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Body and mind "hygiene", more wetness effects


Gorkhun

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I've been thinking, since we can carry corpses to place them somewhere else, this could imply as well, provided you are wounded (hit points not maxed, bandaged status, things of those sorts) if you do this you could risk getting infected unless you find/make carrying utility such as a collapsible transport trolley and what not (could be placed as primary to move else than just corpses as well, could be a means to move heavy loads).  That's more of a tangeant idea that sprung out of the main one, which was mood and health settings:  let's say your safe house became literally a mess after a stand off from zombies getting inside, blood and dead zombies all over the place. 

 

There might something interesting with a decay time of the bodies that would make the area a dangerous area to breathe as it would facilitate the transmission of the infection via respiratory means.  That could propose from a makeshift, rag mask, gas masks up to full suits to maneuver in "stinky" perimeters, to moving the bodies out of your comfort area/point of interest.  The other part is that I can imagine that, should I be in a dramatic situation as a zombie apocalypse, having dead zombies inside my house would eventually get to me in many ways - not feeling safe, therefore becoming jumpy, depressed/demoralized, so on and so forth.

 

The rain, aside from storms at the moment not appearing to have chances to strike damage onto places - of which, depending on how high the game considers you are if it was manageable to implement heights, are things pointy/round etc... which also could put into consideration if you are in a swallow area, when heavy, long rains occur, could become impaired/dangerous areas with water levels becoming overwhelming - a more simple mechanic usable could be making places more slippery or muddy than others, depending on the surface type.  Another simple one was putting under consideration the body's wetness status on performing some tasks making them risky.  One coming to mind would be climbing up/down ropes.  Maybe nimbleness could help lower chances in falling?

 

Wetness could also affect body temperature - as long as you keep running or performing other things that is considered to make your body warmer, you can be soaky-warm.  The problem is once you stop, in a matter of minutes the temperature falls out quickly.  More of a mild issue when it's summer, heck maybe even early-mid autumn and mid-ending spring, but during the winter it can become quite a problem.  It would also imply that you need to take off the clothes and get them to dry aside the towel routine and that you will need new dry clothes.  Clothes that are wet in colder, moist/damp places w/out heating sources nearby and not being washed could become moldy.  Washing comes to mind as well, since once you start needing to change clothes from getting muddy or dirty with other tasks whether it is fighting zombies, body becoming dirty overtime making clothes in turn dirty faster would need some kind of hygiene mechanic even after the power and water is out and that we wouldn't want to become sick/get fungi just because all the clothes have been used out. 

 

As far as gameplay goes, I think that the older a world gets, the more it would affect your routes as far as decaying infected bodies go, meaning you would have to organize pits of them.  Whether that would factor in lively zombie traffic to it or elsewhere, I have no opinion; one would force you to make different piles with a hefty distance between them or you'd end up in a killing loop while it might concentrate too many of them at this "point of interest" for them, while not making them affected by where they go simply gets you busy with long distances to pile them along your way eventually, or making the area later on impracticable w/out and breathing safety/suit (who knows maybe after a while it becomes so virulent that it can affect you from its aerial form via cutaneous means).  However the breathing items can only last so long w/out changing filters or oxygen tanks and a zombie hit could mean ripping a whole in the suit.  Maybe if the character breathes it won't necessarily become infected but it could give them cases of delirium, whether curable or not...  I'm just imagining this effect for long drawn out games to make it harder and harder to handle an area that a player might have made safe even in the woods, walls and all that.  Oh and yeah.  It could eventually affect/infect growing crops, fishies etc...

