{"id":3868,"date":"2017-10-30T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T20:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/308633"},"modified":"2017-10-30T20:01:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T20:01:00","slug":"dont-miss-level-design-player-orientation-and-the-art-of-the-chase-in-outlast-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2017\/10\/30\/dont-miss-level-design-player-orientation-and-the-art-of-the-chase-in-outlast-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Miss: Level design, player orientation, and the art of the chase in Outlast 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outlast 2<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0which was released last month on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, casts players as a cameraman and woman working on a news story deep, deep in the back woods. There, they will find misshapen human beings, deadly cults, and unnatural forces, all of them stalking the player through the shadowy trees, dark paths, and pitch black caverns.<\/p>\n

Pro tip: if they see you, you should run away.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the chase that Outlast 2<\/em> excels at \u2013 when all of those dangerous foes are right behind the player, arms outstretched to grasp them. It\u2019s a perfect situation to create terror, but having the player run through dark forests, twisting paths, and maze-like caves while panicked is also a recipe for video game disaster.<\/p>\n

Getting lost, turned around, or not knowing which way to go can kill immersion and create frustration. At the same time, if the player knows where to go too easily or feels like they\u2019re being led around, that can kill the fearful mood, too.<\/p>\n

There is a very delicate balancing act going on behind the scenes, one that involved lots of playtesting, careful consideration of layouts, and use of sound, light, and visuals to create just the right amount of tension and direction as players run through the woods with cultists on their heels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no magical recipe. Usually, when we as the developers feel it\u2019s too obvious, it means it\u2019s fine,\u201d jokes Philippe Morin of Red Barrels<\/a>, developers of the fast-paced survival horror title.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Morin\u2019s work begins before the chase can even start, ensuring a variety of situations in order to heighten fear. \u201cWe actually try to steer away from any pattern, so players remain on edge. Sometimes it starts with a bang, and other times we progressively build it up. In other sections, it depends on how the player behaves. For example: the cornfields can actually be played without ever getting a chase.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainty can lead players to feel complacent in a game\u2019s world. Knowing that a chase sequence is coming ruins that initial shock that will carry them forward throughout the chase. Morin wanted players to be startled at times, rushing forward as a chase sequence descends on them by surprise, or because they blundered into a situation.<\/p>\n

One key was in having no particular formula at all for how to begin. \u201cWe don\u2019t have one magical recipe.\u201d says Morin. Having a variety of things kick off each chase, from sudden attacks to areas of silence to places where the player instigates them, creates an uncertainty that helps enhance the fear they\u2019re looking to create. A player who doesn\u2019t know what is coming or what will trigger their next flight cannot mentally prepare for it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The route the players would take for their chases was the next area for Morin to focus on. Players need a place to run through, and a straight line gets dull and predictable in a hurry. Again, though, going too much in the other direction creates its own problems, with maze-like environments frustrating the player rather than frightening them. Morin needed something in between, with players able to navigate with some of the smoothness of the straight line route, but with the uncertainty and chaos of the winding route.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried many things in Outlast 2<\/em>, including chases in more open layouts, others in linear corridors, and it always comes down to one thing\u2026 you have to lead players without them feeling they\u2019re being led,\u201d says Morin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Morin used a handful of tricks to keep players on track. \u201cThe main tool is light.\u201d he says. \u201cPeople usually tend to follow the light when in doubt. Of course, it\u2019s a lot easier to control when the game takes place inside a series of corridors, and it was quite a challenge to make it work in a forest only lit by a full moon, especially when so much of the game takes place in darkness and the level of darkness can vary a lot from one TV or monitor to another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morin and the team used moonlight twinkling on a damp path, a stray lantern, or smoldering campfires in order to light up the wooded paths, facing the challenge of using light sources to lead in Outlast 2<\/em>\u2019s wide-open spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Again, though, it\u2019s never just down to one trick. \u201cDensity of objects is also something we use. Players will naturally stay away from area filled with various objects and go toward open paths. Ultimately, having enemies placed where we don\u2019t want the player to go does also the job.\u201d says Morin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

