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TheJester The Sachmeister from over there. Since: Feb, 2013
The Sachmeister
#76: Jun 22nd 2013 at 9:31:11 PM

Yeah. That idea doesn't need to be limited to survival horror necessarily. I just generally would like to see a game based around finding resourceful ways to use the environments and the seemingly harmless objects surrounding you, where you're not necessarily limited to one correct way of doing so either- the game gives you a bunch of materials and the players just find creative ways to use them against the enemy. So yeah, it could just be that the player has conventional weaponry, but the enemies get tougher and resistant to more weapons with time, forcing some thinking. Or something.

DAStudent Since: Dec, 2012
#77: Jun 23rd 2013 at 12:49:42 AM

My game idea now has a thread of its own, so let's move any leftover discussion of it over there, alright? smile

I'd say I'm being refined Into the web I descend Killing those I've left behind I have been Endarkened
tsstevens Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did from Reading tropes such as Righting Great Wrongs Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: She's holding a very large knife
Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did
#78: Aug 8th 2013 at 7:12:31 AM

I have an idea for an add on for Dead Island. Here's the basic synopsis.

You select from one of four members of the Australian Defense Force, Sidney Dyer (played by Jennifer Hale,) Patrick Cain (Hugh Jackman,) Peter Williams (Steve Blum) and their commander Major Lynn Ashcroft (Caroline Craig.) These guys are kind of like Ryder White except they are not under the thumb of a terrorist or looking for a cure, their sole intent on disaster relief. They are sent to Banoi as part of a rescue effort while just off the coast pilot Michael Hastings (Ditch Davey) awaits orders to bomb the islands if the situation goes bad.

The situation goes very bad, the task force is cut off and completely unprepared for the infected, the people they were sent to help are wiped out and there's no way to make radio contact. The group do hear that the chain of command had gone to hell, with the BDIF shooting any survivors, the gangs taking over, orders to call in airstrikes to contain the infection and rumors the ADF will use a nuke. With no way to respond to what they hear on the radio Lynn defaults to finding and rescuing any survivors they can find, while taking out as many infected as they can (scant few according to Patrick, who is all for bombing the islands to hell once they've done everything they can.) However a wrinkle occurs when they hear about the virus and the possibility of it being spread.

Sidney suggests hunting down anyone who may have been bitten but had not yet turned. Lynn orders the group to Moresby where they hope to find answers. What they find is street to street gang warfare, and rumors the Rascals are setting the infected against the survivors. When Lynn hears about this she orders the team to find explosives, which Peter sets at the prison. Lynn's reasoning is simple, have the gangs fight the infected then the survivors can be targeted by a bombing run.

Peter then suggests they find the BDIF commander to help with getting the survivors to an evac area, but before they can they can the task force comes across several dead soldiers. After fighting off the infected they hear on their radios orders to call in a bombing run. Sidney thinks it doesn't sound military, more corporate, and they try to raise whoever is giving the orders. Lynn strikes a deal, Michael is called in for an airstrike in exchange for help in rescuing the survivors.

The task force begins finding everyone they came across who was still alive and escort them to where Lynn had arranged an evacuation from Banoi, where Sidney begins shooting the gang members. When Lynn holds her off Sidney snarls that they're criminals, they don't deserve the chance of escape. Lynn makes a compromise and gets her to hunt down and kill the infected until the evacuation begins, before covering the rescue operation. However Sidney is followed back to the evac zone by a large number of infected and the rest of the task force try to hold them off, when Patrick is bitten. He begins to alternate between demanding he be left behind and begging to be taken along with the survivors, until Peter shoots him, regrettably telling him they cannot take that chance before joining the task force, their rescue effort complete and Lynn ordering an airstrike.

