Merry Krampus - Asymmetrical Horror Game Thread

So, I'm kind of running this idea through my noggin. Krampus has risen in popularity like crazy with a pretty sweet film coming out next month by Michael Dougherty who did the amazing Halloween themed film, Trick R Treat. It got me thinking how desperately we need to see Krampus in a horror game setting, and it got me planning out a concept that I'll be sticking my toes into once my main development rig has been repaired.

First and foremost, I'll be using the Unreal 4 Engine. Some tidbits for the full thing are down below. I can't think of a better game title than "Merry Krampus" at this point in time.

• Obviously, an asymmetrical horror experience. One player dives into the hooves of Krampus, while the other remaining seven players take on the role of children who have not done some very nice things this Christmas season and that basically puts them in Krampus' sights, and why he begins to hunt them down. The children won't have weapons, and won't be able to kill Krampus. They'll need to utilize their environment to hide from him, and deter him. Krampus will most likely have some kind of arsenal at his disposal to deal with these children. A chain he can use to drag these children out from their hiding places from a distance, which also functions as his primary weapon. If he's in a close range of the children, like within grabbing distance he picks them up and shoves them in his giant bag which essentially "kills" them and he feasts on their soul.
• The deceased players will then be aiding Krampus in destroying the other children (Note: His allies can't kill the kids, only aid Krampus). They can randomly spawn in as one of four of Krampus' allies that come in the form of Christmas objects/toys that have been altered due to his influence. The four would include a Miniature Angel which can fly around, and "mark" the remaining children on the map for Krampus to find. Jack who is essentially a toy jack-in-the-box who has been twisted by Krampus' influence. He makes sounds that will put players on edge when moving about, and can snare the players by grabbing them around their ankles, essentially immobilizing them. Players can only be freed from Jack if another player gets them out by a simple press of a button. Third, we have the Snowman which is a snowman brought to life by the spirits allied to Krampus. He can throw snowballs which can slow a player's movement speed if hit. And finally, as a sort of hopefully not offensive joke, Baby Jesus who's terrifying, and unearthly crying will cause all nearby player's screens to go fuzzy, and obstruct their vision. To help balance this out, players have a set amount of time in the role of the allies to Krampus, before dying 100% and being forced to spectate.
• The core mode, Silent Night will be taking place in a cabin, and surrounding forest during Christmas Eve. It's all decorated, and a large family has gotten together for the holidays. However, the family has all up and vanished aside from the group of children. Krampus will do everything he possibly can to collect the souls of each of the children (by killing them) before Christmas morning. To win this mode, atleast one child must survive until Christmas morning. Obviously, more maps and modes would be planned, but this is just the core concept of the game.

So, that's essentially the core plan I have for this right now. I'm in the pre-planning stages since my computer is down for the moment, but once it's back up and running in a week or so I'll be diving straight into prototyping, etc.

Don't mean to bash on the idea just share a thought that immediately popped up when I read the description. You want to make a game where the goal is to capture and kill kids?

Edgy. Killing kids might be hard to pull off without it being distasteful, but if you do it right, it just might make Krampus a really scary villain. I think it's unfair to ally players (as kids) and then turn them against each other, as some players might want to play more as one of Krampus's colorful allies (sweet Baby Jesus) rather than a helpless kid. That might diminish teamwork. Also since all that most players can do is hide, there should be an emphasis on the level and all it's hiding spots. A small map might make it hard to hide from Krampus, while with a large map player might hide and wait, having nothing to do in the meantime. The way I see it, meat of the game is not Krampus and his abilities or his allies, but the kids and the range of their interactions with the world.

I would really like to see a good Krampus horror game tho.

Good feedback Rokin, I agree with what you wrote. I also think it's a nice concept. Just wanted to bring to attention some things others might react to which is not intentionally made to offend people. It's easy to forget about things like that. Making the gameplay fun will be a balancing act but it can be real fun if you can pull it off.

With this kind of an idea, I say how big will the staff be? The work load will be insane; level design, coding (scripting), graphic arts (mis), texture design and UV mapping, bump map design, animation design, skinning, coding (engine), baked rendering (level), sound effects, music, etc, etc.. Characters will even need a low level and high level poly model if you plan on baking the high's detail onto the low (optimization). I don't even want to mention shaders and networking...

I always say, if you're going to develop solo, plan a project small so you can handle the work load but what I've learned with experience is...even when you plan a smaller project, it seems to grow on you, lol. By the end of 2015, I will officially have been working on my current project for six months and I put hours in everyday. This is a project that was planned small... So much for small.

If you do tackle your idea, good luck!

I agree MrJohnson. Recognize my own game projects so much in that. Even the one I'm working on now feels so simple yet it takes SO much time to get anywhere. My problems are mostly because of the networking. But advice to everyone who wants to start an indie game project: There's so much under the surface, so much that demands time that you probably don't concider. And some things that you plan for but seems simple on paper but means a lot of complications when it's actually going to be implemented.

I do think baby Jesus will offend some people. Maybe not many that would play the game to begin with, but it may be better to find something else if you can. Best to avoid the controversy if it's not a critical issue.

I also think 'killing kids' would be trouble waiting to happen. But if the kids just get crammed into a sack, a sack that's always squirming like there are kids in it trying to get out, and that's all that's said (or shown as the case may be), you could get away with it. Let the viewer decide if the kids are killed, tortured, or just taken back to their parents for a good spanking or whatever.

I think the 2-sided PvP aspect will be interesting. That will distinctly change your level design. If Krampus were a computer, you could have fixed hiding spots that you could use, but if Krapmus is a player, that guarantees that 'fixed hiding spots' will be checked/camped. That means a much more open game. At the same time, you don't want thousands of hiding spots and the best strategy is to pick one at random/far away and hope Krampus is so busy checking the others that he doesn't find you in time. That suggests the best option is dynamic 'hiding', meaning the kids can duck or crawl anywhere, and if they happen to do so somewhere that makes them harder to see/hear, then that's effective hiding. Which means a house is probably going to be a bad level design, unless the kids can jump out windows or something. Most houses have very limited passageways (one or two central hallways), most rooms don't lead into many other rooms (one, maybe two, ways out). If the kids can jump out windows, then a 1-story house could work as part of the level design. That would give most all rooms at least one other way out and make the hallways more avoidable/viable.

I think the big concern is that you don't want the best strategy for the kids to be either 'hunker down and never move again', because that's boring, or 'spend all the time running around because you're faster than Krampus', because that's semi-boring and very frustrating. The kids need to run from hiding spot to hiding spot, always on the move, but always hoping they weren't seen. Maybe Krampus is only a little bit faster than the kids, so in a straightaway run, the kids couldn't get away, but if they run into a room and have hidden in the closet, while Krampus is searching under the bed, they could feasibly run back out and make it to another room, around the hallway corner, etc. before Krampus could get out of the room.