Undertow Games Forum

Hello there all, I was curious as to what you think would make a good SCP game and what ideas you could give on it, here are some very good questions I would like some of you currently making SCP Games to answer (You don't have to answer all of these, this will also focus on giving other SCP Game makers ideas for their games):

1, What makes an SCP Game scary?
2. What should the basic elements of the game be?
3. What sort of location do you think it is suitable for an SCP Game to take place in?
4. What SCPs should be included that aren't basically useless?

If I should add any more questions feel free to tell me.

1, What makes an SCP Game scary?

Kinda hard to say for me at least, A lot of SCP's are scary for different reasons. many are scary from a Lovecraftian sort of style in which fear is derived from great cosmic horrors that you could never hope to fully comprehend. (EX: Your not afraid of the dark your afraid of what might be in the dark.) Some aren't really scary but they are intriguing, for me at least many times when an SCP isn't scary I'm still entertained because of the novelty of performing scientific testing and experimentation on anomalous objects or they present an interesting mystery. Sometimes I simply have fun imagining how these SCP's came to be.

2. What should the basic elements of the game be?

This will be different depending on the SCP in question and ones personal tastes. I will however say that I believe anyone who focuses their game around combat is missing the point by a large margin. That is just my opinion though. The moment you start giving anyone the power to slow down or hinder or subdue SCP's they start to become less scary and feel more like a hindrance. The same thing can happen if an SCP and its abilities are shown too often without proper pacing, the player will learn its routines and the SCP in question will slowly lose its scare factor. (EX: SCP-173 is terrifying not because he is unkillable or because of the blinking thing. Its because you never know when hes going to turn up, this makes it easier for the player to drop his guard and be suprised. If you couldn't run away and he was simply always chasing you he would soon become more annoying than scary.)

As a side note I think playing as SCP's is another thing kinda ruins the mystery involved with that specific SCP. Because the player is that SCP he will strive to master and learn about his character just like any game. This will remove any mystery about its abilities and make the SCP protagonist one of the least interesting characters in your game.

Of course none of these are absolutes, its all just my personal opinion. I'm completely confident one could get over these obstacles with clover design. I just wont personally be all that impressed if its only added for the "coolness" factor.

3. What sort of location do you think it is suitable for an SCP Game to take place in?

Depends on the SCP in question. If your really clever you could make any location scary, but it does'nt always make sense to have X SCP in Y Location.

4. What SCPs should be included that aren't basically useless?

This is mostly personal preference. But if I were to give a recommendation I would suggest picking out SCP's with vague descriptions that can be believably built upon without spoiling the mystery of that SCP or over explaining it too much. This is partially why I chose SCP-015 for my own project. I also recommend steering clear from SCP-008 and SCP-682, they're perfectly fine for minor appearances but I feel as though focusing on either of these two would get old fairly fast. Again this is mostly personal preference.

Delusional wrote:Hello there all, I was curious as to what you think would make a good SCP game and what ideas you could give on it, here are some very good questions I would like some of you currently making SCP Games to answer (You don't have to answer all of these, this will also focus on giving other SCP Game makers ideas for their games):

1, What makes an SCP Game scary?
2. What should the basic elements of the game be?
3. What sort of location do you think it is suitable for an SCP Game to take place in?
4. What SCPs should be included that aren't basically useless?

If I should add any more questions feel free to tell me.

Well a game based around the task force we know as pandoras box
that has 2 SCPs in it Scp-105 and Scp-79-2
And maybe play as any of them you pick switching from one or the other on demand or in each level

1, What makes an SCP Game scary? The Scary things in SCP is the best way to put it
2. What should the basic elements of the game be? FPS a bit like Unreal tournament and TF2 mixed feel make the best game play I think
3. What sort of location do you think it is suitable for an SCP Game to take place in? many places mainly the places the pandoras box been in there jobs like the red pool
4. What SCPs should be included that aren't basically useless? Scp-105 and Scp-79-2 and any others that make a good one to fight and SCP-79-2 will turn on you a few times and a last time at the end where everyone is killed by the nuke

Now this is all a matter of opinion, but here is my 2 cents.

1, What makes an SCP Game scary?.

A number of things, these include, but are not limited to.

