Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. al.

All discussions regarding Board, Card, and RPG Gaming, including industry discussion, that don't belong in one of the other gaming forums.

Moderators: The Preacher, $iljanus, Zaxxon

Post Reply
User avatar
killbot737
Posts: 5660
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 11:19 pm
Location: Next to America Jr.

Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. al.

Post by killbot737 »

I see the market is saturated with these sorts of games now (along with *craft clones, but that's not my point. :)).

I can see the appeal of the genre, I experienced hours and hours of tension playing the Thief series - dodging craymen and haunts was absolutely terrifying. But to get to my point, I played that series on a CRT monitor that had an excellent color space. Black was BLACK because it meant the gun wasn't firing on that pixel. Even then I always played at night just to add to the atmosphere.

These days I wonder how would you get the same immersive experience? I see all these screenshots (of black, less black, turtlenecks, gray-black) but if you have an LCD monitor I can absolutely tell you it is not the same. LCD's are all backlit, and black is only black when contrasted against other colors. Even on the best LCD's I've seen when everything is dark all the muted colors washe out or you start to notice the backlight.

I also feel a little bad for the graphic artists who work on these games. They probably spend all this time making awesome textures and such for the games and you never even see them! Or maybe since they know it's all darkness they skimp on quality. A lot of the Thief textures looked like shit if you saw them in bright light. :)
There is no hug button. Sad!
User avatar
hepcat
Posts: 51302
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:02 pm
Location: Chicago, IL Home of the triple homicide!

Re: Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. a

Post by hepcat »

Darker != pitch black. Check your gamma settings.
Covfefe!
User avatar
LawBeefaroni
Forum Moderator
Posts: 55316
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 3:08 pm
Location: Urbs in Horto, outrageous taxes on everything

Re: Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. a

Post by LawBeefaroni »

A good game will establish its conventions within the limits of technology. Amnesia isn't lacking because LCDs are different than CRTs. It doesn't require true black to be scary.

Gameplay is more than just screenshots.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General
"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton

MYT
User avatar
Lordnine
Posts: 6034
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:09 pm
Location: Burlington, VT

Re: Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. a

Post by Lordnine »

Amnesia never tries to be completely black outside (if I recall correctly) one area. In low light, your eyes can play tricks on you and be more atmospheric than going pitch-black. There are some horror games that try to go the pitch-black route but they actually come across quite comical in comparison. When you can’t see anything you are pretty much reliant on jump scares, which are a cheap trick and will only work a couple times before they grow old.
User avatar
killbot737
Posts: 5660
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 11:19 pm
Location: Next to America Jr.

Re: Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. a

Post by killbot737 »

So you are telling me that Doom 3 wasn't just a darkness sim/gamma calibration app?

Mind.
Blown.
There is no hug button. Sad!
User avatar
Holman
Posts: 28907
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:00 pm
Location: Between the Schuylkill and the Wissahickon

Re: Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. a

Post by Holman »

killbot737 wrote:So you are telling me that Doom 3 wasn't just a darkness sim/gamma calibration app?

Mind.
Blown.
It was the creepiest game, like your PC was infested by demons! If you played it with the lights off, you could actually the pixels... moving!
Much prefer my Nazis Nuremberged.
User avatar
LordMortis
Posts: 70101
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:26 pm

Re: Question about survival/horror games like Amnesia, et. a

Post by LordMortis »

killbot737 wrote:I see all these screenshots (of black, less black, turtlenecks, gray-black) but if you have an LCD monitor I can absolutely tell you it is not the same. LCD's are all backlit, and black is only black when contrasted against other colors. Even on the best LCD's I've seen when everything is dark all the muted colors washe out or you start to notice the backlight.

I also feel a little bad for the graphic artists who work on these games. They probably spend all this time making awesome textures and such for the games and you never even see them! Or maybe since they know it's all darkness they skimp on quality. A lot of the Thief textures looked like shit if you saw them in bright light. :)

I have the same problem with TV. I always assumed it was because of digital cable compression in non HD plus my eyes getting older.
Post Reply