College - Author 1
College of Engineering
Department - Author 1
Computer Science Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BS in Computer Science
Date
12-2025
Primary Advisor
April Grow, College of Engineering, Computer Science Department
Abstract/Summary
Books and movies are a great medium for people to experience new worlds and experiences through a usually passive method. This can be great for stories with a set story and have all the pieces fall into place as the author intended. Video games on the other hand can give players a more active role in the worlds and stories that they experience. Players have direct control over the player character, and their actions have consequences that may or may not persist throughout the entire game, which is not usually the case with movies or books. This is why horror makes a perfect blend with the video game experience, as the player’s agency can be taken away at any time. Many of these horror games, however, fall into the pitfalls of relying on a cheap scare to raise the adrenaline of the player. When abused, these tactics become less effective and turn into what could have been a horror-inducing experience into an annoyance and kill the experience. What Declined Charge attempts to do is create a horror experience by avoiding many of the cliches that are present in many popular horror games either by subversion or deconstruction. Success will be measured if any player at all feels uneasy when playing. Though horror is subjective, it is important to not try to appeal to everybody if the goal is to be met.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cscsp/181
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