The Common Mistakes of Horror Games
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
And once again Yahtzee is totally right. Damn you!
"Mein Fuhrer! I can walk!"
Heil Yahtzee! I want to live in Yahtopia...
"Mein Fuhrer! I can walk!"
Heil Yahtzee! I want to live in Yahtopia...
Switch that, he was talking about basing a movie on a game, like the Silent Hill film, Hitman, and various Uwe Boll abominations. Those have at best been not too terrible, but I can't think of a good oneSilverUchiha said:
I think that action in cutscenes are ok as long as they end at the scene's most awesome point, and from there on you can play it. It's ok to show a bunch of bad guys breaking in and the main character diving to cover in slow-mo, but after he's behind the kitchen counter holding an uzi in each hand, let me control what happens next.
You're talking about games adapted from films, whereas he said films adapted like games. Big difference.
"Whenever a film has been adapted from a game, it has, without exception, resulted in something so hideous that only rampant fun-haters from the planet Puritan could tolerate it to exist."
Golden Eye was ace, Spiderman 2 was alot of fun, and alot of the star wars games have been good.
Golden Eye was ace, Spiderman 2 was alot of fun, and alot of the star wars games have been good.
Yes.. just yes. The music thing is definitely annoying. Developers may as well be using a huge flashing pop-up on the screen saying "Danger here!" or "Okay, no more danger!" when they do this. I appreciate what they are trying to do but, as said in the article, it just doesn't really work in games. If you're going to do it, do it like it was done in the old RE games where the "safe rooms" had the "No Danger" music and that was it.
And triple yes to the comment about cutscenes. Unless there is absolutely no way for them developers to render a scene in gameplay terms (and I'd argue if they feel that then they just aren't trying hard enough), do not show me cool stuff I want to do in a cutscene. At the least make it sort of triggered cutscene like in God Of War where there is action I can't possibly do in game but it's wrapped up in standard gameplay.
And triple yes to the comment about cutscenes. Unless there is absolutely no way for them developers to render a scene in gameplay terms (and I'd argue if they feel that then they just aren't trying hard enough), do not show me cool stuff I want to do in a cutscene. At the least make it sort of triggered cutscene like in God Of War where there is action I can't possibly do in game but it's wrapped up in standard gameplay.
I think you got it the other way around. He's talking about videogames made in to movies and his point as far as I can see it is:SilverUchiha said:
1. Videogames don't make good movies, they don't translate well.
2. Why then would it work to make games like movies, they are not the same medieum.
If you look at the licence games that haven't failed misserably, it's the ones that step away from trying to be "the movie but a game".
It's not irrelevant, cause his point was that doing the same thing all the time is not a good idea, that is not limited to a single genre. Also, just because he did like it in one game doesn't mean he thinks it's a good idea for them all, and he did say he was surprised he didn't grew tired of it in Fallout3.Edward123454321 said:
I agree mostly with his points, though cinematic games can be great fun if done in a good way. I think the way Allan Wake is made like a Twin Peaks TV-show is awesome, not because it lifts the game by being the best and most logical way to end a chapter, but because it's a tribute to shows like Twin Peaks. Just like how I loved how Max Payne was a Film Noir tribute and Sin City was basically a full length tribute to the comic
FEAR is a great example of how not to do a horror game. Every scary moment is telegraphed by your radio glitching out. The developers made it so that any player that isn't a retard could easily tell "oh, this is the scary section," "oh, this is the shooty section" which made it so that none of them ever had any tension.
The only thing i disagree with is the ending line, aka. quick time events and cutscenes. It can be done terribly of course (like in Wet), but looking back at Fahrenheit for a moment, not all of the Quick Time events in cutscenes there were bad (some where). Heavy Rain did a better job at it because you often were much more in control than in Fahrenheit.
What i prefer the most is Quick Time events that isn't a part of a cutscene per se, but more a part of the gameplay where part of the controls is taken partially (and suddenly) away from the player, inducing a state a panic if you will. Thinking back on the scene in Dead Space where you are grabbed by the legs by a giant tentacle and it starts pulling you, and you have to shoot it. Okay, shooting it isn't exactly a standard QTE, but:
1) It happens suddenly, and not just in the middle of a cutscene where we have been sitting staring bored at the screen for 1-2 minutes.
2) It takes away some control from you (in this case, you lose control of movement), and therefore shifts the focus more intensely to another kind of control (shooting).
3) The tension is there, because even with some of the control taken away you, you are still PLAYING (which QTE's in cutscenes can hardly be classified as).
What i prefer the most is Quick Time events that isn't a part of a cutscene per se, but more a part of the gameplay where part of the controls is taken partially (and suddenly) away from the player, inducing a state a panic if you will. Thinking back on the scene in Dead Space where you are grabbed by the legs by a giant tentacle and it starts pulling you, and you have to shoot it. Okay, shooting it isn't exactly a standard QTE, but:
1) It happens suddenly, and not just in the middle of a cutscene where we have been sitting staring bored at the screen for 1-2 minutes.
2) It takes away some control from you (in this case, you lose control of movement), and therefore shifts the focus more intensely to another kind of control (shooting).
3) The tension is there, because even with some of the control taken away you, you are still PLAYING (which QTE's in cutscenes can hardly be classified as).
I don't mean to troll, but you're not the first so I would just like everyone to maybe try some reading comprhension tests or something, and I mean that in the nicest please don't ban me for coming off mean way possible.Capt_Jack_Doicy said:
That is one thing I loved about Penumbra. The tense music and sounds were constantly keeping you on edge even though half the rooms were empty.
Huh, so it seems you do that too eh? What about throwing objects at NPC's while they are talking to you? That's always a laugh.Yahtzee Croshaw said:
Anyway, good article. I find myself agreeing with you much, much more in Extra Punctuation than I do with ZP. Although I guess it is obvious why.
Great article, Yah-man (hey, Yahtopia sounds silly too, ok?)! I agree with your points entirely, though I don't think they'll happen very soon: not everyone has Valve's designing talent 
Also, I remember having played a game once where you could toggle the frequency of slow-motion when killing dudes. I think it was in the Jedi Knight series (only played Outcast and Academy) that you could do this, though not entirely sure. Also, Max Payne did it well, only involuntarily going in slow motion when you killed the last of the bad guys in the important parts (like, not everytime you killed the last guy in a section).
Also, I remember having played a game once where you could toggle the frequency of slow-motion when killing dudes. I think it was in the Jedi Knight series (only played Outcast and Academy) that you could do this, though not entirely sure. Also, Max Payne did it well, only involuntarily going in slow motion when you killed the last of the bad guys in the important parts (like, not everytime you killed the last guy in a section).
Someone posting a custom-made "inspirational" poster on this thread in 10... 9...Not G. Ivingname said: