Message Board
| Message Board > Game Designing > what if zombies were invading a swamp |
| July 9, 2009, 17:10 | |
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DTM
Earthling! 821 posts 
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It's the big What If. What would YOU do?? ... Say a game has the player alone in a [post apocalyptic] swamp, being attacked by zombies from all sides. (you are on a little island with a small defence built from boxes) I was hoping to have an "upgrade weapon" mechanic, plus the ability to gain completely new weapons. Problem is, I can't think how to maintain the realism and any sense of fear in this particular scenario while also having this mechanic. Some options: 1) New weapons are airdropped in. (Purchased from the US military?). This kind of ruins any sense of fear and abandonment if there is communication with the outside world. 2) Found in the swamp. Not really all that realistic. Maybe a few weapons could plausible be found, but I was hoping to have many upgrades and that might be unrealistic in large numbers. Plus the player will mainly be defending one particular area, so any new weapons would have to magically appear around that location. 3) Carried/dropped by Zombies. Not really realistic. Especially as it might mainly be gun turrets and such rather than held weapons. Why would the zombies be carrying such things!? Currently I'm leaning towards (1), as I might be able to present it so that it seems the airdrops are just random drops, not specifically for the player, that the player is just lucky to find. The military dropping supplies for survivors. That way it is not so much a communication with the outside world... Still, it is not very realistic that by random chance and luck weapons would keep getting dropped to the player. (and if the military were deliberately dropping you weapons, why couldn't they just air-lift you out?) Hmm.. so what to do? [Edited on July 9, 2009 by DTM] ____________ :o |
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| July 10, 2009, 10:25 | |
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DTM
Earthling! 821 posts
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4) The player finds magical relics. "You found the pickled spleen of R.J. Gatling!". His spirit can then be summoned to build gun turrets.
____________ :o |
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| July 10, 2009, 14:03 | |
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Dennis
どこかにいる 2092 posts 
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Quoting DTM: 4) The player finds magical relics. "You found the pickled spleen of R.J. Gatling!". His spirit can then be summoned to build gun turrets. Not realistic either. I'm sorry.  About no. 3: http://xbox360media.gamespy.co … 4715380-000.jpg A zombie with a bazooka and a chainsaw. So it IS possible. XD 5) The player finds magical relics. "You found the rotten vagina of M. Green". His spirit can then be summoned to upgrade to your Second DIVision weapons against an enourmous fee of money and in the end it is worse and it doesn't run on windows either. [Edited on July 10, 2009 by Dennis] ____________ Kwakkel |
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| July 10, 2009, 21:42 | |
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DTM
Earthling! 821 posts
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Hey wait a minute. ZOMBIES aren't really all that realistic are they? I believe (4) is now my preferred option. It's still a bit too humorous of a solution though. But at least its not all that much less realistic than zombies. And would not break the feelings of isolation like an air-drop would. Considering I'm going for traditional lurching, overcome-by-numbers zombies, they would not carry heavy weapons. ____________ :o |
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| July 11, 2009, 14:03 | |
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Ariel Yust
Bloodcoughted Yozik 291 posts 
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Zombies are real... I'm sure you guys even met them sometimes... even in school or in the mall or the streets! =O Dennis if you want realism in the game so here you go! in real life you be dead long time ago... by zombies or by the toxic gases in the swamp. I don't think you can survive in a swamp full of hungry zombies... well maybe if you have a trained crockodile at your side  you can allways make weapons from the dead like spears, axes and bows and shields and walls and etc... =]you can allways send people to serach for weapons from imaginary militery plane crash that was delivering weapons to a 3rd class country and on the way you find many random weapons and try to use them... btw, can zombies get dishydration? how can they keep walking without drinking water? hmmm? ____________ Get bitten by a vampire or at least at my own character muhahahaha! http://s7.bitefight.org/c.php?uid=159944 |
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| July 13, 2009, 17:44 | |
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PEader
お前はもう死んでいる 1486 posts 
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Quoting DTM: Hey wait a minute. ZOMBIES aren't really all that realistic are they? I believe (4) is now my preferred option. It's still a bit too humorous of a solution though. But at least its not all that much less realistic than zombies. And would not break the feelings of isolation like an air-drop would. Considering I'm going for traditional lurching, overcome-by-numbers zombies, they would not carry heavy weapons. I recently read a book called World War Z in this the governments retreated to set places and didn't help out large sections of the population. However they did drop items to help the survivors help themselves. So I think option 1 is the most realistic. A government which wont ever come to help, can't land due to their being no landing zone or it's not safe to land due to their being so many zombies or maybe the area has land mines. The people are still isolated and essentially on their own however they have some sort of hope coming from the drops. ____________ I see 57,005 people. |
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| July 14, 2009, 12:19 | |
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Dennis
どこかにいる 2092 posts
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Zombies is a very cliché topic so I'd rather focus on originality rather than realism. i.e. "Dead Rising" had the cliché "zombies in a shopping mall" theme, so they made the gameplay as original as possible. I would rather try to think of something original rather than focussing on realistic things. Using weapon drops? Who cares if you can blast zombies back to hell it's fun guaranteed!
