Starting New Survival Game, Looking for feedback and ideas.

I was wondering what I should do for the survival game as I have always had an interest in the survival game genre with PvP and stuff. I think Zombies are being overused but they seem to always be the most successful so I am sort of stumped here. I also am thinking of camera view. I find that eagle eye / top down would be cool as it hasn't been done but there are many cons to that along with it or just go with the traditional first/third person view. Thank you very much for everyone's input!

 

If this is your first game, I recommend learning the whole Learn Section games first. Then build a little mini-game/whole game off what you learned in the learn sections. Then overtime consolidate everything you've learned and use it to build the game(s) of your dreams.

Inventory systems/data persistence, etc isn't beginner stuff.

But nevertheless good luck with your endeavors.

 

No no worries its not my first game, its my first survival game though. I made many games before but mostly for mobile. Its just that I am not that creative so coming up with a good idea is not really my thing.

 

You don't need zombies, the forest used scary animals to great effect. You just have to set the tone properly somehow.

A lot of survival games these days have building in them. Like build a fort to survive at night or something. If you want to be more unique, you could make a different pace, kind of like left for dead where you escape to the water or something. That's all I got

Or how about this: pure running. Your game is just running and close calls. Like you run around obstacles and the camera will slow motion when monsters/zombies try to grab you and nearly miss. It'd be tight, action packed, fast paced. Like mirror's edge with zombies.

 

Really like your ideas, they would make good games. I am wanting to make a traditional multiplayer survival like Unturned, Rust, The Forest, etc.. I will definitely implement the build a fort feature as that will make the gameplay more interesting.

 

Something with kick butt ghosts hasn't been done yet - I don't think.

Ghosts don't follow the same physical rules as us whimpy flesh sacks do.
Supernatural survival - that would be - different.

 

Sounds really cool. Horror/Survival

 

I played an interesting dungeon crawl at Unite where one player took the role of the hero and the others where ghosts that could posses monsters and traps. If your monster killed the hero you got to be the next hero.

 

That sounds really interesting, would love to play a game like that. Sound a lot like a mini game though, I am wanting to go for an open world feel.

 

Some very successful games emerge when you expand upon a simple concept. I'm reminded of Evolve which has one player controlling an enemy and four players trying to hunt that enemy down while avoiding being killed by it. Evolve was the second best selling video game in the US in February. Two and a half million copies by May.

Just remember that by doing so you are bringing in a concept that practically every other game in the genre have already introduced. That's not necessarily a bad thing as many players may have come to expect it, but at the same time you're competing with all of those other games.

 

Sorry I may have wrote it incorrectly or in a different way but I don't hate on that game style I like it personally its just not what I had in mind for this current game project.

Yes I will have to figure out some way to make it unique from all the others which will be quite hard to do so.

 

What about a game where you play something other than a human running from zombies? That's been done like a gazillion times. Maybe you can be a bunny rabbit in the forest and run from foxes, wolves, hawks, and snakes. Instead of building forts, you can build your burrow. Why doesn't anyone think outside of the box anymore?

 

Right. I understood what you meant. I just felt like pointing out that mini-games can sometimes evolve into much more than they may start as. Yes, pun intended.

 

That sounds cool but it seems like it would be hard to implement the idea into a multiplayer survival with PvP action.

 

Sounds pretty cool but as said earlier may be hard to implement with multiplayer with PvP action. The burrow part would be really cool but would rely on a voxel terrain.

 

Back to the ghost idea. It sounds really interesting and I may give it a try. It seems weird but if its done right it would be really cool. I will still think about it as there is a lot to plan and figure out about the multiplayer part of it + PvP + more.

 

My idea royalties are 15%.
haha

 

Could also put a Native American spin on the concept. They have some really interesting spiritual beliefs. Could also tie back into the survival element - with being in the wild with all the animals and such.

 

Haha XD

Ya they definitely do have some spiritual beliefs. Like where your going with this I will think about it, just seems weird to have ghost as enemies in a multiplayer survival but at the same time it seems really cool but that might be because there is no solid examples out there of how its done so.

Pretty Cool, hmm thats a cool modern survival game. In the end it would seem more like an rpg but that may just be me as to me it seems like your living the life of another trying to get higher than others. Reminds me a lot like GTA but except if its done right it will be more fun than GTA 5 online.

 

I decided to go with your idea as it seemed really interesting. I will make sure to give you credit because it was a good idea for a unique survival game. Hopefully I can do the gameplay correctly to make the idea come to life.

 

Cool Wolf - look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

EDIT: I'm gonna keep this idea to myself

More to the point: I think you should think on what you want to be different about your game. Everything made by a human has to have some kind of unique feature or thing about it. Otherwise you end up with Dr. Pib and K Cola (knock-offs). Freedom can be a difficult thing to make decisions with so perhaps constrain yourself using your first idea. I say that because I was going to say "Your unique idea could be anything" but that's too much freedom. Its hard to invent something out of nothing. You need inspiration! Play a few zombie games and find out what exactly they did right, and what they could have improved on.

If you find something they could improve on, perhaps you've found your core idea! You know what to do right too because they did it!!

