A Zombie RTS - Some Ideas

[Outlaw Torn]

I was too lazy to read all of the other replies, but here goes nothing =P

It could be similar to Warcraft 3 in that there is a basic storyline revolving around key characters who you play as or are significant NPCs but you take control of different opposing factions. Possibly including:

Civilians - generic humans, can use basic environment items as weapons. Die easily but have large numbers or are easy to recruit into your forces.

Military - Fewer in number to Civilians but have access to better weaponry, armour and vehicles as well as fortifications. Perhaps you can recruit civilians into the military forces at a cost and only if you have a good image at the time (more to be revealed).

Corporation - The staple villainous corporation that is suspected to be behind any good zombie outbreak. They have private military forces, similar to the regular military but cannot recruit civilians. They are fewer in number to the military and have access to better weaponry but less/worse vehicles and fortifications.

Zombies - Cannot use environment weapons but can use weapons and armour they died with. They can corrupt enemies they have killed to increase the number of zombies and can also 'summon' zombies from graveyards or other places with dead bodies hanging around. Much greater in number but generally slowe moving and unable to use buildings.


Rather than being a game with huge numbers of units on the map at one time it could be smaller scale and slighty more like an RPG in that it is largely story based but also has multiplayer modes that accept larger forces. It would also revolve less around building a base and more around moving across the map, avoiding foes or getting to a target area without dieing. But will involve some of the C&C type stages for the Corporation levels. Each faction will have different play styles as they should function differently. The military can easily fight against the zombies and so will be more action oriented, like the Commando games; Civilian levels are survival and objective based; Zombie levels are more of a bonus but are similar to the civilian levels only with more units and a lot more killing and the Corporation levels are pretty much C&C type levels where you build buildings, train soldiers or hire mercenaries and try to supress revolting civilians or pesky zombies whilst avoiding military attention.

You start with a certain amount of units of various types depending on the mission, usually including your avatar type 'uber-character' that is controlled more than the rest. You might need to explore the environment to recruit more units either by finding survivors, finding miliary facilities and asking for backup or by good old fashioned neck-chomping. Sometimes you might stand no chance directly facing the enemy and so need to run away in a vehicle or to hole up in a building. But you might need to check whether a building is secure before using it if you have the time as there could be enemies inside.

Zombies obviously don't care much for these things and their missions generally revolve around killing all humans on the map within a given time or killing a target human without losing all of you rotting minions.

The Military levels are kind of like the Commando games crossed with Ghost Recon. Possibly with some FPS action, although it would be more interesting and true to the genre (that sounds so camp) if it were purely overhead typical RTS stuff. Most missions would involve having to kill groups of zombies to defend key locations, varying between small and large groups under your command.

 

[ygetoff]

That does sound like a good idea and you have some very interesting and unique concepts although there are still a few questions I have:

How would zombies justify having vehicles? Just saying that they don't have them means that they would be outclassed by the other faction's more specialised units.

While the army could easily justify having various unit types avalible, how could survivors do this? (they're essentially just rabble with guns, they wouldn't have any real organisation or structure) how could zombies do this? (it's just a horde of corpses, they certainly have no structure or hierarchy).

While it's clear what structures the army and survivors would have (military facilities and fortified structures respectively) what use would zombies have for any kind of structure?

If these things could be sorted then I think you're onto something there, keep up the good work!

Some good points there.

I reckon you could just have powerful zombies in place of vehicles for the zombie faction. Balancing would just be a matter of giving them the right stats.

I pictured the survivors as having some sort of organisation, rather than being outright anarchic. You know, banding together for mutual benefit. THe zombies, well that's a bit tricky. Hive-minds area bit overdone, I feel, so perhaps they aren't entirely mindless but have a primitive sentience of some sort. This might take a lot of further consideration.

Zombie structures could be mutation centres or something. I'd maybe need to sort out how the game's infection works to get some better and more plausible ideas.

