Zombie Apocalypse

[Dutch_Cap]

if I can suggest an mmo seems to difficult for us right now. why don't we work on multyplayer?

Agreed. I think we should start by supporting a couple of players. Then improve the networking code and write a dedicated server to support larger numbers of players.

I wonder whether a top-down view might be awkward on a wide screen. That is, you'd be be able to see much further to the west and east than to the north and south. You could use part of the screen for maps or inventory and such to make the view of the world more squarish. However, I'd prefer to make it full screen and tilt the camera a little. If you rotate the camera upwards a little, you'd be able to see further north and south. That means the game engine would have to be isometric or 3d.

 

[ashadocat]

it already supports 3d terrain. I think we could fake it with some clever spriting

 

[ashadocat]

Alright. here goes nothing. this will of coarse use empty clip as a base

there will be too much difficulty to make a full scale mmorpg, if we can make a demo then we can talk about mmo'ing it.
our demo should have several features.

-servers, supporting a theoretically indefinite number of players
-an rts like interface for the bad guys to control zombies
-movable objects. we want to be able to push things around to make barricades
-able to compile for arm processors

if we can get those we'll be well on our way to creating a great game. these changes are a huge task, I doubt without some real motivation, that we'll get it done.

the graphics are kind of lackluster. anyone who wants to make some should. if I see some real development (even just porting it to arm) i'll set us up a webpage

 

[Dutch_Cap]

it already supports 3d terrain. I think we could fake it with some clever spriting

Absolutely. Though you'd need draw all sprite animations from eight or so different sides, to have something that resembles rotating characters (five sides for symmetrical sprites). If we're going with 3D terrain, we should probably use a 3D editor like Blender to render all the animations of all the sprites from all sides. Though if somebody feels like painstakingly drawing all the animations from eight sides, I'm cool with that.

Modifying the Empty Clip engine to look down at an angle rather than straight down shouldn't be too hard, unless its design severely limits it in that regard somehow. However, it does look like it needs a lot of work anyhow. This might be just as much work as writing a 2D engine from scratch.

 

[ashadocat]

maybe 3d terrain was a bit misleading. empty clip supports 3d walls. I think it would fit nicely on the screen if we put the health, stats, and inventory on either side

 

[Dutch_Cap]

I'm not too sure about Empty Clip yet. But we should probably discuss game design and features more before we decide on any particular engine anyway.

 

[ashadocat]

Do you really think we can gather the community together to build the ideal engine? if not then this is the closest I've ever seen. I admit it's not the best, but if you have any other ideas then be my guest.

 

[ashadocat]

What we need the engine to do:
-multyplayer
-stats and skill that effect(affect?) accuracy
-top down shooter controls
-player zombies

what we want
-support for multi story buildings
-customizing your character with equipment
-simple 2d physics to make barricades with
-zombies implemented however the community feels is right (rts, player, npc)

 

[Dutch_Cap]

I was thinking about character classes and such today. Here's some ideas:

• Warrior - This class would be good with all kinds of weapons, and be strong enough to carry a lot of items. Some kind of soldier or cop, I imagine.
• Engineer - While less proficient at using weapons, this class can repair and modify weapons, vehicles and whatever other kind of technology we decide to put in the game.
• Doctor - Your basic healer. Heals faster than other classes. Can also make poisons. Has a high resistance, which reduces the chance of being infected by the zombie virus.
• Preacher - This class can sense if and where zombies are coming from. Also less likely to be attacked by zombies. Higher luck than other classes. Some healing and protection abilities.
• Spy - Every RPG should have a stealth class. Spies can move around unnoticed and are good with melee weapons, pistols and explosives.
• Thug/Vigilante - A barbarian-like class. Also a warrior, but simpler to play. These are the guys that race around in motorcycle gangs. Good with all weapons, especially melee weapons. They also have a high resistance. A bit slow. They're terrible with any technology that is not a motorcycle.