You could even play other games which aren't zombie games and make some crazy fusion game. I think those newish MOBA games combined a number of awesome features from games before it. I've always said the killstreak reward ideas in COD came from a game called MechAssault 2 Lone Wolf for the original Xbox. I had a blast with that game, and in MP there was a feature where if you got X kills your Atlas titan would gain a totally OP overcharge feature. When you charged it up and fired, it would home in on an enemy Mech and destroy it instantly (tons of damage!!). The only requirement was gaining a number of kills. It was an obscure but brilliant feature, and that became the core mechanic of CoD 4.

 

Here is an update on the survival game as promised. All feedback is welcome! http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/multiplayer-ghost-survival-game.373744/

 

Isn't every game a survival game? You get one, three, or five lives to progress as far into the game as you can.

 

Maybe it would be a good idea to utilize a survival mechanic such as "alien invasion", but it a less campy way. As you mentioned, zombies are way over-used. While alien invasions are hardly a new scifi experience, they definitely are rarer. I can't think of a single survival game off the top of my head that uses that plot device, and I know it isn't because it won't be a fun idea.

Maybe this could be your pitch:

"A bright streak of light pierced the clear, dark sky in December of last year. In late February, residents awoke to find a massive flock of crows, dead and scattered across the neighborhoods of your quitet town.

Authorities surmised that someone had likely set off fireworks, injuring and disorienting the birds. However, the event signaled something much more sinister to you. You'd subconsciously noticed that there were no deer, no squirrels, no foxes in the area for months. Just last year, you'd hardly go a day without seeing deer plucking leftover feed corn from the plowed fields throughout the winter months.

With the weather warming quickly, you find the world around you twisting. Nothing seems right. Suddenly, you seem to be the only person on the streets. You go to work, and no one is there. Where is everyone? What is going on?

You must survive, find and destroy the alien threat, hide from the now changed humans, and save humanity. Many humans have become feral predators. Other humans are controlled by the alien threat (who can you trust?). Strange creatures invade the town, and the threat could spread to the rest of the world if you don't find a way to stop it."

So, it's pretty simple, but there's a lot that you can do with an idea like that in a survival horror setting.

 

How about going with that ghost idea only you do something really unconventional, do something like GhostBusters! Instead of Glock's and Ak-47's you have special ghost fighting equipment! You could name it "GhostFighters" or something

Like in the movies you might have a ghost trapper device to use, or even a ghost containment weapon.

Get creative! Come up with some ideas about what role the ghosts play in your game! This probably goes against what I just said but remember part of the fun and scare of a horror game is the feeling of powerlessness.

Or perhaps all you have is equipment for capturing/containing them, because ghosts can't be killed! So you're constantly on the move or hiding from them, because the only thing you can do is keep them at bay with your GhostFighter's equipment! Thats important because the only way they can bring harm to you is if they take control over a teammate!

Perhaps you have the ability to turn one ghost to your side, so you can sick em' on other ghosts to buy you time to reload/find more ammo for your equipment.

 

Yeah I know the feeling. Even Fallout 4 technically has an analogy to them now. Feral ghouls are scary too.

 

Maybe not survival but I thoroughly enjoy the Battle Royale mode of H1Z1 - I never played DayZ or its BR mode.

I've enjoyed the typical CoD and BattleField games but they always got stale too quick. I guess it's because they are entirely too repetitive: Same spawn spots and same objectives then throw in constantly-respawning enemies.... boring after a while.

But the BR mode (for H1) is fairly dynamic each match. I would really like to see some more games of that nature except with more dynamic content: Varying maps, building placement, weapon/resource spawns or possibly entirely dynamically generated. Granted, the BR mode is very lightly sprinkled with survival game aspects but I feel like there is room for improvements. Ark's Survival of the Fittest seems to have a nice balance for longer matches but the pvp gameplay doesn't have enough of that much needed "twitch" skill associated with FPS games.

The H1 BR with zombie's mode is really cool as well. The zombies are just another environmental obstacle that are easy to avoid but can add/create some intense situations.

 

Why does it have to be a person? Why can't it be an animal? You start as the offspring & pick from maybe 3 with slightly different traits randomly selected but consistent with having the same parents. The growth stage is the tutorial & Instead of upgrades you get xp for traits you use e.g. Camouflage, attack, defence, speed etc. You get better at some things up to a set (low) point & you then need to find & protect a mate so your offspring evolve with those new traits more dominant & when they are old enough you take over playing the offspring which equates to your upgrade?

If the player played tneir character & then chose a mate based on the mates stats you could even slightly randomise the offspring so that the player then picks which offspring they want to play as next, use the new/better traits as a youngster to get used to them before aging enough to strike out on their own & start a new colony. Rinse & repeat.

Enemies can be other animals as well as the bosses (hunters & dogs working in coordination). Your offspring could even be killed if you don't protect them so therefore you need to breed early enough that you have another cycle if anything happens but late enough that the traits you want to pass on are stronger.

 

Why not create a game spin off from 'Alone'/Ed Stafford series', where you start off with some basic tools and gear and get dumped in various locations each with they're own unique problems and resources(or lack of) with progress incentives in the form of skills and tools/weapons? Anything and everything can become an aspect to consider right down to animal intruders, weather conditions or mental health...where to start right?