Player Reaction Towards Atmospheric Design And Humanoid Enemy Designs Within Video Games Of The Horror Genre

Author - Eleanor Rossington

Supervised by Dr Umran Ali

The University of Salford

This Dissertation is presented to the School of Arts & Media, University of Salford, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of BSc Hons.

June 2020

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Contents

Contents 2

Keywords 4

Abstract 4

1.0 Introduction 5

2.0 Background And Context 5 2.1 Historical Context 5 2.2 Personal Context 5 2.3 Industrial Context 6 2.4 Importance Of My Research 6

3.0 Literature Review 6 3.1 The Importance Of Character Design 6 3.2 Anatomy 8 3.3 Colour Theory 8

4.0 Case Studies 11 4.1 The Last Of Us 12 4.1.0 Introduction 12 4.1.1 Background 12 4.1.2 My Review 12 4.1.3 User Review 14 4.1.4 Industry Review 14 4.1.5 Conclusion 15 4.1.6 Summary 15 4.2 Dead By Daylight 15 4.2.0 Introduction 15 4.2.1 Background 15 4.2.2 My Review 15 4.2.3 User Review 17 4.2.4 Industry Review 18 4.2.5 Conclusion 18 4.2.6 Summary 18 4.3 The Forest 19 4.3.0 Introduction 19 4.3.1 Background 19 4.3.2 My Review 19 4.3.3 User Review 20 4.3.4 Industry Review 21 4.3.5 Conclusion 22

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4.3.6 Summary 22 4.4 Until Dawn 22 4.4.0 Introduction 22 4.4.1 Background 22 4.4.2 My Review 23 4.4.3 User Review 24 4.4.4 Industry Review 24 4.4.5 Conclusion 25 4.4.6 Summary 25

5.0 Current Perceptions (Pre-Assumptions And Expectations) 25 5.1 Perception Of Character Design In Horror Games 26 5.2 Importance of Atmospheric Design In Horror Games 26

6.0 Aim And Objectives 26 6.1 Principle Aim 26 6.2 Research Objectives 26 6.3 Benefits Of The Research 26 6.3.0 Education 26 6.3.1 Personal 27 6.3.2 Professional Development 27

7.0 Results And Practises 27 7.1 Preparation 27 7.2 Practice 27 7.3 Results 28

8.0 Research Strategy And Methodology 28 8.1 Research Strategy 28 8.1.0 Primary Research 28 8.1.1 Secondary Research 28 8.2 Methods 28 8.2.0 Surveys 29 8.2.1 Case Studies 45 8.2.1 Literature Reviews 46

9.0 Psychological Fears And Phobias Research 46 9.1 Psychological Fears 46 9.1.0 Fear Of The Unknown 46 9.1.1 Manifestation Of Fear Within The Mind And Body 47 9.2 Psychological Phobias 47 9.3 The Uncanny Valley 48

10.0 Folklore And Fairy Tales 48 10.1 Traditional Folklore 49

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10.2 Mythology 49 10.3 Urban Legends 49 10.4 The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales 50

11.0 Discussion Of Findings And Analysis 50 11.1 Personal Thoughts 50 11.2 Social Media Opinions 50

12.0 Recommendations Of Practice 51

13.0 Limitations Of Study 52

14.0 Conclusions 52

15.0 Further Questions 53

16.0 Appendix 53

17.0 Bibliography 54

Keywords

Horror, Concept, Character Design, Humanoid, Uncanny Valley, Fear, Phobias, Anatomy

Abstract

In this thesis, I will be analysing the effectiveness of humanoid character design within video games and the reactions they evoke within the player. I hope that by investigating how effective certain aspects of humanoid concept design are for characters and enemies that I can help in understanding what exactly creates a response from the player. Furthermore, I will be looking into the atmosphere in which the designs are presented and how this also affects how the players react towards the design.

The research question for my dissertation is how do you effectively design characters within the horror genre? My theory is that when creating effective character design in the horror genre, you need to research subconscious fears in humans, by exploring this and other traumatic responses with humans. I hope to be able to understand what is most effective in evoking a reaction from the person by researching into those specific fields amongst others so that I can apply these to my character designs and make them more effective in evoking fear within the audience.

I will also be researching environmental design while designing my characters, I will be doing this to try and mimic certain types of atmosphere that I have found are effective in creating a reaction from the player. I hope by researching into these areas that I will be able to create a range of horror characters that I think will scare and horrify the audience, a character that if they were within a game would trigger the fight or flight response when encountered.

I will be using my research and experimentation in order to make a book with a series of characters that I hope will evoke some kind of frightening reaction within the player. I will be playing about using different fears and other effective design characteristics as inspiration whilst creating my designs.

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1.0 Introduction

Concept art can be a very important process within the creative industry, whether it is concepting for video games or films and television shows, in both the animated and realistic type. It can be used in helping plan out certain parts alongside storyboarding, the concept art can be used to plot out the base of what will happen within the story, and how the characters should look in different ways. By using concept art, you can experiment with how you would like the character to look before refining it, making it a lot easier to create variations within the design without having to completely scrap the previous idea, it can easily be changed.

Not only is concept art used in the creation of interactive media, but also in things such as books, as a basis for illustrations or showing diagrams to the reader. These can help demonstrate something for the reader or even show the reader what exactly the characters that they’re reading about look like.

Throughout my project, I will look into the evolution of Triple-A games alongside indie games and observe how they concept their own characters, seeing how they evolve over time as the games have developed further. I hope that after researching how they do this process, that I can learn and apply how to create an effective set of characters that will evoke a reaction within the audience, for instance, if the designed character was within a game, how the player would react towards it.

I will start the process by creating a set of mood boards, taking a range of inspiration in order to concept a variety of rough ideas for the set of creatures that I intend to create. After I have the rough concepts will improve upon a few of the creatures that I like the most and ask for some feedback on the designs to see possible ideas that I could improve upon the designs in order to create emotion within the audience.

2.0 Background And Context

2.1 Historical Context

Concept art is artwork that conveys an idea, or multiple ideas, to the audience in a rough fashion, instead of a refined vision, by creating art in this way, it allows for faster editing and creation of variations so that the piece can look exactly how it’s meant to be before the finished product is created.

Concept art has a long history not only in films and gaming but also in other areas of design and manufacturing. It can be interpreted in any number of different artistic methods and isn’t strictly limited to being created digitally, many people use more traditional methods.

“Conceptual art is art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object.” - Tate Art Gallery

2.2 Personal Context

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I’m a final year student, who’s been studying games design for the past few years, while on this course, I have learnt the basics of both 2D and 3D art for the course. I have been passionate about creating conceptual art for years, even before University while I was in high school, I have been working on improving my art. Especially since college where I started to work more commonly in digital art instead of traditional art, although I still feel traditional-based sketches are the best way to begin a piece, as I find it a faster way of concepting and it makes it easier to choose which concepts work the most and then improve further upon on those.

For a long time, I’ve been enthusiastic about concept art, especially that within videogames, as I enjoy coming up with ideas and being able to play about with how they look before finalising them. In games specifically, there can be a whole range of quirky and unique characters and I really admire the diversity and story that can be shown through the process of the conceptual stages of the character’s designs.

2.3 Industrial Context

In the entertainment industry, concept art is a crucial stage when it comes to developing the appearance of the characters and environment, it can help expand upon the universe within the game, film or TV show. Concept art can not only be used for character designs but also costume and environmental designs amongst other pieces within the world, like props and vehicles, concept art can help when it comes to creating pieces to help with world-building.

2.4 Importance Of My Research

My research for this thesis is important in not only helping myself, but also others in their own journey in creating concept art as it is an essential tool within the industry. Specifically I’m working on creating effective humanoid creature concepts which are commonly used within horror media, so would be an important resource in helping to create effective concepts.

3.0 Literature Review

For these literature reviews, I will be talking about a range of different things that I used as inspiration while working on this project, these range from the creation of concept art to horror and how people react to it.

3.1 The Importance Of Character Design

According to Lankoski “Well-defined characters that are consistently communicated to ​ players are an important ingredient in a potentially successful game” by saying this, he ​ shows that character design is a very important piece of development when it comes to making a successful game. He even mentions that “Careful character design is a way to ​ strengthen a role-playing game experience.” Showing that successful character design can ​ increase the playability of a game tenfold, especially an RPG where an effective and relatable character can help with effective immersion within the game.

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Lankoski, P. (2004). Character design fundamentals for role-playing games. Beyond Role and Play, ​ ​ ​ 139-148.

According to Nathan Brock who currently works at Blizzard, when talking about Character Design for games, he talks about how having balanced character design is very important in the process. “For me, character design is all about balance. I really love how Disney ​ balances straight lines against curves in their characters. It makes clean and easy-to-read silhouettes that give the viewers all the information they need to know. That is a cornerstone of a good character design.” He even comments on how Disney uses specific techniques ​ while creating their own character designs.

