Carrion: How to Make Crawling Fun.
Horror is an interesting game genre. It lets us play with new game mechanics, make unique atmospheres, and explore the darkest philosophical views and the deepest hidden corners of the human psyche. And Carrion is one of the most fun horror games I’ve played in a while.
It’s a “Reverse Horror game”, where instead of the player playing as someone fighting a monster or escaping from it, they play as the scary thing itself. In this game the player controls a monster that crawls in the dark corners, eats humans, and destroys the lab they are in.
As I mentioned, this monster moves by crawling. The developers at Phobia Game Studio made some very smart decisions in game design to make this crawling mechanic fun and captivating. In this article, we are going to see what these decisions are.
Suitable Control Method
Choosing the right way of controlling your game character is a crucial part of game design because it directly influences how difficult your game is and the feeling it gives. The way Carrion has chosen to control the main character is one of the things that makes this game more fun.
The monster’s movement is controlled by where the mouse pointer is. The player needs to hold down the left mouse button and the beast will slither toward the mouse pointer. the player can change the movement direction during movement.
This control fits the movement of the character a lot, especially compared to the classic WASD. It imitates the movement of the monster in a way and it makes the game even more immersive.
Level Design
The level design is one of the most important things that made crawling even more fun in Carrion. Level design is one of the best ways to make players have fun controlling and moving your game character, and Carrion takes advantage of it.
Levels, or “Dungeons” in Carrion are designed with various holes, tunnels, and cavities so the monster can hide in them, flank the enemies or move from one point to another.
Even moving in a tight passage inside a wall without any action conveys the feeling of crawling in a fun and ominous way.
Conclusion
Carrion is a fantastic reverse horror game that uses the right way of control and the best level design choices to make the game fit the movement and crawling of the character in a 2D environment as possible. This leads to a much more immersive and fun experience.
What do you think? What other interesting game design decisions in Carrion? Do you know any other games which use control and level design to make their game more immersive? Let me know in the comments.
