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Zombie Game

Sandbox Multiplayer Zombie Game
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Multiplayer survival game in an sandbox city. Games last about an hour in which you have to survive, stop the spread of the dead and develop the characters stories.

Each game begins with players in random locations as they see the zombies spread, attacking and turning the population of the city. The players have to team up and find somewhere safe, then they can choose to get to the airport/harbour/motorway and escape (easy), or get to the military base/police station to try and fight (hard).

There's one city but there are multiple different types of zombies (virus, voodoo, Alien, nanobot, hell, etc), one type is selected at the start of each game. Each type of zombie has corresponding characters so one of the voodoo zombie characters would be a voodoo priest. Each type of zombie/character also has a back story which is developed through finding clues. It should take around 4-5 plays to complete each story and with 5 types there is around 25hrs play just to do the stories.

Players choose their character and then enter matchmaking which tries to get a good mix of different character types (skill level isn't relevant). The type of zombie is chosen by the game at the start by finding the story that has been developed the most by all characters. Any character can help develop any story by finding clues and sharing them with the others or helping to take down a key zombie (boss).

The different types of zombies have different characteristics such as speed, behaviour, how the infection spreads, how easy they are to kill and if headshots work. This makes it difficult for players at the start as they won't know which tactics are best and must play cautiously. Zombies will also mutate/develop the more a story progresses leading to boss fights or the zombies employing a degree of strategy.

When a player is infected they will eventually turn into a zombie and are informed by the game but the other players are not. The player can choose to be noble and kill themselves or they can wait and play as a zombie in which they have to kill all the human players.

If the game has chosen voodoo zombies then any voodoo related characters will have an added bonus in combat which will make it beneficial for the other players to team up with them. However, at the start the game may choose one of these characters to be a villain. The villain will be responsible for the spread of the zombies and will have different objectives such as killing all the players and stopping them developing the story. If story related characters turn into zombies they will also have added zombie powers.

The characters will also have different attributes (speed, health) as well as specific skills (driving, voodoo powers). The character will increase in attributes by killing zombies and saving people but the skills will level up with the progression of the characters story. As the story is progressed this this will change the character so a soldier will be promoted from private through to major. The character's zombies will also level up but will be independent of how far the human character has developed. This would lead to some players specifically turning at the start and trying to level up their zombies.

For the game to work the city should be fairly persistent so if a car is burnt out when a player returns later it will still be burnt out. The spread of the zombies should be modelled so there would be an outbreak point and the zombies would spread through the finite population (infinite spawning enemies are annoying). The furthest locations from the players could be very roughly modelled but as players get closer this should change so that every human and zombie are mapped and exhibit simple behaviour. In the near vicinity of the players everything would be modelled and more complex behaviours exhibited.

The game could be a very simple top down shooter such as the early GTAs but would be better as a TPS (Recent GTA Games), FPS (Left 4 Dead) or even switching between the two. The key aspects of the game are cooperative play with the risk of betrayal by the villain, multiple story arcs and a modelled city. This could easily be developed for other themes such as werewolves, disasters such as floods, organised crime, etc.

Aqua Guy, Sep 06 2010

Undead Home Protection Kit Undead_20Home_20Protection_20Kit
Essential accessory. [8th of 7, Sep 06 2010]

[link]






       I'll vote for zombies on principle but this seems like a bunch of completely different ideas for a game mushed together.   

       Nevertheless, sounds like a great game [+]
DrWorm, Sep 06 2010
  

       This sounds ever-so-slightly WoW-like...
Grogster, Sep 06 2010
  

       Try sticking your fingers in your ears and humming, then.
8th of 7, Sep 06 2010
  

       I like the idea, on the other hand co-op sandbox games have always been plagued by "social problems" especially when the game length exceeds 10min. If new players could spawn into the game at any point and join or ignore co-op then you could maybe maintain the sandbox element. A major issue with this sort of thing is potential vast gaps in skill level and the need to have game play that appeals to new and experienced players. Also you have the challenge of maintaining a resource economy and preventing the game from falling apart as players become aware of the game design/exploits. I think the critical niche that has not been filled is a contemporary set horror or violence based game (you die, you kill) that is short term strategic in nature. You would have goals and teamwork but players would not live long enough to become UBER and the basic notion would be working together to control/navigate an urban space with a relentless but intelligent army of adversaries attempting to find a weakness in your strategy. This could be implemented on a large scale that allowed for wider co-collaboration but the game mechanic would be geared to small teams. Larger teams would attract exponentially higher attention from the AI. A character could even have a limited lifespan so amassing resources and camping would be less appealing.
WcW, Sep 07 2010
  

       To keep players focused on playing together players would increase their score for killing zombies, surviving and discovering clues but the highest scores come from saving other players and helping them with mission. These points could go towards unlocking costumes or achievements which should help motivate cooperation.
Aqua Guy, Sep 07 2010
  

       Zombies [+]
xxobot, Sep 07 2010
  
      
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