I'd like to suggest the following weapon types:

• Melee (Bats, chainsaws, sticks)
• Pistols
• Rifles
• Heavy weapons (rocket launchers, flame throwers)
• Explosives

Attributes:

• Health - The more you have, the harder it is to die.
• Resistance - How well you resist diseases and other biohazards. Reduces chances of becoming a zombie when bitten.
• Speed - How fast you move on foot and reload.
• Strenght - More strength means more powerful melee attacks, and allows you to carry more items.
• Luck(?) - Affects all kinds of things, like probability of critical hits, quality of the items you will find.
• Wisdom - Affects foresight and protective abilities, like boosting morale
• Intelligence - Affects how well you deal with technology

Skills:

• Weapons
• Technology
• Healing
• Stealth
• Foresight
• Driving

Vehicles:

• Cars
• (Motor)cycles

Technology. These are the different kinds of objects that can be used/modified/repaired with the help of engineering skills:

• Electronics
• Weapons
• Vehicles

 

[ashadocat]

I'm always against adding luck. I feel it's just cheating. how about having a wisdom stat to govern forsight.

 

[Dutch_Cap]

I'm always against adding luck. I feel it's just cheating. how about having a wisdom stat to govern forsight.

Personally, I think cheating is fun. I have some great childhood memories involving "iddqd" and "idkfa".

I think it'd be cool if a ridiculously high luck would result in ridiculous events, like a single bullet bouncing around in a very improbable way and killing a dozen zombies.

Also, if a very low health boosted luck a little, this could make the dynamics of the game a little more interesting.

Edit: And I added the wisdom stat.

 

[javaJake]

Something I always do before deciding to use software is to look at the source code. I always look first to see how easy it'll be to tear apart, and to get multiplayer working we'll need to do a little bit of tearing.

I like the ideas people are coming up, but it's sounding a little... co-operative. Any ideas in terms of players working against each other? Perhaps there could be multiple towns/cities? The wilderness between the places would obviously be dangerous since other players and zombies are always wandering around out there.

 

[Snu]

just throwing some ideas out there...

if we want to do 3d, we could always use irrlicht, its already being ported even.
empty clip looks pretty cool (looks like take no prisoners!), but im thinking an isometric view (with either 2d or 3d graphics) would work better with a wide screen, and allow us to better show things like blowing off arms and legs on the zombies. or if we do a 3d environment, it can be free rotating camera at a fixed altitude angle, thus we could mix 2d sprites in also.
if we want to do sprites, we could always use something like makehuman to create 3d models, then animate them in blender, and render at different angles. tho, clothing, and holes in the flesh/missing limbs for the zombies will need some model editing.

 

[___]

This sounds like a dream come true! I had a very similar idea a few years back for a multiplayer pc game. Very very cool guys! I hope you can pull it off!

An idea about the preacher: If the bad guys control where the zombie hordes will come from, as in they mark a spot on the map where the zombies will go to, maybe the preacher can sort of see those beacon like points of the map and warn others.

Think about warcraft 3 and how you can alert allies by placing beacons on the map in multiplayer game. This sort of thing... Well, the preachers would have to see the positions on the ingame screen aswell. Maybe a change in ambient color or something. When you as a preacher character are standing close to a spot where zombies will emerge or gather, the lighting could change to red and intensify the closer you get to that marked spot.

 

[ashadocat]

well if you want to do it as a fps I think I can get us some low-poly zombie models.

 

[Dutch_Cap]

I like the ideas people are coming up, but it's sounding a little... co-operative. Any ideas in terms of players working against each other?

The doctor could create a chemical that attracts zombies, and use it to lure them to another player (or away from allies). When backed into a corner, you could spray it on a player next to you, and run away as the zombies tear him to shreds.

A melee motorcycle match would be lots of fun. Let's make sure those cycles can do some quick turns and cool slides.

You could hack a security system, to open a door that allows a bunch of zombies to get to another player.


Also, how about controling weapons with the right stick? You point the stick in the direction you want to fire. This would work especially well for melee weapons. Imagine swinging a chainsaw around by turning the stick.

 

[ashadocat]

I agree with right stick weapon controls. if you want players to fight just make very little resources. eventually there'll be squabbling over whats there.

 

[plopperz]

QUOTE

I was thinking about character classes and such today.
....
....


