Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

In the early hours of October 31st, followers of Chen Xu received a notification that there was a new upload.

The post contained a short video clip and a message : “Wanna guess what the new game is?”

Even though it was posted on such an ungodly hour, there were still a large number of night owls who followed Chen Xu’s socials.

So it didn’t take long for the likes, comments and reblogs to come flooding in.

• [ Whoa, what’s happening? Look what I found! Does Chen Xu have a new game for us? ]

• [ What time is it? What gaming company posts promos at this hour??? ]

• [ Chen Xu: I’ll post whenever I feel like it. *Gigachad png* ]

• [ Yo, what’s this video about? Is it a horror game? ]

• [ I’ve never felt more uncomfortable watching a video camera recording lol ]

• [ Is this real? Is Chen Xu making a horror game? ]

• [ Shame, I’m not into horror, but the timing is so perfect ]

• [ Is this an actual live recording or is this part of the game? Is it video camera related? ]

Many were left puzzled. After all, Chen Xu’s intentions were obvious. This intensely eerie video posted at this timing indicates that his upcoming project would be horror related.

But what caused more discussion was the timing of this message.

The very next day, Chen Xu’s post kicked up quite a stir among the gaming media outlets.

After all, he had gained some measure of fame in the recent competition with his hit piece, ‘To the Moon’, making him good clickbait material for their articles.

And also, November was fast approaching. There would be little to no major releases worth mentioning during this time period because everyone would be waiting for the holiday season of December.

Meanwhile, the most heated discussions were conducted by the niche community of horror enthusiasts, sequestered away in their hidden places and dusty forums.

After all, even horror games have subgenres.

• [ Alright, so here’s what we know. There’s a video recorder and it seems to be shot in a modern office. Looks like a contemporary setting ]

• [ The person seems to be trying to film something with the camera, but the entire video is silent. And look at how messed up the room is, I’m speculating ghosts. Like, maybe we can only see ghosts with the camera? ]

• [ Prime jumpscare material, I can see it already. You walk through dark corridors and rooms with the video cam, then BOOM! A ghostly face appears in the camera footage, pulling the cameraman into the darkness ]

• [ Damn, I think you’re all overthinking it. There’s literally nothing in the video, stop throwing out random nonsense in broad daylight, you’re scaring me ]

• [ It is a fantastically eerie setting, I stumbled upon the post late last night, and even if it didn’t reveal much, I kept feeling like there was something under my bed, kept me away for half the night ]

• [ Lmao here’s a link for adult diapers, you big baby 😛 ]

Discussions such as these were happening fervently in popular gaming forums and boards, but it was mostly wild analysis and ideas being thrown around. After all, Chen Xu’s video only hinted at the genre of game he was cooking up, without offering up many other details.

And It wasn’t just the players who were buzzing with curiosity either, there were many among the gaming media and game designers who were trying to get a feel for what was to come.

• [ Have you heard? Chen Xu’s upcoming project is actually a horror game! ]

• [ That’s unexpected, really didn’t think he would choose to go down the horror route ]

• [ But it’s not a bad choice, for smaller teams and indies, horror games have always been a very good entry point ]

• [ Smaller teams? Chen Xu’s team isn’t exactly small. Haven’t you heard they were recruiting a lot of people recently? I bet they’ve expanded quite a bit ]

• [ Now that’s something I expected. ‘Undertale’ and ‘To the Moon’ both sold very well ]

• [ But horror games are so niche tho… And not just here in China, there aren’t really any noteworthy horror titles abroad either ]

• [ VR tech should pair really well with horror games, but it so gosh darn expensive, I wouldn’t go for it, too risky ]

• [ What if it’s a bait and switch? ]

• [ ? ]

• [ Look, Chen Xu’s a good storyteller. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. So what if this “horror” game is just a front for a heartwarming storyline experience? ]

• [ Huh, if you put it that way, I guess it makes sense. He told everyone he’s a warrior of love right? ]

• [ You might be onto something dude ]

While members of the game designer community were having logical, level-headed conversations about Chen Xu, things were a bit more chaotic on the media side.

《 CREEPY VIDEO RELEASED AT MIDNIGHT!! WHAT IS CHEN XU’S MASTER PLAN??!! 》

《 FROM HEARTWARMING TO HORROR? DESIGNER CHEN XU’S NEXT MOVE 》

《 CHEN XU ABANDONS HIS LOYAL FANS! PURSUES NEW FIELD! CONFIDENT OR BLIND? 》

………..

Soon various articles flooded gaming news websites and forums. Most larger outlets tended to favor a more neutral approach, trying to maintain amicable relations with the designers featured in their articles.

But the same couldn’t be said for the smaller marketing accounts and lower tiered outlets, where creating a buzz was the business.

This was mainly due to the specific genre chosen by Chen Xu.

After all, it has been several years since the gaming industry was introduced to an excellent horror game. And even back then, its quality was still rather poor when compared to excellent games of the more popular genres like Action or Adventure games.

It wouldn’t be accurate to say that the horror scene is stagnant in this world.

There is a diverse range of horror games focusing on many types of antagonists. From zombies and ghost themed games popularized in China to serial killer and demon themed games popularized abroad.

There are also horror games that take a more grounded, realistic approach and horror titles that lean towards the supernatural and myth.

So there’s a lot to pick and choose from, but the scene isn’t exactly bustling either, almost none of them have sold well.

In the current market, the horror games that do make sales are usually from older IPs and are part of a series. But even those are facing lower and lower sales with each gaming season.

And one of the reasons is that none of these games have tried breaking out of their traditional restrictions.

They’re still relying on small, one-shot plotlines. Still using jumpscares as their main tool. Still relying on rudimentary FPS combat systems and designs.

Granted, none of these are bad per se, but it’s difficult to make things more exciting and take major risks when funding is limited and the investors are king.

For Chen Xu and the rest of Nebula Games, these discussions online have had very little impact.

Because the development progress of the game was ramping up significantly and many of the staff were now “in the zone” of their creative process.

While the game was not yet completed, many parts of the game could already be experienced.

And after experiencing those segments, Yang Xin, Ruan Ningxue, and many of the other team members came to a unanimous conclusion.

Don’t play this game at night.

It’s really scary, please send help.

Even though they had peered behind the curtain, participated in the creation of the game from scratch, and had access to the backend systems of the game…

The playable parts of ‘Outlast’ were still delivering a level of terror that was previously unseen in the horror gaming genre.

Yang Xin was closely monitoring the online buzz after Chen Xu’s post, and she made a silent prayer for the poor souls who would be the first to experience the monster they were about to unleash.