I shall remain - another new zombie rpg in development

[villain of the story]

Have you played SCZ, Jaesun? If not, give it a try. It's like RT zombie game done right.

No. I hate RTS' Give me fucking Turn Based or GTFO.

Fuck you, you haven't even tried.

 

[Aldebaran]

marine_jake, if you haven't understandably ran away yet, then I would like to suggest one thing.

A lot of indie games suffer from extremely bland combat after a point, which is understandable, given the budget, but that is little consolation to the player. Eventually, it all devolves to fighting the exact same enemy but slightly stronger as you get further in the game.

So, just a thought, to avoid this, have at least a handful of interesting encounters. I don't mean that you need unique enemy types, you just need a few interesting (and probably simple) scenarios. For all I know, you already have something similar, but I will continue anyways.

For instance, say you walk into one of these buildings, and then the entrance collapses behind you (or any other budget friendly alternative). At that point, zombies start to pour in from the left and right sides of the room. The player must choose the option to try and fight the zombies off with a fortified position (which should be hard), perhaps plant an expensive explosive at the entrance to escape, or head through a door on the far side of the room. This door would lead to a back alley (or series of connecting rooms), filled with a lower number of zombies, that would eventually lead to freedom, but the player runs the risk of getting attacked on both sides by both groups of zombies if they aren't fast enough.

I realize that the previous example might be a bit complicated, so I'll add some simpler ideas: Even things like a maze of cars, a semi that once opened reveals a number of zombies, a few zombies on fire heading towards you as you fill your gas tank (how they got on fire is anybody's guess), and any other thing like that helps to break the monotony that can result.

 

[Marsal]

Camera does seem somehow "off". I agree with Villain's suggestions.

Have you thought about Syndicate look/feel? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oO-_3ib2gk The environments in your game look really good, "actors" not so much. This way you get to see more of pretty arhitecture, less awkwardly animated people/zombies.

The game looks too much like a "swarm shooter". I immediately thought of this game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKFU64VqN_U (Crimson land). Whatever you do, I think you should try to differentiate from mainly shooter kind of games if you want to stand out (be it with slower pace, RPG elements...). A top down L4D will be a tough sell, IMO. GTA with zombies could work. Show unique elements of the game in the trailer and use shooting as a "filler".

Good luck!

 

[Bulba]

Sooooo many wise guys, why don't you all team up and make a vaporware?

 

[BLOBERT]

JAESUN IS A TRUE BRO

 

[Excidium]

A turn-based zombie shooter would be like fighting an army of melcar guys in Fallout...

 

[lisac2k]

Say, Jake, did you hear already about the indie zombie survival game with a bunch of fans? Could you tell us what your game has to offer us in comparison with the sample provided? Why players should choose your game over the other, or why they might choose both of them? (I don't expect you to answer this right away, of course, take your time...) Currently, the price of the sample is € 5,99 (with regards to the question asked by sgc_meltdown), and there is also a demo available.

Other than that, I'd stick with villains' and Aldebarans' suggestions for the most part. I just hope your savings last long enough, indie tunnels can be damn long and exhausting.

 

[marine_jake]

thanks for the inputt!!

Hey gents! Thanks for the input. I will try and hit everyone back here.

First, for Jaesun- don't worry I dont mind the negative feedback. If my game was done and I had this kind of negative feedback I'd worry but because it's in progress, we can use the feedback to make a better game!

First, for Oriental European, thanks for your initial game comments. I've forwarded them to the team. Expect these things to change! Especially the clean streets! And the nuke symbol is for bazooka rounds. Perhaps we should do something thats more.. bazooka round and less nuclear warhead lol. Shotgun sounds.. got it. The guys who make this site have asked me to do a production journal for them. I'll keep your name bookmarked so I can send you the link. I wrote up a detailed story on my site blog about my team here.. i got pretty detailed with that article so get ready for some real first hand info! here's the link: http://www.ishallremain.com/blog/?p=72

To villain - thanks for taking the time to write that up about the angles. tell you what, we wont be able to change the over the head view because we've developed the whole game around this, BUT- currently when you move the mouse wheel it zooms in. right now when you zoom in it just zooms in closer.. so youre looking at the back of the character's head. maybe! if we change it so when it zooms in the camera can also tilt up so we're looking over our character's shoulder. This can both work in our budget, and make our game better! Thanks dude! if an improvement is make its because you spoke up! let me know what you think about this.

to sgc_meltdown- i want to make the game as inexpensive as possible but still be able to get back some of the money i put into it. If i sell copies it will be around ten dollars. another option is to give the game for free and sell DLCs. If I go the DLC route I expect the DLC's to be something like 2 bucks for a weapon pack.. four for a bunch of new maps.

