Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG - now available on Early Access

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Starting this week we will publish the USG Pilot comics, showcasing the Closed Alpha story (and trying not to spoil too much). We thought it would be nicer to present it as a comics drawing - but don't expect anything hand drawn, these are ingame shots with a custom camera angle (not strictly isometric).

So here you go:

Each Tuesday we'll have a new episode on our Facebook and Twitter.

 

[lightbane]

The old school zombies are a bit inconsistent. Recently watched the Night of the Living dead remake and the zombies are really damn weak in that one, and a bit "not there". Like some of them you can easily just walk past within reach. Or just do judo stuff on them

Remakes tend to be inconsistent yes. Speaking of, after watching that scene, I wonder if high-level melee characters can do something like this:

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Speaking of, after watching that scene, I wonder if high-level melee characters can do something like this:

We are definitely looking into adding value to the melee and we have a lot of ideas, it's just that each new gruesome and cool way to kill zombies requires a new set of custom animations which aren't cheap at all. So far we got the classic weapons (blades, axes, hammers, bats, etc.). You can also punch the zombies if that is your style. Technically it is possible to hit them with the rifle buttstock but we lack a complete set of anims there so that is on hold. And if all goes well we look into adding more household items to the melee weapons list. We also count on modders in this area.

PS: A set of animations includes way more stuff than you would imagine. Turning, entering and exiting cover, changing stances... all need to blend in seamlessly from the new stance. And for a couple of cool new moves you gotta produce tens of boring possibilities. A mo-cap setup... somewhere in the future... who knows...

 

[Zombra]

Using a rifle stock as a melee weapon is seriously cool. It's a staple move of the zombie genre and anywhere a rifleman gets overwhelmed in close quarters. Good work including it (soon)!

 

[lightbane]

Bayonets or bust!

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

When you need to show the horde a warm welcome, the USG molotov is the perfect tool.



Hey folks,

We've just implemented a new fire spreading mechanic, from one flammable material to another, with the fire feeding by itself and dying when there's no more stuff to burn. Hope you like it. We'll try to have a video soon showing the fire effects on the actors too - that should be even more entertaining.

PS: The speed of the fire is controlled by parameters and we actually "modded" it for the purpose of a short video capture to go much faster than it would in the actual game. A big bus should take a while to burn out.

 

[Alienman]

Damn that looks good. Maybe my X-com pyromaniac tactics will work again.

 

[lightbane]

Needs more explosions. Also, will the fire spread immediately, or over a few turns? If the former, fire becomes an easy to create but uncontrollable barrier around vehicles and other inanimate stuff. Also, non-zombies killed by fire should have special animations such as the "burning man" dance. :D

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

The fire will spread to the adiacent flammable asset each turn (the real time is actually a composed of simulated micro-turns so the whole spread is much fluid). Each asset will burn for a couple of turns - depending on its life - some for 1-2 turns, some for 10-20.

Zombies have a tendency to go through fire since they're kind past the pain problems us humans have. So they catch fire and immolate nicely. And keep coming.
Human actors (your guys included) also catch fire and get damaged by it (a pretty nasty DOT), but the human AI - of course - avoids running through a wall of flames if given a choice.

So there will be a lot of nice tactical options for the inner pyromaniac inside you. One of them being messing up badly and setting fire to stuff you never intended to set fire to... Where would the fun be if not for a bit of danger, right?

 

[Alienman]

Is it only a damage dot, not something that will incapacitate the character?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

We're discussing ways to incapacitate the burning actor while he/she is burning up and post-burn wounds and other ailments but those systems aren't final yet. It's not likely to see an enemy burning without any effects on their combat ability. It would defeat logic, wouldn't it?

 

[Alienman]

There is always this:

 

[Modron]

There is always this:

Yeah I tried watching this movie but quit at this russia stronc scene like 5 minutes in, I mean shit it would have been a lot more dramatic to have them get mowed down by the hundreds/thousands but still charging instead what ever this shiet was.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

what ever this shiet was.

