Did the jump scare really land? Read it from how the tester stopped moving

Testers rarely say "that scared me", but their hands do. This entry shows how to tell a scare that landed from one that was shrugged off, without a camera and without asking, and why a fixed pause length misjudges calm and fast players alike.

Why this works

Fear shows as a stillness in the hands, but how still depends on the person. A fast player pauses briefly, a careful one pauses often anyway. Comparing the pause with that same tester's own rhythm just before makes one fixed limit unnecessary.

When not to use it

It fails for scares that ask for action instead of stillness, like a chase where fear makes people mash buttons, and for testers who watch with the controller down. There, ask them afterwards or watch their face.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• 29 lines of example code with 5 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "Did the jump scare really land? Read it from how the tester stopped moving" (read_entry scare-freeze-after-a-jump-scare) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP