Abstract: As a Games Design student, as well as in the industry, it’s important to understand the psychology behind the popular survival/horror genre. There are many games lately that take it to a new level, where you are no longer able to fight back ( as in a traditional “Shoot em all” ), but have to rely on your wits to survive. ( E.g. Amnesia: The Dark Descent ( Frictional Games, 2010. ), Rain ( JAPAN Studio / Acquire Corp, 2013. ), Among the Sleep ( Krillbite Studios, 2014. ) ) • What separates this genre from the

conventional action / horror game? • How can we achieve a sense of anxiety

without it becoming too uncomfortable? • Does the game design and environments play

a part? • How important is character connection? • Will casual players react differently from

hardcore gamers? • Will there be an increase in these games in the

future? • Are they compatible with new technology? • Are people bored with the usual approach of

killing your way through trouble?

Additional Key Words and Phrases: survival, horror, defenceless, game design, game psychology,

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Defenceless characters in survival/horror games. How does it affect game design, game play, and the psychology involved.

Student Name - Camilla Nimue Lind Student Number - P4232817 Degree Path – Games Design Module - Contemporary Studies in Games 2014/2015 School of Computing, Teesside University

Camilla Nimue Lind P4232817

Introduction:

In this paper, I will be looking into the Survival/Horror genre: “Definition: Survival horror is a sub-genre of the action genre, normally taking the form of a third-person shooter, that seeks to provoke intense fear reactions in the player. In a survival horror game, a human player character is put in a perilous situation, cut off from the outside world, and given little means of self-defence. In dark, atmospheric environments, the player faces constant threats from supernatural or occult forces, like zombies or vampires, which tend to pop out at random.” (Montminy, no date)

And Game Design: “Generally "design" is a process to achieve an objective. <For the moment lets not get into the difference between art and design and crafts etc.> In the case of Game Design the objective is to create gameplay versus a user experience, an object ( industrial ), or a message ( communication ). Like Game Design can be applied in other fields but is not the primary focus other fields can be incorporated but Game Design's focus is on gameplay with other fields contributing peripherally.” [SIC] (Mochel, 2011)

“players in the survival horror genre are often faced with terrifying and inescapable circumstances, with little means of self-defense. In other words, they are truly and utterly helpless.” (Tajerian, 2012)

I will be looking into where this genre originated, what it takes to create level design in order to have the character(s) successfully navigate the game, how to create situations that feel threatening, and how it makes the player feel to be unable to defend themselves. I will be looking into some of the current Games in which you are playing a defenceless character in a Survival-Horror setting, and I will try to understand how this setting makes the player feel, and how it compares to the traditional method of killing one’s way out of trouble. Also, I will look into whether different types of players react differently in these situations. I also intend to figure out what the differences are ( if any ) in the Game design involved.

In addition, I will be looking into the current studies around the topic, and try to determine if there is a market for this genre in the future. Can it be used with new technology, such as the Occulus rift, without becoming traumatic and uncomfortable?

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The Silent Hill effect:

When Silent Hill ( Konami, 1999 ) was first released, it completely changed the conventional survival/horror genre. With its dark, deep psychological elements, and heavy focus on atmosphere, it managed to scare the players on a whole new level. Up until this point, the genre was dominated by more action based games, with a heavy focus on fighting/killing. The very psychological Japanese style of Horror, also seen in movies from this country, gave the players a whole new way of thinking about survival. And the environments became less obvious to progress through. With it’s foggy obscure view, Silent Hill gave us a new feeling of isolation.