Amphetamines, probably.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Take away the Soviet theme and add a slightly more disarticulated movement and you've got our zombies.

 

[Alienman]

Rifle wielding zombies confirmed.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Rifle wielding zombies confirmed.

...coming to drink your vodka, imagine the horror.

 

[lightbane]

Drat, I didn't know Russians used to have Captain America-tier of super-soldiers. I thought their "strategy" was to drown the enemy in men as if it still was WW1, while a commissar was calmly watching to kill anyone trying to run away with a gun usually better than what the troops had (if they had a gun to begin with, carrying ammo for someone else for when you were killed was a thing too).

Either way, Russian Zombies would be too OP for a game like this. Perhaps for a bonus level?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

First - we've already published episode 4 of our Alpha Pilot comics - check out our FB page if interested.

Second - it's Thursday and with unprecedented precision we've managed to come up with another content update. It's a bit short and much less spectacular than exploding buses, but it's vital to a good game: the aiming system. Urban Strife will have a body part aiming system both for ranged and melee. Shown below is a sniper first targeting in un-aimed (snap) mode, then pressing SHIFT to enter the aimed mode, with a dummy showing the exposed enemy parts in red and a nice radial menu to allow you to select a sniping target. If the bullet has to pass through weak cover (losing some precision and force) the target will be highlighted in yellow. The body parts out of reach (behind hard cover or in an impossible angle) are displayed in grey.

Do note that this is a dynamic ballistics system. Change weapon (and caliber) and you will not be able to hit some body parts simply because the bullet will drop before it reaches the target. Material resistance will play a major part too. Make a castle out of cardboard boxes and you'll find out the hard way how much it holds against a 7.62.

What happens when the bullet reaches the intended target is part of the wounds and healing system so not covered in this update but everything has consequences in USG.

 

[Zombra]

Make a castle out cardboard boxes

Base building confirmed.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Base building confirmed.

Takes 80 hours to scavenge materials and build.
Burns beautifully in 3 turns.

For everything else, there's Urban Shelter.

 

[JarlFrank]

The fire will spread to the adiacent flammable asset each turn (the real time is actually a composed of simulated micro-turns so the whole spread is much fluid). Each asset will burn for a couple of turns - depending on its life - some for 1-2 turns, some for 10-20.

Zombies have a tendency to go through fire since they're kind past the pain problems us humans have. So they catch fire and immolate nicely. And keep coming.
Human actors (your guys included) also catch fire and get damaged by it (a pretty nasty DOT), but the human AI - of course - avoids running through a wall of flames if given a choice.

So there will be a lot of nice tactical options for the inner pyromaniac inside you. One of them being messing up badly and setting fire to stuff you never intended to set fire to... Where would the fun be if not for a bit of danger, right?

So how much of the shit in the game can you burn to the ground? Entire houses? Situations like "I wanted to set fire to keep this armed guy from entering the house I used as shelter but oops, now the fire spread to the house" ending up consuming entire buildings?

If yes that would be serious incline.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Since we do have limited time and resources you won't see epic firestorms and roofs collapsing from fire. Well maybe not in Episode 1 at least.

But as far as the fire goes, it's a live animal. If it has food, it will feed. If you throw a Motolov inside a house... well, there's a lot of flammable stuff in a tight space, so 1+1=2. So while the house itself won't be consumed, you won't win any House Flipper of the Year awards.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Btw you want to meet the team, come by our new Discord server: https://discord.gg/2zguXAa

Free cookies and milk. Almost fresh, only expired 2 years ago.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Here comes a new gameplay update! This one is all about the RPG system. An AI controlled faction programmed to send out patrols and intercept the player, asking for bribes/tolls. It's entirely up to you how you respond (you can also avoid them if you're a bit sneaky): either pay up & pass or refuse & aggro them. They will give a free pass or two, but not forever. Each choice opens a new fun story path so there's something new waiting for you when you replay the game.