I like the idea, however, a few things.
Being a conisuier of all things zombie, I really like your idea. For damage though, I really think that you should make it a "You get bit, you die (turn into a zombie)" situation. You would have to adjust the difficulty of course so that a skilled player could avoid getting bitten at all. I think this is a good improvement from the typical percentage health system. People often think "Well, I can just charge through this crowd of zombies, because there is a health kit on the other side." As in most zombie stories, getting bitten shouldn't be an "Oh damn, that kind of hurt situation", it should basically be the end of the game for them.

If that wouldn't work for your design, you could instead make a "conversion timer" after she gets bit. If she doesn't find a health kit within two minutes of getting bit, she is done, a zombie. I agree with a previous poster that the percentage health system is really lame. I do like the other suggestions as well about impaired aim, vision, and speed due to various conditions.

I always look forward to a good zombie game, and I think you are off to a great start. Good luck, and I look forward to it.
David Thompson

josh_w314, yapposai, David Thompson...

I'm also a consumer of all things zombie.

You guys are uber cool. I love all these suggestions! I agree with all that you are saying. Having her react to her injuries would be cool. She could say stuff like, "You bit my arm, *#!@!*!!". Having camera movements simulate limping, blurred vission, would also be fun.

Instead of health packs, she starts to turn into a zombie. Imagine her entertaining the thought of eating people but then snapping herself out of it. There needs to be a way for her to reduce it's effect. Maybe once she is bitten, it is a problem she now has to constantly keep under control. She can't be fully healed at this point but can still continue through the game. Perhaps to control the illness, she needs to get something from a zombie. Maybe, drink it's blood. Sorry, I know this is getting gross. How about she has to drink the blood of a living family member or someone of the same blood type? I don't know. It would be cool if it was something very unusual and disturbing.

Quote:

Original post by howie_007 The game will also try to make your brain itch with these unanswered questions. What happened and why am I not a zombie like everyone else?

Make the answer to the question of why she is not a zombie this:

The female main character, for the past two weeks has been doing easy projects. To do these easy projects she does not need caffeine from the coffee. So she as recently been drinking Decaf. The reason for everyones zombiefication is the regular coffee. And those other people she finds that arent zombies would be the ones helping her on those projects. Close to the end she would figure that out. The reason the coffee is tainted is because the coverment recently started a classified project known as C.M.C.U, or Chemical Mutation Containment Unit. This unit would be to test bio weapons on the public. The female could later on find these bits and pieces of the C.M.C.U files. Bits and pieces of these files could be like:

5-08-06: Subjects have drunk coffee, C.M.C.U is underway
________________________________________________________________________

She would be like what the heck is this and keep the file for further use.

Close to the end of escaping the office building she would relize what had happened then she would try to expose the government, but one problem happens, the government is putting the town on lockdown, she has 24 hours before she is locked in the town to be zombie food. and once she leaves the town she would be the hero for exposing the government.

Instead of health, you could have scraps of armour that can be destroyed. I know that if I was surrounded by undead creatures, and if one bite or scratch would consign me to the ranks of the living dead, I would be fairly quick to don whatever leather is lying around.

So she's go shoes. A zombie with no legs desides to take a bite out her foot, and sinks it's teeth in. She could abandon the shoe, escaping the zombie. Next she will have to find a replacement shoe if she wants to survive her next close encounter. Of course, the only place to get another one would be from one of those bodies lying on the floor, but are they dead, or a zombie?

Same with leather jackets, scarfs, gloves, motorcycle/bicycle helmets. Some thigns could be discarded, others could become more ragged with each attack. She could get verbally or visibly agitated when her armour is starting to give way, telling the player they have to find something to replace it.

Also, if she's weak, I agree that having contextual traps, hiding places, etc would be a lot of fun, but also more difficult to code than general rules.

no offense, but "the goverment is testing bio weapons on the public" is pretty dumb... I think even x-files wouldnt do such an episode, and they did some very dumb episodes.
How about a terrorist group, or a mad scientist, or an evil enemy goverment?

Quote:

Original post by Iftah no offense, but "the goverment is testing bio weapons on the public" is pretty dumb... I think even x-files wouldnt do such an episode, and they did some very dumb episodes. How about a terrorist group, or a mad scientist, or an evil enemy goverment?

No, offense but where is your better idea? and The X-Files is a great series

GO SCULLY AND MULDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Story idea:

The place where she works develops top-secret stuff for the military, but the upper management is playing both sides (main character of course doesn't know this). They're producing bioweapons for [insert enemy from your favorite war] and they leaked out somehow. Then the question is, how did it leak, and was it an accident? If it wasn't an accident, who did it and why?

Oh, and why is she not a zombie? Because the weapon isn't fully developed and some people are immune.

josh_w314, Hispanic91, Iftah, CIJolly

One things for sure, this is one creative think tank of game designers.

The tainted coffee idea is funny, it cracks me up. Government conspiracy idea is cool too. I also like the idea of collecting what you need from dead corpses to protect yourself or to replace missing items. The only problem with a company developing a top secrete bioweapon is that it's too similar to "resident evil" game series.

I like any idea that brings the hard realities of the situation and hits the player in the forehead with it.

As for how the zombie thing happened, I'm going to spend some time to contemplate all these cool ideas. Feel free to keep the ideas coming.

story idea:
How about accidental gene therapy mutations rather than designed viruses?

