Blender Horror Game - ALPHA release - now brighter ;)

Hi Guys.
I did this sweet little Horror game in two days, just to teach myself.
I don´t tell you that much about it, just play it and tell me what you think.

DOWNLOAD THE GAME:

https://copy.com/wHgpXKeOy3fQ

Here are some Screenshots to give you an idea:




I don’t really play horror games, but I’m pretty sure it’s way, waaaay too dark. I think horror can be done correctly without relying on darkness or sudden jump-scares.

Though Darkness can be a very good Element (and I prefer if People try bright Horror), the Light here is too dark as well – if you double its Energy (or *1.5 the Amount), there will still be enough Darkness where the Light won’t shine, but also more Contrast, which makes for more effective Visuals.

Not sure if its just me (colorblind) but I don’t see anything in those screenshots, just blackness

Haha. Ok maybe the game is a little bit to dark. Although i had tested it before and it seemed to bright for me i will try to make it a little bit brighter. Another thing is that the actual game is brighter than the Screenshots so maybe after you played it you can tell whether the actual game is too dark. I will post a downloadlink later on.

its not you, they are just black ;D

Now I have a link. Please download and play the Game. Tell me about your experience Afterwards please.

Looks really nice,I played in high settings and it was running around 30-40 fps on my laptop.
The game overall its really nice but its too dark I could barely see where I needed to go because the light was so small,as for the controls I felt that they are very good ,I didn’t have any problem with the controls.
The sounds in the game are also nice they were not too noisy or loud which is something I like.
Overall its a very nice little project ^^.

Hey, this is a great start! :yes:

Its a little dark, but the sound effects add great atmosphere. I would suggest adding in a subtle background lights, which produce more mystery than anything else.

Played on High, got a steady 60fps.

Thanks. If you all claim that the game is to dark, I´m forced to make it brighter. But if its to bright the feel gets lost. The brightness also depends on the monitor your using. Does anybody know how to do a brightness slider, so I can add one in the game and everybody will be happy.

Perhaps the slider could control a proper which controls the light level of a sum lamp in your scene.

I’m joining the opinion that the game is to dark, but it has a great atmosphere. Actually, I had to turn the sound off to continue playing. :slight_smile:

There was one reoccurring Jumpscare and it was just a technical Jumpscare because the Creature itself was very ridiculous and the Fact that the Jumpscare happens right at the Beginning and no Damage happens, makes it obvious for the Rest of the Playthrough that it is just a Jumpscare and nothing more, no Danger. That simply sucks all possible Horror out of it.
But the last one was good. Technically, but also in a deeper Sense, playing with Expectation and Timing, really nice.

You seem to equate inszenierte Darkness with low Brightness – it is not about almost not being able to see anything, it is about Style.
There is a Lot of Darkness, around the Lightcone, your Sight is thus very limited already. However, within the Lightcone, there should be a Contrast from Dark to Light – the starker the Contrast, the more expressive what you present, i.e. Jumpscare(s). That does not mean that Things within the Lightcone need to be very bright – not at all! --, because you can still give those Things Textures with a high Contrast, once again making the Visuals of the Presentation more expressive but also making the actual Visuals stylistically dark, instead of just lowering the Lamp’s Brightness to a Minimum resulting in tedious Graphics.

However, despite my Critique, I also think that this might be a nice Basis to build upon. :}

EDIT: By the Way, you could also just use a 2D-Filter to adjust Brightness and Contrast, and these could also depend on a Property which might change depending on a Slider-Object's Position.

The jumpscare is happening randomly so it can actually take 8 mins or less than 5 secs to appear. I will restrict it to appear at a later time. Also for now i couldnt add in more scary stuff, maybe if someone has an idea please tell me.
The 2d filter idea is very good. Do you know where to get such a filter because i’m not able to program one myself.
I think this game has a good potential and with your tips and comments this can become a very good blender horror game.


uniform sampler2D bgl_RenderedTexture;


//Set these up as Properties, one named "brightness" (0.0), the other one "contrast" (1.0):
uniform float brightness; // -0.5 < 0.0 < 0.5 //default: 0.0
uniform float contrast;   //  0.0 < 1.0 < 2.0 //default: 1.0

//Here starts the actual Filter

vec3 render = texture2D(bgl_RenderedTexture, gl_TexCoord[0].xy).rgb;

void main(void) {
 gl_FragColor = vec4( vec3((render*vec3(ar,ag,ab))*contrast+brightness), 1.0);
}

As I stated in the Comments: Set up two Properties on the Object that has the Filter, one named “brightness” (set it to 0.0 by Default), the other one “contrast” (set it to 1.0 by Default).