“By the late 1990's, games such as Resident Evil and Parasite Eve had already brought the survival-horror genre mainstream success - but it was Silent Hill that truly introduced us to how frightening a video game could be when it was shown for the first time in 1998's E3 show held in Atlanta, GA in the form of a trailer. Developed by Konami’s Team Silent for the PlayStation, Silent Hill shifted the importance of survival horror games from strictly survival to more of a horror approach. Silent Hill was an immediate critical and commercial success”[SIC] (Silent Hill Wiki, 1999)

“Whilst video games differ from cinema in their digital origin and their interactive and typically immersive environments, the premise of creating fear for a player within the survival horror game genre can be attributed to the contemplation and confrontation with grotesque, nonhuman-like beings, and in this, is no different from horror cinema. “

(Tinwell, Grimshaw and Williams, 2010)

The protagonist in Silent Hill, Harry Mason, does have some means of defending himself, but he is not a good shooter, nor fighter. - He’s an “Everyman”. And so, the player often feel that it is wiser to avoid the danger, than to try and fight his/her way through. Because they know they may not be able to make it, or they may waste precious ammunition which they’ll need for a bigger problem later on. Ammunition is hard to come by, and must be used wisely, and Harry’s shooting skills makes it an unreliable solution.

The game also has a heavy focus on Puzzle solving. A good example would be the Piano Puzzle: “…The centre keys ( seven whites, five blacks ) are covered in blood. Harry must hit the right sequence of keys for the Silver Medallion to fall over — the last item needed to unlock the clock tower doors“ (Silent Hill Wiki, Piano Puzzle, no date)

The combination of such puzzles and the eerie environment has more impact on the player than the violence. It is a challenge to the mind.

“When perceptual systems are taxed, research has shown that a looming threat results in anxiety that heightens attention and increases sensitivity to potential dangers. This implies that solving a puzzle the character is presented with in the game does not take away from the experience of fear and danger. In fact, according to many gamers, solving the puzzles under dangerous circumstances only increases the feelings of fear. Consider how riddles and puzzles in Silent Hill excel in this respect.” (Tajerian, 2012)

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Piano Puzzle, Silent Hill ( Konami, 1999 )

Camilla Nimue Lind P4232817

Monstrosities: In Silent Hill 2 ( Konami, 2002 ) they took it one step further, and introduced the idea of an Antagonist that seems to randomly appear, but rarely really confront the Protagonist. He gives the player a paranoid feeling, and a curiosity towards who he really is, and they quickly learn not to attempt to confront him. He represents the Protagonist’s conscious/mental state. “Pyramid Head”:

“…also known as the Red Pyramid Thing, is a monster (and in two cases, a duo of monsters) appearing in Silent Hill 2 as arguably the main antagonist… …and is frequently associated with feelings of intense remorse. They are usually portrayed as, at the most basic, violent monsters. A deeper meaning given to them explains their existences as punishers and executioners. In Silent Hill 2, one Pyramid Head proves his acts of violence are not aimed solely at humans, as he has also brought harm to the other creatures that inhabit Silent Hill. “ (Silent Hill Wiki, Pyramid Head, no date)

“Actual combat is not as scary as the implied threat of combat. The biggest cares result from moments devoid of any physical combat; instances in which players anticipate or fear they are about to fight, but do not actually end up doing so.” [SIC] (Windels, 2011)

The likes of “Pyramid Head” has also been seen recently, in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, where the player will have a monster following him/her, representing, which you learn throughout the game, the Protagonist’s underlying feeling of Guilt.

In this game, the player have no means of defending themselves at all. The Protagonist, Daniel, will get increasingly frightened to the point where he will pass out, if he stay in the dark, or look at the monster, for too long. The only way of survival is to run, and try to find a place to hide. The player very rarely get the opportunity to look at the monster, which adds to the feeling of fear, as he/she cannot familiarise it. Not knowing for sure what is after you, and why, adds to the psychological terror, as the unknown is usually one of the things that scare us humans the most. It’s not until the player have progressed quite far into the game the he/she start to get a bit of comprehension of what is actually after Daniel, by reading notes which are scattered around the building.

