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Hey there,

Something that's been going through my head for a while now is the concept of Human Form Monsters in AMFP rather than animal monsters. There's something I can't quite put my finger on about it, but I had a feeling the game would have been better if the monsters had a more human form, standing on 2 legs, like a human. In a nutshell, more human than pig, but still a little pig, rather than disturbingly deformed pigs.

If you don't understand, picture the monsters from TDD. That's what I mean. More of a human physique.

I think that the reason having more human form monsters would make it better is because they would generally seem more scary, harmful and menacing than an animal.

What are your thoughts?
Remember to say that the thread contains spoilers
Spoiler below!
Well... Most of the pigs were able to stand on two legs in AAMFP Smile
I found it scary enough that it was men transformed into pigs. You can see this also, if you open them in the editor. The details are pretty scary just to look at.

Well, anything big scares me. If it's smaller than me, I won't get scared and run. I'd rather get creeped out.
If there's a little girl with blood running from her eyes and a whisper saying "Please, come back", I'd be scared as hell of course!

But hey, a bear could be scary too! It's just how you do it! Music, ambience, animation and sounds. Everything combined can create a pretty scary bear.

Off-topic: Please someone create a horror-game about wubwub

(10-25-2013, 01:45 PM)FlawlessHair Wrote: [ -> ]Remember to say that the thread contains spoilers
Spoiler below!
Well... Most of the pigs were able to stand on two legs in AAMFP Smile
I found it scary enough that it was men transformed into pigs. You can see this also, if you open them in the editor. The details are pretty scary just to look at.

Well, anything big scares me. If it's smaller than me, I won't get scared and run. I'd rather get creeped out.
If there's a little girl with blood running from her eyes and a whisper saying "Please, come back", I'd be scared as hell of course!

But hey, a bear could be scary too! It's just how you do it! Music, ambience, animation and sounds. Everything combined can create a pretty scary bear.

Off-topic: Please someone create a horror-game about wubwub


Nobody will create something about Wubwub unless necessary.

The bloody girl saying ''Please, come back'' would make me mostly feel sorry for her but also annoyed... Long story TBH
Interesting question.

At first blush I would said that by monsters being humanoid in form, players they're easier to identify as human and as thus some players wouldn't be too afraid of them but...then I remembered the mangled masses of bodies that Silent Hill monsters are. They're humanoid and nightmarish in all the right ways. They also affect players in very specific manners and represent the characters' psyche.

Thing is that using the same criteria, the same could be said of more animal looking animals; players would identify them as a specific animal and would not be as scared of it.

I think it just depends on execution.
Primary problem with pigs is that players know that they were created mechanically and are thus less likely to be eldritch abominations that will lick your face to death while smiling creepily
(10-25-2013, 02:55 PM)Cuyir Wrote: [ -> ]Interesting question.

At first blush I would said that by monsters being humanoid in form, players they're easier to identify as human and as thus some players wouldn't be too afraid of them but...then I remembered the mangled masses of bodies that Silent Hill monsters are. They're humanoid and nightmarish in all the right ways. They also affect players in very specific manners and represent the characters' psyche.

Thing is that using the same criteria, the same could be said of more animal looking animals; players would identify them as a specific animal and would not be as scared of it.

I think it just depends on execution.


That's exactly the idea that I had. The fact that we, humans, can identify a humanoid monster makes it seem scarier. The main reason animal monsters aren't scary, may be because there are so many animals in the world, that even a deformed pig isn't necessarily scary and the fact that humans are the only life forms that, well, act like humans (walk on two feet etc) makes it seem generally scarier.

(10-25-2013, 01:45 PM)FlawlessHair Wrote: [ -> ]Remember to say that the thread contains spoilers
Spoiler below!
Well... Most of the pigs were able to stand on two legs in AAMFP Smile
I found it scary enough that it was men transformed into pigs. You can see this also, if you open them in the editor. The details are pretty scary just to look at.

Well, anything big scares me. If it's smaller than me, I won't get scared and run. I'd rather get creeped out.
If there's a little girl with blood running from her eyes and a whisper saying "Please, come back", I'd be scared as hell of course!

But hey, a bear could be scary too! It's just how you do it! Music, ambience, animation and sounds. Everything combined can create a pretty scary bear.

Off-topic: Please someone create a horror-game about wubwub



I haven't included any spoilers. Unless talking about pig monsters is a spoiler? Even people who are new to the game would have guessed that A Machine For Pigs may include pigs, so it's not really a spoiler...
(10-25-2013, 02:01 PM)Sergeant Crits Wrote: [ -> ]
(10-25-2013, 01:45 PM)FlawlessHair Wrote: [ -> ]Remember to say that the thread contains spoilers
Spoiler below!
Well... Most of the pigs were able to stand on two legs in AAMFP Smile
I found it scary enough that it was men transformed into pigs. You can see this also, if you open them in the editor. The details are pretty scary just to look at.

Well, anything big scares me. If it's smaller than me, I won't get scared and run. I'd rather get creeped out.
If there's a little girl with blood running from her eyes and a whisper saying "Please, come back", I'd be scared as hell of course!

But hey, a bear could be scary too! It's just how you do it! Music, ambience, animation and sounds. Everything combined can create a pretty scary bear.

Off-topic: Please someone create a horror-game about wubwub


Nobody will create something about Wubwub unless necessary.

The bloody girl saying ''Please, come back'' would make me mostly feel sorry for her but also annoyed... Long story TBH

The wubwub thing was a joke Wink Sorry..

(10-25-2013, 05:56 PM)TwiK999 Wrote: [ -> ]I haven't included any spoilers. Unless talking about pig monsters is a spoiler? Even people who are new to the game would have guessed that A Machine For Pigs may include pigs, so it's not really a spoiler...

Nah, but if people start talking about the AI, how they look, and the parts they were used ingame it would start getting spoiled Wink
What I meant was putting spoilers in the title
no funny laughing at friend wuwub bad friends very bad
(10-26-2013, 08:00 PM)lazz3r Wrote: [ -> ]no funny laughing at friend wuwub bad friends very bad
they must silent
I think that there is something inherently more terrifying about something that humanity and either lost it, or is struggling not to lose it, than something that never had humanity to begin with. The pigs and gatherers both share this aspect. But, as Oswald himself said, there is something very child like about the pigs. While it made me feel sick to my stomach and even sad, it didn't altogether terrify me. Still, they were effective for conjuring and sense of despair within me.
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