Is There A Spot For Dinosaur Horror Again?

The reason I'm asking is that I've been currently playing through the first Dino Crisis again to prepare myself for the prototyping phase, and pre-production phase of a game I've been planning on making for a few years now. I like to create pretty detailed design documents for hopping into any project so I can keep myself organized, because I may just be the most unorganized person on the planet.

My question is simple. Is there a spot for dinosaur-horror games again? We haven't really had one in a very long time and I think now would be the time with the sudden surge in dinosaur popularity. I'm looking at you ARK. So, basically I've got some bullet-points for what I'm currently messing around with in the engine and I'd love some input, etc. I obviously don't have anything to show in terms of solid footage, gameplay, etc. It's in the very, very early stages but some interest and maybe some opinions and answers to my questions would help me gain the traction to keep on moving.

Concept #1:

• I'm currently fiddling with the idea of it playing like the original Dino Crisis, and Resident Evil games. The whole fixed cameras for different rooms, the same movement systems, etc. I felt like those games always added a sense of urgency to how you play and I really miss that. However, if this system feels like too much of a hassle I'll probably just be moving onto the sort of similar play-style present in Dead Space. Which is also one of my favorite horror series, so bonus.
• Considering the classic RE play-style I'd be going for I feel like I'd want to do some PS1 style graphics, just for the kick in the teeth. I know those sort of visuals don't stand out nowadays, and don't hold up what-so-ever but the whole nostalgia trip is what I'd be going for with this first concept. Plus, considering I'm not too great at 3D modeling this approach would make the whole process easier on me in the end-game as I'm currently doing this entire project as a solo venture.
• Obviously this concept is ideally aimed at being a solo-horror experience, and a nice little story mode that players could immerse themselves into. Currently, the plot has been super fleshed out if I do plan on going down this route and I'd love to implement the whole "choose your character" mechanic that we got to see in the classic RE games. For example, in Resident Evil, Chris Redfield has more health, less inventory space, and is restricted from using some guns, where-as Jill Valentine had less health, more inventory space, and could get a Grenade Launcher with her side of the campaign being considered the more easier of the two. I'd love to try doing something like this with two characters.
  
• Heavily puzzle focused like these classic titles, and restrict players to only saving their game at certain locations. The whole "save whenever you please" in modern horror games really irks me.
• And then if all goes according to plan I'd love to implement some kind of co-operative experience online. Imagine how claustrophobic an experience like this would be having to worry about one of your buddies running around these corridors with you. Plus, I've got a sort of addiction to co-op in horror games. I can't help myself.

Concept #2

• This concept feels like the easier of the two, and also the less ambitious of the two. Generally because I'd be aiming at an isometric horror multiplayer game set on a fictional island in the Bermuda Triangle. Players assume the role of Scientists, Researchers, etc where as one player is designated as a Utahraptor whose main goal is to hunt down the human players and eat them alive.
• Again, fairly simple but there's a ton of potential here with a game like this. Introduce other dinosaurs to play as such as Dilophosaurus, Troodon, Dimorphodon, etc.
• So this game would obviously be played in the first-person perspective and I'd love to toy with the concept of having people hide under beds, in lockers, etc from a Utahraptor that's wandering the halls of the facility looking for food.
• Player controlled entities could probably envoke more sense of dread/fear as they're entirely unpredictable unlike some AI. Imagine a player controlling the Utahraptor and literally ambushing unaware human players. It would be great.
• Plus, this would allow for multiple dino-centric gamemodes.

Generally, I'm just trying to decide if dinosaurs have a place in horror games again and I'm also trying to decide which venture would be the better of the two to go for. I want to do both very much so, but I'm sort of stuck in-between.

I feel like Concept #2 could be made quicker, and pushed out quicker and would probably have more of a shelf-life than a single-player story experience, which is why I thought of making it have the ability for co-op.

 

There's always room for a dinosaur game, especially if it's done well. Depending how long it takes to make deciding based on what's popular now may not be a good plan though. The 2nd sounds easier but I don't know how difficult networking is as I've never done it. That said, the 2nd one also sounds like a dinosaur version of that multiplayer game that's out where one person plays the monster hunting the people & the other players are the people hunting the monster (Evolved?)

 

I personally don't care for the horror aspect, but I'd LOVE to see a game based on Cadillacs & Dinosaurs

 

When aren't dinosaurs a good source of inspiration? Both of your topics seem interesting - both are also topics you are unlikely to finish. These sound like magnum opus dreams. Ep3 addresses this - a few minutes now might save you months of heartache later.

Welcome aboard,
Gigi

 

I've actually been developing games since around 2005. Started with modding in Warcraft III and then went to learning C++, and JavaScript over the last couple of years. Of course they're ambitious, and magnum opus kind of deals but I've always wanted to do something horror based with dinosaurs.

I love them too much! I'm just a sort of late adapter of Unity since about late 2012. I've worked with Source, Unreal Engine 3, etc. I prefer Unity over all of them so I figured I'd gear one of my next projects in this beautiful engine.

Thanks for the welcome though!

 

I think there's a hole inside each person's heart that can only be filled by dinosaur horror.

 

Oculus rift & Morpheus support for those dinosaur jump scare moments. Google cardboard for that mobile, scream out loud on the bus, effect

 

Honestly combine dinosaurs with the bus idea from an earlier thread on the general forum and I'm there.

 

VR is just downright perfect for a dino experience. That Crytek demo from earlier this year (I think) is a solid representation of how amazing it could be.

I just want a dino-game that gives us a sense of fear, and dread once again. Running low on ammo, or no guns what-so-ever in the game and you're being chased through some dense foliage, or down a corridor by a raptor (obviously not a Velociraptor, since in reality they were like 2 feet tall) or Dilophosaurus.

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Probably start off with something small scale as a prototype and go from there. Prototype wise, I've been leaning towards a crashed airplane in the middle of a tropical rainforest while something stalks you around the crash-site. Probably easy to do in terms of getting more of a grip on Unity 5 and then move on to my full-scale project idea I had.

Also, what bus idea? I'm quite curious. I'll go looking for it and give it a peek.

 

About halfway down the page

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/how-to-come-up-with-a-good-idea-for-a-game.350769/#post-2271712


@anselmo.fresquez , I'll give it a go if you're interested. Or just make it a dinosaur ala Flinstones buses

 

Lol....

 

Awesome, thanks mate.

I think I'm going to move forward with my prototype idea tonight. The whole crashed plane in the jungle, and go from there. Better to do than to just sit here talking about it. I love dinosaurs (my avatar is probably a good indication), and I want to make a dinosaur game I'd be happy to play, but also proud to release to the dino community.

Sure, Primal Carnage, ARK, etc are great but I want horror to be thrust back into these amazing animals. They deserve it. The time of the dinosaur is now.

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I just need to figure out what dinosaur I want for the prototype, and if feathered dinosaurs can be scary, haha.

Time to crank out the coffee.

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Also, @tedthebug I would totally play a cartoon-y dinosaur game ala Flinstones. Totally.

 

There cannot possibly be such a thing as this.

 

Well, I meant dinosaur fans not actual dinosaurs haha.
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Messing about in Unity 5 right now. Trying to figure out a good map-size for the prototype. I don't want it too big because I generally want people to stay near the plane, since the only light source is some of the fire coming from the wreckage.

 

exploding plane, falling burning wreckage & people, flying dinosaurs trying to catch the edibles.......


mini game for during scene reloads

 

I use to love this TV series growing up LOL, I am sure this is where you got the idea from...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillacs_and_Dinosaurs_%28TV_series%29

 

I don't think ARK is a horror game, but it has a lot of terrifying moments. Check it out on steam. I think most games I've seen that have dinosaurs have a sort of unintended fear factor. If you're intentionally making them scary.

Oh, so you've seen it already

I think any decently made game that is horror x dinosaurs will probably do well. There's been a big surge of both genres lately.

 

Yeah, I've owned ARK for a few months at this point. It's great. I'd love to go the route of making the whole classic-style Resident Evil game with dinosaurs, but I don't exactly know how difficult it would be to implement those fixed cameras, and pre-rendered rooms/corridors.

Prototype first obviously, and then go from there.

 

hmmm...

You can probably use triggers right after and before each doorway to tell the camera to move to the next position and rotation. And for long hallways you can put that trigger in the center of the hallway and after the player goes beyond that point it switches. Or you can have the camera constantly use the Transform.LookAt function to stay focused on the player.

The benefit of cameras with fixed angles is players won't see things you haven't loaded yet. I wasn't a big fan of the fixed camera system because I prefer first person perspectives but I guess it could work.

 

You're already ahead of about 99% of the people here. Good luck!

 

If you're still aiming at VR I'd be careful about a fixed camera (on rails). Any time you move a camera in VR without informing the brain why it is moving (or moving it yourself) the result is nausea. Instead I'd actually say you should trigger events based on where the camera is LOOKING. So if you turn around "bam! dino!" If you don't... no dino! (But something equally bad perhaps no matter where you look).

VR is really the wild west of games, so I say go crazy! But do your research on making people ill, as that's hard to fix mid-development.