Improved Piggies Mod Idea

[Ghieri]

It's very easy within the game to come to the conclusion that you are fast and durable enough to basically yolo through any level. It doesn't really take much tactical thought.

[Kreekakon]

I think the best balance on how quickly a monster can kill you is 2, or three hits. Taking one hit, but knowing that another could well kill you will easily trigger desperation mode.

One hit kill is too hard, and releases tension too quickly all at once, and too much hits makes the game too easy for reasons Aldi said.

[Diango12]

(09-16-2013 10:29 AM)Hirnwirbel Wrote:  I don't get how the damage and speed of the enemies has anything to do with the scaryness of the game. I mean, I don't know how you guys are playing this type of game, but for me it makes no difference whatsoever if the beast can kill me in two hits or just gently brushes my cheek with a feather duster.
My fear doesn't stem from logical thoughts like "okay, I have only 10 hitpoints left and I can make it to the door 0.43 seconds faster than the pig, but only if I jump at just the right moment so it can't hit me twice..."

The fear this type of game instills is completely irrational and stems solely from my own mind. Yeah, I can probably outsmart every enemy, I can make them glitch and get stuck in the level geometry or jump over their heads...I can even let every single enemy in the game kill me and respawn with them gone, but what does it matter? When I'm doing such a thing, I'm not immersing myself in the game world anyway, I'm just fucking around. And that is not the developers fault, but solely my own.

I think your oversimplifying the argument. The intent here is not to simply change health mechanics. The behavior of the enemies in terms of horror is questionable. Thomas Grip gives out his pro tips regarding game encounters. Enemies need to be intelligent, aggressive, separated from the level design and integrated into the atmosphere as believable denizens of the game world.

I think TCR attempted to accomplish that last part that Thomas harked on about a few times in his blog. Making the baddies not become simply an enemy, but a living part of the world.

[Hirnwirbel]

Quote: It's very easy within the game to come to the conclusion that you are fast and durable enough to basically yolo through any level. It doesn't really take much tactical thought.

Yes, but the question is what exactly generates the fear. Dieing has no negative effects on you anyway, so "yoloing" through the level or letting the enemy get you makes no difference. My point is that true fear cannot stem from punishing gameplay mechanics. Excitement and a rush of adrenaline can, but not fear.
When playing a horror game, do you fear having to reload a savegame and try again? Is the thought of seeing a game over screen scary? To me, that's not what creates the fear. It's when I forget that I'm playing a game that I'm the most afraid and as soon as the enemy hits, or worse, kills me that illusion is shattered anyway, so its stats don't matter so much.

Quote: I think your oversimplifying the argument. The intent here is not to simply change health mechanics. The behavior of the enemies in terms of horror is questionable. Thomas Grip gives out his pro tips regarding game encounters. Enemies need to be intelligent, aggressive, separated from the level design and integrated into the atmosphere as believable denizens of the game world.

I think TCR attempted to accomplish that last part that Thomas harked onabout a few times in his blog. Making the baddies not become simply an enemy, but a living part of the world.

I fully agree. I just don't think that making them faster is a solution. They need to feel more dangerous, not be more dangerous, since player death is something this type of game should try to avoid. I also stand by my point that it's not the devs fault if a player deliberately tries to mess around with the enemies AI and then complains that they're not scary.

[Cuyir]

Also, people have been saying they are slow and I was confident till last night.

While

Spoiler below!

looking for the compound to melt the lock I walked into this short hallway when all of the sudden I heard some incredibly loud pig squeals behind me and I quickly knew it was chasing me because it was too close and not just an environmental pig squeal (the joy of using headphones). So I sprinted. I was scared but confident. "Everyone online has complained they are slow'' and all of the sudden WHAM, hits me. I get a bit frenzied and keep running. WHAM! Near death, screen is a mess. Almost out of the hallway when WHAM!!! Slam the door into my face, can't squeeze through the partly open door and WHAM die at the third hit. So yes, the little fucks are quick.

Afterwards they ''skipped'' that scene (or maybe I was supposed to die there?) and I walked through the same hallway without being bothered...and then the pig slammed the door as soon as I closed it, something I wasn't expecting cause I thought it had disappeared because of it killing me.

[Doomed316]

(09-16-2013 02:14 AM)Lleviathan Wrote:  Greetings!

So as most of you probably already know, a lot of people are disappointed by Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs. The most major reason for this in my opinion was because of the reduced scare factor, which was not what we were really expecting since this is an Amnesia title.

As I've said before, I believe part of the reason the scare factor was reduced was because of the lack of stalking/chase music. To me, that is crucial for a tense encounter. Look at Outlast. The enemies are nothing special, yet when that music plays I panic and all my thoughts are replaced by one. "Oh shit!" is a pretty accurate representation.

Another factor is the amount of damage a monster can do and how fast they move. These IMO can drastically change how much you're scared of of them. A good example of this is the Grunt and the Brute.

So, here's my preposition. What if someone/group of people came up with a mod that adds/enhances monsters and their encounters? I'm not too good with modding, but I'm willing to bet if someone could script music to the monsters, add more encounters (+possibly more hiding places) in the level editor, and tweak their stats, it would be a much scarier game.

Thoughts?

I would imagine just adding the tense high pitched chase music to the pigs giving chase. That would make you run like hell. I also heard the high pitched music from TDD would arrive in in a remixed or modified version of this game but I have not heard it once. I myself might just try to port TDD music to A:AMFP just for the sake of intensifying the monster encounters. Music is really what made the monsters scary. I think this game isn't as balanced between horror and story as I expected (the TDD wasn't balanced either with its horror over story aspect but that's the only reason why I bought the game). I like the idea of creating a interesting story but at least the scares worth an encounter. I seriously replayed the whole game and I wasn't scared at all. I played through TDD and was still scared even after my first play through. Sadly this game isn't getting mod support which bummed me out (I still bought it though).

[wretch]

When the level editor is updated for AMFP assets, I'll work on a mod that contains what you just suggested but much more.

Details here: http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-23210.html

[Doomed316]

I managed to get the servant grunt in the game without the engine buts its broken as hell.

[Lleviathan]

(09-16-2013 10:46 PM)wretch Wrote:  When the level editor is updated for AMFP assets, I'll work on a mod that contains what you just suggested but much more.

Details here: http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-23210.html

Fantastic! I look forward to it.

[Lleviathan]

BUMP - I've been having this idea that maybe all we need is the music (that's already in the game files btw) to make it scarier.

Problem is, I am not a modder and for the most part do not know how to set this in motion. My idea is to somehow configure the monsters so the "Danger" and "Search" files play similar to how music with monsters in TDD worked, and have the "Chase" file play louder while being chased.

Anyone up for it?