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[ben657]

Hello there TIGForums!

First of all, first post,  hoping to be an active member.. yay me!

But yeah, my situation is that i've been working at a little prototype for a week or so on and off, the original idea was that it'd be a top-down ish (45 degrees) zombie shooter, just survive, with upgrades either during the level or per character, with a co-op, 4-player mode. Then I realised I was making a carbon copy of L4D and almost every other zombie game out there, just with a different camera angle.

So my question is, any advice on where to go from here? I've got it working up to this point, with a simple test terrain, characters which move, have a gun, and shoot. There's also a functional multiplayer, incorporating all of what I just mentioned (which took a fair bit of time to work out). So the thing is, it'd be nice to keep all that, but just go in a different direction in terms of the enemies and objectives... being a fairly uncreative person (but good technically), I thought i'd ask here since i've heard good things about the community!

- ben657

Note: I'm not looking for a full design brief with concept art or anything even close, just a simple direction that I could flesh out with details myself.

Note2: I think this is the right place for this... notify me if it isn't please!

[Evan Balster]

What kind of thing do you want to make?  Not in terms of what it is, but what impact it produces.

That's the question with which I guide myself these days.  I'm interested in exploring narrative and giving people inner conflict through it.  I have a friend (Beau Blyth) who makes local multiplayer games with the goal of bringing people together with them, in contrast to the antisocial nature of games at large.  Your goals may be of a less pretentious nature than these, but do not take that to invalidate them.  Perhaps you wish to entertain, or create fearful situations, or re-create feelings you had when playing your first few games, long ago.  Whatever it is, get a strong idea and stick to it.  Return to it when you are lost.

[ben657]

What kind of thing do you want to make?  Not in terms of what it is, but what impact it produces.

That's the question with which I guide myself these days.  I'm interested in exploring narrative and giving people inner conflict through it.  I have a friend (Beau Blyth) who makes local multiplayer games with the goal of bringing people together with them, in contrast to the antisocial nature of games at large.  Your goals may be of a less pretentious nature than these, but do not take that to invalidate them.  Perhaps you wish to entertain, or create fearful situations, or re-create feelings you had when playing your first few games, long ago.  Whatever it is, get a strong idea and stick to it.  Return to it when you are lost.

That's an incredibly good way of thinking about it actually... thanks!

I suppose what I really want to do, is make a game where the only way to survive is to work together, like really closely. Not in the sense of one player has this skill, one has that, use them both, but just it'd be incredibly hard without working together.

Something to think about at least!

[theSoupSmith]

If you are worried about recreating L4D, why not take a while and play it? Maybe after a few rounds you will find that there is something you feel could be improved, or perhaps think of a unique twist on the gameplay that you hadn't before.

Most of my ideas come from playing games and finding things I wish I could, but can't!

[tigreton]

Are you worried about creating a clone of L4D? Don't you like that, Shoot and Run?

If it is, you can make something totally different. Forget shoot and run.
Concentrate on other parts of the game, and make them strongers.

-Cooperative
-Puzzles
-History
-Funny

[wccrawford]

Oh, a zombie-survival themed puzzle game would be sweet!  Someone please steal this idea. 

[tigreton]

Why? Just let him make the game, and copy it after!

[Blockjack]

Just throwing a random idea out there while I sip my cuppa and procrastinate, but what about making individual players much more vulnerable, thereby forcing them to rely on each other? In L4D you can take a lot of damage from heaps of zombies without much problem - you've only really got to worry about special infected.

What if instead a single zombie could do considerable damage if you let it get close enough? Injuries matter (e.g. reduced aim, can't run, maybe even need another player to help you walk, eventual death) and death is permanent (for that round). Sounds like it would work as a concept (to me, anyway), might not be fun in practice, but maybe it's worth exploring?

At any rate, I like the idea of an isometric multiplayer zombie shooter, so let us know when you have something playable!

[tigreton]

So, your game will only have "specials zombies". But it's the same. With enough aim you can survive.

What if instead a single zombie could do considerable damage if you let it get close enough? Injuries matter (e.g. reduced aim, can't run, maybe even need another player to help you walk, eventual death) and death is permanent (for that round).

This is exactly how L4D works. When you are taken by a "smoker", you need a friend to help you. And if you die, you die that round. That's the problem of ben657, he is making the same game.

[C.D Buckmaster]

Well, first think about how you want players to play the game.  Are they going to be running around slaughtering waves of zombies, trying to stop themselves from being overwhelmed?  Are they going to be trying to take out zombies individually and running away as soon as they notice a large group?  Are they just going to spend the entire time hiding and building barricades?

Give the players a goal (kill all zombies, survive as long as they can, get to rescue) and then decide the way they will try to get to it.  After you've done that, you should be able to think of ideas in terms of how they affect the player's experience.