Top game producer

Wang Zi could guess with his toes that turning back would definitely trigger a jump scare!

The repeated message from the recorder, "Look behind you," reminded him of the story of Pang Juan dying under the tree.

Back then, Sun Bin used the strategy of reducing the number of stoves in the military camp day by day, creating the illusion that his army was abandoning their armor and fleeing, which lured Pang Juan to pursue with only a few cavalry. When they marched to Ma Ling, Pang Juan saw the words "Pang Juan will die under this tree" carved on the tree and realized he had been tricked.

Compared to jumpscares that pop out without warning, this kind of reminder, "kindly" telling the player there will be a jump scare, actually makes people feel even more terrified.

A super scary female ghost is definitely going to jump out and scare me!

Wang Zi closed his eyes, controlled the character to turn around, and thought happily in his heart, "Hehe, I'm such a genius!"

But he didn't hear the expected shrill scream, nor the eerie buzzing sound. The radio was still repeating those few sentences.

"Huh?"

He opened his eyes in confusion. The corridor was still pitch black, with only the small lamp on the shelf holding wedding photos on the left side of the view, illuminating a corner of the shelf.

Where's the ghost?

Wang Zi's eyes unconsciously drifted to the left, drawn to the only light in the darkness. But at this moment, the center of his vision was instantly occupied by a woman's face!

The woman's face was a swollen white, one eye socket was a dark void, and one eyeball rolled upward in a bizarre way, revealing a strange and hideous smile.

According to the uncanny valley effect, as the anthropomorphism of human-like objects increases, human favorability towards it also changes. When a human-like object reaches the "near-human" level, human favorability will suddenly decrease.

In other words, if something is highly similar to a human but not quite human, then its non-human features will become the conspicuous part, making people feel nervous and uneasy, such as corpses, robots, exquisite doll figures, etc.

This principle has also been widely used in horror movies and games. For example, the female ghost suddenly appearing in the center of the screen, the swollen white skin, and the pitch-black eye sockets instantly create a huge fear, even if people don't react.

Accompanied by a loud noise of slamming the cabinet, the camera shook violently, as if the female ghost had picked up the player, her face was so close that one could clearly count her hideous exposed teeth. The solidified black stains on her chin easily reminded people of blood.

"Aaaaaah!!!! Ah!!!!"

When the female ghost first appeared, Wang Zi's heartbeat seemed to stop for a beat. His rationality instantly dropped to a negative value, and he let out a tragic and shrill scream!

His eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets, his upper body leaned back with all his might, and the mouse was thrown onto the wall!

Due to excessive force, he almost overturned himself and the chair onto the ground, but fortunately, he grabbed the ladder next to the bed in time!

"Fuck! Fuck!!! You son of a bitch!!"

Wang Zi held onto the ladder, feeling his legs a little weak, his eyes panicked, and he couldn't stop cursing!

When people are extremely frightened, they often become irrational, irritable, and angry. Wang Zi kept swearing because he was really scared.

His roommate sat up from the bed with a flip, staring at him dumbfounded. "Wow! Bro, are you okay? Is this game that scary!"

"Fuck, fuck..." Wang Zi weakly cursed twice more. The previous outburst seemed to have drained all his strength. He slowly knelt on the ground, staring blankly at the plain cabinet door in front of him, unable to speak for a long time.

If the previous door jumpscare was high-energy, then it is no exaggeration to say that the jump scare just now was nuclear-energy! Earth-shattering!

The roommate hurriedly got out of bed. "Bro, bro? Bro, cheer up!"

He could understand if a timid person was scared like this in a haunted house, but being scared to the point of leg weakness while sitting in the dormitory playing a virtual horror game didn't seem normal!

In fact, it wasn't that Wang Zi's mentality was too fragile, but that this jump scare had been carefully designed!

First, after the high-energy scene in the bathroom, the game gave the player a breather, and the following parts became less scary.

Like riding a roller coaster, it is certainly thrilling to keep going up or down, but there is a limit to a person's spirit. Once the string of the limit is broken, one will feel tired instead.

Only the combination of peaks and valleys, the ups and downs of the rhythm, can bring greater stimulation to people.

This is the first ingenious point.

Although the player should be relaxed, they should not be too relaxed, so there are always some small scare points in the middle, such as the door suddenly opening when looking in the mirror, the sound of ghosts exhaling behind them, and the lights turning off at the corner.

When the player successfully passes through one cycle and comes to the second cycle, the radio's reminder of "Look behind you" and the ghost sound behind them remind the player to be vigilant because there will be a jump scare next.

However, when the player turns around and their spirit is stretched to the extreme, the female ghost is not allowed to appear immediately, but is given a buffer of about three or four seconds.

Not seeing the female ghost they imagined, the player will have various thoughts such as surprise, doubt, and confusion. Every second, their spirit will be consumed and decline a little. Using a simple few seconds of buffer to consume the player's spirit is the second ingenious point.

The third ingenious point is the clever design of the map scene.

A pitch-black corridor gives people a sense of insecurity, while the warm-colored light from the small lamp on the shelf is like a warm haven, making people unconsciously avoid the darkness and turn their eyes to the lamp, leaving only peripheral vision to deal with the center of the screen.

Frontal attacks and side attacks, the latter is undoubtedly more scalp-numbing.

The notification of the jump scare before is like a seed of fear, deeply hidden in the depths of the heart, waiting only for a slight stimulation to instantly expand, sprout, and devour all of a person's rationality.

While consuming people's spirits, the lamp is used to divert people's attention.

At this moment, a terrifying female ghost with black eye sockets suddenly jumps out. That feeling is like an instant explosion!

It can be said that this jump scare is the ultimate application of psychology and physiology. Even if you have played the game and play it a second time, or watch the streamer's game video with a bunch of people sending barrage notifications of "high-energy ahead", you will still be scared!

The roommate waved his hand carefully in front of Wang Zi. "Wang Zi? Are you okay!"

A seemingly distant voice came from afar.

Wang Zi's scattered gaze slowly returned, regained focus, saw a hand waving in front of him, and immediately scolded with a smile, "What the hell are you summoning? I'm fine!"

The roommate's eyes were full of suspicion. "Fine? Why do I think your legs are still shaking?"

Wang Zi showed an awkward but polite smile. "Let's go, let's go, I'll treat you to dinner tonight! Let's discuss something more interesting!"

If it is spread out by his roommate that he not only screamed while playing a horror game, but was even scared to the point of leg weakness, it would be too embarrassing!