If you were to make a survival horror...
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...Legion said:
play survival crisis z.
just do it.
me? probably RE4 if you put in a cthulhian/lovecraftian/whateverian setting.
and like, your a half god or something, and it ends with you kill azathoth (the leader of the outergods/old ones.
i dunno, the whole zombie thing has been done, too often i think, what with every fanboy making a mod for any moddable game available...
something subtle, done properly it would initially act kind of a shlub sim, you just going about daily routines, and whatnot, and then subtly things go "sideways" so to speak, like waking visions kind of overlaying the real world, and as the game progresses just gets worse and worse, and the visions start affecting you physically attacking, etc. and attacking people around you, however your perception of this "other world is based upon the number of people around you, the more "alone" you are, the more likely the creatures come after you, the more "normal disbelievers" around you the less likely you are of being attacked.
think silent hill meets h.p. lovecraft
something subtle, done properly it would initially act kind of a shlub sim, you just going about daily routines, and whatnot, and then subtly things go "sideways" so to speak, like waking visions kind of overlaying the real world, and as the game progresses just gets worse and worse, and the visions start affecting you physically attacking, etc. and attacking people around you, however your perception of this "other world is based upon the number of people around you, the more "alone" you are, the more likely the creatures come after you, the more "normal disbelievers" around you the less likely you are of being attacked.
think silent hill meets h.p. lovecraft
This is pretty in-depth, thought I'd 'spoiler' it so its not a giant block of text in the thread.
In the end, its a lot of ideas and making it all work well enough would be a job unto itself, but I would LOVE to play this completed product...
Edit: I'll go so far to give it a name! Something simple but practical... Survival Mode.
Seeing the words 'open world' a lot. Sure, not a bad thing, but kind of a turn off. I'd want to make something linear but able to radically change each play through. The idea is slightly derived of L4D's AI Director concept. Your overall goal, like in most horror scenarios, is achieve a momentary or permanent respite; Either in escape or death...
I wouldn't want players to spend to much time scavenging, since it would quickly become tedious and ruin replay value in my opinion. I would rather there be a sense of urgency. The longer the survivors spend loafing around, the more creatures become aware of their presence. I'd like confrontation and even death to be rather sudden and subtle. Instead of 100+ flesh eating creatures charging at you down a 4-lane highway your party might be cutting through a parking lot and suddenly a hunting party of creatures are assaulting you from the air and through the asphalt. A sort of 'shock' scare that could end up pretty bloody...
Building on the concept of 'party', I would like this to be a primarily Co-op game. I would like multiplayer aspect to work kind of like a game of Table top DnD. Several people (connected to the internet) sit down to play an expected 2-hour match. It can either be randomized or friend initiated game, of (at max) 20 or so players.
Your goals within the game are define-able before you start. You could choose to find a place to hole-up (A small town or a hospital) and wait out the duration of the game (When all people defined as 'escapers' have escaped, died, or changed their mind.). You could simply escape. A third route would be a 'survivalist' approach, win by enemy depopulation. The final option would be attempting to contact people outside of the 'closed circle' situation, asking for help. Could be someone as big as the government or a shady connection. This last idea would come with strings attached though, such as collecting undamaged DNA samples of particular types of enemies or even other players. Dead or alive. With this last group of people and others waiting on 'escapers' to flee or die, it can become a game of 'who can I trust?' as well as 'what might come and eat me in the night?'
Each time you start a game, with your goal decided, 'ideas' would be given to each player. Say you decide to escape, your might be given the idea to head south to an ocean, fleeing the situation on boat. If you decide to hole up, your idea might be to cross through a city, quickly grabbing what you can carry and retreating to your child-hood tree house in the boondocks. Adding a competitive element, each player would also be given 'doubts'. A doubt would be something that would eat at your characters sanity in the middle of a game-night. An example of a doubt would be if your Ex-girlfriend, who's break up wasn't so mutual, was still alive. Resolving your doubts would tally up a score, ranking players in the match from top to bottom. Of course, the ranking is trivial depending on how you want to play that individual game. She was probably a narcissist anyways, let her rot for all you care, right? Or, even if I decide to check, could I convince anyone to follow me on such a foolish whim?