You can also access these Properties on this Object from a Python-Script on another Object in the Scene, so you might have an Object that is a Slider (if MouseOver and LeftClick, the Object’s Position shall change to where the Cursor points, if the Object is between one Min and one Max Value allowed, then the X Position shall be read by a Script and translated as a Value proper for the Filter-Object, then call:
filterobject=bge.logic.getCurrentScene().objects[“filterobject”]

… and give it that Value by applying it:
filterobject[“contrast”]=Value

In my opinion you don’t have to make it brighter, you just have to make the view bigger, so the lighting has to be bigger this is something else then the brightness. The other problems is that I can’t orientate myself because evething looks the same, the wall textures is to repeating.

sounds is good,

and last but not least what i have to do?

Hope it helps

I hope ypu are not implying that you have no Ideas, because that would be not a very good Premise. :expressionless:

But of Course, different People find different Things scary.
And there certainly is a Time and Place for Jumpscares, but they should always give the Impression that there is something dangerous, otherwise it is just abusing Reflexes. No, if a Sound an Animation comes so sudden that it “makes me jump” (i.e. I feel a slight Sting in my Chest), then that is just a Reflex of my Body, while I myself might just laugh what I see. It must be Fear-inducing, or otherwise it is not even a proper Jumpscare.

However, I am hard to impress when it comes to Horror, and I am in the Classic-SilentHill-Camp, so I personally think that there must be a certain Mindfuck-Value to whatever is being seen. It must make you think and wonder, must awake your morbid Curiosity, but also give you a creepy Feeling that whatever it is, you don’t wanna go near it, while at the same Time some very deep Voice within you tells you that whatever it is you see and how horrid it may look, something about it might be pathetic, beautiful, or even strangely erotic.
A cartoony Witch-Head is none of the above.

Also, in that Demo yesterday I had the Impression that in the Beginning of the Game the Soundscape was relatively eery, at least trying to be, but the longer I player I had the Impression I just heard Thunders, and they were Way the clear for the game taking Place indoors.
Besides, Thunder is not scary. There might be People who, for good Reason, might be scared of Thunderstorms, because a Lightning may strike and hit their House… but you know that there is no such Danger in this Kind of Videogame, so hearing Thunder Sounds might be a nice Sound for the Background, some Ambience, but in a Game it is just by far not as fear-inducing as it could be in Reallife.
However, if I would be playing a Game and find a Memo about a Person who has been hit and severely injured by a Lightning Strike, and THEN I would go out into a Thunderstorm with Lightnings, I might wonder if that Memo was foreshadowing that this could happen to me in the Game, and THEN it would become scary.

I have just played again. Well, no Jumpscare at the Beginning… I went into the next Room, both Keys were lying next to one another. I went back, finished the Game, no Jumpscare-Witchhead at all. Not sure whether this is how you imagined the Game to be played. ;p But it makes me realize that when I spoke of the last Jumpscare before and said that it was well-done, it might just have been Coincidence… so I will describe it…
The first Time I played it, the annoying Witchhead seemed very ridiculous to me… then I had the two Keys and looked for the Exit – it was hard to find, because I had gone far aways from it already. Then I saw the Door in the Distance and headed towards it… but I became aware that only in the most outer Margin of my the Lightcone, there was a bright, pale Stain on the Screen. I stopped because at first I thought it was some Illusion, but when I looked, I saw that it actually was the Head, just floating there in the Air, still and quitely staring at me…
… and WAAAH! it rushes towards me!
That Moment of Silence, of becoming aware that there is something, questioning it, recognizing it, becoming curious about its unusual and calm Behavior… alls of that was a beautiful Setup for the Jumpscare to actually get some Substance.

new Versionhttps://copy.com/wHgpXKeOy3fQ

Thanks for the long feedback. I also noticed that the Thunderstorm wasn´t adding to the horror at all so I removed it in the new version.
I also added more brighness and added the ability to change the mouse sensitivity.

@C.A.ligári:
I noticed to that the jumpscare was just scary when you see the face floating and then suddenly it floats towards you.
When my friend played it, he noticed exactly the same thing what you discribed above.

I will try to add some more sense of danger in the future, and I will make it harder then too. But as everyone wanted the game to be brighter I just worked on the playability and now I can focus on some more gameplay.

Hope you like the new Version.

While playing around with the mist settings I came up with this:



I think that´s an interesting style for a game and I´m maybe going to use this for game sooner or later.

The 2d filter is not working, and I have no idea why :frowning: