How would you make a good horror game?

Help and Feedback Game Design Support
#1

Horror games, although not very popular, are a good way to help let your imagination run wild while also allowing you to learn new things while developing.

That said, what steps should be taken to make a good horror game that is both eerie and engaging to play and fits in Roblox’s community rules / terms of service?

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#2

I would set the fog to pitch black and set the FogEnd to 50-100. Then set the ClockTime to 0
From that point on it depends on the game and it’s theme

#3

I appreciate the advice. Thanks a lot :slight_smile:

#4

Lighting is the best solution when it comes to horror game. If you see any large/popular horror games you can know that the lightings has a-lot of details in it. Mess around with the lighting and see if it’s scary or not.

Hope that helps! :smiley:

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#5

A few steps of advice from me:

  1. Make a poll and ask people and yourself: What makes you scared? Spiders? Dogs? Flying sea rabbits? Try to incorporate things people are scared of into your game
  2. Read roblox ToS to make sure it fits the guidelines. As long as the game doesn’t have too much blood (Or have a feature to turn blood off) it should be fine.
  3. Darkness, darkness, darkness! It’s the dark that makes the game REALLY scary!
  4. Play a few horror games yourself. The best in my opinion is Identity Fraud.

Example: People are scared of spiders, so RoyStanford made a Piggy-Like game called “Spider” which is really scary, but also fun!

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#6

Adjust lighting and fog
A sense of the unknown is really amazing in a horror game, not knowing who you are, where you are, what’s after you etc… paranoia is your best friend when you control it

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#7

Realistic wood planks, dark mood, sketchy paths, cracked things. idk just stuff like that

#8

Thanks a lot for this :smiley:

In terms of ToS, would jumpscares be allowed and if so, does Roblox prefer more light-hearted jumpscares (like the ones you would see in piggy) or intense ones?

#9

It’s up to you, but to prevent angry people and a low rating, put a disclaimer at the beginning of your game saying there is jumpscares and stuff :wink:

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#10

I’ve been messing around with lighting and contrast and so far everyone looks great. I’ll make use of the fog too. Again, thanks a lot for this advice, it really helps me out :smiley:

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#11

Yep, I absolutely will do that when they join in

#12

Don’t put jump scares. They’re the cheapest way to scare someone.

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#13

I’d say jumpscares are fine, even intense ones. But you should make a warning at the start of the game warning people of intense jumpscares.

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#14

I agree with you on this one. It’s not horror without actual horror! There’s a difference between “Spooky” and “Scary”

Spooky is like halloween. It’s not scary, but it’s meant to be a scary game. Games like piggy have this implemented

Scary games actually make you scared. These games should have a warning. Games like FNaF have this.

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#15

Making a horror game comes in many aspects whether your making yours have a scary viewpoint, things to include “suspense, atmosphere, ambiance” horror games aren’t accomplished by just fog and spoilers, but it has to have a decent gameplay that makes a horror game fun and well put together. Try viewing resources on ways to make a good horror game and what’s needed to create them properly.

You can see there are many ways to make a good horror game, jump scares from my understanding are fine to include but they shouldn’t be the main option implemented to a game, rather add jump scares throughout the gameplay in different locations that way (it’ll look more appealing and not something that just scares players).

Here is a similar question about ways to make a horror game scary, i would recommend checking it out since it leaves useful information and tips that could be taken along when creating your game.

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#16

Thanks for the advice :smiley:
Apart from jump scares, which are good when used correctly, I would say adding more random events (like random flickering lights, etc.) in the game would also make it more scarier. Since I’m working on a fnaf fan game myself, I need to make sure that the gameplay isn’t too predictable (if not a bit random) while also allowing players to become skilled at the game. Definetely adding suspense in an uneasy environment will do the trick nicely.

Also, thank you for providing a link below, I’ll definetely check it out!

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#17

Making player be scared by themself’s is what it’s needed where player wanders ghost area they would encounter “decay” or an noises
Making game scare you while you feel presence of the monster
making noises would make monster come here would definetely panic on a moment where it would notice you, watch and slowly approach.

#18

I am an expert at this. Make good, horrific looking monsters. Also, for a good horror game make it seem a bit friendly at first but later put in dark and creepy stuff so it provides a scary experience. A horror game story would be the best.

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#19

Of course, not spoiling what the main villain is, who they are, what their intention to kill you, or how they look like would make it a much more scarier experience. It’s less scarier when the player knows how it looks. For se; I know that it has red eyes, some sharp teeth, it’s big and black, and it kills people, boom, summarised in a few words and it’s less scarier

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#20

I am currently thinking about designs for the monsters in my game and I probably won’t go for the shadowy monsters a lot of horror games commonly use as I think most players are used to seeing that. Instead I’m considering making more unusual / unique designs. For the story, I’ll need to work on that since my game has no plot / lore whatsoever.

Nevertheless, thank you very very much for the advice! :smiley: