Zombie Survival Mode

Zombie Survival Mode​

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Gather, Build, Defend, Survive and Escape, with your precious brains intact.​

Introduction​

Zombies. A very over-saturated and overused product nowadays, but a good one. They could equally be substituted with any other mob in the game, however I feel that zombies make the most sense when it comes to holding back a tide of player-innard-craving monsters. They would also work extremely well with the procedural generation system, as their body parts could be substituted to create a huge variety of zombies, and not the usual sea of identical looking zombie foes.

My idea revolves around a lot of new mechanics, and so I think it would really require a whole new mode to make it a viable addition, rather than just being a side quest.

The main premise would be a more 'realistic' scenario with careful management of resource gathering, building, and defending your base, in an ever increasingly difficult world. The focus would be on survival, and eventual escape, instead of your zombie murdering abilities.

New Gameplay Mechanics​

Health & Damage​

For this I was assuming that the player would be immune to the actual zombie virus, and so wouldn't instantly die at the slightest touch. However, to reflect the importance of management and quick decision making, damage would be drastically increased over the normal game-mode. Only 1 or 2 hits from a zombie would be enough to kill you outright at the start of the game, with this slightly increasing as you upgrade your equipment. The rarity of health packs would make them a precious resource, and encourage you to avoid being hit at all costs if you want to progress far into the game.

Bleeding would also be a factor. Bullet wounds or attacks from zombies that didn't kill you may leave you with bleeding open wounds to deal with. Bandages would be required to stem the bleeding of any not too serious wounds, whereas more drastic measure like stitches could be needed for more serious injuries (based on the amount of damage that the hit caused). Being trapped far away from your base, alone and without anything to stop the bleeding, would most likely end in a swift death.

If possible, tracking the location of damage more accurately would also be useful. This would allow wounds to be tracked to specific areas of the body, depending on where you were hit. So being hit in the arm would result in a different wound to being hit in the head etc. This could also be applied to differing results for injuries. Leg wounds could slow your movement, arm movements could affect your ability to use tools and weapons. This would further promote the importance of avoiding being hit, as well as the importance of healing items.

Death​

In the event of death, the game would end and that character would be lost forever. No respawns. I like the idea of being able to choose to replay the same world (from the beginning) on a new game however if the player so desires.

Mobility​

Jumping would be reduced to a more realistic height so that player can only jump up 2-3 blocks. The player would be able to climb up slightly larger walls however to allow them to still move around the environment to a reasonable degree. Later in the game you could equip yourself with items like ropes and vehicles to allow you to more effectively explore and traverse larger obstacles.

Resource Gathering​

The speed of resource gathering should be drastically decreased to reflect the increased 'realism', so no chopping down whole trees in one, and no mining blocks at a rate of knots. The amount of items you can carry should also be drastically reduced, and resources would not stack much to prevent huge quantities being carried at once.

The carrying capacity should be limited to only a few logs or rocks until you're able to build something more practical for carrying resources around, such as a backpack or cart. This would make gathering enough resources to build a base a mission in itself. The number of weapons and items you can carry would also be severely limited.

Light & Weather​

Light should be an extremely important gameplay mechanic and areas with little light should be almost pitch black. Nights with cloud cover should also be almost pitch black, making it foolish to venture outside at night without being properly prepared. If the sky is clear and the stars and the moon can be seen then there should be slightly more light to reflect this.

Light could also be used as an important weapon at the players disposal. Throw a flare down to distract a group of zombies and allow you to sneak past and remain undetected, rather than having to take them head on and risk serious injury, or use up precious ammunition unnecessarily.

Weather would also be extremely important. Storms and other harsh weather conditions would add another element of risk and reward. Risk exploring in the storm with poor visibility and dangerous conditions, or hold up inside where it's safe but waste an entire day or maybe more?

Multiplayer​

For multiplayer the number of zombies you face would scale to reflect the advantages of having more players. Items however wouldn't be affected. You'd have more people to look for resources, so hopefully you'd be able to explore further and gather them more quickly, however the cost of upgrading more players equipment and dealing with more zombies would prevent you reaching end game too much more quickly.

The Undead​

The basic zombies would spawn and wander around randomly, mainly attacking the player when they come into their line of sight. Some special zombies however may have special abilities or senses that will alter their ability to detect or reach the player. Occasionally they'd also come in groups to attack your base. With each night that passes their difficulty would gradually increase, also spawning new types of zombie along the way.