Atmosphere, just throwing dead corpses and jumpscares everywhere detract's from the scariness, in fact, the only game i can think of that does constant jumpscares well is SCP-087-B, throw in a few ambient sounds and some dark creepy moments and your game will be fine, as i think of it, its easy to jumpscare someone, its harder to actually disturb them.

The SCPS, one does not just throw all 2000 (Or 1999) SCP's into one game, obviously, your choice of SCP's will effect the games atmosphere and scariness, where SCP:CB has a ton of SCP's it uses most (Not all) in different ways, how about a chase scene with 682?, or something similar, just make your choices make sense, SCP's like 087 are not contained in any site, they are inanimate and cannot be taken from the place they were discovered in.

The sounds, all scary games need some scary ambience, like SCP:CB, which does this almost perfect (In my opinion),
Have creepy rumbling, and other noises, and have each SCP have there own ambient sounds.

Location, Even in a containment breach, the SCP's that escaped must have a cell somewhere, like SCP-173's containment cell, have them similar to there files containment procedure so they make sense, unlike SCP-895 in SCP:CB, which clearly breaks containment protocol.

2, What should the base elements of the game be?.

I completely agree with Sneakyferret, its completely obvious an unarmed human, (Or even armed for that matter) wouldn't stand a chance against most SCP's.

3. What sort of location do you think it is suitable for an SCP Game to take place in?

It depends, do you want to make an SCP game from SCP's like 087 or 432?, they are pretty much locations themselves, or have it be a containment breach, are you the MTF entering to contain the escaped SCP's?, a doctor who survived the breach and must escape?, or a simple class-D, or maybe something entirely different.

4. What SCPs should be included that aren't basically useless?

This is something i can't answer, like i said earlier in my post, just make your SCP's make sense, and your pretty much good, have them be used for something innovative, or have clever puzzle to solve, if you implement them right, no SCP will be useless.

Anyways, sorry for the long post, this is only my opinion, i don't make SCP games and have no skill in programming of any kind, i just thought i'd share how i feel an SCP game should be made.

I think these questions can easily be answered with "It depends on the SCP and the type of game you want."

Not all SCPs are the same, not all would require the same type of gameplay, and not all would utilize the same type of atmosphere. Some SCPs aren't even scary or dangerous to begin with, like 999 and 529 (The half-cat). That's the wonderful thing about the SCP Foundation stories. They can be anything! And therefore, games based on the SCP can be anything as well!

For instance, you can make a simple game about playing with 999. Or an adventure game where you travel through various stories under the influence of 826. Or an obstacle course game where you play as a contestant in 024 (Game Show of Death). Or even a dumb shitz 'n' giggles game about messing with Joke SCPs!

And if you specifically want a horror game, then study the SCP you want to use first and then think of ways you can successfully implement it into a game. Different SCPs can be scary for different reasons, after all.

Oh, 024 "Game show of death", I would love to make that one, but i need to get better at programming first.

^ I would love to play an 024 game. It's one of those SCPs that are perfect for a video game setting!

After an introduction by the game show's unseen announcer, the player will have to progress through three deadly obstacle courses, all of which are timed. Every obstacle course will be randomly generated, so that multiple playthroughs can offer different experiences. The player beats the game by simply completing every obstacle course.

The player will lose the game if s/he runs out of time, gets killed by the obstacles, or is caught cheating. If a player tries to cheat during the game (Like running off the course or walking around an obstacle that they have to go through), then the "studio guardians" will materialize and will start chasing the player. At this point, the player is screwed, because the studio guardians are big, strong, fast, and will never go away until they catch and kill him/her.

Of course, this game would also require loads of voice acting for the excitable announcer, who would talk very often throughout the whole thing.

I think an SCP game where you don't play as SCP foundation personnel would be interesting. Rather something like and adventure/horror game were you play as a civilian in the midst of the chaos of a containment breach, with the MTF trying to take control of everything. It would be better to take place in a rural area, because the foundation is likely to be located were there is a low population, to avoid detection and to remain secret. I think it would be mostly trying to find out what the heck is going in your normal civilian life. I'm not sure how many, or what SCP's would be in the game, but Ill look at the wiki. throughout the game, you would also have to evade the MTF and such.

An SCP that would be scary: SCP- 080: The Boogieman Credit Me Please if anyone uses this idea

I need someone to make my new game idea. I mean I don't need to. I just would appreciate if someone helped me and made the darn thing. Anyone can make the game, just tell me on my forum and give me some credit.