- Where as in Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs ( The Chinese Room /Frictional Games,2013 ) the game loose this effect, because there are many enemies/“Pigmen”, and the players are able to study them in detail, from safe locations. They appear disturbing at first, but once the players have encountered and studied them numerous times, in addition to understanding what they are by reading notes, they become familiar and loose some of the disturbing element. Also, they tend to use the cheap jump-scares instead of the constant paranoid feeling of being followed that heavily influences the first game.

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Amnesia: The Dark Descent ( Frictional Games, 2010. )

Pyramid Head, Silent Hill 2 ( Konami, 2002 )

Camilla Nimue Lind P4232817

Another twist to the monster, can be seen in Among the Sleep ( Krillbite Studios, 2014 ), where the protagonist is a 2 year old boy. He wakes up to find himself alone in the house, and he is followed by a monster, whom at the end of the game turns out to be the mother. As the player progress through the game and memories, he/she realise she is an alcoholic, which also plays upon an important topic in modern society.

“…and a shadow-like monster that torments the player. The troll-like monster is an echo of lullaby "Trollmors vaggsång", hummed by the mother to lull the child to sleep.” [SIC] (‘Among the Sleep’, 2015)

In contemporary games such as The Evil Within ( Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks, 2014. ) and The Last of Us ( Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment, 2013.), the protagonist finds himself in a situation where he is surrounded by threats and enemies most of the time. At first encounter they may look very disturbing and frightening, but having encountered them several times, the player looses the “shock value” of these monsters, and they become simply just another obstacle to kill. The only remaining thing to provoke a reaction being the various methods the monsters have to kill your character, which also loose some of it’s shock value after seeing them repeat.

“The first confrontation is almost always the scariest. In every game, across all player experience-levels, the first encounters with the enemies are much scarier than later ones.” (Windels, 2011)

It appears that the focus should be more on implementing the Antagonist sparsely, rather than having too many enemies, too often. Once the player has seen a monster several times, it’s ability to scare becomes reduced.

“Large numbers of enemies makes games less scary. Once players are asked to dispatch more than two or three enemies at a time, they become less scared. Familiarity with enemies renders them less scary.” (Windels, 2011)

Design: “This practice is best exemplified by putting the player in a vulnerable situation with limited resources to confront enemies. With proper execution, the genre can make your heart race, palms sweat and make you go to sleep with nightmares. However, when executed poorly, players feel as if they're simply "going through the motions”.” (Tajerian, 2012)

In the Survival/Horror genre we have to think about the layout of the levels very carefully. The players need places to run away, and places to hide. As shown in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, where you have the option of switching out the light, crouch in a corner or behind an object, or hide in a closet. These elements must be within reach, but still hard enough to get to that the game becomes interesting and challenging. The player needs to feel that there is a way out probably, but still feel like he/she could easily get caught. There needs to be options that seem like good solutions, if you can get to them in time. But at the same time keeping it within a manageable distance, so it does not become too challenging to reach, and thus frustrating and uncomfortable due to repeat failure.

“Repeat failure prevents scenes from retaining any initial scariness they may have had before. Whenever players repeatedly die or spend too long struggling with navigation, frustration replaces fear. If major usability issues exist/occur, then players will be far less scared.” (Windels, 2011)

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Among the Sleep ( Krillbite Studios, 2014. )

Camilla Nimue Lind P4232817

We must also attempt to have diversity and an element of the unexpected in our game play, and the challenges we create for the player.

“The first time, such an event can create anxiety but not as much after the third or fourth. This does not mean that these events fail to create anxiety in the player, but they do not achieve it to the same degree due to our own learning of what a player must do in order to play/win.” (Tajerian, 2012)

“While games like first person shooters are notorious for desensitizing players to violence, games that raise the player's anxiety actually sensitize them to danger. This is simply how animals behave, and it's a highly adaptive behavior, since it keeps individuals on their toes in anxiety-causing environments. Raising the levels of anxiety in a video game will therefore ensure that the player is sensitized to the danger in the game. In a game like Amnesia, the entire experience teeters on anxiety created up to confrontation with an enemy since the player has absolutely no means to defend himself.” [SIC] (Tajerian, 2012)

- However, if the player could just walk up and shoot the monster, we wouldn’t need to think so much about where to move next, and how to get out of sight, and thus the level could be designed in a much less complex manner.

