Tag: Horror mechanics
Research Log
The Art and Power of Horror Game Design
Horror game design, I shouldn’t need to tell you, is a craft that takes our everyday reality and transforms it into a landscape of fear. The essence of a great supernatural horror game, I repeat again, isn’t only about jump scares or monsters; it’s about the uncanny, the familiar made unfamiliar, and the echoes of…
Research Log
The World as the True Antagonist: Conceptualizing Hostile Environments in Horror Game Design
Introduction Horror games traditionally frame their antagonists as tangible threats, monsters, murderers, or supernatural entities. However, some games subvert this paradigm by making the environment itself the primary source of terror. In such cases, the setting is no longer a passive backdrop but an active agent of dread, fundamentally shaping the player’s experience. This post…
Research Log
Exploring Player Isolation: Horror in Open-World Environments
Horror in gaming as we have spoken about before, is the perfect medium for engaging player emotions. This week I want to think about open-world environments which offer a canvas for exploring fear through isolation. Unlike confined linear games, expansive, eerie landscapes stretch the psychological parameters of horror, allowing players to experience the dread of…
Research Log
Transforming Everyday Objects into Horror
In horror game design, the familiar can become the unexpected, as everyday when items are subtly twisted or used out of context to provoke unease. This unsettling effect is grounded, again, in the psychological concept of the uncanny, where the familiar become hauntingly strange (Virno & Ricciardi, 2005; Freud, 1919). By altering an object’s placement,…
Research Log
Creating a Simple Horror Scene in Unreal Engine: A Step-by-Step Guide
When designing a horror game, the atmosphere is everything. A single room, a flickering light, and a strategically placed shadow can evoke fear and anticipation. In this blog post, I’ll create a basic horror scene in Unreal Engine. I have focused on lighting and interaction. This is a simple setup: a hotel room where a…
Research Log
Top 5 Horror Game Mechanics Every Designer Should Know
In the world of horror games, mechanics are the building blocks that create tension, fear, and a sense of unease for players. The best horror games, and I’m talking about the likes of classics like Silent Hill or modern masterpieces such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the use of various tools that keep players on…