What makes a game scary?

[Gord10]

Yes, what do you think about it? I think there mustn't be lots of action. A game which we kill lots of zombies in each room isn't scary.

[Goldmund]

That's a good question, although I lack time to express my views right now.

Squalman released some games which were quite scary in his time.

[Privateer Puddin']

music plays a big part, imo.

[Mr Jake]

Music and timing, it has to be

[Trapezoid]

Surprise and suspense. Like in DOOM, how whenever you turn a corner you know there could be a bunch of monsters jumping out at you. Or the end of Monkey Island 2, where LeChuck randomly appears in the corridors.
Both of these examples are illustrated with creepy graphics and music, of course.

[c.leksutin]

The first RE was fairly scary, lots of good "gotchas" and what not.

Also: there was this game I used to have on my PS1 called clocktower that did a good job being a "scary" game, untill I realized you could kick the badguy in the balls when he got too close.


C.

[Rincewind]

Hitchcocks classic statement that suspense is achieved by letting the viewer see what is about to happen to the character, while the char. itself is oblivious to it, is often quoted within film-theory, but does it also apply to games?
Well, in my opinion, no - Since in a game, you are both the viewer and the character at the same time, and therefore, if you were to see what was going to happen, you would be able to avoid the danger or event that is about to happen, thus eliminating the whole element of suspense all together.
So what can you do to create suspense/horror?

I'd say it's a lot about the mood, the atmosphere and the overall feeling of the game - And that includes many elements.
Music, as Puddin' said, is one of the most important parts - Even if your graphics are simplistic and perhaps "below the standards", some really haunting music can add a mood to the scene that wasn't there before.
AGS examples of this is for example Pleurghburg and the Byzantine demo - Both games feature great and suspenseful/haunting music, (And of course great storylines as well - I'm coming to that...) which definately heightened the atmosphere.

But - Just some scary music alone won't make a game. Story is as always, the most important element.
And when it comes to horror, there is one thing that makes a game/film/whatever-story scary - Uncertainty.
That single feeling of knowing that something has/is going to happen, but you don't really know what and when it's going to happen...  
It's a sense of hopelessness in a way.

I don't really know if this here, my ramblings makes any sense, but hopefully they did... Feel free to point out my mistakes...

[Nine Toes]

I'm with Lex, even though I'm not sure if he means the very first one for the Famicom (I beleive), or one of the three sequels.  I have the game Clocktower for the PS1, and it was quite a thrill (despite the bad voice acting and crappy graphics).  In the game, you never know where the killer is... and he either suddenly pops out at you from behind a door, or what ever, or when he's "coming for you", you hear this ambient drone kind of fade in (and turns into this thumping trance-like number), then you know when you hear that you're supposed to run and hide.  Then you can hear his giant scissors sliding open and then snapping shut as he gets nearer.

Resident Evil was always a blast too.  I recommend any one of the games to someone who wants to be scared, or likes suspense.

In my humble opinion, this is what makes anything scary (movies, games, etc):
1.  Not knowing exactly what you're afraid of.  Take the movie Alien for example... you never see the aliens in their entirety, you only see a few film cell's worth of them (their mouths, etc).  Not enough to know what it is you're afraid of, but you have the general idea.  I think it would be pretty damn scary, if you're running for your life from something, but you can't see it... you don't know where it is, you don't know what it's planning, you just know you want to live.  Do you kind of get the general idea here?  People are generally afraid of what they don't understand, and (no matter what anyone tells you...) what you can't see or don't know WILL hurt you.

2. Now, when it comes to horror, I say, silence is golden.  Picture it:  You're alone in the woods.  All you can hear is your breathing, and the beating of your own heart.  Then suddenly, you hear a twig snap... you quick glance around to see where it came from, but you see nothing... it's gonna freak you out.  But it would be even scarier, if it was a sound you didn't expect, or couldn't recognize.
 Music can add to the mood, something ambient, like a few solitary, echo-ey piano notes (in a very macabre arrangement... it's gotta sound scary), a shreiking violin stab, or a singular, droning cello note.  But I think you should only add music if its a chase scene, or somethign similar.  You just kinda have to know when and where to use music, I guess.