Aldebaran- haha no I woiuldn't run away. I'm a marine sergeant! If I ran away that would tarnish our image of being fearless jarheads. THAT is a really good idea about the collapsing door. i could easily work this into our mission system. no, its actually very do-able! How about we call it the 'Aldebaran run'? : ) (no joke!)

Marsal- thanks for the lucky vibes! Yeah, I can see our buildings look better than our characters. I've got a badass, Virgil Tuser, doing all of the graphics on his own. He's been great to have on my team. I'm going to try and improve my camera view by creating a new zoom in style with the mouse wheel. The camera will zoom in and look over my character's shoulder so you can see the character's own field of view. At this time I wont be able to move the camera much further than that at this point.


I am in LOVE with this gnarly criticism! : ) thank you for taking the time to make some really good suggestions!

 

[DwarvenFood]

sudden influx of developers at the codex... not sure if serious.

EDIT: on topic,

BUT- currently when you move the mouse wheel it zooms in. right now when you zoom in it just zooms in closer.. so youre looking at the back of the character's head. maybe! if we change it so when it zooms in the camera can also tilt up so we're looking over our character's shoulder.

This sounds like a pretty good idea. Also, respect for enduring the codex. There are quite some zombie games around, and in the making. Wish you best of luck.

 

[marine_jake]

for lisac2k

Yes! I actually did hear about that game about 2 months ago. I haven't played their game yet so I cant respond well to this question. I'd love to bash it and tell you mines better but hey they might have something great!

But! By the looks of it my game seems much faster. My game will be much more say, diablo- style. Having a safe place ('Sanctuary' our safe haven) to go and kick around, figure out what to do and then venturing back out into the hells of the city.

Best! - Jake

 

[Achilles]

Hi Jake, welcome to the forums. I like the look of your game and, with what I've seen so far, it seems like a cross between Trapped Dead and Zombie Driver. Anyway, most games of this type suffer from repetition after a while. I would suggest that you try and incorporate more varied mission types as the game progresses, maybe some exploration and a steady trickle of new stuff to find and use. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[marine_jake]

Hey Ed123,

No my title isn't interested in that. My dream! is to eventually make the game into an MMO. If we are not successful with that.. than release a map, character and item editor and let the public have it. : )

 

[hanssolo]

man, I am so sick of this zombie survival shit, can the genre boom just give me an rpg where I play a zombie already?

 

[Father Walker]

I want to be a zombie

Couldn't resist

So, got a few comments, ideas and general blah blah.

First off, it's nice to see that the game is set in 40's/50's and not in the modern setting. Also, graphics and UI seem pretty and clean.

I think that using different controls for movement and for aiming is a good idea and would solve the problem with the camera rotation (which seems kinda annoying at this point), although zoom you've mentioned might do the trick. Zombie sounds are bad and the music seems off; why not go with some classics (i.e. music from the era)?

Is there stuff in the game that is randomly/procedurally generated? I mean map, missions, etc.
Can you describe the RPG elements in more detail? The video shows that there is inventory and some dialogue, but I'm interested whether there is some simple stat/skill system in the game.

 

[Oriebam]

The perspective kills it for me, some sort of real time 3D rogue survivor with a plot could be interesting though


the MMO market is pretty fuck up, some sort of simple multiplayer(doesn't need to be 4 players, but the perspective restricts that, I think) could be good

also, you should know this place is full of veteran trolls and pirates, there's constructive criticism, there's trolling and then there's this forum

 

[villain of the story]

MMO? Meh, interest dropped to subzero.

I found another similar indie game, btw:

Dead Horde

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVK8uXehQqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRqWnK583Go

And it looks their control scheme is what I've suggested. They also have driving. The game looks pretty fucking decent too. But also boring. You can see how having a fixed camera looks so much relaxing.

Another vote for fixed camera with the same control scheme:

Zombie Shooter 2

Notice how the camera pans towards the direction you're aiming and the further you aim, the further it pans. Suddenly PC being in the center is no longer restricting. Nothing new but an elegant solution nonetheless.

Something else I noticed while playing Shadowgrounds is that rotating-camera works in there because the PC is 1/3 below the screen center and thus you have a longer and more comfortable forward line of sight.

Compare:
I Shall Remain
Shadowgrounds

Learn it from the pros, bros. That PC has to go beneath the center.

As for zooming in for a just little (old) Tomb Raider style camera, that's fine too.

 

[Jaesun]

I found another similar indie game, btw:

Dead Horde

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVK8uXehQqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRqWnK583Go

And it looks their control scheme is what I've suggested. They also have driving. The game looks pretty fucking decent too. But also boring.

That actually looked pretty fucking cool.

I'd never play it though.

