Inspiring Fear

[Stupidity]

Sui Generis seems to have a lot of potential for Terror!
With Undead and giant enemies clad in midnight platemail, a realistic lighting system, an open and unpredictable world and a challenging and engaging fighting system, Sui Generis has many tools for terror at it's disposal.

Imagine if you will, exploring the underworld you are limited to the sight range of your torch and a few flickering lamps. You hear a scampering noise of many feet on stone but cannot see the source. A pile of rubble blocks the light from revealing your foe, for a single second you see several forms dash through the rubble towards you. Almost completely hidden in shadow identification of your enemy is impossible until a fraction of a second before the first blow is struck.

The best games inspire moments of fear and uncertainty. What would you add to the game to inspire fear?

I would like to see fast enemies, traps, bottomless pits and weather that hides foes; like yetis or wolves attacking in a blizzard, ghouls in the dark and wraiths lurking in the fog.

 

[Komuflage]

Fear is always nice in games, I hope that the underworld will be very dark, and some parts should be impossible to see anything without a torch/power.
Using a torch should definitely only light a part of the screen when in the darkest place, only being able to see 2-3 meters of what's ahead of you can definitely create some fearful moments.

 

[Parco]

u can already see in the released public videos that there are dark areas that is pitch black, and can be lit up with powers/torches, i believe this was shown in the kickstarter video.
edit: yepp, 3:50 in the kickstarter pitch video

 

[Parco]

what i would want to add is medium sized spiders. fast, jumpy and can climb walls, something you would not want to meet inside narrow paths underground.

 

[Scarecrow]

Well there is a certain race that might turn out to be very terrifying to meet at night...

You know of what i speak, something not too long ago revealed...

Iamgine them jumping out of the forest, or a hole, or some other place that is dark.

 

[Parco]

yea, you normally wouldnt think twice before running after seeing those come out of nowhere.
something i also might like to see, specially underground, is phantoms. something like this:

just with more bodylike features and clawlike hands

 

[Parco]

more like this, just minus the armor and weapons.

 

[Komuflage]

Phantoms would be awesome, as long as they can move through walls. Walking around in the underworld, with a torch and a sword, wounded, pitch black outside the torch reach, knowing that these guys can come from just about anywhere, that would really get the adrenaline pumping.

 

[Parco]

they should have high movement and insane attackspeed and can hit through armor, but as they are only made of ectoplasm they can easily be slayed, their movement should also be randomish, so they dont come at you in a straight line

 

[Subhu Man]

There is space for some nice dark horror as well. So you are fighting through a dungeon, and suddenly a screaming form comes running towards you, is it a banshee or the kidnapped daughter of the Earl? Hope you guess right...

 

[Parco]

There is space for some nice dark horror as well. So you are fighting through a dungeon, and suddenly a screaming form comes running towards you, is it a banshee or the kidnapped daughter of the Earl? Hope you guess right...

*with reflexes i turn 180 degrees around swinging my sword as i turn, the next thing i see is a round object flying past my face and as it passes i notice yellow curly threads attached to the object,.....[brain.exe loading] f***.

 

[nox]

Yes I would love some nice horror moments. I think build-up is very important, don't just throw "scary" monsters at me as soon as I enter the underworld (But from what I've read and seen, that doesn't seem like what they are doing). Atmosphere means a lot when trying to scare someone . Creeping slowly down a long maze, hearing muffled screams through the wall and running feet just outside your light radius, just waiting for that enemy to jump you from behind every corner.

And also screaming enemies running fast straight at me in the dark. (Think HL 2, the Ravenholm zombies.)

 

[Xerxes]

Fear is an emotional response when people are facing things they deemed sub-consciously as dangerous.
Jump scares are more like startles than really fear.

The game I have had the most amount of sweat and bodily fluids scared out me is Amnesia.

We can certainly learn a few things from it.
1. No fighting back makes them doubly scary because you can't look them in the eye and prepare to use your lead pipe to blow their heads off.
2. Blurry vision when you are close to dying makes you panic and even more scared.
3. Creepy puzzle sections is a good way of pacing the game.
4. Strange sounds and hallucinations are good for building tensions.

