Splatterhouse in Australia?

[Deltroid]

So, pretty much dismemberment physics similar to Ninja Gaiden 2?

I remember in the original MediEvil where if you would run out of amunition for range wepons you could throw your arm like a boomerang. Also that game had pretty fun set pieces, AND EVERY SINGLE ONE was inspiered by gothic horror.

Yeah, that was awesome. I'd love to see more games in the style of the Medievil games. There's plenty of cartoonish or parody horror games, but nothing quite like the Medievil series. Or maybe it's just the nostalgia.

"If you have changes or additions to suggest for this idealistic fun-violence code of conduct, why not mention them in the comments?"

You read the comments?

You've opened the flood gates now, Yahtzee.

 

[Deltroid]

Edit: Mods, please delete this.

 

[pdgeorge]

Particularly devastating weapons should employ slight delays between activation and firing, just for the thrill of anticipation.

Doom/Quake/etc. old school games did this VERY well with the same one repeating weapon that really needs to come back.

If you played them, then you probably are already thinking of the most beautiful weapon every designed.

The BFG9000 (doom). Though personally I liked the BFG10k more (quake).
The BFG9000: Fires a ball of green plasma dealing massive damage to the enemy. Takes roughly half a second to charge up when you fire it and you even hear it charging up.
Same goes for the BFG10k, but that one had rays shooting off of it as well destroying anything NEAR it. So not only did you get the pleasure of watching the ball of green plasma slowly destroy everything in it's way (even continuing through enemies until it hit a wall) the rays it fired off also meant that something as petty as 'being within 100 meters' of the guy who fired it.
God help you if you were standing where it exploded.

 

[Dobs141]

That one Peter Jackson movie is Dead Alive.

Only if you're American and fat [/videos/view/zero-punctuation/57-Painkiller] (seek to 2:20).

Well fuck.

 

[Mr Companion]

Another thing: Players should be able to toy with both corpses and living enemies alike. When there is one last enemy left in a game I always feel the need to make his death as needlessly drawn out as possible. You should be able to drag and fling your enemy around the room, laughing as he screams in agony until finishing him with one brutal move. Mmmmmmm, violence.

 

[Toonstriker]

Yahtzee notes that "Enemies should also appear moist and weighty rather than dry and bony. Bloated with muscle and fat, glistening with greasy sweat" I can get behind this.

Looking back over all the different enemies I've slaughtered in violent video games, I was instantly reminded of the heavy-set shirtless enemies from House of the Dead 2. Remember when they slowly ambled towards you with their guts jiggling like pudding? You immediately wanted to go to work shooting up their bellies rather going for the more effective head shot, simply because it was so much fun to hollow out their insides.

His point about using "washed out, neutral colours" also comes into play here - The zombies all came in dark black/browns/greens and grays to contrast the oozing green blood that spurted forth. Of course this was just a rails shooter, but in my opinion they have a tendency to produce some of the most interesting enemies in games.

Finally there is one point I really want to stress - Different weaponry should mean a variety of different corpses and death animations. Remember when you finally got your hands on the rocket launcher or BFG in the original Doom? Enemies weren't just collapsing in bullet-ridden piles on the ground anymore, they were being transformed into a pile of slimy red matter. Watching enemies responding differently to different weapons is a ton of fun.

 

[Something Amyss]

One of the things I found lacking in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is that, as a space warrior the equal to a platoon of space nazis with lasers, there's a lack of numerous enemies. It's like there was a shortage of graduates from Redshirt Academy or something.

A game that is supposed to be about destruction and touts the reaction of its game engines lets me down.

I bring it up mostly because I thought of TFU when reading the suggestion of a large number of enemies. The thought was specifically that a solid AI reaction would help sell the visceral nature of the game in question, especially in conjunction with a large number of modular enemiesnwith potential persistent wounds.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Impalement.

 

[warrenEBB]

I think what's interesting about gore gaming is - the concept of sadism.

If video games are this magical invention that frees you to "do anything you can think of," then why are you perpetrating all this gore?
Make the game focus on this. If you ignore this aspect of the experience (by making the game about a stylish world travelling treasure hunter, for example) then you're robbing the gore of it's punch. You're making a different genre of game that happens to have some gore in it. which strikes me as lame/irresponsible.

It often seems gore in most games is hidden behind a shiny veneer of heroism and world saving. so you don't feel bad about it.
but this's the key to how any goregame leaves you feeling about gameplay when you finally put the controller down.
I think context must be established, so it will trickle down to affecting how you feel about each attack you perpetrate against each enemy.

1) Have the enemies (victims?) notice all the violence you're perpetrating against them: and react somehow.

running away in fear. crying over wounds. or going nuts themselves and also killing off enemies. It weirds me out that in all these recent games where you enter an area and have to kill off x number of baddies - the baddies never seem afraid. or even remotely aware of what they're getting into. it's like bad guys shooting guns at Superman. don't they fucking know they have no chance? what the hell?
anywho.
even in Splatterhouse2010, this bothered me. You're basically killing wild animals that do nothing but froth and wait in turn for their chance to slowly attack you. If one of them didn't fight, and just crawled into a corner and started crying - I would have thought more about the violence.

2) Have things you aren't supposed to hurt.
Innocent bystanders you're not supposed to touch, mixed in with the baddies (as in every light gun game ever?).
Or maybe offer rewards for not breaking all the furniture.
You could still destroy these things, but if it's clear you aren't supposed, it'll feel more like a dramatic moment when you just lost it and killed everything.

