Is there a particular reason why genetic immunity could be a feasible reason as to why everyone is a zombie but the player? Or why the get revived and others dont?
There's also all kinds of potential starter quests that don't involve 'Bring me 3 rats'. I'd like it if the first five levels or so were almost a complete single player instance. Say you pick Lawyer as your starting profession. Then your 5 level instance will be trying to escort your office workers to safety. If you pick soldier or policeman, you try to survive with your team, or bystanders you rescue along the way. Maybe some make it. Maybe your choices mean that some don't. The number you choose to save sets up role playing options throughout the game. If you chose to run off and leave everybody, maybe that haunts you in your choices later. If you save everyone, maybe you get different reputation scores or dialog options. Nothing that would change the result of hard stats ... but the story of how you got to those stats would be different, possibly every time you play.
There's always that 'Leave a man behind to save the group' scene. That guy becomes the instance boss before you join the rest of the MMO at the safe haven. The cut scene after the fight is the zombie biting you ... you pass out ... but wake up just fine as one of the reverred "immunes". Realizing how important you are, genetically, people (NPCs) will help you/rescue you whenever you 'die' out in the world.
And, along these same lines, why not make a cadre of avatars? What if you got to make six or seven different people at the start instead of just the one guy. You take control of one and order the others ... but the whole starting zone would be you and the crew you made trying to fight your way out. If you die, then that avatar is dead, you just take over another person you made. Then, even the character creation process becomes a thought provoking exercise. If I get five group members ... do I trade the fire power of a fourth soldier for the healing of a second medic? Trade a soldier for commo or a pilot?
Once you get to the safe zone, you'd only run one character at a time but could switch between them just by going to your barracks room/player housing.
Be an interesting aspect to corpse retrieval too ... if you die as Bob, then your corpse retrieval is actually you, using Jack, another guy in your crew, to rescue Bob. Wouldn't be hard to have a quest that starts with something like 'A boy runs up to you and says he saw a guy with Bob's watch.' Find the guy, the guy says he got it from a resource gathering party (or caravan, whatever). Find out that the caravan has already moved on. Fighting of equal level to Jack ensues to catch the caravan. Bob is there and unconcious. Or amnesiac. Or left elsewhere.
Might also be kind of neat if they had the option of localized safe zones. If I'm from Missouri, for example, I could chose to start in St. Louis. It'd be kinda' crazy ... but running through a street I recognize, being chased by zombies, would be horrific ... and kinda' the point.
And I want Zombie cows.....I don't know why...but there is something kind of hysterical about being attacked by a stampeding herd of Zombie cows....or is that just me?
Seriously though. You'd have your random zombies..but what about your more mutated Zombies? Those that have a feral intelligence, creepy ones that jump like those spiders that can leap several feet and pounce on you.
Whose saying all Zombies have to be mindless? Why not have some huge mutated Resident evil like Zombies? Why do they have to be in an instance.
Here's the kicker. I don't get this part. In a typical MMO...mobs drop coins, gear etc. What would be the reward for taking out the uber elite gigantic disgusting mind numbing uber boss of a monster? It's not like he's gonna have any reason to drop Excalibur into your lap if you beat him. Why not just run the hell away?
Perhaps it would be guarding the remnants of an old factory that had tons of supplies for the city you're building? An old military ammo store house with crates of ammo left in them? burned out hospital that still had bandages and medical supplies? What would be the rewards for difficult missions?
The reward would be survival - that's the whole point of the thread. The game's not about gear grind or leveling up so you can solo God himself. It's about keeping your brains in your head and a safe place to sleep at night.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
The reward would be survival - that's the whole point of the thread. The game's not about gear grind or leveling up so you can solo God himself. It's about keeping your brains in your head and a safe place to sleep at night.