According to the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, zombies have no intelligence whatsoever. They operate on sheer instinct.
So maybe zombies would be an unplayable faction. The Army, instead of trying to kill civilians, would operate with them. Both side's objective would be to kill the zombies. It could work as a co-op RTS, with one player playing the Army, (strong units, bad for resource gathering or moving), and one player would be the survivors (weaker units, better resource gathering and mobility). The onyl problem is that an RTS doesn't convey the sense of desperation inherit in a zombie apocalypse. There's a reason that the only zombie games are first or third-person based. A zoomed out view of people that you're not directly controlling isn't as intense and personal as having to go around every darkened corner yourself.

 

[peterwolfe]

The onyl problem is that an RTS doesn't convey the sense of desperation inherit in a zombie apocalypse. There's a reason that the only zombie games are first or third-person based. A zoomed out view of people that you're not directly controlling isn't as intense and personal as having to go around every darkened corner yourself.

Maybe third-person game play would be better, like fable, but with less british people and with no magic.

 

[ygetoff]

I was too lazy to read all of the other replies, but here goes nothing =P

It could be similar to Warcraft 3 in that there is a basic storyline revolving around key characters who you play as or are significant NPCs but you take control of different opposing factions. Possibly including:

Civilians - generic humans, can use basic environment items as weapons. Die easily but have large numbers or are easy to recruit into your forces.

Military - Fewer in number to Civilians but have access to better weaponry, armour and vehicles as well as fortifications. Perhaps you can recruit civilians into the military forces at a cost and only if you have a good image at the time (more to be revealed).

Corporation - The staple villainous corporation that is suspected to be behind any good zombie outbreak. They have private military forces, similar to the regular military but cannot recruit civilians. They are fewer in number to the military and have access to better weaponry but less/worse vehicles and fortifications.

Zombies - Cannot use environment weapons but can use weapons and armour they died with. They can corrupt enemies they have killed to increase the number of zombies and can also 'summon' zombies from graveyards or other places with dead bodies hanging around. Much greater in number but generally slowe moving and unable to use buildings.


Rather than being a game with huge numbers of units on the map at one time it could be smaller scale and slighty more like an RPG in that it is largely story based but also has multiplayer modes that accept larger forces. It would also revolve less around building a base and more around moving across the map, avoiding foes or getting to a target area without dieing. But will involve some of the C&C type stages for the Corporation levels. Each faction will have different play styles as they should function differently. The military can easily fight against the zombies and so will be more action oriented, like the Commando games; Civilian levels are survival and objective based; Zombie levels are more of a bonus but are similar to the civilian levels only with more units and a lot more killing and the Corporation levels are pretty much C&C type levels where you build buildings, train soldiers or hire mercenaries and try to supress revolting civilians or pesky zombies whilst avoiding military attention.

You start with a certain amount of units of various types depending on the mission, usually including your avatar type 'uber-character' that is controlled more than the rest. You might need to explore the environment to recruit more units either by finding survivors, finding miliary facilities and asking for backup or by good old fashioned neck-chomping. Sometimes you might stand no chance directly facing the enemy and so need to run away in a vehicle or to hole up in a building. But you might need to check whether a building is secure before using it if you have the time as there could be enemies inside.

Zombies obviously don't care much for these things and their missions generally revolve around killing all humans on the map within a given time or killing a target human without losing all of you rotting minions.

The Military levels are kind of like the Commando games crossed with Ghost Recon. Possibly with some FPS action, although it would be more interesting and true to the genre (that sounds so camp) if it were purely overhead typical RTS stuff. Most missions would involve having to kill groups of zombies to defend key locations, varying between small and large groups under your command.

This could be interesting. Instead of focusing on resource gathering, you would have a set amount of units to accomplish a certain objective, and you receive a few more every time you complete a "mini" objective. It could be first person, in the style of the battlefield games, lots of units that are semi-autonomous, they accept orders from you but can also do things by themselves.

 

[mark_n_b]

zombies == need to be avoided for game themes. Your mechanics have to be more than solid and your theme more than unique to justify a played out thing like the zombie invasion.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

I was too lazy to read all of the other replies, but here goes nothing =P

It could be similar to Warcraft 3 in that there is a basic storyline revolving around key characters who you play as or are significant NPCs but you take control of different opposing factions. Possibly including:

Civilians - generic humans, can use basic environment items as weapons. Die easily but have large numbers or are easy to recruit into your forces.

