AR Horror Game Will Bring Jump Scares Into Your Home

NoShoes

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AR Horror Game Will Bring Jump Scares Into Your Home

Not even your blankets can save you now.

One of the most reassuring aspects of playing horror games is knowing that, at any time, you can flip on the lights and the monsters will dissipate. The team at Novum Analytics [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/night-terrors-augmented-reality-survival-horror] understands that atmosphere is a huge part of the horror genre and is creating their game with one goal: to freak you out by using the safest of all spaces, your home, as the setting for Night Terrors

Night Terrors will use your phone and its full functionality to map out your house and create a game experience unique to your environment. According to their Indiegogo page [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/night-terrors-augmented-reality-survival-horror], "Our aim is to create the scariest game ever made. It's a highly immersive, photorealistic, binaural, AUGMENTED REALITY survival horror game for mobile devices. Gameplay takes place at home, after dark, with the lights off and your headphones on."

Novum Analytics continues with details on the game's development and technical capabilities.

"The game controls what you see, what you hear, and where you go. Your device's LED is all the light you get. The camera and microphone feeds are analyzed and processed in real time. Photorealistic elements are added to the camera feed. Audio is spatialized, mixed with the microphone feed, and then routed to the headphones delivering an immersive binaural audio experience."

The first iteration of Night Terrors will be for iOS only, with Android and Windows versions to follow. You can watch the full video on the game's conceptualization and development below.

Warning: If sensitive to strobe/flashing lights, beware as this video does have some flashing lights/effects that could be troublesome. Also, if you're terrified easily, you might want to skip this preview.

For all others, cut the lights and pop on some headphones before viewing.

At the time or publication, Night Terrors has raised over $12,600 of its $70,000 goal, with 39 days remaining to pledge support.

Source: Indiegogo [http://www.polygon.com/2015/4/30/8523151/ar-horror-game-night-terrors]


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The_Darkness

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That... Actually looks really fun. It's a shame that I don't have an iPhone, Windows phone, or Android though...

VR support, anyone? Do we have move-around-the-room versions of the Oculus Rift or its competitors?
 

Scarim Coral

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I take it the game is alot better if you're in a house or a large flat/ apartment since I can imagine being in a small place won't do alot in the game.

Other than that it's a neat concept depending if you can let yourself be immerse in it.
 

Thaluikhain

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Neat concept, I can't see it working very well though.

But, eh, immersive and scary games are nothing new. Lots of people said they couldn't play Yahtzee's XDAS games at night, and they were as basic as you could get.
 

Fdzzaigl

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That preview didn't look scary at all imo. Overall I think horror games are scary because of the atmosphere they create around the situation the protagonist finds themselves in + the hide and seek thing where the protagonists inside the game can actually die and cause a game over; even if just for 5 seconds.

Just putting a bunch of jumpscares on my phone while my rational mind knows that there is not a shred of risk to my well-being won't do much.
 

Scrythe

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The_Darkness said:
That... Actually looks really fun. It's a shame that I don't have an iPhone, Windows phone, or Android though...

VR support, anyone? Do we have move-around-the-room versions of the Oculus Rift or its competitors?
I suppose you can use this with Google Cardboard and a velcro headstrap, since it has a little port for the camera. The biggest hurdle would be having one of the few phone models that work properly with Cardboard. Most cell phone headsets I've seen don't seem to have that camera opening, which would be essential for this to work.

The other hurdle I suppose would be battery life. I would assume a round or two of these games would only last a few minutes, but keeping the camera and/or light on would quickly drain even the biggest phone battery.
 

CaitSeith

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Looks like a fun idea. Let's see how well they execute it.
 

Frankster

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This looks pretty cool.

My main beef is that I live in a tiny flat, not a lot of room to be running away from monsters and ghosts so I'm kinda screwed. This would be fucking amazing in a big house though, and could be lulzy to play with friends in the right mood, like say for a halloween event.
 
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That looks pretty cool actually. Well, the concept looks cool (the pre-funding props look crap). I look forward to see where they go with this, it has the potential to be really creepy.
 

Skeleon

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Sounds a bit like a combination of Ghostfacers with an old-timey FMV-game. Could be fun, although I'm not exactly a fan of FMV-games, but the AR-elements might be nifty.
 

Nuuu

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Darn it, everytime I think of a neat game design idea, i find it on the Escapist 2 to 3 months later. Of course my idea would be a lot harder to pull off, but I can dream.

Why leave it at just the phone? Have it also be a game played on the computer/console with the player having headphones on. Every once in a while, simulate noises coming from outside the room/inside the house (would be hard to do). The player must then soon find a safe place in game while they take out their phone and search their house for the disturbance before it is too late.
Also if i've learned anything from comments, it's that reliance on jump scares isn't a good tactic. Focus on making the player not feel safe in their own home even after playing the game.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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I went in for $100, simply because i had the money and I think this could potentially be the next Silent Hill, now that Silent Hill is officially over.
 

Lil_Rimmy

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I have to say, if they get enough funding, there's an amazing idea I've had. Apart from Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu's awesome idea for combining both the computer and the phone.

Pretty much, you map out the house, and set everything up. Then you get all the phones and connect them together so they all display the same things. Then you and your friends have to wander round and survive/win/whatever the hell. I can imagine this game would be brilliant with friends because of everyone panicking the moment someone spots something, but it really wouldn't work unless all of the phones were synced up.

Still, awesome idea, I'd play the hell out of it.
 

Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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Silentpony said:
I went in for $100, simply because i had the money and I think this could potentially be the next Silent Hill, now that Silent Hill is officially over.
I respect your right to personally consider the Silent Hill franchise dead (I certainly wouldn't blame you) but it's far from being "officially" over. Konami's last statement said that they are still committed to creating more games in the series, despite the cancellation of Kojima's Silent Hills.
 

Jadak

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Nothing against the overall idea, but this bit seems like a problem:

Your device's LED is all the light you get.
Don't those lights have a tendency to be incredibly bright and room illuminating? I assume we're talking about the camera flash light that all those flashlight apps use, and I've yet to see one that has a 'dim' option, leading me to assume that the only options are off/bright as hell.
 

Strazdas

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May 28, 2011
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Jadak said:
Don't those lights have a tendency to be incredibly bright and room illuminating? I assume we're talking about the camera flash light that all those flashlight apps use, and I've yet to see one that has a 'dim' option, leading me to assume that the only options are off/bright as hell.
Your phone can control the dimness of the LED. When using it as a Flash for photos the more light the better, obviuosly. however the control is there. For example the flashlight app i use when i ahve to go through a dark area sometimes has 3 different dimness settings that work quite well.
 

Infernal Lawyer

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Looks promising enough, but as has been said it doesn't look like it'll be any good in a small flat. Still, no reason why you HAVE to play it at home. I may keep an eye on this.