hurt anyone directly, but indirectly you might be able to.

 

[mik hardcore]

The problem with horror these days in almost every medium other than books is that it relies on gore and cheap scares to be effective. Lovecraft, Poe and Hitchcock are probably rolling in their graves. You want a good gameplay mechanic? How about an engaging storyline? Something psychologically tense, subtle but disturbing, with relatable characters? That's what we need. However, since this is unlikely to come out any time soon...

OT: Just off the top off my head, has anyone done a game where healing items can hurt you over time? For example, you take a series of painkillers to regain health, but over time the drugs begin inducing altered screen effects, random voices, hallucinations, etc. If you 'heal' too much over the course of the game, you end up overdosing and die anyway.