Military - Fewer in number to Civilians but have access to better weaponry, armour and vehicles as well as fortifications. Perhaps you can recruit civilians into the military forces at a cost and only if you have a good image at the time (more to be revealed).

Corporation - The staple villainous corporation that is suspected to be behind any good zombie outbreak. They have private military forces, similar to the regular military but cannot recruit civilians. They are fewer in number to the military and have access to better weaponry but less/worse vehicles and fortifications.

Zombies - Cannot use environment weapons but can use weapons and armour they died with. They can corrupt enemies they have killed to increase the number of zombies and can also 'summon' zombies from graveyards or other places with dead bodies hanging around. Much greater in number but generally slowe moving and unable to use buildings.


Rather than being a game with huge numbers of units on the map at one time it could be smaller scale and slighty more like an RPG in that it is largely story based but also has multiplayer modes that accept larger forces. It would also revolve less around building a base and more around moving across the map, avoiding foes or getting to a target area without dieing. But will involve some of the C&C type stages for the Corporation levels. Each faction will have different play styles as they should function differently. The military can easily fight against the zombies and so will be more action oriented, like the Commando games; Civilian levels are survival and objective based; Zombie levels are more of a bonus but are similar to the civilian levels only with more units and a lot more killing and the Corporation levels are pretty much C&C type levels where you build buildings, train soldiers or hire mercenaries and try to supress revolting civilians or pesky zombies whilst avoiding military attention.

You start with a certain amount of units of various types depending on the mission, usually including your avatar type 'uber-character' that is controlled more than the rest. You might need to explore the environment to recruit more units either by finding survivors, finding miliary facilities and asking for backup or by good old fashioned neck-chomping. Sometimes you might stand no chance directly facing the enemy and so need to run away in a vehicle or to hole up in a building. But you might need to check whether a building is secure before using it if you have the time as there could be enemies inside.

Zombies obviously don't care much for these things and their missions generally revolve around killing all humans on the map within a given time or killing a target human without losing all of you rotting minions.

The Military levels are kind of like the Commando games crossed with Ghost Recon. Possibly with some FPS action, although it would be more interesting and true to the genre (that sounds so camp) if it were purely overhead typical RTS stuff. Most missions would involve having to kill groups of zombies to defend key locations, varying between small and large groups under your command.

This could be interesting. Instead of focusing on resource gathering, you would have a set amount of units to accomplish a certain objective, and you receive a few more every time you complete a "mini" objective. It could be first person, in the style of the battlefield games, lots of units that are semi-autonomous, they accept orders from you but can also do things by themselves.

I forgot to mention how you could assign different roles to your units depending on items you find in the environment =o

Your character can interact more with the enviroment, opening doors/containers freely. Obviously you could order another unit to open it as well to be a bit more tactical. But if you found loads of medi-kits, you could equip them to a single unit and they would then become more like a medic (not officially changing type, just accepting a different role and acting differently to your orders). Giving a unit more weapons will make them more aggressive and they will be the first to spring into action when you issue an attack command.

 

[Roxim Teaga]

I think the Military should be the most 'defensive' as really their only objective is containment, however why they dont just carpet bomb the whole city?

Zombie spawn from graveyards. Each zombie team starts with one graveyard that periodically spawns more zombies.

Miltiary units spawn from airdrops or whatever, so Military needs a Comms Centre

Survivors spawn from secret tunnels. They start with a secret tunnel.

Randomly NPC characters appear on the map that are VIPs (mayor, scientist, MIA sniper, Engineer, whatever)

Each team has a motivation to capture that person and add their skills to their team (For the military it explains why they aren't carpet bombing the place as well)

Zombies are zerg

Army is Terrans

Survivors are protoss

SURVIVORS

Real focus on individual characters. Low unit pop but no or low doubling up (i.e you can only have one of most units)

I think the survivors should be rarer, but have heaps of special skills as they know the terrain better. They may not have all the hardware of the army but they have the 'Bruce Campbell' factor of just being fucking heroes. A survivor player has to be good at micromanaging units who have lots of skills but aren't necessarily that tough.

So An individual survivor unit 'Jimmy the gas station attendant' Has a special flamethrower ability that can toast like 15 zombies easily but its on a timer. He might have other powers like 'skate or die' where he hops on his deck and skates off super fast.

