APEX of Fear

29/10/2022

Today we visited Go' morgen Danmark og Go' aften LIVE and talked about our horror game, research and the sweet spot of fear.

Watch the whole segment on TV2 PLAY.

Se med i Go' morgen Danmark og Go' aften LIVE på TV2 her kl. 8.15, hvor DYSTOPIA og APEX of Fear invaderer studiet 😈

11/10/2022

Check out this new video from the Recreational Fear Lab and our APEX of Fear project!

Are you joining us at the StartupAarhus Slush'D exhibition on Thursday to learn more? We can't wait!

Learn more about the event here:
👉🏼 https://www.startupaarhus.com/slushd-aarhus

10/10/2022

We’re exhibiting at Aarhus Slush’D! 🗣

A bit of Finnish startup magic is coming to Aarhus this October - We’re planning on soaking it up and chatting with investors, founders, and potential partners at our exhibition booth! 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽

The debut of Aarhus Slush'D unites 700 participants from the Danish startup community, international investors, and founders. On October 13th, Filmbyen will be exploding with compelling speakers, unique networking opportunities, and intriguing exhibitors.

We’re looking forward to meeting a ton of new people. If you’ll be there, let us know!

👉🏼 https://www.startupaarhus.com/slushd-aarhus
StartupAarhus

22/08/2022

For the APEX of Fear experience, the music and sounds will be dynamic and change according to the physiology of the players, in order to keep them in the sweet spot of fear. This is being developed by our sound designer Thomas Carnell.

Watch a demo of how the soundscape will be regulated below.

Dynamic music and sounds based on physiologicals for the APEX of Fear VR project.Made by Thomas Carnell.

17/07/2022

Day well spent doing photoshoot, testimonials and recording video for Recreational Fear Lab 🎥

Video: Videolab
Photo: Jacob Papsø

12/07/2022

We recently visited the ATU Midt summer camp to talk to some very nice and engaged high school students about horror research, and show off the physiological measuring tech for the APEX of Fear project.

We had several students asking whether the project would result in a commercial product, because they really wanted to try it out after our demonstration! Seems we're on to something here... 🧟🥼🤩

17/06/2022

COPENHELL invited Recreational Fear Lab to come demonstrate the APEX of Fear technology at their new nerd-area COPENHELL Con 2022 🤓 There were many curious visitors who tried our phobia calibration demo, which includes spiders (arachnophobia), heights (acrophobia) and small spaces (claustrophobia) 🕷️🏗️

Psychologist and tech-wiz Thomas Terkildsen was in charge of the technology and horror researcher PhD. Mathias Clasen gave a presentation on the paradox of recreational fear 😱

Hopefully we'll be back next year with even more content and phobias 🤘🏻😈

06/06/2022

Join us for the Second Annual Aarhus Worshop on Recreational Fear on Tuesday June 14th!

The event is free and open to all, and participants can attend physically (Aarhus University) or via Zoom. Registration is required by June 12 via link: http://tiny.cc/6wbsuz

Check out the impressive list of speakers below:

17/05/2022

Inge from Ultra Nyt stopped by our lab last week to try our VR phobia calibration system. You can now see how it went on the link below (the segment starts at 04.49 and is in Danish).

Thank you so much to Ultra Nyt for coming by! We hope you had a frighteningly great time 😱

04/05/2022

Jyllands-Posten has written an exciting piece about our VR phobia calibration system presented at the Danish Science Festival (Forskningens Døgn) at Aarhus University.

The phobia calibration system is developed by Thomas Terkildsen and colleagues.

https://jyllands-posten.dk/jpaarhus/ECE13960472/jeg-er-sgu-godt-nok-lidt-nervoes-for-at-skulle-ind-i-saadan-en-der-forskere-undersoeger-hvorfor-vi-nyder-det-der-skraemmer-os-og-en-dag-maalte-de-min-frygt/?st=1

(access requires a paid subscription)

På Aarhus Universitet findes en gruppe forskere, der bruger deres vågne timer på at finde ud af, akkurat hvor gyseligt det må være, før det bliver ubehageligt. For hvorfor er det, at vi mennesker får nydelse ud af at blive skræmt fra vid og sans?

