Addition of Horror Elements

[DemonGroover 8836]

I have just watched the recent PC Gamer live stream and one of the comments Rocket made greatly intrigued me. That of adding horror elements to the game. Rocket stated examples such as random lights flickering, or walking into a house which for some reason has power and a TV is left on. He didnt state these would be added to the game however.

This got me thinking about other subtle horror elements that could be added, things that would increase tension and paranoia but not be a direct threat (the threat being in your head).

Some quick ideas:

People hanging (suicide) from trees, or in barns

Pits full of dead bodies

Distant cries for help

What do you think?

[Psyl3nt 125]

YES !

and

YES !

absolutely, that kind of thing would just be sooooo awesome, to sneak into a house at night, and *click* shhhhhhhhh, the tv switches on to static by itself, dimly illuminating the house and outside you hear strange noises and "funny" lights flickering in the bush....

[Serrath 0]

Absolutely! Once he implements power plants this is going to be fantastic.

He also mentioned in a previous interview having dismemberment with zombies, I feel like once they stop zig-zagging that'd be a great feature to add some horror.

Blood trails, bloody handprints/footprints...

More grotesque/decaying zombies, corpses in houses. (I think the zombie part here is actually already in the plan, sort of a lifecycle thing.)

Ambient animal noises that disappear near zombies.

Zombies rattling chain-link fences, rustling leaves, making wooden steps creak, etc. when they touch these objects.

---

People hanging (suicide) from trees' date=' or in barns

[/quote']

Yes! I'd like to see people inside at a chair with a pistol or a shotgun or something, slumped over the table with a head wound and flies buzzing about.

Pits full of dead bodies

These already exist' date=' mostly in big piles in military areas. They also have lots of body bags all lined up, which is a great touch. A little better lighting would go a long way to make these scenes more striking.

Distant cries for help

Actually not a fan of this one; screams would be interesting, but I'd rather it was kept real, no random ambient cries for help. Maybe when a player takes a particularly rough hit from a zombie he/she screams, alerting nearby players and zombies. (Suddenly your hatchet isn't 100% stealth anymore. Crossbow's looking pretty useful again, isn't it?)

[BloodPhoenix 0]

So much yes. I also saw a post about thick fog being added recently on the forum, and I REALLY want to see that added with this.

[Serrath 0]

So much yes. I also saw a post about thick fog being added recently on the forum' date=' and I REALLY want to see that added with this.

[/quote']

Fog's coming in 1.7.2. Let 'em know if it's thick enough. Get psyched!!

[DemonGroover 8836]

You could definitely pump up the paranoia with fog.

Other things to freak out players:

Totally random items in the middle of lonely roads - upturned prams, wheelchairs, etc

Empty, blood stained, candle lit cabins in the middle of woods, mountains

Some buildings having security lights that suddenly come on when you get close at night.

Subtle, unobtrussive things that give you pause to think and possibly shit yourself.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

Little girl crying in the corner of a building, but when you approach her she ends up being infected and tries to eat your face.

Having zombies inside buildings not make noise until they're disturbed.

Hoard of zombies crammed into one of the small buildings. Silent as well.

[Psyl3nt 125]

these ideas are all so good....

i think a little wee came out

:P

Corpses hanging from trees etc

there is just so much that could be done with it.

Though all that kind of thing adds to the processing requirements, but maybe with a better optimised system.....

[DemonGroover 8836]

Little girl crying in the corner of a building' date=' but when you approach her she ends up being infected and tries to eat your face.

Having zombies inside buildings not make noise until they're disturbed.

Hoard of zombies crammed into one of the small buildings. Silent as well.

[/quote']

Oh man, that just reminded me of that scene in I Am Legend (the crap Will Smith movie) where he shines a torch into a room and sees about 12 creatures facing a wall. I shat myself when i first saw that!

[Max Planck 7174]

I totally support this thread, up the fear!

The first time I watched 28 Days Later I had just smoked a little spliff and thought I was about to watch a light comedy. Boy, was I surprised.

"Don't drive into that tunnel, noo!" What are you thinking?!"

I would love if DayZ could recreate that suffocating feeling of paranoia.

[vesmo 21]

I have just watched the recent PC Gamer live stream and one of the comments Rocket made greatly intrigued me. That of adding horror elements to the game. Rocket stated examples such as random lights flickering' date=' or walking into a house which for some reason has power and a TV is left on. He didnt state these would be added to the game however.

This got me thinking about other subtle horror elements that could be added, things that would increase tension and paranoia but not be a direct threat (the threat being in your head).

Some quick ideas:

People hanging (suicide) from trees, or in barns

Pits full of dead bodies

Distant cries for help

What do you think?

[/quote']

I like the other stuff, except for the cries for help. That can sometimes happen with real human players as they are eaten alive by zombies. I think if you add something like that as scripted ppl will eventually recognize it and it will just take away from the atmosphere....now when you are going through a town and ACTUALLY hear somebody being eaten alive, that is the beauty of this game. At least imo.

[fundan@gmx.de 82]

...make it happen!