Zombies would have the ability to break any blocks and doors that block their path. The time it takes for them to destroy the block/door in their way would depend on the material that it is constructed from and the number of zombies attacking it. A wooden door wouldn't last anywhere near as long as stone wall for example.

Basic Zombies

• Your standard slow moving, slow thinking monsters, with feeding as their only goal.
• The majority of the zombies that you encounter, particularly early on, would be these.
• They are able to climb up small ledges to get to the player

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Soldiers

• Later on you will encounter more heavily armoured zombies.
• Identical to the normal zombies apart from requiring more damage to take down. May also be resistant to damage in certain places, eg bullet proof vest.

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Twitchers

• Your Left 4 Dead style zombies. Much faster on their feet and able to quickly cover the ground between them and the player.
• Also pack more of a punch with their attacks.

Swamp Zombies

• Can hide in murky water and spring out on the player.

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Bloaters

• Fat, water filled, bundles of joy.
• Move slowly but will kill the player in one hit if they fall on them.

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Boomers

• Similar to bloaters, but inflated with gas instead. Shooting them causes them to burst and damage nearby zombies and blocks.
• Extremely effective at destroying blocks as they can explode when they get near your base.

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Chargers

• Large zombies that attempts to crush the players by running at them at high speed.
• Can also charge into walls to do a lot of damage to the blocks.

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Zombie Dogs (/other land animals)

• Very fast and their strong bite makes them extremely dangerous.
• Ineffective at breaking blocks however.
• Able to sense the player over much greater distances due to their heightened senses of smell and hearing.

Zombie Crows (/other flying animals)

• Fly quickly and erratically.
• Small and hard to hit making them dangerous, especially when in groups.
• Unable to break blocks however can fly through 1 block gaps.

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Clingers

• Small crawling creatures that attempt to jump and latch on to the player and bite them.
• Can leap large distances and up high walls.

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Rupturers

• Have large egg sacs attached to their bodies that can explode and release tiny clingers.

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(not entirely happy with these at the moment)​

Devourers

• Grow by eating the corpses of dead allies

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Bouncers

• Small zombies that are able to jump much higher than the player, to get to hard to reach areas that other zombies cannot reach.

Crawlers

• Relatively fast zombies that are able to crawl up walls and pick at blocks anywhere on your base.
• They would become more common as you progress to reflect your increasing defences, and prevent you effectively just 'blocking off' all the zombies.

Snappers

• Have long tentacles that can hit the player over a long distance.

Dischargers

• Can shoot toxic liquid over a long distance.

Burrowers

• Make sure you protect your base from the bottom. They can burrow short distances under your walls.

Screamers

• They will scream and attract more zombies if they aren't killed quickly after the player comes into their line of sight.

Wrenchers

• Are able to grab the player and drag them into the zombie horde.

Planning the construction of your base therefore becomes more and more important as your progress so that you are effectively able to deal with all of these types of enemies.

Rare Undead​

Zombie Matriarch

• Surrounded by swarms of clingers.
• Increases spawn rate of rupturers leading up to her appearing.

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Cultists​

• Not much is known about these mysterious magic wielders, however they seem immune to the zombie infection and are able to bend the undead to their whim

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Rhinos

• Large heaps of muscle that will take a lot of damage before they collapse.
• Will pick up chunks of earth and throw them at the player and blocks.
• Very effective at breaking blocks.

The Beginning​

You'd begin the game in a little underground cave in the countryside, with only an axe for company. No explanation, no story, no idea what's going on. The best way to begin a zombie apocalypse I think. There would be no obvious buildings, zombies or survivors in sight, giving you a bit of time to settle in before the hoards arrive.

Your initial goal would be to gather enough resources to build a little shelter to keep you safe for the night. The axe can be used to gather wood to build a basic construction that will help hold back the zombies. You would be unable to break dirt or stone etc until you had found a pickaxe or a spade to use. The goal would then be to explore and gradually upgrade until you're able to build a ship and escape the planet altogether.

The Landscape​

The landscape would need to be a varied distribution of villages, towns and cities; and countryside and other biomes, with the zombie density varying depending on the area you are in. Towns = more zombies, countryside = less zombies. May also be some kinds of zombies that only spawn in certain areas.

A procedural generation system would have to appropriately distribute resources throughout the randomly generated landscape. They would need to generated carefully to prevent the game either being too easy or too hard. It would create a lot greater replayability however if the entire layout of the landscape could be procedurally generated, so I think it would be a lot better than a predesigned map.

