Some questions about zombie outbreak-esque horror games; what scares you?

[F3d323]

zombies with rape mod maybe????

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[Bomberguy]

mainly when you expect absolutely nothing
like right when you round the corner and pass close by an empty store a zombie jumps right at you from the loving door
when you don't know when anything attacks
when everything will kill you at a random time
basically when you don't know when anything happens and everything kills you

[IkeTheGeneric]

mainly when you expect absolutely nothing
like right when you round the corner and pass close by an empty store a zombie jumps right at you from the loving door
when you don't know when anything attacks
when everything will kill you at a random time
basically when you don't know when anything happens and everything kills you

You mean stuff like traps, hazards and obstacles instead of just zombies?

If so, then that's a really good idea. I'll look into that.

[Bomberguy]

You mean stuff like traps, hazards and obstacles instead of just zombies?

If so, then that's a really good idea. I'll look into that.

yes

[JJJMan4]

I'd piss my pants if I saw a horde of seemingly slow zombies, planned out a route and executed it only to figure out some of the zombies are sprinters or have an ability/boosted stat that is hidden until provoked while still looking like the other zombies. It gives a sense of complete uncertainty and insecurity that would fit well with a horror survival.

[McJob]

Nothing to do with the zombies, that's for sure. They're generic enemies, and the general "scary" tactics game designers use suck. I'm normally a melee/long-range (aka shotty-sniper) character, so I do my best to keep them in the right range and knock 'em out one by one.

What scares me is when you're down on your last hitpoint with 3 bullets and you're so close to the exit door, but there's about 5 zombies blocking you from a clean run. That dread of knowing that in only a few seconds you could be forgeted five ways from Sunday and have to restart the entire level over again.

Gameplay is what scares me most, and so more designers should look into loving with their players

[Swat 3]

Nothing to do with the zombies, that's for sure. They're generic enemies, and the general "scary" tactics game designers use suck. I'm normally a melee/long-range (aka shotty-sniper) character, so I do my best to keep them in the right range and knock 'em out one by one.

What scares me is when you're down on your last hitpoint with 3 bullets and you're so close to the exit door, but there's about 5 zombies blocking you from a clean run. That dread of knowing that in only a few seconds you could be forgeted five ways from Sunday and have to restart the entire level over again.

Gameplay is what scares me most, and so more designers should look into loving with their players

The thing is zombies ARE the threat, and the simple acknowledgement of them being there all of the time wanting to eat you should be scary enough, but you are right, people AREN'T scared because zombies are so generic and over used, which is why we are going for more of the crazy type; they are erratic and unpredictable. You will ask yourself "will they go ahead and eat me, will they go for that grass instead, will they look at me and look at my companion instead and eat him?"

The zombies in our situation are crazy people who have infinite appetites (being they eat and if they can't consume it all, they throw up and eat the vomit).

[Legodude77]

A variance in zombie health would also help. This way you won't know for sure if the last 3 bullets in your magazine will kill a zombie or not.

[Ben Grapevine]

The only thing that scares me about zombie games is when it's non-repetitive. If I'm getting jump scared around every turn it gets old really fast.