well when you say it like that it makes more sense, why skills, and levels, make max lvl 10 or something so that you cant go solo the game, team is 100% necessary, as ive stated earlier RPG is not Genre for a Survival MMO it has to be FPS, TPS, Why? cus if you get horded what are you gonna do? Click like crazy to tap all the monsters, use some crazy ass skill that takes them all down in once? No thanks, you would be better off playing WoW or Age of Conan, or some other MMO with Serious AoE attacks, take a look at Hellgate London, they have a somewhat good aspect of a game but it lacks a Few things, like the zones are put wierdly up, The awareness of the monsters is to big (they spot you to fast), like sniper should be able to have advantage over his enemy instead of they come running to you at once you can just lay down and take your time to fire
It doesn't sound terrible but you know damn good and well what the developers would do to it. You would log in to the game and the first thing you would see is a NPC with a big glowing question mark over his head. You would talk to him and see a block of text, "Bla bla bla bla....kill three zombie rats and bring me their tails." Then you would notice a bunch of other NPCs with big glowing question marks over their heads and pretty soon you would have about twenty run-and-fetch-it "quests" to keep you busy. Before you could quite finish all of those maddening little "quests" you would have more "quests" piled on to the stack of endless errands you're supposed to run. Nobody would ever group for this stuff for two reasons. First: it's all so incredibly easy that you don't need to group for it. Second: all of that frantic running around to collect crap makes grouping totally impractical. But if you don't do the stupid little "quests" you won't get your upgraded gun, you won't get your silver bullets (or whatever), you won't get your kevlar armor and you won't unlock any special abilities for your character. So that's it. That would be the sum total of the game, endlessy running stupid little errands alone, going where you're told to go and doing what you're told to do. Oh...untill you hit the "endgame". Then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. Ugg. This is why I have often said changing the setting of games is not the important thing. The important thing is for someone, some dev or company, to separate themself from the herd and change the basic nature of the gameplay.
And I want Zombie cows.....I don't know why...but there is something kind of hysterical about being attacked by a stampeding herd of Zombie cows....or is that just me?
It's not cows, but you should definitely look up the movie "Black Sheep" (and not the Chris Farley one!)
Dana Massey Formerly of MMORPG.com Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
I think that this genre in the right hands would shine. I hope it would be like Face of Mankind's idea (100% player run and 0 NPCs) just with survival 10x more important. Limited communication, grim is this sounds, would be a great element. Say someone out soloing to keep threat low, found out there's... I don't know an abandoned, or dead, gun shop or something few miles away. That limit would make getting back all the more important and in turn force grouping a bit more.Also starting off with an unbreakable weapon you can't lose would be key but not the same weapon for everyone of course. Depending on occupation/class there's 5-10 weapons, one of which you will randomly start with. Mostly I'd think of these as melee weapons.
Another key element would be skills but I have an idea of my own on this. In place of leveling up should be putting effort into skill building. The more you use gun the better your aim the more you help build shelters the better they become. Active and passive, active being combat, commands or medical and probably others. Passive being but not limited to things like scavenging, aim, strength and luck. Luck in my opinion should effect things like possibility of finding rare items or evasion of attacks and lastly decreasing the chance while either fleeing, building or being offline to lose your weapon(s)/armor/supplies you personally carry. Rare item should be things like: blueprints for a strong shelter, good map of your local area maybe even recipes for good food.
Should anyone start a MMOG of this genre I sincerely hope these elements are recognized as highly important. And by the way the sentence: Mindless as they may be, they know a tasty morsel of living brain colony when they see it. Awesome.
Now I never post here, ever. I read that's it. This is the first article that had caught my attenion and I just wanted to say "Great Job" This is a great idea and I, myself, would love to play such a game.
I think this is one of those genres that we can expect to appear when dynamic servers appear that can handle changing the game world based on player decisions...
My blog is a continuing story of what MMO's should be like.
I think this is one of those genres that we can expect to appear when dynamic servers appear that can handle changing the game world based on player decisions...
id say this would be possible around 2015, 2020 or further out
I think this is one of those genres that we can expect to appear when dynamic servers appear that can handle changing the game world based on player decisions...
Warhammer Online has capturable open world locations and upgradable/downgradable cities.
