Idea: Tension game

Summary:

In the spirit of notrightmusic's idea of using forums for group designing, here's my request for cooperation.

Idea: Tension game

odolany 12 May 2018 18:21

What follows me from some time already is the idea of music version of a "horror game" of sort. In computer and even board games, you quite often have a general emotional aura of some kind of threat. The closest to that direction so far I've seen in music games is "Attack of the rhythm dancer" but that's a quite heavy game (for musicians) and I would think "game of emergence" (simple rules for complex interactions) that could go with a green face in our library.

There should be many ideas that fit that from music (silent, weird sounds and sudden loud sounds like in every horror soundtrack ;) ), games (trust and betrayal, I like e.g. Avalon of that type) and maybe helpful arrangements like darkness in a room.;) but I can't put any testable form together.

Tomorrow I hope to test a final version of "Agents" game which was a bit around the idea of "music game of mistrust" (but no sound effects). I'll put it in a library if it works, but horror should be more.

If anyone have some traces or directions to share, please.

Last edited on 12 May 2018 18:23 by odolany Show more

Re: Idea: Tension game

notrightmusic 15 May 2018 10:22

Fantastic idea to start a game making collab!
As stated, let's follow the"game of emergence" (GOE??) concept.
Some thinking out loud here.
The first question I have is does the game want to scare people, create a horror atmosphere, or both?
If the intention is to scare - who is the game targeting the tension towards? Players, audience, a selected person (a group of people), everyone?
My first thought is working with the idea of being trapped. Possibly in a nightmare.
Elements of randomness could add to the tension. Ex. - a negative action is forced on random players. If the results take an extended amount of time it can cause some serious tension to everyone. This could bring the treat that was mentioned.
Or, there could be simple musical puzzles that need to be solved. If failed some kind of undesirable effect takes place.
Are there threats? If so, what are they? For example, if players fail a puzzle they are forced to play as fast and as loud as they can for a certain amount of time. If they continue to fail the time to play loud and fast grows. A threat of exhaustion.
There's a Japanese comedy show called Downtown that uses threats brilliantly. People are put into a humorous situation. If they laugh they get whipped hard on the ass and they are out. It doesn't sound interesting, but they use the simple idea in creative ways.
Hmmmm …

Last edited on 15 May 2018 11:21 by notrightmusic Show more

Re: Idea: Tension game

odolany 15 May 2018 18:38

Musical puzzles would personally suit me ;), but honestly I work on a few (emergent and not "hard-coded") and I find it super tough to design :L. Also when a puzzle is done, it's usually a good standalone game. But indeed if there are puzzles there could be also a overall horror frame. What you describe could be a bit like "music game escape room" - very interesting direction.

Along your lines of thought, there is one game of random threat we have. A dice with animals and usual stuff: throw a dice and interpret collectively (sure this could be anything, but I happened to have animals). But the catch is that you cannot leave the game until every animal is played. The game is just for volunteers ;). and with a proper intro you are supposed to take into consideration that if you are unlucky this game can take ridiculously long and you HAVE TO play it to the end. But it's usually more funny than scary.

Re: Idea: Tension game

notrightmusic 17 May 2018 15:13

Here's an idea. Lots of holes. What do you think? Do something with it or try something different?

Timer.
There is a conductor.

Player Cards - have simple musical ideas on them (all horror sounding). Some are notated ostinatos, some are just rhythms, some are words.
One card is the Cursed Card. This card simply says “Cursed” with no musical information. The player must improvise with the other players. Keeping it scary! The player who has this card when the timer runs out loses.
Time Cards - the conductor will pick one Time Card. This will indicate when the game stops (8min / 10min / 12min / ect). Only the conductor can see this card. The time must not be shared with the players.
The conductor chooses the same number of cards as there are players. One of the cards must be a Cursed Card.
The conductor randomly hands out the cards - one for each player. The players must keep their cards a secret.
The players start to play whats on the card. They can slightly alter, embellish, and add variations to it. Not too much though, keep the original idea intact. Horror-themed music.
Within every 2 minutes, every player must get a new card.
Players raise their hand to get the conductors attention then point to another player to exchange cards.
If someone chooses to have your card exchange you can’t request a change until 2 minutes later. You must play the card that was exchanged.
If multiple hands go up at once it’s up to the conductor to decide who he goes to first.
Players can request to exchange cards from a player who just exchanged cards.
If you get a cursed card you have to play something different from the previous player who had the card.
If a player doesn’t signal for a card exchange then the conductor will choose the exchange between that player.
The players must naturally transition to whats on the card within 5 seconds.
The trick to this game is to listen for the Cursed Card, who has it, and to try to stay away from it. You never know when the game will end and if you will be the one left with the Curse.
At the specified time the conductor will end the same (scary sounds? evil laugh? gong? a horror soundbite sample?)
Who is the player stuck with the curse? They lose.
Game over? Is there a punishment for the loser?

Re: Idea: Tension game

odolany 17 May 2018 17:46

You have a point that we don't have a musical Old maid yet. ;)

For now, gaming-wise, anyone that doesn't have curse and ask for a replacement is playing badly? Or am I missing something?

I need to put Agents to the library (unfortunately not at this moment :( ), with your ideas from Curse added they could just get a nice horror variant, that would land in good spot in terms of emergence and hard-coded rules.

Re: Idea: Tension game

notrightmusic 18 May 2018 04:05

Old Maid! That's the name! I couldn't think of it. I could only remember the Japanese name of the game - Babanuki.

For now, gaming-wise, anyone that doesn't have curse and ask for a replacement is playing badly?

No, every player gets a card. The card has some kind of musical information that should be played:

Player Cards - have simple musical ideas on them (all horror sounding). Some are notated ostinatos, some are just rhythms, some are words.

I'm interested in this Agents game and how it might work with the Old Maid 'Cursed' mechanic.

Re: Idea: Tension game

notrightmusic 24 May 2018 11:40

Is this finished?
Agents with a cursed 'Old Maid' mechanic?

I have a new idea when this one is done.

Re: Idea: Tension game

odolany 24 May 2018 16:45

Well, writing tough as always, but I'll put what I have and improve it later.
But I didn't take that much of Old Maid mechanics - that one waits for own title (or maybe can be treated as template-activity).
The main inspiration from Cursed were themed images and some volume suggestions that I didn't have before.

And in general I think we should be fine to have simultaneous ideas open in different threads. I'd love to work your idea.

Re: Idea: Tension game

notrightmusic 25 May 2018 05:17

I'll get my idea up soon.
I'm still hoping to come up with a game that attempts to build true suspense in the players. Let's keep working with that idea as well.