Making Fear

Something that we’ve only talked about briefly is what we want to accomplish with Beyond Equilibrium. Some of our more ambitious goals include revitalizing the horror and stealth genres. Our main focus is to really scare the player, and make a fun game. Now, both fear and fun is subjective, but we can do a lot to make sure the player is scared, and so far, we’ve been fairly successful in scaring people.

The main thing we rely on is fear of the known. I’m sure you’ve all heard of fear of the unknown. We use that too, to a varying degree. The player may not always know where an enemy is, but based on the sound, they will know that an enemy is nearby. That’s where the fear kicks in though. The initial shock value of seeing an enemy may scare the player, but shock isn’t the same lasting fear. Give the player limited resources and sight lines, and they will always be careful of what’s around. On the harder difficulties players often try to run past enemies or avoid them altogether because they are too resource heavy to actually fight. This is what we mean by fear of the known. You know what the enemies are from the beginning. They are cold, lifeless killers. You know how to avoid the enemies, and how to take them down. But good resource management, and combination with fear of the unknown will always keep the player on their toes, ready to jump, scared to move, but still wanting to. Something like long lasting fear is really hard to get right, but we think we’re on a good track for the game, and making sure that fear lasts in the player.

Signing off

Noah Stavish, Creative Director