Custom Story suggestions/comments/general constructive criticism

[DamnNoHtml]

A lot of good points in this thread. I'd like to share a few tips for Custom Stories as well.

Uniqueness
For me, the most important thing is making a game and story that stands out from the rest. If you look in the Showcase forum, you'll see there are a lot of new Custom Stories being produced by users of this forum. Because of this, players are going to be exposed to, unfortunately, a lot of the same stuff over and over. This will diminish their interest in your game, and in Custom Stories in general. By creating something never done before (even with existing resources), you leave a memorable impression that makes people say "Yeah remember like in ____ game when...." I hate to be egotistical and refer to myself, but a good example of unique game-play using what you've already got is the Hall of Doors in Wake, which you have to use your ears to determine safe passage. Unfortunately I spend most of my Amnesia time creating and not playing, so I am not familiar with many other unique ideas. Feel free to post them here; I would actually like to see them!

Story
I would bet half of the people who even came to this forum came here to discuss the mythology and crazy story elements of Amnesia. However, Amnesia already did it. By "it", I mean the generic "hit my head and wake up in scary castle oh noes" idea. Obviously it isn't like Amnesia was the first game to ever include, well, amnesia, but since we are using the Amnesia engine to make these Custom Stories, it quickly gets tired out. Try branching out of the idea of evil castles inhabited by crazy people and create some mythology of your own. Palistov's La Caza is a good example of avoiding the simple "wake up confused" idea, instead taking a radically different intro approach.

Additionally, a thing Amnesia did so well was scatter the story among notes you might not even find rather than shove a story down your throat. Most of the unique mythology comes from notes you probably didn't even find on your first play through. Although it sucks when you create something cool and people don't see it, it only enhances the quality of your game.

Use of monsters
It is extremely hard to generate fear without the threat of actually being harmed. If the player knows that there are no monsters in the game, there is much less to fear. However, over-using monsters creates an even worse effect which was mentioned earlier in this thread - desensitization. By no means should a monster appear within the first minutes of the game. In fact, maybe include one or two in the entire game, and use sounds / lighting / environments to generate fear. The idea of not knowing when the actual threat will appear heightens the sense of fear throughout the entire game.

Fear
Just because Amnesia was a terrifying game, doesn't mean you have to insert pointless scare effects everywhere into the game. No one is telling you that your game has to be completely frightening and tense the entire time. Use physics, make puzzles, create story flashbacks, voice act, create impressive environments, forge a unique story, and develop the player character. Terrifying moments should only be in the game if they belong.

TL;DR
Choose uniqueness over most aspects of your game. Don't rely on monsters for scares. Make a story players want to reach the conclusion to. Don't forcibly insert fear where fear doesn't belong.