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Taking Control of the Horror Working with Visuals in the Psychological Horror Game Genre

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Taking Control of the Horror Working with Visuals in the Psychological Horror Game Genre Taking control of the horror Working with visuals in the psychological horror game genre Alexander Lewitzki Computer Graphic Arts, bachelor's level 2017 Luleå University of Technology Department of Arts, Communication and Education Preface This thesis is my final work at the computer graphics program at Luleå University of Technology. I would like to thank the guys over at Pixelgruvan AB for letting me intern at The Great Northern throughout the process of writing this. I would also like to thank Daniel Moberg for countless hours of patience and advice, as well as everyone who answered my surveys. Lastly, I would like to thank my awesome classmates of Gscept2014. You rock. Alexander Lewitzki Sammanfattning Skräck, en av de mest populära genrerna inom underhållning, kan vara ganska svår att få till. Den här rapporten utforskar de visuella ämnenena inom psykologisk skräck i spel, utifrån följande frågeställningar: • Hur hanteras genren inom filmproduktion? • Hur har tidigare spelutvecklare genomfört detta, både för större produktioner och för indiespel? • Hur väl har de utvalda filmerna och spelen lyckats översätta skräckkänslan i det visuella? Den valda metoden för att fastlägga detta är bildanalyser och enkätundersökningar. Resultaten visar att det inte finns många skillnader mellan hur genren hanteras inom film jämfört med spel, även om det finns några. Resultat från enkätundersökningarna visar på att spel oftast ses som läskigare och obehagligare på en högre nivå än filmer. Abstract Horror, one of the most popular genres of entertainment, can be quite hard to get right. This report explores the visual subject of psychological horror in games, aiming to answer the following questions: • How is the genre handled in movie production? • How have previous game developers done this, both for bigger productions as well as indie games? • How well did the chosen movies and games manage to translate the horror feeling into the visuals? The chosen method to determine this is image analyses and surveys. The results showed that there are not many differences between how the genre is handled in movies compared to games, though there are a few. Results from the surveys showed that games are more often perceived scary and disturbing on a higher degree than movies. Table of content 1 Prelude ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Background ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Issues ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Purpose ................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.5 Limitations ........................................................................................................................................... 2 2 Theory ........................................................................................................... 3 2.1 The psychology of horror .............................................................................................................. 3 2.2 The visual components of fear .................................................................................................... 3 2.2.1 Color and Tone ..................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2.2 Light and Contrast/Affinity ............................................................................................................ 5 2.2.3 Line and Shape ..................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.4 Camera ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 The sound of dread .......................................................................................................................... 6 3 Method ......................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Analysis of sixteen movies and games based on the theory ........................................... 7 3.1.1 The selected movies and games .................................................................................................... 7 3.1.2 Color and Tone ..................................................................................................................................... 7 3.1.3 Light and Contrast/Affinity ............................................................................................................ 8 3.1.4 Line and Shape ..................................................................................................................................... 8 3.1.5 Camera ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Collected data ..................................................................................................................................... 9 3.2.1 First survey ............................................................................................................................................. 9 3.2.2 Second survey ...................................................................................................................................... 10 3.3 Method critique .............................................................................................................................. 11 4 Result .......................................................................................................... 13 4.1 Image analyses ................................................................................................................................ 13 4.1.1 Result....................................................................................................................................................... 13 4.1.2 Discussion.............................................................................................................................................. 18 4.2 Surveys ............................................................................................................................................... 19 4.2.1 Result....................................................................................................................................................... 19 4.2.2 Discussion.............................................................................................................................................. 25 4.3 Answers to treated issues .......................................................................................................... 26 5 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 28 6 References .................................................................................................. 29 1 Prelude 1.1 Introduction According to Yvonne Leffler (2000, 2), horror is one of the most popular genres and has been for quite a while. In the book Skräckskönt, author Jonas Danielsson (2006, 64) explains that our bodies produce endorphins resembling morphine when we survive a frightening experience. These neurotransmitters provoke a feeling of euphoria, which is an intense feeling of well-being and happiness. When a person is watching a movie or playing a game that is scary, they can experience the fear and dread whilst still knowing deep down that they are safe. (Danielsson 2006, 68). Thomas Grip (2010, 1:00), creative director and one of two founders of Frictional Games, an independent game studio that has focused a lot on the horror genre, says: ”The reason why I’m so interested in horror games is because it’s one of the only genres in games that focus on evoking emotions. It’s perhaps the only genre in games that does this.” Horror has always been a personal favorite of mine when it comes to movie and game genres, and I can agree with Grip that emotions are an important part of the horror movie and game experience. This is one of the reasons why I chose to study this subject. My idea for this thesis started growing throughout the game project in our second year of education, when a student group decided to make a horror game and got feedback on how hard horror is to get right and truly scary. I was curious to look more into this. 1.2 Background I have not been able to find much research that explores the issues treated in this report. What I have been able to find will be reviewed in the theory section. Therefore, I believe my study could be a valuable contribution to the scientific approach to game development. This research could give game designers more insight when it comes to handling visuals for a game in the horror genre. The thesis will cover some art fundamentals that have been known to work in favor of the horror genre, both by looking at it theoretically as well as study how some already existing movies and games in the genre have handled the issue. Furthermore, two surveys on the subject
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