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[Denzilb55]

Hi from South Africa  

I have decided to stop lingering on the forums, and start a devlog of my game, Grave Days. I'll probably post it over to playtesting when it's more ready, but I'll include the latest builds here as well.

About the game:
It is a zombie survival game, which does not aim to be a "simulator" so to speak, but rather focus on game play that feels good. The first thing to note is that, with survival being the goal of the game, you will eventually die, as it becomes too hard and resources such as food, medicine and ammo becomes scarce. Hence the name, Grave Days.

Game-play
The game forces you to think on your feet with the simple choice: Run or fight. You do not have enough ammo to clean-up after the zombie hordes. It is not a zombie shooter. You can melee fight with them, but this is only effective versus a 1 or 2 zombies. The alternative to fighting the zombies is sneaking (especially at night - there is a Day/night cycle), and running, better during the day or when you are seen. In fact, this is a core mechanic in the game and sets the pace for how you play.

Sometimes though, fighting is the right option, like when you are cornered or want to create a safe zone. The areas you kill zombies in will make that area safer compared to the other areas, eventually this will lead you the player being able to set up a base.

Another cool thing to worth mentioning is that there is a vision system even though it is a top-down 2D game (though I realise this is not unique, just cool   ). Also, there is multiplayer over LAN. If you decide to try the LAN though, your firewall may block it so just allow it. The game does not handle disconnects or shady LAN connections very well at the moment, and may go out of sync - this should not be an issue though if your connection  is stable.

Free Download: Prealpha PC build
You can see the controls by pressing Escape in game.

Some screenies:



And a video:




There may be some bugs, as it is in alpha, and the art is programmer-art, and will be replaced down the line.

Concept art, by artist Bongani Mahlangu:

[Denzilb55]

Can someone please advise me on how to resize the images on the forum? Or do I need to do it manually offline?

[fraxcell]

Looks cool!

Can someone please advise me on how to resize the images on the forum? Or do I need to do it manually offline?

Just put add a "width = x" in your image tags. For example

Code:

[img width=500]imagename.png[/img]

[Denzilb55]

Thanks for that! The post looks neater now!

I've got an artist on the team now, and he has drawn some concept character art.


He will be making animated spritesheets next.

In the game, there will be a few characters to unlock during each play through. The unlocking depends on what you have achieved during the game, who you have helped, what quests you have completed, or an items you have collected. They will have different skills sets and/or attributes.

[Denzilb55]

Here is a screenshot of how the stealth system works:


The player has a bubble of light around them. It allows the player to see what is immediately around him in the dark, and shows how exposed the player is. When the player is quiet and hidden, the bubble turns blue. As the player makes more noise, or is seen by zombies, the bubble turns whiter. Furthermore, zombies will sometimes call out to alert each other if they are hunting their prey.

In the following screenshot, the player has his flashlight on, which makes him more visible, and you can see the bubble has turned white.


Lastly, the bubble will turn red if the player is taking damage.

[Denzilb55]

Multiplayer/LAN progress update

The LAN has been further implemented, and now includes AI-survivors as is in Single Player, and player also share items and loot. A few fixes have also been added for improved stability.

I have updated the link in the OP.

A question to the community:
Do you feel like you have no purpose in playing? The purpose is surviving, but is should it be communicated better? Do you think a list of "quests" would help guide players to discover the game? These quests could be designed to teach the player the mechanics of the game. Sort of like a tutorial, but more open/ less linear.

[Maliii]

Quite a lot of zombie survival games around. I think making it super hard would make it feel really good. Also a gradient on the sides of the flashlight would look nice.

[Denzilb55]

Thanks for the suggestion! I want to make it as hard as possible without chasing people away. Also I want to go away from the whole zombie shooter genre. There is so little ammo in the game, it can't be classified as such.

As for the flashlight, it is definitely something I'll look into in the future. At the moment I don't know how to do this, but will hopefully figure it out! (I've also not done anything like the lighting there is currently, or LAN, so I'm making progress )