An ideal scary moment would be: you get into an abandoned house, then the door shuts behind you and you can't get out. Every time you get killed, you are raised at the entrance so you can't escape it without overcoming it. There are many locked doors and only one you can open.
You see some weak monsters around, but after you killed them, they turned into dust, and there is no loot and no traces.
Then you hear a crack from the other side, you found a shadowy figure run into another door, leaving behind a note.
You read the note, it's full of disjointed rambling. You decide to follow that figure into that room.
Then you are challenged by a set of puzzles. After solving that puzzle by use the decapitated head of a baby doll on shrine, you get a key to another room. As soon as you leave this puzzle room, eerie music starts to play and all kinds of hallucinations that are telling you to leave and don't go into that room.
You open then door and enter the room, you find it's very very dark, and there is a brightly lighted path leading forward. Staying in the dark drains your health quick, so you decide to follow that path.
Then you are jumped by several zombies and skeletons, and the background musics' volume is cranked up a notch.
After killing them, the path starts to go all weird and moving as if it has life of its own, and all kinds of growling noises are coming from the outside. Then you follow the path, only to drop down a pit and see a few ghosts chatting about the killed mistress of this mansion. They turned into dust and the room starts to collapse in on itself. You are forced to go into a blood stained room, then you will meet the main boss of this mansion, just like the pyramid head in silent hill 2. you have to avoid him at all cost or die.
It can go on and on. To sum it up, build up the tension (puzzle, repeatedly doing the something like walking down a straight corridor, strange noises and so on), a few non-dangerous jump scares, then one big lethal encounter, then a chase sequence. Rinse and repeat.

It would be hard to achieve this in this kind of camera angle because you can see everything. Unless in this mansion you only has a cone vision. (I would recommend to change the area of vision in dark areas)
It's doable however. Even though these kind of scripted evens is only scary for the first time.

Letting players make these kind of custom map and levels would be cool I guess.

 

[Stupidity]

Ha, its been a long time but since I started this thread but I should reply to your guys excellent posts.

what i would want to add is medium sized spiders. fast, jumpy and can climb walls, something you would not want to meet inside narrow paths underground.

Awesome idea, wall climbing enemies would work so much better in this game than most.

There is space for some nice dark horror as well. So you are fighting through a dungeon, and suddenly a screaming form comes running towards you, is it a banshee or the kidnapped daughter of the Earl? Hope you guess right...

Another great idea! Random encounters with other adventurers or civilians in dungeons could add replayability and uncertainty.

I think build-up is very important, don't just throw "scary" monsters at me as soon as I enter the underworld (But from what I've read and seen, that doesn't seem like what they are doing). Atmosphere means a lot when trying to scare someone . Creeping slowly down a long maze, hearing muffled screams through the wall and running feet just outside your light radius, just waiting for that enemy to jump you from behind every corner.

Indeed. Too many games have a nice buildup until you encounter the first of the enemy and then they become predictable fodder for the rest of the game. It would be great if SG could keep the feeling of danger and uncertainty of foes the entire dungeon.

1. No fighting back makes them doubly scary because you can't look them in the eye and prepare to use your lead pipe to blow their heads off.
2. Blurry vision when you are close to dying makes you panic and even more scared.
3. Creepy puzzle sections is a good way of pacing the game.
4. Strange sounds and hallucinations are good for building tensions.

Some great ideas, I love how they are taken straight from horror games! Puzzles may be a little hard to implement but the blur when near death is a simple but effective idea. An enemy in a dungeon you must avoid also has potential. You could use the environment to avoid it until much later when hunter becomes the hunted end game. Payback!

 

[BrecMadak]

What I've been expecting most is how fearsome and horrifying would the yells and grunts of monsters be especially in the dark.

 

[Don Kanaille]

My honest opinion: The game may very well excite me or make me concious about my movements, but I do not enjoy being scared at all. I really dislike the feeling of disempowerment that is required to scare you. I want the game to provide me with tools to overcome any danger as long as I am skillful enough to use them, so I can feel ready and prepared to face any obstacle that dares to block my path. Its fine if the game makes me feel uneasy at times, but it should never reach a point where I rather not advance because of what may lies ahead. Make me feel like I can tackle the danger! - even if I, eventually, fail.


In short, I am not a fan of horror games and I really wouldnt like if Sui Generis turned out to be one.


On a side note: The less non-human enemies there are, the better I say. I would even be perfectly fine if there were none at all.

 

[the0thMonkey]

My honest opinion: The game may very well excite me or make me concious about my movements, but I do not enjoy being scared at all. I really dislike the feeling of disempowerment that is required to scare you. I want the game to provide me with tools to overcome any danger as long as I am skillful enough to use them, so I can feel ready and prepared to face any obstacle that dares to block my path.