These are just the game flow ideas, haven't touched on game-play ideas. I'd like there to be a 'Skill and abilities system'. Before a match you can pick special abilitys, things that might help you achieve your goals and doubts. Say your going the survivalist route and might spend a large amount of time going it alone. You might want a basic ability like pack-mule to carry more stuff and something like Will to Live, to break enemy grapples without assistance. Skills are far more mundane and randomly assigned to each player but they are often crucial to someones survival (Someone might be looking for you to save their life!). Recall the idea of escaping over a southern sea, its your first idea but you might not have any sort of nautical experience. Finding a player with such a skill and either learning the skill or convincing them to escape with you adds a dynamic game-play element. A human element. Several contingency's exist because of the human element. You, interacting with another, could be positive, mutual, or negative. Say you need to find Player X and bring them to the contact point for extraction. Simple enough, but say the leader of Player X's party begins to use X as a bargaining tool. It could be a simple 'find 4 days worth of food and you can have X'. Such a situation can turn violent though if X simply wishes to leave or the group looking for X refuses to do as asked.
Depending on the current enemy your abilities, equipment, and goals a confrontation can change greatly. Standard equipment might be some sort of backpack with a loadage limit depending on its quality and your skills. Items can be placed in the pack (it'll be an amazing pack, not limited to realistic space constraints.) or taken from the pack and placed on, say, a table. Doing so with food and ammo is rather basic, these such items being something a group will commonly share (If you wish to...). Special items and machines can also be found which, for the people with the skills to use them can turn out better items. Say this old Granny knows exactly how to can veggies and meats. Get her a gas-oven, a large pot, some water, jars, and said foodstuffs and you got some preserved items that could cut down on your risky excursions. Say this Burly man worked as a mine foreman and has explicit knowledge of structural integrity and explosives. Get a make-shift chem set and basic chemicals and you could make explosives for defensive and offensive purposes.
The game would be presented in third-person view, suited for melee/firearm combat and examining things closely. A third compliment to fighting would be trap making. With the right items you could make and mark traps for later survival. Being able to identify your threats, accurately and quickly, should become second nature. Reaction should become your primary instinct, picking and choosing targets; What to shoot, what to lure into traps. Fleeing is also a valid option, when a few demented crows aren't worth your dwindling ammo supply.
I'm pretty iffy on the horror, since my biggest fears are Chainsaws and decapitations (Guess what I been playing...). Gore will be a big part of the experience, as well as a 'bipolar' atmosphere. Extreme tension should reign over the game, with simple fears being played up. Some of those fears are walking out of darkness (Its pitch black and your walking into a well lit area. You know your safe but you just get an uncontrollable feeling something MIGHT be behind you.), being alone or cut off from your group, odd sounds that you can't pin to a reasonable (or safe) thing.
I wouldn't want players to spend to much time scavenging, since it would quickly become tedious and ruin replay value in my opinion. I would rather there be a sense of urgency. The longer the survivors spend loafing around, the more creatures become aware of their presence. I'd like confrontation and even death to be rather sudden and subtle. Instead of 100+ flesh eating creatures charging at you down a 4-lane highway your party might be cutting through a parking lot and suddenly a hunting party of creatures are assaulting you from the air and through the asphalt. A sort of 'shock' scare that could end up pretty bloody...
Building on the concept of 'party', I would like this to be a primarily Co-op game. I would like multiplayer aspect to work kind of like a game of Table top DnD. Several people (connected to the internet) sit down to play an expected 2-hour match. It can either be randomized or friend initiated game, of (at max) 20 or so players.
Your goals within the game are define-able before you start. You could choose to find a place to hole-up (A small town or a hospital) and wait out the duration of the game (When all people defined as 'escapers' have escaped, died, or changed their mind.). You could simply escape. A third route would be a 'survivalist' approach, win by enemy depopulation. The final option would be attempting to contact people outside of the 'closed circle' situation, asking for help. Could be someone as big as the government or a shady connection. This last idea would come with strings attached though, such as collecting undamaged DNA samples of particular types of enemies or even other players. Dead or alive. With this last group of people and others waiting on 'escapers' to flee or die, it can become a game of 'who can I trust?' as well as 'what might come and eat me in the night?'
Each time you start a game, with your goal decided, 'ideas' would be given to each player. Say you decide to escape, your might be given the idea to head south to an ocean, fleeing the situation on boat. If you decide to hole up, your idea might be to cross through a city, quickly grabbing what you can carry and retreating to your child-hood tree house in the boondocks. Adding a competitive element, each player would also be given 'doubts'. A doubt would be something that would eat at your characters sanity in the middle of a game-night. An example of a doubt would be if your Ex-girlfriend, who's break up wasn't so mutual, was still alive. Resolving your doubts would tally up a score, ranking players in the match from top to bottom. Of course, the ranking is trivial depending on how you want to play that individual game. She was probably a narcissist anyways, let her rot for all you care, right? Or, even if I decide to check, could I convince anyone to follow me on such a foolish whim?
