The Horror Of Survival
by Andy Hawkins · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 02/10/2006 (5:19 pm) · 9 replies
The immediate response to this thread from the community might be a resounding "well duh?"... but read on, I asked a question at the end of my rant...
...so I was playing Cold Fear on the Xbox last night, because I can't play Res Evil 4 (only on PS2), and it suddenly dawned on me what "survival horror" means.
It means running around levels, trying to survive, while looking for the next save point.
I played the first part of Cold Fear trying to find some guy called Laurs or something - after which I got to my first save point - but GAWD! (think Napolean Dynamite when sounding this word) - how hard was it? It took me an hour to finally get there, playing the same first part of the level over and over again, which by the end I was completing in less than five minutes because I rehearsed it so much.
It was more like shooting a scene for a movie, not playing a game - actually it felt more like I was beta-testing the level for the developers. I kept thinking what the guy at the EB store told me, that if I didn't like it, I could return it within seven days - might take him up on that offer. But I persisted 4 times and got it in the end.
That sucked the fun out of the game - not to mention the dodgy aiming system so when I had to defend myself it was trial and error. I was so annoyed at this poor concept of "game", that things like the enormous waves pounding on the deck, blood and water shaders sprayed against the screen like it was a camera lens, and the shock moments of bodies falling about the place from cupboards, totally slipped me by.
Shame, Darkworks, Shame. They used Renderware to make it look pretty, but used "superdumbimagination" to stage the level.
I noticed this type of "survival" element is present in the Res Evil / Silent Hill games but they put the save points closer together.
A much better idea is wanted ... any ideas out there? What would put the fun back into survival horrors?
...so I was playing Cold Fear on the Xbox last night, because I can't play Res Evil 4 (only on PS2), and it suddenly dawned on me what "survival horror" means.
It means running around levels, trying to survive, while looking for the next save point.
I played the first part of Cold Fear trying to find some guy called Laurs or something - after which I got to my first save point - but GAWD! (think Napolean Dynamite when sounding this word) - how hard was it? It took me an hour to finally get there, playing the same first part of the level over and over again, which by the end I was completing in less than five minutes because I rehearsed it so much.
It was more like shooting a scene for a movie, not playing a game - actually it felt more like I was beta-testing the level for the developers. I kept thinking what the guy at the EB store told me, that if I didn't like it, I could return it within seven days - might take him up on that offer. But I persisted 4 times and got it in the end.
That sucked the fun out of the game - not to mention the dodgy aiming system so when I had to defend myself it was trial and error. I was so annoyed at this poor concept of "game", that things like the enormous waves pounding on the deck, blood and water shaders sprayed against the screen like it was a camera lens, and the shock moments of bodies falling about the place from cupboards, totally slipped me by.
Shame, Darkworks, Shame. They used Renderware to make it look pretty, but used "superdumbimagination" to stage the level.
I noticed this type of "survival" element is present in the Res Evil / Silent Hill games but they put the save points closer together.
A much better idea is wanted ... any ideas out there? What would put the fun back into survival horrors?
#2
More stuff from horror movies. Like Ash has to survive til dawn - granted - but it should be that after every major battle a save point / checkpoint is autosaved for you - some of the better xbox games do this.
02/11/2006 (5:13 am)
Good ideas there. more freak outs are the way to go. I think the survival part of it should be centred on being pitted against overwhelming odds - like fighting 10 zombies, and only having 6 bullets. Having to keep more than just yourself alive, like the blonde babe who always runs ahead and opens the wrong door, when you know there's a beast behind it.More stuff from horror movies. Like Ash has to survive til dawn - granted - but it should be that after every major battle a save point / checkpoint is autosaved for you - some of the better xbox games do this.
#3
02/13/2006 (10:23 am)
I thought F.E.A.R. was a pretty good "horror" game, but it wasn't survival horror. There were plenty of spooky moments, but the purely supernatural stuff was minimized. That made the supernatural stuff even spookier when it happened. 
#4
1. most survival horror games just don't seem scary
being pitted against hordes of deformed zombies and monsters is fine for a visceral thrill, but it falls short when it comes to eliciting feelings of actual fear. I played re4 and although it has it's spooky freak-out moments, no game where you're gunning baddies will ever really be scary. real fear comes from the unknown. it comes from not knowing what's going to happen next. I have a really good game idea for this kind of thing but I don't want to let everyone here steal it. :)
2. let the player be the monster
i think this is one area that hasnt been explored much in terms of gaming. let the player be the monster. use a standard stealth-based system where the player must sneak up on and kill unsuspecting victims. points could be awarded based on how much you manage to freak out your victims. i'm sure people here have played alien vs. predator. the marine campaign was probably the scariest, but killing humans(especially unarmed victims) with the alien was pure fun.
