Jumpscares

Jumpscares have come to define the experience of many horror games, making them a fundamental element in their overall design and narrative. They are those surprising, startling moments that occur suddenly, often without warning, triggering an intense fear response from the player.

To define a jumpscare, simply add the Jumpscare Trigger component to the trigger object. You can choose between Direct, Indirect and Audio jumpscare types. Within each jumpscare type, you can set the Trigger Type.

By setting the Trigger Type to Event, you will need to call the Jumpscare Trigger -> TriggerJumpscare() method using Unity Event or using your desired method.

Direct Jumpscare

The first type, the Direct Jumpscare, further divides into two subtypes - the Image Jumpscare and the Model Jumpscare. Both are designed to appear straight onto the player's screen, triggering an immediate scare.

Direct Image Jumpscare

Direct Model Jumpscare

To define a Direct Model Jumpscare type, you must assign a Jumpscare model and set the Model ID so that it can be used within the Jumpscare Trigger component.

1. The HEROPLAYER object contains a component called Jumpscare Direct in which you can define your direct jumpscares. The Model Object should be placed inside the JumpscareHolder object, which is the parent of the PlayerVirtualCamera object.

1. In the Jumpscare Trigger component, set the Jumpscare Model ID to the Model ID you defined in the Jumpscare Direct component.

Indirect Jumpscare

Then there are Indirect Jumpscares, which involve event-driven animations that appear at specific locations in the game environment.

Indirect Jumpscare

Within the Indirect Jumpscare type, you have additional option to enable Look At Jumpscare. This will rotate the player's view to Look At Target. You have the option to lock the player, which will prevent the player from moving during the jumpscare.

If you enable the End Jumpscare With Event option, the jumpscare will only be ended when you call the Jumpscare Trigger ->TriggerJumpscareEnded() method.

Audio Jumpscare

The third type is Audio Jumpscares, which relies on the sudden blast of a loud noise to create a sense of panic and fear in the player.

Look At Jumpscare

Lastly, the kit offers a unique kind of jumpscare that combines the "Look At" feature with any of the previous types of jumpscares. The characteristic feature of this type of jumpscare is that it is activated only when the player's view is directed to a specific object in the game.

In the Jumpscare Trigger component, set the Trigger Type to Event. Then create a look at target object, add a Look At Trigger component, and assign the Jumpscare Trigger -> TriggerJumpscare() method to the On Look At event.

Jumpscare Effects

When the jumpscare occurs, you can enable the Wobble and Fear effect. The Wobble effect uses Cinemachine to shake the camera. The Fear effect is a bit more complex, as it uses a shader blit method to display Amnesia: Rebirth like fear tentacles at the edges of the screen.

To activate the effects, you just need to enable the toggle located beside the titles Influence Wobble or Influence Fear.

Fear Tentacles Effect