These are just the game flow ideas, haven't touched on game-play ideas. I'd like there to be a 'Skill and abilities system'. Before a match you can pick special abilitys, things that might help you achieve your goals and doubts. Say your going the survivalist route and might spend a large amount of time going it alone. You might want a basic ability like pack-mule to carry more stuff and something like Will to Live, to break enemy grapples without assistance. Skills are far more mundane and randomly assigned to each player but they are often crucial to someones survival (Someone might be looking for you to save their life!). Recall the idea of escaping over a southern sea, its your first idea but you might not have any sort of nautical experience. Finding a player with such a skill and either learning the skill or convincing them to escape with you adds a dynamic game-play element. A human element. Several contingency's exist because of the human element. You, interacting with another, could be positive, mutual, or negative. Say you need to find Player X and bring them to the contact point for extraction. Simple enough, but say the leader of Player X's party begins to use X as a bargaining tool. It could be a simple 'find 4 days worth of food and you can have X'. Such a situation can turn violent though if X simply wishes to leave or the group looking for X refuses to do as asked.
Depending on the current enemy your abilities, equipment, and goals a confrontation can change greatly. Standard equipment might be some sort of backpack with a loadage limit depending on its quality and your skills. Items can be placed in the pack (it'll be an amazing pack, not limited to realistic space constraints.) or taken from the pack and placed on, say, a table. Doing so with food and ammo is rather basic, these such items being something a group will commonly share (If you wish to...). Special items and machines can also be found which, for the people with the skills to use them can turn out better items. Say this old Granny knows exactly how to can veggies and meats. Get her a gas-oven, a large pot, some water, jars, and said foodstuffs and you got some preserved items that could cut down on your risky excursions. Say this Burly man worked as a mine foreman and has explicit knowledge of structural integrity and explosives. Get a make-shift chem set and basic chemicals and you could make explosives for defensive and offensive purposes.
The game would be presented in third-person view, suited for melee/firearm combat and examining things closely. A third compliment to fighting would be trap making. With the right items you could make and mark traps for later survival. Being able to identify your threats, accurately and quickly, should become second nature. Reaction should become your primary instinct, picking and choosing targets; What to shoot, what to lure into traps. Fleeing is also a valid option, when a few demented crows aren't worth your dwindling ammo supply.
I'm pretty iffy on the horror, since my biggest fears are Chainsaws and decapitations (Guess what I been playing...). Gore will be a big part of the experience, as well as a 'bipolar' atmosphere. Extreme tension should reign over the game, with simple fears being played up. Some of those fears are walking out of darkness (Its pitch black and your walking into a well lit area. You know your safe but you just get an uncontrollable feeling something MIGHT be behind you.), being alone or cut off from your group, odd sounds that you can't pin to a reasonable (or safe) thing.
In the end, its a lot of ideas and making it all work well enough would be a job unto itself, but I would LOVE to play this completed product...
Edit: I'll go so far to give it a name! Something simple but practical... Survival Mode.
I was not actually replying to you, I was merely suggesting a horror soundtrack.Horny Ico said:Well duh, all the ideas in this thread are about survival horror games; that's the point of it. I'm asking who's idea specifically. Since you posted directly after me, I was afraid that you were responding to me. Or maybe you're replying to the lot of us in general?Syon said:It's a survival horror game.Horny Ico said:
A dark game needs a dark soundtrack.
Besides, all the music from my horror games (Fatal Frame trilogy, Silent Hill trilogy, Resident Evil 4) happen to be both dark and actually pleasant. I especially like Silent Hill 3's wordy songs.
So there.
I think wandering around the dark, being vaguely aware that there are things somewhere, but not knowing where they are would be scary. Kind of like Ravenholm, only the monsters aren't so iconic and the protagonist isn't a walking armory made of bandoliers and crowbars.
I have a couple ideas.
-A pseudo-surival horror game where you act as the hunter and the hunted. A single creature you can probably take on yourself, if you're not injured, but a pack you need to escape using improvised parkour and your raw instincts. In some levels you're part of an elite group trained to kill as many of the creatures as you can, and while you're well equipped for the task, hordes of them still pose a threat.