3. Location.  You're more than likely to be scared if you're in an unfamiliar location, with minimal to no light.  I mean, are you going to be as scared if you're in your front yard during the daytime?  No.  If that's the case, you know where to go if you want to get away, and you can see where you're going (dynamic camera angles also help out in the location department).  A place that just looks scary, like an old graveyard, might help.

4.  Lastly, weapons.  I find a lack of weaponry to be the scariest... you've got nothing to defend yourself with, you're armed with only your wits (in which case I'd be screwed, I'm not a quick thinker...).  Some games and movies insist on having weaponry available, but you're going to go this route, make sure it's sparse.  Say that you're only armed with a little 4 inch hunting knife, that sucks because it's not going to be effective by any means.  If you want to talk firearms, you can give the character all the guns in the world, but they're no damn good without ammo.  So try to make ammunition limited.  They don't know when or where they're going to find more bullets, so they have to try their best to make every shot count, and have to make sure they've got some rounds left over just in case they might need them later.

I hope this was helpful.  I really enjoyed being able to toss in my two-cents worth into this thread, cuz I'm a sucker for horror.

~Sully

EDIT:
I realize I might have written things that others have already posted.  I apologize... I only skimmed through the threads before I posted.

[m0ds]

What makes a game scary?

Chrille Blomqvist.

[Nacho]

Ir is difficult to say... so, let me analyze my fears, maybe you can get some conclussions...

Trapezoid defined it well... Unexpected frights are scary, I remember an "Alone in the dark" scene where a thunder lights the room where I was, and there were two zombies following me, a thing that I didn´t  noticed before, aahhh!

But you can´t abuse... In the old movies even the music made you notice when there was going to be a fright, and people started to make fun about it... guessing where the frights were going to be.

Wes Craven used this and put thrilling music before something harmless (maybe the strange noise was made by a cat, for instance) and then, when the character and the spectator were relaxed, the monster attacked!

But the fright films are IMO dying... The genre can still accept innovations (I.E. the zombies are slow and silly? Let´s do them fucking fast and aggressive!!! I.E. 28 days after)

BTW,it seems that the films are aiming a more "psicological" fear. I can remember "The ring", "The house of the haunted Hill" and "The haunting"... As you can see, they keep the fright, but now the "frighting thingie" are ghosts...

I think that we´re quite unsensitive to death, we´re looking to it all the days in TV, so, the script writers use ghosts, because, if a ghost kills you, you don´t know whats going to happen. Ghosts films imply that we have a soul, which means that the suffering can continues after the death, whereas with the zombies, many times resurrected by a nuclear waste or a crazy scientist, the zombies "only" can kill you.

That´s why I prefer ghost movies, because death doesn´t scare me so much as what can happen after...

BTW, the only film that scared me in the sense that it stuck fear to the death itself was "Saving private Ryan".

CONLCUSSIONS:
I can´t imagine me being attacked by a zombie, because I know that they don´t exist.

See ghosts films make me to be a little scared because I can´t be sure that ghosts do no exist.

Seeing real situations where people die scare me a lot.

My advise: Try to make the reason that creates the "scary thingie" as realist as you can.

[Robert Eric]

Anticipation.

[Domino]

If you want scarey!! Play Silent Hill 1 through 3 for the PS2. The atmosphere those games portray is in my opinion some of the scariest ever. The imagry alone is scarey, and downright disturbing. I say check them out for a good spook.

I'm almost 31 years old, and playing Silent Hill 2 in the dark scared the piss out of me. So, that must be saying something.