____________ Kwakkel |
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| July 15, 2009, 00:15 | |
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Zosma
Senior Procrastinator 99 posts 
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Make one zombie wear a sombrero. Then out of this and a bone from a killed zombie make a small flying device. Use this device to fly into the nearest tree, thus obviously unlocking a hidden chamber full of belly dancers. Trade a chewing gum with a belly dancer for a sweet kiss. Make sure you also took a gum yourself of course, no bad breath in a zombie game is rule #1. After the kiss your acquired temporarily testosterone increase reveals you a new weapon (probably a stapler). After you fought the belly dancer who appeared to be a giant midget kangaroo you're good to go an smash zombies with the pink stapler. [Edited on July 15, 2009 by Zosma] ____________ Fuck a duck |
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| July 15, 2009, 13:05 | |
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Dennis
どこかにいる 2092 posts
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Quoting Zosma: Make one zombie wear a sombrero. Then out of this and a bone from a killed zombie make a small flying device. Use this device to fly into the nearest tree, thus obviously unlocking a hidden chamber full of belly dancers. Trade a chewing gum with a belly dancer for a sweet kiss. Make sure you also took a gum yourself of course, no bad breath in a zombie game is rule #1. After the kiss your acquired temporarily testosterone increase reveals you a new weapon (probably a stapler). After you fought the belly dancer who appeared to be a giant midget kangaroo you're good to go an smash zombies with the pink stapler. W.....t...........F? ____________ Kwakkel |
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| July 15, 2009, 18:05 | |
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OScoder
None 1338 posts |
Why not have dead people all around, who've died fighting before you got there? Then you could pick the weapons off of them. Otherwise, have multiple places with the new weapon that you can run to when there's a lull in the zombies running at you?
____________ om |
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| July 15, 2009, 23:22 | |
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DTM
Earthling! 821 posts
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Quoting Zosma: nonsense If I can find a royalty free bellydancer model pack who knows what could happen. Quoting OScode: Why not have dead people all around, who've died fighting before you got there? Then you could pick the weapons off of them. Otherwise, have multiple places with the new weapon that you can run to when there's a lull in the zombies running at you? Really this is a defense type of game so the player is restricted to a certain area. So there is not much scope for exploration or randomly discovering new items. Then again there may be different levels/areas that can be played in so I guess it is possible. But really the mechanic I want is a tower defense type one where every X seconds you can place a new gun turret. or perhaps you have a set number of guns, haven't decided yet. but in each case there will hopefully be a large number of gun turrets (maybe 20 or so) of several different types to explain away. also if there is just a set number of guns of the different types that reduces the strategy of the whole thing. I really need something where there is some kind of resource and building mechanic going on which limits the number of guns that can be placed or the frequency of spawning a new gun. Quoting PEader: I recently read a book called World War Z in this the governments retreated to set places and didn't help out large sections of the population. However they did drop items to help the survivors help themselves. So I think option 1 is the most realistic. A government which wont ever come to help, can't land due to their being no landing zone or it's not safe to land due to their being so many zombies or maybe the area has land mines. The people are still isolated and essentially on their own however they have some sort of hope coming from the drops. I will have to get that book for research purposes! I read the Zombie Survival guide by the same author. Quoting Dennis: Zombies is a very cliché topic so I'd rather focus on originality rather than realism hmm well my main reason for realism is to try and make it quite frantic with a slight fear of being overwhelmed by the zombies. And less of an arcade blast-em-up and more a kind of slower strategy. but of course with tens of gun turrets constantly firing and shredding up a zombie every second. Soo. - government/military weapon drops can explain upgrades - still not sure how to explain spawning/placing of new weapon turrets. Maybe you have a set number of each weapon at the start of a level you can work with. But generally in tower defense games you have to wait a certain amount of time between creating a weapon of each type. Still not sure how to explain this waiting period. Maybe I shouldn't bother though or at least forget explanations until I have actually got something working! ____________ :o |