Most units will be individuals or small groups (The Dirty three... a group of Mariachi's/gunslingers influenced by the film Desperado)


ARMY

Focus on modern military, track wheeled robot scouts, full spec soldiers, tactical attack choppers, laser guidance, cover, long range assaults, protocol etc.

Army has more long range firepower then the Zombies but their units are weaker. An army player values his squads and their synergy. To achieve maximum effectiveness the player has to employee complex tactics

For example a missile strike relies on several factors. The player upgrades his radar facility to enable missile strikes. Each attack takes 30 seconds to mobilize a chopper into the battle area. The chopper will then do a fly over that lasts 5-10 seconds. Army player has to enable laser targeting from one of his ground units on the target. Also if he enables two laser sights from an angle of 90 degrees or greater the damage of the attack is increased by x%

If the player fails to employee laser sighting on the target then the chopper aborts the mission and the timer is reset.

In this way the Army player uses the abilities of his ground squads to support off map and special abilities. A military player plays like a modern military outfit

Military is also bound by some rules of Engagement. Some units may no leave cover if there is too many zombies present, and if a small force of military is vastly outnumbered by scary zombies they may panic and flee to random parts of the map or cower in a corner somewhere.

Also Military cannot engage Survivors without being engaged by them first. This is set to a timer as well. Several units will have close range taser or tear gas attacks that are not bound by these rules and allow the Military player to indirectly influence the game even if the survivor does not engage

ZOMBIE

Zombies players will be rewarded for moving units in mixed packs. In this way it promotes the 'horde of undead' approach that we all want to see. Units might include meatshields, brain eaters, screamers (that increase the fear level), Heavies (good for moving debris to create road blocks, Hurlers, thrall, Nimblers (fast, weak stun units that can jump from building to building scale walls etc).

Zombies have a keen sense of smell, so unit indicators may appear outside of LOS, however these may not specifically stat what units, just that there are units in that vicinity.

Also I think Darkness, mist, fog and rain should all play a big part in the game. Zombie units, as they are primarily low tech, will be the least affected by this.

I could go on....

I like the ideas for Army and Zombies to a large degree, but disagree with survivors because this would make them too odd to play for many (and alot of people would want to play survivors i get the feeling). A good idea would be to take say, a Company of Hero's neutral city environment, army would start on the outskirts of the map where as survivors could pick where they start, a local school? a mall? hospital? from there, they start with scrounged weapons, handguns and misc. Melee or short ranged weapons and as they start secure buildings, they scavenge them for better weapons and supplies (supplies limited of course, forcing them to move from building to building and focus on other large buildings they could've started off in,better weapons such as assault rifles, shotguns and the like could be found randomly in some buildings but incredibly rare?) Workers could fortify buildings for survivors to take cover in and make roadblocks to stop smaller zombies.

Someone mentioned earlier that zombies should be able to take cover in buildings and ambush folks that go in which i might add is another great idea. as the game goes on, and higher 'Tiers of technology' are gained, better and better gear can be handed out to survivors, or collected up from gun shops in limited number, another idea for zombies is army members they infect could have more damage resistance from projectiles because of their body armor while survivors generally move faster if they lack it which brings up another point, survivors should also be able to rig traps for zombies and army alike (Tripwire bombs, booby-trap buildings and the like. Survivors should also be capable of moving neutral vehicles for transportation or be used as a makeshift barricade, As another note, zombies could start off with a few zombies and attack various neutral civilians, as they grow in number they get a larger 'infection' rating (Kind've like Dawn of War's Ork's WAAGH) allowing them to evolve their standard zombies into better breeds, some similar to hunters from the new game Left 4 Dead which are far faster than most other breeds but weaker in life and armor, make good scouts and do decent damage but most ranged units can pick them off long before arrival, 'Poppers' which would make good ambush units which explode when close enough releasing a cloud of spores or bile of some sort which have a chance to infect their victims, turning them into zombies eventually, later on army could issue out gas masks to reduce the % chance of infection, Finally would be Juggernaut, another from the Left 4 Dead which would resemble a Tank, just about impervious to gunfire but fire or traps can rip them apart finally, the Fear meter ( similar to Company of hero's Morale bar ) would be just how much will they have before the survivor/army units start panicking, panicked units are inaccurate and generally dont do as well in combat, but have a bonus to running (Fear is a good motivation for getting the hell out of dodge) Also, Anyone whos played the game Mass effect or studied into the background probably knows about the Geth, Sentient robots who alone are fairly unintelligent, but in large groups gain a collective mind capable of thought, Maybe a bonus to vision or specific stats when in close proximity with large groups of other zombies? (Similar to C&C General's Horde buff given to China for having large numbers of 'Red Guard' in close proximity to one another)

