These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

Out of Pod Experience

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

A Zombie Apocolypse MMO
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Gibbo3771
AQUILA INC
#1 - 2012-03-05 11:21:43 UTC
I for one would love to see this.

A life sim mixed in with a Zombie apoc, FPS based.

If you can imagine a game where you need to find food, water, supplies and the alike. You can have survival factions, the world is covered in zombies (no resident evil zombies, left4dead type of zombies) and also mutated creatures like from silent hill and ****.

Would this work? I am thinking pvp would be quite good since everyone is fighting for survival.

A very dynamic base building tool would be amazing, ability to turn basic buildings into forts with the right supplies and man power.

Ideal world right :(
Sidus Isaacs
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#2 - 2012-03-05 11:48:08 UTC
Would be interesting. Tho, I have yet to see any game actually focusing on the survival part. Most zombie games now a days are mindless shooters. meh.

I hope Survivor Zero turns out be be good tho.
Destination SkillQueue
Doomheim
#3 - 2012-03-05 13:19:07 UTC
Gibbo3771 wrote:
I for one would love to see this.

A life sim mixed in with a Zombie apoc, FPS based.

If you can imagine a game where you need to find food, water, supplies and the alike. You can have survival factions, the world is covered in zombies (no resident evil zombies, left4dead type of zombies) and also mutated creatures like from silent hill and ****.

Would this work? I am thinking pvp would be quite good since everyone is fighting for survival.

A very dynamic base building tool would be amazing, ability to turn basic buildings into forts with the right supplies and man power.

Ideal world right :(


I like it as an idea, but can't see it working or being implemented to work in an interesting way. First problem, people don't like survival games where serious resource gathering is actually required to survive, let alone it being hard to do. It's also a problem, since if you allow people to construct real bases and let them establish themselves, it will remove the survival aspect from the game after a while. This will have to happen though, since you're going to have to supply endless new resources to the game and it's only a matter of time(weeks at most) before people learn to exploit the mechanics to their fullest. You've got two bad options here, either make is so easy every solo player can manage it(pointless annoyance) or force people to group to stay alive(casuals will quit).

Which leads to problem number two, what happens if you die? Death penalties are very unpopular, but without harsh ones, there won't be any sense of survival, horror or a real threat of resource depletion. These things wouldn't be a problem in a single player game, but in an MMO they're going to be an issue, since you have to cater to everyone without difficulty settings. If you don't have the survival, horror or meaningful death penalty aspects, it's just your typical NPC kill grinder with zombie skins. What it would likely end up being is a very typical MMO slightly modified, so that the standard MMO crap has mild zombie horror flavor to it.

I'm not saying it would be all bad, but it might work better as a fallout 3 type game with addedl FPS multiplayer with many gameplay modes than a MMO. Some light fun game you play on the side of a more serious and meanigful game. A game where you can choose your gameplay type/difficulty based how you happen to be feeling that day. Want to play tough as nails survival horror? Join a game type dedicated to that. Want to take it easy and frag some zombies or compete in PvP? Join a game dedicated to doing just that.
Telegram Sam
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#4 - 2012-03-05 15:35:01 UTC  |  Edited by: Telegram Sam
Destination SkillQueue wrote:
Gibbo3771 wrote:
I for one would love to see this.

A life sim mixed in with a Zombie apoc, FPS based.

If you can imagine a game where you need to find food, water, supplies and the alike. You can have survival factions, the world is covered in zombies (no resident evil zombies, left4dead type of zombies) and also mutated creatures like from silent hill and ****.

Would this work? I am thinking pvp would be quite good since everyone is fighting for survival.

A very dynamic base building tool would be amazing, ability to turn basic buildings into forts with the right supplies and man power.

Ideal world right :(


I like it as an idea, but can't see it working or being implemented to work in an interesting way. First problem, people don't like survival games where serious resource gathering is actually required to survive, let alone it being hard to do. It's also a problem, since if you allow people to construct real bases and let them establish themselves, it will remove the survival aspect from the game after a while. This will have to happen though, since you're going to have to supply endless new resources to the game and it's only a matter of time(weeks at most) before people learn to exploit the mechanics to their fullest. You've got two bad options here, either make is so easy every solo player can manage it(pointless annoyance) or force people to group to stay alive(casuals will quit).

Which leads to problem number two, what happens if you die? Death penalties are very unpopular, but without harsh ones, there won't be any sense of survival, horror or a real threat of resource depletion. These things wouldn't be a problem in a single player game, but in an MMO they're going to be an issue, since you have to cater to everyone without difficulty settings. If you don't have the survival, horror or meaningful death penalty aspects, it's just your typical NPC kill grinder with zombie skins. What it would likely end up being is a very typical MMO slightly modified, so that the standard MMO crap has mild zombie horror flavor to it.