Brock also talks about how a simple character is sometimes better than an overly complicated one. “Conversely, I find that overly busy designs are usually not successful. ​ That isn’t to say a model with a ton of detail is a bad model, but it is important to find a balance between details and giving the eye a place to rest. Having those “still” areas allows the viewer to appreciate the areas of detail rather than be overwhelmed by them.”

Tokarev.K And Brock.N, ‘Efficient Character Design for Games: Tips & Tricks’, 80LV [Website], 2019, September, Accessed May 12, ​ ​ 2020.

The authors discuss how important it is to create details within a character’s design, so that the player can see them as a real person, rather than as a game character, and that they should instead interact as if they are the character. “The designer must be aware of any ​ character’s significance within the game. NPCs who are seen briefly do not need much character development, and may only need superficial details of their personalities worked out. However, the player character and major NPCs do need careful consideration. In your game you want to make the player react to fear for the central character’s life through all the perils of the game; likewise you want the player to be fearful of their opponents”

The authors even give an example of good design for a character, as the character doesn’t even have to be present, since his equipment is iconic enough that people recognise who it is. “Character design is important even in a first-person game. Even though gameplay is ​ from the character’s viewpoint, the player will still be presented with illustrations of the ​ ​ character in order to set the scene. In more sophisticated FPS games the NPCs will also be reacting to the character controlled by the player...‘Clothes maketh the man’. In Half Life 2, central character Gordon Freeman’s glasses, environment suit and crowbar are often used even without him being present. These items have become instantly recognisable icons in the gaming world.”

Thompson, J., Berbank-Green, B., & Cusworth, N. (2007). Character Concepts. In The computer ​ game design course: Principles, practices and techniques for the aspiring game designer (pp. 94-97). ​ London: Thames & Hudson.

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3.2 Anatomy

According to Sloan, Anatomy is a critical part of character design as such they have ​ ​ designated an entire section towards looking at the different parts of anatomy in their book “Virtual character design for games and interactive media.” ​ Sloan, R. J. S. (2015). Virtual Character Design For Games And Interactive Media. CRC Press. ​ ​ According to Brock, believable anatomy is a key part within making characters, even if the anatomy is for exaggerated bodies. “Anatomy can be pushed incredibly far, so long as you ​ know what you are pushing. For example, say you wanted to make a character with arms that reached the ground while standing. I would start by imagining how that character uses the arms. Does it use them for things like walking or climbing, are they meant to be weapons? Then I would start pushing and emphasizing different parts of the anatomy based on those answers, creating longer and thicker than normal arms. The underlying anatomy would still follow what I would expect a human arm to be. There would still be an ulna and radius to think about, and all the flexor and extensor muscles. Having believable anatomy is key. By thinking about that underlying structure you can push the forms while still creating something that is believable.” This shows that even when creating characters with ​ exaggerated limbs, a lot of thought has to be put in so that the anatomy is believable despite being exaggerated.

Tokarev.K And Brock.N, ‘Efficient Character Design for Games: Tips & Tricks’, 80LV [Website], 2019, September, Accessed May 12, ​ ​ 2020.

Within Muftic’s book,“Figure Drawing For Concept Artists.” he gives advice on working from ​ ​ ​ still life drawing and using traditional methods over digital ones, the book supplies plenty of references of anatomy, some of which teach poses and perspective to help make the pieces more dynamic. Although the book is targeted more towards those who work traditionally, it didn’t stop me from using the advice while I was working on my digital pieces.

Muftic, K. (2017). Figure drawing for concept artists. Worcester, United Kingdom: 3dtotal Publishing. ​ ​ 3.3 Colour Theory

As stated by Bill Stoneham, Colour is a vital piece of the puzzle when working on any kind of concept art. “Used in conjunction with lighting, colour is an essential element in creating ​ atmosphere, literally and metaphorically.” He goes further saying how we associate different ​ colours to different moods, and other elements like stereotyping specific colour schemes to types of characters. “We associate colour with mood and physical states, so in our paintings ​ we can use it to a character's disposition, for example, by using dark earth tones, and blue-greys for villains' garments and light, warm tones on the heroes.”

Stoneham also delves into how even the slightest adjustment in colour can transform the ​ ​ atmosphere and meaning of a piece. “The colour of a scene can also convey an ​ atmosphere. Picture a cool, blue-and-green oasis, set against bright yellow-white dunes. It’s refreshing. However, paint the same scene at night, with colour and contrast removed, and the oasis and dunes become menacing…”

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He discusses how contrasting colours are quite effective at adding to scenes. “...Contrasts in ​ colour evoke drama and energy, such as when the blasts of light and colour from an exploding ship contrast with the deep blacks and blue-greens of the waves.” Not only does ​ contrasting colours add to an environmental scene, but also to a character, especially when it is subtle, it can really draw the eye. “The key to many designs, be they for environments or ​ characters, is to add accent colours sparingly but effectively...”

Stoneham, B. (2010). Colour And Mood. In How to Create Fantasy Art for Video Games: A Complete Guide to Creating Concepts, Characters, and Worlds (pp. 46-48). London: A.& C. Black.

Muddy goes into how relationships between colours are important, as how they work together can be critical in making the difference between atmospheres. “There are many ​ different ways of putting colour theory into practice, depending on schools of thought and artists’ individual preference. As you study colour theory, you will come to think of an image’s colour palette as a specific world or atmosphere that you can create and influence with your decisions, and the same applies to character design. Thinking of colours and their relationships to each other gives you the power to manipulate mood, feeling and many other ethereal aspects that really elevate your creations from just being good to having a lasting emotional impression on the viewer...” She also mentions how using colour theory can ​ manipulate the mood in the scene and influence how the audience reacts towards it.

She goes on to show the different techniques of how colour theory can be applied to character to enhance their design. “In this introduction to colour theory we will first look at ​ colour wheels and then how a range of colour palettes can be applied to characters to create visually pleasing designs that enhance the audience’s understanding of that character, their personality, and their story.”

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Figure 1: Colour Wheel And Different Combinations Of Colours.

Muddy states that you don’t always have to be over the top with colour, as sometimes the simpler the palette is, the better the result can turn out. “Remember that you don’t have to go ​ bright. When designing a character, it is often a good approach to emphasize the colours quite heavily on the areas that you want to be the focal points (such as using the eye-catching colour on an important element), while reining in the others. This can make the whole palette stronger by creating visually interesting colour variation, but should not be used to the extent that it becomes distracting.

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Figure 2: Character Palettes Using Colour Theory - Iris Muddy.

Muddy repeats that the right palette of colours can tell some much about a character, from where they originate to the emotions the character feels. “Creating meaning with colour. ​ Colour has the potential to communicate so much about a character. Depending on what the situation calls for, there are many possibilities to consider drawing from, ranging from emotional symbolism to representing something physically present in the character’s surroundings...” She even mentions how culture can be an important factor in how the ​ colours are interpreted. “...From one culture to another, certain colours’ meanings and ​ positive or negative attachments can vary greatly. Certain hues can suggest elements of the environment a character comes from or is adapted to, such as water, soil, vegetation, sky, animals, structures, or anything else that is significant in that context. A palette can strongly evoke a certain season or climate. Darker, richer colours carry a more intense mood than bright or light ones...”

Figure 3: Different Moods Associated With Colours.

Muddy, I. (2018). Colour Theory. In M. Lewis (Author), Creating stylized characters (pp. 50-57). ​ ​ Worcester (England): 3dtotal Publishing.

4.0 Case Studies

For these case studies, I will be exploring various games and how they go about conceptualising the designs of their enemies and creating atmosphere. I will take into account several factors from the concepts, in order to determine if the designs are effective in creating an unnerving reaction for the player. Some of the factors that I will be investigating within the designs include, movement and language, so how the enemies interact with their environment and how they act towards the player when they are aware of their presence. I will also be exploring the base form of the characters and examining the

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distortions in the designs to establish how different from human the character has to be for it to become unnerving to the player.

4.1 The Last Of Us

4.1.0 Introduction

The Last Of Us is a post-apocalyptic game by the developers Naughty Dog, it is an ​ ​ action-packed game where you play as two very different characters as they make their way across the country in order to help scientists develop a cure for the zombie virus that the world has succumbed to. The game was originally released exclusively on the PS3 back in June 2013 but has since been remastered for the PS4 with improved gameplay and graphics, as well as the included DLC of ‘Left Behind’ from the original game and a brand new photo mode, alongside commentary on the making of it and an all-new harder difficulty. It even has a highly anticipated sequel due to be released later in the year, sometime in June if there aren’t any complications that arise and delay the release.

