Jump scare me with zombie dogs, taunt me with shrieks and gurgles or shock me with grotesque imagery all you want — I’m not truly tense until the telltale signs of a virtual arse-whooping start showing up.
Dorkly‘s latest comic captures the moment some gamers live for and other gamers dread — the moment when traditional game design starts letting you know there’s a major battle just around the bend. There’s a save point up ahead. The next stop? The boss fight zone.
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8 responses to “One Of The Scariest Moments In Gaming Is A Matter Of Design”
What a weird comic. He starts panicing about Boss Fountains (which is the correct term), chest high walls (which a game should be full of if designed around cover), and a save point (that don’t really exist anymore), then the image in the background is just multiple Frampts (who’s an NPC that doesn’t attack).
Actually, the correct term is Suspicious Videogame Generosity according to my favourite source of wisdom. In terms of the comic, it’s talking about common game design tropes that are used to indicate that you are about to enter a boss fight, an often stressful time in a well designed game.
I’m guessing the use of Frampt is just a joke within the joke.
Yeah I know, but only the Boss Fountain would cause worry. I wasn’t exactly dreading everytime I came across a chest high wall in Gears of War.
I always felt a sense of dread when I came across an open area full of chest high walls because it meant yet another firefight when I just wanted to move on. Mine and Yahtzee’s feelings on the matter are very similar.
I disagree. I thought a chest high armoured caterpillar was friggen hilarious.
Easily the highlight of the Gears of War series, just ahead of using chainsaw bayonets to remove the heart of a giant worm.
Only one of those is Frampts. There are at least 2 primordial serpents that you can interact with and certainly more than them.
That screenshot is from the cinematic for the “Dark” ending of Dark Souls.
The Last Of Us was terrible at this. In nice scenes where I was clearly supposed to be feeling secure, suddenly the rooms are full of chest-high walls. “Gee, I wonder if the bad guys are going to ambush us and I’ll have to fight my way out while this charming new NPC gets killed?” Kind of ruined the tension.