Hallucinations?
by Gareth Hewes · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 04/28/2006 (12:07 am) · 22 replies
Okay, this is all theoretical, but survival horror fan as I am, I just had to throw it out there.
In a multiplayer (LAN or small-team based online) game, one technique I was thinking of as I was sitting, staring at the peeling veneer on my bench at work, was that an excellent way to really infuse a game with creepiness, is to simulate hallucinations/altered reality. In single player, this has been done quite a bit in such games as Call of Cthulhu, but when expanding to teams, then you can make the effect more subtle, and more importantly, personalized. By which I mean that if you wanted a player to see something, then you could have the network send a command to make it visible to him/her, but noone else. Then, when they're going "what was that?", then everyone else will be like, "what are you talking about?".
That is, if TGE has networking capabilities like that. Which is mainly why I bring it to you guys. I wouldn't imagine it would be impossible to do something like that, since the server is responsible for sending individualized commands to the client, right? Admittedly, network gaming is still new for me, but if I can implement something along those lines, then that would be the first step.
But to elaborate too much would be giving too much away. And I understand this isn't a technical forum, so a yes, it can be done would be enough, unless you wanted to elaborate on theory rather than techniques.
And also, as a sidenote, what scares you? I know just asking around is a very simplistic method, but often a very good way to find the archetypal fears prevalent in society. Whew, what a mouthful.
In a multiplayer (LAN or small-team based online) game, one technique I was thinking of as I was sitting, staring at the peeling veneer on my bench at work, was that an excellent way to really infuse a game with creepiness, is to simulate hallucinations/altered reality. In single player, this has been done quite a bit in such games as Call of Cthulhu, but when expanding to teams, then you can make the effect more subtle, and more importantly, personalized. By which I mean that if you wanted a player to see something, then you could have the network send a command to make it visible to him/her, but noone else. Then, when they're going "what was that?", then everyone else will be like, "what are you talking about?".
That is, if TGE has networking capabilities like that. Which is mainly why I bring it to you guys. I wouldn't imagine it would be impossible to do something like that, since the server is responsible for sending individualized commands to the client, right? Admittedly, network gaming is still new for me, but if I can implement something along those lines, then that would be the first step.
But to elaborate too much would be giving too much away. And I understand this isn't a technical forum, so a yes, it can be done would be enough, unless you wanted to elaborate on theory rather than techniques.
And also, as a sidenote, what scares you? I know just asking around is a very simplistic method, but often a very good way to find the archetypal fears prevalent in society. Whew, what a mouthful.
#2
04/28/2006 (8:19 am)
Since you wanted to know if it could be done: yes, it could be done. You can do it with nearly any networked engine. The tech side of it is not as difficult as the placement side of it in a linear environment. Doing something like this could create a fun sense of tension. Of course, it could also just frustrate players who didn't see whatever it was. Especially if they do not see it repeatedly and just keep hearing "what was that?". Tension is an interesting gauge and you have to manipulate it wisely.
#3
deformities are the scariest thing visually to me. the more subtle the better. for example, a person with a normally proportionate body and head with a disproportionately large forehead or mouth, or extremely large, yet empty occular cavities. large ears don't do it because it reminds me of elves. the trick is to make the person look normal along with some small detail which makes the face just not look right.
04/28/2006 (9:27 am)
"And also, as a sidenote, what scares you?"deformities are the scariest thing visually to me. the more subtle the better. for example, a person with a normally proportionate body and head with a disproportionately large forehead or mouth, or extremely large, yet empty occular cavities. large ears don't do it because it reminds me of elves. the trick is to make the person look normal along with some small detail which makes the face just not look right.
#4
04/28/2006 (11:03 am)
Kind of like if you're having a serious conversation with someone and they turn to walk away and there is a second face on the back of their head grinning maniacally. 
#5
04/28/2006 (1:21 pm)
The 'fast people' on the video cameras in House on Haunted Hill. Freaky.
#6
04/28/2006 (1:41 pm)
The shadows.... you see something running out of your vision and when you turn your head to left/right you can't see anything abnormal...
#8
04/28/2006 (3:10 pm)
Clicky from the Japanese Juon--much creepier than the US one. And yes, I call the broken ghost girl who crawls down the stairs Clicky.
#9
Red Herrings, too. Loud, but insignificant noises.
You hear a noise, you follow it, the cat knock over the can and runs off, you hear a louder noise, a small, thin trail of bloood leads off into the distance, you follow it. It goes on for miles, along the way you go into buildings occasionally further up the track you run into something... you don't know what it is, Then more of them, more, and the gore! the Horror! its hard to bear, the dessicated dogs and blood everywhere, like an ungodly, inhumane massicre. You can't see properly. You keep going on further until you reach a house.
