After spending days watching lets plays from ARMA 2 DayZ mod I got thinking just what would make the perfect zombie apocalypse simulator. My though went from damage and health which are done very well already to weapon condition(not every weapon is going to be shiny and new after a zombie apocalypse) should they degrade... Possibly add the ability to build your own weapons.
Another thing I though about is spawn times for everything and everyone and item locations. Possibly include karma or maybe a sanity meter of sorts that will add a negative effect on murdering survivors severity varying on how many people you killed not counting self-defence? Zombies should be able to spawn everywhere just density should vary for a example a few stray zombies in the woods and a horde in the middle of the city no place should be safe. Every building should be enterable, but some should be locked and broken into for example you will need a crowbar that you have to find to brake a door open or you will have to brake a window that will make alot of noise. Item spawn should be random a bit like Left 4 Dead with no guarantee of an item spawning at all in certain places (unlike left 4 dead). Possibly if you have wood and nails add an ability to barricade yourself in.
Respawn timer of 10-30 minutes to prevent freshly spawned players being tempted to kill anything they see as they have nothing to lose. Promote teamwork and discourage random killing but keep that element in the game. It just seems if you are a survivor you would be happy to find anybody that isn’t a zombie, possibly by changing the zombies up making encounters will survivors less frequent. Nothing major just nudge it in that direction. Zombie’s should move like zombies not do random zigzags.
If you disconnect during a fight or while you a chased by zombies you will remain in the world for another 30 seconds to prevent DC cheaters.
Proximity chat, you can only communicate within shouting distance –possibly include the ability to make radios to talk to other survivors anywhere on the map that also have a radio, ability to change frequencies, finding walkie talkies on military personal.
Thats some of the ideas floating in my head of how DayZ can be improved or possibly if another game is made with this idea what it may hold. This is based on what I have seen and heard and my own ideas. I sadly have no way to play DayZ but hopefully some developer catches on to this idea. I doubt in can be made on consoles but I can dream but I welcome any version all the same.
So has anyone else been thing of what would make the perfect most realistic zombie apocalypse simulator? Share your ideas.
I think your ideas are mostly good except for a few, mainly the idea of a "sanity meter", which would be difficult to include in a game, because there would be no easy way to show its effects, or to decide what should affect it. In addition, promoting teamwork is already done, by the fact that there's a zombie apocalypse. If some people prefer to do it their own way, killing other players for items, or robbing them, then that's entirely their choice; that way of playing is no less valid than any other. Also, a respawn timer just seems like it'd be annoying, especially one so long as ten to thirty minutes.
All that aside, the only thing I think I'd add to that would be animals. Just normal animals. Dogs running around and barking at zombies, cats hissing at you from alleys, birds chirping and cawing from above, deer running through the streets or the fields. Because, in a zombie apocalypse, the animals aren't all going to just disappear.
This is a brilliant idea you have here. I don't think it should be a variant of the DayZ mod, but a very story driven open world game, focusing on character development. Kind of like how the TellTale Walking Dead games are, where you build relationships, and are forced to choose who to stick by. The sanity meter is a really unique aspect that needs to be included, although I'm not sure how...
Also, a respawn timer just seems like it'd be annoying, especially one so long as ten to thirty minutes.
I disagree, a timer should be implemented for the exact same reason as what Pigmon just said: people who have nothing to lose are more likely to slaughter anything in their path. Which sucks. And it should be annoying. It's a simulation game that is incredibly realistic and has 'perma-death'. Dying should come with as many negative effects as possible in order to stimulate the idea of not wanting to die.
I have been thinking about the sanity meter idea because while it may be hard to implement I do not think it would be impossible. While it is a videogame, it doesn’t mean we can’t mess with a players head. Here some ideas: ghost footsteps where sometimes the player will hear sounds of footsteps walking behind him even though there is nothing there :). Just generally seeing things that are not there for a example a faster than normal than zombie running at you, attacking and suddenly evaporate just before he manages to hit you. Mirages? Possibly add an outline of a person running in the corner of the screen just to have them disappear making the player wonder if they saw someone or was it their imagination.
Do other subtle things such as changing a filter to make the world seem gloomier and vary the frequency and severity of these effects depending on how many people you have murdered. Just think of how paranoid these people will become which can simulate real insanity:).
I although I think it would be best if these effects only happened when the player is alone with no other players in his proximity so the gameplay is not affected when it matters.
I also though more about the weapons.