[DemonGroover 8836]

I have just watched the recent PC Gamer live stream and one of the comments Rocket made greatly intrigued me. That of adding horror elements to the game. Rocket stated examples such as random lights flickering' date=' or walking into a house which for some reason has power and a TV is left on. He didnt state these would be added to the game however.

This got me thinking about other subtle horror elements that could be added, things that would increase tension and paranoia but not be a direct threat (the threat being in your head).

Some quick ideas:

People hanging (suicide) from trees, or in barns

Pits full of dead bodies

Distant cries for help

What do you think?

[/quote']

I like the other stuff, except for the cries for help. That can sometimes happen with real human players as they are eaten alive by zombies. I think if you add something like that as scripted ppl will eventually recognize it and it will just take away from the atmosphere....now when you are going through a town and ACTUALLY hear somebody being eaten alive, that is the beauty of this game. At least imo.

I agree, in hindsight the cries for help isnt something i would want. A cry for help should mean that someone is there.

[Rokor Fenix 143]

Defiantly. I want the shit scared out of me while I fear for my life!

[Krosof (DayZ) 1]

Little girl crying in the corner of a building' date=' but when you approach her she ends up being infected and tries to eat your face.

Having zombies inside buildings not make noise until they're disturbed.

Hoard of zombies crammed into one of the small buildings. Silent as well.

[/quote']

Dude I dont want any Left 4 dead shit with a girl cry thing....

[DevilDog (DayZ) 455]

You walk into a cabin in the middle of no where. No zombie threat in site. You open the door to the cabin and sneak in. Pick up some rounds laying on the living room floor. You hear a noise from the kitchen. Go in and the sink is running. The former owner is in a chair with his wrists cut, dead. You turn to go into the bedroom and the dead guy rises from his chair and attacks you. You turn and put two bullets in his head as his wife and two teenage kids wonder in from the bedrooms and also attack you.

Shit like that would be awesome. There are some great ideas in this thread.

[Raskol 0]

There are indeed some top ideas in here. I think sound design is really important for creating atmosphere - they have already done a great job with the in game music. I think I would like to see more animals/wildlife, especially ones with noisy footsteps. - in the forest at night, that would really creep me out. I also thought maybe some infected could occasionally sleep (standing up) in groups in forest areas at night.

[kingssooted@gmail.com 16]

Either random babies ingame that cry when zombies get close to them, and then the zombies proceed to eat them and you hear a baby scream in terror, then silence.

or..

Just a random ambient noise of a baby crying for a couple seconds once every 20 or 40 minutes when you are in a city and or near the hospital.

Also just a thought, maybe also equally random and spaced out baby laughing sound effect. I think that would be really creepy. What the hell does that baby think is so funny?!

[Dreganius (DayZ) 55]

I have a few suggestions for this, but note that not all of them will work well together:

- A fear element that causes you to hallucinate when you're truly scared. You see shit from the corner of your eyes that isn't really there, hear whispering, and noises that aren't near you, etc.

- Harmless spectres that appear and disappear randomly (NPC AI with a semi-transparent texture map placed in the luminosity attribute) wandering around the woods at night/near where a player was killed (10% chance to spawn a ghost on death maybe?).

- Howls and noises in the distance, both ambience and real sounds (player screams, etc)

- Zombies make less noise when they're alert to your presence, and don't make any noise at the point where they've just discovered you. As it is, I can tell the moment a zed has discovered me without being able to see them, because of a specific set of noises they only make when they've aggro'd.

[alexander_q 6]

- A fear element that causes you to hallucinate when you're truly scared. You see shit from the corner of your eyes that isn't really there' date=' hear whispering, and noises that aren't near you, etc.

[/quote']

I don't know about you, but I've played this game so much I've started to hallucinate sometimes already. My flatmate once swore to me that the zombies were talking to him, swearing at him.

I'd like to see zombies able to overpower you, which forces you into first-person so you get to see them snapping at you up-close and personal.

[dantoramandova 19]

Horror elements should NOT be made by the game itself, but by the PLAYERS.

There is a story that I saw about a survivor finding a small light in the middle of the woods. It was a dark night and he followed the light until he saw a camp fire. Around it, he saw two bandits carrying hatchets, circling the fire, chanting strange words he could not understand. He watched as they dragged an unlucky sob around the fire, blood spewing out of his neck. As he finally regained conciousness he yelled out into direct chat, "JUST KILL ME DAMNIT!" They hatcheted him again to put him back into unconciousness. He obviously had his legs broken and couldn't escape, but he strangely maintained his life.

The survivor neared, unfortunately with no weapon, and saw the deadly truth: they were blood packing the victim, over and over and over again... At last, for one final time, the victim regained conciousness and killed himself by respawning, the sound of flies emerging at last.

The bandits then turned towards the darkest depths of the woods and said, "you're next."

The player has never alt-f4ed faster in his entire life...

Events like these shouldn't be quick time events or scripted in: these should be encouraged in small subtle ways, at first not seeming frightening, but in combination and with the crafty minds of players, we can create the most frightening things we've ever experienced.

