What do you like or hate in a custom story?

[FreeFall]

I guess bad lighting and a shitty story would be something I'd hate :p

[Spazatron]

I hate cheap jumpscares that have no real purpose other than to scare the player for 5 seconds before they forget about it and move on.

I hate awful lighting that looks terrible and doesn't set the mood.

I hate overly-complex puzzles that stress you out until you resort to Googling the problem. That shit isn't fun, it's just unnecessary and annoying. I mean, I love a good puzzle, but when it seems pointless and it's too complicated, it's just stupid.

I hate awful storylines that're either the same as 500 other custom stories or they just don't make sense at all.


I love original music, and new sound effects and models.

I love unique ideas and unique storylines.

I love instantly being able to see a lot of effort went into the map detail and the entire custom story itself.

I love when lighting, sound and music are all used to create the most intense, sweat-inducing scares imaginable.

[MrWhitticus]

I played a mod which was in black and white once which was one of the greatest things I've ever experienced

---

^That^ being said, I do have a list.

To paraphrase Alfred Hitchcock, suspense is a lot better that surprise. I'd rather have a long, thought out story in which you just know that something bad is going to happen at the end but is suddenly twisted on it's head to reveal something even more sinister than have a generic "hey tha dude got murdred adn now he scarz pepl omg" storyline where even if you expect everything to happen it just jumps out at you for no particular reason and leaves you moments later.

Also, if the developer creates their own entities (monsters, scenery, items, decorations etc.) it makes the mod at least 450% better. Like on a "you went out and you either spent $1000 on a 3D editor program to make a free downloadable thing for the community" level. It's amazing.

On a final note, I, and any member of the community who has a good head on their shoulders, will not download anything or will simply close the mod if any mention at all comes up of PewDiePie. I am sick to death of playing what I thought would be a terrific mod but suddenly the words "Mister Chair" or "Stephano" will appear out of nowhere and I'll throw my damn computer as far away from me as possible.

But yeah basically what the other guys said. No tacky surprises, but good, well built up scares.

[Daktoa]

Yo this thread is super useful for getting some good do's and don'ts

Likes:
-TONS of sounds (a huge thing that most custom stories miss is the power of sound, in the intro to Amnesia there are a ton of different sounds playing, footsteps, voices, thunder, monster howls. I'm tired of quiet custom stories, the sound is what keeps you guessing what's real and what's in your head)
-Monsters that don't go away (my first instinct after hearing a monster is to hide in the closet until the music dies. It adds so much fear when you realize it isn't going to go away)
-Rooms where there's nowhere to hide (these are great because it forces you to go into some awkward position and hope the monster doesn't find you)

Dislikes:
-Jumpscares caused by hallucination (if there is a jumpscare I want it to at least be something believable like the wind blowing or a book falling)
-Any monster that is intended to spot you (as soon as the monster sees you the suspense is broken and you are now in running mode)
-Custom stories that introduce the Brute too early (you gotta pace yourself with the monster power levels)
-Notes with long blocks of text (you could easily give it to us in a shorter form)
-Custom stories that give you too much oil/tinderboxes.
-Custom stories that are completely dark
-Custom stories that don't utilize the lantern
-Anything involving moving statues (it's been done 1000 times and Doctor Who is about ready to sue. The best one I've seen was in La Caza and that's cause it didn't just do it for no reason)

[victorkim890(KimmyChimmy)]

-Custom stories that are completely dark
-Custom stories that don't utilize the lantern

Same