ZombieHunter

The money, of course, wouldn't make sense in a Zombie Apocolypse but the premise of starting gear isn't a bad idea. Considering the player starts "sometime after" the apocalypse has begun it would not be too hard to imagine the player spend some time salvaging materials before starting the game. Especially with the new Survival Building Combat mode it would make sense that at least in Combat mode a feature like this would be more warranted. If not by choosing items at least as a "Trait"

I feel there are ways of adding difficulty more naturally to give it a more survival hardcore feel. While at the same time giving players a way to "counter" Car Horde Event These are Hordes of 15 - 20 zombies that move between point A to B ( the car ) . Player will hear a sound like a car screeching - then crashing. At which point a horde spawns off screen following the path to the sound of origin. The Horde stays around the area for 72 hours then despawns. Player can Avoid the horde by avoiding the area. The Car may have loot inside. Plane Horde Event Horde Size 20 - 30 You hear a low flying plane zoom across the sky A zombie horde spawns a few tiles out of player load zone and moves from point A to B ( Off Screen location ) continuously walking straight along the path of the noise - will despawn after a period of time when far enough away from players Mainly filled with Fresh Zombies - making it dangerous. Should avoid area. If within area player should sit still and be quiet and let horde pass by. Critical Failure on Hit Chance of one handed weapons getting stuck in Zombie Press E ( interact ) to drop weapon ( placed in zombie inventory ) Press Left Click to attempt to dislodge while keeping weapon ( can push zombie away during this to avoid grapple ) Heavy Weight Zombies Zombies wearing gear that is "heavy" ( Firemans Clothes \ Riot Gear Clothes \ Military gear Clothes ) These are slow walking zombies Have 25% reduction to impact forces by player ( harder to push down ) Will not try to grapple you, they will instead will lunge at you. ( has windup animation of 0.75s ) if player is in path of lunge has 50% chance to get knocked down based on player weight + strength. ( Gives a small advantage to obesity ) Helmet Zombies ( Riot Helmet \ Fireman Helmet ) Zombies won't be able to bite you Has resistance to head damage. Must be pushed \ knocked down to unequip helmet ( automatically when fallen down ) to kill the zombie. Mixed in groups it can result in longer drawn out fights that player can't afford. Heavy + Helmet would make these zombies extremely tough as they will be hard to push down and resistant to head damage. Blood Splatter on Clothing Clothing have 4 States Washed \ Clean \ Dirty \ Filthy At Filthy state clothing gives a debuff to health over time effect. If you wear filthy clothes for 3 days you have a chance of getting sick with every passing day. Washed state clothes have 50% resistance to getting dirty allowing them to be worn longer without affecting the player. Gives a slight buff to player happiness as well.

That is player induced. You just said when they spots the player. Zombie groaning when it doesn't see the player, does not attract other zombies.

It has nothing to do with any of that. I am talking about it in a philosophical sense if zombies were attracted to noise they made, because they wouldn't be aware they are the origin of that noise. IF you take other scenarios in game If a zombie walks through a window you don't see other zombies being pulled to the noise of zombie breaking the window. Or if a House with a TV \ Radio on you don't see zombies huddling around those objects. Which means gameplay wise the game only cares about 2 things 1. Event noises 2. Player made noises. All other circumstances of zombie actions are essentially pathing and not related to noise.

If that were true zombies would run around in circles because every step they make would make noise. You would see thousands of zombies chasing their own tails.

I will test it out, but not until build 41. Cause in 40 we both know we can solo 20+ zombies easily. But we also know that will no longer be possible in future updates.

Clumping still remains dangerous but it gives a "reason" to why the zombies are clumped together. Cause zombies standing on the street corner in little cliches don't make much sense otherwise. Which would probably be a fun April Fools Event, but unless the Zombies are slinging brains at street corners its one of those issues that look more awkward than useful.