I think small settlements could be portrayed changing either in realtime, or after a short daily reset. Using current technology.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Eh, ive read most of the posts, well for one just to get both parties of hardcore and non hardcore like diablo 2 just make two different servers, perma death and no perma death that way both parties are happy and both can do what they would like. that problem is solved. Well i don't think there should be leveling if anything there should be some kind of starter class system, police officer, paramedic, doctor, teacher, w/e. Each of those could either have certain bonuses or start out with skill already. Another scenerio is that everyone is just a citizen with no major skills and that you basically mold your character into that you want. You can pick up bandages and use them and once you get enough skill in the medically field maybe there is an option to become a medic or doctor which would unlock exclusive skills only a medic could use. That way there is a point in playing the game and not just killing zombies endlessly and running around to next city. So for the skills everyone could learn the basic skills for example.
Simple First Aid, Pistol Training, Maybe Shotgun Training, Build small crates/baracades,ect.
Than once you get a certain amount of skill in one you can become specialized which still allows you to learn the basic skills but there would be a max level on the basics just so there is an incentive to become specialized. Once specialized more options of your "class" that you molded yourself into would become available but you would not be able to double spec. Sorry about the jumbled up post i all hope you understand what i am trying to say.
Now that is a game i've been waiting for, im a BIG fan of any zombie type game. I love the horror!
1. Make MANY MANY Servers with 400-500 players. with a decent sized world
OR
2. Make a HUGEEEEEE World with many players
The start is solo automaticly. where ur alone and have to fight ur way out to find others. you wont be connected to the server yet and u will not see other players till u get out of where u are.
Mh, I've seen a couple of people starting developing a similar game. Neither one of them succeeded, but I agree, they can be fun. They even came up with ideas like being able to defend yourself with everything you can get your hands on. Even loafs of bread *DIE, ZOMBIES!*.
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
I think this is one of those genres that we can expect to appear when dynamic servers appear that can handle changing the game world based on player decisions...
id say this would be possible around 2015, 2020 or further out
You are aware that dynamic worlds is pretty much the core of GW2, right?
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
I agree with the idea that a survival MMO must have permadeath, otherwise it is not about survival but progress. Herein lies the problem, as a few others have pointed out. Grouping and permadeath and the possibility of disconnects do not make a good mix. And the wider MMO audience is not ready for this.
Maybe you would need to have different games within the single world and many options representing risk profiles. The *very* first stage would be a true survival thing... you have to get to the military base... you have a weapon but limited ammo... zombies are everywhere... someone runs past, zombies come around a corner following them... if they get you, they get you. If they do, you start again. And again. Until you figure out that you have to run, and run, and run, and survive.
Right, you've got to the military base... it's not like they are happy to see you but they do let you in. In fact... at this point in the game... you have only two options; serve as a soldier on recon and scavenging exercises... or get the hell out.
In either case, they give you a shot that protects you from the virus to some extent. Meaning that it is harder to suffer permadeath, but infinitely possible to. If you choose to leave they give you a single box of rations and suggest you head west... there are other military bases and rumours of other safe havens.
Hereon it is open PvP, but some areas are tightly controlled by the military, others not. Just like EVE... low sec is synonymous with high reward and high risk.
I *do* think this could really work as another EVE kind of game, except you can actually see each other's toons... and so it is more natural to help one another. EVE was too cold and competitive for me. The friendships I have and have had in MMOs tended to start from a friendly wave when I've seen someone else in the same area... how you do this in EVE I never figured out... and even if you could the game just seemed to encourage an atmosphere of mistrust.
I think this is one of those genres that we can expect to appear when dynamic servers appear that can handle changing the game world based on player decisions...
id say this would be possible around 2015, 2020 or further out
You are aware that dynamic worlds is pretty much the core of GW2, right?
That would depend on our versions of dynamic, I think.
My blog is a continuing story of what MMO's should be like.
I don't know why so many people are already placing current MMO standards and limits on a game that is just an IDEA! Get your head out the box and think for a moment!
There are so many things that could be applied to this game. We do not need stale minds already corrupted by current MMOs throwing in old ideas and critisizing your own failure of what you anticipate the game will be. Does anyone understand how useless that is?
