Project Zomboid Zomboid Ideas (Gameplay, Aesthetics, Misc)

[Brad3439]

I commonly ask myself a question and it always continues to linger on me. What more could I want in a perfect game? 

 

#1 - My number one idea has always been bicycles. I know it has already been projected as an idea, but there has not been much in-depth information regarding them. My idea is to either combine cycling with sprinting to make an athletic skill, or just add a cycling skill. The lower the skill, the more prone one would to stumbling (on foot), or falling off the bike (cycling), especially if cycling off-road. There would also be a chance of a rusted chain if left in the rain, or a small chance of a chain falling off over time. Flat tires would become issues when constant biking on roads (a lot of debris would plague the roads).

Also, high exertion would make itself known after a while, which would make sense to add some sort of 'gear' system; a five speed.

 

#2 - When NPCs are introduced, I envision some sort of... Friendship bar. Your character may get along better with one NPC, but despise another. Bonds would be formed and if the death of a close NPC occurs, depression would delve its way into the mind. This depression is unlike the average in the game, though. Pills refuse to work and chocolate wouldn't make anyone happy in that situation. What one would need is closure, a way to relieve the sadness. Burying a fallen NPC and creating a grave site would help, but visiting the graves regularly would eventually give the player closure. The extremity of depression would occur on how the NPC died. (Suicide, asking to be shot because of infection, or being torn apart by zombies)

 

#3 - MAPS. Now, I think the common video game map today makes things way too easy... Showing players exactly where they and exactly where they need to go. In a real life scenario, paper maps would easily make their way into the hands of survivors. They should be quite rare, and only a small amount available. I am not quite sure how the maps would be presented. A full, convenient map of the entire land would seem too... Convenient.

 

#4 - There needs to be a ton of variation in the lay of the land. Kentucky is not completely flat, but the maps are. I have no problem with the cities being somewhat flat, but the forests are dreadfully boring. Small creeks, streams, hills, crude bridges, dirt paths, and other forest details should be available. I know that this game is in early development and these type of aesthetics are on the bottom of the list, but in the future, it would feel much more immersive.

 

#5 - Ironically, the smallest aspects of the game seem to bother me the most. When I fish, I feel so bland. The water doesn't even move and that bothers me. It doesn't even have to look realistic, but it should at least move. It would add a great deal of immersion, which everybody loves.  

 

#6 - More skills and more occupations

 

#7 - Different building materials. I am getting pretty tired of seeing wood, wood, and more wood. 

 

#8 - Notes and signs. With pen or pencil in hand, one should be able to 'mark' or identify what is what. Certain crates would be for different things, etc. 

 

If I think of any more, I will be sure to comment them!

 

 

[Brad3439]

#9 - With batteries being in the game, electronic game systems should become available. Some people like playing video games better than reading when bored. But it should not stop at game systems; more electronics should become available, but rechargeable ones should be doomed after the power goes out.

 

#10 - I won't expand on this topic because enough has been posted about it, but bows and arrows. Craftable compound bow with craftable arrows and VERY rare crossbows with craftable bolts.

 

#11 (From GodWaffle) - 'Zombies are primarily known for their hunger for human flesh, however in the game currently they'll take chunks out of you UNTIL you drop dead, at which point they'll leave the body and wander away.  As of now this doesn't matter much, but when NPC's and Multiplayer are added, you'd expect the zombies to actually eat bodies, if they find a corpse they'll start to munch on it (unless there's already one or two zombies eating it) until they see a living human. For one thing it would increase the diversity of zombie behaviour, it would be easier to sneak past zombies who are in the middle of eating, and also can be used as a distraction (shooting your pal and letting the zombies eat him).  Also it would give yet another incentive to remove dead bodies from near your base, as walkers would come for a meal.  In order for this to work, there would need to be a new eating animation (bent over, gnawing on the corpse), and also perhaps a new corpse sprite (the point in which it's a bloody mess of half-eaten gunk).  If left for a while the zombies will devour corpses entirely.' - GodWaffle

 

#12 - A larger variety of ACTUAL weaponry. I don't feel very badass with a frying pan after a few months. Also, weapon graphics. A hunting knife should look different from a kitchen knife and a crowbar should not look like a baseball bat.

[Viceroy]

Superjack is it really necessary to be so sarcastic? This is not even in the subforum that has the sticky you are alluding to. Largely yes the suggestions have been discussed before, as have nearly all suggestions. In this case the post is located inside "General discussion", so perhaps have you thought or considered that it was willfully placed here as a means to actually discuss these points, these confirmed points, and give his opinion on them since they are interesting to the member? And is there a law against compiling things you would like to discuss in one topic or must one necro 12 different threads and monitor all of them for responses, bumping one over the other constantly and only receiving replies on a few?

 

Please don't take this offensively SuperJack but this is a newbie and you are treading so close to newbie-bashing it kinda comes off like that to me.

 

On to discussion!

 

#1: The idea of stumbling even on foot I really like, it certainly is a staple of horror movies and I can see it happening after a great deal of exhaustion or carrying a heavy load whilst running. It certainly is easy to lose your footing at times, even more so in rain.

 

#2: It is not 'changing' anything if it is not publically available to judge, so yes I would assume there has to be some way of knowing how you feel about other characters and how they feel about you. Otherwise it would seem rather obfuscated and unintuitive. A 'friendship bar' is a good way of solving this. And I doubt it would be hovering over people's heads like SuperJack assumed for some reason. It would most likely be inside a 'relationships' tab, much like health information or your stats in-game are presently.

 

#3: Area maps are necessary for sure, my question would be, would we be able to 'draw' them with the context menu, or would we for instance be able to draw them literally on a piece of paper, like a 'doodle' that brings up a white page and you can use your mouse to actually draw it with your 'pen'. Could open up a world of possibilities and even a few treasure maps to loot you have hidden. Which would be epic.

