Survival Horror Game In Creation

[jawg_t-j]

you should probably use silluettes (probably spelt that wrong)alot because the your imagination can be more scary than anything computer generated and saves time and money (like what extra credits said) and you should maybe later in the game be given the power to defeat said horrors but be afraid to use it like having a skeletal arm (your arm that you can cut of been cut off or one from your dead friend)that drains your life like a double edged sword or one that sporns weaker but more frieghtening (probably spelt that wrong) enemys and or even after all that isnt very effective in the first place. i hope this helps this is my first post and survival horror is a genre that ive only recently gotten into.

 

[obscuredlimits]

Eh. Guns are not horribly terrifying. A sense of isolation, that you are potentially one of the last sane humans in the area is terrifying. Facing something unknown and unspeakably more powerful than you are is also scary to the point where you leave a light on at night. And endings don't have to be good, I mean realistically, if someone was put into a situation where they had to fight something ancient and more powerful than themselves, what is going to happen? I highly doubt that the character will discover some unknown god-like abilities and defeat this evil.

 

[shootthebandit]

Hello everyone,

My colleague and I have been producing a Survival Horror game from around April this year. The concept is almost complete and modelling is well on its way. The game is based around Frictional Games series called "Penumbra" which I recommend you check out. There are no weapons featured. The game is all puzzle solving and atmosphere with evasion of enemies at times. We are very excited about our project and cant wait to get it flying off the ground. It will be at least a couple of years until release as we are just a meer 2 man team. However we would love your support and a website will be set up soon.

Thanks for your interest

P.S

If you would like to tell us what scares you anything to do with atmosphere, insects, water you name it, whatever just list it and we will see if it ties in with our ideas and hopefully bring your nightmares to life.

Thanks again

sounds like a good idea BUT i dont like the no weapons idea, if i was being attacked by zombies n stuff i would hit it with something metallic. if you cant hit it then it cant hit then whats to be scarred of, if its gonna kill you anyway you may aswell fight back

also you could encorporate some traps (i would consider them to be a weapon) that you can use against the monster etc, it would take ingenuity to place them and wouldnt give you much of an advantage

 

[jawg_t-j]

also try and keep a semblance of the real world its more scary if its set in the real world than than a fantasy one and obey the laws of physic when it comes to the main charecter but feel free with the monsters. and if you can kill the enemys make the corpses turn into somthing human or you can recognise make the charecter human yet feel like hes an obomanation for destroying something harmless out of fear like killing somthing that means no harm or is doing what its doing for a good reason.

 

[Judgement101]

I call this advertising.

 

[shootthebandit]

Hello everyone,

My colleague and I have been producing a Survival Horror game from around April this year. The concept is almost complete and modelling is well on its way. The game is based around Frictional Games series called "Penumbra" which I recommend you check out. There are no weapons featured. The game is all puzzle solving and atmosphere with evasion of enemies at times. We are very excited about our project and cant wait to get it flying off the ground. It will be at least a couple of years until release as we are just a meer 2 man team. However we would love your support and a website will be set up soon.

Thanks for your interest

P.S

If you would like to tell us what scares you anything to do with atmosphere, insects, water you name it, whatever just list it and we will see if it ties in with our ideas and hopefully bring your nightmares to life.

Thanks again

BIG hint, dont make the monster visible (initially). try to keep them mysterious for as long as possible maybe a shadowy figure or an arm etc, confrontations should be in a really dark environment

as soon as you can see something (clearly) you can asses it and it become less scary

i like the idea of 2 guys just making a game, power to the indie developers

 

[Faladorian]

Please, if youre making a survival horror game dont make it a pop-out-and-scare-you kind of game. That's a very very cheap scare tactic, and your audience will get over it quickly. You should take more of a silent hill 2 route (but dont you dare rip it off haha) and go for more of an isolation idea. No matter what happens, it's always scarier when you're alone. Remember that.

 

[Harry Brockley]

Ok thanks for the many responses. It means a lot and I?m going to reply to your all in this post.

NeedAUserName - The characters profession is not yet decided at this time, however he is married and goes away from home. The setting will be in three sections I cannot reveal what they are yet, however they all have distinct names and are different in atmosphere.

suhlEap ? Yes, removing weapons from the game does create a sense of fear which I adore. I love getting scared Thanks for your support.

Horny Ico - Very nice post. Well we aren?t going for the pop up type of scares as we think they are cheap and not as effective for prolonged horror. We want to design a game where simply playing through it causes you to feel just as disturbed and scared as if it were in reality and make you feel so freaked that you sometimes need to take breaks. You speak of finding keys and items. Well the whole game is about progressing through this facility and escaping, whether it involves straight forward item usage such as a key in a door or using fire to burn your way through a blockade of wood for example.


