a zombie MMO??

[Ronald McZombie]

Think of the possiblities a entire WORLD filled with zombies THOOOUSANDS of real players running for survival.

[darksora2323]

sounds good on paper
but theres alot of things wrong with the idea

i dont have time to type it all either
but the metal gear solid creator wanted to make something similar when hes done with mgs4

[darksora2323]

why dont you elaborate on it

[Game_Freak88]

There is a zombie MMO being made already, dunno if its going to see a finished build though... http://www.exanimusthegame.com/

[darksora2323]

http://www.exanimusthegame.com/

website is down

[Nemesis_vs_Leon]

www.urbandead.com (http://www.urbandead.com) text-based zombie mmo already made. Also, I think this could work well.

for a real mmo...

Imagine this: it plays just like an action rpg but with guns and barely any melee. The zombies are treated like random monsters.

[darksora2323]

www.urbandead.com text-based zombie mmo already made. Also, I think this could work well.

for a real mmo...

Imagine this: it plays just like an action rpg but with guns and barely any melee. The zombies are treated like random monsters.

that game is soooooo gayyyyy
any texted base game is gay

[The One]

I have to agree with dark, urbandead is not a good game at all. Sorry. For some maybe but for most Hell No.

[hooray for zombies]

please let us not revive the urban dead problem, leave it buried where it belongs

[Ronald McZombie]

Ok HOW about this picture GTA enviorment. Cars and all. But instead of wandering civilains ZOMBIES. Possiblitie are endless

[hooray for zombies]

Man: "oh my god, you killed a man! That'll give you a wanted star!"
Player: "But... he was a zombie"
Police: "doesn't matter son, law's the law, gonna have to take you in"
Player: "But... but... that doesn't make any sense"
Police: "oh, I see. Resisting arrest, eh? Well take this! *knocks you down*"
Player: *busted*

[Shrubberyjsc]

I've stated my ideas for a zombie MMO several times. I'll just see what you all come up with now.

=)

[darksora2323]

Ok HOW about this picture GTA enviorment. Cars and all. But instead of wandering civilains ZOMBIES. Possiblitie are endless
ive already thought of this
and i elaborated
I've stated my ideas for a zombie MMO several times. I'll just see what you all come up with now.

=)

same here

[seekdestroy]

im pretty sure there is a game on pc, (forgot name) that was similar, had slayors and vampires, mmorpg was quite addictive.

[ArsenaI]

Surely it will just get boring after a while, i mean, you can only upgrade weapons / barracades so many times cant you, say you get a grp of freinds, your playing your GTA style zombie mmo, theres only so much that can be achieved lol.

Say theres a server which is like a state or whatever, couple thousand people on this server have to survive, what happens when you die, then again what happens when you survive lol ? aswell as handling these cities full of zombies, the concept imo, is just not designed for that kind of gameplay. tho it would be cool ;)

[bub]

Yeah the only way it would work is if you only had one life because if you could respawn then surviving means nothing. But then it would suck to have spent 50 bucks on something that you can't use.

[Big_Bubbaloola]

Hell if something as "MMORPG friendly" as The Matrix can fail, I don't think a Zombie/Survival MMORPG would last much longer either.

Saying that, is The Matrix Online still going?

[Ronald McZombie]

well they could have 40+ player instantces for anyone who is familar with WOW basically a dungeon that u load into that can be completed as many times as u want. say u get a group of 40 humans and you have to complete a scenerio surviving as long as possible.

[Big_Bubbaloola]

say u get a group of 40 humans and you have to complete a scenerio surviving as long as possible.

But then where is the threat. Like someone said earlier, if you die you should stay dead, but then people won't play. People play MMORPG mainly to get as far as they can up the XP table and to unlock new weapons or skills. The sheen and appeal of killing zombies/goblins/robots/whatever wears off pretty quick when presented with a perpetual universe. Great for FPS, not so much for MMORPG.

The appealing thing about a Zombie storyline is that it's survial horror, with the emphasis of survival.

[Degu]

Yeh the matrix online is still going...

[Prometheus]

I beta tested MxO, I loved that game.

[snarkeater]

MxO was fun, just got boring after about a week since all of the areas and missions were exactly the same.

[Soundboy6]

Sure it sounds like a good Idea. I picture "GTA" meets "Auto Assault".
The whole concept of roving Road Warriors appeals to me, all Mad Max-esque.
But, then again, Auto Assault was a pretty Gay game :(
Sure, sounds like a good idea here, but to actually pull it off properly would be a real chore.

[Soundboy6]

Im more of an FPS fan anyway.

[staggy11]

I think that one way to keep the game interesting would be to have 'rounds'. Each round would start in a regular, everyday setting, then progress with the zombie outbreak, takeover etc.

Perhaps once a character dies in a round, the have to play as a zombie until the end of the round?

As the round progresses, new quests would appear and old ones disappear. For example, a low-level quest would be to kill the zombiefied husband of your next door neighbour, which is trapped in the basement. But if you went to the house later on, you would find it deserted, and the zombies of the neighbours.

