Gameplay: Is there anything left to fear?

[Deadlove]

Just a another note, playing SS2 with no music made the experience much more powerful to draw me into its world than with the music playing. I've said it before and I'll say again music in games diminishes my ability to immerse myself. I think that's because I'm a music junkie before a gamer and it distracts me too much, as well as real life doesn't come with a soundtrack.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Deadlove

[woah]

I can see several things that affect me.

The first is that which is enabled by the technology. More convincing graphics, sound, and AI improve the experience (or at least give developers more room to work with). I see a lot of developments here. First, we have the possibility of VR becoming mainstream, a technology which offers a degree of "presence" that we've never experienced before (anyone who's played Alien: Isolation with the DK2 will tell you that it's much more frightening--almost torturously so). In addition, VR is motivating the implementation of "3D sound" again (I say "again" because ... well, see the maddening history of creative audio patents). Oculus is, for example, incorporating support directly into their SDK and designing their headset specifically for it (see here http://www.roadtovr.com/ces-2015-oculus-rift-crescent-bay-designed-audiophiles-heres-matters/). I've chatted with other VR developers and they say that the effect of 3D sound can be so convincing that it's almost (but not quite) a substitute for haptic feedback. And if Alien: Isolation is any indication, I'm hoping developers will start taking AI more seriously. It feels like we've been in a stasis for the past decade where there has been little motivation to improve AI. And not just with making the AI "smart" (e.g. capable of recognizing and reacting to patterns), but making it convincing and unpredictable--something I think the new Alien game did very well.

 

 

However, independent of the technology, there are several things off of the top of my head that I feel bolster a scary experience. This is in addition to the "obvious" things, like the gamut of sights and sounds which seem to naturally trigger fear in humans:

 

(1) The fear of the unknown and the unexpected: The more unfamiliar I am with what is, for example, stalking me or lurking about, the more it frightens me. I don't mean just in terms of appearance but--and perhaps moreso--in terms of behavior. Improvements in AI play a big role here. When the object of terror is completely revealed and predictable, the sense of terror is greatly diminished. I want to be taken by surprise and, within the scope of believability (e.g. not spawning the enemy directly behind you when other evidence indicated it was on the other side of the map, as that reduces immersion), I want there to be a real chance of death (and the implications of this are unfortunately often considered "unfair" by today's gamers).

 

(2) Immersiveness: Basically that which tricks your mind into thinking what you're experiencing is not fake. Of course, one can always stop and think "this is not real" but when your senses and thoughts are occupied by other things, that sense of the underlying reality can subside. Technology plays a big role here, but even more important (IMO) is engaging the player's imagination through, e.g., a good storyline or a captivating atmosphere. Make the player desire to transplant themselves into this other world.

 

(3) Sense of loss. It may seem "cheap" to, for example, limit the player's saves to checkpoints, but I think it's a good idea. Whenever a player presses the "save" button they are reminded that they are just playing a game--that everything is safe--and it removes one from the experience. In addition, when the sense of "the fear of the loss of progress" is abstracted away to just "fear of loss in general" (of a certain degree) as the mind is occupied by other stimuli, it can act as a rudimentary substitute for the fear of death.

 

(4) Effort: Really, until (and if) we can somehow directly stimulate the brain to produce a certain experience (perhaps it would be necessary to induce pain or, at least to a certain extent, somehow convince someone that death is a possibility), it will require effort on the behalf of the player for something to be scary. I can take any game that I find terrifying and intentionally destroy the experience by simply retaining a mindset of "this is just a game, there are no consequences." Of course this becomes more difficult as the technology and the sense of presence improves, but for the foreseeable future I think all such games will necessitate on the behalf of the user some extent of imagination, playfulness, and intention. This is not to say that a game can't tempt the player into "wanting to believe" or "play along."

Edited January 23, 2015 by woah

[Hiradur]

I also had strong feeling of dread and isolation when playing Metroid Fusion on the Gameboy Advance a year ago. The interesting thing is that it's only a 2D sidescrolling game. It doesn't contain any jumpscares but you are alone on an abandoned space station, filled with monsters (that aren't scary), an AI that gives you your objectives and an enemy that is you just more powerful. You encounter him several times until the end of the game. With the exception of the last encounter you can't win the battle and always have to run as fast as possible while dodging his overpowered attacks.

Not knowing when the next encounter would happen, the moody soundtrack and the fact that it's actually very hard to run away from this enemy (it took me several tries for every encounter) keep the tension high all over the game. There wasn't as much fear involved as in other games but it had its very own feeling that I've never experienced in any other game.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Hiradur

[Destined]

I know this thread is quite old, but I just found an interesting article on "I fucking love scinece", I thought you might find interesting:

 

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/how-horror-games-give-us-fright-we-re-looking

[Eyeshine]

Will never forget that dog moment, already cleared the room but when you walk back through it..

 

[Eyeshine]

Just a another note, playing SS2 with no music made the experience much more powerful to draw me into its world than with the music playing. I've said it before and I'll say again music in games diminishes my ability to immerse myself. I think that's because I'm a music junkie before a gamer and it distracts me too much, as well as real life doesn't come with a soundtrack.

I recall a film sound engineer being asked 'Where does the music come from in a film, real life is not like that', he replied 'The same f***ing place in a film as all the light from one candle in a dark room!'.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Eyeshine

[stumpy]

its probably from silent movies where someone would play an organ to set the atmosphere of the film, which in turn comes from vaudeville/plays in theatres where an orchestral pit would supply the atmosphere for what ever was going on on stage.

[Paralytik]

In film terminology, there is a distinction between diegetic and non-diegetic sound, which can be important to take into account when talking about sound and music in film.

 

 

 

A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy).

Edited October 5, 2015 by Paralytik