im suprised im the only 1 who said traps so far lol. nobody piss their pants when a door full of spikes swings right in your face? xD or a mammoth skull that rams u

I've seen the comic so many times, I know it scares me, but I can't stop watching it every time it's linked....

S'ok, I wasn't planning on sleep in the next hour.

Why was my post quoted?
Your post was completely unrelated. :unsure:

He likely clicked reply on your post and didn't remove the automatic quoting it does.

Erm, well, it might make me blink for a second, but that's a cheap thrill, IMO. If you're going to have things jump out at you, study up on how Dead Space does things.

I still think everyone should read the comic.
Scariest thing I have ever read.

lol that got me. I thought it was all pictures, but then [heart attack]

Are you afraid of flying pots and pans instead of fire breathing dragons?

Thisss.s..s.s.

Deep dark water with something crazy in it will make me quit the game for 10 hours, have a nightmare about it, and then go into cardiac arrest when I finally muster up the "courage" to go in the water.
Half-Life 1 fish monster gave me a heart attack just about. Daggerfall's water was scary as all hell, and the draughs(sp?) were insane when I first saw them flying towards me in the water. It took me a month to go back into Daggerfall water.

Set the tone. You know that big place underground in not going to say anymore about because spoilers? Felt creepy. Felt ancient. Make your areas dim. Purple, red, and midnight blue are all good colors to accent a dark space with. Make the music veyr very soft and creepy. Very soft. The area should seem to amplify sounds, so the sneaky player winces at his own characters footfalls being so loud and the clanky armored guy cant hear the enemy.

The enemy. The one that spawned behind him when he crossed a threshold. Dont have it attack right away. Make it follow you. Maybe get a few of its friends if he doesnt think to tun around as he keeps going. Once he has it in direct line of sight, the hostility triggers. If he doesnt figure out the pattern, every time he plays it will scare him at a different point, keeping him on his toes. If he does then its worse for him, as he will constantly be checking to make sure one hasnt spawned, getting paranoid.

Alienation is powerful. Use it. A town with no people. A tree growing upside down. A child saying un-childly things. Sure a giant hall of black crystal is wierd and cool. But taking familiar things and alienating the player from them is TERRIFYING. Even a dragon that just site stheir and doesnt attack may creep them out. Something is WRONG they feel, as they watch the lone dog limp through the empty city. The black crystal hall is inherently alien, so they dont know if something is wrong. But alienation, the active process, so they can see how things are and know how they should be, creates wrongness. And that bothers people.

You can modify this concept to harm the player as well. You know what isnt dangerous? A skeever. You know what is? 5xCharlevel (max 40, for latency reasons) skeevers attacking from all sides. And again, since this isnt what the player is used to, it feels wrong.

Anywyas, hope this helps.

Shadowmere's eyes scare the [censored] out me! Also when I know something is there but don't know where it is

That haunted house in Markath.

I get startled when I step on a bone and it rockets into my face.

That's more your suprised not really scared. Suprised is you aren't expeciting whatever happens to happen. You turn around and you dad is standing there, an object falls down on a shelf next to you, etc. Scared is more where you are like, "Oh god oh god, I have to get away! Ahhhh!" and you are in the state of mind for several minutes, not just like 5 seconds after the 'abrupt' thing happens. This is why I don't find movies like The Grudge scary whatsoever. It's suprising and abrupt, with loud declaritive brass music, but it's never scary. Also, it's about a little asian boy who meows like a cat.

To everyone else, this is VERY helpful so far! I'm absolutely convinced that I should do a horror mod! Keep the ideas coming! I'm thinking the basic idea is that it will be an eerie fort of some type that you enter for whatever reason. So your locked into creepy stone hallways and whatnot. I have some great plans brewing! Keep 'em coming!

One psychological fear for most people is seeing a dark figure (cloaked in a black cloth, etc. something like Death) disappear into a dark corridor or around a corner into a complete black room.

Jeez of Naz.

I really didn't see that coming.
It got me the 2nd time just as bad :cryvaultboy:

Oh I know right?
That thing is creepy.

yeah for short scare effects those are most scary for me but if u look at beeing scared a longer period of time then every single dungeon scares me lol. especially upon entering and noticing something isnt fishy down here. (thats why i never dare running in dungeons, only sneak lol)

Anticipation always scared me in Amnesia. You know monsters are going to come, but you don't know when or from where.

It's not just the Undead, it's those horrible Ninja Bears in the wild. I'll be walking up a slope towards a dragon I've see flying around up top, so I'm fully focused on the dragon. Then the first thing I know about the bear being there is a roar and a smack in the back of the head with some screen shake. It's startles the begeebies out of me every time.

So I guess if you want a horror mod try having things sneak up behind you but have a point of focus ahead like a chest or two critters fighting each other, something along those lines.

Yeah Dead Space wasn't in the least bit scary. They did ABRUPT like "Oh I wasn't expecting that but I'm totally fine after 3 seconds' things. Not once in that game did I feel fear. I jumped a bit as things popped out, though it got incredibly predictable pretty fast, but that was just human instinct and not fear.

You can just "feel" something is up with the comic and then "OH SWEET JESUS"
And then the second attempt to give a heart attack comes.

That's actually classic level design, even in 'not scary' situations. You always want something to draw the players focus when they are playing. Be it a simple light to guide them in the right direction, or towards some loot, or like you said, to destract them so you can make them crap their pants. A good level designer has perfect control over what the player is focusing on at any given time. (On their first pass through a level, obviously)

I shoot dead bodies with arrows to make sure they aren't really Draug's or skeletons :wink_smile:

The second one is anticipated but you think you're ready for it and its even crazier. My mind is blown.