Perhaps the society was so enthralled by the latest gene therapy drinks/procedures and big busineses are in competition for the next best gene enhancement, etc. Testing a product's side effects to include all possible combinations of gene enhancements from other companies is extremely hard (and costly) some gene therapy products were released without knowing the full consequences. As chance would have it, company A made a gene therapy drug/procedure that is incompatible with company B's products. The unfortunate side effect turning zombie [grin]. The side effect is further complicated by being triggered by external stimuli. I have no idea what could be a good stimuli to turn a city into zombies, though. I am currently thinking of a radioactive/chemical cloud brought about by an accident in a nuclear facility/factory. Normally these clouds are relatively harmless since most people use gene therapy to render themseleves immune to radiation.

The main character considered old fashioned in that she did not use any gene therapy products, thus avoiding turning into a zombie when hit by radiation.

A factory goes boom, everybody turns into zombies except the main character. Add some intrigue, plot twist like some terrorist group who bombed the factory but only meant it to effect the economy, not turn everyone into zombies. The gov't blames the zombies on the terrorists, terrorists blame the companies, etc. Companies disavow knowledge but nobody believes them. Everybody pointing fingers at each other. The govt does what it does best - send out the men with guns.

<Deus ex machina>
Main character's brother is part of the terrorist group and their father works for the company A/B. Both children disagreed with their father's ideals and rebelled. The brother chose the active rebellion by joining terrorists, while the main char took the passive route and just did not use the gene therapy drugs. This also gives the added bonus of allowing the main character some combat training by saying her brother taught her a thing or two.
</Deus ex machina>

<cheezy>
To solve the problem, they have to blow up another factory (with her father, brother) with a "cure" to return at least some of the people back to normal. Family is united, city saved!
</cheezy>

reasonings:

The gene therapy idea is to explain why so many people turned into zombies. I added the radiation as an excuse to have everyone turn into zombies in a short span oftime. From there, the terrorist group was formed to explain the radiation explosion.

as for the game design/gameplay issues:

You get bitten, you wont turn into a zombie for a while, you can get gene antidote pills/drinks designed to undo/slow down the effects of gene therapy drugs.

You can also save some people who were bitten recently.

Some people who are not zombies will turn into zombies when exposed to radiation in some areas forcing the player to use different routes. A clear walkway might be radiation filled so the player has to choose between running to safety but leaving the other survivors or take the other survivors down the tunnels but facing more zombies.

You could have terrorist missions to add some action between the running scenes for people who like shooting and blowing up stuff.


Cars! run over zombies, careful they don't splatter the windshield so much you can't see.

Zombies like the taste and smell of blood, which is salty. You can use potato chips, salt shakers as grenades and distract the zombies for a bit. leave a trail of potato chips for zombies to follow, lead them into a room and shut the door.

feed zombies drugs/stuff. zombies will try to eat anything you throw at them.
sedatives make zombies docile, you can push them for a while to escape/block off doors or lead a group of zombies and pretend to be one to fool other zombies. laxatives ...er.. make the zombie run towards the nearest bathroom? narcotics make the zombies flip out and attack everything in sight, great for using zombies against other zombies. hot chile pepper makes zombies run away.

edit: you can also use the gene therapy to explain different zombie types. people who used gene therapy equivalent of steriods produced faster zombies, beauty drugs produce "beautiful" zombies which look like normal people except they suddenly try to bite your head off. brain enhancers produce smarter zombies. healing/regerative drugs make damage resistant zombies or other mutations like several eyes, etc. people who used viagra could grow tentacles or something [grin]

Sorry if I dwelt on the story parts rather than the design parts. I hope this helps.

[Edited by - yapposai on May 9, 2006 3:43:29 AM]

Story plot?

How about something a little different? How about a variation on the "gene therapy" theory?

Let's admit there is some lab, up in New York State, where people develop those "alicaments" (you know these yogurts which help recude cholesterol and other nonsensical foods) which has found something extremely disturbing, like a protein which, instead of reinforcing something, in fact disolves Myelin (which is the nerves and muscles essential conduction element) in very specialized areas?

What if said protein disolved speech areas in the brain, and equilibrium, satiety sensation area, drooling, pain sensation, movement coordination, rational and coherent thought areas too. Basically, what you have after said areas are destroyed, is someone who tends to stutter, drool, be unable to focus or to speak, merely groans, insensible to pain, insatiable, and mostly, someone with a lot of empty space under the skull, which explains why they are so damn hard to kill with a bullet in the head, ie a zombie. What if saidf protein was only activated after being exposed to some magnetism and/or radiations? (keep that in mind, it will make sense in a few lines...)

Said protein is just a side product, and in fact a stupid mistake, from original researches in food improvement. Only you find in any lab inducing some high end research someone who is ready to sell both his parents for a few bucks, giving away his great aunt as a free gift. This guy has spotted the dangerous protein, and decided it could make him rich, instead of making the lab close because of unwanted results from Coca-Cola Corp. So the guy steals some vials of leftover protein, and decides he will sell them to someone for big profits. He goes away at night. But he is tired, and falls in New York's state reservoir, in teh Catskills Mounts, and pollutes all the drinking water, which means that everyone who will be drinking water in the next few days will be contaminated.

But your basic girly researcher did not drink water, because she had sunk in alcohol because of a sad love affair ending. And when one of the searchers showed signs of becoming a zombier everyone in the lab reached for their cellphones and started calling for exterior help, which exposed themselves to some close-up radiations and magnetism, turning them into zombies too. Now only the boozers and the homeless who don't drink much water anyway won't have turned into zombies, including those who are dangerously allergic to cellphone technology or pathologically paranoid and who refuse to use something which can be pirated.

Which leave splenty of leeway to adapt the storyline and how it unfolds for your gamers.

Have fun!!