By strategically\u00a0placing clutter, bushes, overturned barrels, or stray logs on a path, Morin could create a natural-looking outdoor environment while still giving the player a clear route to take while panicked. It also wouldn\u2019t entirely look like a clear route, offering players a place that looks less like a specific course and more like a frightening camp or woods to rush through. Guided only by natural light, debris, and monster placement, Morin could set up a course that would feel realistic, yet still lead the player down the right path.<\/p>\n

The chase itself also carried elements of unpredictability, continuing that trend of keeping the player off-guard. It wasn\u2019t enough to keep the player running from the people they saw \u2013 not enough to feel that you\u2019d gotten that lead on them and were safe. Even while fleeing, Red Barrel\u00a0wanted players to feel unsure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to create beats. Let the player feel they\u2019re going to be okay and then throw something at them to temporarily slow them down or completely stop them, allowing the enemies to catch up. You play with this dynamic a few times in a sequence, mix it with an effective music track, and you\u2019ve got the basis of a cool chase.\u201d says Morin. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like sex. It can\u2019t be full throttle from start to finish, but you also don\u2019t want the phone to ring and create that pause that breaks the mood.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Maybe the player trips. Maybe more foes pop up down the path. Maybe an open path collapses, closing off the player\u2019s planned escape route. Morin didn\u2019t want any one sequence to feel predictable. There had to be something that would throw the player off of just running as fast as they could \u2013 something that added a little more to each chase.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we have to throw in a monkey wrench once in a while, otherwise the game becomes stale. It may be the absence of chase music, the player getting injured, the introduction of a new ingredient, etc.\u201d says Morin.<\/p>\n

And what of those enemies that are chasing the player? If the player feels like they get a commanding lead on them, what\u2019s to be afraid of? Morin played around with aspects of the sound design to ensure that, even if the player was far ahead, they wouldn\u2019t feel like they were. \u201cYou have to the feel the presence of your pursuers.\u201d says Morin. \u201cIt may mean that we have to exaggerate some sounds to hear the screaming, the footsteps, and the breathing of the enemies when we want them to be heard despite the chase music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Players can hear hammering footsteps, enemies snarling and shouting, and breathing that seems to be right in their ear. Yes, the player could look behind them with a push of a button to see how close the enemies are, but they can already tell with the audio.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur audio mechanics are set up to use tons of information given to us by the game – player speed, NPC proximity, different AI states – that allow us to emphasize how close or how far the enemies appear to the player to create the right amount of stress no matter what the situation is.\u201d says Morin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This kind of tension is exhausting, though, and can wear a player down over time. This is why a final element for Morin was in keeping these chase sequences at just the right length. They had to frighten the player without taking too long. \u201cWe also try to make sure we don\u2019t stretch chases for too long, so players don\u2019t become desensitized, but that part is super-tricky because it varies a lot from one player to another.\u201d says Morin.<\/p>\n

All of these elements went through rigorous testing, as finding the right balance of all of these things was quite tricky, bouncing between being too obvious or not clear enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to feel chaotic, yet intuitive. It\u2019s a tricky balance and results may vary from one player to another.\u201d says Morin. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen playtests in which a majority of players would go through a sequence without a hitch, while a few players would get stuck in the same area. The question becomes, \u2018Can you make it work for those players without negatively impacting the experience of those who had no issues?\u2019 When you make it too obvious, then some players start to feel they\u2019re on a track.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After extended testing, Morin found that they had reached that balance, getting the player ready to be chased, leading the player without making them feel lead, and then giving an unpredictable chase that made them feel afraid of the snarling at their heels. This was what made Outlast 2<\/em> special, for Morin, and what he feels players come to the series for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think horror games are about the fear of the unexpected. You don\u2019t play an Outlast<\/em>\u00a0game to feel empowered and in control, you play it to get a rollercoaster ride of emotions as a character who must run for his life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outlast 2,\u00a0which was released last month on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, casts players as a cameraman and woman working on a news story deep, deep in the back woods. There, they will find misshapen human beings, deadly cults, and unnatural forces, all of them stalking the player through the shadowy trees, dark paths, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}