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[Tropico]

I think it goes without saying that you would need a very compelling reason for making the character, and player, want to stay in the mansion as long as possible. It may seem cliche, but there's a reason Mario is always trying to get Princess Peach back. If you just say, "Hey, you can stick around if you want, or leave in safety." no matter how much of a fear junky the player is, instinctual nerves will always get the etter of him or her, sooner or later.

I think the most efficient and graceful option would be to give a reason why you're there ("My girlfriends lost!" or "There's a rumor there's treasure in here" whatever), and then have the protagonist realize that it's to scary and he wants to leave, only to find the layout of the mansion keeps changin on him (Difficult on a technical level without saying "This door is locked," fifty-million times.) The player can then choose whether to focus on manning-up and accomplishing his original goal, or spend his time getting the hell out of there. And there's where the multiple endings come in.

on a side note, it is imperitive that the protogonist be alone throughout the game. Although it increases greatly narrative possibility, nothing kills deep, real fear (i.e. not cheap Resident Evil thrills) like having a smooth-talking, ever-helpful Atlas around to provide you with supportive human contact. As long as the player knows that there is absolutely nothing out there to help, save, or comfort him, he'll will be constantly on edge.

[Jackrabbit]

I think it goes without saying that you would need a very compelling reason for making the character, and player, want to stay in the mansion as long as possible. It may seem cliche, but there's a reason Mario is always trying to get Princess Peach back.

No, there isn't, not really. Mario is a stupidly submissive masochist who saves the Princess because she demands it and because he has some sort of crush on her, feelings which she never, ever returns, and she's so utterly dependent on him to get her out of trouble and she knows that he's going to, so she's sort of stopped caring when he saves her.

[Tropico]

I think it goes without saying that you would need a very compelling reason for making the character, and player, want to stay in the mansion as long as possible. It may seem cliche, but there's a reason Mario is always trying to get Princess Peach back.

No, there isn't, not really. Mario is a stupidly submissive masochist who saves the Princess because she demands it and because he has some sort of crush on her, feelings which she never, ever returns, and she's so utterly dependent on him to get her out of trouble and she knows that he's going to, so she's sort of stopped caring when he saves her.

Wow. We had two VERY different experiences while playing mario bros. But I was just using at as a well known example. I was merely illustrating the fact  that people need a reason to stay in the mansion for a long period of playing-time without losing interest.

[timmeh]

Been watching this for a while... can't begin to say how much I'd love to see a game like this

On the note of keeping people inside the mansion, you're likely either going to have to force them to stay there (I personally like the idea of running through the forest for a few minutes only to end up back at the house, talk about some serious mind f*** ), or tempt them with some sort of reward.  Take Oblivion (or Morrowind, or any similar game...), the only reason I'm going to stay in some dark dungeon filled with traps and monsters dead-set on killing and eating me, is that I know that if I investigate far and deep enough, I'll be well rewarded.  That, and I enjoy killing things, but that's a discussion for another time and place

I'm particularly liking the idea of never really getting a good look at your assailants, although making them burn or something in the flashlight would certainly make the player feel like they have a powerful weapon (cept when the battery runs low... hehehe), but if they just run from it the player would still feel somewhat safe, but not like they can actually defeat the creatures/visions/whatever.

Just my 2 cents.

[alfie275]

There is a game company called Frictional Games, they make fairly good games (currently making one called Amnesia), and their blog is very interesting:

http://frictionalgames.blogspot.com/

[Jackrabbit]

I don't think the player should think the flashlight is a powerful weapon. I think they should think of it as a flimsy and not-totally-reliable shield, their only barrier between them and a horrifying death.

[timmeh]

I don't think the player should think the flashlight is a powerful weapon. I think they should think of it as a flimsy and not-totally-reliable shield, their only barrier between them and a horrifying death.

Exactly.  If it can destroy whatever is messing with him, it will feel less like a sort of flimsy defense, and more like a weapon.  I'd picture whatever the "enemies" (can't think of a better word at 1AM...) are as being the reverse of normal matter.  You see most things because of light bouncing off them, where as these creatures would only be visible in the absence of light, or transparent/shadowy in very little of it.  They would fear the light, probably for the same reason many people feel the dark, perhaps they can't see, but for whatever reason, they avoid the light whenever possible.  Would be one heck of a scare the first time you encountered something that wasn't afraid of the light, and the flashlight seems to make whatever part of him it's shining on transparent...

If none of that was coherent, I'm sorry, and if I've offended anyone, I'm sorry.  It's 1AM, and I had way too little sleep last night, and I really don't know why I'm still awake now... anyways, I'm tired, and I'm likely to ramble, and be a little blunt...

[ibot66]

my ideas: make it so that you can make new safe rooms, but old ones get destroyed or ruined aafter awile. make  it be so that it is obvius that somewhere in the mansion there are survivors, but they are dead and it is just their final moments playing out over and over.

[BladeBerserker]

Wow I'm really enjoying these ideas, so I'll just go on ahead and toss some stuff in.

3D or 2D: 3D would be much more frightening, 2D would be more stylish, but nowhere near as frightening.

There should be no heads up display of any kind, like Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Dreams dreams dreams, in Lovecraft's works, dreams are very important, and they should be in this game. Perhaps the reason the character first enters the mention is because they are plagued by terrible nightmares of the manor house and the horrible things that happened within? The dreams could also be used to keep the player in the mansion, for example, if they flee outside (The first time.) After they get so far The PC wakes up on the porch of the mansion, or on the floor in the "safe room".

Handling save games without derailing the atmosphere; Obviously, people need to be able to save their game so they can work, eat etc. or just so they can go back if they die or whatever, while it's more atmospheric to have the game end entirely when you die, this can be very frustrating, particularly in a game that doesn't see fit to give you tutorials. This can cause a lot of players to give up in frustration, and considering you probably want people to play the game.... well. I was thinking perhaps the player character writes in a journal before they go to sleep? This could also be used to frighten the player or give them clues, if they don't know what is written, but can look at it later.

The nasties! It'd be awesome if at the beginning, the nasties can't be seen in the light at all, and theres nothing there, not even a squeak or a puff of smoke to indicate anything was there, this would go on for long enough for the player to get used to it, THEN the nasties would start to be a little more visible.

Wow, long post, but if this game ever goes into development, I want in! The idea is fantastic! I'm somewhat qualified too.

Edit: I know CoC was a mostly crappy game but it had some good stuff.

[JerkOfAllTrades]

Storyline?       The main character is a real estate agent. Business has gone down hill for a while so he became an alcoholic and his wife left him after a drunken argument, so now he has nothing to do but explore properties he once thought were junk. He never visited the house before because of the area it's in, but now that he sees how many antiques are inside he wants to catalog them before he calls in someone to haul them to an auction house.
         If the game starts out in the house, with cut scenes explaining how you got there a huge storm could start right after the character enters and lighting strikes you whenever you try to leave. Along with that perhaps gusts of wind blow could hurl objects at you, either killing you outright or crippling you and then something else finishes you off. Perhaps wild dogs that are too scared to attack a healthy person but will go after you if you're hurt in some way.