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| July 16, 2009, 02:22 | |
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Sandman
F3n!x0r 1194 posts 
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Quoting DTM: - still not sure how to explain spawning/placing of new weapon turrets. I suggest adding a mortar and pestle to the game and make the player search for herbs and weeds. These herbs and weeds only grow in certain seasons, so they can only be harvested in that season. The obvious combination of nettle and dandelion will give the player an M240. ____________ BennuWiki Yes, my avatar has grey borders in IE (so get a decent browser) ROOFLEZ ROOFLEZ |
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| July 17, 2009, 13:28 | |
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Ariel Yust
Bloodcoughted Yozik 291 posts
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Ley the player "Build" there own guns... lets say his in a smithy and he knows how to make basic guns... and as the game unfolds he discovers new technics from the need to survive... he can give cover for people who are not zombies and they can hepl him by shooting zombies/repairing the smithy or build wepoans or mate and create new soldiers of doom =P (joking) this sounds like an original and intresting idea, you can design ur own weapons and copy them to ur mates in the smithy =] and u can actually press the keys to place hammer blows on the metal and creat the weapon you want =] u can even put bayonet on them that would be cool...metal comes from the dead and parts that u send ur mates to find... an airplan can crush near you as a story line script and u use the metal from the airplan to survive... either put it as a shield or put it as a weapon zombies just take a part ur barriers meaning you onlt need time to repair them because the meterials are allready there... ____________ Get bitten by a vampire or at least at my own character muhahahaha! http://s7.bitefight.org/c.php?uid=159944 |
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| July 20, 2009, 16:37 | |
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Dennis
どこかにいる 2092 posts
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Make the zombies eat mussles from brussles, their face gets a color unknown to humans, so they become invisible and thus incincible except for Hanzakandrazantaad, the big worriah! (You can rename the character if you want, but why SHOULD you???) And you get a lil' fairy always saying "what's that???" if it discovers treasure. the fairy's name is Sorewanandeska. Logical Turret spawn suggestion: ____________ Kwakkel |
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| July 22, 2009, 19:24 | |
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DTM
Earthling! 821 posts
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There will be a minigame methinks where you bludgeon a body like that spanish horsey thing (wikipedia says Piñata) but it is instead Dennis. and powerups fall out. and internal organs become external ones.
____________ :o |
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| July 25, 2009, 16:49 | |
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Ariel Yust
Bloodcoughted Yozik 291 posts
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why can't we play as a zombie for once? =\
____________ Get bitten by a vampire or at least at my own character muhahahaha! http://s7.bitefight.org/c.php?uid=159944 |
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| August 3, 2009, 19:41 | |
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Dennis
どこかにいる 2092 posts
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Quoting DTM: There will be a minigame methinks where you bludgeon a body like that spanish horsey thing (wikipedia says Piñata) but it is instead Dennis. and powerups fall out. and internal organs become external ones. And external organs become internal likewise? As in "the balls become the kidneys" ?? that would be cool. Make a demo already! ____________ Kwakkel |
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| August 6, 2009, 06:51 | |
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Ariel Yust
Bloodcoughted Yozik 291 posts
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LOL XD I'm speachless ~ Europe sense of humor XD
____________ Get bitten by a vampire or at least at my own character muhahahaha! http://s7.bitefight.org/c.php?uid=159944 |
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Message Board > Game Designing > what if zombies were invading a swamp