Shawn

[evenwolf]

atmosphere, building up just a spooky ass atmosphere

music, visuals, scripting events that occur when the gamer least expects.  To this day I think the scariest moment in a game is Resident Evil when the dogs jump through the windows.  The thing is, you have to tease more than you "Boo!" because eventually the player gets dysenthisized from all the "boos".   Make him suspect something is coming, then let that suspicion pass, then "WAM!"

dramatic creepy music and haunting backgrounds helps lure the character into whatever feeling you wish.

and of course, lines of dialogue such as:

Barry: "What is it?"
Jill:      "What is it?
Barry:   "It's blood."

Barry:   "Jill since you are the master at unlocking, here- take this lockpick."

[Krynge]

As a Gamecube owner, I bought myself the Resident Evil Remake and I can give you a few pointers, because this game is downright disturbing.

Images of human flesh or 'raw meat' scattered throughout dimly lit places is a good start, with added flies or cockroaches crawling around. Rancid images just add to an unpleasant atmosphere, and create a scene where the character is uncomfortable.

Also suggested imagery plays an important part in the 'scary' experience. For example, human teeth and small locks of hair laying on a table next to pair of bloodstained pliers does wonders for the human imagination, bringing along such questions as "What the hell happened here?"

Also the entire RE series seems to do this quite well, ie making you jump. For example after completing a certain puzzle like finding the last key in a section of the game, the player would casually walk back to the door to advance to another part of the land or whatever. But on his/her way back, a window could shatter with a bunch of mutated Dobermans heading to maul the player.

[Barcik]

Avoid cliches at all cost! No serial killers in silly outfits, no scary empty houses, etc. In other words, nothing that can relate to the typical teen horror movie. Try new settings, new outfits and new designs. This way, the player won't be able to say "oh, it's so obvious, he's in that closet". The player must not be ready for the scare. Example: Take Mulholland Drive's bum scene. It's daylight, the guy is obviouly a daydreaming lunatic. And *baaam*, it's there.

And, as the others said, atmosphere. The player must constantly be on the edge a mental breakdown. Example: This is not a horror movie, but the atmosphere at one moment was just right. "2001: A Space Odyssey", the scene when the austronauts are out in space. There is no sound but that of the astronauts' (who are slowly drifting in space) breath.

[Babar]

It seems a lot of scary parts (in games) is a chase part. By this I mean where the player is in a place with an approaching baddie. This in addition to a limited time is really scary. For example, the jaguar(??) appearing in pleurghburgh got me all jumpy. There was a jaguar running towards you and you are frantically clicking your inventory to see what to stop it. Another example is the randomly appearing wizard/dwarf/witch in Kq1. While I was on a certain screen, suddenly one of them appeared and started going towards you. That really used to get my heart beating fast and I was press the key to exit the screen as soon as possible. Even Resident Evil, with baddies suddenly appearing and walking in their weird limp used to get a jump out of me while I tried turning towards them and repeatedly firing at them. I don't think it really applies (at least for games) that I don't believe in zombies or ghosts. If you can sufficiently absorb the player into the game and then get them shocked with those they can get really scared.  I guess a major part of this is the atmosphere created by the music and backgrounds, creating an "intense" feeling, followed by the (perhaps expected, but still scary) shock.

[Raggit]

What makes a game scary?  



Bad designers.  


Seriously, I think that atmosphere, story, music are the most important keys to make a game scary.

[Eggie]

Hey, this is a great thread.
Inspiring stuff.

[jaz]

Thinking about scary games... System Shock 2 comes to my mind as one of the scarriest. Also I think that unknown threat hidden somewhere inside a spaceship in deep space with no means of escaping creates one hell of a scary atmosphere. Think Alien...
As others have said before, suspension is very important too. Take Stephen King´s novels for example. Nothing quite unusual happens during first 400 pages or so... but the tension is building up. And when it comes, it smashes you right into the face and leave you breathless. I took King´s Bag of Bones novel to check out my statements as I write this. And what do you know? The breaking point comes at around page 600! But it gave me goosebumps all the way down.

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

The unknown! Why are kids scared of dark rooms? Because they can't see what's there. Never, ever, ever, EVER reveal the face of the alien (I'm looking at you, Independance Day); it just removes all mystique.