-A game taking place in the underbelly of a large city. It would be more of a psychological horror game, with an emphasis on abandoned industrial buildings and settings (i.e. a train yard), and it would take place more during the day then at night.
Neither of those are fully fleshed out, just basic premises I thought would be cool translated into a game.
-A pseudo-surival horror game where you act as the hunter and the hunted. A single creature you can probably take on yourself, if you're not injured, but a pack you need to escape using improvised parkour and your raw instincts. In some levels you're part of an elite group trained to kill as many of the creatures as you can, and while you're well equipped for the task, hordes of them still pose a threat.
-A game taking place in the underbelly of a large city. It would be more of a psychological horror game, with an emphasis on abandoned industrial buildings and settings (i.e. a train yard), and it would take place more during the day then at night.
Neither of those are fully fleshed out, just basic premises I thought would be cool translated into a game.
Worldwide, artificial reality, iPhone application-style survival-horror game.
Think Fatal Frame facilitated by digitally overlayed gameplay graphics using a capable camera phone. Motion controls are a must for 'fighting' back, probably best to have an accessory not unlike the Wii motion plus (accuracy isn't as important as timing, but it's all melee). A hosting server would spawn things every so often for players and give them a heads up similar to the Silent Hill radio static warnings. Plus with more players in proximity, spawn rates go up, so definite global positioning usage and multiplayer motivation.
Sure, you can turn the game off so it's a casual massively multiplayer online survival-horror, but by leaving it on after getting taken out you're acting like a lightning rod and raising the difficulty for any players you pass.
At the end of a gaming day (probably 6am) you can check up on how well worldwide survival is going and rejoin the game to try and get back into the runnings. Score would be determined by how long a person can stay in-game without being taken out, with special achievements for things like keeping alive in the company of four or more players for two hours and its counterpart of three downed players.
Think Fatal Frame facilitated by digitally overlayed gameplay graphics using a capable camera phone. Motion controls are a must for 'fighting' back, probably best to have an accessory not unlike the Wii motion plus (accuracy isn't as important as timing, but it's all melee). A hosting server would spawn things every so often for players and give them a heads up similar to the Silent Hill radio static warnings. Plus with more players in proximity, spawn rates go up, so definite global positioning usage and multiplayer motivation.
Sure, you can turn the game off so it's a casual massively multiplayer online survival-horror, but by leaving it on after getting taken out you're acting like a lightning rod and raising the difficulty for any players you pass.
At the end of a gaming day (probably 6am) you can check up on how well worldwide survival is going and rejoin the game to try and get back into the runnings. Score would be determined by how long a person can stay in-game without being taken out, with special achievements for things like keeping alive in the company of four or more players for two hours and its counterpart of three downed players.
As a couple of other posters have forwarded, I'd do an open environment game. However, I'd like to do something a bit like a mix of Zombieland, where the player has to move across large distances of gameworld in which random encounters against hordes, small groups, or single zombies/mutants/monsters are possible before making it to the next defensible area (a lot like a mix of L4D and fallout 3); but the addition of small "holds" of survivors, with trading systems that allow you to trade services, items, etc, for weapons and tools to defend yourself. There'd also be persistent character development, so that you can move from area to area as a zombie hunter, or a defensive construction specialist building better walls and such, or a combat engineer setting up traps for zombies and looters, or a farmer to help grow food and manage resources in exchange for having others defend you. You could even be a traveling merchant carrying stuff between areas, or lone wolf it entirely, stealthing around and securing what you need in raids into houses, towns, and cities. There wouldn't be classes, but as you do more of one thing or another, it's boost stats, like stamina for the constructor classes allowing you to build bigger things and more things, like the character advancement system in Oblivion/Morrowind. However, as survivors are traveling to get away from constant assaults on the holds, they'd also carry word of your specializations and skills, and that would affect how people view you in other areas.
There'd be no set story other than survivng indefinitely, and quests would pop up randomly, like help build a new wall over 3 days after a particularly bad attack, or watch this communal vegetable patch tonight because someone's been stealing the tomatoes, etc.
