HORROR MECHANICS

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I'm working on a game which is not a horror game, but I want to add something that I could call... an horror minigame?

What I want to discuss is this: how to create horror through MECHANICS? When we think of horror, we usually think of graphics, sound, and sometimes storytelling. But are there game mechanics capable of invoking feelings associated with horror, like anxiety, fear and nervousness? Can you think of any games that do it well?
Outlast does it very well, its chase sequences combined with its maze like structures creates a lot of tense anxiety. You could have perhaps a mini game where you need to get to point a to point b while something is chasing you? A door that is jammed and you repeatedly tap a button to pry it open while also being followed?
Usually the classic survival horror genre creates tension by limiting your resources and adding a lot of grabby enemies that slow or impede you. Later on the emphasis was less on survival and more on hide and seek stealth elements where it's "scary" to get caught. Though really they're defined by the idea that you can't fight back and have to run to a nearby closet if spotted.

I guess the most simple is Friday Night At Freddy's. If I recall you watch security cam footage for movement and you keep track of what had activity last in relation to what's closest to the two doors. The doors being close drain battery so you can't close the doors all the time, so you can only close the doors when you're absolutely sure something is coming to get you. This sort of stuff could probably be done in a flash game.

Slenderman has you collect randomly placed pages in a large set of woods, it's really an excuse to make you move to one place or another. If you see static, the enemy is near and I recall turning away makes it detect you less. It could be boiled down to a hot and cold mini game.

A variant could be a minigame that a monster can hear you but can't see you so you have to step on things that aren't noisy or stop in place while it moves past you. Maybe making a spot light graphic so the player can't see much either to increase the uncertainty of where the monster is.

The movement tracker from the movie Aliens could also be turned into something simple and "horror based" Where all you see in the interface is a radar where you have to move to the end goal and whenever the monsters move fast you can see them, but if they move slow you can't unless they're maybe near. Though might need more ideas to make it interesting.

Playing around with fog of war and limited information with something "chasing" you is probably the best way to break it down into a game with atari budget.
Hmm, taking into account that your game is about therapy. Maybe perhaps have your patients affect the players mental well being over time? For example, having a session with a peculiar patient may bring down your own mood and change the players state of mind, which could be exhibited through distortions of the environment or how you interact/perceive other people.

We're accustomed to patterns of behavior in everyday life. If said pattern was to be broken via a gameplay mechanic or story beat, then we'll default to conspiracy. Look up the sanity meter in eternal darkness as a potential example and maybe read up on the uncanny valley as well.
To me, instilling a genuine fear of dying into the player is the most important thing. Dying needs to set you back enough that it feels like an actual threat.

If a game is littered with save points or checkpoints, and dying only sets you back a few minutes with no loss of resources, then what does the player have to be scared of?

Scarce save points is only one way to accomplish this - you can also have systems where the player loses a large amount of money or resources upon dying, or something along those lines. The tricky part is making sure that this it isn't too frustrating. I recommend studying the games that got it right.

Atmosphere is only one part of the equation. The gameplay mechanics need to inspire terror, as well.
Something I've found works in some occasions, is to change what the player expects to be in a place, particularly something the player may take for granted.
If movement is an important part of your game, change how movement works while in a fear state.
Do beware that there is a thin line between fear and frustration when imposed limitations are used however.
The scariest things I've ever seen were things that subvert the level of control the player thinks they have at the worst time for them.

The player gets used to walking a certain speed or having a certain set of tools at their disposal, but right as the scary thing appears they suddenly find themselves without something they've come to rely on: their speed, or their gun, or their ability to escape.

A specific example of this is in Eternal Darkness: You fight a few of these enemies which you learn aren't that scary: they can kill you in one hit, but they're slow and easy to dispatch. A few enemies in, just as you're getting comfortable, the game tells you your controller is disconnected and ignores all inputs, but doesn't pause the game, so the slow, easy-to-kill enemy is now closing on you and you're totally defenseless. It gets a bit gimmicky in a full-length game, but for a mini-game it would work really well, I think.

A lot of horror games start spooky but stop being spooky when the player figures out the basic stuff. Which enemies do what, what happens when you die, what your options are. Throw them a curveball right as they get comfortable and watch them scramble.
I have to agree with dethmetal here. There has to be stakes and an actual threat. Too many "horror games" rely on the atmosphere alone and think a walking sim in a spooky setting == a horror game. Reducing the chances of saving is a good way to go in creating tension. Even games like Dark Souls become close to a horror game, because of the constant danger and fear of loss of progress.

One mechanic that got a lot of reactions from the people who played my game was the way the game just kept on going despite some really gruesome things happening to you. There are these "execution scenes" if you lose to some of the enemies. You'd get a short scene showing more graphic violence of your player character being executed or mutilated before the game over screen. But then a couple of those scenes have your character getting dismembered, but instead of the typical game over screen, the game just continues. I think it made some of the dangers feel more real in a way. In that the horror is not just cinematics, it can affect your overall run in the game. Another factor that made these scene more shocking was that they were not mandatory. Most people who played the game most likely didn't run into all of them, so when you actually have that stuff happening to you, it's rare and it might be happening to just you.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
just make the screen super dark thats what literally all rpg maker horror developers do
author=Frogge
just make the screen super dark thats what literally all rpg maker horror developers do

The secrets have been revealed. Come to think of it, can you think of a pretty bright contrast game that's horror?
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
author=KoopaKush
author=Frogge
just make the screen super dark thats what literally all rpg maker horror developers do
The secrets have been revealed. Come to think of it, can you think of a pretty bright contrast game that's horror?


There's one on steam called Brighter Day and that's about it.

We need more good plain daylight horror. Or night time but still well lit and colorful like The Shining.
author=Frogge
author=KoopaKush
author=Frogge
just make the screen super dark thats what literally all rpg maker horror developers do
The secrets have been revealed. Come to think of it, can you think of a pretty bright contrast game that's horror?
There's one on steam called Brighter Day and that's about it.

We need more good plain daylight horror. Or night time but still well lit and colorful like The Shining.
The game I'm currently making is taking place during day time. Although I just have mist replacing the darkness lol

To be honest, I really liked the concept idea of Resident Evil 5. Unfortunately Capcom wasn't able to deliver what they set out to do. The game was going to be taking place under the bright sun, but naturally such harsh light creates big contrasts, so the areas that were left in the shadow were like pitch black and you couldn't see what's lurking in there before your eyes adjusted.

That kind of intense light system would've probably been too hard for the PS3s and 360s of the time, but it would be interesting to see more recent example of that.
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