Permadeath... it's absolutely not applicable to current MMOs. But why can't it be applied to a new style of MMO? What if there were no levels to gain, but your progress be measured by your "refuge" that people speak of. Make it a group thing. Losing someone of that refuge would be bad since you wont get that person back (that player may respawn as a new character in/near another refuge or something). Don't make death something someone has to absolutely fear, but definitely make it worth surviving.
Those of you complaining already are not what drives the video game industry foward. Those who take these risks to make something all new are the ones we need. Don't get in the way if you only try to hold them back.
Interesting concept. These are some of the things that occurred to me:
Taking a page from psychology, the PvP element would arise from the guy standing next to you who, if he doesn't become your friend will become your competition for food, water, shelter, etc. So the wariness of the situation is built in, and the challenge for each player would be to rise above the territorial imperative of survival instincts and group up against a common enemy or find a way to survive alone. That's quite naturally a gritty, tense situation and it would be pervasive.
I could see it being very workable for a solo player as long as there are classes with pets or stealth abilities. The more social players will pretty naturally band together for survival. Both types of players need similar rewards for survival, so the solo player might see a boost in loot he doesn't have to share compared to the player who grouped. Yet perhaps he can't carry as much as a group can so has to be choosier. Forcing very deliberate choices could add some interesting and challenging content, and make it as much a "head" game as an action game.
How is progress defined in this game? We are goal-oriented creatures so look to goals and prizes for motivation. What is the goal of a game like this? What is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Is it finding a cure for the zombie bite? Is it getting out of the city to a real and permanent safe zone? Is it saving the world? That kind of perspective is relevant to making a successful, immersive game that appeals to many people who are willing to pay money for it over time.
For something different, experience points could be totally eliminated. Your abilities increase but your level doesn't, so level becomes irrelevant. Death could be semi-permanent (so as to retain a larger player base), with an expensive loss of loot, gear, weapons and durability, forcing you to beg for help from an NPC and work off the assistance you receive in getting your stuff back and repaired. Some kind of rest bonus could be applied to skills or durability when you log out in a safe zone.
I think the concept of no magic is very interesting. Difficult situations have often catalyzed the emergence of previously hidden talents, so the stress of this situation could, for example, produce various kinds of new abilities; extended hearing, the ability to blend in with the environment so well it becomes stealth, "fool the eye" kind of distraction, better intuition, inventiveness, etc. Nothing magical, but certain natural skills become enhanced and valuable.
Fun stuff, thanks for the opportunity to think creatively this morning!
Sounds like a good map idea for warcraft 3, or a multiplayer game. Or an addon to other games like quake or half life I think i'td make a good expansion but probably not a good mmo. But I would definately play it on whatever format you make it.
The game should start where starvation and dehydration is a factor as well. With tons of smaller colonies of a couple hundred people per where you could, when explring, come across the other colonies with it being fully pvp where killing each other only offers the benefeit of taking their food and water. When you die, you die for good and have to start over but when you are "killed" You arent always completely killed yet knocked out and can be rescued by friends or npcs.
The game should start where starvation and dehydration is a factor as well. With tons of smaller colonies of a couple hundred people per where you could, when explring, come across the other colonies with it being fully pvp where killing each other only offers the benefeit of taking their food and water. When you die, you die for good and have to start over but when you are "killed" You arent always completely killed yet knocked out and can be rescued by friends or npcs.
Why try to make a game that resembles real life? There are plenty of other concepts that can be used and the last thing I would want to do is have to eat food and drink water to live (I do that enouhg in the real world, mang). I rather be required to frequently take a drug (which can be made from zombie juice for all I care) to prevent my character from turning into a zombie and the drug can give me powers like super strength or super zombie senses or something than scrounge for food all day. Sure, permadeath will make it exciting, but I agree with an above poster, lets not pigeon hole the whole concept just yet. What implications can we get by making the game NOT have permadeath?
This game can easily be about the survival of the individual as much as the survival of a group of people perhaps even a society.Wouldn't it be cool to think about having to struggle for the survival of a settlement only to get overran by zombies and washed out forcing you to look for better and more secure establishments? (Which goes back to a previous question I tried posted, Has ANYONE read the comic series THE WALKING DEAD?)