3) Replace dry wooden crates with something fleshy.
In the ultimate gore game, you'd probably want animals (rats?) corpses, or innocent bystanders to stand in for crates. ie. those things that draw you to explore a room and briefly attack them for small powerups.
I think there's nothing satisfying about breaking some barrels/crates/vases in games anymore. borrrrring. Maybe the repetition is addictive? I don't know why

4) Might be interesting to play with your "control of the character".
ie, after you kill the 11th baddie in a row, maybe your character is no longer interested in doing what you tell him. He vomits, or screams, or cries.
Or turns to face you, and personally chews your ass about what you're doing.
I thought this relationship between you and the character was the most interesting thing about the Manhunt games - you're character is walking this weird line between being forced to do things he wouldn't normally - and trying to break free of control.

I just think there's something to this idea of control that is a worthy spin on the usual video game "power fantasy" cliche.

5) call it "The Borrer". heh. ok, no. ... Call it : "Bored With Horror"

 

[warrenEBB]

If you want to make a horror game, with grappling hooks, i'd recommend going to Hellraiser town.

Also, I think it'd be ideal to make a game where you are controlling a "remote robot probe". like the little robot they send through the portal in Stargate. Or one of the deep sea robots they use to explore rooms of the sunken Titanic ship. Because this would play up issue of control.

You as a player are sort of sending part of yourself into this game, to see what happens. So make a game about sending a robot probe into hell. or something.

It has to protect it's cable (or else, the signal is lost, and you'd need to send a new probe).
falling down pits wouldn't be such a big deal (as it was with the instant death in Splatterhouse2010), because you could just retract the cable.

I've never seen a game like that.

 

[Kyoh]

How about an organic gun that launches parasites on to enemies, who fall to the ground clawing, and screaming, at the critter as it burrows through whatever limb it struck.

Launching several of the paarasites onto one enemy should be entertaining to watch as he thrashes wildly as he is slowly devoured.

And there should be an upgrade for an explosive version. Not only does the critter tear into your skin, it also explodes shortly there after.

Sounds like good times to me.

 

[NeoShinGundam]

Hey, at least you don't live in Iran. Their rating system goes all the way to age 25!

 

[magicpokey]

I'm too lazy to read the whole comments thread, so this may have been mentioned... but didn't he just thought-design a good version of madworld without the artsy bullshit-o-vision?

 

[proghead]

How about an organic gun that launches parasites on to enemies, who fall to the ground clawing, and screaming, at the critter as it burrows through whatever limb it struck.

Launching several of the paarasites onto one enemy should be entertaining to watch as he thrashes wildly as he is slowly devoured.

And there should be an upgrade for an explosive version. Not only does the critter tear into your skin, it also explodes shortly there after.

"Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath [http://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox/oddworld-strangers-wrath]" had living ammo. It worked differently though.

 

[PopcornAvenger]

You can kick enemies in the genitals and when you do they start screaming "Augh, my genitals!".

That's a very good point. Enemies should be *reactive*, and the sound and animations should vary (or, yes, randomly not be applied at all).

If I set someone on fire, damne it, they should be screaming bloody murder. Bioshock did that pretty well (the bees were a nice touch, too)

I was also reminded of the V.A.T.S system employed in Fallout 3 & NV. Sure, it makes the game too easy at times, but, yow, I was sold on the game when the first time I saw a skull fly apart in slomo

 

[essidus]

Two words: Cerebral Bore

 

[nohorsetown]

Don't try to physically model and account for every permutation of a sword slash through someone's guts (and how those guts flop around and permanently stain other complex 3D models) - just do the game in 2D instead. Or 2D with multiple planes like Little Big Planet (should be some interaction between planes, tho). Voila, you save tons of space and processing power, and you can fill the game up with a bajillion lush, gory animations, all interacting with and domino-ing off each other. Problem is you couldn't get your face all up in someone's guts, first-person-style, so I guess you wouldn't "feel" like a murderer as much. Meh, that'd be fine with me. I appreciate some good gore, but I don't need to feel particularly immersed in it.

 

[Dog Wednesday]

Go to a Melbourne inner city nightclub and look a few strangers in the eye. I guarantee someone will lose a few pints of blood. When the Mana Bar opens here next year, you should use this to your advantage. "Hey look everyone! Gamers enjoying their harmless hobby and drinking responsibly! This Mana Bar must surely be the cleanest, safest and most fun drinking venue in Victoria! How bad can violence in video games truly be if this is how the average gamer behaves in a licensed venue?" Hell if all goes well, The Herald-Sun may even publish a positive article (maybe)

 

[rda_Highlander]

...And therefore I declare Painkiller and Postal 2 two of the most satisfactory gore-y games ever. True by the way. Talking about Serios Sam is just cheating.

 

[Akalistos]

offers some suggestions on how to maximize blood and gore.

Use the same system that you use on monster on the Players. When a monster hit the players, make sure that the character does a convincing pain animation and gush out blood until he heal himself. It's not much but you can make the monster a more reliable threat, the player an even bigger badass and almost double the amount of blood. Tho it only work when you don't use the fake looking damage decal and put it on the character's skin like X-Men Origin - Wolverine. That's just lazy.