Two Game Ideas come to mind...

[benjie417234]

1.)An Assassination Game.
Set in a fantasy world like Thief.Something like Assassin's Creed,
but this time assassinations are indoors.Plus,stealing stuff.
You can free roam but not in a very big world(cause RF has mapping limits)

2.)A Horror Game.
Modern World.Something like Silent Hill:Shattered Memories.
Flashlight,run around,solve puzzles and avoid monsters.

They're only ideas.I'm probably going to stick with no.1 once I have mastered using
RF and once I'm good with modelling as well.

[zany_001]

I had an idea similiar to number 1 at one time. Anyway i wish you luck with your game design!

[paradoxnj]

Horror does not require good modelling...it requires decent animation. Since most models in the game are deformed anyway, you can get away with novice modelling. For example, you can take the Virgil actor and just add some more animations to him and maybe change his clothing and you have your main character. Take a standard doberman model and add a really messed up texture to it and you can have a rabid dog.

<OPINION>
Horror games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil and Dead Space require good character development and are not good in first person. They also require some good puzzles to make things interesting. If you were to make a horror game (which is my favorite genre), I would not be interested (as a fan of the genre) unless the following requirements were met:

-- At least 3rd person view. No first person camera view. The player must be familiar with his/her character.
-- Character's should have more animations than walk, run, shoot, etc... They should have different animations for different situations.
-- Voice overs are not needed but are definitely a plus. Character dialog is important. Static text would work just fine as long as the story makes sense. Maybe you can utilize the new CEGUI addition to RF for this when it is released.
-- Some good puzzles. Standard ones like pushing crates or statues, unlocking a computerized lock are ok. Solving a puzzle should yield a reward. The harder the puzzle the bigger the reward. For example, in Resident Evil 1 if you found the blue emerald, you got the magnum revolver which is the most powerful gun in the game.
-- In game cutscenes. No prerendered video garbage. Prerendered is ok for the beginning and ending, but not good while you are playing the game.
-- Last and most important...strike fear into your player. Certain situations should make your player feel creepy and in some cases...jump out of their seat. Dead Space does a really good job at making you feel creepy throughout the entire game. RE1 made you jump out of your seat when the dogs jumped through the window and went after you.
</OPINION>

I would be interested as a developer from a techincal standpoint as I am with all projects. The above opinion is looking from the "fan of the genre" point of view.

[zany_001]

Horror would be easier too if you are doing a haunted house or similiar because the enclosed areas and shadows mean you can use a far higher level of quality in your player and other meshes, because only a small amount will be rendered, and the shadows let you use low res textures in places.

[benjie417234]

Well.I'm aiming for a First Person View for the Horror Game.
Cause I want the player to feel like they're there.
But I'll take note of your opinion.I'm gonna stick to Idea #2.

But that's until I get to know more about RF.

[zany_001]

For horror, make sure it's not non-stop horror. Mix in periods of relative calm and puzzlesolving with action. Some of the action at least should have active horror when it starts, and passive horror when it ends. Then back to puzzlesolving.

[benjie417234]

I've given it some thought,though.
Maybe I'll put it a 3rd Person View.With the camera a little bit to the left.
Something like Skullcrack(Made by someone here...)
Also,no weapons.

[Matte]

-- At least 3rd person view. No first person camera view. The player must be familiar with his/her character.

I don't completely agree. In First Person the part of the level you see is much smaller. In Half life and Half life 2 (which have elements of Horror, but aren't really Horror games but more just FPS) I have been scared alot, because something came from my side or from above. In Third Person, you can often see stuff sooner, thus it is less scary. L4D (Left 4 Dead, zombie game) also scared me alot when suddenly, for example, a witch (kind of infected/zombie) came from somewhere I couldn't see in first person, but would have seen in third person.(But you're a fan of the genre, so you probably know better. Just my personal opinion)

-- Character's should have more animations than walk, run, shoot, etc... They should have different animations for different situations.

I agree completely.

