PT
A first-person horror teaser game.
Where PT comes up1 episode or test
- Darkness scares
- Same corner repeats
- Environment carries the dread
- Darkness gives power and safety
Environmental cues should match the game's mechanics
From Level design video on Bioshock
What was said about PT
PT builds fear by making you walk the same corner repeatedly. In PT, repeating one corner is the main way the game creates fear. The environment itself carries the dread, not a new threat on each pass.
The point comes from a wider rule in a level design video about Bioshock: environmental emotion cues should match the game's mechanics. The video says darkness scares in horror but "might actually provide feelings of power and safety" in a stealth game.
How Level Design Can Tell a Story
It builds fear by making you turn the same corner again and again.
PT builds fear by making you walk the same corner repeatedly. In PT, repeating one corner is the main way the game creates fear. The environment itself carries the dread, not a new threat on each pass.
The point comes from a wider rule in a level design video about Bioshock: environmental emotion cues should match the game's mechanics. The video says darkness scares in horror but "might actually provide feelings of power and safety" in a stealth game.
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