I don't know if this would be the type of game to add classes, because it would limit the player to ONLY being a Warrior, Preacher, Engineer, Thug, Spy, or Vigilante. If we didn't have classes then the player could decide what they wanted to do, such as be like a merchant, but also fight off zombies, and heal others.
QUOTE

I'd like to suggest the following weapon types
...
...


Weapons are good, but add many, many more.
QUOTE

Attributes
...
...


Health, that's it, all that's needed.
QUOTE

Skills


Don't need them
QUOTE

Vehicles


Again, good, but add more. Motor vehicles should be rare because the zombies would've destroyed them or all the gas would've been siphoned out of them (gas stations have been abandoned.) So there should be more of an emphasis on slower transportation (bikes, skateboards, unicycles, whatever)
QUOTE

Technology


Same reason as skills.


You have good ideas, but I don't think this should be an MMORPG, but a MMOFPS. It would also make it too complicated to code, if it isn't already. Commercial games like this are made by huge teams of coders working for months fulltime. This is why I think we should start with a simple 2D topdown or angled camera game, or even just a chatroom. But if we were to make a First Person Shooter, it should be a modded form of some other game, like Quake III.

 

[___]

I think the ideas are all really cool, but we should focus on the game not getting too huge.

There is two things that need to be considered first: Do we want to make it an mmorpg later on? Gameplay should then be kept compatible with that kind of genre.
If it's going to be straight multiplayer, no levelling of characters or only limited rpg functionality, it should be kept more simple so that quicker matches can be held. It should then feature different game modes to incorporate all these great ideas.

I think an mmorpg is quite a bit to huge of an effort for a community based project.

Listen to this: What about a multiplayer game with matches that can last up to one or two hours, depending on game mode, where you can level your very own character so that his abilities will get better over time?

Game modes could be:
Capture the artifact: Zombies are emerging from a crypt or tunnel or basement of a house, whatever the map is like. The players need to team up and break through to the core of the plague and retrieve a certain voodoo shrine, chemical waste bin or something similar to win the match as this is the source of the plague.

Survival: Stay alive no matter what... the helicopter is on it's way to pick up the survivors. Team up at first to fight your way through the city and to the helipad, stay alive for a certain amount of time until that chopper gets you out of this hell! Maybe there could be a variation of this game-mode in which only a few people can be rescued and thus need to compete in a battle of survival for a spot on that helicopter:

Barricades: Board up a house against the flood of the living dead and see how many waves you can survive. Endless game mode! People need to construct and repair barricades with all kinds of stuff they can find and move, others need to get supplies and ammo while some have to fence of the hungering dead with rifles, bats, whatever weapon they can find.

Deathmatch: Classic... can't be missed in any kind of multiplayer shooter. Kill each other in a crazy spree while the masses of the undead try to do the very same thing to you! If you are playing as the zombies, you will have say 5 lives. When you are killed, you respawn at another place. Zombies are controlled as a group from an rts like interface like already suggested.

Infection: One player starts out with a super zombie like character that is not as easily killed. Player controls this zombie and a group of normal zombies. The goal of the game is to infect the other players with the sickness, they will then join the zombie side as other super zombies controlled like they were normal characters. The survivors have to try to kill the super zombies as the plague then stops spreading. Super zombies are very quick, in contrast to normal zombies which move very sluggish. Super zombies also regenerate their health over a period of time.

Just a couple of ideas, there could be way more...

EDIT: Oh, and there should be character classes that you can eventually level a little bit over time. Sort of like team fortress with a few rpg elements. Maybe even a sort of rpg mode?

 

[Dutch_Cap]

You have good ideas, but I don't think this should be an MMORPG, but a MMOFPS.

I propose the following: We start by implementing the deathmatch aspect of the game, with static characters. Like Team Fortress, however, there will be classes. Once the action and multiplayer aspect of the game is working smoothly, if we feel up to the task, we start adding more RPG options, like the ability to improve attributes/skills and making a nice Dungeon Master interface.

QUOTE
It would also make it too complicated to code, if it isn't already. Commercial games like this are made by huge teams of coders working for months fulltime. This is why I think we should start with a simple 2D topdown or angled camera game, or even just a chatroom.


Using simple graphics and physics should make the task a little easier, but very true. And don't forget the enormous effort that goes into making all the art and levels!


Edit: spelling.