 

#4: Indeed the landscape is a little 'static' presently, this will probably receive some TLC, streams and puddles, rocks and small animals and insects would be nice to see. A bird here and there, a crow eating a corpse. Would really add to the ambience.

 

#5: Water does need a bit of a makeover in my opinion, the lack of animation is very noticable and also the silence of it and the way it behaves as a wall does. You get points like this where the water is only a meter or two across and could not possibly be very deep, yet it is entirely impossible to traverse. Perhaps a way of doing it like the old stronghold games would be great. Or calculating the distance to shore and then offsetting the sprites of those traversing it to simulate an increasing depth. Allowing for traversal of smaller bodies of water by yourself and zombies, but not larger ones.

 

#6: This one is easy, there are thousands of potential skills and occupations so I am looking forward to seeing how they will expand those.

 

#7: Metal sheets, Bricks and concrete, zinc plates... Tiles, Grass woven into blinds, car panels and doors used as improvised materials, pushing cars and things together to 'build' walls... removing tyres to build walls. Things like that. I'd also enjoy some greater variation in both construction and construction skills.

 

#8: Notes and signs are in, and they say that you will be able to spray letters and numbers and such as well at some point. Hello Dickbutt-town!

 

#9:More uses for electronics and more uses in general for things like that in the first few days/weeks whilst power is on would not just add to gameplay by giving you ways to entertain your character, it would give you the perspective of how life has changed, how it gets harder and harder. Adding to immersion and atmosphere.

 

#10: About bows I just want to say that I don't want to see arrows simply being able to be recovered, anyone who has ever shot a bow and hit a wall or the ground would know that the arrow more times than not shatters or snaps upon impact. Crossbow bolts are less prone to doing this, however in a semi-rotten corpse it would likely need to be cut out of the body cavity afterwards... Nasty. Arrows striking zombies would be less likely to shatter and snap or break though so if you hit you would have a better chance of recovery. Granted the zombie does not walk away with your arrows lol.

 

#11: I love this, I have longed for eaten corpses and skeletal remains picked clean, entrails pulled over the ground as you are decimated by a horde big enough. Let us face it, when one or two eats you, you would likely be intact enough to reanimate, but a horde would pull you apart in a matter of minutes. Also blasting your buddy in the knee to distract zombies is sooo good. I hope they add crippling injuries as well, where you need a crutch or a buddy helping you along to stand any chance.

 

#12: Agreed, also I want to be able to bash a table apart for planks and table legs. More improvised weapons are key to having a realistic setting and survival experience.

 

So to reiterate, most of these things are confirmed (yay!), so that is why I am discussing them instead of just saying that they are suggested already, and also in the context of the forum you posted them in I suspect you would like to discuss them also.

[SuperJack]

I Apologize. I've been feeling down.

[GodWaffle]

Awesome to see my little zombie eating bodies suggestion here, I agree with all of these ideas, none of them feel overpowered or too advanced for the game.  I especially agree with the water animation, although I've yet to try fishing in the game, when I first saw water I wasn't actually sure what it was because it doesn't even really look like water.  Some form of basic Minecraft-like water animation would be sufficient enough to give it less of a solid feeling.  I also think they need to expand upon water and make it a feasible escape route.  (If I'm being chased by a horde of zombies I would swim across a river to escape them.).

 

As for the terrain details, I'd actually like to see the forests expanded a bit more, maybe make some trees that are two tiles tall, add more details and reasons to bother venturing into the wilderness (which takes up a huge chunk of the map, you'd think if they had nothing planned for it that they'd make treelines solid like water and only add details to the edges of that 'forest')

[migulao]

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/192-commonly-suggested-suggestions-read-before-posting-unofficial/

 

Read it please.

[cuddlepums]

I like all of these ideas except the friendship bar I think the friendship bar would not be good for immersion because it's the apocalypse and you don't know who you can trust I think it would simplify relationships and ruin deception with npc's because you have a bar telling you who you can trust and who you cannot.

[migulao]

I like all of these ideas except the friendship bar I think the friendship bar would not be good for immersion because it's the apocalypse and you don't know who you can trust I think it would simplify relationships and ruin deception with npc's because you have a bar telling you who you can trust and who you cannot.

Exactly.

[Brad3439]

Apologies if most of these have been already suggested, I figured they were. As a result though, I also felt I would have original ideas expanding upon the ideas. I have played Zomboid since it came out; I am not a noob to the game, but rather to the forums. 

When I mentioned friendship bars, I wasn't literally meaning an actual bar, but now that a counter-argument was brought up, I agree that a friendship system would defeat the purpose of deception and trust.

 

Regardless, thank you all for reading my suggestions!

[Necromatic_Corgi]

Awesome to see my little zombie eating bodies suggestion here, I agree with all of these ideas, none of them feel overpowered or too advanced for the game.  I especially agree with the water animation, although I've yet to try fishing in the game, when I first saw water I wasn't actually sure what it was because it doesn't even really look like water.  Some form of basic Minecraft-like water animation would be sufficient enough to give it less of a solid feeling.  I also think they need to expand upon water and make it a feasible escape route.  (If I'm being chased by a horde of zombies I would swim across a river to escape them.).

 

As for the terrain details, I'd actually like to see the forests expanded a bit more, maybe make some trees that are two tiles tall, add more details and reasons to bother venturing into the wilderness (which takes up a huge chunk of the map, you'd think if they had nothing planned for it that they'd make treelines solid like water and only add details to the edges of that 'forest')

Is it possible to have 2 tile tall trees? It would be awesome.