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Zombie Survivalist - Online Survival Adventure at it's finest!

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by JamesPro, Mar 8, 2013.

  1. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Zombie Survivalist is my entry into the Multiplayer Zombie Survival genera. Hopefully with out the issues that WarZ has run into though. Until I can gauge the interest in this game and feel comfortable making a large financial investment or a KickStarter Campaign for this game, Player's will be able to host their own servers on Windows, Linux, or Macs. Once I see what sort of interest the game will have I may start hosting all servers on my own hardware. All Character Info and Inventory will be hosted by me which means that no matter what server your playing on you will have your same inventory and stats.

    A Alpha build will be released in the near future which will include a single testing map capable of hosting 20 or so players.

    Current Key Features:
    - Ability to drive cars
    - Item Spawns
    - Basic Zombie AI (Using Skeletons as a Placeholder until I can get a Zombie model)
    - Day/Night Cycle
    - Seasons
    - Weather based on the current Seasons
    - Dynamically amounting snow

    Screenshots:

    $Zombie_Prototype.jpg $Zombie_Prototype_Cars.jpg $Zombie_Prototype_Headlights.jpg
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2013
  2. GeneBox

    GeneBox

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    Looks good, best of luck to you!
     
  3. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Thanks. Work is going to be slow on this game since in my Day Job we are gearing up for a Major Alpha test. But things will slowly get done on this game. I'll be looking for the first few people who would like to host servers so I can work with them to make sure things get running smoothly.
     
  4. virror

    virror

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    Looks nice!
     
  5. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    thanks - More updates will be coming soon.
     
  6. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    A Screenshot showing sunset in the City!

    $Zombie_Survivalist2.jpg
     
  7. Mr.Abu_aLsEeM

    Mr.Abu_aLsEeM

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    looking Epic.! good luck :)
     
  8. fredr92

    fredr92

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    Warz was a very good idea, but they messed it up , your idea looks nice :) i will check it out.
     
  9. CGCxXSMALLSXx

    CGCxXSMALLSXx

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    looks good keep up the good work
     
  10. frostyshield

    frostyshield

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    I am highly interested in this game! I LOVE zombie survival games, if you need a QA person or someone to help with doing levels hit me up I would love to help with this game :)
     
  11. IcHoRELiTE

    IcHoRELiTE

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    Looks good, anticipating a demo.
     
  12. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    I'll have a Networked Prototype up hopefully later today. It won't be much. Just movement around the Prototype map and maybe Item spawning.

    The Prototype Map:
    $ZombieSurvival_Prototype.jpg $ZombieSurvival_Prototype2.jpg $ZombieSurvival_Prototype3.jpg $ZombieSurvival_Prototype4.jpg $ZombieSurvival_Prototype5.jpg
     
  13. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Worked on Item Spawning and Zombie Spawning today. Got 612 Zombies spawning in the city but it really hurt the Frame rate having so many in the single city. I don't think as a player you would even want so many in a single city. The Prototype Map currently contains 1 fairly good sized city and 2 outposts or villages all with in a single Unity terrain 2,000 x 2,000 units. The final maps for the game will be much bigger with many more villages, towns, cities, ect. to explore, forage, and kill other players from.

    Here is a screenshot of the city with 297 zombies spawned:

    $ZombieSurvival_Prototype16.jpg
     
  14. Anonanimal

    Anonanimal

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    I really enjoy multiplayer survival games so I'm excited for this, but just to satisfy my curiosity, what would you say really sets this aside from something like DayZ? Are there any really unique features you plan to focus on?
     
  15. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Well I really want the focus to be is on Team Play and Base building. We all know that in these types of games the Zombies really become a secondary focus when your being shot at by other players. They become the main threat in these types of games.

    I am starting out with the Zombie Apocalypse Scenario to start with and then I'd like to break off into having other survival scenarios as well. Maybe have a Server type that for example has a 1 month life span. A week or 2 before the Server launches have a signup period for that server. Then once the Server starts it would be like a team death match type server where the Scenario could be for example a nation invading another nation. You get to pick which side you want to be on the invading nation or the nation being invaded. At the end of the month the nation with the most kills wins and server gets reset.
     
  16. Kelde

    Kelde

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    quick question, u working alone on this? do u know theres currently 6-7 games like this displayed on the frontpage on steam lately?

    Just trying to squeeze in a realistic fact here, and yes, this looks decent. Just hate to see people biting over more than they can chew.
     
  17. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    lol this isn't more then I can chew... Yes I know ZOMBIE SURVIVAL games are a dim a dozen now but I have new things I want to bring in. I've been a MMO Developer for 9+ years now when I first started teaching my self how to program. I'm the Team Lead for Electric Crow Games working on our Flag ship product Greed Monger. Believe me I know my way around Multiplayer games and MMOs. This from a technical Stand point is easier then what we are doing with Greed Monger. But this Project being a game I'm working on in my free time may take longer to develop.
     
  18. Anonanimal

    Anonanimal

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    I don't think Kelde was challenging your qualifications. I more interpreted it as him not wanting you to go the path so many do and make another generic game that a handful of people will actually play (if any). Or of course the other path of making that generic game (which might already be a rather expansive project) and then trying to lump new features on top of it, resulting in a really massive project. You really should start off defining something different and expanding on that very soon, so as to separate everyone who will lump this in with "ZOMBIE SURVIVAL".

    Also, As Team Leader from Electric Crow, is Greed Monger still actually going? I hadn't heard anything on it in a while. Seemed like a case of biting off more than could be chewed. If not, that's great, because the game sounded awesome back when I heard about it. I'm excited to see how it turns out. Good luck!
     
