There are many horror games based in space, but is often far into the future kind of SciFi like DeadSpace.

I would like to see a space horror game that is based in the near future, where the protagonist will spend most of the time in zero gravity. The threat doesn't have to be monsters, could also include asteroids (like the movie "GRAVITY", but in game form)

As for why? Well games in the far future in space, often have artifical gravity most of the time. This makes for a 2D space. The international space station (As for 2013) is in microgravity, and the design of the space station is cramped with no sense of 'ground'.

Plus making a horror space game, based on modern day space station, increases realism, and thus allows the player to imagine themselves actually being there.

This kind of game will do well with a 3d headset(e.g. oculus rift), for a typical space station interior will have lots of detail that will work well for such headsets.
-- mofosyne, Nov 26 2013

Sklab http://upload.wikim...ab_illustration.jpg
Early drawing (as-built, but not as-used, due to the subsequent damage and repairs) [neutrinos_shadow, Nov 26 2013]

ISS tour http://www.youtube....watch?v=afBm0Dpfj_k
See if you could follow which way is up or down without getting disoriented. [DIYMatt, Nov 27 2013]

// and the design of the space station is cramped with no sense of 'ground'.//

Not really. There is no actual ground, but I believe it's designed with an artificial "vertical" because it helps reduce disorientation/vertigo. Yes, even the "floor" is filled with storage bays, but they are doored with solid panels, unlike some of the walls, and all the monitor screens and labels and such share a common orientation.
-- MechE, Nov 26 2013


It frightens me to be categorized as (other:general).
-- normzone, Nov 26 2013


//There is no actual ground, but I believe it's designed with an artificial "vertical"//

Have you ever watched a video tour of the ISS? Up and down depends entirely on what you're doing. Exercising, the wall with the treadmill becomes the floor. Doing an experiment, the wall with the computer screens facing "up" becomes the vertical wall. This game could work very well, I would actually really like to see it. Present day or near future scifi is very neglected.

Imagine floating through compartments with hatches above, below, and to both sides of you, and no gravity. It would be very disorienting and great for a horror game.
-- DIYMatt, Nov 26 2013


//Have you ever watched a video tour of the ISS?//

Yes I have, and I've noticed that most of the modules have an agreed upon local vertical. Yes, they sometimes move off of it, because volume is at a premium, but if you look at their day to day activities, they spend most of the time aligned with it.
-- MechE, Nov 26 2013


The local orientation of each module is obvious from the footage, since the communications engineers almost always align the fixed cameras to it. Even the 'ceiling corner' cams point 'down'.
-- Alterother, Nov 26 2013


Well yes, if they pointed up the footage would be less interesting I suppose.
-- pocmloc, Nov 26 2013


I like the way Skylab was done - all the "stuff" (experiments, cupboards, etc) was mounted on the cylindrical surface, and there wasn't really a "floor" (or ceiling) as such (IIRC). When you don't need a "floor", why bother having one?
Also, parts of Deadspace (I've only played the 1st one) are in zero-g.

(Later...) seems only part of it was arranged "floorless", but I still think that using the cylindrical surface as "walls" without a floor or ceiling is the best arrangement for a zero-g station of the current cylindrical style.
-- neutrinos_shadow, Nov 26 2013


I think the issue is partially psychological; after the novelty of zero-g starts to wain, I imagine people start to go a little batshit without a floor under their feet. We're a vertically oriented species, after all.
-- Alterother, Nov 26 2013


[Alter]'s got it. Humans developed with a vertical orientation. Our brains get a little fussy if we don't have one (as in micro-g). Building in an orientation, even if we don't feel it, goes a long way to tricking them into working right.
-- MechE, Nov 27 2013


Except... the ISS doesn't have a clear up and down. It depends on what you're doing <linky>
-- DIYMatt, Nov 27 2013


-MechE, Nov 26 2013

And that's exactly why a skylab 'no such ground' design, is good for horror games. In ISS, astronauts going batshit insane is a bad thing; in a space horror game, its a good thing. If your brain cannot feel a 'ground', then that just heightens the sense of insecurity.
-- mofosyne, Nov 27 2013


//Except... the ISS doesn't have a clear up and down. It depends on what you're doing//

I notice that pretty much universally, the tour guide happens to be in the correct orientation to read the labels right side up. That's not accidental. The vertical changes as you move through modules, but it's present.
-- MechE, Nov 27 2013


Ah, memories of Descent. Great game.
-- RayfordSteele, Nov 27 2013



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