"scary Levels"

[Lactamid]

After having this thread up a while I'm seeing alot of support but also some valid "problems".
The game needs both suspence and surprise - there needs to be some tension - a presence of danger. Yet we wouldn't like to make the game change it's feel and become some semi-horror
game that just wasn't good enough and compromised the "soul of the game". Perhaps we can see this as a way to as someone said "flesh out" the game/factions - just adding more feel to it.
Of course by the 100th time you play something it won't be as scary or surprising as the first time around, but that doesn't mean it could still improve the game to have some more elements of
scare in it.

This is some of the things (and a few additions) so far:

Seperation from squad:
- fighting as a team but having to go seperat ways.
- Differnt starting areas - join up with team - help them get to the exit by activating switches to let them go forward (possible grief - some way of countering it required).
- Enemies able to pull you away
- Traps make you fall through the floor (then close? - short detour required for team)

Power-nerf:
- Very few rounds and low droprate on ammo.
- Possibly not wearing Warframe.
- Warframe energy won't recharge (set maximum starting energy).
- Radar doesn't work.
- Limited vision (dark, foggy, limited space on map - powers won't be as effective)
- Power-needing "batteries". - Doors/machines that needs power to operate - drains your energy.

Enemies:

Infested:
Tentacle roof monster - stationary enemy that pulls players up in the roof to eat them.
Infested Queen - Boss type monster that is very hard to kill. Provoked by you killing others.
Infested berzerker  - close to the above, but cannot be killed at all - heavily plated but with weak points that you can shoot to slow it down (becomes less and less effective). Doors may also be shut to slow it down (breaks them down).
"Space-squid" (lack of a better name haha) - A monster that follows you from outside the ship and if you make to much noice (gunfire/skills) breaks through the hull to get you -
also causing decompression. (Decompression suction effect?)
Hunter - A monster that as the above lurks on the outside following you to strike when you least want it to - wall/roof-climbing, high damage.
Mimic - Monster that hides in loot containers/lockers.

* ( infested little girl walking down a dark long halway, then sprints and have her face image pop on the screen)
* Tunnel exit - an infested part of the ventilation that could be 100% safe...or full of baddies. No way to tell. (Sneaking by it would be benificial)

Corpus:
Stealer - A unit that either mimics an ally (looks the same) or teleports an ally away and makes their "green marker" on the minimap dissapear.
Trapper - a unit that spawns stationary turrets/tripmines/shield generators


Grineer:
Psychic - messes with your brain :) (long range)
* Flashbangs/smoke-grenade
"heavy armor-unit" (CY13ERPUNK - feel free to expand the idea to make it "scarier")

Other:
"Ghost ship" - evil ship that hides the true identity of the enemies onboard and lays a trap - ambushes your team.
"Blob" - Enemy that multiplies when engaged (killing it brings back more and stronger monsters - possibly buying some time in the short run)


Map-FX:
Low lights
Alien nature - organic walls - difficult to feel safe in.
On time - a count down to make it to the exit/objective-and-back.
erie music/ sound fx.
Lotus link compromised. - breaking up. (Maybe someone else is (miss)leading you?)

Map "design":
Close quarters - in your face moments.
Large "ambushy" rooms with a "they can come from all directions" feeling.
bottle necks - a "high risk" path that you need to pass somehow.
Tactic-rooms:
- water - you need to swim acros floodd parts of the map (ship and planet alike) with small "islands" that gives chances to retalliate. You need to cover your friends.
- Climbs/chasms - areas where you need to climb, repell, or walk across sections of the map using both hands (unable to fire/use melee).
Different paths - the team NEEDS to split up in order to make progress (pressing buttons at the same time or something).

"pointers"
Things that are "obviosly" wrong if noticed - broken, bloody, slimy, infested, doesn't look "right".
 

 

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Original post:

 

(Could we get some dark and panicy levels with the 4:th comming faction?

Think of aliens hiding in the walls pulling your fellow Tenno up/into another room with enemy radar/sense going all black. And ow yeah, I heared everyone liked timers on these sort of maps :)

 

Maybe maps with nightvision?)

Edited April 26, 2013 by Lactamid

[Blackchaosvortex]

You can make any map scary if you get volt/banshee in your squad... heck they destroy all the freaking lights! xD

Edited April 22, 2013 by Blackchaosvortex

[CadenFall]

Oh man I love scary things. I think scary levels could work very well. As is I already get scared in some parts of this game. XD

 

This game does have great levels in some infested missions where it's all dark and your Tenno uses a flashlight on their gun as their only source of light. Infested pop out of no where and actually make me jump. If they focused on this I bet it could be seriously awesome. I support this idea. Although I just like the flash light in the dark. I love all the colors in the game from the character models to the explosions and sparks. Using nightvision would take away a lot from the atmosphere.

[Yorinar]

I fully support the idea of more dark levels.  I was just thinking earlier that'd be cool to have some sort of outdoor map shrouded in darkness, with parts that are pitch black.  The Grineer mining level already creeps me out when infested and I'd love for more stuff like that.

