How to Make A Slasher Video Game

[Jorpho]

Isn't this what Lucius or Lucius II tried to do?

I've read that the AI in Lucius II is unfortunately kind of broken such that instead of trying to lure NPCs into your clever traps, it's actually much easier to just throw a box of poisoned donuts into their paths.

 

[Zydrate]

Until Dawn was another one of those games I liked watching more than playing. Though even I got annoyed at all these 'friends' trying to scare each other. Made no sense. Like, you're here a year after one of your jump scares got two people killed. Reel it in a little.

 

[ExileNZ]

How to Make A Slasher Video Game

Until Dawn is probably the best David Cage-style 'interactive story' type game I've played. Which sounds like damning with faint praise, and almost certainly is.

Read Full Article

So your ideal slasher game is basically Ghost Master, but with blood and guts - maybe crossed with Manhunt or Condemned.

Just in case you're not familiar, Ghost Master was basically like Sims, except instead of the omniscient being running their lives, you're basically some sadistic phantom whose whole raison d'être is scarring them for life.
So basically it's like Sims, but when you've gotten bored of all the usual stuff.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I personally really enjoyed Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls, I like these types of games in general. I remember there actually WAS a horror game in development where you played as a killer for the PS2 and Xbox called "Campfire".

Fahrenheit (AKA Indigo Prophecy) on the PS2 wasn't too bad either. David Cage's second game I think. The one thing that bothered me was that for all its bark about branching storytelling, you only have any significant agency at the very end, and even then you can just reload 3 minutes back in time and go for a different ending. Basically you're sticking to a script no matter what, and your "choices" are there to flavor the cutscenes.

 

[Muspelheim]

And then the mass media would decry it as a murder simulator. Which means it will never get made outside an indie game.

Heh, my first idea how to counterbalance that a bit was setting the game in Nazi Germany or occupied France. Drunk young SS-volunteers would probably be a lot like Slasher film teenagers, perhaps while standing more of a chance against Stabby McGee. Could include some scenic ski resort in the Alps, or some 'requisitioned' French pleasure palace.

"USE (X) the Reich Eagle to Collapse it when someone walks past. +100 Phwoar!-points."

 

[nitrium oxide]

So basically what you're saying is that your ideal slasher game is, as near as I can tell, pretty much IDENTICAL to the core gameplay of Hitman (except, uhm, you're killing teens and are forced to get "Silent Assassin" on every level), a game that came out in 2000 and has had like 5 sequels? Why not just say I want a slightly tweaked "Hitman" game, but with teen targets?

"Obviously the main objective is to sneak through Chad's party house and murder the targeted teen, but there are going to be a lot of other horny teens in Chad's party house, and if any of them discover your presence and get away from the mission area long enough to call the police then you'll have failed. So naturally you'll want to lure away and kill all the other teens surrounding your target before any of them can realize something's up, almost as if it's a standard slasher movie or something.
It'd be a score based game, and you'd earn points by killing your victims in the most creative ways - waiting for them to stand next to the garbage disposal or the side of a speeding train, you know the drill - and by killing them at the right dramatic moment. "

 

[FPLOON]

So, Naughty Bear but with humans instead of teddybears, and some more elements?

Basically the first thing I thought Yahtzee was referring to...

And make it class based, so you can be a Norman Bates, a Freddy Krueger, or a Jigsaw, with extra skill trees and equipment for each.

That would definitely give the game more of a choice system the more skill trees you try to focus on while you basically murder an entire town of teenagers both "native", "tourist", and all those in-between depending on which teen-based twists ends up happening throughout one's playthrough... It can even have a section where you can "recruit" other teens to "work" for you so that no one can fully figure out your "killer identity", for example...

 

[1981]

I had a similar (though less violent) concept for a game like this awhile back were you play as a ghost trying to scare people out of your big old mansion that's been converted into flats (or student accommodation).

Me too. Already mentioned this in another thread, but I'd like to see a sequel or spiritual successor to Murdered: Soul Suspect. In the introduction, it said something about your talents in life becoming your superpowers in death. But all ghosts had the same powers. Limiting them would allow for different approaches. Say, if you were an extrovert, you'd lack the power of invisibility. You'd be able to spook people by simply being in the right place at the right time. But you'd have to work harder in situations that require a stealthy approach.

