Zombie Apocalypse

[Dutch_Cap]

Edit: Update: If you'd like to be involved in Zombie Apocalypse somehow, please sign up here.

From the other thread:

if we wanted to do an mmo, I suggest a zombie apocalypse with controls like gta. think about, if we have a small user base having all our people be survivors in one place makes sense.

It could be centered around one building. poeple will have to defend it and raid the nearby town for supplies. if anyone likes this contact me as I have ideas about how to make it fair and balanched

You had me at "zombie apocalypse". I've been wanting to make a game like that, actually.

Being the sandbox lover I am, though, I think players should be able to move to any part of the game world, and see how long they can survive there. Barracading oneself inside a building would be an obvious strategy, though. But joining a biker gang sounds equally enjoyable. A friend of mine once seduced another man in Fallout, and then proceeded to sell his lover to a slave trader. I think that's the kind of possibilities one should aim for in an RPG.

...and being the obsessed PvP gamer that I am (see above). Each roll should be played by an actual player (Zombies are players, Humans are players). There should be no NPC's or bots (except for those that say 'OMG Zombies!!' and such)

hmmm... I think I'm actually warming up to this idea.
PM me the rest of your ideas Hiroe.

Make a new topic about this so it gets more attention.

I'd like to suggest making every character controlable by both the players and the CPU. There could even be a kind of dungeon master that controls various NPCs.

I think that would be great but hard to code. if anyone wants me to make area maps I will. I can't code for shit but I can do some graphic design.

I can program at an intermediate level, but I'm useless at making graphics.

I'd love to take a whack at making a 2d game engine, I'm thinking something like GTA 1, though perhaps without the 3d buildings. I would definetely need some help with the networking code, though.

 

[ashadocat]

I am not good enough at graphics to make all the sprites. i'd be best suited to post production or management.

 

[icurafu]

I love this idea. I think I'll help out as long as it's freeware. Are you sure this hasn't been done before?

Let me get this correct. It's a MMO where all the players are People, be it bikies or whoever are trapped in a town that is being infested by zombies. The game plays out at a greater difficulty until all the players are eventually dead. Controls and graphics optimised for the Pandora.

Would all Zombies be NPCs? The idea of a dungeon master for the zombies is interesting. It'll work better if commands were not direct, but more like giving areas for the zombies to congragate, or purchasing upgrades to the zombie army based on looting.

Anyway, very interesting idea. I'd be interested to know more details.

 

[plopperz]

Basically that's the idea. Although I'm trying to convince them that the zombies should all be player controlled or all bots, not a mix. I think that it would be better if it was one ongoing game rather than one of increasing difficulty.
If I were designing this game, this is how it would go:

All of the new players would start out in a hotel that is being overrun by zombies, a sort of tutorial level. The owners of the hotel are showing the guests (the players) how to fend off the zombies, because they need all the help they an get. Once the player successfully completes the mansion level, they get to go to the full city. The player begins inside off a lab, where scientists have discovered a way to kill all of the zombies. Unfortunately zombies break through the door and kill all of the scientists. After that it's basically up to them, they can find people in the city who need help with tasks (always offering a reward of course), aimlessly wander the city looking for zombies to kill, hunt in large groups of other players, look for the scientist's secret weapon (although all of the zombies can't be killed, as the player learns once they get the weapon [but that won't stop them from having an uber awesome weapon (-:]) be a traitor and try to kill other players (once they've agreed to fight), cower inside abandoned buildings, loot stores, or just stay inside of the lab(the safe zone) and chat it up with the other players.

Obviously, this is just a concept. And could never, ever happen. But if we were to create a community MMO it would hopefully be based around this Zombie idea. I would like to see some dev's respond to this to see if it would be possible.


...And somebody move this out of Developer's Corner

 

[Sphinxter]

Gotta love that title, the game'll just write itself. Sounds like possibility of some good single play too.

 

[javaJake]

I'd be willing to help however I can. My MMORPGM project fell apart when I realized it's been done before very nicely by Novashell.

I've only been in C++ for a few weeks due to MMORPGM, but I think, as time goes on, I'll be more and more helpful and efficient.

 

[plopperz]

.

 

[icurafu]

oh yeah. I'm a software engineer. But I focus more on the high level things. Like architecture. UML. These days, I'm a security consultant, so I just tell people how they should fix their messes.

