Monster camera: creating perpetually unique horror experiences using disempowerment, reflection and uncertainty to imply a threat within video games
Date
2020
Authors
Spreeth, Nicolaas Remmert
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Abstract
Many horror video games make use of expertly disguised environmental funnels. These funnels are designed to guide a player along a predetermined path peppered with suspense building events along the way, hiding what is effectively a house of horrors on train tracks. A game will be developed that is designed to allow the suspense building narrative arc to operate independently of the environment. A variant of the “Search-based Procedural Content Generation” technique will be used to track a static tension curve and spawn suspense inducing events irrespective of the player’s location. Each event spawned will also be an inferred disempowering threat that flips from the perspective of the player to that of the antagonist; simultaneously stripping the player of their control.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Masters of Arts in Digital Arts in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits School of Arts, Johannesburg, 2020