I think each round should end with a flourish. Perhaps a nuke that you have to escape from, or reaching an escape point. Players who wouldn't be on at the time could perhaps work out a deal with a player who would, who then would have to escape themselves, whilst leading an NPC representing the off-line character. This would complete the story 'cycle', as well as providing an extra challenge for people to overcome if they want to take a skill/item with them.

At the end of the round, every surviving character would have the chance to take 1 item/skill with them (say, a shotgun) to help them survive at the start of the next round. Alternatively, some rounds could last forever, creating a more standard MMORPG with quests and fixed cities and whatnot. There would also be 'novelty' rounds, lasting very little time, but with very high item drop and EXP rates. These would be set around a certain scenario, such as the plots of 'Dawn of the Dead' or '28 Days Later'.

Players would never disappear from the world after going off-line. That would mean that people would have to work together to barricade and protect safe houses to log-off from.
http://www.squidi.net/three/entry.php?id=30
The link shows a similar idea to mine.

Anyway, that's just my idea. What do you think?

[bub]

How long would a round last? That doesn't really sound like an mmog.

[staggy11]

I'm not sure. A round would probably (I haven't thought about this much) last around 1 month? Maybe 2?

The small, 'novelty' rounds would last less than that, maybe only 2 weeks/ these would really only be holiday events.

What about it doesn't sound like an MMOG? Oh, and it would be an FPS.

[Shrubberyjsc]

Here is my reply in a file. It is much too large to post.
=)

URL (http://home.comcast.net/~shrubberyjsc/L4DMMO.doc)

It's a word doc. If you need .rtf just tell me.

-----

Just thought of one more thing. It sounds like the Death System was an issue, I think it should be just like in L4D. Possibly a little changed.

What do you all think?

[Rannos]

As much as people (unjustly) hate Urban Dead, its death system seems adequete. Death, of any sort (to avoid human PKers from causing perma-deaths,) causes you to awaken as a zombie. To become human again you must find a scientist that can revive or go to a revive point and wait for one to stop by.

I like Shrubs ideas. It sounds nice and Sandboxy like the "text"-based mmo mentioned above. Though I think experience might be used to unlock certain unnecessary, but useful features. Such as iron sights, advanced crosshairs (for arcing weapons like grenade launchers,) and maybe the ability to run faster or carry more stuff.

Non-military skills might also be unlockable. Such as the manufacturing of reviving syringes, hacking (for accessing protected terminals,) etc. These non-military skills might function like WoW's professions. You gather raw materials, create a manufactured good and your skill for that "profession" increases. Though, unlike WoW, these professions might provide things that you cannot find otherwise or maybe are much cheaper to make than buy.

Oh and I disagree with the round idea. It's a decent thought, but it seems more like the zombie modes for CS:S but on a larger scale. People wold get bored waiting for the next round.

[Shrubberyjsc]

Sounds good. I do like UD's concepts, and you are right, there's no reason to hate it. It's not my style, but it was a good game as far as text-based games go. I've seen far worse.

I think the Death System is a worthy topic to discuss. Indeed it will define L4D and give that Co-op high that I so rarely find. I think I would actually not want player zombies in any capacity for the MMO. In UD, the zombies were gimped and I think it would bring too much frustration.

My ideal Death System would be very much like L4D. Your friends who are still alive can pick you back up, until you go into V fib. At that point you would need more than just a pick-me-up/dust-me-off. If you die, I want that to be meaningful. As such, becoming an Undead zombie who just needs to get a little shot seems kinda weak. In fact, I would suggest that the game shares the same virus as L4D, meaning that the zombies aren't undead, and death is permanent. The blog staggy11 linked to talks about 1 shot at life and that's it. I think that such a dangerous possibility would spice the game up. People would be careful about what they're doing, and it wouldn't be a spawn-camping grindfest.

Thoughts?

[Rannos]

I dunno. I tend not to enjoy the idea of working hard to create something that might be taken away by some meaningless accident. So maybe we should meet halfway here. Something that punishes harshly but isn't harsh enough to render a character unplayable after "death."

I'm thinking something along the lines of hospitalization and recovery. Something the really weakens the player. Like, maybe for a couple days you vision is blurred, you can't carry as much stuff (I'm guessing here your lose some random items while others would be in your hospital room.) you move at half speed and/or can't sprint and maybe you become prone to blacking out. After "recovering" you become close enough to normal to re-enter combat (maybe speed and carrying is still affected, rarely suffering blackouts during extreme stress.) Within a few days your completely recovered or something like that.

How does that sound? I think if the hospital you are recovering in gets raided (which would happen much more with zombie players and/or an ai director,)this could make a very interesting experience. Adds some excitement to even something as mundane as "reviving"

Another thought is maybe there could be player infected but they'd be like the bosses in L4D. Maybe add in some City of Heros/Spore customization for really odd monstorsities. Perhaps experience upgrades/buys abilities and/or further customizations?

[Shrubberyjsc]

I like recovering in the hospital. Perhaps, like IRL, the average Joe wouldn't know what to do for his dying friend, so the standard course of action would be to take the incapacitated to the hospital. My main purpose for the Death System would be to encourage Co-op play. Picking your friend up is one thing, but getting him to a hospital, is a friend-for-life making experience.

