Thread by @mossdogmusic

Livetweeting Making Horror: Hacking the Brain in Games – Ian Thomas. #NarraScope

Horror is not in the game. It's in the player's mind. You can work with how human brain are hardwired - extrapolation, storytelling, imposing patterns. #NarraScope

You hear scuttling in multiple sources and then an alien drops down. What has actually happened has been a series of sound effects followed by the alien. But the player's brain makes a story about the alien in the air vents. #NarraScope

Soma example: The Jiangshi. You go in, you see a glimpse of a creature, you hide behind some boxes while the creature circles you. Which is done entirely with 3D sound effects, because close up it's ridiculous looking. So Catherine tells you not to look at it. #NarraScope

The player is not playing your game! The player is playing a *mental model* of your game. By suggesting, by sketching out, the player's brain is involved. A thing you can see up close isn't scary. Make the player do the work. #NarraScope

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: What happens in the space between comic panels?
Alexis Kennedy, concept of fires in the desert: explain one thing, explain another, and cut between them.
Leaving these gaps is highly interactive.
#NarraScope

"She was the sort of dame to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window." Raymond Chandler. You know everything you need to know. #NarraScope

Low pixel is great! Text is great! You can make the player collaborate with you in building these spaces. #Narrascope

Build empathy: we try to collapse the player and character down, so they're hardwired together. You don't feel sorry for the character, you feel sorry for yourself. #NarraScope

Going to a LARP and getting 40+ pages of backstory is not a good experience. The player gets stressed. What if they get it wrong? #NarraScope

God Rest Ye Merry ghost story [LARP, I think] - sent packet of information to players that included lots of personal documents but did not include information about how the character *felt* about these things. Let the player fill things in. #NarraScope

Remove friction: in Soma, if Simon talks constantly, it breaks the player away. The character has seem something that the player hasn't seen. It produces a break in empathy. They removed all "attention" lines and it worked better. #NarraScope

Consider control systems. You can produce a physical feedback loop from the character to the player. Rumble, audio, visuals - it gets the point if you do it right. Ideally players don't even notice. #NarraScope

If you have to stop and think about what button to press to jump, that's a problem. "I need to jump!" and you jump - good. #NarraScope

Maintain the illusion: Don't let emotional experiences turn into puzzle experiences. Don't force the player to think about the mechanics behind the game. Be bright about exposing your dumb AI, etc. #NarraScope

You want the player to be unable to believe what they've seen, not just the character. Also be careful about plot breakdowns, character behavior breakdowns. Seeing the hands of the writer breaks the illusion. #NarraScope

Drown them in your world: use everything you can. Build your environment. It can extend outside your game. Consider cinema trailers: the best trailers get you into the right mental state for that movie. #NarraScope

Consider the huge buildup at Disney before the train ride. Or it's like going to an escape room that's a murder escape room and the plaster is cracked and the light is flickering. You have so many tools. #NarraScope

Control of choices: Lock down the choices that the player can make. Let them think it's because *they* made these choices, rather than because you did. #NarraScope

Put yourself in their shoes: What would you want to do? And watch your players in alpha and beta testing. What did they try to do? #NarraScope

Scare the player, not the character: It's easy to scare a character. You're writing the character's lines, after all. But it's far more effective to scare the player. Death, family, true love, primal fears - these things resonate with so many people. #NarraScope

When the player puts the controller down. What have you given them to think about? #NarraScope

Knock them off balance: Surprise people. Example: Metal Gear Solid, when Psycho Mantis starts talking about other games you've played. Because it reads your console data. #NarraScope

Remind players about what genre they're in and how it works. Push them to be ready for what's going to happen. Encourage a receptive state of mind in every way you can. #NarraScope

Give them stories to tell: What do you want people to be talking about in the bar afterward? The day after, the years after? Stories will grow in the telling. Not everyone needs to experience it for the experience to spread. #NarraScope

What most makes you feel like... whatever feeling you're trying to inspire. Find the opportunities for those feelings. Pillar moments. Construct the story around them. The connecting material isn't that important. #NarraScope

If all you have is the connecting material, without those pillar moments, then you don't have a good experience. So use every tool you possibly have (sight, sound, scent, badges, trailers, UI, etc, etc, etc) to produce the internal effect. #NarraScope

Use their imagination: most of all, rely on that. Weaving your words is massively interactive. #NarraScope

Leverage potential. In a visual novel, maybe don't play a creaking noise aloud - maybe play a generally creepy soundtrack, and put the creak in text. #NarraScope

Giving the player an agenda is helpful for LARP set pieces. We can ensure where the player will be at what time. This is why God Rest Ye Merry was a *Christmas* ghost story: traditions produce agenda. #NarraScope

Horror is easier. "I must survive" is a very powerful impulse. #NarraScope

Q: What about Twitch?
A: Someone watching a Twitch streamer is paying a lot of attention to the streamer. When that person screams, they'll scream too. It's not as good as directly playing, but it's powerful. #NarraScope