Uhh... I've played too much silent hill I think... And cthulhu...
*Gets out Discworld CD*
04/28/2006 (4:14 pm)
Cats. Just, acting... subtly. Knocking over a tin can in an alleyway. Producing a huge shadow that dissapears suddenly. It doesn't work if they're actually seen for more than half a second. Red Herrings, too. Loud, but insignificant noises.
You hear a noise, you follow it, the cat knock over the can and runs off, you hear a louder noise, a small, thin trail of bloood leads off into the distance, you follow it. It goes on for miles, along the way you go into buildings occasionally further up the track you run into something... you don't know what it is, Then more of them, more, and the gore! the Horror! its hard to bear, the dessicated dogs and blood everywhere, like an ungodly, inhumane massicre. You can't see properly. You keep going on further until you reach a house.
Uhh... I've played too much silent hill I think... And cthulhu...
*Gets out Discworld CD*
#10
@David Blake: I know what you mean by the necessity to avoid laying it on too thick. I figured a good system would be to have the players at least indicated that something was happening, maybe just moreso to that one person. And the next time, several of them would see it, and after a while, the whole group would.
And the face thing sounds good, I was also thinking you could temporarily have your teammates look like walking dead, or other nasty things.
I'm still thinking of effective ways to implement something like horror into multiplayer. It's a tough job, particularly since a sense of aloneness is very effective for fear, but you know.
@Sean H.: I agree with that, it shouldn't necessarily be that the horror has to be overt and loud. Sometimes just a subtle hint is enough. I always thought that deforming features in plain view was really creepy too (I have had dreams where one of my eyes suddenly started getting bigger and turning funny colors...but that was when I was sick).
@Midhir: I have yet to see the new version of that because I heard it wasn't very good. But then again, I have also liked other movies people didn't before. I have seen the old one, though. (Vincent Price pwns lol!)
@Tom & David: I know what you mean about those, and I think on some level that goes back to what Sean said about deformity. While sometimes referring to physical, the fact that a person can be so distinctly wrong while maintaining just a facade of humanity stems from the same fear. And the fact that you can get killed by them too, I suppose.
@Mincetro: Cats are a good device, though somewhat overdone. However, in the right hands, even the old may be made effective. I'm not saying I'm necessarily that good, but I know someone can. A funny contrast is that while cats are often sinister characterizations, in all of Lovecraft's work, they were often a force of good, sometimes amassing armies to defend the poor, clueless hero from aliens on the moon. Sounds like a good subject to look into, in either case.
And you can never play too much Silent Hill. Cthulhu, maybe. But that's mostly just because it's so hard to get anywhere on that until you get decent weapons.
04/28/2006 (7:47 pm)
Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.@David Blake: I know what you mean by the necessity to avoid laying it on too thick. I figured a good system would be to have the players at least indicated that something was happening, maybe just moreso to that one person. And the next time, several of them would see it, and after a while, the whole group would.
And the face thing sounds good, I was also thinking you could temporarily have your teammates look like walking dead, or other nasty things.
I'm still thinking of effective ways to implement something like horror into multiplayer. It's a tough job, particularly since a sense of aloneness is very effective for fear, but you know.
@Sean H.: I agree with that, it shouldn't necessarily be that the horror has to be overt and loud. Sometimes just a subtle hint is enough. I always thought that deforming features in plain view was really creepy too (I have had dreams where one of my eyes suddenly started getting bigger and turning funny colors...but that was when I was sick).
@Midhir: I have yet to see the new version of that because I heard it wasn't very good. But then again, I have also liked other movies people didn't before. I have seen the old one, though. (Vincent Price pwns lol!)
@Tom & David: I know what you mean about those, and I think on some level that goes back to what Sean said about deformity. While sometimes referring to physical, the fact that a person can be so distinctly wrong while maintaining just a facade of humanity stems from the same fear. And the fact that you can get killed by them too, I suppose.
@Mincetro: Cats are a good device, though somewhat overdone. However, in the right hands, even the old may be made effective. I'm not saying I'm necessarily that good, but I know someone can. A funny contrast is that while cats are often sinister characterizations, in all of Lovecraft's work, they were often a force of good, sometimes amassing armies to defend the poor, clueless hero from aliens on the moon. Sounds like a good subject to look into, in either case.
And you can never play too much Silent Hill. Cthulhu, maybe. But that's mostly just because it's so hard to get anywhere on that until you get decent weapons.
#11
vibrations of heavy footsteps, but only visible to one player or two. Strange objects or statues which
appear solid to one player to the point he can climb on top of them, but to the other players, the player
might just look like he's quivering in that spot. Animals doing things that only humans would do could
be scary enough, too. Animals seeing things none of the players see are even more fun.
