record – LABS

Thesis Info

Thesis Title: Monster Camera: Creating perpetually unique horror experiences using disempowerment, reflection and uncertainty to imply a threat within video games

URL where full thesis can be found: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VkdtlTBVbnw6FzLASZyZya7rHV49Z-OX?usp=sharing

Keywords: Horror, Suspense through disempowerment, Procedural Generation, Research Tool.

Abstract: 200-500 words: Many horror video games make use of expertly disguised environmental funnels. Developers design these funnels to guide a player along a predetermined path peppered with suspense building events along the way. The funnels hide what is effectively a house of horrors on train tracks. A video game, entitled “Interloper”, was developed to allow the suspense building narrative arc to break free from linear progression. A variant of the “Search-based Procedural Content Generation” technique is used to track a static tension curve and spawn suspense inducing events independent of the player’s location. Each event is an inferred disempowering threat that flips between the perspective of a player and the antagonist while stripping players of their control. Preventing the player from seeing the antagonist makes each suspenseful encounter incidental and fully rooted in the player’s imagination. This feeling is enhanced by coupling the antagonist’s actions to the player’s movements in unlit areas. The video game can be used as a research tool that generates suspenseful stimuli and comes with built-in tools that can adjust internal variables. These variables include the number of events spawned, the length of each event, and various delays that affect the interplay between players and the antagonist.