Community Blog (xenopuff) - Brainstorming

A few weeks ago on the show we were discussing genres that we would like to see merged into a single game. Well I had a crazy idea then, and I was surprised to see people in the forums discussing this very challenge. My goal was to come up with two genres seemingly impossible to marry. How do you merge a survival horror game with a strategy rpg? A strategy game that is truly scary. Seems kind of crazy right? Well... let's peek in to their brainstorming session.


xenopuff

"Brad was recently talking about scary strategy rpgs and i was wondering, how would they make them scary?

I'd like to hear peoples ideas just because, really, I'm curious

Branching off for a second, i think the main factor for fear in a game, for me anyways, is not knowing. Being unaware what I'm up against, where my enemies are and whats going on around me. When I'm playing an FPS and i go down the cliche dark alley, I'm afraid of whats behind me, not infront of me. What i can't see and not what i can see.
Also, atmosphere plays a heavy part in scares. Walking through a room that tells a story. Maybe not your over the top gore fest that has gore in it just for the sake of it being there, but having it controlled, if you know what i mean. Not like guts everywhere, but maybe a blood trail leading to a scene where you can only see some of the corpse, and items scattered around. A saw, a knife ect. At that moment, what i would do is in the background noise, while the player is looking at the scene, trigger a sound, shuffling, something getting knocked off the shelf, ect.

Anyways, how would you apply this into a strategy rpg that still retains good controls and a friendly interface with horror?

So, ideas wanted, just mainly game mechanics and how this would work

Thanks a bunch!"


criana

"Yeah, the not knowing factor is a huge part. Like, fatal frame for example will occasionally have a cut scene where something "scary" happens, but then it's not as scary because you know it's coming. The scariest thing is turning around and having something just standing there. That scares the hell out of me!

As far as atmosphere is concerned it really has to not push it. Like I hate it when you have games that are too dark. At that point it's not even scary, just cheap. I Also agree with the background noise. That really adds but I don't like it when horror games have background music. Since most of the time it is a psychological game you don't want to take away from the realism. Exceptions for that would be if an in game a stereo was on or like a music box or something to that extent.

So, I suppose, applying this to an RPG setting would be difficult. You wouldn't want the horror branch too far away from the actual story lines. Because I have had moments in a game where I'm like "Why am I here?". So to sum it up in a nutshell I would say key things for a good RPG game : A plot that makes sense with the location and keeping it as real as possible!"


Gravier251

"hearing the idea of a "strategy RPG horror game" kind of reminded me of a quite old game I played a demo of on PC that I had been trying to recall the name of for quite some time.

The game was called "enemy infestation" and from what I recall of the demo it was basically an isometric game where you control a group of individuals on a space station, so you had people like a medic, soldiers, even a barkeeper, etc. They all had their own strengths and weaknesses.

You can only see the rooms you have people in, and on the second demo level aliens constantly spawn from a large hall where larger queen like ones are. That level basically amounted to gathering the survivors together, especially the engineer I think it was as she could lock doors to prevent aliens from getting in. I tended to hoard weapons in the med lab and keep the engineer inside locking the place down in case people go down in one of the attacks. If people go down you pretty much had to drag them back to a medical station to heal them up.

Another interesting mechanic was that there were a wide variety of weapons/tools. And their effect on the aliens varied from level to level. For instance you might have a laser based weapon and shoot the aliens on one level killing/injuring them. While in the next the same weapon actually causes the aliens to multiply or grow in size :o

The only way to know what weapons were actually any use was to try them out or to try and secure a research station and get a scientist to figure it out.

Sadly I only ever played the demo and haven't really been able to find a copy since (it came out back in about 1998)

I was probably about 10 when I first played it, and am probably looking back through nostalgia that makes it seem better than it was.

But I always found it kind of eerie being barricaded in the med lab and hearing the lift in the cargo room nearby going up and down as the aliens kind of prowl around the deck. It was kind of a nice touch not knowing what to expect on the other side of a door (unless you have managed to secure and lock down all the lifts/doors and cleared all the rooms on your side of the lock down).

I think that game/layout has probably the most potential for creating a tense atmosphere within a strategy game, with how you can only see rooms/halls you currently have people in, along with the ever present threat of enemies and the unreliable weaponry.

It isn't quite a strategy RPG horror game, and it may be a lot less tense than I recall it to be, but it is probably the closest game I can think of to that particular criteria, and judging by how impossible it is to find clips or any references to it I guess it is a pretty obscure game hehe :-/."


yellowfishstick

"Have battles like valkyria chronicles, with a very similar battle system, except you can't see the enemies movement. And rather than having a large battlefeild to fight in have a mansion, like resident evil, where the corridors are dark claustrophobic, and twisting. But you never know were an enemy will be, so a zombie could be hiding round a corner. The point of the game should be trying to reunite each member of your team, as all characters should start in different parts of the mansion."


SnowOwl96

"I'm thinking something along the lines of the Echo Night series, Silent Hill Series and Fatal Frame series.

You couldn't turn off the analog on Echo Night Beyond because the fear feeling factor was part of the game.
I don't believe I have to explain why I chose silent hill and fatal frame as well now or do I?

Edit: Otherwise I like some of the post replies above mine.

For those of you who are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_Night"


Xalgar

"Something that also adds fear are those clunky old controls and the fact that your character is a total wimp. Being a badass like in RE4 and DMC1 (to an extent) draws away from the horror and more into "Imma gonna fight these monsters". Also, how often the monsters appear affects this too. Compare Doom 3 to a classic Resident Evil game. Doom 3 seems to have baddies in every room and ruins any chance for atmosphere building.

I also despise "new enemy" cutscenes, it totally ruins any sort of suprise you get. RE3 did this right when you were running down an alleyway and all of a sudden in the upper levels of a building, a crazy creature is scaling a wall trying to get out of your line of sight. At this moment, I'm terrified to continue.

Scary Stratgy RPG probably would never work out. However, I think I have some pointers.

1) It MUST be real-time, Turn Based would make the scary mansion turn into a cheap and slightly spooky $5 haunted house.

2) Camera control has to be limited, a fog system that represent a unit's Line of Sight (LoS) would be a must. Also, a camera must follow moving unit's somehow, then again how would you do this in real time where there are more units to move at once?"


Feel free to continue the discussion in the forum thread.


Keep up the good work.

Brad