Survivors​

There would also be the possibility of encountering survivors while out gathering resources. These could either be hostile or willing to co-operate, and decisions would have to be made about how to approach any survivors that you encounter.

Some may open fire on you without warning, others may give you warnings to leave before they attack. It would be up to player to decide what to do and weigh up the possible risks and rewards. A bullet wound would not be a good idea in a zombie apocalypse.

Other npcs that you encounter may be more friendly and willing to co-operate. If you can escort them back to your base and equip them with weapons then they can help hold back the hoard, or be taken along with you and help gather resources. More survivors however comes with the risk of attracting the attention of more zombies. Some survivors may also have useful talents or information that they can share with you. Rescuing a doctor or an engineer in the wasteland could lead to huge rewards.

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Resource Gathering and Upgrading​

Resource gathering would be a major part of the gameplay. You would need to venture out to explore the planet around you, and search for supplies to progress in the game and build up a better defence/offence before you're overwhelmed.

Initially you would be very limited in what you could build, even if you happen to find some rare resources. This would prevent the player getting too far ahead too early, even if they're lucky with what they find. For example you wouldn't be able to build a turret straight away even if you had the correct resources at the start of the game. You would need to first acquire the correct tools and skills, and build the correct facilities to allow you to construct such items.

After you have gathered resources you would also need to decide what to do with them. Due to the rarity of some resources your entire survival could depend on how you decide to distribute them. Use important items like wires, sensors and batteries to build turrets or traps to help defend your base, but use up resources that could go towards your ship? Or save everything you possibly can in the hope of completing your ship more quickly? You'd need to strike a very careful balance between effectively defending your base, and keeping enough resources aside to complete your ship before you are overrun.

Traps and Defence​

Traps and turrets would be constructed from gather resources, but the resources required to build them would balance out their potential power. Some traps could be recollected before they are activated, and the resources reused. However some resources may be unrecoverable in the process, or have been lost during their use if they can be activated more than once.

Boulder trap

• Releases a large stone boulder to squash zombies in its path
• Requires a new boulder every time it is activated
• Would take a while to arm itself, and the boulder would break as soon as it hit a wall, or hit enough zombies.

Arrow Trap

• A simple trap that can be used to fire arrows at zombies.
• Both manned and automated version.
  • Manned turret construction uses slightly less resources and doesn't require restocking of ammunition nearly as often, but uses up a valuable npc that could be used elsewhere.
• Must be restocked with arrows periodically to function.

Mines​

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• Explode in a small area around them leaving a crater in their wake.​
• Would be one use (obviously) so all resources are lost once it is activated.
• Will kill an infinite number of zombies in the explosion radius however, so very powerful if use correctly.

Spike Pit

• Spikes will damage zombies that fall onto them.

Hot Tar Bucket

• Release a bucket of hot tar onto the heads of enemies below.
• Requires precious energy to heat the tar in the first place.

Turrets

• Rockets
• Machine guns
• Lasers
  • Can be used to more effectively take out zombies.
  • Also come in an automated variety requiring more parts, but means they don't require an operator to function. Can be turned on and off as required.
  • Require a lot of resources to contruct however to balance out their power.
  • Must be restocked with ammunition/batteries periodically to function.

If a more complex wiring system was present in the game it may also be possible to create more complex constructions to defend your base, such as draw bridges or fire traps.

Vehicles​

These would be very useful during game play, however may be quite resource heavy to construct. If you're lucky you may also rarely find them while you explore.

Cart

• Allow you to carry more resources at once. However can only be dragged up and down slopes of 1 block.
• Can be upgraded to have an automated turret attached to help defend you while you gather resources.
  • Targeting can be changed through passive, defensive or aggressive depending on your preference.
  • Attaching a turret reduces the carts carrying capacity.

Motorbike

• Allows much faster travel around the landscape, however not very well protected.
• Requires quite a lot of resources to construct.

Jeep

• Even more resource intensive than the motorbike, but more protected.
• Allows carrying of large amounts of resources however.
• Can also place turrets on the back, but reduces space for resources.

