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Oh no more Zombies!

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11 Jun 2014 11:12 - 11 Jun 2014 11:21 #180242 by Marcussen
I can relate. In fact it would be a really fun title for yet another tongue in cheek zombie game. But I'm here with a serious question and to throw around some ideas. I have the core of gameplay down for a pretty sweet tactical survival game. And as many of you know, I'm a sucker for theme. In fact theme drives all my designs.

Up until now I have used a zombie game framework to work from. I figured that no one had really done a zombie game that really appealed to me, so I felt i might as well continue, even if many people are buned out on the genre.

However most zombie games seem to be this cartoonish like feel with rollerskating, miniskirt-clad, dual-weilding teenage girl characters. Fun and all, but not what I'm aiming for. I'm more into the Walking Dead or The Last of Us feel. But maybe I should do some other theme entirely.

You see, I'm reaching the point where I need to decide on the theme in order to proceed. Is it to be a zombie game or should it be a post-alien invasion game, Half Life-like game, or maybe even a post-cthulhu game. It could even be a dungeon crawler, but I have feeling that this is pretty well covered in decent.

So - is there room for another zombie game? Should I go for some other theme - which? Imagine a 1-4 player tacical/narrative survive, kill, level up kind of game.

(And if there is anything in particular you would like in such a game, feel free to share).

Thanks

Ps: This is one of many potential designs that I am working on to see which takes off. It may never se the light of day.
Last edit: 11 Jun 2014 11:21 by Marcussen.

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11 Jun 2014 11:20 #180243 by Black Barney
I can't imagine a positive reception to any type of Zombie game. The downside is huge. You should really pick something else.

How about, "Escape from Mosul!!!" ?

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11 Jun 2014 11:24 #180244 by Marcussen
Replied by Marcussen on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!

Black Barney wrote: I can't imagine a positive reception to any type of Zombie game. The downside is huge. You should really pick something else.

How about, "Escape from Mosul!!!" ?


Thanks, yeah - that's kind of my gut feeling too. Although I'm sure people would have told me the same thing egarding pirates and civ games :D

I think Escape from Mosul would have an even smaller appeal though :)
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11 Jun 2014 11:37 #180245 by Legomancer
Replied by Legomancer on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!
As much as people say they are tired of zombies, they still Kickstart zombie games. I think part of the glut is from people in your situation: they like the theme, but haven't found it used to their liking yet.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be coy. Keep the zombie theme, but simply refer to them as "the infected" or "the lost ones" or whatever. Don't use "Zombie" in the game title. In other words, keep every single one of the trappings and just avoid the "Z-word" itself. This could maybe focus attention on the game itself instead of getting knee-jerk reactions to the word "zombie".

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11 Jun 2014 11:46 #180246 by buzz71
Replied by buzz71 on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!
I would use the post alien invasion type game. To my knowledge, that hasn't been done before.
I would buy a game like that, if done well.

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11 Jun 2014 11:48 #180247 by charlest
Replied by charlest on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!
There has not been a gritty, Walking Dead-esque zombie game yet. I still think it's waiting to be found and I would buy it.

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11 Jun 2014 11:51 - 11 Jun 2014 11:52 #180248 by ChristopherMD
My first thought was foreign army takeover or fanatical militia uprising. Government gone, electric power and supply line (i.e. markets) gone, etc. "Join or Die" squads roaming the streets. So basically zombie world without zombies or really anything supernatural.
Last edit: 11 Jun 2014 11:52 by ChristopherMD.

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11 Jun 2014 11:54 #180249 by repoman
Replied by repoman on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!
I wouldn't be inclined to buy any zombie game because I dislike the theme even without the over saturation it currently has.

I think a post alien invasion thing could be super cool and would certainly grab my attention more than zombies.

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11 Jun 2014 11:55 #180250 by VonTush
Replied by VonTush on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!
Zombies sell.
A vocal minority bitches.
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11 Jun 2014 12:01 #180251 by Michael Barnes
Any kind of apocalypse game where there are humans turned into any kind of zombie-like things (regardless of nomenclature) is something I have next to no interest in. Would I play a Marcussen zombie game? Probably, but it would be because of the designer's track record of making best-in-genre titles, not the subject matter.

The whole zombie thing is so oversaturated, I don't think there's ANY space left to explore. Even the "gritty" Walking Dead thing is about to be covered in Dead of Winter.

What I think would be MUCH more interesting would be other apocalypse scenarios with different themes. People after apocalypse have to get by, sometimes they act shitty to each other and sometimes they do things that comment on how we live today. I get it. We're done. That's all been made pretty clear by countless pieces of apocalypse fiction including the entire zombie canon.

But what about something like The Road, where the apocalypse is vague and the theme isn't just about surviving, but also about the dynamics of a father/son relationship? There are really, really bad guys in it...there doesn't have to be zombies for there to be some truly horrifying stuff in it.

The post-alien invasion thing is a great idea, actually. Why hasn't someone done something based around those John Christopher books with the Tripods? Or what about something about surviving DURING an invasion, during the "wartime" phase?

I'd also be more interested in a survival game that isn't about humans at all. But about non-human animals. There are all kinds of concepts and themes that could be explored there.

But zombies? No way. It's a cultural trend that has gone on for far too long, and it's become VERY overwrought in gaming.
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11 Jun 2014 12:01 #180252 by SuperflyPete
Radioactive Mutants are the same as zombies from a mechanical standpoint, so if you want a zombie game with the feel of a zombie game, just make the theme about a small town near a nuclear plant that has mutated the populace into hideous creatures. That way they're not "zombies" as much as "monsters".

Or, use "post-apocalyptic" mutants and raiders, although the raiders part will require some level of intelligence.

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11 Jun 2014 12:08 #180254 by san il defanso
I'm not sure this is really possible, but I'd appreciate a zombie theme that didn't treat the subject in a pulpy cheap way. I'm having trouble figuring out if zombies have ever been treated in any other fashion, but I did see flashes of it in The Walking Dead before I bailed on that show.

I agree with Legomancer, don't use the z-word. The very sound of it is way too goofy at this point.

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11 Jun 2014 12:31 #180255 by Applejack
Replied by Applejack on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!
I like one kind of zombie; the 'Weird War II' zombie created by Nazi science gone wrong. You see units of this type in Dust Tactics and Incursion, but they are by no means the only kind of enemy in the games. Hollow out a zombie's torso and stick a bunch of explosives in there, seems as good a suicide weapon as any.

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11 Jun 2014 12:40 #180256 by repoman
Replied by repoman on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!

Michael Barnes wrote:
But what about something like The Road, where the apocalypse is vague and the theme isn't just about surviving, but also about the dynamics of a father/son relationship? There are really, really bad guys in it...there doesn't have to be zombies for there to be some truly horrifying stuff in it.


Like "The Road" only not a dull horrible piece of crap. So in a sense, something the exact opposite of "The Road".

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11 Jun 2014 12:45 #180257 by Marcussen
Replied by Marcussen on topic Re: Oh no more Zombies!
Thanks a lot everyone. I'm leaning towards ditching zombies or at least calling them something else. Half Life has "zombies" but also othe creatures. Setting it in a world where some creature can take over humans would work the same way. Actually this would kick ass as an Aliens kind of game as well. Semi-mindless creatures moving in for the kill.

Mechanically, that is obviously the appeal of zombies. You can do them with a pretty simple AI allowing for solo or co-op play.

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