Patrick is still alive, and still trying to hold off the infected believing that he is still trying to protect the survivors when a group of them join him, along with several BDIF and ADF soldiers who had found more survivors. They radio for evac only to learn they are too late and it had already gone. As the infected close in Michael flies overhead and drops the bombs, killing them as well as any survivors or soldiers. He radios that he had expended all ordanance and is flying back to rearm. He also very shakily requests that someone else fly the next strike on the islands.

Lynn tells him the message is received and looks at the remaining members of the task force, million mile stares on their faces. Lynn herself feels like she is going to be sick and turns her attention to the survivors. At least they were able to get some out, but she muses what happened will lead to many sleepless nights, the horror of having to live with what they saw. And who would believe them? What about the panic that would occur if the truth got out? Like it or not she feels she made a deal with the devil, but maybe she could make the odds more in her favor and calls a number in Palanoi, warning about what happened and to be on the lookout for any survivors.

Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
PolarPhantom Since: Jun, 2012
#79: Aug 8th 2013 at 8:13:47 AM

I'd like a Survival Horror that is centered around a fear of heights. Of course, the question here is how to make that work. Maybe a fear/sanity meter like Eternal darkness, and the lower it goes, the more you character stumbles or freezes up? Perhaps the fear effects should have a healthy amount of Interface Screw? Not sure what sort of enemies would be in it. Perhaps Crows and Flies since they'd be able to get you anywhere.

MrPoly Since: Feb, 2010
#80: Aug 8th 2013 at 10:20:59 AM

I've got a way better idea than all of you jagoffs. Actually that may not be true, but I like attention.

This one is first-person and open-world. On a big-ass forest island. The story goes that you were traveling with your friends on vacation by plane, when suddenly the plane crashes on said island. You are the only survivor for some strange reason, but the first thing you notice is that it's very dark. Like, the only light is from the fire around the crash site. It should be mid-day, but there is no sun.

From there you start gathering clues, including a friend's video camera. The tape inside it shows that they managed to parachute out of the plane before it crashed, but shortly after landing, there's an attack from... something. You can't even see it because it's surrounded in pitch black. Like, an aura of darkness. With a few shining purple crystal-like things on various parts of what might be its body. Less than a second after it appears the video stops abruptly. You pick up the rest of your crap, including a map, a note, and some kind of GPS Tracking Device (I dunno how they work in real life), and then you notice that somehow, the device is tracking that monster's position, because it starts beeping just as you see the monster some distance in front of you. Your first objective, then, is to get away from there. When you read the note, you find out that one of the friends managed to plant a bug on the monster as it was attacking the others. Unfortunately, he too was badly wounded, and wasn't gonna make it.

The rest of the game is about figuring out the mystery of this island. Why is there no sun? What is that monster and what does it want? All the while, everywhere you go the monster is following closely behind you, the only hint of its presence being the occasional beeping of your tracker when it gets too close. And you're gonna need it, because this monster is actually the only enemy in the game. Hell, the only thing even alive in the game. Not that there aren't any traps and environmental hazards around, likely placed by the first inhabitants of the island a very long time ago. Did I mention there's no combat system? The game is an adventure/stealth kind of hybrid, where you travel around solving puzzles all while hiding from the monster.

There's a bit of survival in there too. Because just being around the monster can cause weird and painful things to happen to you. You suffer from hallucinations, you get huge blood-oozing sores on your body, and all of this will need to be cured by harvesting various resources from the island. You're just gonna have to hang in there until you finally solve this mystery, taking you through the forests, highlands, and even ancient temples and castles. All while the monster looks for you intently.

edited 8th Aug '13 10:51:05 AM by MrPoly

Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#81: Aug 10th 2013 at 12:39:40 PM

Jester: Is my idea from earlier in the thread similar to what you're thinking of?

...because as long as we're discussing each others' ideas I'm curious for feedback too. <_<

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
Talby Since: Jun, 2009
#82: Aug 17th 2013 at 7:42:08 AM

Not an idea for a whole game, but just for one enemy; some kind of special monster that is able to keep attacking you even when the game is paused.

Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#83: Aug 17th 2013 at 12:49:16 PM

That would defeat the purpose of being able to pause the game...

I think I remember hearing something like that was used in Dead Space, though. The locations that allow you to open an in-game menu (for upgrading or purchasing equipment or something like that) are typically safe from enemies for one reason or another... Until some way into the game, when as soon as you open the menu a necromorph leaps out of a nearby air vent and attacks. It never happens again, but it undermines the sense of security the menus had provided for the remainder of the game.

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
tsstevens Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did from Reading tropes such as Righting Great Wrongs Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: She's holding a very large knife
Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did
#84: Aug 25th 2013 at 9:08:59 AM

Part two of the idea I had for a Dead Island add on, let's call the first one Operation Wavebreaker and the second Island Storm.

After escaping with what survivors they could Sidney, Peter and Lynn are radioed about a yacht that had escaped Palanoi with those infected by the virus, and when Michael flies in to investigate his fighter is shot down and the rest of the team comes after him. With Patrick dying at the end of Wavebreaker Michael becomes the fourth playable character, and after he is found the team find where the radio transmission came from to find Harlow still alive, but greatly weakened, and the area crawling with infected. She argues to find the infected that had escape, Michael and Sidney are eager to find who shot him down. Lynn however convinces them to first of all worry about any survivors.

They have to fight their way to the shelters and find anyone who might still be alive, before trying to find somewhere they might be safe. There is scant little in the way of where a refugee camp could be set up, except for Henderson where the gangs have taken over the streets. Left with little other option the team leads the survivors there where Lynn attempts to strike a deal with the gang leaders. Negotiations break down and Michael and Sidney are forced to shoot their way out and take as many survivors as they can along the way.

Left with no alternative the team take the survivors with them and learning of the stored army supplies there attempt to get to any explosives that might be there and blow the cashes up. Harlow is dead set against the idea, and tries to reason that it's too dangerous to risk the infection spreading if the stores are blown. Peter counters that the alternative is either allow everyone to remain on the islands; a death sentence, or nuke the islands. At the very least they can investigate if the virus does stem from there.

Upon reaching the supplies no one can figure out if it the cause of the virus, but along the way they find several voodoo camps where many of the infected gather. Lynn suggests blowing those up as a way of limiting the hold the infected have on Palanoi. The team leave the survivors with Harlow and begin finding the camps where they set the C4 to detonate on the way back to Henderson. However when they return to Harlow several of the survivors had been attacked, and the team have no choice but to gun them down. Horrified, Harlow leaves the group. Sidney asks if she may have been responsible, and before anyone can stop her she follows Harlow.

The rest of the team follow her, when they are swarmed by the infected. They hear Harlow attacked but with no way to help the team take the remaining survivors to Henderson, where Patrick and Michael fight their way to a radio and demand evacuation. The ADF, knowing how bad the situation is, are sent out to pick them up. Then the gangs rally and outraged at the soldiers defending themselves earlier begin killing the remaining survivors. The team try to fight them back before attack helicopters fly overhead, reinforcements having arrived.

With only maybe thirty percent of the survivors left and no answers to the cause of the outbreak, Sidney, Peter, Lynn and Michael begin loading up the choppers. No one is quite sure of what to do from there, but it's clear their lives will never be the same. Everyone who escapes would have to be checked for the risk of infection. Their lives would be closely monitored. Sidney is watching as they take off thinking of the ramifications of the incident where one of the survivors on the helicopter turns and attacks the others, before the soldiers shoot the chopper down and kill everyone on board. Sickened by this she wonders if this is what it had come down to. Michael and Peter on the other hand wonder if there was any other choice. Lynn remembers Harlow telling them about the survivors who escaped, and dreaded what that would mean to them, and to her beloved Australia.

edited 25th Aug '13 9:11:38 AM by tsstevens

Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
FuzzyBoots from Outlying borough of Pittsburgh (there's a lot of Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
#85: Aug 25th 2013 at 7:35:24 PM

[up][up] Okami did something similar. In the level where you fight ghosts, they continue attacking when you go into the pen screen.

