39,327
edits
So You Want To/Write a Survival Horror Game: Difference between revisions
So You Want To/Write a Survival Horror Game (view source)
Revision as of 21:10, 9 April 2017
, 7 years agoupdate links
m (Mass update links) |
(update links) |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
{{quote|''The door to safety is shut. There is no turning back.''|'''Resident Evil Zero'''}}
Line 53:
* Don't be cribbin' ''[[Silent Hill]],'' use locations other than (or in addition to) the [[Abandoned Hospital]] and Mannequin factories. ''Or'' use them in an unexpected way: the Hospital is completely clean. ''[[Ascetic Aesthetic|Too]]'' [[Ascetic Aesthetic|clean, even.]] And then the [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|steam-punk zombie orderlies]] show up to "clean up" the mess that is the player.
* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] is often done only by the villain. But is it too much to ask that the bad guy gets a taste of his own medicine for once? It's horror, use it as the [[Moral Event Horizon]] for the PC.
* Try setting your game in a historical period or a fantasy setting instead of the usual modern or sci-fi style setting. ''[[Army of Darkness]]'' and ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]: [[Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare|Undead Nightmare]]'' have deadite/zombie attacks in 1300's England and in [[The Wild West]], for example.
== '''Writers Lounge:''' ==
Line 72:
** There are several colors inherently disturbing to the human mind, such as off-white (corpseflesh), grey/yellow green (rotten meat), and middle brown (shit). Red is [[High-Pressure Blood|self-explanatory.]]
* Moral decay leading to physical decay.
* [[Science Is Bad]] [[Gone Horribly Wrong]].
* [[Sliding Scale of Unavoidable Versus Unforgivable]]
* [[Through the Eyes of Madness]]
Line 94:
* [[The Suffering|An old prison, preferrably one with a bloody history. Always a favoured hangout of restless dead.]]
Also consider that a big part of horror is the familiar acting in an unexpected and horrifying way. Thus, a familiar location that has been distorted may be more effective than strange architecture or locations that most of the audience will never see. Also has the advantage of making people squeamish when they return to these places in real life, thanks to the [[Tetris Effect]].
=== '''Props Department''' ===
Line 104 ⟶ 103:
* For the main character, give them relatively normal clothes for the setting and for their position in life. Jackets and vests, for some reason, seem to be really popular in this genre.
* For [[The Load]], a three-piece suit (if male) or a girly skirt (if female) works well to emphasize how out of their element they are.
* [[Armor Is Useless]] often comes up.
* [[Hell-Bent for Leather]] might work if a character is the tough guy.
* [[Deadly Doctor|Blood-spattered scrubs are also good]].
Line 118 ⟶ 117:
* [[The Load]]
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]
* [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]
* [[Trickster Mentor]]
Line 129 ⟶ 128:
* ''[[Resident Evil]]'' and ''[[Silent Hill]]'' are the [[Trope Codifier|trope codifiers]] for the genre. ''Resident Evil'''s brand of horror is heavily focused on [[Body Horror|grotesque abominations]] and [[Zombie Apocalypse|zombie mayhem]], while ''Silent Hill'' helped pioneer the more psychological brand of survival horror. Both spawned [[Long Runners|long-running]] franchises that continue strong to this day, with several installments of varying quality each under their belts.
* The ''[[Penumbra (video game series)|Penumbra]]'' series and its spiritual successor, ''[[Amnesia: The Dark Descent|Amnesia the Dark Descent]]'', made by Frictional Games. They are played from a first-person perspective, but the similarities to contemporary FPS games end there. Combat is almost non-existent, and certainly not advisable, forcing the player to rely on stealth and good old-fashioned running like hell. ''Amnesia'' in particular has developed quite the reputation for being possibly the most pants-wettingly terrifying game ever made, with [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] describing it as being "unmatched as [[Bring My Brown Pants|a constipation aid]]".
* ''[[Eternal Darkness]]: Sanity's Requiem'', described on this very wiki as "''[[Resident Evil]]'' meets ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]''". It is known for its [[Sanity Meter]], which, if it should fall too low, would not only cause your character to see things that aren't there, but would make ''the player'' experience such things as well, with [[Interface Screw|volume shifts, controller malfunctions, fake memory card deletions, and the video feed cutting out]].
* ''[[Metro 2033 (video game)|Metro 2033]]'' is a prime example for having all the proper trappings of the genre. Ammo is scarce, [[Scavenger World|things you need are always in short supply,]] fights almost always end in a net loss, and [[Crapsack World|there is no solution to the world's problem.]] The gameplay elements are taken [[Up to Eleven]] in Ranger Mode, where every shot will be carefully aimed, each filter will be used to its limit, the knife will be used more than guns, and attempts will be made to avoid each unnecessary fight. Oh, and the mutants are [[Nausea Fuel|horrific and nauseating]] to the fullest extent of the words.
=== '''The Epic Fails''' ===
* The 2008 reboot of ''[[Alone in
* ''[[Vampire Rain]]'' from AQ Interactive. A failed attempt to mash [[Metal Gear Solid]] with [[Survival Horror]], the game is especially notorious for having a thinly-written plot with wooden voice acting, dreadful dialogue, lousy gameplay, horrendous enemy A.I. and [[Schizophrenic Difficulty|inconsistent difficulty]]. Moreover, the most innovative thing in the game is that your knife (a ''melee'' weapon) actually requires ''ammo'' to use. ([[Face Palm]])
* ''Ju-On: The Grudge'', a game also from AQ Interactive. Notorious for having cheap scares that a 12-year old won't scream at, horrid controls, ludicrously short amount of gameplay, and poor sound effects, it will more likely put the player to sleep than wet his or her pants.
* ''[[AMY (video game)|AMY]]'', a downloadable game from Vectorcell, is a prime example of how '''not''' to make a [[Survival Horror]] game for your [[Play Station 3]] or [[Xbox 360|Xbox 360.]] [http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/amy As these reviews point out,] there's nothing quite like a perfect storm of horrible controls, repetitive scares, and [[Fake Difficulty]] to buzz-kill an otherwise interesting premise.
=== '''Honorable Mentions''' ===
* ''[[F.E.A.R.]]'' is a combination of the tropes of FPS games and Japanese ghost movies a la ''[[The Ring]]''. While it's quite possibly the most action-heavy game on this list, and only included here because of its supernatural horror elements, the two genres it draws from go together well enough to make it a worthwhile experience.
* The ''[[System Shock]]'' games and their [[Spiritual Successor]], the ''[[
* The ''[[Siren (video game)|Siren]]'' games are a decidedly Japanese take on the [[Zombie Apocalypse]], with a heavy focus on stealth rather than combat.
* ''Call of Cthulhu: [[Dark Corners of the Earth]]''. While quite buggy, it is still widely regarded as one of the best adaptations of the works of [[H.P. Lovecraft]] ever made.
Line 148 ⟶ 147:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Write A Survival Horror Game]]
[[Category:So You Want To]]
| |||