CS4 - Spooky Levels (intro and banter)

[DimensionWarped]

Let's talk spooky theming. It's appropriate for the season.

I'm not talking about some Pumpkin Hill style theming centered around ghosts and pumpkins, I'm really talking about things that simply have an eeries feel to them. What makes a spooky level spooky? What kinds of gimmicks do we see in these places? How does the flow differ from other level types?

First, I'll give a list of what I consider the spooky levels from various Sonic games...

Marble Zone - Filled with lava, horrendous crushing devices, lots of cramped cave-like areas, lava, lots of time-based gimmicks. Switches require manipulation in order to move on. It has this temple of doom feel. It also has lots of areas where you are forced to wait due to reliance on gimmicks that move with or without you. In some areas you are compelled to move by lava chasing you.

Mystic Cave - A cave of unknown purpose. Horrible death traps that could probably be considered poor design. Lots of switches and devices which comprise regional challenges. Crushing plants and sneaky enemies that come out of the walls

Sandopolis Part 2 - A pryamid that quickly becomes dark. It contains block pushing switches similar to the ones in Marble Zone, but this time with an added timer. Squishing again comprises a major source of obstacles, but this time it is usually mixed with an imposed reason for movement in the form of rising sand floors. Enemies include the ghosts which are actually relatively harmless, but completely relentless and Skorp who is just a dick.

Red Mountain Underground Section - Floors sink into rising lava which provides a reason to keep the player moving, but most of the thrill/suspense is brought on by the scenery. It's more in the sound track and in the fact that there are suggestions of skeletons and prisons everywhere than it is in the flow of the level, which I guess is natural considering it's really just an addendum to Red Mountain proper.

So with that kind of thing in mind a spooky level will general consist of things that make you have to move. Switches are in almost all of the classics. The atmosphere doesn't have to be something that automatically inspires horror, but it should probably have some inkling something that would scare you in reality like being in the dark in a strange place or clostrophobia. Crushing is a hazard you should probably consider since it is very common in this kind of level.

With that introduction, let's start talking about themes that you can think of that would lend themselves well to this theme as well as other concepts that could generally be mixed in with these to get a spooky level to work. Also please point anything out that you can think of that I missed that gets commonly cycled into the spooky levels that already exist.

This time the intro thread and the banter thread are one and the same. The top two contributors of the month will be decided by vote taking place in mid-November, both of whom will receive the Spooky Medal.

[Nitemare]

Labyrinth Zone, as a child I think that was the most terrifying level from any game that I would try to endure. Without the spindash Sonic feels so sluggish underwater, combined with the claustrophobic design of the level anyway, the fireball enemies where you either had to wait to attack or just avoid them, the rotating spikeballs, arrow traps, occasional switches and a single dastardly spike trap placed underwater at one point that crushes you if you fail to pass quick enough. Everything forced you to take your time underwater, when really that was the last thing you wanted to do.

.....And then the drown countdown kicks in and everything becomes even more scary.

[Strife]

I've done a lot of experimentation with creepy level design, especially when it comes to platformers and RPGs. One of the dungeons in my FableQuest project relies heavily on spook tactics to frighten and confuse players, and some of my testers have told me that they had nightmares about what I put in there. xD;

Essentially, the trick to spooking your players is to temporarily alter or remove something from the game that your players are familiar/comfortable with. If the game's graphics are bright and cheery, throwing a dark and murky level in there does the trick (i.e. the Bad Futures of Sonic CD). If the game's music is soft and upbeat, playing a hard and desperate song does the trick (i.e. the infamous drowning music suddenly kicking in over a previously happy song, such as in Sonic 1's Labyrinth Zone). If the game has a steady pace and lets players take their time, throwing an Advancing Wall of Doom at them does the trick (i.e. Act 2 of Sonic 3's Hydrocity Zone).

If you're keen on upgrading something from just plain spooky to genuinely frightening, then timing is another important aspect. Make your modifications when the player least expects it (such as making water in a level suddenly start rising uncontrollably at a seemingly random spot, ala Sonic 2's Chemical Plant Zone). Throw them out of their comfort zone by altering things that they never thought would be altered (such as screwing with the interface, suddenly adding a countdown timer for no immediate reason, etc). You can even try and remove things, like making the next act of a particular zone play no music whatsoever. These sorts of things can keep players on the edge of their seats while trekking through your Spooky Zone.

[Scarletdark]

As of today this site is no longer blocked from my school's proxy so I can participate more.

As far as spooky sonic gimmicks, I agree with Strife that you must catch the player off guard by making something familiar different. An example of this could be making a badnick that's appearance is exactly the same as a checkpoint post except for a very small difference (something that allows the player to tell the difference, if they are very observent). Once the player approaches the "post" it transforms into a bat or some other sort of badnick that attacks the player.

Another example (which I may or may not be implementing into my game =o) is once the player completes the stage and the fend of stage post begins to twirl, instead of sonic's head appearing, eggman's does. The floor immediately caves in beneath the player and sonic is pitched into complete darkness where he must defeat the boss in a very dim lit area.