4.1.1 Background

The Last Of Us is a highly immersive game, in which you take a journey alongside, the two ​ ​ main characters of Joel, an old man who has a tragic backstory, of which you experience early in the game as the beginning of the outbreak unfolds. And Ellie, a young girl who has ​ ​ been bitten by one of the infected, but has yet to turn into one herself. The game takes you along with the two as they journey to the Firefly research lab in order to help develop a cure from Ellie’s immunity.

4.1.2 My Review

The last of us is a great example of humanoid character concepts within a game, for instance in this game, the different types of enemies are in varying stages of mutation caused by the virus that created the zombies in the world. I think that the last of us, does a great job at getting a reaction from the player, perhaps not in a scared way like that of enemies in horror games, but in a shocking or disturbing way as they are attacked by enemies that are so similar to themselves, but also very different, in that they aren’t completely human anymore. This is presented by the varying stages of fungal growth that are on each unique enemy design, the varying stages going from the most human-looking of the zombies, which would be the runners, who have very little fungal growth visible in their designs, to the most grotesque and mutated of the enemies with would be the Bloaters, who have so much fungal growth on them that they are massive monstrosities that tower over the player.

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Figure 4: Concepts of the various stages of the Cordyceps infection, beginning at Runner stage mutating to the Clicker stage. (From Left to Right)

While I was first playing this game, the design of the Bloaters was the second most disturbing of the zombies within the game as even though they are the largest and most daunting enemies out of the varying enemies, to me they aren’t the ones that unnerved me the most. In my opinion, the most disturbing of the enemy designs within the game, are those of the clickers, as not only do they look the creepiest in their concepts, but they also behave in the strangest and unnerving way, with how they can be stood still and very suddenly jerk towards the player, who will struggle with fighting them if they don’t have good enough weapons. The player could just sneak around this type of enemy instead of fighting them unlike the other types, but just being in the presence of this enemy and trying to stealthy avoid encountering it is somehow more unnerving than when the other enemies are jumping at the player to the point that they are right in front of your face.

Figure 5: Concepts of two variants of Bloaters.

I found that when encountering any of these enemies, they were a lot more frightening to see when it was in a darkened or enclosed space compared to when I ran into them in the open. In the dark, enclosed spaces of the world, when you encounter any of these creatures, especially if it’s the clicker, as you then have to avoid them in sometimes very small gaps

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which can be very difficult considering that the clickers have very erratic moves, that can end up jerking and catching you.

4.1.3 User Review

“...Zombie stories have been done in their cliche's graves and back (and back) again, but Naughty Dog has managed to find a way to make it refreshing enough and something most zombie games have completely failed to do, ultimately terrifying. Based on the real-life Cordyceps fungi, a mutant strain of the virus has infected humans and thrown the world into complete turmoil 20 years prior to the start of the game…” - game_overdose54 game_overdose54. (2015, May 14). The Last of Us Reviews. Retrieved April 13, 2020, from https://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/2200-12646565/

“The Last Of Us is a zombie apocalypse game that will impress many!!! The storyline is very deep, the characters very emotional, the graphics are beautiful!!! The entire gameplay is breathtaking...you wonder if something like this could occur in real life, where we are all faced with survival tactics and vigilantism. You're also able to upgrade weapons and use objects in your environment to your advantage, the game draws realism. The game's artefacts also impress with backstories to what happened prior to the characters' arrival. Also, the DLC Left Behind was an amazing precursor to the current events of the game. Can't wait for the sequel to hit stores!!! THIS GAME DESERVES ALL THE AWARDS!! I even named one of my mixtapes after it... This game speaks volumes to our reality, in allegory: we're all trying to survive and progress in the game of life against infected enemies and our adversaries.” - one-hundredd ​ ​ one-hundredd. (2019, November 8). The Last of Us. Retrieved April 13, 2020, from https://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/2200-12800076/

4.1.4 Industry Review

“...Unlike your human adversaries, who often work together, audibly communicate, plan their actions, and practice self-preservation, The Infected attack with reckless abandon, with absolutely no regard for their safety and with every intention of killing you. Fighting them is terrifying, especially during your first few encounters, and feels completely different than your engagements with pockets of humanity...”

“...The lesser versions of The Infected, colloquially known as Runners, can be taken out with firearms and melee strikes alike, but it’s the Clickers – characters so infected by the Cordyceps fungus that they can’t even see – that will haunt your dreams. They can only be killed with silent shiv strikes or via firearm – silence is more often than not your best weapon against them -- but if they so much as get their hands on you, it’s game over. In this world, they are the true threat. It’s unlikely you’ll ever get comfortable dealing with them, of being mere feet away from them, crouching, hoping they don’t somehow sense you...” - IGN, Colin Moriarty.

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Moriarty, C. (2013, June 04). The Last of Us Review. Retrieved April 13, 2020, from https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/05/the-last-of-us-review

Moriarty talks about the different enemies within the game, comparing the humans to the infected, which are some of the character designs I’ve taken inspiration from. He describes his experiences with encountering the infected, mentioning that’s a terrifying experience, of which you’ll probably never get used to despite the numerous encounters with the enemies throughout the game.

4.1.5 Conclusion

The Last Of Us is a beautifully immersive game, with an emotionally captivating backstory, stunning built world and brilliant gameplay. It also displays an impressive new take on zombie-like humanoid creatures that chase the player in dark, abandoned and tense atmospheres that add to evoking fear within the player.

4.1.6 Summary

● Emotionally captivating storyline. ● Beautifully crafted world. ● A great and unique take on classic zombie enemies.

4.2 Dead By Daylight

4.2.0 Introduction

Dead By Daylight is an asymmetrical multiplayer online horror game, that was developed by the company behaviour interactive and released on PC in June 2016 and for consoles in June the following year. The game consists of 5 players max, 4 of which are survivors who are tasked with getting generators running in order to escape from the level. The remaining player is the killer, whose task is to hunt down all of the survivors and sacrifice them to the entity before they have a chance to escape. Both survivors and killers come in a variety of characters, all of which come with different perks and skill sets that can give the player small advantages.

4.2.1 Background

Day By Daylight has a lot of story and lore behind it, however, you have to dig for it and complete tasks in order to unlock some of the deeper parts. While playing the game itself you don’t get the story in any way other than via the environment, depending on which area you spawn in as this can change depending on a variety of factors, such as the killer you are playing as or against and the totem items that the players can choose to play in order to change the area or other variables within the game.

4.2.2 My Review

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Dead By Daylight, although different from any of the other games I was researching, still has a range of humanoid enemies that chase the player, if they choose to play as a survivor. However, with this game, you can also choose to play as one of the many enemies available, some of which are DLC characters that are original concepts, whereas others are from popular horror franchises that already exist in other media, such as the “Friday the 13th” and “Saw” series amongst others.

During my investigation into the game, I found that playing against other people can either be significantly more or less scary, depending on how well the player could work with the killer and its abilities, some of which included travelling across the map to pop up right beside you, which was a particularly terrifying experience, especially when you are caught in the killer’s blood-red light and they’re towering over you. When caught or being chased by the killers, it’s chilling as that’s when you can truly see just how horrifying the killers look with the distorted features that some of them have, the most prolific of the characters that have distorted features include, the plague, the wraith and the hillbilly, all of which are original base characters for the game.

Figure 6: Halloween skin concepts for the original base characters in the game. Characters: The Trapper, The Huntress, The Wraith, The Hillbilly, The Doctor. (From left to right.)

I also found that while investigating the game, that a lot of the killer concepts contain some kind of fear or phobia. Although some of the killers that contain these only have them with certain skins, for example, The Trapper in his Halloween skin has many tiny holes along his skin and I personally hate this detail as I really dislike holes within the flesh, especially if insects live within them. Other killers always display these characteristics in every skin, for example, the plague displays necrosis of the skin as well as sickness, things that some people are very afraid of, as sickness, in general, is scary as it weakens the person, but in some cases, it could lead to death.

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Figure 7: Character concept sheet of the killer, The Plague.

Figure 8: Character concept of the killer, The Hag.

4.2.3 User Review

“Dead by daylight will make your heart beat and you will feel the tension when sneaking around or getting chased by a raving psychopath! A must-have for everyone who likes horror!” - Akimbo82

“Like a lot of user reviews have already said, this game has a wonderfully fresh concept, but the devs blew it hard by not balancing it correctly. That and the amount of glitches this game still has is insane, considering it has been out this long.” - Hobobo

Dead by Daylight. (2016, June 14). Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dead-by-daylight

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4.2.4 Industry Review

“Horror in games (and films) is too often characterised by jump scares; shocking, startling events designed to trigger a fight-or-flight response. Dead by Daylight, to its credit, eschews these in favour of real horror--a gradual increase in tension resulting from the unshakeable sense of impending doom. That it manages to do this in an asymmetrical competitive action game is what is truly impressive about it.