I think after the upcoming Animation Update, having another look at Zombie Behaviour would be a prudent thing to do. Thumping Let's talk about s... wait wrong topic. Thumping is an awkward behavior of zombies which is partially resolved with animation update. Essentially if they touch a destructible item like a window \ door \ player construction, they will keep thumping on it until it breaks. The zombies don't need to be agroed by anything to begin this behavior, simply touching it is enough. One Behaviour change I would like to see instead is if they hit a destructible they thump on it a few times and if they don't get any stimulus find a new destination to walk to. This would make Zombie behavior more believable instead of randomly attacking objects. For those Curious in the Animation update it seems Zombies don't always attack windows but instead tries to reach 2nd base with them kissing and fondling them. Clumping: It is a bit weird for zombies to keep "Clumping" up together - in large groups as if they decided to attend a zombie foodie meeting. While I do think Large groups are important - it shouldn't be there every 20 feet. I think on average it should be 1 - 3 zombies every 20 sq tile area. With Large groups are there based on a RNG Event Spawn. Which has a possibility of spawning based on Zombie Respawn Timer \ Entering new area. But is limited to "15 Active" Events based on size of town \ zone. The amount of Events also depends on player actions. Events are less likely to spawn in the area if the player is quiet More likely to spawn in larger actions take place Keyword here is active - which means after a period of time the event can also "despawn" removing the extra zombies and replacing with smaller 1 - 3 zombie groups. Low-density areas the number of events are far fewer to 1 - 3. The Distance between the events should also limit the number of events possible in a 100 sq tile zone to roughly 2. Which may sound little but its actually smaller than one neighborhood block. A small house is around 14 tiles long. What are the events? Currently, the only real options are Freshly Eaten Body Group of Survivors that Turned trapped in a room \ building ( Has a chance to spawn 5 - 7 zombies at event site ) Future: Dog Trapped in Car Barking Survivor NPC Crying \ Screaming Survivor NPC sitting on roof playing Guitar Survivor NPC Sitting on Roof Shooting Survivor NPC being chased by Zombies ( Doesn't spawn zombies but causes nearby ones to be pulled toward event site )

Bring a Towel - problem solved. Also they don't need to "soak" for long you can build a 1 tile bridge next to land with 1 block empty. Would be drop in, get out. Actually it is about as easy as that. You build 3 tiles - from land to water. Then destroy 1 tile connecting land to water. You don't need to even build "large bridge" of zombies simply need literally 3 tiles. After that you are perfectly safe cause there is 1 tile broken and no way to walk across. How do I know this? That's how I make my base in the town next to the River. You have 2 towns easily next to you thanks to that. Can easily go into town in the day and come back at night and break the tile behind you preventing them from coming across. They could, but that would make the feature pointless since there is very little water to begin with. The real problem is you have a good idea but issue is actually the map and not your idea. If the Map was not so demanding toward reality, you could add more swamps and lakes into the map where there are huge swaths of the forest - making your idea a lot more useful.

The main issue here is players will simply build bases on the water and swim in and out of it. Since they no longer have to worry about zombies attacking it. Also last time the River Froze in Kentucky was 1976.