AnSTH Lawful Evil Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#86: Aug 25th 2013 at 9:26:11 PM

I had an idea about how to do an Escort Mission well in a Survival Horror game. Mostly by just giving you more options in how you approach the problem. Here's the scene:

You're trapped in an area. The only way forward is through a locked door past a whole bunch of monsters. The only key to open the door is in the possession of a frail type who wants and needs your help to get past the ghoulies safely. So you get to decide how you handle the situation.

  • Maybe you feel sorry for the poor sot and decide to escort him/her to safety. It's tough going as the monsters are able to tell you're better able to defend yourself and instead go for the key-holder, who is essentially defenseless without you. Eventually you beat them back and the two of you get through the door to what you hope is a slightly safer area (hint: it isn't). Later on in the game you get a grateful ally who is willing to vouch for you to other characters or do some dangerous task or some such.

  • Maybe you don't feel like putting up with this crap and beat on the would-be escortee until the key is handed over. You leg it, weaving around the monsters by yourself unencumbered as you are by a worthless load. Later on you encounter a character with access to security footage of you brutalizing the other survivor and leaving him/her to die. You'll need to take care of this new character too before he can rat on you to the rest of his group.

  • Maybe while trying to save the Lord/Lady of the Key, you fail. Or even worse, maybe you bring them outside and let the monsters eat them. The baddies ignore you in favor of the easy meal and the key is left over in the grisly refuse, with full satiated monsters watching your exit with mild interest. The next time you run into the same type of monster, they're curiously non-hostile. Some of the bloody mutants are even downright helpful. And you notice them looking on eagerly as you interact with the next survivor you come across. You realize there is one very easy way to survive in this hell hole. Are you willing to forsake your humanity and become one with the madness in order to survive?

That's all I got. I'm better at the individual scenario planning stuff than I am at the wide-reaching campaign planning, evidenced by the fact I have no idea about the who what when where and why of the idea. What kind of game would this work in do you think?

But that's a story for another time.
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#87: Aug 25th 2013 at 9:52:08 PM

Eternal Darkness pretty much spoiled several ideas I would have suggested for a unique horror game. It doesn't help that some of the classic games in the genre (say hello, RE) have practically abandoned the genre entirely. It's Been Done indeed.

What I can suggest is a game that isn't horror in a traditional way. Not because of zombies, ghosts, monsters or that jazz. I'd like .... you know, Adult Fears to be the central focus. Fears that are actually fearsome for adults.

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AnSTH Lawful Evil Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#88: Aug 25th 2013 at 9:59:53 PM

[up] The main difficulty there is in getting the players invested enough in the game world to actually care about what happens to the inhabitants. A lot of adult fears center on children, and games so far have been pretty hit and miss with making likeable kids. Others, like say impotence of action in the face of a nuclear or traditional bomb threat carries less weight in a game. The consequences aren't real so there isn't enough reason for the player to be afraid of them. (The fact that most other games are empowerment fantasies about overcoming such fears doesn't help with the average gamer's psyche.)

That's why most horror games have to resort to "spooky" enemies. I guess we do existential horror, maybe, but that could lead to a lot of lawsuits about emotional scarring.

But that's a story for another time.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#89: Aug 26th 2013 at 4:45:42 PM

[up][up] Just because something has been done once doesn't mean it can never be used again!

One of the things I think Eternal Darkness did brilliantly was how it handled the frame story. As you wander the mansion in between episodes, you keep finding weapons to protect yourself with. But nothing ever attacks. Even when the weapons become directly connected to the episodes you've been reading about, and random hallucinations start to strike, and one episode takes place inside that very building... you're never in any actual danger. Not until late in the game, just as you've probably started feeling secure.

