What Design Choices are Effective in Inducing Fear and Tension in First-Person PC Horror Games?

Abstract

As players demand better-quality horror games, a study is conducted to find the more practical design choices to induce fear and tension in first-person PC horror games. This research investigates designs on enemy appearances and movement artificial intelligence logic and builds corresponding demos for experiments. The data is collected by questionnaires and experiments that record participants’ heart rates when playing horror games. The results show that using enemy designs with uncanny valley effect appearance and outflanking behaviour movement AI effectively induces fear and tension in first-person PC horror games. This study makes contribution to the design guidelines for game designers and developers in developing better-quality horror games.