 

Nightvision is ok, I guess, but they'd have to be really careful with it.  The problem is, if you make it so that people have to use it, and then make it noticeably crappier than regular vision, people will hate using it.  "Why can't they get nightvision right in the 4587th century??"  If you make it too good, then why bother with it in the first place? etc.

 

Might be better to stick to flashlights.

[CY13ERPUNK]

I just want more factions to get wall clinging/crawling baddies

 

think infected spider-esque crawlies that shoot webs that slow you down and/or acid to dissolve yer armor

 

or stationary tentacle masses that reach out and swipe at you or shoot thorns at you

 

Corpus could have a unit that spawns stationary turrets/tripmines/shield generators and can attach them to any surface and then they'd have an effective range nearby their attachment point (the turret would have the longest range obviously)

 

grineer need flashbangs/smoke to confuse the Tenno and provide cover while they flank, also they need more heavy armor units

 

/ramble off

 

anyways +1 OP

[SilverBones]

I think atmospheric music would be a great addition to the already dark rooms.

 

If you play any horror game without sound it loses a lot of it's terror-factor.

 

Maybe just a tweak in the music and effects of those 'dark' levels would be enough?

[Lactamid]

Hehe, seems like there were more people than me that liked this :)
 

I was thinking of those nightvision-things that you have in some games that just works for a short time and then has to recharge, but it might actually be spoiling the atmosphere.

 

Music and sound fx are a must. Things that "go bump in the night" - music that is erie and somewhat "quiet" than enemy monsters making sounds/scream.

 

Should probbably be some enemy that could "pull you away", a bit like the commander to further mess with your safety-feeling, knock you off balance and catch you by surprise. They could be somewhat stealthy and ambush you. Also things that follow you (like the stalker) tends to be rather nasty imo.

[aliasAnonymous]

I really really like the idea of breaking the group up forcibly and suddenly to add some drama to a mission. What better source of drama than a real character being torn asunder and the group having to react to save them. (as opposed to a 'fake' character like hostage)

[Lactamid]

Image in my head: Lalalala walking inside a room - what a lovely ominous creepy cave - SLURP! - tentacle roof-monster pulls you/ a team member up (legs kicking). Rest of the team opens fire to bring it down and release their friend.

[MusicGamer]

Scary levels would be AWESOME.  :D  I love scary stuff, so I think that this would be a good addition.

 

Even considering the fact that the Stalker scared the crap out of me the first time I got killed by it. 

[Azure_Kytia]

I envision a small probability scenario where it's seemingly your everyday Grineer or Corpus Capture mission, then the Lights flicker in and out before blowing. As the flashlight turns on, you continue through the level, killing a corpus here and there, and then you see them start to flicker between another more sinister form. For you see, it's the ship itself. It laid a trap for you and your brethren. It lured you here in order to consume you.

 

What would be freakier is if there were a player with Enemy Radar, as this event/realisation occurred, enemies started appearing everywhere on the radar. I'm talking, 40 or 50 red dots moving around the players. If there were enemies with wall/floor hiding abilities, the effect would be absolutely TERRIFYING. Especially if there were a creepy ambience that occurred once the shape shifting took place.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Azure_Kyte

[Nukaman]

that's a good idea, maybe take exemple of Alien, and other  space/horror movies for the atmosphere.

And for the loot, it would be nice to create some trap-closet, like The mimic in Dark souls, to scare the innocent player...

[Lactamid]

I envision a small probability scenario where it's seemingly your everyday Grineer or Corpus Capture mission, then the Lights flicker in and out before blowing. As the flashlight turns on, you continue through the level, killing a corpus here and there, and then you see them start to flicker between another more sinister form. For you see, it's the ship itself. It laid a trap for you and your brethren. It lured you here in order to consume you.

 

What would be freakier is if there were a player with Enemy Radar, as this event/realisation occurred, enemies started appearing everywhere on the radar. I'm talking, 40 or 50 red dots moving around the players. If there were enemies with wall/floor hiding abilities, the effect would be absolutely TERRIFYING. Especially if there were a creepy ambience that occurred once the shape shifting took place.

 

Maybe on some missions Grineer and Corpus the lights could go out and after a while enemies start running, dissapearing - panicing (being consumed by the ship/"aliens"/monsters).

Then as you walk into a room a Grineer corpse falls down all bloody/slimy - indicates roof-tentacle-thingys (i was gonna type "roofies" first but..maybe not haha)

[Lactamid]

that's a good idea, maybe take exemple of Alien, and other  space/horror movies for the atmosphere.

And for the loot, it would be nice to create some trap-closet, like The mimic in Dark souls, to scare the innocent player...

ghaa, i really hate mimics (Lufia - super nintendo)

corpus locker - tentacle - graboid?

[Lactamid]

Tried to ask about this during live stream, no luck though :(

[HvcTerr]

"Okay, Tenno, you have a new objective: Investigate the Shalebridge Cradle, we suspect it contains an Orokin Glyph."