I was thinking further on building and scraping weapons I think it should be done realistically as most people are not gun forgers so no mining iron and melting it down into an brand new AK-47, how about taking an idea from vehicles where different parts have a condition. So why not split the gun into a few sections that can vary in which conditions they come in varying from green to orange to red. For example the condition of the barrel will affect the accuracy. The condition of the stock or grip will affect the recoil. The condition of the slide will affect reload speed. I’m thinking of grouping the receiver, recoils spring and guide and the rest of the guts with the receiver and possibly have it affect how often the gun jams.
You will need all 4 parts of the gun to use it. I think a few zombies are infected survivors that must have had some common weapon they found before they were infected, so some zombies will have a chance of dropping a weapon however that weapon will most likely not be in working condition. These however may be taken apart for useful working parts that can be used to fix a weapon or possibly completing a weapon you have. As far as degrading goes I really hate some aspects of it however its not realistic for weapons to last forever, although neither is it realistic for a weapon to brake after a few shots. These are not toys and are built to last so I think the degradation should be very slight. Possibly include gun care kits that will boost condition of each part of a weapon 15-25% or possibly slow down the rate at which it degrades. I also think some weapons should degrade even slower such an AK-47 as these a known to be reliable and last a long time. Although once again the rates at which weapons degrade should be so slow it should be barely noticeable, I don’t want to have a game where people have to worry that that gun they have will suddenly crumble to dust in their hands. I also thought about silencers which can be tough topic but I think they should be very rare (how often do you see a silencer in the real world?) and will only work with their corresponding weapons.
I also think this game can have a campaign with the objective of possible figuring what and why the infection happened and getting recued, meeting new characters, betrayal, insanity and just focus on how people deal with infection. With the end goal of getting rescued.
However in multiplayer I think it should be done as a sandbox game. And I’m not sure of how to add objectives to this kind of game but here is an idea varying safe zones that a changed daily where zombies once cleared will not spawn for a while with only a few attacks on the safezone from outside zombies this is just an outline of the idea though I’m not sure if I like it.
Speaking of another Idea I’m not too sure about is military crashes or packages that encourage exploration and teamwork. Here the basic outline you see a burning troop carrier fly over head with a trail of smoke, screaming mayday that they have infected on board you see the direction the helicopter goes in and then after a while you hear an explosion. Now that helicopter is carrying military goodies and items that were chosen by the military after the infection so you know they will be great for zombie killing. You know the direction in which it crashed in, and so do many others and not all of those are alive. So you will have to team up with people and kill the huge hoard of zombies attracted by the noise and flashing colours of the crashed carrier. And if you manage to whipe the zombies out the reward will be great. Brand new guns, health supplies, maybe even a silenced weapon.
Now there will be allot of zombies and you will need every person you can get to survive. Anyway this is one idea of a random event that can happen promoting people grouping teaming up in promise of a big reward.
Actually Amnesia : Dark Descent has a sanity meter, where as you start to lose sanity, your vision becomes blurry, you start hearing things and so on. It decreases when you're near the monster or in dark places, or see or hear spooky things. You can gain sanity by just chilling in normal light. I think it would be great in a zombie game.
Wow, you continue to refine this idea to make it the greatest sounding game to yet be created. The idea of some zombies carrying weapons from before their undead days is brilliant, and that sanity meter is fucking crazy. However, it is a meter, ad should have some way to make it go back down, perhaps by getting to a safe area, such as a farm or military base, places that give a sense of security. I'm not sure if the faster than normal zombie running at you would fly too well, but here's an alternative idea: So far, this game seems to be very realistic. So, that wold imply that the character(s) will need sleep. To go along with the sanity meter, maybe have a nightmare sequence, where the character is just in a dark room with no resources or weapons, and a zombie finds it's way in. Have the character fight this zombie in the dream sequence, and scale the difficulty of this fight to the intensity of the sanity meter before sleeping. If the character finds a way to beat the zombie without getting infected, have the sanity meter go down when he/she wakes up. And if the character becomes infected or zombie food, have the sanity meter's intensity increase upon waking up.
As a final sidenote for now, you should really get in contact with a game developer if you can. This is a brilliant idea, and now you have a few people working on refining it with you.
An AKm will outlast anyone that wields it unless that person does dumb shit with it, e.g. using it as a hammer, using the barrel as a fire poker, etc.
The barrel is rated for 10,000+ rounds... though most will last far longer than that. The 7.62x39mm round is slower, with a slower twist rate than that of the AR platform, so it's better for the barrel. If you aren't doing sustained fire, a chrome-lined barrel can last almost indefinitely. The main issue with killing a barrel is overheating, which most are unlikely to do. The think about an AK is that essentially once you own it, it is a maintenance-free weapon. Any issues that might occur will happen early and are usually resolved pretty easily.