Yeah. Halfway. What happens if nobody is around to get you to the hospital though? Is that a permanent death? I think that would definitely provide more opportunities for Co-op. If you run in alone, you wouldn't have anyone to get you to a hospital. I like the sound of that.

[Rannos]

Hmm, maybe eventually you regain conciousness after a few RL days, but if your in the middle of an infestation then you may as well just sit there and wait for some friends. You'd probably need help anyways getting your neigh dead ass to a tirade of some sort. I think that waiting a week to regain full control over your player is quite a harsh punishment in itself. It would be like asking a WoW addict to stop playing almost entirely for about a work week.

[staggy11]

People would just get multiple characters to play whilst the others are recovering. But how about, say a hefty 'cripple' effect after you are revived?

[Rannos]

That's kinda what occurs during the "recovery" though probably more severly than whatever your thinking of. And yes, people would probably play alts during the recovery time but maybe, if these ideas are used for something, the player's character would remain within the world even while recovering or logged off. So you'd want to keep him in a safe spot and if the hospital gets raided (by 'living' or infected,) you might want to move. So, keeping an eye on your character, even when you can't do much, would be beneficial in the long run.

[caboos]

i think it would be very hard to do but if done right would be amazing

[Shrubberyjsc]

Yeah, I guess I don't know how to balance it so that teamplay is encouraged, and that it's dangerous and not boring.

It would be hard to do. But I basically just want MMO L4D, with collecting resources instead of go from A to B.

Already modders have done quite a bit with Garry's Mod. Maybe it would be possible to just modify L4D into a More-multiplayer game. Maybe use SQL and stuff. It'd pretty much be like a persistent world. Hmmm.... Yeah!

I think that chances are slim for Turtle Rock to make an MMO out of it, or that some company would make an MMO like this any time soon, so I'll just mod L4D when it comes out.

That way I can change what I want.

Who's with me?

[Rannos]

I'm for the idea, but I can't really be "with you" because really all I'd be good for is writing and creative processing (thinking.) I guess I'm with you until you need a modeler, programmer or coder, at which point I disappear faster than a Ho-Ho at fat camp.

[No Shelter]

Maybe they could make a map of just one whole state, and you are placed as a survivor in the middle of an infected outbreak (first controled by AI) and it goes from there to survive.

[Synapse]

I think for the game to work it should have to face on survival a lot more than killing zombies/levelling up. Like sure players will sometimes have to fight off zombies, but apart from that most of the time should be spent like real survivors, looking for others, food, weapons and ammunition, building defences and stuff.

To do this, I think a Schiffbruch style of gameplay would be much more suited, if you guys remember Schiffbruch the "stuck on a desert island" game you had food needs and if you slept in an unsafe place you lost hp overnight, you could have something like this but far more advanced, have lots of skills like carpentry welding etc so players are working together to build safe places to stay and collecting food and other suvivors. If there was a zombie MMO, I'd hate it to consist of: shoot zombies, gain xp + money, buy weapons, shoot zombies.

[Rannos]

Yea, I agree with you Synapse. A zombie mmo would have to not only entail shooting zombies but have a lot of survivalist food and supplies gathering. Safehouses would need forming, gatherers would have to search for food and materials and, if the above death system is used, hospitals would need protecting for helping the severely wounded.

I'd imagine that this wouldn't be too hard to do actually. All you need is a large "map", an AI directer (for managing zombie, food and supply spawns,) a dedicated MMO server, some of the basic MMO stuff described above (character creation, skill trees, etc.,) and some zombie models. Maybe an City of Heroes-esque Infected-Boss-creation screen if they wanna include some people on the zombie side (probably with a server limit to keep from unfairly overwhelming the survivors.)

[Synapse]

I'd like to see a kind of morality reward system, like if you do things to help mankind such as protecting hospitals, teaming up then you get rewarded to put people off soloing because even though it's not practical in a zombie game people *will* try to solo level and it will be gay.

[Shrubberyjsc]

Nice. I like that a lot. The game, like L4D would by it's very nature encourage Co-op. And also you would be visibly rewarded. Good.

[Synapse]

*hit by ideas*

Quests would be easy, rescue missions, survive for x amount of time type missions in an enclosed area, take a message to an army camp to find it's overrun by zombies, take medicines to suchandsucha hospital, etc etc. All stuff that people would be doing in this situations. And of course you'd be rewarded with the morality rewards for completing these.

[freakypred]

Supply gathering, looking for food whilst fighting the hordes of the undead/infected, its alot like Dead Rising. I just got the game a few days ago, dude, fuggin hard. i cant even survive the first 3 days, at night time, these red eyed zombies come out, bezerker zombies, i dunno, but i did make a fort at paradise plaza, in the sandwhich shop near the movie theater. at the 3rd day, these Psychotic guys in raincoats appeared, i think they were called "Raincoat Cult", they have cheap moves. Their the reason i got fragged on day 3, i had over 1000 kills on zombies too.

But a multiplayer like that game, i would be very addicted to.