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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






I'm focussing my efforts into one of my horror game ideas at the moment, and I'm starting by establishing the brief which I need to achieve to make it a tense and horror-filled game. I'm staying a bit cagey on the details and mechanics at the moment, but the premise of my game is that it starts as exploration, then things go bad and you're trying to escape. so step 1 is to lay tiles until you find what you're looking for, and then step 2 is to backtrack and escape, with various inconvenient things happening which make this very difficult, like doors closing, lights going out, and people getting hurt / murdered / betrayed.

So far I've decided that:

You need to have ulterior motives involved - not everyone will have one, maybe no-one has one, maybe their ulterior motive is to make sure you don't panic this game, maybe their ulterior motive is to get you alone and kill you. you don't know!

You need to have a generic goal - their must be an aim to the game, other than being the victim of a monster. To this end it's get in, find the objective and then get it out. sounds simple, eh?

If you can't see the monster/s, then there must be an air of uncertainty about where it is / they are. To this end, instead of moving the monster when you can't see it, I'm having it place tokens in each possible direction whenever the monster would move (creating a potential threat zone which increases the longer you can't see the monster). If a player can see a token, roll a dice, on a certain result (probably a 6) it is the monster. If all the tokens are removed and the monster isn't found then it's back in hiding - it could be anywhere!

I want to include a system where players start with Cool Tokens, and lose them as bad things happen. If you lose your cool, you start performing bad actions which in turn cause the plot to advance quicker, making other players more likely to lose their cool. Players can regain their cool in a variety of ways, like sticking together, hiding, finding a panic room and sealing themselves in.


Before I get too far into designing this game, I'd like some feedback on what people want from a horror game? I've had a good read of the Mechanics in Horror Games thread and it's given me some good feedback. The general gist seems to be the players need to degrade mentally as well as physically (cool tokens), that they need to distrust each other (ulterior motives). I also want to include methods for splitting players up (doors closing). Is there anything else people want from a horror game? I've already got a plan for making it non-repetitive, so it's got replay value (beyond simply having a different map each game). This was the earliest assumption I came to - if you have a linear plot which unfolds, it only unfolds once! you jump less the second time you watch a horror movie!

12,300 points of Orks
9th W/D/L with Orks, 4/0/2
I am Thoruk, the Barbarian, Slayer of Ducks, and This is my blog!

I'm Selling Infinity, 40k, dystopian wars, UK based!

I also make designs for t-shirts and mugs and such on Redbubble! 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

First off, I suggest you take a look at Betrayal at the House on the Hill board game. I think you are on the proper track.

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






 Easy E wrote:
First off, I suggest you take a look at Betrayal at the House on the Hill board game. I think you are on the proper track.


I've just read up on that game, it seems to share some of the traits I'm going for - the different scenarios in each game, and the tile laying (though I am not having a set layout). I'll definitely have a look for it next time I'm feeling flush enough to buy a game!


12,300 points of Orks
9th W/D/L with Orks, 4/0/2
I am Thoruk, the Barbarian, Slayer of Ducks, and This is my blog!

I'm Selling Infinity, 40k, dystopian wars, UK based!

I also make designs for t-shirts and mugs and such on Redbubble! 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





It's also worth considering what's horrifying. It might be something to have players start as good as they're going to get and have to make choices about how they advance their characters in the game at the expense of losing parts of them.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/07/09 16:45:27


 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






OK so I'm quite taken with the degrading sanity business and I'm trying to work out a set of statistics which will give a sense of depth to the game but not bloat it too much. I'm thinking that I want to give people options when they are faced by choices which are linked to their statistic. Bear with me!

EG If you are faced by a survivor who's been bitten by a zombie, if your compassion is 2 or less, your mission is to kill them. If your compassion is 8 or more, your mission is to save them. In between, you can choose.


I think I need to include some sort of stand-off mechanic so that players can stop other players from doing things. EG 2 players find a survivor, one wans to kill them and the other to save them. if the player declares he is killing the survivor, the other player can declare a stand-off - basically they point guns at each other. not sure how to resolve it though...

12,300 points of Orks
9th W/D/L with Orks, 4/0/2
I am Thoruk, the Barbarian, Slayer of Ducks, and This is my blog!

I'm Selling Infinity, 40k, dystopian wars, UK based!

I also make designs for t-shirts and mugs and such on Redbubble! 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

Osprey's On the Seven Seas, has an interesting mechanic where your morale is two stats, Greed and Fear. If your Greed is higher, you can act more aggressively. If your Fear is higher your force is more timid. Their are various actions characters can take to raise Greed, and actions enemies take to raise Fear.

It is a good idea that I think you can run with in a game where you only control one character.

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






 Easy E wrote:
First off, I suggest you take a look at Betrayal at the House on the Hill board game. I think you are on the proper track.


I found Betrayal at the House on the Hill at a board game café, the other day, upon playing it I found it was everything I was planning and more - not something I wish to compete with!

I will be shelving this project indefinitely - there's no gap in the market there!

12,300 points of Orks
9th W/D/L with Orks, 4/0/2
I am Thoruk, the Barbarian, Slayer of Ducks, and This is my blog!

I'm Selling Infinity, 40k, dystopian wars, UK based!

I also make designs for t-shirts and mugs and such on Redbubble! 
   
Made in us
Powerful Phoenix Lord





It happens to the best of us...I ditched a Gladiator game I was starting work on when a guy messaged me on a forum asking me to playtest his gladiator game. I told him up front I was considering starting a similar project. He was fine with it.

I played his game and shelved my project forever. He had a stunning game (which he never published, but I'm fortunate enough to have the playtest materials, so I enjoy it to this day).
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Possibly he saw Arena Rex and gave up?
   
Made in us
Powerful Phoenix Lord





Nope, he actually went into the process of working with a publisher but they wanted to change it (read: make it silly and way too streamlined). The whole ordeal basically disheartened him into not finishing it (though we constantly pestered him to publish it via PDF or Kickstarter, etc.).

It's a much better game than Arena Rex, but it's aimed at actual Gladiator combat and not the silliness/Hollywood style of almost every other Gladiator game. It's based heavily on the actual practice of running a Ludus, properly hiring, raising, training fighters, etc.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/08/21 18:20:35


 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Ah, no wonder he shelved it.
   
 
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