Horror Games Split Personality - Game Design With Cleril Options

[Cleril]

First time I'm doing this so it's not very long but it gets the job done with the lesson of the day, psychological horror games, and scaring the player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z5m_c-9CDQ

Hope you like it.

There is cursing and some dark humor in the video, just warning you.

This post has been edited by Cleril: Jan 21 2012, 10:52 PM

[kayden997]

So this could also account for not only the players, but the player's buddies?
Or would killing off the player's buddies be included in the horror attempt; making the player feel they are next.
Question I have is "what methods could be done to achieve this?"

It's an interesting thought indeed that developers use this to accomplish the "horror."

[Cleril]

So this could also account for not only the players, but the player's buddies?
Or would killing off the player's buddies be included in the horror attempt; making the player feel they are next.
Question I have is "what methods could be done to achieve this?"

It's an interesting thought indeed that developers use this to accomplish the "horror."

By buddies it depends on if you mean AI or actual humans. Killing off the player's buddies regarding AI would be harder to do than using human buddies. AI is hard for humans to connect to and few games actually make us care about characters very well. Human buddies would be much each to use if it wasn't for the fact that two buddies playing games are likely not in the right mindset to be scared.

All the games I mentioned did not even attempt to have buddies of any sort. Condemned has friendly NPCs for maybe 3% of the game, Amnesia .04%, and Silent Hill 2's NPCs are deliberately surreal and not connectable because of that. Fear thus far in games has really only been accomplished when the player is alone and has no means of fighting back. Co-op horror experiences to my knowledge are non-existent so I have no clue how that would actually work properly.

As in what methods could be done to achieve what I said in the video or the buddy ideas you've mentioned?

[kayden997]

Okay, I sorta understand what you mean.
I guess Co-Op games wouldn't make sense in that matter.

Thinking back to Dead Space 2, I now see what you mean about letting have that fear but at the same time not killing them... Unless they mess up.
(Ah Dead Space 2... Sucha good game )

[Cleril]

Okay, I sorta understand what you mean.
I guess Co-Op games wouldn't make sense in that matter.

Thinking back to Dead Space 2, I now see what you mean about letting have that fear but at the same time not killing them... Unless they mess up.
(Ah Dead Space 2... Sucha good game )

I'm sure co-op is doable, I just haven't seen it done, and therefore I can't say jack on the subject.

Dead space 2 is 90% pop-out scares and not psychological horror but yes, the idea is still the same. Granted, Dead Space 2 fails in that regard. From the get go it takes about 3 hits for the player to die without ever teaching them the controls, without any build up, and it all falls apart.

Hm, maybe in my next video I'll discuss the mapping of horror game design, that is, how horror games lead up, and then build to scare you. Basically the pacing in the genre.

[kayden997]

Gahh... You're too critical!
Dead Space 2 did alright in horror... Tho you were talking about psychological horrors.
Only psychological horrors I can think of is scary movies as a kid.
I don't think you can have fear that transfers over to the person if they are playing the game.
You can scare them if they really get into it but it isn't gonna follow through completely, IMO.
The best way to do that is in movies I think... Unless you think it could be achieved in games....
Maybe I'm getting it all wrong idk.

[bulmabriefs144]

First time I'm doing this so it's not very long but it gets the job done with the lesson of the day, psychological horror games, and scaring the player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z5m_c-9CDQ

Hope you like it.

There is cursing and some dark humor in the video, just warning you.

Hmmm, not sure what that's supposed to be (had the sound off since I'm downstairs, mebbe that helps?) but the clips seemed more funny than scary.

I typically don't play horror genre games, as the graphics are rather boring. Sleepaway Camp is a good example for movies on psycho characterization.

About the split personality thing, yea I definitely can see that this could be scary. Especially if you have a cheerful upbeat personality (supposedly) who has a bit of a dark side. Heck, the original game could be set up as if it were an RPG. Then the hero gets "sad" or something, and later apparently a monster slaughters the party (set it up that way, with the party hearing a noise, the screen blacking out, and the hero coming to, to find the party dead). She joins another party, and this time we get to a certain point where she gets "sad" again, we get a hint of what's happening maybe from a brief reflection in the mirror (which is erased or changed before you can really see it). The third time you flesh out things from the character's perspective (with inner monologue/thoughts to show more of their motivations, but the character themselves blacks out during these segments). So the last time, we suddenly see another party member's perspective about the time it happens.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Jan 22 2012, 11:12 AM

[Cleril]

First time I'm doing this so it's not very long but it gets the job done with the lesson of the day, psychological horror games, and scaring the player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z5m_c-9CDQ

Hope you like it.

There is cursing and some dark humor in the video, just warning you.

Hmmm, not sure what that's supposed to be (had the sound off since I'm downstairs, mebbe that helps?) but the clips seemed more funny than scary.

I typically don't play horror genre games, as the graphics are rather boring. Sleepaway Camp is a good example for movies on psycho characterization.

About the split personality thing, yea I definitely can see that this could be scary. Especially if you have a cheerful upbeat personality (supposedly) who has a bit of a dark side. Heck, the original game could be set up as if it were an RPG. Then the hero gets "sad" or something, and later apparently a monster slaughters the party (set it up that way, with the party hearing a noise, the screen blacking out, and the hero coming to, to find the party dead). She joins another party, and this time we get to a certain point where she gets "sad" again, we get a hint of what's happening maybe from a brief reflection in the mirror (which is erased or changed before you can really see it). The third time you flesh out things from the character's perspective (with inner monologue/thoughts to show more of their motivations, but the character themselves blacks out during these segments). So the last time, we suddenly see another party member's perspective about the time it happens.

Hehe, you need the sound on as it's my voice giving out a lecture of the split thinking every psychological horror game needs to do design wise. The images are just supplementary to the lecture.

Amnesia has boring graphics? Sure is could use more enemy types but overall the graphics are interactive enough and just varied enough to hold immersion.

I actually have a game I made focusing on two characters with split personality disorder, though I haven't worked on it because Words is taking up all my efforts. Split isn't up on RPGRev because it's only 10-15 minutes long with very little gameplay.