Any setting would do. Maybe you could play as Abigail...

Spoiler

...who used her ability to pick out mediums to turn them in for witchcraft. Her father then started using her to dispose of his enemies, and she was hanged for false accusations. You could either choose to continue your work to rid the world of "witches", or realize you were wrong and (try to) redeem yourself.

Getting around the "murder simulator" thing would be simply to give the protagonist-killer a sympathetic motive of sorts, as far as such things go. Have the protagonist be cursed or something, and some eventual meta plot leading to them being freed from their curse at the conclusion of the game.

Pretty much, yeah. Of course you could discover that you simply like killing innocent people for no reason.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Dammit, beaten to mentioning Party Hard three times over. That game looks interesting, if rather rough at the moment.

What movie are those screenshots from? It looks vaguely familiar but I can't place it.

If this is a case of sarcasm not translating via text, please correct me, but those aren't from a movie. They're in-game screenshots from Until Dawn.

 

[RJ 17]

Two things:

1: I find the image of Jason creeping through the darkness - Mr. Whiskers in hand - waiting for someone to open the door so he can throw the cat in their face to be surprisingly hilarious.

2: This definitely sounds like a game I would buy and enjoy the crap out of. You could even get bonus points for recreating scenes from famous slasher films...like shoving an arrow through a bed to pierce it through Kevin Bacon's throat!

Edit:
Ooooo! You could even have it allow you to pick just which type of killer you are! Are you the classic insane asylum escapee, just broken out and looking to immediately get back in the swing of things? Are you the disfigured, undead monolith lumbering around and impossible to truly stop? Are you the creepy, disgruntled old man who lives in the creepy, run-down house in the cul-de-sac where only one house stands? Or are you the jealous and vengeful ex-boyfriend who decides the best way to get back at the girl that dumped him is to completely butcher his entire circle of friends?

Each "class" has its pros and cons, bonuses and weaknesses! Someone needs to make this game happen...NOW!

 

[sageoftruth]

So...you basically want a GOOD Hitman game with a slasher film skin over it?

I'm down for that.

Only this time, you're encouraged the scare the crap out of your victims, rather strike when they suspect nothing.

 

[sageoftruth]

How to Make A Slasher Video Game

Until Dawn is probably the best David Cage-style 'interactive story' type game I've played. Which sounds like damning with faint praise, and almost certainly is.

Read Full Article

So your ideal slasher game is basically Ghost Master, but with blood and guts - maybe crossed with Manhunt or Condemned.

Just in case you're not familiar, Ghost Master was basically like Sims, except instead of the omniscient being running their lives, you're basically some sadistic phantom whose whole raison d'être is scarring them for life.
So basically it's like Sims, but when you've gotten bored of all the usual stuff.

Only with a hint of stealth.

 

[Coruptin]

CHAD MURDER SIMULATOR

The fire rises, brother

 

[WhiteNachos]

I would so buy this game, it would be amazing.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I've been saying the same kind of thing forever. Of course it's nice that someone with some video game notoriety has basically just described my dream Jason Voorhees game. I do wish for the license though.

Good article Yahtzee!

 

[zombiejoe]

Pretty sure Naughty Bear already tried this twice, Yahtzee.

 

[BrainBlow]

All we have to do is stop pretending that these actions are in any way heroic or justifiable. Fuck it, say I. Let's just kill people as unjustifiably as possible.

Pretty sure I remember Yahtzee doing one of these opinion pieces once where he condemned this attitude when it comes to killable NPCs in Skyrim, ragging on people's desire for kid NPCs to be mortal.

 

[SilverUchiha]

But I feel such a concept misses the point of the slash-genre. The reason the monster/killer is so terrifying and imposing is because we know so little about it. It just comes and unleashes wrath and hell upon us or the unsuspecting victims. By playing as it, it becomes less scary and feels more like a murder-sandbox game akin to Prototype or inFamous. Granted, that's your point, but it certainly wouldn't fit the horror genre at that point.