After discussion, the official name of the new game was determined to be Once Upon a Time in the Mountain Village.

It's a suspenseful horror game.

The gameplay is a hodgepodge, not only the puzzle exploration gameplay of traditional suspense horror games, but also some more special gameplay, such as parkour, real-time battles and so on.

"Parkour?"

"Yes, parkour!"

Chen Ba explained: "Compared with other horror games, the map of Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village will be relatively large, and the entire village including the back mountain is still quite large. ”

Why do you want to make such a big picture?

In other horror games, the story basically takes place in a house, or a separate building, and there is not much room for movement. When in danger, either dig into the cabinet or lie under the bed......

This is also through the narrow activity space, so that players have a sense of insecurity and crisis.

To put it bluntly, horror games are better off not having too big map scenes!

However, Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village is unconventional, making a large map in the game, and the scope of the player's exploration activities is no longer limited to a single building, but an entire village.

This made Xiao Lu, Liu Jinfu and others very puzzled, why do you want to make such a big map? Does Brother Ba want to create a so-called semi-open world in a horror game?

The result is for parkour!

In Chen Ba's words, the reason why the map of "Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village" is so large is mainly to facilitate players to parkour and hide when they are chased by monsters.

"Peek-a-boo?"

"That's right, the classic horror gameplay, you chase me, you hide from me......"

Chen Ba explained: "Horror games all have chase elements to stimulate the adrenaline of players. Especially when a bloody face suddenly appeared on the screen, scaring players into panicking, it was a tried-and-true story. ”

"Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village" strengthens this bridge, and the hide and seek link is very crucial.

The village looks big, but when you actually visit it, you feel small. When the player is frightened or stimulated and flees in a panic, the village is not as vast as expected.

And there's a horror element to it!

Chen Ba tried to depict a scene: the player was frightened and stimulated in building A, was chased by monsters and fled to building B to escape, heard the footsteps getting quieter and quieter, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but turned his head to look......

"The monster is right in front of you?"

"No!"

Chen Ba said with a smile: "A family of four wearing shrouds and makeup that looks like dead people is sitting around a wooden table, and there are bloody heads on the wooden table, and I can't see what animal ...... clearly."

When this family of four looked at the player in unison, the sense of horror came.

When the player is chased out of the door by a family of four with a kitchen knife in his hand, and sees a series of low stone houses and wooden houses not far away in the dark night, they will feel the third shock and excitement.

"I roughly understand ......"

Liu Jinfu said thoughtfully: "Brother Ba, you want to create a sense of horror that although the village is very large, the player has nowhere to stay, and even feels that every place is a tiger's den in Longtan?" ”

"That's pretty much it!"

Chen Ba nodded and said: "The game is divided into two situations: day and night, and the villagers are all smiling during the day, just that kind and kind feeling." ”

"At night, everyone is expressionless, dead, and their faces are as white as paper, and they don't see the slightest bit of anger......"

That's why the map is made big.

When Chen Ba was a child, he once went to visit relatives with Lao Chen, because Lao Chen drank and made a mistake, so it was already midnight when he returned to the village.

It just so happened that there was no moon that night.

It was pitch black, standing at the entrance of the village and looking at the village, you could vaguely see rows of houses, like a mouthful of cannibalistic blood, with a strong sense of terror.

But that's not the point, the point is that in this terrifying atmosphere, Chen Ba, who was less than ten years old at the time, subconsciously wanted to grab Lao Chen's sleeves, but turned his head to see that Lao Chen was gone.

"I was scared to cry, and my dad just went to pee on the grass next to me!"

Chen Ba finished talking about his personal experience, and then mentioned a very key setting: strangeness in a foreign land!

The protagonist of the game grew up in this village, so he will be a little more daring. But the player who controls the protagonist, hiding behind the screen, has been to this village before?

No!

For the player, every plant and tree in this village is unfamiliar, and it is precisely because of the strangeness and unfamiliarity that the sense of horror will be strengthened.

Think about it a little differently.

If the player is allowed to experience the experience of the protagonist on the spot, I am afraid that before the first puzzle is solved, they will already be scared unconscious as soon as it gets dark.

Of course!

How to create a terrifying atmosphere and guide the player's adrenaline rush is a deep science, and it is not something that can be explained in a few words.

The story is one thing, the graphics are another, and the sound is also a crucial part!

In addition to this, there are details......

For example, scattered paper money, paper figures in the corners, bloodstained strips of cloth, mysterious paw prints and footprints, deep and shallow footsteps, and so on.