I'd also like some sort of premise that'd reward characters of any skill set for venturing out alone into the zombie/mutant-held outer world, somewhat like the respawning artifacts from the Stalker games. Maybe having the Red Cross, local military reservists, and regular military make drops of different equipment (ex: in the US, Red Cross air drops in medicines, health supplies and good food; National Guard drops in tools, building materials, and MRE-style food good for quick stamina restoration; US Military air drops in weaponry, ammo, radios, batteries/fuel, compasses/gps, etc, more suited towards loners, combat skills, and frequent travellers.)
The game world would, be very large; most preferably and desirably larger than that in Fuel, and more detailed and well-scaled than in ArmA 2. A limited fast travel system to keep things from being tedious, and having some sort of vehicles in game as well, but forcing people to travel and try to survive the move from hold to hold would be cool.
Also, multiplayer with co-op available. Co-op a must, but players can also play adversarial, attacking NPC-controlled holds to loot, or just take it over from existing "leaders" in the place.
There'd be no set story other than survivng indefinitely, and quests would pop up randomly, like help build a new wall over 3 days after a particularly bad attack, or watch this communal vegetable patch tonight because someone's been stealing the tomatoes, etc.
I'd also like some sort of premise that'd reward characters of any skill set for venturing out alone into the zombie/mutant-held outer world, somewhat like the respawning artifacts from the Stalker games. Maybe having the Red Cross, local military reservists, and regular military make drops of different equipment (ex: in the US, Red Cross air drops in medicines, health supplies and good food; National Guard drops in tools, building materials, and MRE-style food good for quick stamina restoration; US Military air drops in weaponry, ammo, radios, batteries/fuel, compasses/gps, etc, more suited towards loners, combat skills, and frequent travellers.)
The game world would, be very large; most preferably and desirably larger than that in Fuel, and more detailed and well-scaled than in ArmA 2. A limited fast travel system to keep things from being tedious, and having some sort of vehicles in game as well, but forcing people to travel and try to survive the move from hold to hold would be cool.
Also, multiplayer with co-op available. Co-op a must, but players can also play adversarial, attacking NPC-controlled holds to loot, or just take it over from existing "leaders" in the place.
So, ok, when I think Survival horror I mainly think zombies. 3 types of zombies to be exact.
So, after a series of events involving a End of the World prophecy that went unfulfilled, groups of people who believed and prepared for the end of days vanished. There were three groups: The first group, up to around 14,000 people committed mass suicide the day of the event. Some did it in groups, others were found dead in their homes. Some even went on killing sprees before taking themselves out, bringing the numbers of casualties up to 18,000. A second group, somewhere around 110,000, went into hiding somewhere never to be heard or seen of again. The third group, only about 500,000 or so, were said to have believed that the world was going to end and embraced it. Once the day came and passed however, a majority of the believes said they were over it. Though reports of strange activity were on the rise.
Fast Forward, 15 years in to the future. A terrorist group known as "The Survivors" emerge, claiming to be the only humans to survive the End of Days and believed to have gone mad upon discovering the world survived and has thrived in the years they spend cooped up. They ran out of food and resources in their bunker, and slowly started to lose themselves to violence just to survive and learning it was all for naught didn't help their mental health. They vow to end the world themselves because it was supposed to happen 15 years prior. Cue their biggest target, a Bio-Lab devoted to human research and health where, unknown to them, a secret project developed to sedate the minds of people to quell mass panic in events such as the end of days was still in testing.
Then, BOOM the complex explodes.
First, the shockwave careens across the landscape, obliterating a nearby suburb and ravaging the nearby cities. A wave of untested chemicals sweeps across the ruins.
Now the chemical has two possible effects. For some it rests their minds to the point of no return, separating themselves from their bodies. They can still see, hear, taste, and smell, but they can no longer respond to it. Instead their bodies are running on their own by their infected minds, sedate unless provoked. Acting independently from themselves, lurching in a limp, relaxed fashion until provoked by fast movement, sound, and unfamiliarity. They can only watch as their bodies are literally turning into Zombies in every sense of the word.
The other effect of the chemical drives the infected individual mad. In other words they are in a state of perpetual provoked, attacking anything and everything for no reason what so ever.
Also, may cause mutations.
So now the world i going to hell and very few people can stop it. The governments of the world have sent military and scientific groups to ground zero, the bio-lab, to research a cure or method of fixing the mes the world has gotten itself into. Not as easy as it sounds however, as "The Survivors" have taken this outbreak as the cataclysm they were promised and have interfered in government evacuations.