Like in traditional zombie movies, when you get attacked by a zombie, you carry a potential to become one, could this provide a PvP possibility? (Maybe someone feels like being disruptive today or had a bad day at work and needs to blow off some steam, let players control various zombies and perhaps manipulate hordes of them. It could be purely temporary without any need for zombie development of sorts or maybe require to perform tasks with one zombie to actually acquire a horde to follow your direction) A game doesn't have to emulate reality (or reality possibilities) in order to be a good game and usually its not the case.
These are ideas I'm just throwing out there, but before you guys jump on the permadeath bandwagon, think of the other possiblities. What are the disadvantages towards permadeath and to what extent will permadeath would you even want to cover? You still need some form of development towards some kind of goal. I think you can still capture the survival feel in the game without having permadeath.
Originally posted by SaintViktor Left 4 Dead Online anyone ? How about Dead Space Online ? Those are the two best survival horror games I have ever played. I think if it done right a survival mmo would be pretty interesting to many people, not to mention very different which the mmo genre really needs.
Comments
This idea has a lot of potential.
Is there a particular reason why genetic immunity could be a feasible reason as to why everyone is a zombie but the player? Or why the get revived and others dont?
There's also all kinds of potential starter quests that don't involve 'Bring me 3 rats'. I'd like it if the first five levels or so were almost a complete single player instance. Say you pick Lawyer as your starting profession. Then your 5 level instance will be trying to escort your office workers to safety. If you pick soldier or policeman, you try to survive with your team, or bystanders you rescue along the way. Maybe some make it. Maybe your choices mean that some don't. The number you choose to save sets up role playing options throughout the game. If you chose to run off and leave everybody, maybe that haunts you in your choices later. If you save everyone, maybe you get different reputation scores or dialog options. Nothing that would change the result of hard stats ... but the story of how you got to those stats would be different, possibly every time you play.
There's always that 'Leave a man behind to save the group' scene. That guy becomes the instance boss before you join the rest of the MMO at the safe haven. The cut scene after the fight is the zombie biting you ... you pass out ... but wake up just fine as one of the reverred "immunes". Realizing how important you are, genetically, people (NPCs) will help you/rescue you whenever you 'die' out in the world.
And, along these same lines, why not make a cadre of avatars? What if you got to make six or seven different people at the start instead of just the one guy. You take control of one and order the others ... but the whole starting zone would be you and the crew you made trying to fight your way out. If you die, then that avatar is dead, you just take over another person you made. Then, even the character creation process becomes a thought provoking exercise. If I get five group members ... do I trade the fire power of a fourth soldier for the healing of a second medic? Trade a soldier for commo or a pilot?
Once you get to the safe zone, you'd only run one character at a time but could switch between them just by going to your barracks room/player housing.
Be an interesting aspect to corpse retrieval too ... if you die as Bob, then your corpse retrieval is actually you, using Jack, another guy in your crew, to rescue Bob. Wouldn't be hard to have a quest that starts with something like 'A boy runs up to you and says he saw a guy with Bob's watch.' Find the guy, the guy says he got it from a resource gathering party (or caravan, whatever). Find out that the caravan has already moved on. Fighting of equal level to Jack ensues to catch the caravan. Bob is there and unconcious. Or amnesiac. Or left elsewhere.
Might also be kind of neat if they had the option of localized safe zones. If I'm from Missouri, for example, I could chose to start in St. Louis. It'd be kinda' crazy ... but running through a street I recognize, being chased by zombies, would be horrific ... and kinda' the point.
And I want Zombie cows.....I don't know why...but there is something kind of hysterical about being attacked by a stampeding herd of Zombie cows....or is that just me?
Seriously though. You'd have your random zombies..but what about your more mutated Zombies? Those that have a feral intelligence, creepy ones that jump like those spiders that can leap several feet and pounce on you.
Whose saying all Zombies have to be mindless? Why not have some huge mutated Resident evil like Zombies? Why do they have to be in an instance.
Here's the kicker. I don't get this part. In a typical MMO...mobs drop coins, gear etc. What would be the reward for taking out the uber elite gigantic disgusting mind numbing uber boss of a monster? It's not like he's gonna have any reason to drop Excalibur into your lap if you beat him. Why not just run the hell away?