Edit: Example of first idea

[OverbounD]

One of the things we can take from modern games and apply to classic games is the way music in videos games works now a days especially in an FPS. Music cuts in and out and is used signal a change to the player.

This can be applied to the classics I'll give you an example. Playing a level and you come to a long hallway the music fades away and you start running down this hall way. After a few seconds you can scare the player with whatever you want be it a boss or some kind of level event such as the floor suddenly dropping and revealing a new area. The key is to let the player know something is going to happen yet not reveal what that is so as to build suspense.

DW I was surprised you didn't mention Lava Reef remember of the first act changes to the second? I always found that a bit spooky. Not to mention the boss while maybe isn't spooky it is suspenseful and suspense mixed with spooky makes for horrific am I right?

As far as spooky sonic gimmicks, I agree with Strife that you must catch the player off guard by making something familiar different. An example of this could be making a badnick that's appearance is exactly the same as a checkpoint post except for a very small difference (something that allows the player to tell the difference, if they are very observent). Once the player approaches the "post" it transforms into a bat or some other sort of badnick that attacks the player.

I like that kinda like what I was saying above only I was talking about changing the music. I think the badnik idea is a good one. I would add that making a small badnik suddenly look massive might be a good way to go. Imagine the bat in Sonic 1 what if when it flew down its wings folded out into massive sharp metal looking wings. I'm talking big like imagine a 32x32 pixel bat sprite suddenly having to switch to about 96x96 pixels because of these massive wings that folded out.

[Strife]

I would add that making a small badnik suddenly look massive might be a good way to go. Imagine the bat in Sonic 1 what if when it flew down its wings folded out into massive sharp metal looking wings. I'm talking big like imagine a 32x32 pixel bat sprite suddenly having to switch to about 96x96 pixels because of these massive wings that folded out.

I'm suddenly reminded of Metal Robotnik in the Sonic OVA. xD Oh gawd, could you imagine if Sonic and Tails' fight with him in the movie was translated into a video game? I think it would be really, really intense, especially with his glue gun. I could totally imagine players frantically trying to spin Sonic out of the glue as MR slowly marches closer to them.

Ooh, that reminds me: Traps that limit the player's movement are also a decent way to freak them out, especially if there's something hazardous closing in on them and they have to escape quickly or risk certain death. Remember those annoying vines in Mushroom Hill Zone that would keep you in place until you spindashed out of them? Now imagine if there was a giant hulking boss walking towards you at the same time. Eep.

[LarkSS]

Force the player to do their taxes before they can proceed.

Sometimes a demonstration in power can invoke a bit of fear. For instance maybe a boss or event that causes severe harm or death to an npc (like Tails) and you are expected to handle the same thing but hopefully with better results.

I remember the Biolizard being scary to me when I was younger. I think it was a combination of the music and not wanting to go inside its mouth.

[Candescence]

Here's something that can be really terrifying...

Absolutely nothing.

"Nothing Is Scarier" (WARNING: TvTropes link) is a trope centred around scaring the hell out of the player with just the surroundings and atmosphere. I'll let Yahtzee explain this one.

You see, there are three kinds of horror games - first there's the kind where you're in a dark room and a guy in a spooky mask jumps out of a cupboard going "ABLOOGY WOOGY WOO". That would be your Doom 3. Then there's the kind where the guy in the spooky mask isn't in the cupboard, but right behind you, and you just know he's gonna go "ABLOOGY WOOGY WOO" at some point, but he doesn't, and you're getting more and more tense, but you don't want to turn around because he might stick his cock in your eye. That would be your Silent Hill 2. And then there are games where the guy in the spooky mask goes "ABLOOGY WOOGY WOO" while standing on the far side of a brightly lit room before walking slowly towards you, plucking a violin before smacking you in the face with a t-bone steak. That would be your Dead Space. You see, the second one is best, because your imagination is doing all the work, all a good horror game needs to do is hand you a piece of sandpaper and shout encouragement as you vigorously massage your own undercarriage.

Basically, in the review I quoted from, where he reviewed Amnesia: The Dark Descent, he notes that the game pulls off this 'type 2' horror quite well.

Now, how would we go about utilising this concept in a Sonic zone? Let's see.

* Remove all regular instances of enemies, instead leaving normal obstacles and traps.

* Focus on atmosphere. Kill the BGM, unless the BGM itself is suitably creepy - one of Yahtzee's adventure games, Trilby's Notes, has a 'Dark World' theme that accentuates the creepiness of the game's dark hotel. Focus more on atmospheric sounds, like creeks or footsteps.

* Visuals should also be suitably creepy. Trilby's Notes did its 'dark hotel' by basically leaving fresh, nausiating corpses all over the place, bloodied messages on the walls, decay on the hotel's walls and walls... Of course, this sort of thing doesn't really suit Sonic so well, so try going for something 'darker', as in, less light. Gothic architecture, that sort of thing. However, a lot of different environments can certainly work, as long as you focus on the below point...