05/25/2006 (10:05 pm)
Subtle hints that something nasty is coming, perhaps? Like a coffeecup dancing across a table fromvibrations of heavy footsteps, but only visible to one player or two. Strange objects or statues which
appear solid to one player to the point he can climb on top of them, but to the other players, the player
might just look like he's quivering in that spot. Animals doing things that only humans would do could
be scary enough, too. Animals seeing things none of the players see are even more fun.
#12
Having your squad for example enter a house and forcing them to splitup, so each member would see different things and different parts of the house. Maybe even using virtual windows so you can see what your teammates see (i.e your monitor shows a creepy ghost walk by e.t.c)
even crisscorssing from time to time, so your about to shoot a ghost and realise it was just your teammate :)
of course there would need to be an ultimate goal to it all.
05/25/2006 (11:40 pm)
This is a pretty cool idea. especially in multiplayer.Having your squad for example enter a house and forcing them to splitup, so each member would see different things and different parts of the house. Maybe even using virtual windows so you can see what your teammates see (i.e your monitor shows a creepy ghost walk by e.t.c)
even crisscorssing from time to time, so your about to shoot a ghost and realise it was just your teammate :)
of course there would need to be an ultimate goal to it all.
#13
I've experienced in that in MMORPGs due to server flakyness and/or lag. It can fun... "What hell are you shooting at/running from?" "You don't see that zombie coming straight us? oh, now I don't either"
Usually the most fun to be had is when the hallucinating player ends up running into a different group of mobs. good times, good times.
07/07/2006 (11:26 pm)
"By which I mean that if you wanted a player to see something, then you could have the network send a command to make it visible to him/her, but noone else."I've experienced in that in MMORPGs due to server flakyness and/or lag. It can fun... "What hell are you shooting at/running from?" "You don't see that zombie coming straight us? oh, now I don't either"
Usually the most fun to be had is when the hallucinating player ends up running into a different group of mobs. good times, good times.
#14
07/14/2006 (12:53 pm)
@Greg: Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes the best moments come from events the designers never even intended.
#15
Basically, I walked into a house where everything was normal, except for a couple really strange floating plates. But then, as I was walking around a loud rolling thunder sound effect played, and the house flickered into a dark, creepy boarded up and spiderwebbed junk pile, complete with bodies, blood and little chucky-esque dolls that came after you. But really, what was most creepy about it, it stayed that way for only a second. Then it was back to normal, the dolls stood still, and there were no bodies to be found. First time it happened, I was scared to death, but not quite sure it had happened. Uncertainty is scary, I believe.
It'd be a good mechanic in multiplayer too, if every one is in the house. Give them all the auditory clue, but have the house shift for only one of them or something... very very creepy.
07/18/2006 (6:49 am)
I just played through a mod on another game (Morrowind to be specific) that creeped me out pretty badly. so, obviously, this has been done, but it was done well and I enjoyed/was terrified at the same time. Basically, I walked into a house where everything was normal, except for a couple really strange floating plates. But then, as I was walking around a loud rolling thunder sound effect played, and the house flickered into a dark, creepy boarded up and spiderwebbed junk pile, complete with bodies, blood and little chucky-esque dolls that came after you. But really, what was most creepy about it, it stayed that way for only a second. Then it was back to normal, the dolls stood still, and there were no bodies to be found. First time it happened, I was scared to death, but not quite sure it had happened. Uncertainty is scary, I believe.
It'd be a good mechanic in multiplayer too, if every one is in the house. Give them all the auditory clue, but have the house shift for only one of them or something... very very creepy.
#16
Good point about the uncertainty thing. Like Rod Serling said, "The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown." I think it was used in a different situation, but the same thing applies.
07/26/2006 (11:44 pm)
Which mod was that? I'm an avid Morrowind fan, and that sounds like something I'd get a kick out of.Good point about the uncertainty thing. Like Rod Serling said, "The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown." I think it was used in a different situation, but the same thing applies.
#17
07/26/2006 (11:59 pm)
On the freaky side, I played a single player game BACK IN THE DAY, not sure what the name was, and several scenes freaked me out and I could never figure out why, then it hit me, every five or six seconds as you were running you had 6 fingers. Such a subtle effect I only noticed it after looking for like 100 hours. It worked great though.
#18
07/27/2006 (12:00 am)
BTW I love the Idea, I was wondering if you would mind if I altered it a bit and did somthing similar with a single player RPG I am writing?
#19
07/28/2006 (1:43 pm)
No no, go ahead, I am just kind of theorizing. Even if you wanted to compound upon the same idea, it's often not about what you do, but how you do it. I can't speak for everyone here, but I feel that if my ideas help someone make a game that is entertaining, I picked the right field to be in. Most of my ideas are just combinations of the founding principles of game & movie ancestry. 
Torque Owner Paul /*Wedge*/ DElia