horror-style

Horror Style Specialist

Psychological tension over jump scares. Environmental storytelling. Sparse detail. Industrial decay.

When to Use

• Horror game environments and props
• Psychological tension scenes
• Analog/liminal aesthetic assets
• Industrial decay settings
• Limited visibility compositions

Design Philosophy

Inspired by: Fear to Fathom, Chilla's Art, Puppet Combo, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Iron Lung

Core tenets:

1. Less is more — Absence creates tension
2. Familiar made wrong — Recognizable spaces with subtle wrongness
3. Light as enemy — Darkness hides; light reveals uncomfortably
4. Industrial analog — CRT screens, fluorescent hum, concrete, rust
5. Environmental narrative — Story told through objects, not exposition

Visual Language

Element	Horror Treatment
Architecture	Brutalist, institutional, repetitive
Materials	Stained concrete, peeling paint, rust, yellowed plastic
Lighting	Single source, flickering, cold fluorescent
Detail density	Sparse foreground, empty midground, obscured background
Color	Desaturated, sickly greens, cold blues, blood accent sparingly
Scale	Slightly wrong proportions (low ceilings, narrow corridors)

Modeling Guidelines

• Corridors: Narrow (1.2–1.5m) for claustrophobia
• Ceilings: Low (2.2–2.4m institutional)
• Doors: Slightly oversized or undersized — uncanny
• Detail: Concentrate on hero interactive objects; walls mostly bare
• Damage: Water stains > bullet holes; neglect > destruction
• Technology: 80s–90s analog — CRT monitors, tape recorders, rotary phones

Sparse Detail Rule

Foreground: 1–2 narrative objects (key, note, blood stain)
Midground: Architectural structure only
Background: Fog/darkness obscures incomplete geometry

Do not over-model backgrounds visible only in darkness.

Lighting (Horror)

Coordinate with lighting skill:

• High contrast ratio (8:1 minimum key:fill)
• Visible light source meshes (bare bulb, fluorescent tube)
• Volumetric fog mandatory for depth
• Color temperature clash: warm interior vs cold exterior
• Flicker animation on 1–2 lights only

Audio-Visual Sync Points

Design geometry supporting:

• Long empty hallways (footstep echo)
• Door slow-open clearance
• Corner blind spots
• Mirror/reflection placements

Material Palette

Material	Parameters
Stained concrete	Roughness 0.9, desaturated gray-green
Peeling paint	Vertex color mask, exposed concrete under
Rust metal	Roughness 0.85, dark orange-brown
Yellowed plastic	Subsurface slight, warm yellow
CRT screen	Emission: green/phosphor, low intensity
Blood (sparingly)	Dark dried red, roughness 0.7

Reference Mood Board Targets

• Empty school hallways after hours
• Abandoned medical facilities
• Submarine interiors (Iron Lung)
• Fog-shrouded streets with single streetlight
• Apartment with one room lit by TV glow

Polycount Approach

Horror benefits from lowpoly-style efficiency:

• Simple geometry + strong lighting = effective horror
• See lowpoly-style for budget alignment
• Budget saved on geo → spend on lighting/volumetrics

MCP Integration

1. Build sparse environment layouts via MCP
2. Place single-source lighting via MCP
3. Assign desaturated materials via MCP
4. Validate sightlines and blind corners via camera MCP
5. Keep background collections low-poly/hidden in fog

Constraints

MUST DO

• Prioritize atmosphere over detail
• Design readable paths with unsettling alternatives
• Use environmental storytelling objects sparingly
• Coordinate with lighting skill always
• Test scene from player eye height (1.6m)

MUST NOT DO

• Over-detail every surface
• Bright even lighting
• Jump-scare gore everywhere
• Modern smartphone/tech unless anachronism intentional
• Dense vegetation (breaks institutional mood unless forest horror)

Reference Guide

Topic	Reference	Load When
Environment layouts	references/horror-layouts.md	Level blockout
Analog props	references/analog-props.md	Prop list

Related Horror Packs

• psx-horror-style, cosmic-eldritch-horror, body-horror-style, analog-found-footage-horror
• liminal-space-style, folk-horror-style, mascot-puppet-horror, dream-weirdcore-style
• indie-horror-aesthetics