Haunted Path

Overview

You find yourself lost in the woods and come across a path that leads you a gate. Beyond that is nothing but fog and darkness. Sticking to the path might help you discover some answers but maybe finding answers isn't what you should be worried about.

Engine: Unreal Engine 4.23
Playtime: ~5-10 minutes
Platforms: Itch.io (PC)
Team: Solo Development

Developer Complete Play Through

Desired Experience

The player should feel a gradual, building sensation of suspense and unease that doesn't rely on using "cheap" (jump) scares to create fear. Instead I wanted to build suspense through events that trigger players' fight/flight response. In doing so, the few aggressive scares put in would have maximum effect due to lack of desensitization. I achieved this by restricting the player's actions and movement in a world they felt immersed in while feigning a malevolent presence in their space.

While there might be a larger amount of triggering events at the beginning, these are low intensity events such as noises triggering in the distance. The most intense scare happens at the very end of the game. (See Executing the Scares)

Building Suspense

In order to build suspense, I created a world that players could understand right away then created events that posed a threat and were out of their control. The ways that I created this are:

Immersion with Sound

To maximize sound effectiveness, I used as few concurrently playing sounds as possible. Using minimum quantity of sounds reinforced the idea of the player being alone, until sounds that emit from the distance make the player feel otherwise.
I prevented repetitive sounds from breaking the immersion by utilizing a simple randomizer or exposing audio in details panel for fast design work. I exposed the audio variable for gates so that they can be assigned specific or random opening / closing noises.
I implemented 3D sounds that activated via trigger to make players feel as though they were being stalked by something hidden in the woods.
I used only 3 sounds that were non-diegetic: starting music, a low tone rumble and piano stingers. These have a higher impact when used sparingly due to the player being surrounded by naturally occurring, diegetic sounds. Each of these sounds happen at key moments or indicate something has changed.

Setting Up/Perpetuating Expectations

There are many lights around the graveyard that flicker. Some of these will break as the player passes, but not all of them do. This expectation is established right at the first gate within 15 seconds of the game starting and can cause anxiety as players venture down the incredibly dark path.

There are candles that ignite themselves at the first gate. From this point on, additional candles can be found and some will appear out of thin air. Players reported feeling suspicious of them or that they indicated that something bad is going to happen.

Feeling Vulnerable

Not knowing a potential threat was the first action I took to make players feel vulnerable. On top of that, the entire environment is crafted to make the player feel as though they are being watched. This feeling is reinforced by the sounds of something in the distance following the player utilizing 3D sounds along with some additional approaches.
The post processing combined with the lighting created a world that is almost impossible to navigate without light sources (see GIF 1).
Being enveloped by darkness while thinking that something is watching you prepares a player's fight/flight response. The same happens when unnatural light sources appear (see GIFs 2-4).
When players enter the first gate and exit the second gate they encounter (after triggering the cemetery candles) the gates will shut behind them and lock (see GIF 5). The sensation of being trapped is one more contributor to anxiety the player will face.
At the end of the game the light fades to a sinister red (see last GIF), the same red that has been seen starting from the upper cemetery. Combined with rustling audio, lack of other lights and the grotesque statue, this creates an uncomfortable atmosphere as the players realize they are trapped here.

Limiting Players

The player is only capable of simple movement and interacting with doors/gates. Not possessing a way to fight off any threats, especially unknown ones, instills a great deal of fear.
Limiting vision and making players dependent on the level I crafted was one of the primary ways I made sure players felt anxious. Using the shown post processing settings, I created a form of tunnel vision. This forced form of tunnel vision combined with an unknown threat lurking in the darkness can raise anxiety in players, especially those sensitive to claustrophobia.

Using gates that prevent entry/exit not only forced players to explore areas in the order that I designed them to but the feeling of being led on with no ability escape from a "cage" with an unknown threat makes players feel vulnerable like bait in a predator's cage.

Executing Scares

There are 4 major moments in the game when the player should face an "aggressive" scare (one that makes them jump or make their heart rate spike):

First Gate

I use the first gate to set the tone of the upcoming experience. Events will happen that the player can't control and it will appear as though said events will be caused by something in the area.

The gates are a modular class that have adjustable triggers and conditions such as being locked, playing audio when a moveable trigger is interacted with or if the gate should open/close by itself.

Crow Encounter

I used the crows to tell players that the threat they hear rustling in the woods has a physical presence. The crows provide a moderate shock because they come from the shadows and produce a loud rustling noise during take off.

The birds are a pawn that follow a customizable spline path over a provided time span exposed in the editor. Each bird has a box collider to trigger take off. I have the birds delete themselves when they've reached the end of their path for optimization.

Skull Encounters

Players are startled by a falling skull when they walk through the last gate. The gate locks behind the player and an aggressive musical sting plays and a sinister ambience track starts to indicate the area is different from all the others they've explored up to this point. The gate prevents them from returning, building more tension than any other part of the game.

The last section, and last part of the game, uses a majority of the anxiety building methods but in ways that show that this section is completely different from all the others.
- The light doesn't break, it is the only one to actively change color.
- Rustling noises get faster and louder (something is approaching)
- Visibility is an all time low when not near the light
- The player can hear a voice speaking to them before they are attacked accompanied by the most aggressive audio stinger in the entire game.

Kaleb Eberhart

Gameplay Designer & Producer