02/13/2006 (10:36 am)
2 ideas spring to mind when I think about survival horror.1. most survival horror games just don't seem scary
being pitted against hordes of deformed zombies and monsters is fine for a visceral thrill, but it falls short when it comes to eliciting feelings of actual fear. I played re4 and although it has it's spooky freak-out moments, no game where you're gunning baddies will ever really be scary. real fear comes from the unknown. it comes from not knowing what's going to happen next. I have a really good game idea for this kind of thing but I don't want to let everyone here steal it. :)
2. let the player be the monster
i think this is one area that hasnt been explored much in terms of gaming. let the player be the monster. use a standard stealth-based system where the player must sneak up on and kill unsuspecting victims. points could be awarded based on how much you manage to freak out your victims. i'm sure people here have played alien vs. predator. the marine campaign was probably the scariest, but killing humans(especially unarmed victims) with the alien was pure fun.
#5
also, i would like to see somebody make a game were the main kid from Pokemon dies.. i hate him
02/15/2006 (4:54 pm)
It would be cool to be the scarer not the scarie once in a while. i played a mod for halflife once called Natural Selection. it didnt have the greatest...well anything, but the idea of being the monster and climping on walls and ceilings and jumping onto unsuspecting victims heads was more than fun for about 3 hours.also, i would like to see somebody make a game were the main kid from Pokemon dies.. i hate him
#6
That was seen sometimes in RE4, but usually when a player made a mistake. That said, most players would be shooting the blonde by the second door, automatic 'game over' for the event be damned. When a game is often about punishing a lack of cautiousness, including an extremely uncautious npc will have many doing just what the topic starter did, tossing the game back on the shelves.
02/18/2006 (10:22 pm)
Andy:That was seen sometimes in RE4, but usually when a player made a mistake. That said, most players would be shooting the blonde by the second door, automatic 'game over' for the event be damned. When a game is often about punishing a lack of cautiousness, including an extremely uncautious npc will have many doing just what the topic starter did, tossing the game back on the shelves.
#7
AvP did a really good job in the marine missions. You had that motion detector, so you could tell when something was moving, and how far away it was, BUT YOU COULDN'T SEE IT! It does a lot to freak you out, to see the little scanner counting down "15 meters away.....10 meters....5 meters", and you are frantically looking around for where its coming from etc.
There was also plenty of props that creaked and made noises to startle you etc. I remember the one part that freaked me out the most was after a particularly tense sequence some kind of harmless bird or bug flew out from under some pipes, needless to say I tore it apart in a hail of bullets while frantically backing up.
I don't want to see hordes of monsters. I want only a few. As far as I'm concerned, the original Alien was better than the later versions, because there was only one Alien, one deadly creature stalking the shadows. When you have dozens of them, and they are bursting out of cupboards to be mowed down by your fire, its way less scary. Taking a decisive action removes that feeling of tension.
02/18/2006 (11:10 pm)
I thought that AvP/AvP2 did a good job of scaring the player, in the begining at least. Like its been said above, fear comes from the unknown, not the known. No matter how gory/gross a creature is, once its leaping at you the fight/flight instinct kicks in, and you just go with the action. Its the tense moments before that, the "oh hell, whats that noise?" thats scares you.AvP did a really good job in the marine missions. You had that motion detector, so you could tell when something was moving, and how far away it was, BUT YOU COULDN'T SEE IT! It does a lot to freak you out, to see the little scanner counting down "15 meters away.....10 meters....5 meters", and you are frantically looking around for where its coming from etc.
There was also plenty of props that creaked and made noises to startle you etc. I remember the one part that freaked me out the most was after a particularly tense sequence some kind of harmless bird or bug flew out from under some pipes, needless to say I tore it apart in a hail of bullets while frantically backing up.
I don't want to see hordes of monsters. I want only a few. As far as I'm concerned, the original Alien was better than the later versions, because there was only one Alien, one deadly creature stalking the shadows. When you have dozens of them, and they are bursting out of cupboards to be mowed down by your fire, its way less scary. Taking a decisive action removes that feeling of tension.
#8
Whe you see the ghost in the Seaside Hotel for the first time you'r elike "What the Hell?"
02/20/2006 (3:08 am)
Vampire: Bloodlines had some freaky supernatural things, seeing a sit was based in a modern real-life type thing.Whe you see the ghost in the Seaside Hotel for the first time you'r elike "What the Hell?"
#9
The first part of the level was working your way through the desolate broken down version of the building and they did an amazing job of with it. It got to the point where I decided to go do something else and wait until the sun was out to play through it.
The second part was more along the lines of you being in the past while the building was still occupied but everything was distorted and although I don't remember it being as scary it was still pretty creepy.
If you're looking for an example of some good horror I would check it out.
02/24/2006 (12:38 pm)
Perhaps the most freaked out I've ever been was one level in Thief 3. It was a building that was an insane asylum that got turned into an orphanage and then burnt down (or something along those lines, it might have been an orphanage first). Needless to say it was haunted.The first part of the level was working your way through the desolate broken down version of the building and they did an amazing job of with it. It got to the point where I decided to go do something else and wait until the sun was out to play through it.
The second part was more along the lines of you being in the past while the building was still occupied but everything was distorted and although I don't remember it being as scary it was still pretty creepy.
If you're looking for an example of some good horror I would check it out.
Torque 3D Owner iHugMedia
And they need to work less on "OMAHGOD FLYING ZOMBIEZZZ" and more on "Holy crap what the hell was that sound... it was an airven... Holy shit! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!" psychological horror, where the darkness isn't scarce, and you need to use your sences.