 

[JerichoWing]

Something like this already exists. It's called Undead Knights but its for PSP but this would make an excellent PC title.

 

[Milo42]

I'd like to direct you to Zombie Master, a Half Life 2 mod. It does half of this, meaning one player, using an RTS interface, controls the zombies, and the survivors play a First Person Shooter. Check it out at zombiemaster.org.

 

[Dahemo]

I don't think there's enough balance here. You're talking about three totally different types of forces. It's a game with potential and incredible character but any decently organised military player will always win, I'm a big RTS fan so it's an issue close to my heart. Here's what I suggest:

SURVIVORS

Amputation: When a survivor is bitten, they can avoid zombification once or twice by using this ability, although their combat ability does take a hit, or their speed. Army units, by comparison, will die after being bitten, then reanimate.

Experience: The survivors are in danger of standing still developmentally, the zombies will grow in number and the army will grow in tech, so the survivors need an edge too. Due to low numbers all survivors would need to be combat functional, so the more zombie encounters they survive (plus the number of kills they clock up) made them tougher and tougher opponents.

Knowledge: In films, survivors learn the most from combat and it's consequences, specifically nullified zombies. If they return a fallen zombie to their hideout, they can research and gain abilities for the group, such as damage bonuses against that type of zombie, stealth techniques (hiding the scent, movement is less detectable/makes less sound) or map reveals ("This zombie's covered in feathers, the pet store isn't safe" for a bad example)

ZOMBIES

Surprises: Zombies ALWAYS break in, somehow. When a horde reaches a certain size, they can use any building on the map to deploy from for a limited time, ideally behind a blockade to break through and kill the defenders.

Mob Power: Zombies become more powerful when they work together, the bigger the group, the bigger the bonus to each member, but individuals should be slow and easy to fight off. However, individuals are very aware, and can be used to scout around and find humans, whilst mobs have small detection ranges and can easily miss hiding humans. Zombie charges should be devestating if caught unawares but manageable if seen early.

Roles: Depending on how "real" you want the game, you could look into Resident Evil style freakshows or just variants on standard zombies: runners, dogs, birds, fat guys. Each with their own ability sets and roles within the horde. Those facings zombies should have to consider the various types they may face plus the added headache of growing numbers as time rolls on

ARMY

Retreat: A major reason why soldiers aren't all conquering badasses in the films is fear. If too many of a unit are lost the soldiers "break", with severe penalties to any combat they undertake, but no involuntary fleeing because that would be very annoying indeed. The army player should use contingency plans and be prepared to retreat his men

HQ: Big bonuses with one established, but it is time consuming to set up and requires man power when operational, before it is set up and after it is destroyed, forces are much less powerful and effective. A priority of the gameplay for all sides to either establish or destroy the HQ

Limited Resources: Like all big, responsible governments, this country hasn't funded it's military particularly well, and while they have access to some cool tech, it's use should be very limited and it can decide the game in either how well it is employed or how poorly it is wasted.

GAMEPLAY

The major "combat" should be between the army and zombies, with the survivors caught in the middle, using their skills to stay alive. Ideally, an army player will want to contain and control, a zombie user will create chaos and build momentum, and a survivor player will play the two off against each other, mop up what's left and maintain hideout security

Players should be able to use any combination of armies, but survivors vs. zombies would have to be base defence, army vs. zombies could theoretically happen anywhere, survivors vs. army would need maps that helped the survivor player, not wide open space, and zombie vs. zombie would be fun anywhere too, along with the other two same-type matches.

Just my thoughts on the matter...

