59 - Enemy Encounter Update

[matt]

I've been working on the enemy encounter (that I was procrastinating) and wanted to give an update about what I've done so far.

[Grabthehoopka]

The thing that initially sparked my interest in the project was the violent imagery in the trailer, which made me physically recoil backwards in my seat and yell "OH! FUCK!", a reaction I haven't had to game violence in a very long time. I think it's the simplistic art style, for reasons I can't quite comprehend, that makes the disturbing violence even MORE disturbing. And I'm glad that you're embracing that

The wonderful thing about the bloater death animation is that there are so many little details that make it horrific that you can't take in all at once, so it only gets more and more horrible the more times you see it. Can't wait to see what YOU sick puppies dream up, though...

[sunsetbrew]

I sincerely appreciate these videos. It is very revealing but I don't see it as taking away from the game. It is like the developers of Amnesia said in their lectures. Understanding what is going on only makes it more intimidating in terms of the role play. More over it makes me ever more grateful for the thought and innovation that went into it. So two words... Thank You! I am so glad to have invested in this game and into Matt.

[ranger_lennier]

The best 2D stealth game I've ever played is Mark Of The Ninja. Of course, you're not making a game about a badass ninja, but I did think of this game when you mentioned enemy patrols. For the most part, enemies in Mark Of The Ninja have regular stations or patrols, and you can observe them from a distance. But it's not easy to get past them. There's a sort of puzzle element to figuring out how to use your various tools (darts, noisemakers, etc.) to make them break out of their regular patrols so you can sneak past them (or slit their throats).

It's also a game where I tended to move slowly and methodically. It has a run button, but you make noise using it, which can attract your enemy's attention. Plus if you run everywhere, you could suddenly find yourself in an enemy's line of sight.

I'm planning to play Lone Survivor soon, which is a 2D survival horror game with some stealth elements. The PC version of the Director's Cut comes out on Oct. 31.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/10/21/lone- ... -pc-mac-o/

[Stefan8000]

thanks again for this interesting video.

i am happy, that the stealth parts will be simple. i am not good in stealth games and i dont like it very much. so, for me, simplicity is very good.

my thoughts on brutality, if that makes the game more emotionall, than put a lot of it in. the trailer was so good and i think, that disturbing images are great. i think, you are on a perfect way.

best wishes,
stefan

[JPrice]

Glad to see that your taking a simple approach to the stealth! Helpful considering I'm usually rather bad at stealth hahaha

Also I like the idea of the death's being brutal but in a unique way. Like the trailer really stuck out to me as I'd never really seen that type of detailed violence (With the bones and veins) in a game styled like this, was rather unnerving and creative.

Sounds like you're on the right track with development! Loving these insightful diaries Matt

[matt]

I'm glad to hear you guys are enjoying the videos.

I suck worse at stealth than all of you. Outlast kicked my ass. haha Maybe I'll have to check out Mark of the Ninja although in general, I usually avoid stealth heavy games.

I played Lone Survivor and really liked it. Apparently I will get the director's cut content for free, so maybe I'll have to play it again.

[Grabthehoopka]

This reminds me of Chris' Survival Horror Quest blog about obfuscating information from the player, and why Slender did a good job of hiding the "rules" that slenderman follows. If you're worried about making the enemy routines too simple, I think you could add in some animations or some simple little behaviors to make the player doubt themselves, or question the enemy's behavior, or fool them into thinking the behavior is more complicated than it really is.

Say, hypothetically, that you have a thing that patrols back and forth, and if it's facing the other way, then it can't see you, plain and simple. Now, you've already established that the floorboards creak when you walk on them, so maybe when the player is walking behind them, even though the monster won't see them, there would be a chance that the monster would suddenly freeze, and then hunch down and listen around, or maybe a passive animation where they'll stop their patrol and sniff the ground, something like that.

Of course, the animations don't have to mean anything in the end, but I think that seeing the monsters display some kind of behavior like that would give the player a kind of gut-reaction assumption about the monsters that doesn't exist, which means they are getting scared by things that exist only in their own minds, which means that you are making a horror game correctly.

[matt]

We'll definitely layer some more interesting elements on top of the core behavior to make the enemy feel alive and unpredictable. I also read Chris' Survival Horror Quest blog religiously.

[gagaplex]

I would love enemies to not just patrol but stop, feign interaction with the environment and so on, look at stuff... but especially mumble or similar things. The mumbling and groaning of nearby enemies was a very important aspect to the atmosphere of System Shock 2, especially when you could HEAR enemies before you could SEE them, before you knew where they would come from, so the stuff about sound already seems good to me. Sound is SO important to me when it comes to gaming experience.

Charging CAN work, but I don't mind "sauntering" if it's done in a nicely stilted, horrifying way. In a sense, it comes back to the "slow zombies" versus "fast zombies" debate, eh? The slow, unstoppable advance of the undead can be much more horrifying than the screaming charger, at least that's where I fall on that issue.

That said - if it's possible to do - I see nothing wrong with having charging AND shambling enemy types...? Or even ones that are kind of unpredictable, slow and passive one moment, charging the next?