Perhaps it would be guarding the remnants of an old factory that had tons of supplies for the city you're building? An old military ammo store house with crates of ammo left in them? burned out hospital that still had bandages and medical supplies? What would be the rewards for difficult missions?
i think when i make a servival mmo you get more an online horror shooter,
and we dont call that an mmorpg.
The reward would be survival - that's the whole point of the thread. The game's not about gear grind or leveling up so you can solo God himself. It's about keeping your brains in your head and a safe place to sleep at night.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
well when you say it like that it makes more sense, why skills, and levels, make max lvl 10 or something so that you cant go solo the game, team is 100% necessary, as ive stated earlier RPG is not Genre for a Survival MMO it has to be FPS, TPS, Why? cus if you get horded what are you gonna do? Click like crazy to tap all the monsters, use some crazy ass skill that takes them all down in once? No thanks, you would be better off playing WoW or Age of Conan, or some other MMO with Serious AoE attacks, take a look at Hellgate London, they have a somewhat good aspect of a game but it lacks a Few things, like the zones are put wierdly up, The awareness of the monsters is to big (they spot you to fast), like sniper should be able to have advantage over his enemy instead of they come running to you at once you can just lay down and take your time to fire
To live and Die By Fire
Did you actually read the article?
Your opinion is immaterial.
It's not cows, but you should definitely look up the movie "Black Sheep" (and not the Chris Farley one!)
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
I think that this genre in the right hands would shine. I hope it would be like Face of Mankind's idea (100% player run and 0 NPCs) just with survival 10x more important. Limited communication, grim is this sounds, would be a great element. Say someone out soloing to keep threat low, found out there's... I don't know an abandoned, or dead, gun shop or something few miles away. That limit would make getting back all the more important and in turn force grouping a bit more.Also starting off with an unbreakable weapon you can't lose would be key but not the same weapon for everyone of course. Depending on occupation/class there's 5-10 weapons, one of which you will randomly start with. Mostly I'd think of these as melee weapons.
Another key element would be skills but I have an idea of my own on this. In place of leveling up should be putting effort into skill building. The more you use gun the better your aim the more you help build shelters the better they become. Active and passive, active being combat, commands or medical and probably others. Passive being but not limited to things like scavenging, aim, strength and luck. Luck in my opinion should effect things like possibility of finding rare items or evasion of attacks and lastly decreasing the chance while either fleeing, building or being offline to lose your weapon(s)/armor/supplies you personally carry. Rare item should be things like: blueprints for a strong shelter, good map of your local area maybe even recipes for good food.
Should anyone start a MMOG of this genre I sincerely hope these elements are recognized as highly important. And by the way the sentence: Mindless as they may be, they know a tasty morsel of living brain colony when they see it. Awesome.
One man's guts are another man's glory.
I actually didn't expect to be Black...
Now I never post here, ever. I read that's it. This is the first article that had caught my attenion and I just wanted to say "Great Job" This is a great idea and I, myself, would love to play such a game.
Keep up the good work, you've opened my eyes
I think this is one of those genres that we can expect to appear when dynamic servers appear that can handle changing the game world based on player decisions...
My blog is a continuing story of what MMO's should be like.
id say this would be possible around 2015, 2020 or further out
To live and Die By Fire
Warhammer Online has capturable open world locations and upgradable/downgradable cities.
I think small settlements could be portrayed changing either in realtime, or after a short daily reset. Using current technology.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Eh, ive read most of the posts, well for one just to get both parties of hardcore and non hardcore like diablo 2 just make two different servers, perma death and no perma death that way both parties are happy and both can do what they would like. that problem is solved. Well i don't think there should be leveling if anything there should be some kind of starter class system, police officer, paramedic, doctor, teacher, w/e. Each of those could either have certain bonuses or start out with skill already. Another scenerio is that everyone is just a citizen with no major skills and that you basically mold your character into that you want. You can pick up bandages and use them and once you get enough skill in the medically field maybe there is an option to become a medic or doctor which would unlock exclusive skills only a medic could use. That way there is a point in playing the game and not just killing zombies endlessly and running around to next city. So for the skills everyone could learn the basic skills for example.