Edited April 25, 2013 by HvcTerr

[fuiseh]

I'm all in for scarier levels! I'd imagine having some proper stealth mixed in will up that tension, if said levels are for non infested factions maybe?

It'll work wonders if they really focus on it for infested! There can be some degree of scary now if you solo higher level infested maps, but the moment you're seen it just turns into the standard kill and continue situation. Close quarters dead space1-2esque maps maybe? It'll be pretty neat to implement some sort of alternate paths to encourage fight or flight situations too, with reduced maximum ammo and ammo drops?

 

Imagine(humor me):

 

You're walking down a cold, dark, dead quiet hallway with a failing flashlight.. you're low on ammo, and hurt from your previous encounter with a viscious wave of infested crewmen.. you see that dreaded green glow of a toxic ancient peek out the next corner. You decide not to risk it. You turn around and-  BAM behind you the vents break. Infested comes pouring out, charging at you with bloodlust. The ancient, now fully aware of your presence too comes charging. You-

I don't know what comes next. Maybe you're Loki, and you simply pop invisibility. I know its all very silly and I'm giggling but.

Damn I'm getting excited.

[Argoms]

The problem with a lot of ideas is that they're only really scary the first few times, and considering how much we tend to replay levels, you'd probably need a lot of different scary/surprising scenarios for a given situation. Otherwise after the third or fourth time, people will end up going "Meh, and here the corpse drops from the ceiling. After I walk here, the floor will open up and try to devour me, and that next room is made of spiders."

 

IMO Infested levels could be made tenser by (occasionally) spawning you with less/no ammo. Then you have to get up close where they can actually hurt you, or explore dark branches of the map for extra ammo (where something could jump you or something. Dunno.).

Edited April 25, 2013 by Argoms

[Knoxitor]

The problem with a lot of ideas is that they're only really scary the first few times,

I agree, but I also think that the dark (flashlight-lit) Infested zones are pretty decent at establishing tension. Adding a little more atmosphere to these sorts of stages would be great. Maybe add enemies that attempt to stay out of your line of sight, where you're lucky if you manage to catch a glimpse of something before it's gone, trying to figure out another way behind you. It'd be easy for Infested (spider-types or something), and maybe the Grineer can use scouts with cliche red laser lines stalking you. Corpus could always make robots with cloaking capacity of their own.

 

Spawn restrictions could be interesting; been playing Monster Hunter 3U which sorta does something similar, where it'll drop you in a random area at the start of the map, away from all of your allies, and deprive you of (not usually needed) supplies for fifteen or more minutes. Separating all the players at the start of a horror-themed map and limiting their ammo could be effective, and it could even be a surprise objective ("Regroup with Fellow Tenno" at a specific rally-point).

[Crysentos]

When I saw this thread I immidiately thought infested little girl walking down a dark long halway, then sprints and have her face image pop on the screen. New stalker possibility anyone?

Edited April 25, 2013 by Crysentos

[Luminati07]

Some dark levels would be nice, would have a certain atmosphere to it.

Let's be honest though, any sense of fear is kind of null when you have machine guns, and magical powers that can utterly destroy everything in sight

[Crysentos]

Some dark levels would be nice, would have a certain atmosphere to it.

Let's be honest though, any sense of fear is kind of null when you have machine guns, and magical powers that can utterly destroy everything in sight

Then how about a unit you can`t kill and have to constantly hide and run away from?

[Lactamid]

As there is a need for new kind of maps or "maptypes" there could be alot of different variations. 1 could be that your ship was attacked, or that something went wrong and you've crashed - are about to crash. Something is on the ship and it's POWERFULL - infested queen (or other monster).

It's following you and as you are not prepared maybe some weapons are not full on ammo, or maybe - you're not even in your warframe? You have your secondary and that's about it.

 

There could also be something that's outside the ship and at any time (if you make to much noice or something) it will find you and smash through the hull and try to get you + causing decompression. Also when you're close you could hear it moving *crunshing* on the the ship.

 

Your link with Lotus might be compromised to and she would only be able to give you rather crappy instructions - warn you - "IT'S HUGE!", "RUN TENNO", "IT'S BREAKING THROUGH THE HULL".

 

The thing is, some of the things that makes a game scary is just not present when there are 4 people. There has to be some chaos involved to mess things up a bit and break the comfortzone.Swimming and climbing using both hands could be another way to "take away your power" - forcing you to apply tactics and pushing push the stresslevel.there are so many things that could be done.

F.E.A.R had some nice elements on theinterruption part.
 

If flashlights could be turned off DEs could make it so that enemies would react to the light. This would open up for even less vision-info and make you loose some control + expose you further to the element of surprise.

 

(pop up infested slenderman will get you haha)

Edited April 25, 2013 by Lactamid

[PaperAlien]

First thing to do is make dark levels that don't have a minimap, or have one, but disable the effect of enemy radar. And have something to do with the stalker...

[BadlandsHyena]

I'm all for scarier maps!

 

Especially when taking newbies through them (and promptly leaving them behind). MWAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHA.

 

Disclaimer: The newbies are my friends. Not randoms.