Dead by Daylight features two teams--four survivors and one killer--and pits them against one another in a battle for all the marbles: The four survivors need to repair five generators to power the gates which will allow them to escape. The killer needs to find the survivors, knock them down, put them on hooks and then sacrifice them to their otherworldly gods. The odds are skewed heavily in favour of the invincible killer, and as a result playing Dead by Daylight as a survivor can be a nerve-rattling, sweat-inducing, terrifying experience...”

“...Dead by Daylight executes the concept of a competitive horror game well, but only to a point. As players become more familiar with both roles, the horror dissipates and they begin to play for the competitive element alone. The poor matchmaking and the highly exploitable scoring system make Dead by Daylight less competitive than it should be, resulting in gameplay which doesn't resemble the horror experience it sets out to be.”- Gamespot, Joab Gilroy.

Gilroy, J. (2016, July 03). Dead by Daylight Review. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/dead-by-daylight-review/1900-6416464/

Gilroy describes how the game initially is a very good example of a horror game, as it’s a unique take compared to the normal cliche jumpscare focused gameplay. He goes on to say how the game is a lot more terrifying as a survivor being stared down at by the variety of horrifying killers. However, this can quickly wear off as the matches turn more competitive and less casual, so become less exciting and scary to play.

4.2.5 Conclusion

Dead by daylight is a great example of a horror game, which uses terrifying humanoid concepts alongside tense and creepy atmospheric design to evoke fear within the player. It’s a very immersive and intense game that really draws the player into the shoes of the survivor they’ve chosen to play as and that further works in creating fear within the player.

4.2.6 Summary

● Great original killer concepts. ● Multiplayer is certainly interesting but can be annoying. ● Has fantastic tense, scary atmospheres that scare the player.

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4.3 The Forest

4.3.0 Introduction

The forest is an action-packed survival, horror story-based game which was both developed and published by Endnight Games in April 2018, after being in an early access beta stage for four years. The game was first released on PC on Windows platforms, and a few months later in November 2018 was released on consoles.

4.3.1 Background

The forest can be played both in single-player mode where you can fully experience the story or in multiplayer mode with 3 friends where you can choose to play through the story or just fortify a base and survive against the increasingly difficult enemies as the days go by. In the story mode, you play as a man who is searching for his son after the plane they are travelling on crash lands on an island in the middle of nowhere. The father regains consciousness as a strange figure carries his son away, only to fall unconscious again as the figure disappears with his son, he later awakens and begins his search for his son while trying to survive on the island, by hunting to sustain himself and fighting against cannibals that are constantly trying to kill him.

4.3.2 My Review

The Forest is an excellent example of using humanoid type enemies to evoke a reaction within the player. In my experience when playing through this game, not only did the initial appearance of the enemies frighten me but also the way they interact with the environment once they'd spotted the player, they'd jerk unnaturally in the direction you'd be in and start chasing the player until you lost them or until you defeated them. The initial shock of encountering the enemy added to the experience but also depending on which enemy appeared, it triggered a fight or flight response within me, most of the time a flight response with me fleeing from the enemy and them giving chase, which added even more to the fright factor as the odd sounds the enemies communicated with were very unnerving, especially when it ended up attracting more and instead of just one I had a growing group of enemies chasing me down.

The forest enemies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, although all of them are humanoid bases, with different mutations, that created varying reactions. For instance, the basic cannibals, who are the least mutated of the creatures that attack the player, are still quite frightening with the bold concepts, most are plain, although others are covered in bright war paint or various body parts that they’ve harvested from other people. However, compared to other enemies such as the Virginia, Armsy, Cowmen and Mutant Babies, the regular cannibals seem less intimidating, as these other enemies are much more twisted humanoid enemies.

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Figures 9 - 14: Some of the large variety of enemies from The Forest. Enemies: Armsy, Virginia, Cowman, End Boss, Skinny Mutants/Cannibals, Mutant Babies (Beginning from the Top row, Left to Right)

4.3.3 User Review

“...The Forest is a white-knuckled survival horror that features gameplay depth, stunning aesthetic, and a strong story, all while sending chills down your spine. You play as a plane crash survivor on a remote peninsula filled with cannibals and strange mutants. Your two goals are to survive and to find your missing son, Timmy...” - maes1890

“...I went in my first cave and had a few cannibals run at me in the almost pitch black. My lighter (you start with) barely lit up anything apart from these faces jumping out at me, and I laid a few pant-eggs the first time down there. This is where the game excels. The AI of the cannibals is almost perfect. They don't just see you and run at you, they are inquisitive. They may follow you, stalk you, weigh you up. They may run at you and retreat if you (bravely) stand your ground, or, if you're outnumbered they'll divert your attention face on while others try and flank you. It's a nightmare I've loved…”

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“...In summary - the game is excellent. Seeing the Cannibals run their patrol routes whilst I'm hidden in a bush, filling my pants, is an experience I'll go back to again and again. It's a great survival horror and the developers are adding more fixes and updates all the time - including new enemies...” - Dal_ReviewedDat

The Forest. (2018, November 06). Retrieved May 29, 2020, from https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/the-forest/user-reviews

4.3.4 Industry Review

“The wooded, alpine peninsula that becomes your home is almost idyllic in its quiet splendour, made up of delightfully verdant woodlands and sparkling ponds. But it’s also inhabited by several tribes of feral, macabre cannibals who mark their territory with grotesque effigies of human skin and bone from their victims. From the moment I first came across one, the peaceful, easy feeling turned into a constant paranoia. Everything was always just a bit too quiet, and even twigs snapping from my own footsteps or a rabbit darting out of a bush could make me jump.

Unlike so many video game enemies, the cannibals aren’t suicidally aggressive, and that’s what makes them so unsettling. The Forest’s greatest triumph is the convincing self-preservation of the AI that governs their behaviour. Sometimes they run away. Sometimes they’re content to follow you at a safe distance to figure out where your base is so they can report back to their friends. Sometimes they’ll charge you to test your mettle, but stop short if you don’t back down...”

“...The feeling that I was sharing these woods with intelligent enemies with the capacity for rationality and complex decision-making sent actual shivers up my spine. It’s a fear above and beyond being chased by something that just wants to kill you as fast as possible…”

“...Your only renewable light source is one of those little gas station lighters which barely lets you see as far out as your own outstretched hand, and that led to a lot of me getting lost. Using darkness to create tension can be great, but this is overdoing it.

When I wasn’t frustrated by the excessive gloom, I could definitely see what the designers were trying to do. The lighter, for instance, is set up to go out after random periods of time. Each time you click to attempt to re-ignite it, there’s something like a hidden coin flip to determine if it comes back on. This led to some wonderfully heart-pounding situations in which I was plunged into total darkness, knowing there were cannibals stalking me, and my lighter clicked five, six, seven, or maybe even eight times before the flame returned and allowed me to get my bearings. The cave cannibals seem scripted to flank, disorient, and spook you with their erratic movements rather than going straight for the kill, which is further proof that the team behind The Forest has a strong understanding of how to inspire horror...”

“I’ve never been terrorized, stalked, or fascinated by enemy AI quite like I was in The Forest. It’s a harrowing survival ordeal that knows how to play with tension and create the sense of a real world with complex inner workings and mysteries I was eager to discover. Its I Am Legend told in the depths of the hinterlands, with a meaningful story progression that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Disregard the warnings on the walls and hidden between the trees at

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your own peril – and if you want a unique and memorable survival horror experience, then you should absolutely dare to do so.” IGN, T.J.Hafer.

Hafer, T.J. (2020, April 20). The Forest Review. Retrieved May 29, 2020, from https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/05/10/the-forest-review-2

Hafer talks a lot about how the team who developed the forest are very good at creating tense atmospheres to work alongside their terrifying humanoid enemies, who are unnervingly intelligent when you encounter them. He mentions that the game likes to put the player into the unknown, where they’re unable to see very far in front of them and it adds to the suspense of not knowing just how close the enemy is to you, as the sounds are also echoed, making the player always on edge and paranoid about whether you’re safe and where the next attack will come from.

4.3.5 Conclusion

The Forest is a brilliant immersive game, where the player has to be smart and plan what they do in order to complete their objectives. The game's impressive AI makes those tasks even harder as the more days that pass, the more variety of aggressive and intelligent enemies make appearances. It also brilliantly creates an atmosphere, always thrusting the player into the unknown, where they never know what might happen next.

4.3.6 Summary

● Brilliant use of humanoid creature design to unnerve the player. ● Impressively intelligent enemy AI. ● The balancing of the enemies vs the player is a little off as the days progress.

4.4 Until Dawn

4.4.0 Introduction

Until Dawn is an interactive survival horror game that was developed by Supermassive ​ ​ Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Playstation 4 in 2015. The game was originally planned for the Playstation 3 console and was to be compatible with the Playstation Move, however that was dropped when it was made for PS4 instead. Although that type of gameplay was brought back with the extra edition of first-person perspective, with both a spin-off and prequel to the game both of which are PS VR based games.