Simple First Aid, Pistol Training, Maybe Shotgun Training, Build small crates/baracades,ect.
Than once you get a certain amount of skill in one you can become specialized which still allows you to learn the basic skills but there would be a max level on the basics just so there is an incentive to become specialized. Once specialized more options of your "class" that you molded yourself into would become available but you would not be able to double spec. Sorry about the jumbled up post i all hope you understand what i am trying to say.
Now that is a game i've been waiting for, im a BIG fan of any zombie type game. I love the horror!
1. Make MANY MANY Servers with 400-500 players. with a decent sized world
OR
2. Make a HUGEEEEEE World with many players
The start is solo automaticly. where ur alone and have to fight ur way out to find others. you wont be connected to the server yet and u will not see other players till u get out of where u are.
Call me when u need a tester.
Mh, I've seen a couple of people starting developing a similar game. Neither one of them succeeded, but I agree, they can be fun. They even came up with ideas like being able to defend yourself with everything you can get your hands on. Even loafs of bread *DIE, ZOMBIES!*.
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
id say this would be possible around 2015, 2020 or further out
You are aware that dynamic worlds is pretty much the core of GW2, right?
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
Definitely an interesting article and topic.
I agree with the idea that a survival MMO must have permadeath, otherwise it is not about survival but progress. Herein lies the problem, as a few others have pointed out. Grouping and permadeath and the possibility of disconnects do not make a good mix. And the wider MMO audience is not ready for this.
Maybe you would need to have different games within the single world and many options representing risk profiles. The *very* first stage would be a true survival thing... you have to get to the military base... you have a weapon but limited ammo... zombies are everywhere... someone runs past, zombies come around a corner following them... if they get you, they get you. If they do, you start again. And again. Until you figure out that you have to run, and run, and run, and survive.
Right, you've got to the military base... it's not like they are happy to see you but they do let you in. In fact... at this point in the game... you have only two options; serve as a soldier on recon and scavenging exercises... or get the hell out.
In either case, they give you a shot that protects you from the virus to some extent. Meaning that it is harder to suffer permadeath, but infinitely possible to. If you choose to leave they give you a single box of rations and suggest you head west... there are other military bases and rumours of other safe havens.
Hereon it is open PvP, but some areas are tightly controlled by the military, others not. Just like EVE... low sec is synonymous with high reward and high risk.
I *do* think this could really work as another EVE kind of game, except you can actually see each other's toons... and so it is more natural to help one another. EVE was too cold and competitive for me. The friendships I have and have had in MMOs tended to start from a friendly wave when I've seen someone else in the same area... how you do this in EVE I never figured out... and even if you could the game just seemed to encourage an atmosphere of mistrust.
id say this would be possible around 2015, 2020 or further out
You are aware that dynamic worlds is pretty much the core of GW2, right?
That would depend on our versions of dynamic, I think.
My blog is a continuing story of what MMO's should be like.
if they make one...then it shuld be like GW...stay in towns to trade and get friends and outside only mission based stuff
I don't know why so many people are already placing current MMO standards and limits on a game that is just an IDEA! Get your head out the box and think for a moment!
There are so many things that could be applied to this game. We do not need stale minds already corrupted by current MMOs throwing in old ideas and critisizing your own failure of what you anticipate the game will be. Does anyone understand how useless that is?
Permadeath... it's absolutely not applicable to current MMOs. But why can't it be applied to a new style of MMO? What if there were no levels to gain, but your progress be measured by your "refuge" that people speak of. Make it a group thing. Losing someone of that refuge would be bad since you wont get that person back (that player may respawn as a new character in/near another refuge or something). Don't make death something someone has to absolutely fear, but definitely make it worth surviving.
Those of you complaining already are not what drives the video game industry foward. Those who take these risks to make something all new are the ones we need. Don't get in the way if you only try to hold them back.
