I have started just recently to get interested in BGE again, and I am beginning to develop a new FPS game. However, I haven’t the slightest idea what theme I want to have. So far, I have chosen a horror/psychological thriller theme. I have named the project “HellCastle” - you can visit my WIP in my signature. Anyway, from how the game has turned out so far, I wouldnt say its very scary. I mean, even if it were to become very scary later on, It would seem weird to have come into the building on a bunch of military-looking parachute cargo. So…any ideas on a new theme, or how I can change the first chapter in the game to fit a horror genre? If you suggest a new theme, what kind of things could happen inside the building? I will attach some screenshots of the first chapter, where you land on the famed “HellCastle” (or you think so)
Well if your looking for a new theme; the game could be a near futuristic military type game. The character works for a secret world defense organization, but through revelations finds out that the people he’s working for are evil men that are trying to take over the world, or something like that. Inside the building could be a chemical laboratory, or it could be a hotel with an “enemy of the peace” that the character is supposed to take out.
I think you should keep it a horror/psychological thriller. Yeah, those screenshots dont look too scary, you should try changing the mood, like instead of having the whitish blue sky, have dark brooding clouds with a tint of red, and maybe some of the parachutes should get blown away or myseriously dissapear before landing, then when you’re inside the castle, thoe troopers that dissapeared could attack you or be dismemberd and lying in pools of blood. well those are my suggestions
The first scenes do not need to be scary. You could start with a “tutorial” level were the player could train.
Lets say the game starts with the player outside of the building. The equipment is falling from the sky and you have to go/jump/whatever to open the crates and collect some gadgets.
To enter the next level you have to go into the building. Here you could start with your horror scenario.
The question is what will you find in the building or deeper in the building. This would be a good path for a story, keeping the player interested in what comes next.
don’t let the player see the enemy’s for a llong time, just make the tension slowly build. You could do this subtly, or no so subtly. For example, you could put the player in a position where he knows there’s bad things going on and he assumes they’ll happen to him, but there are continually false alarms, and then, when the player thinks nothing will happen because of all the false alarms, then you very suddenly scare the hell out of them. In this example, I’m drawing directly from Aliens Versus Predator 2. You go throught 2 levels without meeting any thing and it’s scary as hell. Then suddenly their everywhere, runnin gon walls and jumping impossible distances to eviscerate you. It’s awesome. You could also have the tension build through subtle mannerisms of NPCs. But something to avoid is the “monster jumping oiut of the closet” type of horror popularized by Doom which gets old way too fast, and loses any frightening ability.
Don’t make it cliche, or noone will ever be frightened. No vampires werewolves zombies etc. unless you augment them and make them unussual, like maybe the zombie, instead of shuffling forward with arms outstretched, make them twisted and have choppy, sudden movements, and be textured a dull grey as if they have no features, then they turn around and their faces are on the backs of their skulls with a twisted painful expression.
You don’t always need darkness to be scary, although it is easier. Also, flickering lights are always scarier than darkness.
I’ll probably post more later, but I have time crunch. Hope it helps you, love the concept.
lil help here