Puzzles in horror games

[johndfg 4]

 

I'm creating a horror game, and I want to be able to show emotion and give story through puzzles, without puzzles being easy or boring. I'm not sure how I can create engaging and creative puzzles, while still keeping horror atmosphere, story, and keeping the player engaged. I have a few ideas, but not enough to keep the puzzles interesting throughout the story. Any ideas?

[Tsarmina 2,612]

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/34542-puzzles/

 

Have you seen this thread? It's full of great ideas.

[lonequeso 1,921]

That thread looks familiar.  I wasn't really considering Horror games with that. I'll probably have to add some more now, but I'm sure some of those could work.

 

One classic horror puzzle is restoring power to something. Of course, the breaker, battery, or whatever is broken or drained and you have to find a way to fix that. Either finding a replacement piece somewhere or finding a source of electricity to charge it. Idk how well fixing an actual machine would wok with RPG Maker. If you find a good way, a puzzle where there's an interface where the player changes circuits to fix a power source. 

 

Another one with light would be more of a random switch puzzle. Various switches turn some lights on while turning others off. The player has to light a pathway through a various corridors or else monster(s) that lurk in the dark will kill them before they can get through.

 

Those two ideas could easily be combined. Restore power and then work the switches.

 

That's all I can think of right now.

[johndfg 4]

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/34542-puzzles/

 

Have you seen this thread? It's full of great ideas.

Haha yea I've seen that, it's actually one of my bookmarks

I'm just not sure how to show story (such as flashbacks or atmosphere) through puzzles.  The setting of my game is inside a coma/dream, so it's very abstract.

[magic2345 252]

Hmm, I don't think I can offer ideas for puzzles, but I do have something to say. I played this horror game once, it was an rpgmaker game. It captured the horror atmosphere really well. The puzzles though....they were mind-numbingly hard. I'm not sure if it was my inability to grasp the puzzle, or if the game itself can't completely convey the puzzle, but I remembered that I couldn't solve it for days. I tried exploring everywhere, checking out everything (as horror games often tells you to do), but I still couldn't solve the puzzle. I even thought that I did something the game didn't expect and it messed up the eventing, making me unable to solve the puzzle. Because of that, I stopped playing and left the game alone.

 

I forgot what the puzzle or what the name of the game was though, and it's not on my hard drive anymore. :/

 

So, yeah, if you're going to make puzzles, please leave enough clues.

 

Sorry if that didn't help at all.

[lonequeso 1,921]

Flashbacks/memories can be used to show characters where to go next or where an item is hidden. They walk into a room and begin remembering being there before; seeing it before. Semi-transparent NPC's walk through like ghosts and te player watches and/or listens to see what to do.

 

Another classic is from Ocarina of Time. Under the graveyard where you have to keep pace with a ghost as it travels through the catacombs shooting fire at you.

An NPC could try to lead or evade the player in a similar fashion to that.

 

As for triggering memories/flashbacks perhaps finding "fragments" the MC's memory hidden throughout the world.

[johndfg 4]

-The Sun

Because of that, I stopped playing and left the game alone.

 

I forgot what the puzzle or what the name of the game was though, and it's not on my hard drive anymore. :/

 

So, yeah, if you're going to make puzzles, please leave enough clues.

 

Sorry if that didn't help at all.

That helped, that's definitely something I'm trying to avoid. Is the game you're talking about popular? A few come to mind (witch's house, ib, mad father, the crooked man, Ao oni)???

[magic2345 252]

Hmm, I think it was a small VX or XP game. Not sure if it was popular though. I just remember that you can concoct potions or something like that.

 

Oh, I played ib/lb. It was really scary, and I always remember it when I visit museums, especially when I go to sections with no people. *shudder*

 

I don't recognize the other titles you mentioned though.

[TheManlyFairy 51]

 

One classic horror puzzle is restoring power to something. Of course, the breaker, battery, or whatever is broken or drained and you have to find a way to fix that. Either finding a replacement piece somewhere or finding a source of electricity to charge it. Idk how well fixing an actual machine would wok with RPG Maker. If you find a good way, a puzzle where there's an interface where the player changes circuits to fix a power source. 

This one you could probably create my making out that "The fuse is burnt, I need to find a replacement" and face other kinds of puzzles/monstrosities on your path to get it. There's no need for an actual interface where you mess with wiring and stuff. Most likely you'll not be playing the maintenance guy of wherever you're stuck and so you wouldn't know enough about the breaker closet to even consider mess with the wiring but everyone knows how to replace a burnt fuse since it's a simple remove & replace process.

 

 

Another one with light would be more of a random switch puzzle. Various switches turn some lights on while turning others off. The player has to light a pathway through a various corridors or else monster(s) that lurk in the dark will kill them before they can get through..

 

This one sounds fun, but making the monsters detect when it's lit and when it's dark might be too complicated. This puzzle might work better where the switches do turn specific lights on and off and you have to press them in the correct order to turn them all on for the purpose of not getting eviscerated in the dark.

 

 

On a personal note, I'm not big on horror games (and by that I mean I've never played on) but most of the horror games I've seen (that have an actual story) seem to rely mostly on the story engaging you to reach certain places in the world and obtain important items while hinting at the backstory along the way with things like diaries, emails, computer logs, etc.

[Antioch 33]

Maybe stepping on creaky stairs that alerts a monster stalking you in the dark?

[lonequeso 1,921]

@TheManlyFairy. For the light puzzle I was thinking of using Region ID's and a switches. A Parallel Process Event would check what region the player is on and if the light/dark Switch is On or OFF. I'd have to play around with actually implementing it which won't happen because I'm lazy, but it shouldn't be too hard with those parameters. Of course, it depends on how complex the puzzle itself is to solve as well.

[+ Takeo212 1,079]

Hmm, maybe some hidden stuff such as;

 

Hidden switches in bookcases

music puzzles such as pianos or other instruments (play notes in a certain order)

take x steps up, x steps right, x steps up to reach a hidden floor panel with a key that was dropped (r something similar)

colour puzzles

place item x on the table/pedastool type puzzle

number puzzles (maths maybe?)

story/personal information passwords? make players read books or such to gain information such as; charas birthday = password to door)

 

 

I would recommend watching/playing maybe stome rpg horrors such as witches house and IB for some puzzle ideas (not saying take their idea, but it gives you an idea how to implement puzzles into a horror esque theme