Shift Towards Anatomy, Game Design, Sounds and Environment

After the past few weeks of research and experimentation i have discovere that though characters can be scary, the main thing that relates to how effective they are is not the design itself but the way it is presented in its environment and the way that it acts, the soundtrack accompanying the game, and innumerable other factors. This is why designs like this :

A concrete blob with a smiley face, can be in one of the most popular and allegedly scariest indie games of recent years (SCP Containment Breach)

 As i dont have much interest in exploring environment modelling or musical composition, i am slowly shifting the aim of this module to be comfortable creating solid creatures, with strong anatomy and good zbrush modelling.

Vertical Slice Fear Study

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134848/scary_game_findings_a_study_of_.php

This study by Vertical Slice seeks to find the scariest game on the Xbox 360.

They hooked 6 test subjects up to measure their biometrics as they played Dead Space 2, Alan Wake, Resident Evil 5 and Condemned. The games were played in a different order by all participants and were played in an environment that was made to be as close to that of a typical gamer as possible. 

The results showed that "casual" gamers found scripted events and combat more frightening whereas so called "Hardcore" gamers found the open areas of games more frightening and combat was less exhilerating. The study also showed that the game scariest for both Core and Casual players was Dead Space 2.

Here is a selection of conclusions drawn from their study.

-Actual Combat is not as scary as the threat of combat.

-The first confrontation is almost always the scariest.

-Gore in isolation can be provocative, but not scary. In some cases the grotesque can make the scene scarier, providing there are other factors contributing.

-Heightened tension can be created by a potent atmosphere. This will keep the player engaged and ultimately make the scares bigger.

Artists to take influence from

I found a few inspirational artists to take influence from.

The first is a creature artist called Keith Thompson (http://www.keiththompsonart.com), Here are some of his works.

He uses alot of animal anatomy in his works and some of his most disturbing really show off his anatomical knowledge. He also features alot of creatures that combine mechanichal and biological designs.

I sketched one of the creatures he had drawn because i found it so interesting, although this is simply a copy of his work it gives me a good idea of how i could incorporate animal anatomy into my designs.

The Next artist is a more traditional one. Although his works are not specifically character or creature design, i find the work of Francis Bacon very inspiring.

This image is very unsettling to look at just because of the amount of emotion on the persons face, and the parts of the face he is and is not showing. By only showing the mouth it leaves alot of mystery in the picture and although you cant see the eyes you know that it is staring straight at you. 

Lying Figure in a Mirror - This picture was the Inspiration behind the Lying Figure creature in Silent Hill i had in a previous post. The human figure in this painting is deformed beyond recognition but it is still oddly chilling.

Another thing to take from these works by Francis Bacon are the colour tones, the dark purples and blues in the skin tone giving them a cold complexion, contrasting with the warm but muted backgrounds, leaving detail to the imagination and contrasting with the focus of the paintings.

Categorisation of Successful Creatures

Here i identify themes and successful features of creatures from different franchises and try to relate them to the fears from my previous post.

This is the design for the Lying Figure from Silent Hill 2. It is a predominantly human creature, and is supposed to show a figure contorted in agony. It does this by joining the arms and head to the torso with thick sheets of skin, almost like a strait jacket.

Relating this back to the primary fears i explored in my previous post this creature is relevant to the fears of "Mutilation" by being a deformed human, though it shows no overtly agressive features. It also relates to "Loss of Autonomy" with its constricted movement and few limbs.

One of the gatherers from Amnesia: The Dark Descent. For the majority of the game you will never be this close to one of the monsters, but its physical appearance is still important. It has a long extended mouth and humanistic face, its body is that of a human but it is grotesquely proportioned.

Relating back to the 5 fears this one mainly applys to "Mutilation" as it both has the classic mutilated human shape, but also seems dangerous.

A Necromorph from Dead Space. Again a predominantly human shape, however this one has serious changes to its anatomy and looks far more dangerous that the previous examples. This is because of the spikes and extended limbs.

The Necromorph mostly relates to "Mutilation" because of its spikes and teeth. It could also be relevant to "Extinction" because of its inherant danger.

Scarlett from Silent Hill : Homecoming. After the development of Silent Hill moved out of Japan a lot of the character designs really went down hill, but this is one of the more succesful ones of the more recent games. It is based on a doll that has been possessed and has turned into a horrific representation of the girl it used to belong to. It has long extended limbs, and a strange posture simmilar to an insect. It still has some distinctly human elements such as the face and hands, but the head is misshapen.

This fits heavily into "Mutilation" as it looks dangerous and in pain.

The Thing. This is a very interesting monster, using parts of anatomy from both humans and animals combined to make somethign disturbing to look at, even though you cant really tell what it is your looking at. It has allot of elements of combining animal anatomy into creature design which is something id be interested in looking into.

Fits mostly into Mutilation because it is so grotesque and dangerous looking.

Regan from The Exorcist. Different from the others, she is scary because seh is something that is seen as non threatening acting in a very peculiar way. She is a child, seen as safe and unintimidating, but suddenly has a grotesque appearance and is acting agressively and insane.

From the five principal fears ive had a hard time categorising this one, but im going with "Mutilation" again because she poses a threat to your health, physically and shows mutialtion of the mind.

Common themes in creatures or characters to inspire fear in the viewer seem to be 

- Simmilarity to humans

-Combined anatomy with humans and animals

-Taking something that is seen as being safe and making it dangerous

-Stretching or contorting human anatomy to shapes it shouldnt be

-Making more aggresive creatures with growths or spikes