 

[Roxim Teaga]

aside from amputation that all sounds good but considering in most cases the virus would probably spread way too fast for one to amputate the limb in time to stop the infection...

 

[CanadianWolverine]

aside from amputation that all sounds good but considering in most cases the virus would probably spread way too fast for one to amputate the limb in time to stop the infection...

Well, perhaps a more bizarre route would be to claim survivors are immune, where as military are not. So, while one may have more bad ass hardware and the training to use it, the other doesn't boost zombie numbers when they die.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

Maybe zombies could evolve if you leave zombie corpses lieing around, so they eat fallen zombies either to recover some health and eventually become a higher ranked zombie. That way simply killing hoardes of zombies isn't enough, you need to dispose of the bodies, hide them or use them to set traps or divert enemy attention so you can escape from one area to another.

And how about making survivors partially immune after they have amputated at least one limb, so they have more time to seek treatment before they turn into a zombie.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Actually, the game might be better if it were a lone, ultra powerful necromancer who has raised an army of the dead to gain control of a country.

He could have these altars which draw the souls of the dead in as a resource for advanced options, but the only way to build the altars is to gain access to "brainwashed cultists" who worship the necromancer like a god. For that, he would need a building for the cultists.

The "soul energy" could be used to upgrade cultists and zombies into powerful boss characters, such as Cultist Master and Berserker.

Effectively, the cultists are the builders, the zombies are the soldiers.

 

[TaborMallory]

Maybe, just....... maybe............ if someone called Blizzard.

What if the military people all played in FPS mode..? In the same way Starwars Battlefront (Don't judge from the title, Battlefront was one of a fuckin' kind when it first came out) did, where there's a large army and the player can switch to any one of them.

That might bring their shear force and deadliness to manageable levels. Plus, it would be hella sweet.

 

[Spleeni]

I don't see why everyone is going for a C&C or Starcraft-esque gameplay style.

Creativity!

I see a couple ways that we could make this unique; and the first is NOT making the various sides perfectly equal in every way. There doesn't need to be a base melee unit, a ranged unit, the utility....it's zombies versus humanity! I'd say that the humans get a chance to enhance their entrenchments, and that's about it.

I suppose that there could be a set campain of sorts, going off of a giant world map. It could be Army vs. Cultists, or just Army vs. Zombies, but I'd think that using the last reminants of the army would be slightly more kickass than four guys with shotguns. The survivors and civilians could be used more as the resource driving both the armies, than a side in their own right.

Perhaps a campain would start out with either the army fighting back in the least infected areas, and pushing into the heart of a gigantic zombie/cultist zone. The cultists would start in a pure world and infest it from there.

The only problem I see with this idea, are people trying to model a new game off the old games. The old ones were good, but there needs to be a little difference in gameplay! Having the tried and true build base -> stomp heads -> stomp base could easily be changed to stomp heads -> stomp large amounts of heads -> stomp EVERYONE'S head. I would like to see a constant flow of combat, than have a base race. This is a zombie game, and it should play like a zombie game.

Who cares about the story?

Zombies be there, get to killin'

Story done.

Okay, maybe cultists could be thrown in for multiplayer (or maybe just as an asset to the zombies). Give the cultists a chance to herd the zombies one way or another, versus the army being able to give direct orders.

 

[brettman170]

*snip snip* I could go on....

This. Now.

Only thing I disagree with is the protocol aspect of the army. If they aren't allowed to shoot survivors until they are fired upon, the survivors could just not attack the army and there'd be no threat to them. I think it works fine that the military is under orders to shoot on sight, to eliminate any threat of dormant, infected survivors breaking the quarantine.

 

[spuddyt]

did anyone ever try the zombie master mod for HL2? basically one person plays it like an RTS, controls zombies and traps, while 15 humans run around like the fodder they are and try to complete the map - very fun game, but seems rather dead since l4d came out

 

[s0ap sudz]

AWESOME!!1

 

[stormcaller]

I think it would be pretty cool if whatever you killed with your zombies came out different on the other end so basically your whole army is rag-tag you might have some survivor zombies, some army zombies etc.

A heroes idea would be pretty cool to or maybe if it's only for the survivors.

Anyhow great idea enjoy all the money,fame and money you'll get whenever you tell someone about this.