The Top Scary Ways Monsters Attack

#21 ...With cheap AI and perfect accuracy. ;)

#22 That reminds me. I loved how in REmake, the zombies would lumber after you slowly, but if you barely reached the opposite side of them, they'd instantly be turned around and biting you. I found it easier to run until right next to them and then walk around them, and then run. For some reason it tricked out their AI to not be in "quick turn" mode. Of coruse, Crimson Head zombies were easy. Run around them on the right and you'd never get hit. EVER.

One of the benefits of cheap AI is that it can be easily exploited.

#23 One of the problems of cheap AI is that it can be easily exploited - Any time I play a game and have to un-focus on the game to see the cheap AI, it loses my interest. The day AI responds to it's environment and not the player is the day I might be scared of the monster!

@Allen - That's what I'm talking about! Nice story!

#24 I would imagine having to climb over corpses in a tight space, such as the single occupancy fridges in the morgue or something similar where you are pressed up against it with little space to manuver, and have it 'wake up' with you next / on top of it.

Or being stuck behind a cage or security door (which would inevitibly fail) where the monster is on the other side and can make eye contact with you.

Pretty much anything where they appear and you have no place to run or hide you're stuck in a small space with them.

#25 I have lots and lots of ideas for setting up a scary atmosphere in a game. i plan to incorporate them all into my signature game sometime in the future. :)

#26 Droping down from above... Landing in front, behind, or (personal fav) ON their intended victim.

As someone else mentioned, AvP is the way to go on this one... The "Alien" players are REQUIRED to use all the evil-nasty tricks they can come up with to get close enough to feast on those yummy brains. Braaaaiiiiinnnnssssss... Whoops. Sorry. I loved the whole Death From Above gimick in that game. And ah those tasty brains!


The shuffling, inextorable approach is good too... particularly when the cover A Lot of ground (suddenly breathing down your neck) when you look away.

#27 No one else liked Undying? I thought the first ghost encounter in the hallway was scary. You're following a maid somewhere in this creepy haunted mansion you have to investigate. She moves quickly down this one hall and you fall behind. Then the ghost appears ahead of you in the hall; ALL the lights go out, and when they come back on it's RIGHT in front of you.

It scared me anyways. :)

#28 Yeah, undying was a pretty nice, rather underappreciated, little game.
I liked it, but I can't say I really remember any details of it. (then again that doesn't say too much considering my memory really suck =).

#29 Was reminded of another one:

Impersonate/possess someone/thing you trust... get nice and close, then the monster can reveal its true colors. Lots of examples of this in various movies:

The Thing
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Killer Clowns from Outer Space (to a lesser and much more silly extent)
Terminator 2

#30 When they morph from being someone close to you ...

#31 The worst by far is something coming through a mirror. I'm sure you've all played Bloody Mary growing up (or as an adult, if that's your thing). How scary is it looking at a mirror and then seeing something develop, even if it's just your head! I could only imagine being in a creepy game, walking into a run down bathroom with water dripping and cracked tile walls. Looking into the mirror, admiring the excellent modeling job that the artist has done (and probably changing weapons, jumping up and down and doing everything else just to see your reflection). All of a sudden, either slowly or quickly (either works), something emerges from the mirror and pounces. Yes, very scary!

#32 During the night eliminate as many members of the enemy team as possible in 10 minutes, have your team battlecry, retreat and then play multiple/simultaneous loud clicking sounds with reverb out of a loud speaker from inside a bunker with multiple openings
Begin reloading.
Just before the next attack, change the crystal out of your headset to the opposing team's and begin playing the clicking sounds in their headsets.
Oh wait this is Torque not paintball, my bad, still might work. :)
Dropping from the ceiling onto a player in a dark room?
Muzzle flashes as the only light source in a dark area with friendly fire on?
A good old night ambush is always enough to get my blood pumping.
Nasty creatures would have a heart attack effect at this point I think.

*Note: Damaged night vision in the dark can be very very distressing.

#33 I'm kinda reminded of the fog strewn moors in American Werewolf In London...
you could hear the beast... first, far away... its howls cut through the night air...
then, as it got closer... it's deep breathing and undulating growling... you could
'feel' it right next to you... somewhere, close...

then, when least expected, it strikes!!!!!

ooooooooooooooo...

now if that could be translated to a 3D game... and the player be put in the same
position, viscerally speaking, as those two unfortunate travellers... then you'd have a real
scary game :)

--Mike