Custom Story suggestions/comments/general constructive criticism

[Anxt]

The cliche part of my response was more directed at Kyle, who said that hiding things behind a painting is too cliche.

Looping music is something that strikes me as an odd thing to mention, as the majority of the music is meant to loop. TDD has looping music in just about every map, and the ones that don't have looping sounds.

Building tension is, as I know you are aware, an excellent way to set up a scare. TDD does this amazingly well in every map through ambient sounds, lighting, particles systems, etc. However, if nothing ever really HAPPENED, then the player would eventually let their guard down. Scare environments aren't everything. I think what I am trying to say is, define "jump scare". Loud noises? Monster appearing and running at you? Or just a book falling off a shelf? TDD uses these actually fairly frequently, looking back, such as the brute coming into the room after getting the blood in the morgue, the hallucination grunt in the archives, the rocks falling/roar in the storage area after obtaining the rods, the iron maiden, the list goes on.

I think it is really just a personal preference, but having a scary atmosphere with no real reason to be afraid makes for a poor experience overall. (I'm not trying to make it sound like you think all there is to making something scary is atmosphere, as I am sure you know better, so if this comes off that way I apologize.) Jump scares will lose their effectiveness if done too often, but if done at just the right intervals, they can be a very effective way to make the player feel extremely uneasy when compounded with the environment.