Italian Horror Game Uses Your Tells Against You

[Karloff]

Italian Horror Game Uses Your Tells Against You


Dreampainters' new horror game Anna adjusts in real time to your actions.

Italian independent developer Deampainters has devised a first person horror game, for those of you who feel they don't have enough terror in their lives. The game, Anna, will send you on a delightful journey through the Italian alpine countryside; its reactive AI will make sure you enjoy every single moment, one way or the other, by adjusting the environment in real time to your actions.

"It's not about the character," the trailer promises, "It's about you." The game will pay attention to the things you pay attention to, and use those hints against you like an expert poker player reading your tells. According to the developer, Anna's secret is real-time rendering with explorable environments, allowing the user to direct the show by exploring the environment as he or she sees fit. Get a bit too obsessed with an environmental detail, and all of a sudden you'll be seeing that detail wherever you go.

The game is only three hours long but there are three separate plot paths you could follow, so if you were to explore each and every path to its conclusion then the whole experience is about nine hours more or less. It's currently only available for PC, though the developers are considering a Mac port at some stage.

The game is set in the Val d'Ayas, a mountainous region better known for its skiing than its psychological horror shows. Dreampainters has said Anna's plot is based on ancient legends unique to the locale and deny any link between its game and a brutal child murder in nearby Cogne, for which the baby's mother Anna Maria Franzoni was convicted in 2007.

It's out now for a mere $10, should you be feeling a burning desire to lighten your wallet. For more information, check out the Dreampainters website. [http://dreampainters-anna.blogspot.co.uk/]

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-17-italian-first-person-horror-game-anna-looks-awful-spooky]


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[Azuaron]

According to the developer, Anna's secret is real-time rendering with explorable environments, allowing the user to direct the show by exploring the environment as he or she sees fit. Get a bit too obsessed with an environmental detail, and all of a sudden you'll be seeing that detail wherever you go.

I'm going to be spending a lot of time looking for puppies and flowers.

Why? So the game can show you rotting flowers and tortured puppies?

 

[IndomitableSam]

I came to the article expecting a Kinect game like I've always wanted. Something that tracks your movements and remembers what you focus on and how you move. I'm a bit disappointed, but this still seems intriguing.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Careful that it doesn't become self aware. I mean, look at what we think happens when a AI that's supposed to help us goes rogue. Imagine what might happen if it was actually supposed to kill our virtual selves.

 

[draythefingerless]

This is quite interesting. althou i feel a lot of hard work went into this AI. mainly feeding it all the possible interactions. sounds like a nightmare of programming, hence why i thought it wouldnt be done, but since its only like 9 hours...depends how linearly enclosed the game is. that way they dont have to account for random exploring by the player.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

You create an intelligent evolving A.I for a game and then program it to find the optimum way to f*ck with people? THIS IS WHY HUMANITY CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

OT: Game does look fun, might give it a try

 

[TheProfessor234]

I really like this idea but I am curious into how it works. What if you just ignore everything, can it still pull fears?

 

[srpilha]

If this works, could be fascinating indeed. And a blessing to pants sellers worldwide.

 

[HellsingerAngel]

I really like this idea but I am curious into how it works. What if you just ignore everything, can it still pull fears?

It could make endless corridors so you can't escape from looking at things. It could control your camera. It could directly control your character or slow your movement so you can't just blur past everything. There are plenty of ways a game could mess with someone who's just trying to avoid it.

OT: Looks neat. Dunno if I'll buy it though. Scary things scare me D=

 

[Druyn]

You create an intelligent evolving A.I for a game and then program it to find the optimum way to f*ck with people? THIS IS WHY HUMANITY CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

OT: Game does look fun, might give it a try

To roughly quote a Cracked article: "If machines ever gain intelligence and rise up against humanity, it won't be because of the military; it will be because gamers told it to.

 

[getoffmycloud]

I really like this idea but I am curious into how it works. What if you just ignore everything, can it still pull fears?

It could make endless corridors so you can't escape from looking at things. It could control your camera. It could directly control your character or slow your movement so you can't just blur past everything. There are plenty of ways a game could mess with someone who's just trying to avoid it.

OT: Looks neat. Dunno if I'll buy it though. Scary things scare me D=

I would love to buy this game... on Steam or GoG.


COME ON PEOPLE, PUT IT ON STEAM/GOG ALREADY!

Why not just buy it from the website?

 

[General Twinkletoes]

If this works, it'll be absolutely awesome.
That's assuming it works.

 

[GoldenShadow]

Minecraft has scared, or startled me more than once. Its made me jump out of my chair when you are wandering around in a dark cramped cave and get ambushed by a skeleton or creeper. Its way more scary than these so called survival horror games like resident evil or dead space. Death is meaningful. You lose all of your items. If you are far away from spawn and don't remember how to get back, you will lose everything if you die. It is very tense. and fun.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

I am now expecting there to be many boxes full of junk in the game when I play it, and this will only displease me. If only I had learned something from Fallout 3 other than that every container must be searched.

 

[TheProfessor234]

Minecraft has scared, or startled me more than once. Its made me jump out of my chair when you are wandering around in a dark cramped cave and get ambushed by a skeleton or creeper. Its way more scary than these so called survival horror games like resident evil or dead space. Death is meaningful. You lose all of your items. If you are far away from spawn and don't remember how to get back, you will lose everything if you die. It is very tense. and fun.

I played Dead Space 2 on the second hardest difficulty. Not the hardest because you could only save three times or something.

Anyway, I will agree that the monsters or jump scares weren't scary but the fact that ammo, med kits, and resources were scarce. It made the fights themselves more terrifying because even though you could fight back, you had to do it right or you would get overwhelmed. I guess that's a different type of fear but in my opinion it's fear all the same.

 

[The_Darkness]

Requirements: 2GHz Dual Core Processor.
My new Laptop: 1.60GHz Dual Core.
...
Damn it.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

I love horror games and this sounds like an interesting enough idea to tide me over until Amnesia Machine for Pigs so... Yeah, defo one to buy...