 

[villain of the story]

It does. I'd easily pay retail price for that game if it had anything more than just running around and shooting zombies (and shitty environmental puzzles). Some adventuring, questing etc.

 

[BonziBUDDY]

Hey that deadhorde game looks pretty sweet! Too bad I am not into zombies or I would play it.

I would play a fantasy game using the same engine, even if the game was real time. However, there would need to be a deep character creation as well as advancement system in the game.

 

[villain of the story]

Turns out there's also a PSN exclusive game called Dead Nation and it looks fantastic, though a bit too flamboyantly arcadey and fast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-syxOHFqN0k

 

[Teepo]

Marine Jake, one thing you should consider is to work on an interesting RPG system for replayability. E.g. lots of different skills, lots of levels, and different solutions to the same situation.

(For example if you pick a character with no driving skill and they nab a car, the character should crash a couple times and in general be unstable, but after using it for awhile and maybe killing some zombies with it he should get level 1 in automobiles. At higher levels of driving, maybe the character can get some perks when he drives, like bonus speed, maneuverability, maybe a skill he can activate.)

Same with other things, pistols, machine guns, rifles, special vehicles, melee weapons. Maybe with enough investment into melee skills you can acquire some special attacks with melee weapons.

If you think you will have fun incorporating and balancing this system into your game, then the payoff is certainly worth it but if heavy RPG elements would require a major overhaul and work then you should just augment the features that the game does best.

I also recommend you create a very large amount of loot, weapons, and vehicles. That way you can have fun experimenting with different tier equipment. Like "Oh, this car is super small, cheap and breaks easily but it's very maneuverable and fast. With 15 driving skill I can evade everybody."

You're having dialogue in your game? Here's an idea. There can be hermits fortified in isolated shacks across the city surviving alone. If you happen to discover them and befriend them, they can apprentice you, and give you skill boosts to whatever (depending on who they are.) Or... they could gift you with special items after gaining a certain amount of levels. (I.e. silenced shotgun after being under them for 10 levels.) Of course a lot of these "masters" should be in populated areas. It could be a character integral to the main quest, and when you do all the dialogue related to the quest, you can come back he will teach you his perks.

Also what Aldebaran said. Make a bunch of unique encounters. They should be frequently benign, rarely helpful, sometimes moderately dangerous, and even more rarely a death sentence.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Marine Jake, one thing you should consider is to work on an interesting RPG system for replayability.

I'm absolutely certain I saw a screenshot of the character panel at the website a few days prior

it's gone now but I saw stuff like leadership, firearms skills and vehicles

I also recommend you create a very large amount of loot, weapons, and vehicles. That way you can have fun experimenting with different tier equipment. Like "Oh, this car is super small, cheap and breaks easily but it's very maneuverable and fast. With 15 driving skill I can evade everybody."

Ah yes.
marine_jake, this is important. Don't have stuff that goes from say one star quality to five star quality and then everyone just ends up going for the good equipment and all your work on the rest goes down the pisser. Have some crap starting items sure, but most of the game should be spent adapting your equipment to the situation, not sticking with the one good gun and car.
Try to mostly balance equipment so they have strengths and weaknesses, and for the cases where it wouldn't make sense at all(like very well stocked first aid kits and high end modern sniper rifles), make them very rare, and perhaps even necessary for the most difficult areas.

You sound like you're honestly listening to feedback here so if in time you show that you took the advice and put it into action for your game the guys here will happily give you more suggestions.

 

[villain of the story]

(For example if you pick a character with no driving skill and they nab a car, the character should crash a couple times and in general be unstable, but after using it for awhile and maybe killing some zombies with it he should get level 1 in automobiles. At higher levels of driving, maybe the character can get some perks when he drives, like bonus speed, maneuverability, maybe a skill he can activate.)

Same with other things, pistols, machine guns, rifles, special vehicles, melee weapons. Maybe with enough investment into melee skills you can acquire some special attacks with melee weapons.

You're having dialogue in your game? Here's an idea. There can be hermits fortified in isolated shacks across the city surviving alone. If you happen to discover them and befriend them, they can apprentice you, and give you skill boosts to whatever (depending on who they are.) Or... they could gift you with special items after gaining a certain amount of levels. (I.e. silenced shotgun after being under them for 10 levels.) Of course a lot of these "masters" should be in populated areas. It could be a character integral to the main quest, and when you do all the dialogue related to the quest, you can come back he will teach you his perks.

Bland. BBS.

Anyway, he said his priority is making an MMO.

 

[Spectacle]

Fucking zombies, won't they ever die?

 

[Teepo]

Bland. BBS.

Anyway, he said his priority is making an MMO.

BBS? is that...? Bull-bullshit?