One thing I felt was very unrealistic is how a person has to go through the GUI to equip different items. If I have a flashlight in my pocket, I am going to know its on my pocket. I am not going to root through different items in alphabetical order to reach it. Introducing the Holster System + Gear Wheel. The Holster System The Holster System consists of 4 variations 2 - 1 handed slots 1 - 2 handed slot 2 - 2 handed slots 4 - 1 handed slots The speed and amount equipable of holster and equipment switching is based on what you are wearing. Different Types of Holsters 1. Basic - Pant Pockets + backpack This is the slowest and has a chance of fumbling if you are in a panic state. Fumbling has a small chance of you to drop the item on the ground when switching It takes 3s to switch between the 2 handed, and 2 1 handed items 2. Gun Holster \ Knife Holster While it is a gun \ knife holster - it can be used for anything one-handed ( for sake of gameplay balance ) This speeds transition from 1 handed to 2 handed to 2s. but not 2 handed to one-handed. 3. Back Sling Used to hold 2 handed weapons Increases transition speed from 2 handed to 1 handed, drops it to 2s. 4. Back Sling + Gun Holster Transition speed between 2 handed and 1 handed and vice versa both reduced to 2s. 5. Back Sling + Utility Belt \ Back Sling + Hunting Jacket \ Back Sling + Flak Jacket Reduces both transition speed to 1.5s Other Mechanics 1. If you hold down Quick Switch instead of tapping it, it drops your current item on the floor and immediately equips the other transition speed 1s. In panic state - may slow down transition speed to 1.5s 2. You can equip 2 - 2 handed items but only back sling modifies transition speed will be 2s. But you will not be able to equip 1 handed items in quick slot. 3. Flak Jacket \ Hunting Jacket \ Utility belt also increases reload speed by 25% 4. You can equip Jacket + Weapon belt to hold 4 one handed items, but won't be able to equip a 2 handed item in quick slot. 5. You can manually equip items in normal way by going through inventory but when you switch to quick equip item by pressing equip switch - transition time is 4s for 2 handed nonquick slotted item, and 2s for 1 handed item. Gear Wheel \ Equipping Quick Slots The way it works is the player must access a new GUI menu to equip items accordingly. Gear Slots Allows the player to make Macro quick changes to their gear. of Both Weapons + Certain worn items Once the items are set up in the GUI the gear equips are handeled through a Gear Wheel ( Similar to Car ) Player can pick one "Gear set" and player will change to that set. The time it takes to change to the new gear depends on number of items that need to change between the 2 sets. Calculation is +1s for each 1 handed item +2s for a 2 handed item +1.5s for each gear item If a player removes a certain item from their backpack linked to the Gear GUI - it simply removes that item also from the Quick Equip options associated to it. Does not force player to redo everything. Gear Equips requires player to be standing still. Quick Slots Quick Slots is between the 2 groups of blue boxes. It is handled by a "Quick Switch" key. The speed of switching between the 2 sets is dependent on the Holster Mechanic described earlier. Quick slot equips can be done while the player is jogging but not running. PROs The advantage of the system is players no longer need to keep opening their GUI just to keep equipping a different set of items for different situations. They can quickly at the tap of a button switch between the two. Also have gear sets ready for different situations without having again to fumble through the inventory to equip each item individually. Much more fluid gameplay CONs Based on the amount of gear - gear switching it might even be slower - but the advantage is more convenience. Right now not enough special-purpose gear Short-range melee weapons have become almost useless with an upcoming update and need rebalancing. ( Knives used to be a great weapon, now it's near-suicidal unless sneaking from behind ) Guns have very little use in the game - thanks to the massive sound profile and zombies have better triangulation of Point of Origin than an NSA Spy satellite.

Essentially it is an Underground Storage - which has to be built on the ground. Mechanics of Constructions Step 1 - Pre Build Materials 20 Wooden Planks - 50 nails - 8 Sheets - Allows you to create a "Precursor Shelter" on the ground. Step 2 - Build Mechanic Uses the Skill Book Reading - system Just as how the Skill Book Records "how much you read" When you press "Use" on the Precursor item on the ground - it records "How much you constructed - does digging animation instead of reading animation. It takes roughly 40 hours to fully build Because progress is "Saved" like book reading - player can do a few hours a day at it until fully constructed. When complete it acts like a normal fridge with only 50% efficiency . Actual Fridge Temperatures are are 40 F and below while a Underground Fridge would be roughly 50 F. ------ Other options to use Materials like "Coolers" - which don't have much use currently. https://inhabitat.com/diy-building-a-root-cellar-from-recycled-materials/ ------ The Not Science Fiction Option that will blow your Mind. Ice Fridge Ice can actually stay year round as long as it does not have direct contact with sunlight. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151211-the-impossible-ice-caves-that-stay-frozen-through-summer https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/22/the-ice-stupas-of-ladakh-solving-water-crisis-in-the-high-desert-of-himalaya So it would be the same Shelter as Above but requires it to be modified into a "snow collector" For winter - in order to freeze the insides Once it is full ( same Idea as a Rain Barrel ) It can be Converted into an Ice Fridge, but has only 50% capacity as an Underground Storage but 100% efficiency of normal fridge.

