Beginning to plan out a survival horror episode, anyone got ideas?

[doomygecko]

Hey, I'm getting my new computer tomorrow which means I can run doom builder and I've decided to ake a new episode.

I'd like it to be a very horrory wad, with plenty of good scares. It will be set in a creepy mansion/urban setting (which would you like to see more?)
Ammo will be short, stimpacks rare, and armor almost non existant. I'll probably be doing some enemy editing too, most enemies will use melee attacks, And things that do use hitscans or projectiles will be crazy dangerous. I plan on having crimson head-esque self resurrecting enemies that get stronger once they've been killed.

For the weapons, I'll present a list.

Fist: average fist, only useful in a last ditch effort.

Pipe: a large lead pipe, excellent for low end zombie bashing.

pistol: obtained slightly after the start, it's a pretty standard .45 pistol, decent at mid range.

*shotgun: a taurus judge, fires 410 shotshells, lower powered shotgun.

ssg: a pump action tactical shotgun, 12 gauge, excellent choice for close range spray 'n pray.

*chaingun: not sure here, suggestions? a fully automatic gun doesn't seem plausible in the setting. (may go with a glock 17 with an auto sear installed)

rocket launcher: most likely some sort of improvised explosive, may also do an improvised flamethrower. UPDATE: This is now decidedly some form of improvised explosive.

plasma rifle: not sure again, suggestions? UPDATE: This is now decidedly an improvised flamethrower (large propane tank and a source fire)

bfg: high calibre sniper's rifle, able to rip throgh zombie brains without the mildest effort.
*subject to heavy change

As far as the atmosphere goes, if everything works out right, it'll be dark and cramped, and moderately easy to get slightly lost.

So then, input?

[wildweasel]

An automatic weapon is plausible in a horror setting, so long as you limit the amount of ammo the player gets for it, and it's not so accurate as to be useful as a long-range weapon. So I'd wager that an automatic pistol or small submachine gun would work in this kind of context (like, say, Resident Evil 4's TMP).

[Ichor]

The rocket launcher could be something like the TNT from Blood, and the plasma gun could be a flamethrower.

[deathbringer]

Ideas:

Light and shadow is more scary than darkness everywhere. You feel safe in the light but there's shadow all around you, and what might that conceal? It makes you paranoid.

VERY Limited ammo, though this is the doom engine resist the temptation for doom-like gameplay if you're going to call it survival horror. Don't "forgive" the player for spamming bullets everywhere because there's more boxes of bullets in the previous room, force them to make every shot count, resort to melee weapons often and even (gasp!) not fight enemies and run away!

Enemies that, by nessescity, can be killed "easily" (for the doom engine) but which also deal a lot of damage. Make even the lowest zombies kill the player with 4-5 swipes of thier hands.

An "inventory". If you don't have uber scripting skills then a hacky one could be made with medikits you find giving you "ammo" for a "healing weapon" so you can carry them around with you, and then select and "shoot" the health items which drops the actual healing item right next to you for instant pickup.

[Reaper978]

I suppose it would make sense for the run and walk speed to be decreased a great deal?

EDIT: I would actually like to see how this would work in vanilla doom. It would certainly make things a lot harder.

[stickguy5000]

Sounds awesome but you will definitely need to stay away from that automatic weapon idea because it doesn't fit. How scared would you be of some zombies if you had a big ass chaingun in your hands?

[DuckReconMajor]

stickguy5000 said:

How scared would you be of some zombies if you had a big ass chaingun in your hands?

chaingun: *pip pip pip pip pip pip pip pip*
zomby: I'm sorry, what was that?