What are you looking for in a small zombie sandbox?

I am creating a fun little zombie survival open world type of game and I was going to get your feedback on what you would like to see in such a game?

The player will be able to explore the world and visit multiple villages / towns that can and will switch between over run and resistance meaning the surviving resistance has run the threat out of the town for the time being. You will most likely help remove the infected from the towns and eventually need to do so to each town again if a infection gets to bad.

That is just a basic idea. Please let me know if you have more ideas or any kind of improvements .

 

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots OF upgrades/weapon choice. like on mini-gore, you need lots of weapon choice!

 

lol @ zombies.

 

heh... another zombie game... *sigh*

well if it is- actually I want to try this idea I have myself. Something I've wanted out of games for a while. Being able to build defences out of every random object you find and then placing the defences. like you find super glue and soda cans, well you go to your workshop and then place glue on the top and bottom of the cans and stack them. Then you get a barrier out of soda cans.

 

Yeah a barrier out of soda cans does sound like the smart choice if you have something like a workshop with possibly a lot of wood, haha

 

heh... another zombie game... *sigh*

A sandbox you say? At least it's different than the 50 other zombie game threads swarming in the forums.

I know for certain you need ongoing mission objectives and persistant AI to allow a 'sandbox' mode. Create a believable world, where towns are under constant threat by monsters that can overrun any safe havens and human survivors always vie to take back their homes. You on the other hand, have little control over these situations. Towns and safehouses from one part of the world can be invaded by waves of monsters while you on the other hand liberates the others.

Imagine two factions in this scenario, survivors and monsters. You'll need to build a stronghold for each faction to represent their foothold in the world. Should the stronghold fall, the faction would be eliminated and if it's the survivor stronghold, you lose the game. For this forumla, you'll have two objectives, defend your stronghold while destroying the monsters and optionally saving the scattered towns around the world. It's a more interesting concept than the typical linear point A to point B. Destroying the enemy stronghold will progress you to the next sandbox level in a different environment as a means of progression.

Obviously, you cannot have constant threats looming around every town while you're assaulting the enemy stronghold. You can initate tasks to fortify your liberated town to minimize any sort of setbacks if you are to be close to annhiliating the enemies. Whilsts town liberation can be optional, they can provide supplies, soldiers and weaponary to aid you in eliminating the enemy stronghold that seemed almost impossible if you attack alone.

If another zombie thread pops up, I'll bop my head off.

 

I love zombie games. My favorite has been dead rising2 . Variety of weapons zombies (pick up almost anything), combine two items at the "bench" to create the super weapon. Have an inventory system (weapons should break, carry food items -- if you eat too much you vomit). Have an RPG upgrade tree to keep you playing. Maybe mix in some objectives and boss fights.

 

I love zombies games too. A sandbox world is a good idea. My game is kind of sandboxed in a big city but it has boundaries and crazy taxi like objectives. Good luck on your project!

 

I know zombie games are popular in a annoying way however I have kept ALOT of my actual game ideas back because I do not want to share to much about my idea until a slightly later date. The setting for example is completely diffrent not even human race =P sandbox sounded super fun and having variety of about 15 weapons initially that work completely diffrent and expansions for more weapons possibly.

I ask for idea's because It is always good to get input from others to see what they would like to see seeing as I would not be the only one playing =P

 

The towns would have some resistence hunkered down fighting back so you would have small help, they would not be huge! towns are more on a small - large town sizes and a couple will be well guarded for places to get complete safety / rest. The towns would also have a period of silence were no zombies enter the town again or just few straglers every once and awhile.

 

Or perhaps you can make your own town, rescue survivors, get supplies, then set up a small camp in an abandoned/infested town. Place your own defenses, build turrets for the survivors to man, secure supply lines, and assign harvesters to forage for food and supplies. You can command your survivors to craft weapons, train with each other, and perhaps delegate them to a few side missions you're supposed to complete.

A dynamic time system can possibly generate events such as more survivors moving to your camp in the day or more dangerous monsters at night to attack your camp. I've yet to see an innovative game like this though.

On another note, perhaps you can use other sorts of monsters rather than zombies (e.g Insects, Mutants, Terminators bwahaha), so it wont stand as another everyday zombie survivor.

 

Hey guys, funny thing. The author of this topic wants to make a game and is looking for ideas on how to make it good. He isn't looking for smart asses and people telling him how bad it will be.

I also want to make a zombie sandbox when I have the time again. Procedural terrain and towns, but the main thing I really want is dread. I want the player to be close to defeat as much as possible. Never enough food, never enough ammo, never enough supplies. Always on the move. Always facing the unexpected.

Of course a goal is what makes you keep playing. Coming up with that goal is something I still haven't come up with a good solution for. Survive X nights or repair X object are not fun. One is a treasure hunt and the other isn't something you have to work at.

edit: To date I know of only 1 game which came close to being my dream zombie survival sandbox. Fort Zombie. Unfortunately far too little time was put into it - It looks like a game from 2003 and runs worse than Crysis on full specs. When it was released, the developers banned any 'pirate' from their forum who ran into trouble running it.
Turns out (quite hilariously) they forgot to include some library on installation, so everyone could not run it. They also got quite abusive with people who complained about the gameplay or performance.

The camera was third person - aim where the mouse is. Camera clips into walls, causing the curser to aim at the wall. Suddenly you're aiming at nothing and you can't see anything. Much of the game takes place inside - yeah. The F***. I could rant on and on about it.

 

My zombies, and overall race and even location is completely diffrent actually, may even allow for slightly young people but still brutal enough for adults big time. I probably will have to limit the complexity to a certain extent atleast at first but having idea's on were I could take it helps.

I seen fort zombie also and love the general freedom but hated how they pulled it off. I am yet find a zombie game i fully like ={

This first game will be a start in that direction but more of a learning project Still going try make a good game with it but I am really into realism and the big zombie game Idea I have currently in my head I know i dont know enough to make YET.

In a game or two I will probably actually work on my true dream zombie game =P but this one will still be a step up against other current zombie games if it turns out as i am imagining.

 

Zombie games are a blast. I'm working on one as well, though it's not a sandbox game per se.

The more, bigger, weapons the better. That's always a good motto.

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

 

+1, your 2d build is awesome ^_^ cant wait for your 3d one to be complete

 

Haha lol I started something similar checkout this thread http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/107913-WAIT-FOR-IT-...-ANOTHER-ZOMBIE-GAME-...-Need-your-ideas-!!!

 

How should I go about having zombies grab on and eat you rather than scratch at you? It seems like large crowds would be useless if only one at a time scratched because this isnt real life and idk how id incorporate tons of zombies doing that just one ... Idk atm what i want to do about that...