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Bad Friends [short custom story]
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Posting Freak

Posts: 935
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Joined: Jun 2012
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#11
RE: Bad Friends [short custom story]

Ok then, let's continue shall we. Smile (I downloaded it again - Is that the new version alrerady or do I still have the old one? The lighting still looks the same...so I guess it's still the old one.)

Soo... I continued playing up until the point where you leave the torture room. (couldn't figure out how to proceed after that ^^ ) And I think the main problem with this story is, that it's too random. (If this map is actually just for testing and showing stuff and doesn't aim to be a coherent story in any way, you can partly ignore the following Wink )

First of all, the insanity effects are very nicely done, but why do I get them from pulling various levers or from reading a note? Or why is my sanity randomly reduced to zero just from walking down a hallway?
Such effects can only help to create atmosphere if they make sense: When Daniel collapses into a pile of quivering insanity in front of one of Castle Brennenburg's torture devices, after getting assaulted by a flashback of him torturing people there, then his reaction reflects the thoughts I have as a player. I therefore accept Daniel's insanity as my own and get more immersed in the experience.

However, when my character falls to the ground with a tinnitus after simply pulling a lever, that just leaves me scratching my head in confusion.

Also: Same thing I said about the first monster also goes for the other ones. (This is more my personal opinion on horror in general though...)One jumps out of a cupboard and hits me in the face > instant death. The third one spawns behind me in a dead end so theres nowhere to run > instant death again. Even if I didn't have to start from the beginning and run to where I were before every time, it's still more annoying than scary.
It's the atmosphere, the things the player imagines and expecting something to happen that's frightening: If I crawl through the prison in Amnesia, and hear the monster growl, or see it shambling through a corridor in the distance, I'll hide in a dark corner and refuse to come out for an hour. If it appears right in front of me and kills me, I'll jump a bit and then the death screen comes and my fear is gone.

Same thing goes for the jumpscares in general. If most of the time something happens when I do something (pick stuff up, pull lever, read note...) then I'll start expecting it. Jumpscares should be used very sparingly and to maximum effect: after a long time of building up tension in the atmosphere, somewhere where the player doesn't expect them and in a way that makes sense. (stuff appearing out of thin air is always kinda cheesy in my opinion unless there's a really good reason for it, like the main character being drugged or having a mental illness that makes him hallucinate - and even then the hallucination shouldn't be completely random, but for example have something to do with the characters backstory.)

Last point is the map in general. Now that I've seen (almost?) all of it, I can say a bit about that I think. It seems...hm. Unrealistic? Maybe that's partly intentional (The Character does make a remark that having a luxurious bedroom and a dining room in a prison is odd), but it also seems as if the architecture in general is a bit weird.
What's for example up with that really long hallway where you find the key for the torture room? It's just a loooooong, empty hallway that leads nowhere (btw, you can look through the wall behind the armor and see the torture room... I don't think it's supposed to be like that? You should change it either way, having to backtrack such a long way just because an armor is blocking my path seems strange.) Another thing are the giant cell doors and tiny chairs. Just - why? Is this some sort of weird dream-world? If it is, then it should be much weirder. If it is not, then in my opinion it should try to stay realistic.
09-07-2012, 04:04 PM
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