  19. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Yes Greed Monger is still very much in development. We have licensed the Atavism MMO Framework from NeoJac entertainment and where that's still in Alpha also not every feature is yet implemented. We are waiting for the next update of Atavism before we can really start getting things setup which the next update will be coming out in the next week or so and then we will have alot more to show and share with you guys.

    Jason and I have started discussing some really cool stuff which we should be announcing soon if we actually start planning it.
     
  20. Kelde

    Kelde

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    Yeah I wasn't challenging ur qualifications at all, more concerned about the future for games like this. If u truly have unique new stuff u wanna put in that none of the other ones have it could work.

    Right now these games pretty much has it all, vehicles,base building, character care, levelling and so on, and some of them look REALLY good.

    Im all for a survival games, even tho zombies doesn't really turn me on anymore, just letting u know the whole genre seems to fade out alittle due to the fact that everyone follows the exact same formula on these.

    But keep it up, driving that car through a crowd could be extremely fun:p
     
  21. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    I will be releasing the first version of the Prototype later today. This version don't expect too much... There will be Account Creation, Login, Server selection, and walking around. Players will be able to see and chat with each other. Zombies will spawn but won't be aware of players.

    This version will include a patcher so unless I reset the Patcher you will have to just run the patcher in order to get future updates.

    I will have a single 20 person prototype map running. The Master Server in future updates will be able to start up new Servers if more then half the Servers get to 50% capacity or greater.
     
  22. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Ok the Lobby System is just about ready for this first release of the Prototype...

    Here you have the Login Screen:
    $ZombieSurvival_Prototype_lobby.jpg

    Along the top you have the Menu bar which contains 5 menu options: Character Selection, Character Creation, Server Selection, Global Inventory, Market Place.

    Here's a Break down of the 5 options:

    Character Selection: This is where you will be able to select from 1 of your pre-created Characters. Most likely you will have 5 character slots per account. The Character Selection Screen will feature a Vertical menu along the left side with your 5 character Slots. You will be able to click on one of your 5 slots to select the character. Once Selected a larger portrait of your character will be displayed with your Character's Bio, achievements, Guild Standings, stats, Inventory, ect. Character Selection will be disabled until after I integrate UMA into the game.

    Character Creation: Here you will be able to select one of your empty Character Slots and create a new Character. The Avatar System we will be using will be UMA so you will have all of the Sliders to really customize your character. You will be able to enter a name for your character, Bio for your Character, and fill out some other details. This menu option will be disabled in this first release.

    Server Selection: This is where you will be able to select the server you want to play on. You will be able to see the name of the map, the Server name, the Current number of players on the Server, and the max allowed Players for the server.

    Screenshot:
    $ZombieSurvival_Prototype_lobby_ServerSelection.jpg

    Global Inventory: The Global Inventory will be accessible by any of your Characters as long as your located in a Safe Zone or inside your base. We will also include ATM Machines or similar objects that will be able to be placed in your base that will give you access to your Global Inventory from inside the game with out having to log out.

    Screenshot (WIP):
    $ZombieSurvival_Prototype_lobby_GlobalInventory.jpg

    Market Place: The market place is our cash shop. Players will be able to purchase in game currency that can be used in our Cash shop. We will also have optional Subscriptions that will give you a monthly allowance of our currency. So for example a $5 subscription might give you $10 worth of our game currency. There will be nothing in our Market place that a player wouldn't be able to obtain in game through just spending time playing. The Market Place is just to allow people who don't have time to collect things a chance to get their needed items while also giving us money to pay the bills.
     
  23. NutellaDaddy

    NutellaDaddy

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    Hey look into culling systems and scripts that join parents and children. It will improve fps and lower batch calls greatly! Looks good. I would play it.
     
  24. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Well thanks to Badumna this is no longer a Lobby based game. EVERY player will be located in the same world. We will be able to support thousands of players online at any one time. Our map will also be the largest map in any DayZ style game that I know of. The only limits to the size of our world will be what the Physics engine can handle. The terrain engine being used is a custom Procedural Terrain Engine I've been working on and features full support for Seamless Paging.
     
  25. Anonanimal

    Anonanimal

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    Large is good, so long as there's something to do in it. Don't pull an Arma 3 and come out with the biggest map of all time with absolutely nothing fun to do. It gets old very fast.
     
  26. JscriptFless

    JscriptFless

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    How is the game going?
    Any news, this threads been inactive for 6 days, and i'm really looking forward to trying the prototype!

    "I will be releasing the first version of the Prototype later today." - JamesPro I'm not being impatient just Its been six days, with no news.
     
  27. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Having some issues with how Unity is Coded and how my Custom Terrain Engine is coded. I have Terrain Pages being created in a background thread however everything Unity related must be called from the main thread. As a result when I went to create a Heightmap "Data source" I am unable to access any of the texture classes from the background thread to get the height data from the heightmaps.
     
  28. JscriptFless

    JscriptFless

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    oh okay, well i hope it all goes well and that the issues are resolved! The game looks great keep up the good effort! :D

     
  29. JamesPro

    JamesPro

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    Ok so bad news for me... Good news for you guys... I don't currently have the money to get Server Hosting to host this. So that's good for you guys! I'm going to make the Master Server, Game Server, and Client available for you guys to download. The Client I'm going to provide a Precompiled version that has set items, maps, ect. so you guys to turn on the Servers and get right in to try. I'm also going to provide the Unity Project with no assets or anything just the stuff I personally own as well as the Modding tools in order to allow you guys to create and host your own Maps...

    Here's a Preview of the Modding tools being developed:
    $ZModder_VisualNodeEditor.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2014