-- Voice overs are not needed but are definitely a plus. Character dialog is important. Static text would work just fine as long as the story makes sense. Maybe you can utilize the new CEGUI addition to RF for this when it is released.

Don't know, you're probably right.

-- Some good puzzles. Standard ones like pushing crates or statues, unlocking a computerized lock are ok. Solving a puzzle should yield a reward. The harder the puzzle the bigger the reward. For example, in Resident Evil 1 if you found the blue emerald, you got the magnum revolver which is the most powerful gun in the game.

Puzzles rock! They require you to think calmly, even if you've just been surprised by some monsters who jumped on you from the roof and your heart is going overdrive. Maybe you should add the option of doing something wrong in a puzzle, which triggers a monster to show up (If I'm not mistaking, you can't spawn monsters in RF, so you'd have to teleport them or have them ready behind a wall that blows away or something).

USE PUZZLES!

-- In game cutscenes. No prerendered video garbage. Prerendered is ok for the beginning and ending, but not good while you are playing the game.

THIS!!! The best cutscenes are in-game. Even better is not using cutscenes, like in Half life 2. You don't lose control of your character, but can walk around freely where normally, you would see your character be controlled for you. This is a great help if you need immersion into your game, but maybe quite hard to achieve. Don't know what I mean? Try the Half Life 2 Demo (or buy the game for 60% off on Steam this weekend only) and see, in the first level, where you would expect to sit still in that train, you can walk around. Later on, you'll meet some people. They talk to you, but you can ignore them if you want and take a look around. You can even shoot them! (They won't die).

-- Last and most important...strike fear into your player. Certain situations should make your player feel creepy and in some cases...jump out of their seat. Dead Space does a really good job at making you feel creepy throughout the entire game. RE1 made you jump out of your seat when the dogs jumped through the window and went after you.

Yes yes yes yes yes and yes. But take pauses in the fear moments. There's nothing scary about 2 more zombies jumping through a window when you're fighting 100. 2 zombies jumping through a window when you've just pressed the button for the elevator on the other side of the room and haven't seen some for a while. You automaticcaly think: "Hey, I'm safe for a while" when you've killed all zombies or other monsters. After a while you'll start to relax, and your heartbeat will go down. Going from 95 to 100 is only 5 up. Going from 20 to 100 is 80up!!


Good luck! Need help texturing or something else? PM me!

[benjie417234]

Texturing?
Well,I was planning on changing the look of the other RF character.
(The guy with the red shirt)
A brown coat with beige pants would be awesome.
I'm having second thoughts with the 'no weapon' system.It might bore the player
from running too much.

[metalmouth7]

Not entirely true. Look at Alan Wake. The game is slanted so your only real weapons is your flashlight, and this game really looks good. Of course, guns do a a certain punch to a game. Heheheheh....

[bernie]

Yes metalmouth Penumbra has no weapons either except for a stick of dynamite and that does no good but the game is riveting and very scary.

[zany_001]

The characters must be idiots if they can't make a weapon out of a chair leg or zombie arm or random metal pole. :d

[paradoxnj]

First person views are for shooters...not action/adventure which any good horror game falls into. Resident Evil 1-3, Silent Hill 1-3 and Dead Space were not shooters. The focus was more on the puzzles and story than on battling enemies. When you did encounter an enemy, it was a complete surprise (most of the time) and you had the option of ignoring it or killing it. I could make it through Resident Evil 1 & 2 without wasting a single lick of ammo on zombies, lickers or dogs. You can't do that in FP style horror games. You pretty much have to kill your enemies. I also like to see the monsters chasing me. I don't want to turn around and run backwards to see them chasing me. Enemies in RE could walk on ceilings and jump around viciously. Penumbra enemies were mostly grounded and did not maneuver very well.

Penumbra was a decent game...I don't feel it was scary at all. There were a couple of scenes that brought on a little anxiety but not much. It was mostly a creepy environment and good sound fx that captivated you. As for gameplay...I felt like I was playing Unreal Tournament. Had they used third person and you were to see the damage happening to your character...I might have felt more anxiety when battling monsters. I want to see my head getting ripped off.