Interesting concept. These are some of the things that occurred to me:
Taking a page from psychology, the PvP element would arise from the guy standing next to you who, if he doesn't become your friend will become your competition for food, water, shelter, etc. So the wariness of the situation is built in, and the challenge for each player would be to rise above the territorial imperative of survival instincts and group up against a common enemy or find a way to survive alone. That's quite naturally a gritty, tense situation and it would be pervasive.
I could see it being very workable for a solo player as long as there are classes with pets or stealth abilities. The more social players will pretty naturally band together for survival. Both types of players need similar rewards for survival, so the solo player might see a boost in loot he doesn't have to share compared to the player who grouped. Yet perhaps he can't carry as much as a group can so has to be choosier. Forcing very deliberate choices could add some interesting and challenging content, and make it as much a "head" game as an action game.
How is progress defined in this game? We are goal-oriented creatures so look to goals and prizes for motivation. What is the goal of a game like this? What is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Is it finding a cure for the zombie bite? Is it getting out of the city to a real and permanent safe zone? Is it saving the world? That kind of perspective is relevant to making a successful, immersive game that appeals to many people who are willing to pay money for it over time.
For something different, experience points could be totally eliminated. Your abilities increase but your level doesn't, so level becomes irrelevant. Death could be semi-permanent (so as to retain a larger player base), with an expensive loss of loot, gear, weapons and durability, forcing you to beg for help from an NPC and work off the assistance you receive in getting your stuff back and repaired. Some kind of rest bonus could be applied to skills or durability when you log out in a safe zone.
I think the concept of no magic is very interesting. Difficult situations have often catalyzed the emergence of previously hidden talents, so the stress of this situation could, for example, produce various kinds of new abilities; extended hearing, the ability to blend in with the environment so well it becomes stealth, "fool the eye" kind of distraction, better intuition, inventiveness, etc. Nothing magical, but certain natural skills become enhanced and valuable.
Fun stuff, thanks for the opportunity to think creatively this morning!
Sounds like a good map idea for warcraft 3, or a multiplayer game. Or an addon to other games like quake or half life I think i'td make a good expansion but probably not a good mmo. But I would definately play it on whatever format you make it.
The game should start where starvation and dehydration is a factor as well. With tons of smaller colonies of a couple hundred people per where you could, when explring, come across the other colonies with it being fully pvp where killing each other only offers the benefeit of taking their food and water. When you die, you die for good and have to start over but when you are "killed" You arent always completely killed yet knocked out and can be rescued by friends or npcs.
Why try to make a game that resembles real life? There are plenty of other concepts that can be used and the last thing I would want to do is have to eat food and drink water to live (I do that enouhg in the real world, mang). I rather be required to frequently take a drug (which can be made from zombie juice for all I care) to prevent my character from turning into a zombie and the drug can give me powers like super strength or super zombie senses or something than scrounge for food all day. Sure, permadeath will make it exciting, but I agree with an above poster, lets not pigeon hole the whole concept just yet. What implications can we get by making the game NOT have permadeath?
This game can easily be about the survival of the individual as much as the survival of a group of people perhaps even a society.Wouldn't it be cool to think about having to struggle for the survival of a settlement only to get overran by zombies and washed out forcing you to look for better and more secure establishments? (Which goes back to a previous question I tried posted, Has ANYONE read the comic series THE WALKING DEAD?)
Like in traditional zombie movies, when you get attacked by a zombie, you carry a potential to become one, could this provide a PvP possibility? (Maybe someone feels like being disruptive today or had a bad day at work and needs to blow off some steam, let players control various zombies and perhaps manipulate hordes of them. It could be purely temporary without any need for zombie development of sorts or maybe require to perform tasks with one zombie to actually acquire a horde to follow your direction) A game doesn't have to emulate reality (or reality possibilities) in order to be a good game and usually its not the case.
These are ideas I'm just throwing out there, but before you guys jump on the permadeath bandwagon, think of the other possiblities. What are the disadvantages towards permadeath and to what extent will permadeath would you even want to cover? You still need some form of development towards some kind of goal. I think you can still capture the survival feel in the game without having permadeath.
L4D is not survival horror.
Dead Space isn't either, but it's close.