Original Concept

Below is the basic concept originally hatched for this game. This may (will) be updated as we get deeper into production and something may get removed because of technology restraints. Feel free to build on these ideas and add your own, but do so in a constructive manner.

The game begins with four, human players standing in a make shift shelter. From here they have to decide where they want to hole up and fight there way there if needed. The only help they're given in finding these locations are on a map. There are no waypoints. These are their options:

A gun shop:
Pros: Unlimited ammo and virtually any weapon in the game can be found here. Will be in a small part of town - reducing the amount of zombies in the direct area.
Cons: Limited tools available to board up and there is zero food.

A super store:
Pros: Plenty of supplies to board up windows, doors, vents, etc. Unlimited supply of food.
Cons: No weapons or ammo. Lot's of zombies in the direct area

Apartment building:
Pros: Stairs can be destroyed so zombies can't reach you
Cons: Limited amount of food, weapons (if any), and ammo. Lot's of zombies in the direct area. Rooms may have infected trapped inside of them that may escape.

Single story home:
Pros: In a suburb, less zombies around. Plenty of supplies to board up with.
Cons: Limited food, weapons (if any), and ammo.

Junkyard:
Pros: Unlimited supplies to board up. The players could make a fortress if they so chose to. Attack dogs. Small pockets of zombies
Cons: No food, weapons, or ammo.

After the players decide where they want to hole up, they can't stay there for long after they've finished preparing their base. Building takes a toll on the player and makes them more hungry the more they work. If a player goes without food for six in game hours or their hunger bar gets too high, they will begin to starve to death until they eat again.

Likewise, a team cannot hope to survive without ammo and they will have to have it in large quantities.

Zombies can only be killed by destroying their brain. Anything else will be a minor inconvenience for them. This includes explosives and fire.

Fire will kill a zombie by burning its flesh off, but the players risk starting a fire that they won't be able to put out.

Explosives will knock a zombie down, but unless it destroys their brain, they'll continue the march by crawling. If a zombie gets decapitated, the head becomes a mine and if a player steps to close to it, they get bitten.

Explosions and gun shots from unsilenced weapons attract the attention of zombies and a player will easily be over run if they don't pick their shots carefully or aren't quite enough.

Silencers are hard to come by and gun shops do not have them in stock. They must be found on an abandoned military base (to stop players from setting up here as their base, a steady flow of zombies is always in and around the base - making it impossible to set up a campsite)

Gaining silencers have their owns risks. You must leave your safehouse and walk (or drive but the noise will bring out the undead) and fight your way into the base. Where the silencers are, is unknown. This can be accomplished by generating a random base everytime a new game is launched.

To make the game more challenging, the city (later in development) will be generated at random at the start of every game to prevent players from memorizing the city and were items are located.

Zombies:

These will not be your generic Left 4 Dead zombies, these are real zombies. They cannot be killed unless their brain is destroyed. They move at a pace of 1.5 feet a second at their fastest and .75 feet at their slowest with 1 foot a second being their average.

They do not form mobs. They may be standing in the same area, but you will not see any clumped together like in other zombie games. The mob that they form is only formed because they all hear the same noise or see the same food source and converge on it. They are completely oblivious to eachother.

Other humans:
Throughout the city there may be other survivors. The player must be careful when dealing with other survivors. They are not on the players side. They do not distinguish between alive and dead. The player must give a verbal announcement when approaching them - especially when they're dealing with a sniper other wise they will be shot and killed.

How many bites does it take to get to the center of a human?
One. If a player is bitten once they become infected. Not immediately, though. It takes four in game hours for them to become a member of the living dead (three for the infection to kill them, one for the infection to reanimate them). Once a player dies, that's it. Game over. There is no coming back.

Firebomb runs:
At random, unscripted points in the game, a jet will fly over a random part of the city and preform a firebomb run. Players are given little to no warning other than the jet's engines. To survive, they must get inside a building quickly and hide from the blast or escape before the firebombs drop. If a player fails to do either thing, they'll be engulfed in flames and burn to death.

However, if the players happen to be near a lake during this, they can dive into the lake and be safe from the flames. But this doesn't come without risk as zombies could be dwelling in the murk and a play could get bitten.

The goal:
The goal for the players is to escape or be rescued. There are no scheduled pickups during the length of the game and it's up to the players to get them scheduled or to find a safe zone (which is randomly generated a ways away from the city.)

To prevent players from immediately leaving the city to find the safe zone, there will be too many zombies standing between them and the safe zone for them just to charge through. Any attempt to do so will result in the deaths of all the players.

I think that covers the rough idea for the game. If there is anything I forgot, I'll add it back in later.

These concepts are not set in stone and may change as we get different ideas, but our goal should never change; make as realistic of a zombie survival game as we can.

I like the idea.

Will there be a story at all...?

Or... just a goal like L4D?

Grathius wrote:I like the idea.

Will there be a story at all...?

Or... just a goal like L4D?

I really can't see there being much of a story for this game, but there is a possibility of there being one if we find the need for one.

Admin wrote:

Grathius wrote:I like the idea.

Will there be a story at all...?

Or... just a goal like L4D?

I really can't see there being much of a story for this game, but there is a possibility of there being one if we find the need for one.

Could I possibly draft one...?

Grathius wrote:

Admin wrote:

Grathius wrote:I like the idea.

Will there be a story at all...?

Or... just a goal like L4D?

I really can't see there being much of a story for this game, but there is a possibility of there being one if we find the need for one.

Could I possibly draft one...?

Go right ahead!

Sweet... on to drafting it is!