25/04/2022

What are YOU afraid of? 😱

We are investigating how common and prevalent various phobias are. The data will be used when designing our VR experience!

It would be greatly appreciated if you would use a few minutes going through our list of phobias ❤

The questionnaire can be answered on pc, tablet or phone. There is also a Danish version in the comments to this post. Please only fill out the English OR Danish version, so we don't register your answers twice.

Please share this post on your timeline and/or tag people in the comments.

Thank you 😃

This questionnaire consists of 2 parts. In the first part we ask about your fears. In the second part we ask about your gender and age.

25/02/2022

Yesterday we met up for a full day of talking game design, narrative and concept, as well as playtesting equipment and trying out various VR games and experiences.

We're very excited about our ideas for the project and can't wait to share some more content with all of you! =D

24/02/2022

TEST SUBJECTS WANTED

We are currently looking for people for a short horror game experiment as part of a preliminary study. On top of helping horror research and our APEX project, you can win a gift card worth 1.000 kroners!

The trial will be on a computer with sensors on your body, lasts about an hour and takes place at Aarhus University. Participants must be 18 years or older to play. The experiment is in English, but doesn't require advanced language skills.

The data collection takes place 9-19 o'clock Monday to Friday this week and next week. You can book a time that fits you here: https://horrorgamestudy.youcanbook.me/

We hope you want to participate! You can share this post and/or tag your friends in the comments.

06/02/2022

This week we had a team meeting to kick off the project! To accomplish our ambitious project, we've put together a who's who of experts in the field of affective gaming, horror research, VR and interactive horror events. This includes:

- Horror-researcher PhD. Mathias Clasen from Aarhus Universitet, who studies recreational fear.
- Psychologist Thomas Terkildsen, who specializes in psychophysiology.
- Architect of Fear and co-owner of Dystopia Entertainment, M.Sc. Jonas Vázquez Bøgh, designer of interactive horror events.
- Professor Regan Mandryk, who pioneered this field through her work with video game giant Electronic Arts.
- Professor Lennart Nacke, who is a world-renowned expert on games user research.
- Professor Georgios N. Yannakakis Yannakakis, expert in “affective computing in the wild” and data-driven player modeling.

Follow us for more updates on the project!

01/02/2022

Did you miss out on our launch event yesterday? Don't worry - we've got you covered!

In the presentation below, horror researcher Mathias Clasen, psychologist Thomas Terkildsen and Architect of Fear Jonas Vázquez Bøgh explain our new state-of-the-art VR horror project with 3 short talks - enjoy!

This video contains short presentations from team members Mathias Clasen and Thomas Terkildsen (both Recreational Fear Lab, Aarhus University) and Jonas “Arc...

31/01/2022

Join us at 14:30 - 15:30 (CET) for an online one-hour kick-off event with short presentations from team members horror researcher PhD. Mathias Clasen and psychologist Thomas Terkildsen (both Recreational Fear Lab, Aarhus Universitet) and Architect of Fear Jonas Vázquez Bøgh (Dystopia Entertainment):

Mathias will present the horror research that has led up to APEX of Fear.

Thomas will demonstrate and showcase some of the technology for the project and outline the project plans.

Jonas will situate the project in the current landscape of recreational fear industries and explain how it aligns with current entertainment trends of putting "me" in media.

We look forward to seeing you! Join via link below:

https://aaudk.zoom.us/j/66365585256
Meeting ID: 663 6558 5256
Passcode: 638963

27/01/2022

👉 UPDATE ON KICK-OFF EVENT 👈

The kick-off event for our research project on Monday January 31st, 2022 will be ONLINE ONLY.

If you plan to attend, please sign up for Zoom attendance via the event page: www.apexoffear.com/invitation/

We look forward to sharing our plans with you 😈

24/01/2022

On January 31, 2022, we're hosting a kick-off event for our new research project!

Everybody is welcome, but do please sign up (for Zoom attendance) via the event page: https://apexoffear.com/invitation/