“Achieving scares and interactivity in the horror genre is no easy feat. Whereas other games challenge the player's ability to solve a puzzle or take down an array of enemies, the survival horror genre challenges a hardwired and highly adaptive response to threats. To establish one good startle, you need to take into account the ability for your design to establish a baseline of expectations with your environment and the purpose of your character in that environment, build anxiety, connect with the character, and remove any control the player may have” (Tajerian, 2012)

Another important factor in survival/horror games is the environment. There is a fine balance to uphold in terms of how much blood and gore to add to the scenery. In most cases, adding something disturbing to an otherwise normal and familiar surrounding, can have the most impact. Or twisting the familiar

surroundings based on plot twists, as seen in Silent Hill, where the sound of an alarm indicates that something is about to happen, and the surroundings change into worn down, burnt and bloodied. The otherwise normal looking town now becomes a place of nightmares, demonstrating the horrible history, giving the player a sense of foreboding that something evil is at play. After having had this experience once, the player now knows that the sound of the alarm is a bad omen, and that it is time to take extra care.

“Gore in isolation can be provocative, but not scary. In some cases, the grotesque can make scenes scarier, providing there are other factors also contributing. Players are frightened even more when normal scares are accompanied by disgusting or shocking content. This gory material alone, however, fails to scare players.” (Windels, 2011)

In addition, in Silent Hill, there is the crackling sound on the radio whenever there is an enemy nearby, which makes the player start looking for escape routes and be extra careful. While the fog makes even the normal version of the town feel eerie, adding to the feeling of isolation and anxiety.

“Next to fear, anxiety is perhaps the most prominent feeling experienced in video games. Unlike fear, which is a response to an imminent threat, anxiety is a response to a future potential threat.” (Tajerian, 2012)

Another approach can be seen in Rain ( JAPAN Studio / Acquire Corp, 2013 ). In this game, your Protagonist is a young boy, whom has become invisible. He can only be seen in the rain, and must use this to his advantage avoiding monsters, while trying to catch up with a little girl, whom appear to be the only other human in the town. Combining beautiful graphics with strategical thinking, as the player attempts to avoid the dog-like monsters by hiding from the rain, and timing the movement perfectly through the environment.

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“certain events characterized by unexpected novelty can, very efficiently, startle a player. For example, events that can lead a player through a relatively safe part of a level may lower our guard to new threats when revisiting the same environment … These choices will often save time in level design while still maintaining progress and the required ambience to startle and terrify.” (Tajerian, 2012)

Another highly effective way of building up anxiety is sound, and the lack there of. This was very successfully implemented in Silent Hill, with the combination of eerie silence, crackling radio, alarms and melancholic music. All implemented perfectly in sync with the story and situations, maximising the impact, and emotions of the players. Proving that silence can, when implemented correctly, be absolutely nerve-wracking. And in Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, you have the machine.

“A Machine for Pigs uses the titular machine's bellowing innards to effectively rob players of not just sight, but their hearing as well – unscripted, but constant and grating. But here again there's a balance to be struck between what's playable and what's too unpleasant – a Goldilocks problem of getting the horrible-ness just right.” (Wordsworth, 2014)

Also, there’s a noticeable difference in the reactions of casual and more experienced players. The more games a player have seen, the more familiar they become with the setting, and the less scared they become. They expect and anticipate the upcoming danger, reducing it’s impact. And often, also the enjoyment of the

game. It’s easier to scare a casual gamer, whom will not know what to expect from the game.

“Casual players are more easily scared than core players, but also enjoy the games more. Experienced gamers' familiarity with the medium, and their existing expectations of it, means they are less likely to become scared than casual gamers.” (Windels, 2011)

But most important of all, the player must not become too scared, to the point where they cannot manage to complete the game.