One thing I feel the game is really missing is "Creative" Engineering that many people would do in these kinds of situations. Equipment: How Equipment Flashlight would work: Two new hotkeys added Equipment Slot 1 \ Equipment Slot 2 \ Equipment Slot 3 For gamepad this could be done using a Gear Wheel - so it's only a single button. Strapping a Flashlight on the Barrel of a Gun. This would probably be the most common modification done. People would tell you it would alter the weight of the barrel and reduce accuracy but - if you can't see 2 feet in front of you in the pitch black. It's better to have low accuracy than 0 accuracy. Recipe: Duct Tape + Small Flashlight + Gun Small Beam of Light from gun Lowers accuracy 15% Battery amount detected by right clicking on the gun in your inventory and checking charge Backpack Shoulder Light. Strapping a flashlight to the backpack shoulder harness is not a great idea. The beam itself is too small unless it's a heavy flashlight, then you have an issue with balance if its too big. So some creative engineering creating a custom metal frame and taking out the large bulb from a big flashlight and creating a shoulder lamp. Recipe: Large Flashlight ( Yellow LED ) + Copper Wire + Metal Frame ( made with Metal Sheet + Acetelene Torch ) + Light switch + backpack Large forward cone of light A decrease in the total backpack carry weight by 2.5 lbs Battery power checked by right clicking on the backpack in your inventory Decrease Running speed by 5%

Well you could go either way Either take restaurant oil and just filter it a couple of times to make Biodiesel - which there are many places on the map to pinch from. Or Filter Hooch enough to remove the water content. I just went with Hooch cause Kentucky is famous for it. More importantly hooch can be made by farming the materials which gives it an added advantage the down side would have course being growing it and fermenting it. As for needing conversion kits - that is only for people who didn't know how to fabricate parts on their own. Anyone with a set of instructions can fabricate the parts in their workshop. Same way players make doors or explosives. With that said an instruction manual on fabrication is all the person would need to make the necessary changes to a generator. The reason you would salvage the cars is you want newer model cars with that came out in the 90s which had higher grade rubber hoses \ gaskets to replace and repair the ones on the generator. After all zomboid already has many instruction manuals, magazines, books to unlock recipes as well as T.V. With a high enough skill level in Mechanical Engineering anyone would be able to do it following an instruction manual.

As I mentioned earlier you are confusing commercial generator with Homemade generators. So going back to the 90s - a person would simply need to change out their rubber tubing and gaskets and filter as well as making a custom made tank with heater. All this can easily be done at home and in case of zomboid with scavanged parts from a car engine. Biofuel is the best part. Kentucky is famous for Moonshine The only major difference between Moonshine and Biofuel is the percentage of proof has to be higher in Biofuel. This can be done by having multiple distillations passes to reduce water content. Now you better not say 90s Kentucky decided to give up on making home made hooch.

Biodiesel Generators back then was not something you find but instead something you make. Keep in mind we had full scale biodiesel generators in 1980s and before that learned how to convert existing Diesel generator to a BioDiesel specific one. Essentially all early Biodiesel generators were just Jury-Rigged existing diesel generator. Of course it is not something you do easily and there are quite a few parts to replace but that is what making surviving fun having that McGuyver moment.

Your statement is very true but balancing would not be hard because of the existing limitations the system has. Wind Generator. So there are 2 types of wind Generators basically Industrial Generator - which needs to be manufactured with rare earth magnets which can power a few houses Home Made Generator - You can rig up with the parts you can find around but would take a full day to powerup a tub of batteries. Simply put unless they add industrial wind generator onto the map it can't be constructed so player would have to stick to the simple one. While it wouldn't make much noise it is too inefficient to power a household. Instead, all you would be able to do at most is charge a jury-rigged Battery pack. There would be the 2nd issue, the parts to make them would be pretty rare. So it would also take you a while to get enough parts to make enough windmills to actually be able to power your house. Which is fine, considering the amount of effort the player has to go through to even reach that stage should reward the player. Essentially Wind Mills is balanced by Some parts rare to obtain parts ( Generator would be hardest to find, the rest would simply be finding enough metal and cables and batteries ) Power output is low Dependent on Wind conditions Medium skill in electronics and metal working A considerable amount of resources need to be gathered Solar Power Solar Power Works in almost the same idea as Wind Power but has its own issues. For example, wouldn't work at night. More importantly, you can't craft most parts you have to actually find panels and the generator. While arguably easier of the two to setup, it also produces less energy per square foot. A Cell phone sized panel, for example, would take 6 hours in perfect weather conditions to charge a cell phone battery. So if we were going for more practical applications of Small \ Medium Panels ( Large would not be practical to tranport so again would be jury-rigged solution of combining 4 medium. You would probably need Roughly 16 Large panel to power a house/ That would be; 64 Medium Panels 256 Small Panels Which again would mean balancing works out nicely The player would have to spend a considerable amount of time to find even rarer parts than a Windmill. Keep in mind this is 90s Rural Kentucky. Solar power here would be akin to black magic so the parts would be extremely rare. Dependent on sun light Needs a lot of surface area Bio Diesel Probably the easiest to and most reliable of the 3. Unlike the other Bio Diesel probably has the least amount of rare parts required and produces significantly more power. But has its own issues It is loud Requires a large farm to support Has to first grow the plants, then break down the plants Time consuming to generate fuel ---- So to summarize nothing really is "overpowered" cause it requires the player a long long time to even reach the stage where a silent running base would be viable. Honestly I think it would greatly add to the game.

