Journal Archive

The rankings were selected on the theme of 'The Best Psychological Horror Games of All Time' at the online evaluation site 'Ranker'[3]. This is a list of the best psychological horror games of all time for any console or system, including cover art pictures when available. These highly rated psychological horror games are ordered by popularity, so only the greatest psychological horror games are at the top of the list. Spanning the entire history of the genre, these psychological horror games are considered the best in the genre. This list includes all challenging psychological horror games that have ever hit the shelves, so it doesn't necessarily have all the more obscure or new psychological horror games[4]. The list you're viewing is made up of different fun psychological horror games like Dead Space and Silent Hill. We looked at four of the most popular games.

The following Table 1. summarizes the features of Top 4's popular horror game and explains the factors that increased fear[5].

Much has been said about the psychological implications of the player's 'self' expanding into the avatars in the game, and these issues are particularly relevant to the Psychological horror genre.

Psychological horror is a sub-genre of fear and psychological fictitiousness that depends on the psychological state, which astonishes, interferes with, or releases readers and viewers. The sub-genre often overlaps with subtle parts of the psychological thriller and provides an unpleasant and confusing situation using psychological states such as anxious, unstable or uneasy psychological states and fear, play, and fear. In it, fright is created between tight tension, and fear comes into conflict with the psychology of an individual who does not want to be alarmed. I have planned the game through this psychological fear and the preceding example.

'Silent Hill' frees up fog and darkness to confuse the player. 'Amnesia: The Dark Descent is also constructed in such a way as to explore dark castles and avoid enemies. Through these cases, planned to play the game in a dark space in a thick mist. Also inspired by the night vision mode used in 'Outlast', we designed a space where the player could see the enemy well by using the item called streetlight every distance. These factors make the game more fun by adding psychological pressure to find a bright spot quickly in tight tension. In addition, unlike other games, the background music is minimized in the dark, and the enemy player's footsteps and the sound of distant sounds are used to detect where the player is, and the more the sound gets closer, the more fear is amplified.

When attacking the enemy body in the dead space, attack efficiency is applied differently depending on the region. For example, firing most of the ‘Necromorphs’ in your head has little effect, but may stop when the player removes his or her arms and legs. This game also applies different attack power to the enemy's body, so that it can kill enemies faster than attacking other parts when attacking the head. This will add to the sense of pressure that you have to align your head in fear, and you will be able to play the game more fun.

A user interface that is similar to human gesture is needed to produce realistic contents. While there is a high possibility that real contents will be activated through development of VR/AR, technology that can naturally interact with contents under VR/AR environment is needed to further develop. The following Fig. 1 illustrates a realistic content concept diagram and representative services[6].

Fig. 1. 
Realistic content concept diagram and representative services

As E-sports were activated recently, experimental sports contents based on virtual reality have been developed that is, a person’s movements can be inputted into sensors to deliver information. Examples include shooting experience simulators, golf, and snowboard.

Currently, the game industry is growing remarkably. The development of the game industry has been steadily rising due to the spread of smart phones, the distribution of games and the proliferation of consumer companies. Among them, mobile games occupy a very high proportion. While platforms such as online games and PC games are showing a downward trend, mobile games are showing a steady upward trend. Looking at the growth rate of mobile games over the last four years, we can see that it has risen by more than 20%[7]. Game companies are driving the popularity of online games to the launch of mobile games. PUBG's 'Battlegrounds', which has been popular recently, has succeeded in launching mobile games. 'Battlegrounds' is a form of FPS game (First Person Shooting Game), and the popularity of FPS games in the game market is guaranteed to be steady and long-term. In addition to this game, 'Overwatch' and 'Sudden Attack' are examples of steadily popular FPS games[8].

Based on the flow of the game market, we decided on the theme and story of the game. With the topic of FPS games with a high success rate in the game market, we have devised a way to enjoy immersive and lively games when users play FPS games. Instead of just using the weapons on the screen of the game, we were able to investigate devices for realizing the game with real game devices. We noticed that various devices such as a Bluetooth joystick and an adsorption function key are being released. However, in order to enjoy the FPS game more realistically, it was judged that a device which looked like a real gun would be suitable. In Korea, we have chosen 'ARgun', a non-standard device. 'ARgun' is similar to a real gun. When you pull the trigger, you can fire the bullet on the screen and you can feel the gun shake when the bullet is fired by the vibration effect. Users who use this device feel like they are playing games using guns rather than on the screen. The game provides players with an experience of simulating into the real world[9].

Fig. 2. 
iPega-PG9057 ‘ARgun’ used in the game

In this game, the psychological factors that cause fear are emphasized collectively by fright and the creation of a dreadful atmosphere. In order to maximize fear when encountering enemies that suddenly appear anywhere and anytime, they must narrow their observable perspectives. Also, when nothing is visible, the eerie noise of the enemy can further maximize their fear. These two factors have been applied to implement games in Unity. The background is to model a devastating environment in which enemies can suddenly appear anywhere to create fear. To create a sense of fear, we modelled a ruined environment in which enemies could suddenly appear anywhere.

Fig. 3. 
A 3D modeling scene in 3D MAX

After a building is created, ruined buildings and grasses around it are designed to add lethargy. In the case of grass, we used a program called Z-brush to simply sculpt it and made it low poly using Z-plugin's Decimation Master function. And then we import it using the goz plug-in with 3D Max. Using the isolate selection function, only the broken pieces of the building are visible, and then each of them is attached in an editable poly. Finally, after releasing the Isolate state using End Isolate, attach a piece of building object and a building object to complete the modeling.

Fig. 4. 
Material Editor

Next, apply the material to the model as it has been modeled. Although it is a horror game, it focuses on color rather than on reality, aiming for casualness. Use the Material Editor to create a material by specifying a Diffuse value, and then apply the material using the Assign Material to Selection. Export the obj file and place it in harmony with other buildings within the Unity.

We made a teaser video to guide the game. At the beginning of the teaser video, a synopsis will be presented, giving the players a brief introduction to the story of the game.

The scene of the game is divided into 'Game Start' and 'Game Play'. The first 'Game Start' scene shows a part of the game map with tense background music. When the player enters his or her name and presses the ‘START’ button. This is necessary because the score and name are displayed when the player is ranked after the game is over. Then press the 'START' button to start the game and the 'Game Play' scene will be loaded.

Fig. 5. 
‘Game Start’ screen

The game elements have been implemented with four main focus: The first is the player's Bullet shooting, the second is the zombie with the enemy set, the third is the Damage implementation, and life of player for the last.

4) Life of player

The player gains 1 point by killing the 'Zombie' character and 3 points by killing the 'Ethan' character. The game ends when the player uses all the HP. The 'Game Over' screen shows the score of the player up to third and the score of current player.

Fig. 6. 
a game scene

Fig. 7. 
Enemy “Ethan” and “Zombie”

The game is divided into a mobile version and a PC version. First, the mobile version of the game was built by adding a joystick object to the game screen. Therefore, even if user does not have an ARgun, it can play with the joystick on the screen. If you use ARgun, you can connect with Bluetooth and play games. The PC version can be played using a keyboard and mouse. In addition, it can be converted to VR mode to make it more realistic.

A PC version game allow user to play games using keyboard and mouse basically. To play games using ARgun, we mapped the buttons on the keyboard and ARgun one-on-one using a program called 'X360CE'. Press the button of the desired ARgun and set the key you want to map. In the Android version, users created moving, rotating, jumping, and attacking buttons using a joystick pre-fab that Unity provides on the game screen so that users can play without a game device.

Fig. 8. 
X360CE Program