Awesome info dude I'm in no way a gun guy, have you got ideas on guns or silencers or anything else I would love to hear them.
As for insanity meter I'm not sure if it is such a great idea as this game should be realistic and this is going into supernatural a little too much. I have however though about sleeping, possibly going to bed in a secure place when you log out gives benefits, while going for extended periods of time without sleeping has negative effects.
Suppressors are ok, they mostly mask the sound and reduce the report by ~20 dB on average, but they're hard to come by, and degrade over time. Factor in that they work best with low caliber subsonic ammunition, and you're better off without them. I don't think it'd be the best to include, but then, you could always have the "hollywood style" suppressor.
Ammunition availability might be something to consider, but hard to quantify. Additionally, weight should be something to consider. I can carry around a backpack with some food, water, etc., but 100 rds of 7.62x39mm for my AKm is going to add ~4 lbs. Maybe include caches that a player can hide with supplies in it, because I know that I won't be toting around all 1500 rds of my AK ammo (which would weigh about 60 lbs) should I need to bug out. I'd probably take 5 loaded mags, maybe an additional 250 rds, and my sidearm with 3 loaded mags and another 250 rds. All together, that'd be about 40 lbs worth of gear. Not too bad, but it'd slow you down. I'd rather be well-armed than fast, though.
After hearing different ideas about the sanity meter and thinking about it myself, I actually think it's a good idea. Maybe just seeing zombies will reduce your sanity slowly, and being attacked by them will reduce it a little faster, killing other survivors will reduce it quicker, and you can temporarily bring it back up with antipsychotics, which will be hard to get because everyone's probably going to hoard them.
And I think there should be a "strength" stat, which dictates how much you can carry, and an "agility" stat, which dictates how fast you can run, and you have to find a compromise between these two. The more strength, the less agility, and the more you can carry but the slower you run from zombies (making you rely on lots of bullets) and the more agility the less strength, meaning you have to run away a lot.
You should be able to close and fortify doors, too. Find a house and push a dresser or something up against it, then hide for a while, stuff your things in a corner, and then go looking for more stuff. And your items should stay there if you die, so that you can go back for them.
Also, a "pick it up and smack stuff" melee system. Find a bat or an axe, pick it up, and beat some zombies down. It won't be a one-hit kill, like it is in L4D2, but it's silent and it'll get the job done eventually.
You know dude, the though did cross my mind but I don’t want the game to be an RPG.
I do think you should have carry slots and your backpack slots and you can find better backpacks. I was thinking of having items take up a certain amount of slots depending on their size but also have a weigh stat. So say an average person can probably carry 100lb however a person may choose to carry more this however will reduce running speed and the amount of time you may sprint for severity varying on how much more a person carrying.
Besides backpacks people may find small packs that they can strap to their thighs so increase carry room or maybe even have ammo belts that can be found on military personnel that increase ammo capacity.
A person may choose to carry 2 primary weapons, one on each shoulder although this will reduce run speed in half. I don’t think the game should have dual wielding as ambidexterity is rare.
I was watching the walking dead and also saw migrating heard of zombies and I think that’s a great idea. Having groups of 20-30 zombies making their way across the map add additional hazard meaning the players will have to be on a look out and be careful not to stumble into a migrating heard or will have to plan ahead to move around them.
Some other ideas that have yet to be mentioned are customisation and movement but I think we should talk about these later.
Dual wielding is nonsense. It's a good way to waste perfectly good ammunition. Also, carrying two primaries is possible, but incredibly awkward. It's more realistic to have a battle rifle and a sidearm. If I had to bug-out, unfortunately my "big rifle" is staying in a secure location, and the AK is coming with me.
Customization would be incredibly difficult, I think, especially if you don't want it to turn into an RPG. Having weapons spawn with different skins could be an option for that, but that's the only thing I can really think of that doesn't incorporate RPG elements. And I don't think there should be hordes, mostly because having lone zombies roaming around is actually more terrifying. Honestly, what's scarier: The massive group of zombies you can easily see and avoid, or the twelve zombies scattered around that come running as soon as you shoot what you think is the only zombie?
I'd also like to make a suggestion from the RT podcast: Having an option to "win" the game in some way, or just play forever. They talked about it for DayZ, but I think it would be good in this game we're concocting.