In a job like this, there are some great MMO engines available. We'll mostly need some CAD stars.

 

[plopperz]

An easy way to think of ideas is to read the Wikipedia article on zombie apocalypses . If anyone's interested

 

[A_SN]

So basically that's UrbanDead except with better graphics? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea and I might like to be part of it, I just think it might be too ambitious and that it won't lead anywhere.

Also, what would it bring compared to things that have already been done before? Mainly UrbanDead, since we're talking about a zombie mmorpg. Sounds like a case of "I want to redo something that's already been done before except better except that I don't realise yet that it's harder to pull off than I imagined and that my ideas aren't as good as they first sounded"

 

[plopperz]

We're not looking to rip-off UrbanDead or any other game. I realize that it's not going to be an easy project and maybe our idea's aren't that great, but I don't hear anything coming out of you.

 

[SharQueDo]

Rawr, great idea. We can even throw in some RPG elements (like stat based system, stats to improve weapon damage, rate of fire, maximum ammo, max health bonus, etc). UT200xRPG Invasion meets Crimsonland. I'm in for it.

 

[Snu]

interesting... sounds like fun, but will it make use of pandora's awesome 3d hardware or be 2d only?
maybe i could help out with the soundtrack, and (very maybe) make some 3d models... i cant sprite at all tho.

 

[Holokauston]

I like the idea, have a similar in mind for a game idea I've started to draw up haven't really decided if it's a MMO or a more RPG like game (depends on a lot how much help I can find when I got something to show), the Zombies should all be NPC imo since the should be mindless? ;P

 

[scarath]

An easy way to think of ideas is to read the Wikipedia article on zombie apocalypses . If anyone's interested



The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency is where its at.


Maybe someone should create a poll about what kind of game people want? I mean all these ideas are really great but would a GTA, Fallout or FPS view be best for this sort of thing? Any/all would be valid I guess.

Personally I think the GTA would be fun but have seen a few shoot'em ups that have the Fallout style view that looked great (cant think of the names off hand, i think you had to shoot aliens or something).

 

[Dutch_Cap]

interesting... sounds like fun, but will it make use of pandora's awesome 3d hardware or be 2d only?
maybe i could help out with the soundtrack, and (very maybe) make some 3d models... i cant sprite at all tho.

To make it 3d we'd have to get some fabulous programmers on board or use an existing 3d engine. 2d has it's advantages, though. If the zombies are sprites we could have hundreds and hundreds of them coming at the player(s).

Right now, I'm thinking an isometric retro pixel art style would be really cool. The characters, creatures and vehicles could perhaps be converted to sprites from a voxel model. That way we don't have to draw them from every side, yet they should fit nicely into the pixel art style.

 

[plopperz]

I was also thinking 2D. Using the same camera angle as Payback, but with 2D sprites. I like the idea of having a FPS, but that would be too large a project to be realistic.

 

[Holokauston]

I was also thinking 2D. Using the same camera angle as Payback, but with 2D sprites. I like the idea of having a FPS, but that would be too large a project to be realistic.

Well maybe not since the Q3 engine will be ported? that would speed it along a lot if you want an FPS like game?

Humans defend a bunker or what ever, Zombies comes, have a scoring table for stats etc, make some "quests" like ; go outside and find the little lost girl, kill the Mega Zombie, secure a new area of the base (bring NPC there to guard) etc. a server running this scenario 24/7 and when you log on you start in a safe place where some NPCs guard, then work your way out, team up with other players to achieve goals ?

This way one player can play it and still have fun and if you got friends you can play it together and if you want you can team up with anyone that's online

Like King of the Hill style mixed with TF with objectives, if you want PvP then make people pick a team, put two bunkers opposite each other Zombies in the middle, have both missions to kill zombies and to sabotage the other base etc.

just a few ideas

 

[Kings]

I would settle for a port of Empty Clip, with multiplayer added.

Empty Clip

From the Empty Clip forums the creator is looking for help maintaining the game anyway.

 

[ashadocat]

that looks almost perfect. I'll look into it more.

yes. i've been looking for an engine like this for ever. if we can get multyplayer support it's very close to what we want. all it needs is a simple physics engine (so we can build barricades) and network code.

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