New Horror Ideas

"Death Levels" (cont'd from Desensitized Horror Fans)

Criteria to become aware of Levels:

- near-death experience.

- getting to your Level by constantly having violent deaths.

- witnessing someone else die an untimely/violent death

>>2

- someone from another Level making deliberate/accidental "contact" with you.

>>3

If this model is possible, the replay value of this game would be endless. There'll be DLC actually worth paying for.

>>4

Like, what if each 2-5 Levels are in one game, and in order arrive at the next Levels, you need DLC? Maybe each DLC are the next 5 levels. Each Level could be 24 hours of gameplay to complete.

>>5

Or each year of your life is 36.5 hours of gameplay (1 yr/hr). If the average mortality rate is 80, then that's 2920 hours, before you get to the next Level. Then another 2920 in that Level, and so on. hahaha LIFE

>>6

But you'll probably get murdered more often than not, so it'll be way less.

>>7

Or the game skips a lot of years and just speeds you up once you've made the proper decisions in each life stage.

>>8

It can generalize what you'll become based on a few decisions. Haha.

Back to zombies: a zombie virus that spreads by paranormal means (e.g. possession by an evil spirit mutates your cells to become "infected").

The object of the game would be to get rid of the virus and the evil spirit within 37 hours, or you will "turn."

Throughout the game, you are haunted by the evil spirit inside you, constantly switching between demon/zombie and normal person.

When you're a demon/zombie, you struggle to keep "yourself" from killing/eating people, destroying your surroundings, and etc.

The more "bad" things you end up doing while a demon/zombie, and the longer you stay in demon/zombie form, the faster you "turn."

When you turn, the game is over, so it's not advisable to stay a demon/zombie for long. However, there are certain points where you MUST use your demon/zombie form to progress.

For example: in order to get closer to the "remedy," you must use your demon/zombie form to camouflage your way through a blockade of demon/zombies.

And it's not as simple as just walking through the crowd while in demon/zombie form. You have to really "act" like them, without fully giving in to the spirit inside you (which requires specific controls).

As a normal human, you also have to get to the remedy quickly, while having to navigate through a hostile environment, other people, and other possessed people.

But the clock is ticking, so you can't take your time completing game stages. Time is always of the essence. Take to much time, and you "turn," which ends the game.

Your character is fully customizable (gender, skin color, hair color & style, clothing & accessories, height, weight, sexual orientation, and even personality traits & a bit of personal history).

Your character design will affect what demon possesses you, game difficulty, and the way you progress through the game.

and the engine will be powerful enough to animate your design during cinematics.

Villains and goons appear in random places at random times. It's indiscriminate to whether or not you're doing anything important.

Most villains are other possessed people, so hurting them or killing them only makes the spirit inside you harder to control.

The only way to weaken them and make them temporarily disappear is by chanting spells. You can do this with the controller (more difficult) or by saying it through a headset mic (easier).

The spells can be in any language you choose, or they can be in a random language, any time. You can choose which languages you can read, and they'll appear on-screen, when you need to chant them.

You have to pronounce the words correctly and chant them in the correct cadence for the spell to work.

If the spell fails, you'll have to run away from the demon/zombie and wait for the spell to appear on your screen again.

You can design your character to be a nun, if you want. Perhaps that's make you stronger against the forces of evil?

What about a horror game based on realistic fears, like the fear of heights, the fear of deep water, the fear of isolation, and etc? I'm sure it's possible to make with today's tech.

>>30

Hm. The most common are social phobias, like Social Anxiety Disorder. I think it would possible, if the game is an online multiplayer game that you can only play with close friends.

>>31

As far as how they can make sure that you're actually playing with real friends, I don't know. Anyone can catfish their way into the game...

>>32

But if the game requires 3-6 people actively playing simultaneously to work, then that would make it really hard for one person to play with 3-6 catfish accounts.

>>33

Ha! Good point. Then it would be possible! But how would the game address Social Anxiety Disorder?

>>34

Well, I was thinking about this exercise app that used social motivation to make sure you achieve your workout goals. Before you can use it, you have to add friends who would monitor your progress.

>>35

If you don't hit your goals, your friends would know, which would be embarrassing? To avoid embarrassment, you had to stick to your workout schedule. To make sure you don't fake it, the app requires you to use your phone's fitness tracker.

>>36

Okok, but how would that translate to this Social Anxiety horror game?

>>37

It's hard to say, because the best way to combat social anxiety (aside from therapy) is to go out into the real world and interact. If you're stuck in a game, wouldn't that defeat the purpose?

Yeah, and I think the game would exploit an already-misunderstood fear for profit. I don't think this is a good idea.

>>39

Yeah. It's a mental illness. We should leave this one alone.

>>40

All right. What about other fears? The fear of memory loss? The fear of the unknown?

>>41

I've never thought about the fear of memory loss, but now I'm kind of scared of it too.

>>41

How would that translate into a game? Also, I don't know if that many people have that fear. Would people be compelled to play a game that makes you forget? If only the character forgets, but you remember, what's there to be scared about?

>>43

Sigh. Good point. I guess it's not a great idea.

>>44

I guess the reason why there isn't much variety in horror games out there is because there aren't many other types of fears that could be feared by the masses.

>>45

There are all of these specific fears, but not many of them are playable. Not many of them are something people would be excited to play.

>>46

So devs stick to what works survival, monsters, and the supernatural.

>>47

Still, there has to be a way to scare the masses in a new way. Never say never. Horror, the way it is now, could work forever. But people like us are already getting bored. If we can get bored, a lot of other people can get bored.

Well, Kojima already did something about the fear of the unknown with PT and he's working on the next thing. Let's see what he comes up with.