I'm not saying it would be all bad, but it might work better as a fallout 3 type game with addedl FPS multiplayer with many gameplay modes than a MMO. Some light fun game you play on the side of a more serious and meanigful game. A game where you can choose your gameplay type/difficulty based how you happen to be feeling that day. Want to play tough as nails survival horror? Join a game type dedicated to that. Want to take it easy and frag some zombies or compete in PvP? Join a game dedicated to doing just that.

The MMO Xsyon is trying to do this (a survival-based sandbox life sim). You do have to venture out of your safe zone (your camp) to collect food, drink water, and forage for stuff. You have to make your own clothes, tools, weapons and shelter. I really think it's a next-generation sandbox game, as far as game design ideas go. Unfortunately, they released too soon (as a "Prelude" release) and there were lag problems and some PVP mechanics issues. People swarmed in, found that they couldn't immediately gank each other, and swarmed back out. So there you have your immediate gratification gamer. But if it hadn't been for the lag bugs, I think people would have stayed in and made it a really challenging game world. At present there aren't enough players to provide enough variety of experience in the sandbox. I'm still keeping an eye on Xyson, though. (By the way, it has zombies, or soon will).
baltec1
Bat Country
Pandemic Horde
#5 - 2012-03-05 15:45:01 UTC
I would totaly build a bridge fortress and make people pay a toll to cross it.
So Sensational
Ventures
#6 - 2012-03-05 17:35:43 UTC  |  Edited by: So Sensational
Destination SkillQueue wrote:
Gibbo3771 wrote:
I for one would love to see this.

A life sim mixed in with a Zombie apoc, FPS based.

If you can imagine a game where you need to find food, water, supplies and the alike. You can have survival factions, the world is covered in zombies (no resident evil zombies, left4dead type of zombies) and also mutated creatures like from silent hill and ****.

Would this work? I am thinking pvp would be quite good since everyone is fighting for survival.

A very dynamic base building tool would be amazing, ability to turn basic buildings into forts with the right supplies and man power.

Ideal world right :(


I like it as an idea, but can't see it working or being implemented to work in an interesting way. First problem, people don't like survival games where serious resource gathering is actually required to survive, let alone it being hard to do. It's also a problem, since if you allow people to construct real bases and let them establish themselves, it will remove the survival aspect from the game after a while. This will have to happen though, since you're going to have to supply endless new resources to the game and it's only a matter of time(weeks at most) before people learn to exploit the mechanics to their fullest. You've got two bad options here, either make is so easy every solo player can manage it(pointless annoyance) or force people to group to stay alive(casuals will quit).

The other alternative is to have a live event group that tweaks spawns and resources to ensure that life becomes harder as players adapt, and vice versa when it becomes too harsh. I imagine mechanics could be put in place to do the same but a human team could do it better.

Another amazing alternative would be to simply allow players to play on a zombie faction (L4D style) in a "hive mind" fashion where they can assume control over a zombie horde but still be very vulnerable to death. Established bases should regularly be lost either to opposing survivors or zombie hordes, with the later preferably automatically destroying a portion of the resources gathered there. A portion as a form of "money sink" but also only a portion to allow and encourage re-conquest from the same or another group. Zombie players must be greatly rewarded for grouping up and going after the larger, established groups of survivors, rather than gibbing new and smaller groups, which would help as an anti-blob mechanic..

p.s. did you notice I like this idea? Been my dream MMO for a long, long time now. As far as people not liking it goes? Well I think EVE proves you wrong there, there's a niche for everything, all you need to do is make a good game and make sure it reaches your target audience.
Vertisce Soritenshi
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2012-03-05 18:25:40 UTC
So long as it was properly done I would play it. It would need to be an FPS style game though. None of this top down or target and use a skill bullshit. FPS or don't do it at all.

Bounties for all! https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2279821#post2279821
Stellar Vix
State War Academy
Caldari State
#8 - 2012-03-05 19:25:24 UTC
Must be Hardcore.
Get bitten its game over.

-Vix

SWA Instructor, Commander Select Currently being blamed as SWA's CEO SWA PVP Program
So Sensational
Ventures
#9 - 2012-03-05 21:16:34 UTC
Stellar Vix wrote:
Must be Hardcore.
Get bitten its game over.

-Vix

Get bitten, play as a Zombie leader, once you die there it's perma.

**** me I'm a good game designer.
Akita T
Caldari Navy Volunteer Task Force
#10 - 2012-03-06 01:51:07 UTC
Herzog Wolfhammer
Sigma Special Tactics Group
#11 - 2012-03-06 02:44:59 UTC
I have wanted to do this for years. But while I can code most of the major languages like a mofo, the creation of models (buildings, creatures, objects) is excruciating.

Creating an MMO is a huge task, and right now, we are in a gray zone between the old "mega MMO" sub model to the "micro MMO" micro-transaction model. It would be a bad time to invest time and / or money in a new MMO.

Bring back DEEEEP Space!