Creating Tension Without Breaking Belief
Hello people
This is Maciej, the creator of There’s a Gun in the Office. Last time, we talked about making a game by yourself. Today, I want to explore a challenge I faced throughout the game’s development: making a stressful/scary game while keeping it as fun as possible.
The Problem
When making a serious game, maintaining the weight of the story and gameplay can conflict with keeping the experience fun and engaging. The suspension of disbelief is far more fragile in this genre compared to others.
The illusion can easily shatter with potential bugs or strange game behaviors. In order to successfully scare — or in my case, stress out — the player, they need to believe in what’s happening. Not in a literal sense, but just enough to be affected by it.
I knew this would be a challenge from the start, so I planned accordingly. My solution began with crafting a realistic environment to help immerse players.
Anywhere in the World
Given that the core theme of the game is captivity, I wanted the world to feel ordinary — something players could subconsciously imagine happening to them. The setting is a simple apartment, a mundane space designed to feel real.
I aimed for photorealism and logical layout. Rooms have clear purposes, sizes make sense, and the decor reflects how someone might genuinely personalize their home.
By establishing this sense of normalcy, I could make elements that don’t quite fit stand out, prompting questions: Why is this here? Why would someone decorate like this? I want players to ask these questions and form their own answers.
Touching the World
The way players interact with the environment was also deliberate. I aimed for interactions that grounded them in the world rather than feeling like busy work.
This granularity serves to strengthen the player’s connection to the protagonist and deepen immersion: I’m making you, the player, do all the small moves and actions to achieve your goal, it’s not the character doing it for you.
The Conflict
On paper, this design sounds promising. But there’s a crucial element required for it to work: the player’s willingness to engage with the story.
Without that willingness, it becomes easy to poke holes, dismiss the experience, or mock its elements. There’s a dialogue between the game and the player that’s essential for the game to hold meaning — and this is very much a two-way conversation.
The Conversations
Did I follow this principle perfectly? Definitely not.
When I conceived the game, I knew it would demand a lot from players. They needed to be sensitive, willing to be influenced by the game’s tension, and determined — even stubborn — to persevere.
To make this conversation easier, I made deliberate design choices: realistic lighting, a first-person perspective, a silent protagonist, no mirrors in sightlines and many others. These decisions encourage players to project themselves into the experience rather than being reminded they’re playing a game.
On my side of the conversation, I provide stress, tension, and the feeling of being trapped (like we talked before). The player’s response varies — some fold under pressure, others get frustrated and quit. Some stumble through while others focus and execute their plans with precision.
There’s no right answer; it’s not a confrontation, but a dialogue.
During playtesting, I saw the conversation break down many times – phasing through doors, items that disappear, objectives that are unclear — a plethora of bugs and mistakes that needed to be fixed. These are the things that distract from the conversation, making the design weaker and the game less intentional.
But there was the other side as well: when the conversation happened. I saw people scared and stressed out, determined and defeated. I heard players theorize about what’s happening: What do the dreams mean? Who are we? Who are the captors? Why is there a calendar on the wall?
These conversations I saw were what I wanted to strengthen in the game and are ultimately responsible for what the game is today.
I look forward to having these conversations with you, the player, very soon!
Maciej “ragir” Dyjas
