Well before classic horror games like Silent Hill or Resident Evil , there was Alone in the Dark

-- a seminal PC title that proved video games can be atmospheric, claustrophobic, and just plain scary. The 1992 Infogrames classic is now regarded as one of the progenitors of the survival horror genre, and at this year's Game Developers Conference, Alone in the Dark creator Frederick Raynal pulled back the curtain on how this influential title came to be.

Video: Alone in the Dark

[Note: To access chapter selection, click the fullscreen button or check out the video on the GDC Vault website]





That classic postmortem is now available (above) for all to enjoy, courtesy of the GDC Vault. It's a rare chance to learn more about the origins of some of the most popular and effective tropes of the survival horror genre.

"I had a lot of ideas about how to scare the player," Raynal says, and he believes that one of his best was to keep players on their toes no matter what they're trying to do.

"When you're making an adventure game, you walk 80 percent of the time, and if you want to put big pressure on the player, you should just scare him based on what he does all the time," Raynal says. "That's why in the first corridor the floorboards crack under your feet and you die. Usually in a game you'd never do an unavoidable trap like this, but we did it to put on the pressure, and it worked so well."

Raynal has plenty more to share about the creation of Alone in the Dark , and to learn more simply click the Play button on the video above.
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