I see nothing wrong with customizing your unique character when you go into the world, no stats but I see nothing wrong with changing your clothes, appearance and accessories, possibly find things like hats and sunglasses around the world to make your character a bit more unique and recognisable. One thing that has be considered is body armour should you be able to find body armour that will protect you from a few shots to the body? If the damage system is in-depth you may obtain a few broken ribs which is better than being penetrated by a bullet. I think most body armour you find will be broken and if you are lucky enough to obtain an intact one it will only stop a few rounds from sidearm and maybe one or two high calibre rounds. You can also have different types form Type I to Type IV with the first being the lightest but will only protect against low calibre sidearm fire. Body armour will not protect against zombies.
As for the winning idea I’m not sure how I feel about it. However what if the campaign had a side mode when you complete it you can do it again however anyone can join to help/stop you. If this is a full game why not have multiple game modes. Huge scale capture the flag in a middle apocalypse could be interesting with different teams. They will both have to find weapons, find parts to build vehicles all the while struggling to survive against the zombies.
Also back on the customization topic why not a progression system that lets you unlock more items for your character, nothing to affect gameplay just appearance but it can still add to the addictiveness aspect of the game.
The progression system seems really overdone. Maybe do special areas have special items. For example, the suburbs have more zombies, but a higher concentration of food, or big mansions have less zombies and better security, but don't exactly have everything needed for an entire group to live in. Or run down areas don't have a ton of protection, but provide a quick place to rest or something, if you want to include sleep.
Keep in mind this is supposed to be a zombie apocalypse simulator, so it can't get too crazy. Just the zombie apocalypse, no CTF, and I don't like the idea of a progression system. It just seems like extra, useless. And body armor that doesn't protect against zombies is just as useless, because there's no way you'll meet enough hostile survivors to justify it. Body armor that offers limited protection against zombies does seem like a good idea, though.
Also: More vehicles. Not more vehicle spawns, more types.
Really? I never hear of it, was there an update? Also after hearing the interview with rocket I think he has the right idea, very ambitious but that can be a good thing. I hope he succeeds.
First I would say, are all weapons shiny and new even before a zombie apocalypse? Depending on the time that has passed since everything “Hit the fan” should determine the condition of the weapon.
I don't like the idea of a “Sanity” meter as much as I like a Karma meter of sorts. Maybe like the Fallout games where it lets other players/NPC's get a vibe from you. Then again, if it were the Zombie Apocalypse then how could they tell anyway?
As far as zombie spawns go wouldn't it be nice if let's say this area were part city/country. The city portion is more desnly populated and the country side would be less. Maybe when you are in the more rural areas some houses have zombies in them other do not. The ones that don't have ones in it, maybe the left a note saying where they were headed? Imagine if you went into a house it you check it for supplies as you are checking you find a note or something written on the wall that talks about where the family was heading. As you continue with your looting you see a picture of the family. Later you decide to go explore that area the family was talking about and you find them as zombies, or maybe on the way there you find them?
I like the idea of having every house in the more rural areas enter-able. Some of them with locks, maybe it was the family barricading themselves in and they escape via the roof or a back door, maybe you'll find them starved to death in the attic? Who knows? Maybe it was another player who nailed the door shut so they knew when someone was coming in they could spray them down and loot what they wanted. Either way, being able to board up or more furniture to block a door should always be a must. Also, taking an axe to a staircase should also be included.
As far as item spawns go, I think they should be set into place but they shouldn't “respawn” that would just make a gimped game where people would routinely go through the same pattern of checking houses for what they already knew would be there. You should be finding various parts to items and putting them together yourself. i.e. make your own ammo, repair your own gun, use a flipping crowbar! It shouldn't be able spray and pray it should be I've had a metal pipe for days now and its all I need.
If you die, I think you should just be tele'd to a safe zone though, and you should lose your stuff. Nothing like keep your three most valuable items, this isn't Runescape.
Your idea of proximity chat is great IMO. Keep it to where you can only talk to people near you, if you have a radio then it opens up a form of “general” or “area” chat for that area. And if you can make something that stretches longer distances or maybe repair a communications tower that could change your servers way of communicating that would be awesome!
However I don't think killing other people should be frowned upon. If a person infiltrates a guild as being a helpful person and while they are raiding they tipped off there on guild to that raid which in turns leads to an ambush and everyone getting killed then that’s how it should be. The Zombie Apocalypse isn't going to be a happy place to be, so let's make it legit!
well theres a meter, but youre not able to see it. If your screen starts shaking and then your breathing gets heavier and slightly worrying sounding then you take painkillers and youre fine
I totally agree with your insight on weapons, communication, and barricading. There should be (at least in my opinion) a more diverse set of weaponry in dayz. possibly more silenced weapons be it a melee weapon or firearms. you should also be able to find shelter and barricade it. turn it into a base almost, and be able to store items in it.