I'm with you on this one. I don't think that SG will turn into a horror game, simply because that is not what the devs have in mind. Also, a lot of "cheap" scare tactics (things jumping out at you, for instance) would not work as well in an isometric view.

Its fine if the game makes me feel uneasy at times

This sounds good too. I do think that a little bit of fear would be nice, just to add to the realism and experience of the game. If you do not feel even a little bit scared or concerned for your character's well-being, it is likely that you will end up disconnected from the game, ruining immersion.

Sound and lighting are probably two of the most effective ways to create an environment that fear thrives in. I have high hopes for SG in this respect.

 

[lvk]

Sound and lighting are probably two of the most effective ways to create an environment that fear thrives in. I have high hopes for SG in this respect.

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if BM has someone for sound design yet. Bethain is the composer for the game, but I wonder if he'll also do the sound design aspects of the game when it gets that far, or if they'll get someone seperate for it.

 

[Komuflage]

I really dislike the feeling of disempowerment that is required to scare you. I want the game to provide me with tools to overcome any danger as long as I am skillful enough to use them, so I can feel ready and prepared to face any obstacle that dares to block my path. Its fine if the game makes me feel uneasy at times, but it should never reach a point where I rather not advance because of what may lies ahead. Make me feel like I can tackle the danger! - even if I, eventually, fail.

I can agree that it shouldn't go down the horror route, and I don't think it will, not really what the dewvs seem to have in mind.
However, I really don't mind felling "disempowered", nor do I want to fell like I can overcome every obstacle.
felling uneasy as you put it, or generally just fell insecure of what's ahead of you, is something I would appreciate if the devs could fix somehow. (This does by no means have to be by horror)

"but it should never reach a point where I rather not advance because of what may lies ahead. Make me feel like I can tackle the danger! - even if I, eventually, fail."
This I'm a bit torn of. If you simply mean, the game should never get you so scared so that you don't dare to progress. Then sure.
But I don't want to fell like I can just tackle any danger.

There should, imo be moments when you walk into an enemy and just think "oh shit" something that gets the adrenalin pumping.

The felling you get when you're low on HP, you got something valuable on you, you're far into the dungeon hence dying now would be a major set back. All this while fighting a very aggressive boss, creates some real tension. Where you go "shit shit shit shit shit OH FUU dodge dodge dodge!!" (If this makes any sense ) It's an awesome felling, and you get a real felling of accomplishment if you manage to kill the boss.

Now this got somewhat of topic, but hey

 

[Don Kanaille]

The felling you get when you're low on HP, you got something valuable on you, you're far into the dungeon hence dying now would be a major set back. All this while fighting a very aggressive boss, creates some real tension. Where you go "shit shit shit shit shit OH FUU dodge dodge dodge!!" (If this makes any sense ) It's an awesome felling, and you get a real felling of accomplishment if you manage to kill the boss.

I can absolutely agree with that. This is actually supposed to be in any good game, I was not trying to argue this away!

But I don't want to fell like I can just tackle any danger.

Well, maybe not right now, but in general, you should be able to. Of course this was not supposed to imply you should kick anythings´s butt from the get-go.

An example of what I really disliked would be Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. While I loved the triology the game was part of and the darker setting (with the awesome music) of this particular game, there was a design element I absolutely hated which prevented my from completing this game to this day. At certain, pre-determined times, an invincible sand demon would show up and chase you through the level. You could not fight it and if it caught you you´d die instantly.

You could not fight it, you could not delay it, you could not avoid it. It was just a cheap way to get your adrenaline pumping (the bad kind) and forced you to rush through the level mindlessly. My enjoyment of the game plummeted through the floor during these sequences and all I ever wanted was to get those over with as soon as possible so I could get back to the fun part again.

This should definitely not be in Sui Generis, or in any game for all I care. In your example, if I was in that dungeon and facing off a boss it was because I chose to go there, not because the game forecefully pitted me against that boss. I could just have, you know, not explored that dungeon. However any truly horrifying game would never allow you to just take the "save" path. If I find a burned down village in Sui Generis with corpses lying around I could just decide to go back where I came from - it is open world, I mean! Let me just come back later when I feel ready for the job.

Well, maybe what im trying to say in short: A good atmosphere is truly great to have, but not if the players freedom has to be restricted to achieve it. Since this is what horror games almost always do, I felt the need to make this clear