The sight of hanging bodies/flickering TVs/flickering lights/floating objects is so fucking boring compared to the stories and events that WE the players can create. Nothing can prepare you for something that is completely uncontrollable and random. Encourage this type of emergent gameplay and twist it into something horrific and you can create the most frightening experience that makes even Amnesia: The Dark Descent, defecate its pants.

[alexander_q 6]

^Holy shit

[Nasty Wet Smear 4]

Giving one in a million zombies some more 'human' elements can be creepy... Suddenly and jarringly reminds the player that these are people and, but for the grace of God, goes thee. Maybe weeping? Begging? Confused words?

The key would be not to hear it often or clearly... Make it something that a player is forced to ask themselves: "Did... I just hear that or imagine it?"

Put jarringly real situations in as well. Churches should be full of the dead, as people seek religion during the final hours. Hopsitals should be blocked with the dead, undead and dying living. Maybe, through a door, a patient who can't pull themselves off the bed is devoured by a zombie? Prisons... Prisoners starved to death, maybe still twitching, in their cells. One or two infected pawing at bars as they reach out for you?

People are likley to die at home, either defending it or just taken by surprise... Or suicide. Corpses in easy chairs in front of picture albums, bottles of pills and whiskey next to them, covered in their own bile and passings? Face down on desks with empty revolvers in their hands? Childrens bedrooms with soft, weeping, growling noises on the other side?... Or maybe just evidence that there really was a monster under the bed, and it happened to be Mum and Dad? Touchy subject, but if done with care, very usettling in a GOOD way.

Screams of panic and "No" in the distance, cut short? Corpses more clearly... Devoured? Maybe even zombies that were clearly 'other survivors'? Backpacks (empty), weapons (ruined by rain and blood and muck) and cans of empty food tell a tale of desperation and inevitability. Traffic jams with car after card piled up, the dead still at the wheel, trapped like a delicious, fleshy sardine situation?

... Maybe.

[Dreganius (DayZ) 55]

Horror elements should NOT be made by the game itself' date=' but by the PLAYERS.

There is a story that I saw about a survivor finding a small light in the middle of the woods. It was a dark night and he followed the light until he saw a camp fire. Around it, he saw two bandits carrying hatchets, circling the fire, chanting strange words he could not understand. He watched as they dragged an unlucky sob around the fire, blood spewing out of his neck. As he finally regained conciousness he yelled out into direct chat, "JUST KILL ME DAMNIT!" They hatcheted him again to put him back into unconciousness. He obviously had his legs broken and couldn't escape, but he strangely maintained his life.

The survivor neared, unfortunately with no weapon, and saw the deadly truth: they were blood packing the victim, over and over and over again... At last, for one final time, the victim regained conciousness and killed himself by respawning, the sound of flies emerging at last.

The bandits then turned towards the darkest depths of the woods and said, "you're next."

The player has never alt-f4ed faster in his entire life...

Events like these shouldn't be quick time events or scripted in: these should be encouraged in small subtle ways, at first not seeming frightening, but in combination and with the crafty minds of players, we can create the most frightening things we've ever experienced.

The sight of hanging bodies/flickering TVs/flickering lights/floating objects is so fucking boring compared to the stories and events that WE the players can create. Nothing can prepare you for something that is completely uncontrollable and random. Encourage this type of emergent gameplay and twist it into something horrific and you can create the most frightening experience that makes even Amnesia: The Dark Descent, defecate its pants.

[/quote']

I'm reporting you for making me wet myself. Joking, +1 for a damn good read, makes me want to play an evil evil evil bandit.

[DemonGroover 8836]

Horror elements should NOT be made by the game itself' date=' but by the PLAYERS.

There is a story that I saw about a survivor finding a small light in the middle of the woods. It was a dark night and he followed the light until he saw a camp fire. Around it, he saw two bandits carrying hatchets, circling the fire, chanting strange words he could not understand. He watched as they dragged an unlucky sob around the fire, blood spewing out of his neck. As he finally regained conciousness he yelled out into direct chat, "JUST KILL ME DAMNIT!" They hatcheted him again to put him back into unconciousness. He obviously had his legs broken and couldn't escape, but he strangely maintained his life.

The survivor neared, unfortunately with no weapon, and saw the deadly truth: they were blood packing the victim, over and over and over again... At last, for one final time, the victim regained conciousness and killed himself by respawning, the sound of flies emerging at last.

The bandits then turned towards the darkest depths of the woods and said, "you're next."

The player has never alt-f4ed faster in his entire life...

Events like these shouldn't be quick time events or scripted in: these should be encouraged in small subtle ways, at first not seeming frightening, but in combination and with the crafty minds of players, we can create the most frightening things we've ever experienced.

The sight of hanging bodies/flickering TVs/flickering lights/floating objects is so fucking boring compared to the stories and events that WE the players can create. Nothing can prepare you for something that is completely uncontrollable and random. Encourage this type of emergent gameplay and twist it into something horrific and you can create the most frightening experience that makes even Amnesia: The Dark Descent, defecate its pants.

[/quote']

Wow! Well, if it is true.

Has Day Z produced its first Urban Legend??