Not really a video you will find because the tutorial in the game explains it so well that - I doubt anyone would make a video of it. So Start with this video here - which shows it in action, So you will see a white ring around the player - the "Waves" you see are all sound sources and the directions it is coming from in a 360 degrees. So player is constantly aware of all dangers around them. You will then see boxes White box = Enemy detected "something" but hasn't detected you. Red Box = Enemy Detected you and actively chasing you Red box + Exclamation mark = Enemy Detected you and alerting nearby enemies. Unfortunately, the player is good enough that boxes may not appear, but you will see the ring disappear when no enemies are nearby. So here is a SC from another video showing the boxes on the ring

Yes - its one feature you don't see in most zombie movies because its done by real actors. Meaning there is a potential for a lot of injuries. So you only see it in CGI handoff movies - Train to Busan as I mentioned does the scenes beautifully in a few occasions. The Korean TV Series - Kingdom also does it really well.

Around the screen is better in 3D FPS - because it is easier to notice. In an isometric game or 3rd person around the character gives better and more immediate information on the surroundings. Metal Gear Survive is probably the best representation of the system - the amount of information being able to convey by a single ring was phenomenal. The person who thought of it should have gotten an award in how beautifully simple it was to convey so much information in such a simple and elegant design. As for Reversed It could honestly be either way and it would have an equal impact on conveying message

They really couldn't - unless it was a poorly trained soldier. Well trained Grunts learn Close Quarter Combat Techniques like a Grapple Hip Throw then follow through. Ideally, you would want to throw one zed into another ( not practical for the game ) so you can temporarily disable two and gain distance and ideally a weapon. More importantly, a lot of movies are not realistic toward zombie mechanics which may sound like an oxymoron but it actually has to deal with they don't want their actors injured. But we can see the issue I am talking about in real life when a human stampede happens - for example in the New York and Vegas shooting, or Temple Festivals in Asia. When there is a mass group of people running in an uncoordinated manner this results in people tripping over each other. Zombies realistically speaking would not be able to coordinate with each other meaning the bigger the group the more likely zombies would be knocking each other down and bumping into each other causing them to fall. If they wanted a more accurate portrayal you would see something more similar to animal behavior we see in the wild of competing predators ( One Jurassic park movie actually did this beautifully because they researched animal behaviors in certain scenes ). The Two zeds instead would knock each other around while trying to get the body. Again this is limitation as you don't want actors to hurt each other as they constantly bump into each other forcefully - hence it is rarely represented except in movies where Zombies can be replaced with CGI ( Train to Busan ). So when we talk about classical zombies - it essentially means zombies without special powers. They are simply an "undead human" and lack the ability to feel pain. Hence they can move in a manner limited to human physical limits without pain.

I apologize I am no artist, nor am I fan of using GIMP, but I gave it a shot. Character in image is from, https://www.deviantart.com/nickrlee/art/main-character-from-BOC-42760466 One nice QoL feature that would be nice to have to increase player awareness and survivability are Sound indicators that appear around the player's feet. These sound indicators change color and trigger based on the type and distance of the sound. How it would Work; A wave generates which is roughly at a 60 degree arc in the general direction of where the sound is coming from. This wave could be tied to skill and perks. Hard of hearing for example could drastically reduce distance to appear Survivalist could have more precise wave angles and detect nearby enemies better. The further away the more waves that appear ( upto 3 ) Waves only appear if you do not see the source of the sound There are 3 colors and 3 Waves Colors: Red - Zombie \ Non-Group Player either running or moaning. If zombie is shambling and quiet it only triggers within 4 tiles. If player is crouching and sneaking only triggers in 1 tile. Grey - Unknown - Player \ Zombie hitting against something, door opening, etc Blue - Something breaking \ gun shooting \ essentially loud sudden noise. Distance 1 wave = within 5 tiles 2 waves = 5 - 10 tiles 3 waves = +10 tiles Advantages It helps people who are hearing impaired play the game Helps people with poor speakers play the game It gives players more tactical information direction of sound to compensate for fog of war