All the elements come together to make a good horror game.

By the way.

Horror games don't have to be visually scary creatures or ghosts in the real sense.

Psychological horror is greater than visual horror!

A really good horror game is actually that there are no supernatural phenomena or things in the whole process, and it has always been through psychological cues and atmosphere creation, allowing players to scare themselves.

"Scare yourself?"

"It's a good concept, like those more popular horror games, which do a good job of that." Xiao Lu agreed.

"If you can ignore those underlying psychological cues and ignore the impact of the environment on you, the so-called horror game is as simple as a snake."

Luo Ji, who has not spoken much, has a deep understanding of this: "Different people have different adaptability to this aspect. ”

Some people are naturally bold.

So these people play horror games, at most there will be a little adrenaline rush thrill, but to say that they are scared by psychological cues and environmental atmosphere, it is impossible.

"Is there such a person?"

"Yes!"

Chen Ba replied: "The world is so big that there are no surprises, and there are indeed those people in this world who only feel excited when playing horror games, and do not feel scared or panicked. ”

But then again, this kind of person is too rare.

Out of 10,000 people, I'm afraid it's hard to find one such person. Most people have a hard time going against their physical instincts and are afraid of the unknown.

"Otherwise, I'd better quit this project, I'm too timid, I'm afraid I can't keep up with your pace!" Xiao Lu said weakly.

"Cowardly? That's exactly ......."

Chen Ba smiled and said: "You are timid, then you don't want to run away!" There's never been a better time for someone like you to test out horror games! ”

Is the game qualified or not?

That depends on whether this game can scare Xiao Lu and make him cry, then it can be considered a success! If there is no response at the end of Xiaolu's test, the game will not be released at all.

"Please be a man!"

Xiao Lu wailed: "I know that I am cowardly, I have been afraid of these things since I was a child, and you still let me be a tester, do you still have humanity?" ”

"Why don't I be a human being?"

"You're not the only tester, we'll find a few more people to test when the time comes......"

Xiao Lu is a gallant group, and in addition to this, a "normal group" and a "bold group" should also be set up.

Through the comparison of these three sets of tests, we can analyze the real situation of the game and how terrifying the game is.

It's not a mess!

Many people may think that horror games are naturally as scary as possible, and the scary the better.

But this is a misconception!

Horror games have an interval value, and the horror level is too low to lose the meaning of horror games, and such a game is a failure.

At the same time, if the level of horror is too high, it is easy to induce heart disease or even other diseases in players, and it is also a failed horror game.

More than just failure!

It's easy to scare people out.,Too scary games.,Maybe you can't pass the trial normally.,Directly stillborn.。

Therefore, horror games must grasp the degree of it, not too scary, nor not scary at all.

"So how terrifying is it that is more appropriate?" Xiao Lu asked.

"It's easy!"

"Even the more daring players who can bear it will be scared out of a cold sweat, and this is the appropriate level of horror."

Chen Ba explained: "Normal players will have a rapid heartbeat and adrenaline rush in the face of this kind of horror value, and timid players will lose control of their emotions. ”

That's pretty much the upper limit.

It's not that games that exceed this limit can't be made, but that no one dares to play them, and even laws and regulations don't allow such games to come out.

Some people often ridicule on the Internet, saying that XX games with heart disease and high blood pressure players should not play!

This tone, which is usually a joking statement, means that XX games are annoying.

But horror games, especially games with a high level of horror, are really not allowed to be played by players with heart disease and high blood pressure, and it is easy for bad things to happen.

As the saying goes, there is a shocking story behind every outrageous school rule, traffic rule, and company rule!

In the gaming industry, the same is true for the "warm reminder" of the game loading page.

When the game developers advise XX players not to play the game, you should know that there must be an untold story behind this sentence.

"In fact, there are not a few accidents caused by horror games every year."

Chen Ba sighed and said, "That's why, most horror games now remind some special players on the loading page not to play less of such games. ”

It's all a lesson in blood!

Just like the light-sensitive epilepsy warning and disclaimer on Forza Horizon 5's loading page, maybe 99% of players don't know what photosensitive epilepsy is.

But it doesn't matter, it's important that players must be reminded that by the way, hang a disclaimer.

Countless peers have proved with practical actions that such games do not have disclaimers, and it is good that there is no accident, but once something happens, you are bound to be false, and all kinds of compensation are indispensable.

(End of chapter)