How to trigger feelings of dread and the experience of the uncanny in Calypso-1

Sammanfattning

This paper examines how to trigger feelings of dread and the experience of theuncanny in Calypso-1. The research was done on the basis of theoretical frameworkssuch as Kierkegaard's concept of dread (Stone, 2017) and Freud's definition of theuncanny (Freud, 1917 - 1919), and combines four interconnected areas of the game:ambient sound design, a dynamic environment, foreshadowing through anintroductory comic, and a Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment system. For this researchdata was gathered through playtests, semi-structured interviews, and in-sessionobservations over the course of three game iterations. Changes done in all fourresearch areas were based on previous research- and iteration data. The key findingis that dread and the experience of the uncanny do not emerge from any singlemechanic in isolation, but from the interaction of all four systems working together.Individual findings include that sound perception is shaped heavily by theenvironment, that subtle and stark changes in the sound and environment createunease through the uncanny, that color is more effective than framing inforeshadowing horror, and that dynamic difficulty adjustment amplifies theexperienced dread without directly triggering it. These findings are limited by thecollaborative and time-constrained nature of the project, as changes across the fourresearch areas mutually influenced one another. Future research should look toisolate the individual research areas through a more linear approach to the game andexpand the playtest sample size to allow for more conclusive data.