ParadiseOnceLost- At the moment its PC only due to the game mechanics and the engines general design interface. However, while I am a PC gamer, my colleague loves consoles so we are trying very hard to get the game over to the 360 and or PS3. We would love to release on the Wii, as the Wii remote would be perfect for the base controls, but we?re aware that horror titles don?t sell well on the Wii because of the younger market it?s targeted at and we?re trying to take as fewest risks as possible in terms of the game?s sales.


andrewfox - Hey thanks very much for your input, let me mark things down in the order you mentioned them:

1 - Nothing of the sort will be introduced into our game.
2 ? I?m confident I will, I studied psychology for two years and read up on phobias, so I have a pretty firm understanding of what gets under people?s skin. 3 ? We don't have back tracking as far as most of the concept goes, there is a one instance of back tracking during one of the puzzles we?ve done so far, however it leads up to a hopefully a very very freaky result so it should be worth it
4 ? Unfortunately, there is very little open area gameplay here. We have focused on a linear style of progression in that when you complete a series of puzzles in one particular area you move on. I understand that linearity can be dull, however we?ve designed this in hopes that all the puzzles and scares will keep you entertained and we personally feel that a lack of freedom will help emphasises the claustrophobic nature of the game
5 - Penumbra worked well and we were inspired by it so expect the same level of fear from ours, but hopefully knocked up a notch or two
6 - We are working on this and it will come through to the player as he/she progresses through the game.
7 - I have played through many of these, but a very valid point.
8 ? Wouldn?t dream of it!
9 - I love Zero Punctuation




TPiddy - Removing weapons from the game may sound dumb, but you should play the Penumbra series and see how you feel about the mechanic. We aren?t incorporating monster difficulty curbs or player rankings; instead it?s about evading enemies in different ways while keeping you scared.

monkey_man - I love your idea about the enemy, we will think upon that. Death traps probably wouldn?t fit in with the environment. The lights we have covered well.

Phoenix09215 - I wouldn?t say that darkness causes atmosphere to build, however it does help and I completely agree, isolation is perfect. Music can be a comfort but it can also cause fear as I found out whilst playing a certain game. We will do our best to change it and scare you witless

shootthebandit - Well that made me laugh

Shydun Afaya - I?ll tell you now that there are no weapons are far as guns go so no worries about snipers shooting you

Cheery Lunatic - There are no trailers yet. We started in April this year, however modelling is well under way so once all the items are modelled and put into location all textured and pretty then you will get screenshots and things, but this won?t be for a year or so I?m afraid. I wish there were more games from the genre and that?s why we decided to make one for like minded people.

jawg_t-j - Your post completely threw me off course but thanks for your input, however the game is in a more realistic fashion.

shootthebandit - Hello again, I actually quite like the idea of having to set up your own traps and the reason for not fighting with items around you is because your terrified however this may change....

Judgement101 ? Well essentially, this is an advertisement for people who are interested in our game and would like to offer ideas and help us along the way

shootthebandit - It might just be that way with the creature who knows and yes we love it too. However the work load can get heavy sometimes, but I love it with a passion so no worries.

Horny Ico - Something to think about indeed.

Whoooosh - I'm glad you all replied to my post and have helped spread the word. Its great getting horror fans involved and this has really opened my eyes to know there are some very passionate people like yourselves who want to see more games akin to the classic survival horror genre. We appreciate every fan that is willing to help us make this game happen

Thanks so much and keep in touch!

 

[Harry Brockley]

Please, if youre making a survival horror game dont make it a pop-out-and-scare-you kind of game. That's a very very cheap scare tactic, and your audience will get over it quickly. You should take more of a silent hill 2 route (but dont you dare rip it off haha) and go for more of an isolation idea. No matter what happens, it's always scarier when you're alone. Remember that.

My thoughts exactly mate!

 

[z121231211]

Use fear of the unknown to your advantage. Never let the game be predictable and always keep the player on his toes.

Base your ideas on reality, the more connections the player can make to the game the better it'll stick with them later on.

 

[Dango]

If you want to make it scary, just include giant crane flies

Spoiler: Eeeeeeek! Crane flies

Actually, regular sized crane flies are bad enough...

 

[Harry Brockley]

Use fear of the unknown to your advantage. Never let the game be predictable and always keep the player on his toes.

Base your ideas on reality, the more connections the player can make to the game the better it'll stick with them later on.

I like that idea its a simple concept but a very powerful one. Thanks for your input.