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Items​

Axe​

Gather wood from trees​

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Spade​

Dig up dirt and clay and other softer blocks​

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Pickaxe​

Break stone and other harder blocks​

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Wire Cutters​

Required to build and dismantle electronic devices​

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Wrench​

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Spanner​

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Work Bench​

Made from wood and can be used to store all your tools in one place. Anything crafted near the work bench won't require you to have the tools in your inventory if they are placed on the work bench​

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Wiring ​

Used in electrical devices​

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Sensors​

For automated devices​

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Batteries​

An extremely important resource. Required for all electrical devices to function​

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Generator​

Very rare, but can be used instead of batteries with certain devices​

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Wheels​

For building vehicles​

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Health Packs & Syringes​

Recover lost health​

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Bandages​

Help stop bleeding​

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Needle and thread​

Stitch up wounds​

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Glue​

Also useful for sealing up wounds​

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I'll add to this and expand as I go along so let me know what you think

All sprites etc are my own (as much as that counts when zombies are involved, and with the obvious inspiration), so please do not use them without first asking me.

Extras​

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this'll be cool

 

That's one well thought out post. Rather than a game mode it could be a random event that happens. At a point during travel between planets you crash into an unknown island, and awaken to find yourself without any items and your ship no where in site. You would need to survive a set number of days before your ship is able to be found. Alternatively, it could also be some sort of minigame that can be activated on your space ship, when you die you could get money for the number of days you survived and appear back in your ship.

 

Thanks a lot for reading it! Yeah I thought about that, but I thought that it might work out to be a more annoying than fun experience. It might work if it didn't take too long and as a sort of dumbed down minigame version. But I think it taking a few days might be a bit too much. It would be frustrating to be on your way to complete a quest or something and then be thrust into this without warning, especially if you'd played it a few times before and didn't really enjoy it.

I also wouldn't want it to just feel like a cheap way of shoving some zombies into the game just for the sake of it and the gameplay changes I suggested are quite severe compared to what the normal gameplay will probably be like (a lot slower paced). Therefore I'm not sure it would quite fit into the actual main game mode. I would love for it to be a separate game mode or a mod though I can dream!

 

I think this would be very cool and it could be a random event, and it would be good as it gets you lots of resources to start the game with, or as the event, it would then be a good resource source.

 

[Image removed - Malware host - Photostyle]

I have only one question - why there must be zombies in almost every game?...

 

It doesn't have to be zombies. There could be bloodthirsty panda bears instead. Or.... henry hoovers that have something against player characters.

 

Ok then - ZERG RUSH
KEKEKEKEKE

 

I admitted that it's an over-saturated genre, and that another enemy type could work instead. That's why I didn't want to include this as part of the main game and make it feel like zombies had just been shoehorned into the gameplay for the sake of it. There's just something about zombies that works though. They're a tried and tested enemy type that works well for a survival-apocalypse-horror scenario. If it will make you happy just read it again and replace the word zombie with Rabid Lemur Babies instead.

 

RABID LEMUR BABIES --

 

How dare you diss my entirely valid concept for a Rabid Lemur Baby Apocalypse You won't be laughing when they've eaten your family and friends.

 

Clan with Endless Possibilities will never be eaten and forgotten.

 

I actually like the idea of a separate, more realistic mode to play the game on. Especially limiting how much items can stack and how many items the player can carry. This would inspire a lot of teamwork in multiplayer and can lead to a lot of fun and interesting moments, even "last stands"

 

I LOVE YOU
I mean, I LOVE YOUR IDEA
Seriously, this has never been implemented into a game in this manner.
Thanks

 

Yeah I wanted to make it more of a 'realistic' mode about teamwork, survival and careful planning, with a sense of real danger, instead of just a mode where you charge about and blast everything in sight. The focus would be much more on the survival aspects than the combat

And cheers Croccy!

 

This game will be arcade rather than realistic. For this second mode we don't need zombies, too. Neither rabid lemur babies.

 

That's why I suggested a different mode instead.... That way the aspects could be changed to better fit with a survival theme, while keeping the main game separate. And I get the message that you don't like zombies, you don't need to keep saying it!

 

I would love to see how challenging it is to actually fight the zombies then.

Unfortunately, it has been confirmed that there won't be a hunger bar but maybe they will put it in if they make a mode like this.

 

Yeah I intended to make it more of a 'only kill them when there's no other option' kind of scenario. Ammo and health would be precious, particularly at the start of the game, so you wouldn't want to go out of your way just to take out some zombies when you could find another way.

 

I like the idea of that. It's perfect for the survival aspect. Survival is your main priority, fighting is only for emergencies. I like it