4.4.1 Background

The game revolves around a handful of friends who have reunited in the mountains, but they aren’t the only ones up there as they are pursued not only by a psycho killer who is playing games with their lives but also by the stretched humanoid creatures that also want them dead. The game features a butterfly effect, where every choice you make with the characters can factor into whether they will live or die, meaning all characters can survive, but they can also all die in a variety of tragic and gruesome deaths.

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4.4.2 My Review

Until Dawn has a great example of humanoid enemies, in the form of the wendigo, a creature that originated as a human, but because they resorted to cannibalism they have been possessed by the spirit of a wendigo and have mutated into a very stretched out looking human. While playing this game, I encountered the wendigos a fair few times, however, I saw them a lot less than I thought I would and a large part of the game was the ​ ​ build-up and atmosphere in the area before you’d encounter the enemy that the majority of the time, would tear into the character you were playing as, forcing you to switch point of view.

Figure 15: Character model of the miner wendigo.

This game was good at creating a tense atmosphere that would unnerve you enough that you never felt comfortable, but not enough that you were always expecting an enemy to appear, as the majority of the time they would show up out of nowhere and jump scare the player, something that wasn’t nice to experience as it allowed the enemies to get right up into the players face, revealing all of the unnerving features properly. Personally, half the time when I was playing the game, these were very effective in scaring or unnerving me and when paired with the unique mechanic that they built into the game of sections where the player couldn’t move the controller at all or the enemy would detect them and kill the character they were playing as.

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Figure 16: Close-up shot of a wendigo.

4.4.3 User Review

“The horror genre is probably the best for this style of game. It beats Telltale and Quantic Dreams games by far in entertaining me, which is obviously a very subjective statement and I like horror movies. Ever thought about teenagers making the wrong decisions in a slasher movie? Find out if you were right! The characters will seem cliché or stupid at the start, but you will forget this fast and grow fond of them fast, which is based on good performances, good actors and the devs talent in knowing their tools of psychological manipulation. SPOILER AHEAD - The one and only problem was me not having any big connection to American native Indians mythical or ghost stories, they fail to impress me much. Though I understand the writer's choice to lay traps and try to lead you on the wrong path. Anyway, great game and also a new standard. When this game showed it's first trailers I was sure this would fail and I was very very wrong!” - tokyoe_one

“I really enjoyed this game. The story starts off sort of cliche, which is intentional, but once you get a few chapters in the mystery gets really good and the story picks up. It's basically the video game version of the Cabin in the Woods movie that came out a few years ago. One of the strong points of the game is the atmosphere, and a big part of that is the lighting effects, which are gorgeous in this game. The player choice element of the game makes it worth doing a second playthrough, and even beyond that, as there are more than just 2 ways to do things with branching paths leading to other branching paths. It's a genuinely fun game that keeps you guessing and wondering what will happen next.” - iwhbyd

Until Dawn. (2015, August 25). Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/until-dawn/user-reviews

4.4.4 Industry Review

“...Mechanics of Until Dawn, are quite reminiscent of the games from Telltale and Quantic Dream studios, in its combination of free exploration and quick-time action sequences. And because it’s a horror game, every character can get hurt – by their own or another person’s fault. The nonlinear structure of the game is based on the so-called “butterfly effect”, a chaos theory according to which one small event can influence another, much bigger one. Every

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interaction, every decision and dialogue can influence the outcome of the scene or even the whole game, thus putting the player in the thankless role of an executioner for eight virtual lives. Sometimes you’ll have to make serious decisions in a nick of time, while sometimes you’ll have all the time you need, but what both have in common is the cold sweat panic you’ll feel while paranoia creeps in and you wonder which choice is the right one. The true horror is usually not on the screen but in the mind of a player as he makes a brutally hard decision...”

“The quick-time events that require a quick decision also play a major role in the game, and sometimes you’ll simply need to hide. When that occurs, you’ll need to keep the controller perfectly still so that the built-in gyroscope doesn’t move the on-screen indicator too much. These are the tensest parts of the game, during which we didn’t blink nor breathe; scared that even the smallest tick might jolt our controller ending with brutal consequences for our character.” - Playzine, Bojan Jovanović. ​

Jovanović, B. (2015, July 10). Review: Until Dawn. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from http://www.play-zine.com/2015/10/review-until-dawn/

Jovanović talks about how the game creates tension and builds up to the scares, however ​ like other critic reviews, they never ever actually mention anything about the enemies of the game and how they appear or even that they have a role within the game. He’s more focused on the mechanics of the game and how these stress out the player, rather than what the resulting consequences of failing said mechanics bring, which in most cases is the appearance of a wendigo to slaughter the character who failed the QTEs.

4.4.5 Conclusion

Until Dawn is a great horror game and is really effective in creating stressful and tension-packed atmospheres using fixed camera angles and lighting, which add to any jumpscares within the game, of which there are a lot of. It has great enemy concepts, although I don’t feel they get enough screen time considering they are a major point of the story.

4.4.6 Summary

● Fantastic creation of suspenseful atmosphere. ● Great examples of scary humanoid character design. ● QTE can get annoying if failing it leads to a quick death.

5.0 Current Perceptions (Pre-Assumptions And Expectations) ​ ​ My reasoning for choosing this particular subject as a study point is largely because I want to become a concept artist in the creative industry. I think that by choosing this subject for my thesis, that I will learn the necessary skills that I would need as a concept artist as I will be investigating the creation of concept art and its importance within the industry as well as

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discovering the most efficient ways to design characters and environments, that not only look great but also create the best effect for the player, whether it be frightening or joyful.

Although my passion towards becoming a concept artist is not the sole reason for my choice of subject to study, I also wanted to speak about humanoid enemy designs as I’ve always loved the way they look and how unnerving they are to me, especially zombies which I have always been drawn towards in all media, not just exclusively in games.

5.1 Perception Of Character Design In Horror Games

Character design is essential for horror games as the characters are typically the main focus of the game in the antagonist/ enemies. Since the characters are so important there has to be a lot of thought put into their design that is normally conveyed in the various stages of a character's development. For example, while working on the conceptual stages people will work with many different iterations of the characters design in order to discover the most effective attributes to combine for the final character.

5.2 Importance of Atmospheric Design In Horror Games

Atmospheric and environmental design are very important parts in creating an effective scene in horror games, movies and other pieces of media. Atmosphere is a key piece in any type of horror media as without it there wouldn’t be a build-up of tension, which is one of the key components to creating any kind of reaction within the audience. Specifically that of an unnerving or horrifying type of reaction via the people experiencing the fright whether within games, films or in any other way.

6.0 Aim And Objectives

6.1 Principle Aim

● The principle aim of this study is to analyse existing horror character designs and determine what is effective at getting a reaction from the audience with them.

6.2 Research Objectives

● Analyse what in humanoid horror concepts is effective creating fear within the audience. ● Analyse common fears of people, which can be used in a character concept. ● Research the psychological factors of fears, phobias and the uncanny valley. ● Create effective horror character concepts in a humanoid style.

6.3 Benefits Of The Research

6.3.0 Education

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● Research may help others in understanding the psychological factors that affect how people perceive certain horror concepts. ● The research could help others in creating their own effective humanoid horror concepts.

6.3.1 Personal

● Creating concept art and improving my art style. ● Have a better understanding of character design and anatomy. ● Get a better understanding of how to be a successful concept artist. ● Learn new skills that can be applied to future work and help me integrate better into the industry.

6.3.2 Professional Development

● The study could provide some insight on how to create effective horror-based humanoid characters.

7.0 Results And Practises

7.1 Preparation

Before I even began to start on my practical piece for this thesis, I first had to gather research in the form of playing games, watching movies or observing other people playthrough any of the games I thought would be good to reference characters from.

7.2 Practice

I began working on my practical, beginning with plain paper and a pencil to try and come up with some basic idea sketches. Then I began to work further in details on the paper with a pen, mostly adding shading and texture to the pieces and then adding an aged look to the paper to try and replicate the look of an old journal. However I don’t think that the original pieces alone were enough to make up a nice enough journal, so I have also been working on my laptop, using Adobe Photoshop in order to create much more detailed and refined designs. For some of the pieces and even created variations to try and make more of an ​ ​ impression, using colour theory. I then picked which parts looked the best and added text to the details, in order to describe what each part did and collated all of the pages into a journal book. I used a lot of anatomy references so that I could get the most important details of my pieces finished to the most realistic standard that I could.

I also created front and back covers for the journal, this began pretty simple, but since I put it online and somebody else had a go at me because it looked too similar to his, despite it looking nothing like his apart from it being a brown book with font. I didn’t really want to change the book completely so I did a few more versions that had more detail.

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7.3 Results

I ended up making and improving upon several of my original concepts, using Photoshop to enhance the details, add colours and shading to render my final pieces from more than one view as I wanted to showcase all parts of the creatures rather than missing some parts because they would be hidden from one angle.

