Poll: Realistic Zombie Game

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Zombies are great enemies in games; they're squishy, they're malevolent, there is good reason to face swarms of them, and you don't have to feel bad about adding ventilation to their brain-case.

But I have been playing a lot of Minecraft lately, and it got me thinking about making a new kind of zombie game; one that is both SURVIVAL and HORROR.

Imagine it as a spiritual sequel to the Left 4 Dead games. You have escaped from the city, but now you need to survive. You have to keep yourself fed and watered, you need some kind of shelter, all of the basic human stuff. However, there are still hordes of zombies wandering around, and there is no way you can simply kill them all.

What do you do? Do you set up a camp on a deserted farm, trying to pick up agriculture while hoping that a zombie attack doesn't overrun the base and force you to flee? Do you go mobile, driving from town to town to scavenge from the ruins, counting on your speed to escape the packs that surely dog your trail?

This game would try to balance you on the knife-edge that Minecraft walks in it's opening days; you are competent, and with luck you can find or make extraordinary tools to aid you, but there is a constant threat that one attack could destroy your home and force you to flee.

What do you think, Escapists? Is it a good idea, or do you prefer the old style shoot-em-up games?

 

[hazabaza1]

I think pretty much everybody has had this idea at some point.
I think it'd be okay for sure, but I can see it getting easily frustrating.

 

[Lawnmooer]

Well it could be interesting, no doubt it has cropped up in numerous peoples minds...

The big issue I can see with a game like this is how big will it be? You mention deserted farms and multiple towns with things to scavenge, obviously there will need to be a lot in those towns to scavange and such with also appropriate numbers of zombies for the population of said town. Which could be a problem with either the flow of the game or the immersion - See Skyrim and the reasoning behind the lack of people and small towns (It wasn't possible to have a lot of people whilst also having the detail that was in towns, and outside them there was less detail) also see Fallout 3/NV - There wasn't a lot of people for a similar reason (Though it made sense as it was post-apocolyptic) and having a lot of towns meant that you had to zone into each building (Meaning that enemies outside wouldn't come in and that you had to go through a loading screen) if a game had a large enough map while allowing a decent number of zombies (With decent AI, none of this constantly coming after you no matter where you are or what you are doing from miles away crap, stuff like making noise and getting injuries attracting nearby zombies but also hiding helping them pass by) then it could be fun to travel around scrounging what you can and building a zombie-proof fortress to live in or keeping on the road finding new places.

You also mention making tools, so there would be an element of crafting, but what are the constraints around it? Is it something like Dead Rising where A + B = C but A + Something similar to B = nothing (Such as attaching chainsaws to the paddle, what about other sharp objects or other bases?) or more like Dead Island?

But yeah, if it could be pulled off then it would be a pretty awesome game, the only things that I can see keeping it back are technological restraints to allow it to achieve the level of freedom a game like this deserves.

 

[mikey7339]

Not exactly what you are talking about but there is a game VERY similar on steam, which I have brought up alot in the past.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/17500/ - Zombie Panic Source

You have very limited movement speed, can only pick up a small amount of ammo and a few weapons, if you pick too much stuff up you become even slower and zombies can easily chase you down. Alot of maps you are forced to barricade yourself inside to buy out time and concentrate fire to conserve ammo. Each person that dies gets switched to the zombie team until one side wins.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

And on that note, it'd be really neat if you could get infected. With maybe keeping your belly and stamina full the infection would take longer to completely take you, giving you chance to find a cure or even rarely fight it off completely.

 

[mikey7339]

And on that note, it'd be really neat if you could get infected. With maybe keeping your belly and stamina full the infection would take longer to completely take you, giving you chance to find a cure or even rarely fight it off completely.

I forgot about that until you brought it up, in the game above you can get infected if you get hit. No one on your team will know but you, and even you don't know until about 15 seconds before you turn, so you can either tell them or be that guy that gets everyone killed because he didn't want anyone knowing he got bit.

 

[StBishop]

Make a mod for minecraft which makes all mobs zombies and makes them immune to daylight.

Problem solved. Maybe try add in AI which would make them come if they're within a certain distance of another zombie who is moaning.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Well it could be interesting, no doubt it has cropped up in numerous peoples minds...

The big issue I can see with a game like this is how big will it be? You mention deserted farms and multiple towns with things to scavenge, obviously there will need to be a lot in those towns to scavange and such with also appropriate numbers of zombies for the population of said town. Which could be a problem with either the flow of the game or the immersion - See Skyrim and the reasoning behind the lack of people and small towns (It wasn't possible to have a lot of people whilst also having the detail that was in towns, and outside them there was less detail) also see Fallout 3/NV - There wasn't a lot of people for a similar reason (Though it made sense as it was post-apocolyptic) and having a lot of towns meant that you had to zone into each building (Meaning that enemies outside wouldn't come in and that you had to go through a loading screen) if a game had a large enough map while allowing a decent number of zombies (With decent AI, none of this constantly coming after you no matter where you are or what you are doing from miles away crap, stuff like making noise and getting injuries attracting nearby zombies but also hiding helping them pass by) then it could be fun to travel around scrounging what you can and building a zombie-proof fortress to live in or keeping on the road finding new places.

I was thinking something like 20 KM square, set at the edge of civilization (where people would run to in this circumstance); enough space for a couple decent-sized towns, a few homesteads and lots of wilderness.
I haven't played Skyrim; I didn't know that there was loading for every building. That could be immersion breaking, unless there is a way to code it to have the zombies try and break down the door and follow you or something.
As for the AI, I imagined a density of 5-10 zombies per KM square, higher in urbanized areas, that would be able to hear things like gun-shots and go to find the source, but that are slow enough that with the proper planning you could get away.

You also mention making tools, so there would be an element of crafting, but what are the constraints around it? Is it something like Dead Rising where A + B = C but A + Something similar to B = nothing (Such as attaching chainsaws to the paddle, what about other sharp objects or other bases?) or more like Dead Island?

I recall Yahtzee writing about a good system, one that has occurred to other people: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9139-Weapon-Crafting-That-Works
A simple modular system where long handles give leverage, short ones control, etc., and you need to either carry the necessary tools with you or have a workbench somewhere. Set it in a country other than the US, where there are very few firearms or stockpiles of ammunition, and you could live out a sort of regression of society, where you watch things like bullets and duct-tape get used up, and you have to find ways of replacing or doing without them.

Not exactly what you are talking about but there is a game VERY similar on steam, which I have brought up alot in the past.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/17500/ - Zombie Panic Source

Well that is nifty. I was thinking about something along those lines, but set in an open world. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I just found out what I'm gonna do on my week off...

 

[jonc83]

Take a look at Project Zomboid:
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/
It's sort of what you describe, though still in its early development stages.