* 'Entertain' the player's imagination. Don't cop out for cheap scares where a monster jumps through a window or something. Hell, try and avoid encounters. Have the player see a figure disappear around a corner or something. Make the player hear unusual sounds that indicate that an enemy is close by, but there isn't. Have a nearby window break off-camera, but with no sign of how it was broken when the player investigates. That sort of thing.

* However, since we gotta have to have a boss at the least, if you're trying to lead up to the boss, try and be subtle about it. When properly done, it can result in some of the scariest shit ever. When done subtly, with only muffled screams, the sounds of bodies being dragged, or other eerie sound effects — and when the character involved is sympathetic enough - a fertile imagination will reap a horrible harvest.

Basically, the key thing is the absence of an actual threat can be far scarier than the actual threat itself.

[DimensionWarped]

Spooky is one thing Candescence, what you are talking about is more of pure horror. I suppose it would make for an interesting change though.

[Candescence]

True, true, I might've gone a tad overboard there, but I never said the trope couldn't be applied to a simply "spooky" atmosphere. It's also a good way to scare without trying for an M-rating.

[Strife]

True, true, I might've gone a tad overboard there, but I never said the trope couldn't be applied to a simply "spooky" atmosphere. It's also a good way to scare without trying for an M-rating.

True... Your explanation may not be suited for a run-of-the-mill Sonic game, simply because fear isn't a gimmick commonly present in Sonic stages by itself. There are usually other gimmicks to accompany it.

But hoo boy, you make a lot of really great points. By leaving most of your game's horrors obscure and undefined, you're forcing players to use their imagination about what they're up against, and it's so effective because it taps into one of our primal fears as human beings: that of the unknown. I think that's something I'd like to keep in mind for one of my projects, so thank you for sharing it.

[GSF]

Here's something that can be really terrifying...

"Nothing Is Scarier" (WARNING: TvTropes link) is a trope centred around scaring the hell out of the player with just the surroundings and atmosphere.

Why the warning...? I mean, it's just the TVTropes wiki, what could possibly go wrong?

Spooky is one thing Candescence, what you are talking about is more of pure horror.

Gotta say though, this "absence" element is more spooky than horrific, IMO. Imagine an empty room with a suspiciously lighted corner. You can expect something to happen if you approach said corner (something falls down, you hear something odd). Sounds more spooky to me. It's a good way to avoid an M-rating but still be scary, indeed.

Horror would be more "direct" things, which come as instant surprises, such as the Doom 3 "ABLOOGY BOOGY WOO" example. (or more plainly violent, gore-ish things.)

...both of whom will receive the Spooky Medal.

Speaking of medals, I posted a few attempts some time ago in your thread. I'll prepare the tileset ripper and spooky ones in that style if you wish.

Okay, now I'm gonna check out my >10 tabs...

[DimensionWarped]

That'd be nice. I wasn't aware there had been changes.

[OverbounD]

Maybe this has been said but I'll go into a bit of detail and hope that helps. What about areas of complete darkness in corners and different areas where badniks and other hazzards can hide and jump out and attack him. This could work well in areas like Marble Zone where there are lots of enclosed areas.

[DimensionWarped]

Complete darkness is alright, and it provides an incentive for a player to get out of an area quickly, because no one really likes dicking around in the dark. The problem with darkness though is that it limits your level design to simple easy to navigate stuff because anything more is just pointlessly frustrating. Having enemies come out in the dark might be neat, but it'd probably be a balancing act between properly threatening and way over the top frustrating.

[OverbounD]

You are miss understanding me. I'm taking about areas bo bigger than 128x128 that are big enough for ememies to hide in but should obstruct the total view very little. Think about a dark corner that the light just doesn't get to. Get it? I'll make a mock up later.

[OverbounD]

There we go. Small corners of darkness if you put these up all over the levels and put badniks in some of them it might be spooky.

[DimensionWarped]

Alright, that's pretty cool. Not a lot of enemy spawning going on in Sonic games.

[Strife]

[qimg]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5170721/shadow_example.png[/qimg]

There we go. Small corners of darkness if you put these up all over the levels and put badniks in some of them it might be spooky.

Ooh, that reminds me of Shade Man's boss arena in Mega Man 7. The top of the screen had that darkness effect, and although you could still see the boss when he flew around up there, it added a bit to the creep factor.

[JetHawk95]

One of the big essentials is music aswell, if you've got happy jumpy music it aint going to be creepy. Usually use tense music or if you want it to be more horror then use like a childs music box or something. I remember in Zelda Majoras mask the skull kid did an evil kiddish laugh what scared the shit outta me

So if you've got creepy little voices and laughs in the background or just wierd unfamiliar noises its more spooky.

[DimensionWarped]

Well, for the example levels it wasn't really creepy so much as camp-creepy, which is really sort of what the theme is.

Mystic Cave has this up-beat vibe but manages to latch onto traditional creepy music mostly through the use of a few weird riffs.

In fact, it's that way with the others I mentioned too. Sandopolis 2 is the typical desert ruins music with an upbeat twist and it's sort of less so with the Marble Zone theme.

[Candescence]

Eh, take a look at Valve's Halloween updates for TF2 (speaking of which, there's one that was just released, and it's awesome), and it's very camp-spooky.