I’m happy with how all of these refined pieces have turned out, however I wish I had been able to refine more of them and put them into proper illustrations so that they looked better compared to the reference sheets.

8.0 Research Strategy And Methodology

8.1 Research Strategy

Throughout my exploration during this study, I utilised a variety of different techniques in order to conduct my research. The below-listed methods are the most prominent of the techniques that I used while working on this thesis.

8.1.0 Primary Research

I conducted a lot of primary research for this study, mostly in the form of playthroughs of the games mentioned in my case studies, I did this in order to get a better understanding of how different games create tense atmospheres and how they use those to better influence how the player sees the enemies. Furthermore, this method of research was used in order to examine a diverse mixture of humanoid enemies and determine which aspects within each of the designs created reactions within the player.

This helped me to figure out which characteristics were more likely to evoke a range of emotions within the player, which is what I am trying to achieve through the creation of my own range of horror-based characters. Specifically, those of a humanoid nature as creatures that somewhat resemble humans, but aren’t human, are more unnerving and creepy.

8.1.1 Secondary Research

I conducted a fair amount of secondary research for this thesis, largely in the forms of gathering materials and references from books and research articles on the subjects that related to my questions and would help me in solving them. However, this kind of research was particularly hard to find, as there are limited resources on the details of humanoid concept design, not only within games but within other media such as films and books as well.

8.2 Methods

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8.2.0 Surveys

For research in order to get a mixture of views from people, I created a survey, which I posted on my social media for people to fill in. Although I didn’t get a massive amount of responses the majority of the ones I did get were very helpful in my research on fears and phobias that influence character design.

The results for my research show that horror games are more popularly played by males, it also shows that most of the people are around their 20, although this could just be wrong due to my lack of responses.

A lot of people who completed the survey really enjoy horror games, although a few either enjoyed them a little bit or not at all. So I hypothesized that the majority of my results would definitely know what points in the games are scary.

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I listed a few different horror genre games that I knew, to see how many people had played some of those games, since I used them as reference. The participants also listed a variety of different horror games, some I was familiar with and others I had never heard of before.

I wanted to observe how effective those games were in making the participants feel unnerved and what exactly those specific games used efficiently in order to evoke the reaction from the player.

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Here I wanted to try and figure out what exactly scares people the most when it comes to horror games and what I picked up was that most people are scared of tension in the atmosphere, alongside the tension and suspense of a chase which is partially connected to the feeling of being vulnerable which some people seem to be afraid of.

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I also wanted to investigate what elements of the design were more effective at creating the reaction within the player. According to my results, the movement is a clear winner as even the opinions that people created themselves for this included movements paired with some other elements, even some I hadn’t initially thought of. Most of the participants even before this point had mentioned that jerky movements were one of the most unnerving things about some horror enemy designs.

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I asked a similar question to the previous, however with this one I made it focused on enemies in general rather than specifically humanoid enemies, as I wanted opinions on what is scary in general when it comes to enemies, so that I could possibly incorporate some of these into my own character designs. As can be seen below, there are a much larger array ​ ​ of answers to what unnerves each person, although there are few recurring themes, which include unpredictable or intelligent enemies and movement also seemed to appear a lot in this question as well.

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I then went on to question what visual characteristics in a character unnerve people the most and I’m quite surprised with how the results turned out, as I expected the more gory and complex characteristics to be what unnerved people the most, but it ended up being the simpler ones. As can be seen below, distorted bodies won by a landslide in what unnerves people the most, followed by featureless faces, holes in the body/exposed internals and rotten/decayed skin.

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My research shows that some of the common fears appeared within the survey quite often, the stereotypical fears such as those of spiders, heights and enclosed spaces, amongst others were present a lot. However, a few that I previously hadn’t thought of, appeared in the results and were very interesting to try and brainstorm as horror character concepts, although a few of them were very difficult to convert into conceptual art.

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I decided to ask which horror enemies were the favourites of the participants, as favourites are normally really memorable designs that are effective in doing what they were intended to, in this case, it would be to scare and unnerve the audience. This gave some good examples of great enemy designs that I could reference while making my own concepts.

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There were also some comments that talk more about peoples thoughts on the subject, I have taken screenshots of these.

Since these few decided to emphasise more on how they perceived horror concepts, I asked my mother’s opinion on some horror characters designs I used as references, as well as opinions on how some of my work looked. I thought that her opinion would help with the horror aspect as she loves any media involving horror especially anything of Stephen King’s.

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The film that is being referred to here is the apocalyptic film “I Am Legend”, a film that has a very interesting take on the stereotypical zombie, which I am a fan of and have referenced a little in my primary sketching stages.

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I asked for her opinion on what specific things she is unnerved and creeped out by when it comes to concepts of horror creatures, before I sent any of the references and then asked her again after to sending them in order to see which ones she thought looked the most horrifying and which of the characteristics unnerved her the most.

8.2.1 Case Studies

I will also be looking at existing games to analyse the character design within said games. This gives me insight into what gets a reaction out of the audience as well as helping show what exactly scares the people playing the games. I chose the case studies because they were effective in creating a reaction within me, which led me to believe it would create a similar reaction in other players. On top of this, I also chose these games as I am familiar with them. This would speed up the research process as I already own some of the titles and have previous knowledge of them. However, with the titles I didn’t previously own, not only did I play them but, I also utilised gameplay walkthroughs by content creators as this not only showcased the games, it also gave me a valuable resource, in the other person's opinion and reaction to the character design in the game.

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8.2.1 Literature Reviews

For the literature review I sourced out existing academic works and gathered research on some core elements of character design, this helped me gain a better understanding of existing professionals' perception of the subject. Due to the nature of my study, I also sourced articles, while not all academic they provided an additional perspective for me to analyse and consider when researching. I not only pinpointed specific quotations which provided insight into how to perceive and draw anatomy correctly but also quotes that helped me understand how to effectively design characters.

9.0 Psychological Fears And Phobias Research

I did some research into this section, delving into the psychological aspects as with certain individuals, underlying fears or phobias are what creates the reaction towards the concept, sometimes they concept doesn’t even need to be of the horror genre, it just has to involve one of those underlying fears and phobias in order to evoke a reaction within them. I wanted to find out what the most common fears and phobias that people have are and how I could use them in order to make a more frightening experience for certain players.

9.1 Psychological Fears

Psychological fear is a powerful, natural human reaction. Fear involves a universal biochemical response within the body of an individual, although not all reactions of fear are the same as each individual has their own unique response. Fear commonly alerts a person or animal to the presence of danger towards us, whether said danger is in a physical or psychological sense.

According to the Cambridge dictionary the exact definition of fear is described as - “An ​ unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful, or bad that is happening or might happen” ​ But it can also be defined as - “to be frightened of something or someone unpleasant” ​

FEAR: Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2020, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fear

9.1.0 Fear Of The Unknown

Fear of the unknown is a very common type of fear that is displayed within humans, fear of the unknown is also often referred to as anxiety and can induce great stress upon the individual experiencing it.

Or as Counselling Directory defines it as - “Anxiety is fear of the unknown. An impending ​ sense of uncertainty, or a stress response to a perceived threat in the future. The brain and body are often caught up in sensations and feelings of tension, or a sense of apprehension that keeps the mind locked into a cycle of excessive worry, anticipation and panic.”

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Greg Savva - Counselling Twickenham, W. (2017, May 11). Anxiety and fear of the unknown. Retrieved June 20, 2020, from https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/memberarticles/anxiety-and-fear-of-the-unknown

I decided to look into fear of the unknown, as a lot of the time while playing horror games or watching movies, some of the stress inducing parts of them, are that whatever happens next is unknown, you never know if there’s something around the corner or behind that one door that you’re being guided towards. This is a technique used in a lot of different horror genre games, to force the player into a sense of uncertainty of what will happen, and can also be used in combination with a couple other techniques that are used to instil fear into the audience that it is aimed at.

9.1.1 Manifestation Of Fear Within The Mind And Body

When the body encounters a fear, something that the person is afraid of, it more often than not triggers the fight or flight response. This phenomenon can occur in every animal and isn’t exclusive to humans.

According to an article by Medical News Today, the body goes through a lot of changes when it encounters a fear and fight or flight is triggered. “Breathing rate increases, heart rate ​ follows suit, peripheral blood vessels (in the skin, for instance) constrict, central blood vessels around vital organs dilate to flood them with oxygen and nutrients, and muscles are pumped with blood, ready to react. Muscles — including those at the base of each hair — also become tighter, causing piloerection, which is colloquially called goosebumps. When a human’s hair stands on end, it doesn’t make much of a difference to their appearance, but for more hirsute animals, it makes them seem larger and more formidable. Metabolically, levels of glucose in the blood spike, providing a ready store of energy if the need for action arises. Similarly, levels of calcium and white blood cells in the bloodstream see an increase.” This shows that there is a lot more complexity involved in fear and how it affects us.