“We managed to make a playtester cry out of anxiety," say Phillipe Morin and David Chateauneuf of Red Barrel Studios, makers of first-person asylum creeper Outlast. "She played the first 40 minutes of the game and then she couldn’t take it anymore. Too much stress or anxiety maybe. She went outside to cry and we were told she couldn’t continue.” Pinchbeck reports the same problem working on A Machine for Pigs. "That was a big challenge in Pigs, and when you combine it with the low completion stats for games generally, you really have to try and figure out some kind of answer," he says. "On one hand, you want people to actually finish the game you are making, on the other, you know that if you drop the moment-by-moment terror levels to get as many people through to the end of the game as you can, you're going to disappoint a percentage of players."

There are signs of that struggle to mediate horror in both games, as both developers experiment at pushing the boundaries of comfort in different directions.” (Wordsworth, 2014)

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Rain. ( JAPAN Studio / Acquire Corp, 2013 )

Camilla Nimue Lind P4232817

Character Connections: “One of the ways to establish/strengthen the bond is to elicit very strong emotions in the gamer. Games in the survival horror do this using fear, which can be very effective.” (Tajerian, 2012)

In the Survival/Horror genre, the player needs to feel empathy for the Protagonist in order to want to keep him/her alive. ( Or in some cases, keep a non playable character (NPC), alive. ) The closer the player feels to the character, the bigger the psychological impact if he/she dies. This usually make the player take extra care at all times when playing, in order to avoid the discomfort of observing the loss of the character. ( Despite in most cases, you can try again/revive. ) Ways to improve character connection can be the use of Cinematic's ( Movie sequences that tell parts of the story ), readable notes, narrative voices, and similar things that give the background history and other information about who “you” really are. “Horror video game remediations—both diegetic and nondiegetic—serve various narrative and ludological functions, providing atmosphere, context, and information, facilitating the scenario, aiding players’ solution of puzzles and action sequences. “[SIC] (Kirkland, 2008)

Often these tell a story of loss of a loved one, which the player must either search for, or avenge. Usually without any more skills than your average person would have in real life ( IRL ). This common feeling makes the player connect on a deeper level as most humans can relate to the sense of loss.

The Future: In the recent years, there have been an increase in games in the survival/horror genre, many of which have become extremely popular. This indicates that this is something the players want.

It would appear that many of us are bored with the conventional action/“shoot em up” games, and are ready for a different challenge. This is most likely linked to the previously mentioned repetitive game play, which will inevitably become boring. We are ready for new challenges, and more focus on emotions in our games.

- However, the conventional action based horror games are still in the lead, with many more titles being released.

“Triple A titles like The Evil Within, Aliens Isolation, and the upcoming Silent Hills have put the genre back in the spotlight, along with indie titles like slender and outlast. It’s not that gamers have rediscovered how much the like to be scared, but rather that developers are using new design approaches and technological platforms to deliver the frights. In a recent interview, Capcom’s Michiteru Okabe spoke about how excited he is to make use of the burgeoning technology of Virtual Reality in the development of future Resident Evil Games. “It makes a special kind of sense for horror games,” he said, “where immersion is perhaps more important than in other genres.” Immersion is the key word to discussions of just how far VR could take the gaming experience, but immersion isn’t just a question of fooling the senses, immersion also means an emotional state in which the user will become particularly sensitive the physiological effects of gameplay. So what will it mean to use the Oculus Rift or Sony’s Morpheus to immerse oneself in that “oldest and strongest emotion of mankind ?”” (Alvarado, 2014)

“But while it's true that, over the last console generation, big name publishers have toned down their horror franchises dramatically (or converted them to be sold under the nebulous 'action-horror' label), that's not a move that was made out of spite. Resident Evil 2 didn't become Resident Evil 6 because Capcom hates horror – that's a decision that was made on the basis of sales figures, with the reasoning that people who like guns outnumber the