This is were you come in, you are one of the few who are immune and the government needs you to help neutralize the outbreak. They have sent a team to come get you, but on the return trip you are attacked by "The Survivors." Now, stranded and on foot, you have to make it from city to city to reach the Bio-Lab. You must make it through vast, sandbox cities; teeming with zombies and extremists. Ammo and bases are spread threw out, but one shot could send a mob of infected in your direction.
There are several ways threw the cities:
1) Run and Gun your way threw the hordes, don't think twice about the fact that the thoughts and feeling of who they once were can still see you... unless of course they're eyes are gone.
2) Sneak. Alleys are good, but they are small areas and you could easily be closed in. The streets are stuffed with Zombies, so you can ether make your way around or you can push a button and begin to act like a zombie in order to not draw any attention. Nothing like stumbling at a briskly slow pace through an ocean in infected knowing one misstep could alert them. But that's the fastest way out of the city.
3) Vehicles. They can't take a relentless beating from running over zombies and they attract a lot of attention, but they are quick and usually you'll need one to make it to the next city.
Would also work great online, I'd wager. The more the merrier, there is more than one immune.
So, after a series of events involving a End of the World prophecy that went unfulfilled, groups of people who believed and prepared for the end of days vanished. There were three groups: The first group, up to around 14,000 people committed mass suicide the day of the event. Some did it in groups, others were found dead in their homes. Some even went on killing sprees before taking themselves out, bringing the numbers of casualties up to 18,000. A second group, somewhere around 110,000, went into hiding somewhere never to be heard or seen of again. The third group, only about 500,000 or so, were said to have believed that the world was going to end and embraced it. Once the day came and passed however, a majority of the believes said they were over it. Though reports of strange activity were on the rise.
Fast Forward, 15 years in to the future. A terrorist group known as "The Survivors" emerge, claiming to be the only humans to survive the End of Days and believed to have gone mad upon discovering the world survived and has thrived in the years they spend cooped up. They ran out of food and resources in their bunker, and slowly started to lose themselves to violence just to survive and learning it was all for naught didn't help their mental health. They vow to end the world themselves because it was supposed to happen 15 years prior. Cue their biggest target, a Bio-Lab devoted to human research and health where, unknown to them, a secret project developed to sedate the minds of people to quell mass panic in events such as the end of days was still in testing.
Then, BOOM the complex explodes.
First, the shockwave careens across the landscape, obliterating a nearby suburb and ravaging the nearby cities. A wave of untested chemicals sweeps across the ruins.
Now the chemical has two possible effects. For some it rests their minds to the point of no return, separating themselves from their bodies. They can still see, hear, taste, and smell, but they can no longer respond to it. Instead their bodies are running on their own by their infected minds, sedate unless provoked. Acting independently from themselves, lurching in a limp, relaxed fashion until provoked by fast movement, sound, and unfamiliarity. They can only watch as their bodies are literally turning into Zombies in every sense of the word.
The other effect of the chemical drives the infected individual mad. In other words they are in a state of perpetual provoked, attacking anything and everything for no reason what so ever.
Also, may cause mutations.
So now the world i going to hell and very few people can stop it. The governments of the world have sent military and scientific groups to ground zero, the bio-lab, to research a cure or method of fixing the mes the world has gotten itself into. Not as easy as it sounds however, as "The Survivors" have taken this outbreak as the cataclysm they were promised and have interfered in government evacuations.
This is were you come in, you are one of the few who are immune and the government needs you to help neutralize the outbreak. They have sent a team to come get you, but on the return trip you are attacked by "The Survivors." Now, stranded and on foot, you have to make it from city to city to reach the Bio-Lab. You must make it through vast, sandbox cities; teeming with zombies and extremists. Ammo and bases are spread threw out, but one shot could send a mob of infected in your direction.
There are several ways threw the cities:
1) Run and Gun your way threw the hordes, don't think twice about the fact that the thoughts and feeling of who they once were can still see you... unless of course they're eyes are gone.
2) Sneak. Alleys are good, but they are small areas and you could easily be closed in. The streets are stuffed with Zombies, so you can ether make your way around or you can push a button and begin to act like a zombie in order to not draw any attention. Nothing like stumbling at a briskly slow pace through an ocean in infected knowing one misstep could alert them. But that's the fastest way out of the city.
3) Vehicles. They can't take a relentless beating from running over zombies and they attract a lot of attention, but they are quick and usually you'll need one to make it to the next city.
Would also work great online, I'd wager. The more the merrier, there is more than one immune.