The Blog posts clearly states While 1 v 1 is easier - even the developers are dying non stop vs 1 vs multiple. Previously players could easily take on 20 + solo with a meele weapon and not even suffer a scratch ( i have done it so many times ) They increased the difficulty by having zombies bite you from the back on your neck - causing instant death clock ( in next build ) . Essentially this was not fair to the player - so they are now reducing that particular difficulty so players have an actual chance to survive when multiple zombies approach the player. On a side note, this is not "rage zombies" they don't have "super human strength" - these are classical zombies. If you want the game tobe hard, Developers have let you do that through Custom Game Settings; make all zombies sprinters, with the highest health with 3x starting population.

Super survivors did a great job, but in the end of the day it is mindless drones that don't think. Not some sort of smart survivors trying to survive in the game. Say they used simplistic logic where they spawn the raiders outside of area as a Helicopter event, then have them b-line toward the player location and break into what ever house they are in. Now you have a gameplay balance issue - if they can easily sneak in without making noise and kill the player in a game with Rogue like features - there really is no effective counter the player has which would result in easy deaths and frustration. Which goes back to what happened to you. It wasn't the fact the Ai was super smart to kill you, it was the opposite. The Ai was basic it directly attacked you with no regard for it self. In games like Rimworld - such mechanics are fine - because you control multiple characters at once. Allowing you to physically tell them where to go and stand and fight. So if you lose 1 or 2 people in a raid no problem. In games like GTA ( 1 and 2 ) Streets of Rogue again it is fine. The reason being you can always see where the enemy is coming from and the direction they are coming from to counter. So the problem here is 2 fold 1. You didn't think about gameplay balancing one bit, only "How cool it sounds" 2. How complex programming would have to be to make it fair for the player. Its extremely easy to remove Zombies - just do the same technique in reverse. Make a loud noise and have them chase you ( the noise ) . Then sweep up the remaining in the building. Like I said extremely simple solutions that would make "latches" quite meaningless. One didn't break - that was the only difference. I think you missed the point by miles. Skyrim didn't have different locks or lockpicks ( skeleton key just had infinite durability ) It was always the same lock and only the complexity of that same lock changed. See the simple solution to a mechanic. Overcomplicate things and it is a near guaranteed failure.

You are drastically over estimating the capabilities of the Ai. The complex Ai logic the more lag it generates. Which means having complex functional Ai is not going to happen, which is why you don't see it any game. They either are tied to a specific spot to form routing functions for ambiance ( RPG Towns : Witcher \ Skyrim \ Fallout ) or attached to premade events ( Fallout \ Skyrim \ Starbound ) or randomly spawning roaming as a different enemy type. Keep in mind there is a big difference between a scripted event and one that requires Ai logic. Scripted events are easy to perform because you can say exactly where to go and what to do and what specifically to do where. Ai logic on the otherhand the NPC has to be placed at a Procedurally generated place ( because you can'spend 1 month putting spots for each and every house manually ) then you would have to make some amazingly complex code which has to account for 1. Zombie Ai 2. pathing Ai 3. Action priority It isn't as simple as, "find door with player inside, open door" In order for there to be "Deductive reasoning," there has to be multiple premises. There isn't even 1. Sledgehammer + Wall = 1s to break into base. No Door Necessary. Get a Police Car + Turn on Sirens drive it in front of persons base. Zombies will break down the doors and windows and everything you need for you. To put it bluntly, No, it would not lengthen any time, or provide any extra benefit. The only thing it would lengthen is a frustration to the player of an unnecessary stop gap. Same reason games like Elder Scrolls \ Fallout \ Dues Ex \ Splinter cell All use a single lock pick system. ( Though technically Skyrim has 2 different types of lockpicks but functions the same in the end ) They didn't add 5+ different locks and lockpicks because it added unnecessary burden to the player. It is also why the games were successful because it kept the mechanics simple. Even Thief - a game about essentially breaking and entering into houses ended up using only a single set.