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people who like to be scared until they wet themselves.” (Wordsworth, 2014)

The introduction of the Occulus Rift has given us a new way of playing games, in a much more involved manner. The problem here is keeping it within a manageable level of anxiety for the player, and not letting it evolve to downright trauma, where it simply becomes too uncomfortable to be fun. “That's the challenge that developers of horror games now face in their art: you might set out to make the most frightening, most unpleasant game that's possible to make (and what a tag-line or splash-quote from the press that would make for the box), but if what you've made is too unpleasant, then your audience will shrink accordingly. There's no profit in making a game that no-one plays. That's not sensationalism: that's a problem that some horror studios are having right now.” (Wordsworth, 2014)

“It seems that with the growing tendency of video games to move towards more visceral action/gore … signals that it is easier to design an action game based off of a terror franchise instead of a true horror game” (Tajerian, 2012)

Conclusion: As opposed to your conventional action based horror game, with a heavy influence of fighting, the survival horror genre is more based on thinking and puzzle solving. It often applies isolation, and a more sparse amount of monsters/enemies, than the action based games. In the survival genre, the player must depend on his/her wits in order to solve puzzles, and avoid dangerous situations. This type of game-play often triggers a more emotional state in the player, as the use of cinematic’s and storytelling often makes for a stronger character connection, and will to survive. Often, the story also plays upon the familiar feeling of loss, which makes

the player connect on a even deeper level, because they can relate to it. The Antagonist in the survival/horror genre will have the most successful impact if it appears to come after the player at random times, and thus manages to build up a feeling of paranoia. For a even better reaction, it can be somewhat uncertain what it really is and/or wants, and thus also playing off the fear of the unknown. The appearance of monsters in these games often resemble human, but with some grotesque twist. Making them seem familiar, yet disturbing. And the player should not have the ability to study them properly, as this will lessen the monsters ability to scare. The design of such games need to be focused on puzzles and environmental obstacles and solutions, rather than merely blocking the way with enemies. There needs to be places to hide, or run away, rather than just something to kill. It requires more of a strategical manner of thinking. But it shouldn’t be too hard to manoeuvre through, as repeated failure will make the game more tedious than tense. The environments should be designed with the purpose of building up anxiety. The use of obscured view, such as fog or similar, can effectively be used for building up the feeling of isolation. Also, combining gore with familiarity will have a deeper impact than gore alone. Take a surrounding the player can relate to, and add disturbing elements, for stronger reactions. Then add a mixture of familiar and eerie sounds, and sometimes complete silence to the mix. However, make sure to keep it within the comfort zone of what a player can handle. When a game no longer stays within the perimeter of fun, the players will quit playing. This can become a problem in the future, with the introduction of more involving game systems, such as the Occulus Rift.

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Tajerian, M. (2012) The Science of Terror, Gamasutra. Fight or Flight: The Neuroscience of Survival Horror. Available at: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/172168/fight_or_flight_the_neuroscience_.php (Accessed: 12 January 2015).

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Tinwell, A., Grimshaw, M. and Williams, A. (2010) Uncanny behaviour in survival horror games, Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds,. Available at: http://teesside.library.ingentaconnect.com.ezproxy.tees.ac.uk/content/intellect/jgvw/2010/00000002/00000001/art00001 (Accessed: 27 December 2014).

Windels, J. (2011) Scary Game Findings: A Study Of Horror Games And Their Players, Gamasutra. Scary Game Findings: A Study Of Horror Games And Their Players. Available at: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6480/scary_game_findings_a_study_of_.php (Accessed: 12 January 2015).

Wordsworth, R. (2014) The Future of Survival Horror: When the Corridor is Too Dark to Walk Down, IGN. Available at: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/04/15/the-future-of-survival-horror-when-the-corridor-is-too-dark-to-walk-down (Accessed: 13 January 2015).

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