Newman, T. (2018, October 31). Fear: What happens in the brain and body? Retrieved June 20, 2020, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323492

9.2 Psychological Phobias

Phobias, otherwise known as irrational fears, are often defined as an extreme fear towards a specific subject. Examples of common types of these would include Arachnophobia, Acrophobia and Trypanophobia, these of the fears or spiders, heights and injections.

As stated in the article ‘Phobias and Irrational Fears’, there are four general types of phobia, these consist of Animal phobias, Natural environment phobias, Situational phobias, Medical phobias. Animals obviously refer to being afraid of certain animals such as spiders, snakes and dogs amongst others, the natural environment phobia refers to heights, storms and the water. Situational phobias would include claustrophobia and fear like that of flying, whereas the medical phobias are ones such blood and injections. Although there are some phobia that don’t fit into any of these categories.

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The same article also shows a table of how to differentiate between normal fears and phobias.

Smith, M., Segal, R., & Segal, J. (2019, October). Phobias and Irrational Fears. Retrieved June 20, 2020, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/phobias-and-irrational-fears.htm

9.3 The Uncanny Valley

As claimed by Margaret Rouse in her article. “The uncanny valley is a common unsettling ​ feeling people experience when androids (humanoid robots) and audio/visual simulations closely resemble humans in many respects but are not quite convincingly realistic.”

Rouse, M. (2016, February 10). What is uncanny valley? Retrieved June 20, 2020, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/uncanny-valley

The uncanny valley can be used within games to create an audience, in this case you don’t even need the humanoid character to be an enemy to be slightly unnerved by their appearance, it just needs to be close enough in appearance to that of a human to create a reaction. Some of the games that contain hints of the uncanny valley elements include Detroit: Become Human, L.A Noire amongst others like the game named after it called The Uncanny Valley, which is a horror survival game, where you play as a security guard of an abandoned building at the night, where you encounter a variety of strange happenings.

10.0 Folklore And Fairy Tales

Traditional Folklore, are stories that are orally passed down through many generations of people, these are traditions that are still present in many different cultures. Some of the many cultures that have well-known folklore include, the Welsh with that of the Dragon, the American with Bigfoot and the Irish with Leprechauns, alongside them are many more cultures with many strange and terrifying creatures of Folklore.

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Fairy Tales are similar in that they are also stories. However, they aren't passed down through generations the same as Folklore. Although Folklore is thought to be true, Fairy tales are definitely not as they are fabricated stories, normally designed to be told to small children as they conventionally have happy endings. However certain fairy tales can have very dark storylines, leading them to have not so happy endings, the most famous kind to have storylines like this would be tales by the Brothers Grimm, who’s fairy tale’s always have some kind of dark twist within them and usually end in some kind of tragedy. ​ ​

10.1 Traditional Folklore

I looked into a few different traditional folklore tales from around the world, however, I was always pulled back to a particular tale as I had always been interested in it. The tale I focused on was that of the Wendigo, a creature that I thought would be great inspiration towards my own concepts.

“The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its ​ bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody. Its body was unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, giving off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption. - Basil Johnston.

Although wendigos were the main influence in the folklore category, I also liked the folklores of Krampus and El Chupacabra amongst various other less known folktales from around the world.

Weiser-Alexander, K. (2003). Wendigo – Flesheater of the Forests. Retrieved May 23, 2020, from https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mn-wendigo/

10.2 Mythology

Mythology is a collection of myths, which are usually grouped together with others that originate from a similar background. Myths are traditional stories that commonly involve some being or event, usually in the form of a hero crossing paths with demi-gods or deities and possibly having to fight them to fix a problem that affects the surrounding areas.

There a many different types of myths around the world, throughout different cultures, however I personally favour the ancient Greek mythology as they contain a variety of different creatures that really interested me and could give ideas for my work, some of these myths include The Minotaur, Medusa the Gorgon and the tale of Pandora’s box amongst a vast array of other stories.

10.3 Urban Legends

Urban legends are a modernised genre of folklore, composed of stories that are circulated as true through word of mouth, urban legends commonly display horrifying or humorous

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components. The legends can be told as a form of amusement, but can often concern ​ mysterious peril or troubling events, which include mysterious disappearances and strange happenings.

Examples of these are The Slender Man, Bloody Mary and Hookman, all of which are strange stories that have passed about and are often involved in group activities, especially Bloody Mary, who is said to appear if you speak her name three times in a dark bathroom while staring into the mirror.

10.4 The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

The classic definition of a fairy tale is that of stories containing magical, imaginary beings or lands, that are usually told to kids and commonly end with a happily ever after. However, the tales by the Brothers Grimm are quite different from these and more often than not have a twisted and grim ending.

The brother’s created well-known tales, such as Snow White, Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin amongst various others, however these original tales are not quite so kid friendly as the Disney alternatives and commonly end in tragic and horrific ways rather than in a happily ever after moment.

11.0 Discussion Of Findings And Analysis

11.1 Personal Thoughts

Through my research, I have learnt the importance of colour theory and anatomy when it comes to designing characters. It’s especially important when it comes to horror designs as the combination of realistic ripped anatomy and specific colour schemes add to the effectiveness of the designs. I think through creating these character concepts, I have learnt both how to make effective designs that can create a reaction from the audience and how to layout concept art professionally.

11.2 Social Media Opinions

I posted a few different screen shots of my progress on a few of my pieces along the way and these are some of the feedback comments that I got from people. I didn’t get a massive amount of feedback from people, I mainly got likes and retweets, but I did get some comments and they gave me some helpful feedback. I think I should have put my art on some other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, however I didn’t have Instagram and it didn’t occur to me to ask on Facebook before it was too late.

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12.0 Recommendations Of Practice

If any others were to follow my thesis and wish to create something similar, I would firstly suggest definitely gathering plenty of references to use early on in the projects as it will make it a lot easier, with it out of the way considering how long the referencing and initial concepting phases were. I would also definitely look into colour theory alongside other techniques and research that people use while conceptualising, such as looking further into anatomy, posture and perspective as they can be key in making things look convincing.

Mainly just give yourself plenty of time to come up with the character design, and all the little details that make them unique and interesting to the player. Brainstorm some of the character’s background so you have an idea how they would look and act, especially if you want to do a similar concept and go down the route of horror creature design. Ask yourself how did they become like that, or is that just how they’ve always been? Are there any others like the creature, or is this the only one of its kind?

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13.0 Limitations Of Study

While I was working on this study, I encountered quite a few different limitations that slowed my progress significantly. The most prominent problem that I had while working on this project was lack of equipment, as I lacked the proper equipment at home to be able to complete the practical pieces that I had planned on making. This wasn’t a massive problem, to begin with, as I could rent out some of the equipment that I needed from the university equipment store and I only had to travel into the university building in order to access Photoshop. However, as time progressed and the situation with Covid-19 affected everything, I was unable to rent out equipment due to closure and was unable to work on my practical pieces for at least month, until the next instalment of loan came in and I could just about afford to buy the equipment I needed, in this case, a graphics tablet as Adobe Photoshop was available remotely for a short amount of time so I didn’t need to pay for a subscription to access that as well, in order to do my work.

Lack of time or more my struggle with time management made this project really hard to work on, as I had prioritised my other projects over this one and didn’t have a lot of time to work on really refined pieces that I actually like, versus what I have created which I’m not massively fond of. My opinions on my own work also didn’t help while I was creating these pieces as I never seemed to think they were good enough, because they weren’t perfect. My time was also affected by the above lack of equipment which cost me a lot of time. Although my opinions weren’t the only thing that stalled my workflow, as I really struggled with getting out of a depressive state enough to work for a large chunk of time, this was especially made worse when Covid-19 affected the world and I struggled to even leave my bed due to anxiety attacks.

I also lacked the required skill set for creating what I wanted to, as I at the beginning of the project struggled with anatomy, so for this project I had to learn anatomy and improve upon drawing the proportions correctly so that I could create characters that looked anatomically correct unless I intended to make specific characters with exaggerated proportions.

I also struggled with finding source material for reviews which started leading to delays in writing my research parts for specific sections within the thesis. However, I eventually managed to find a couple good resources.

14.0 Conclusions

While I’ve been working on this project, I have come to several conclusions in terms of concept art. I found that while searching for inspiration through different concepts by artists that not many actually publish their concepts or development of characters, which I think more artists should do as it gives the community the knowledge of how the different phases of conceptualising are for various artists and companies.