[up] Existential and psychological horror are the best kinds. I think good games do tend to use those, but in addition to spooky monsters, rather than instead of.

To be honest, I'm sometimes not sure how Adult Fears differ from other categories of horror.

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
Grounder Main Character Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: All is for my lord
Main Character
#90: Aug 26th 2013 at 4:47:19 PM

A game where you are the monster ripping people apart.

Gorn, gorn everywhere.

edited 26th Aug '13 4:47:37 PM by Grounder

WaxingName from Everywhere Since: Oct, 2010
#91: Aug 27th 2013 at 12:32:14 AM

This isn't much, but I'd like to see a Castlevania Metroidvania that has a more survival horror bent instead of an Action RPG bent. There would be several booby traps after collecting certain items, a lot of jump scare enemy ambushes, and decreased combat capability so that you're forced to run away at the worst times.

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optimusjamie Since: Jun, 2010
#92: Aug 29th 2013 at 9:44:39 AM

I'd make a survival horror where the horror primarily comes from humans, not supernatural/science fiction things: Bigotry, war/weapons, etc. From there, I'm not quite sure.

Direct all enquiries to Jamie B Good
tsstevens Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did from Reading tropes such as Righting Great Wrongs Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: She's holding a very large knife
Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did
#93: Oct 24th 2013 at 6:38:10 AM

Thought I'd modify the earlier idea I had where depending on the character you play the game changes. You select the class you want to play as and then the character which will have their own stats, story and side quests.

  • Survival: Limited health and resources, tough enemies, little in the way of side quests, the basic idea is to get through in one piece.

  • Horror: Similar to survival in that you don't have much health, but the game is made truly horrifying with the enemies being prime Nightmare Fuel and the side quests are utterly harrowing and terrifying.

  • Action: More health and weapons, but a lot more enemies.

  • Hero: Most of the enemies are Elite Mooks, Demonic Spiders, and much of the game is on trying to help others, with many more side quests that need to be done to advance.

  • Soldier: A mix of horror and action, where you have the tools for the job, except a lot of the job is not very nice, including executing survivors or acts that risk turning your character into a Shell-Shocked Veteran or worse.

Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
dvorak The World's Least Powerful Man from Hiding in your shadow (Elder Troper) Relationship Status: love is a deadly lazer
The World's Least Powerful Man
#94: Nov 25th 2016 at 3:22:26 AM

Arise, dead thread!

Joking aside, one idea I had for a horror game was like Eternal Darkness by way of F.E.A.R. You start as a hi-tech soldier type, fighting eldritch beasties, but you start going bonkers and seeing things. Standard stuff, right? Here's the fun part: you have no sanity meter. You're hallucinating, but you don't know it until after you've emptied a clip into a friendly because you thought he was a Dimensional Shambler. Or you shoot an enemy once and it vapourizes and you get chewed out for wasting bullets.

Another thing: I only get really upset by enemies with Healing Factor or Kaizo Trap features. The Regenerator from Dead Space or a Ganado from RE 4 with a parasite flailing at you from their neck stump bother me way more than the Slashers or "It" ever did. So: what about a creature that gets more dangerous the more you try to kill it?

edited 25th Nov '16 3:34:55 AM by dvorak

Now everyone pat me on the back and tell me how clever I am!
Weirdguy149 Former King from Lumiose City Since: Jul, 2014 Relationship Status: I'd jump in front of a train for ya!
Former King
#95: Nov 25th 2016 at 4:52:28 AM

I have an idea that may be cool. You play as a detective trying to solve a string of murders. You have found your man in the mansion where he lives, but the door closes and locks behind you, leaving you alone with a serial killer. This wouldn't be a bad thing... if you weren't deaf.

The bulk of the game is going to be exploration of the environment with only a flashlight, a gun with one bullet, and handcuffs to defend yourself with. You need to rely on vibrations on either the controller or the headphone speakers to locate the killer. There will be multiple endings for how you deal with him.

The legend has returned.
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