In addition I drew conclusions on designs and the importance of not only a strong character design, but that of the story behind them that can be told through the art and not just through

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text. This can also occur with atmospheric/environmental designs, especially within the horror genre. I have discovered what people fear within said atmospheric designs, mostly tension created within them which I found can be intensified by using colour theory to give the environment a more foreboding aura. I put this into practice with my environments for my characters, which I also used this technique on, playing about with different variants of colour to find which adds the most to the design. This was on top of the already disturbing designs that I used mostly different fears and phobias to create, although some folklore and fairy tales had influence on the designs as well.

While researching I also came to the conclusion that whilst making horror characters, most steer towards the normal tropes of horror characters rather than actually looking into what scares and evoke reactions within the targeted audience. By my research, no one else really looks into the psychological phobias to use and create horrifying creatures with.

My goal for this thesis was to discover what exactly created a reaction within the player when faced with a humanoid enemy and I think that I have definitely determined that there are a wide range of things that create reactions in the player and they are all different to each individual. However, some have similar things that created a reaction in them so I have tried to use the most commonly occurring parts as inspiration when creating my concepts.

15.0 Further Questions

If I had more time to work on this project, I would work on designing a few more of the different concepts that I originally thought would work well within the environment that I have built upon while trying to create an atmosphere to add more of an effect to the base characters, in order to try and evoke a reaction within the audience I’ve aimed these at. The target audience for this thesis is people who are interested in any type of horror-based media, and those of a certain age demographic as some of these designs I would consider to be inappropriate for a younger audience.

I would also like to improve upon some of the existing artwork that I have worked on for my practical as not all pieces are as polished as others. As well as working on the art aspect, I would work more on the world building aspect of this project as well, since I wanted to explain the reason for some of the creatures I had created and how they existed, so I thought it would be best told from a perspective and that’s how the project has ended up a bit more in the world building section then it should be, but I actually think it has turned out a lot better than it would be if the world building aspect wasn’t there.

I feel that after this experience I will definitely look back to this project and use what I have learnt to improve upon myself even more.

16.0 Appendix

RESOURCES A zip folder link of life drawing reference photos from the book ‘Figure drawing for concept artists’ available on ​ ​

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Link to the book ‘Knowing Fear: Science, Knowledge and the Development of the Horror Genre’ - https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GbaQBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=horror+conc ept+development&ots=5px6GhtxE_&sig=MuXgWjo2sUWm7jtuIG7514fxU8E&redir_esc=y#v=onepag e&q=horror%20concept%20development&f=false

A very interesting and more in depth read into the aesthetics and psychology behind horror films - https://digitalcommons.liu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=post_honors_theses ​

Link to the book ‘Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology’ - https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MuGvBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=horror+conc ept+development&ots=rf9p3hKmFz&sig=AgwDwpFbZ50eXJMlcanTTG4YL0Q&redir_esc=y#v=onepa ge&q=horror%20concept%20development&f=false

Link to a website containing some tales from the brother’s Grimm, if you can’t afford them - https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/

Link to buy the official book comprised of some tales by the brother’s Grimm - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Fairy-Tales-Brothers-Grimm/dp/0691160597

17.0 Bibliography

Unknown Author, ‘Conceptual Art’, Tate [Website], Unknown Publish Date, Accessed February 20, 2020. ​ ​ Lankoski, P. (2004). Character design fundamentals for role-playing games. Beyond Role and Play. ​ ​ ​ Sloan, R.J.S. (2015). Virtual character design for games and interactive media. CRC Press. ​ ​ Tokarev.K And Brock.N, ‘Efficient Character Design for Games: Tips & Tricks’, 80LV [Website], 2019, September, Accessed May 12, ​ ​ 2020.

Stoneham, B. (2010). Colour And Mood. In How to Create Fantasy Art for Video Games: A Complete Guide to Creating Concepts, Characters, and Worlds. London: A. & C. Black.

Muddy, I. (2018). Colour Theory. In M. Lewis (Author), Creating stylized characters. 3dtotal ​ ​ Publishing.

Nam.H, ‘Hyoung Nam Portfolio Albums The Last Of Us’, Artstation [Website], 2016, Accessed 13 April 2020. ​ ​ game_overdose54, ‘The Last of Us Review’, Gamespot [Website], 2015 May, Accessed 13 April 2020. ​ ​

One-hundredd, ‘The Last of Us Review’, Gamespot [Website], 2019 November, Accessed 13 April 2020. ​ ​

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Moriarty.C, ‘The Last of Us Review’, IGN [Website], 2013 June, Accessed 13 April 2020. ​ ​

Young.C, ‘Christophe Young Portfolio Albums Dead By Daylight’, Artstation [Website], 2016, Accessed 13 February 2020. ​ ​ ‘Dead by Daylight’, Metacritic [Website], 2016, June. Accessed 28 May 2020. ​ ​ Gilroy. J, ‘Dead by Daylight Review’, Gamespot [Website], 2016 July. Accessed 28 May ​ ​ 2020.

Farket8238 et al., ‘The Forest, Enemies’, Gamepedia [Website], 2018. Accessed 19 February 2020. ​ ​

Hafer.T.J, ‘The Forest Review.’, IGN [Website], 2020, April. Accessed May 29, 2020 ​ ​

‘The Forest’, Metacritic [Website], 2018 November. Accessed May 29, 2020. ​ ​

0Abstruse et al., ‘The Wendigos/Gallery’, Fandom [Website], 2016 September. Accessed May 28, 2020. ​ ​

‘Until Dawn’, Metacritic [Website], 2015 August. Accessed May 28, 2020. ​ ​

Jovanović, B., ‘Review: Until Dawn’, Playzine [Website], 2015 July Accessed May 28, 2020. ​ ​

Fritscher, L., ‘The Psychology Behind Fear’, Verywellmind [Website], 2020 June, Accessed June 20, 2020 ​ ​

Unknown Author, ‘FEAR: Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.’ Cambridge Dictionary [Website], Unknown Publish Date, ​ ​ Accessed June 20, 2020.

Images

Figure 1: Colour Wheel And Different Combinations Of Colours. - Taken from the book ‘Creating ​ stylized characters.’ ​

Figure 2: Character Palettes Using Colour Theory. - Muddy. I, ‘Character palettes.’, Unknown Publish Date, Accessed April 28, 2020. ​ ​

Figure 3: Different Moods Associated With Colours. - Taken from the book ‘Creating stylized ​ characters.’ ​

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Figure 4: Concepts of the various stages of the Cordyceps infection, beginning at Runner stage mutating to the Clicker stage. - Unknown, ‘Game Overview - The Last of Us.’, 2014 December, Accessed 13 April 2020. ​ ​

Figure 5: Concepts of two variants of Bloaters. - Nam.H, ‘Bloater’, Artstation [Website], 2016 Accessed 13 February 2020. ​ ​ ​

Figure 6: Halloween skin concepts for the original base characters in the game. Characters: The Trapper, The Huntress, The Wraith, The Hillbilly, The Doctor. - Young.C, ‘Dead By Daylight: Chapter ​ 9’, Artstation [Website], 2016, Accessed 13 February ​ ​ 2020.

Figure 7: Character concept sheet of the killer, The Plague. - Young.C, ‘Dead By Daylight: Chapter ​ 11’, Artstation [Website], 2016, Accessed 13 February ​ ​ 2020.

Figure 8: Character concept of the killer, The Hag. - Young.C, ‘Dead By Daylight: Chapter 11’, ​ Artstation [Website], 2016, Accessed 13 February ​ ​ 2020.

Figure 9: Armsy - Farket8238 et al., ‘The Forest, Enemies, Armsy’, Gamepedia [Website], 2018, ​ ​ Accessed 19 February 2020. ​ ​

Figure 10: Virginia - Farket8238 et al., ‘The Forest, Enemies, Virginia’, Gamepedia [Website], 2018, ​ Accessed 19 February 2020. ​ ​

Figure 11: Cowman - Farket8238 et al., ‘The Forest, Enemies, Cowman’, Gamepedia [Website], ​ ​ 2018, Accessed 19 February 2020. ​ ​

Figure 12: End Boss - Farket8238 et al., ‘The Forest, Enemies, End Boss’, Gamepedia [Website], ​ 2018, Accessed 19 February 2020. ​ ​

Figure 13: Skinny Mutants/Skinny Cannibals- Farket8238 et al., ‘The Forest, Enemies, Skinny ​ Mutant’, Gamepedia [Website], 2018, Accessed 19 ​ ​ February 2020.

Figure 14: Mutant Baby - Farket8238 et al., ‘The Forest, Enemies, Mutant Baby’, Gamepedia ​ [Website], 2018, Accessed 19 February 2020. ​ ​

Figure 15: Character model of the miner wendigo - 0Abstruse et al., ‘Wendigo Model’, Fandom ​ [Website], 2016 September. Accessed 28 ​ ​ May 2020.

Figure 16: Close-up shot of a wendigo - 0Abstruse et al., ‘Wendigo 3’, Fandom [Website], 2016 ​ September. ​ ​ ​ Accessed 28 May 2020.

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