 

TL;DR

 

Hygiene:  decaying zombies and wetness could require you the need to change clothes, washing them if you don't have extra clothing.  Your guy/gal needs to find a way to do a bit of body cleaning as well.  You get dirty quicker in wilderness areas, even more if it becomes muddy from rain and while doing efforts that can exhaust you.  If you trip/fall, your clothes during rain are immediately fully wet and possibly dirty.  Another luxury effect:  the dirtier your character becomes, the easier it is for the zombies to pick up your scent.  Do not leave wet clothes in a lonely non heated/aired corner, they'll get moldy.  Long dead zombie corpses leaves the infection lingering in the air.  (Hey wait can we simulate wind directions? ^^)  In long states, it can infect/mutate growing crops.  (Would this infection have as much of an easy time to not "die" in the air depending on ambient temperature? *seasons*)

 

Mood:  being dirty over time affects you insidiously.  You think you're ok and you realize how much more awake you are and great it feels once you wash.  Plus, getting fungi on your feet sucks.  It would be hard to find treatment if they develop.  Or risking getting some illness easier.  Being around areas where there are many zombie corpses eventually gets to your mind.  Specially if your safehouse is full of those. 

 

Misc:  being wet gets you chances to slip and fall depending on surface type.  Becomes risky to climb up/down ropes.  To be able to move corpses or other heavy charges easier and getting less dirty in the process you will need to use a collapsible transport trolley or other things of the sort.  If it's cold and you're soaky wet, as long as you're doing efforts you are okay.  Once the tasks are over or that you need to rest up exhaustion, you will lose temperature fast.  You need to change to dry clothes as you need to dry yourself off near a heat source and if possible with a dry towel.  Wetness can cause zombies to slip and not necessarily go back up > acts like a crawler.  Could happen offscreen to catch you off guard.  Getting hit on wet surfaces (all of this is making think of ice for winter, too) might get you to fall.  Omnom.  Get back up fast! :P

 

EDIT:  I just realized this is my first post.  Sorry about that I tend to go right into what fuels me into a game I like on the forums and might appear to be lacking in social manners so uuuuh, hi folks!  Just bought the game 2 days ago, it was on my mind for a long time if I should get it or not; the steam sale just made me stop hesitating.  xD    Loving it!

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Welcome to the forums!

 

Some good ideas here, but a bit long winded so I'm not sure how many people will make it through :P

 

At any rate, I definitely agree with a lot of what you're saying. Hygiene- in terms of keeping oneself clean, at least, has been a "probably not" from the devs for a long time because they don't want you to have to micromanage cleanliness; however, things like leaving corpses around your base negatively effecting you they've said they do indeed want to do- it's why moving corpses got added in the first place.

 

I'm also not crazy about the idea of slipping and falling- from a design standpoint in "roguelike" games it's not very fun when you die to something like that in my opinion. Otherwise, lots of good ideas and I hope to see you around. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

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Thanks for the welcome :)   As far as the wetness goes I guess the actual system in place somewhat fills up what I was thinking for slippery/muddy, as you are slowed down.  I guess it emulates the character moving at a pace cautious enough to prevent him from having any mishap and I get what you say by dying basically due to a random effect that could occur anytime.  Maybe we could remotely decide if our characer attempts to go full throttle despite the risks.

 

I think the idea that holds me the most is the whole deal with the decaying corpses.  I'm not there yet but from what I've watched I think there's enough vet players out there that despite the way the game is designed, they probably still pull it off ok and get to live for a loooong time.  I'd love to see the influence of the infection, like some yuky mist slowly spreading, with the breathing/cutaneous hazards of it slowly spreading.  I think it would add an interesting dynamic to late game and am curious to see how would that influence the gameplay later on.  However I dunno how that would go if say, a public server is up and has very late hard resets/none and just join, poof!  You're infected in the next 5 minutes because you're breathing the deathly atmosphere.  As far as singleplayer goes however, I'm pretty sure this could make things get hectic :D

 

Maybe some kind of adaptive "gear up" upon joining servers that are in specific event stages?  On the other hand, as much as it is frustrating I find it hilarious post the tough start when in a public server you just pop with 10+ zombies already running at you, no time to try to get a pen or butter knife, gotta dash out of here and find a less populated spot and somehow get something going ^^

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I don't mean to sound rude, but I doubt you'll get infected through air no matter how decayed the zombies are. I can imagine you might get sick from staying around them though. The zombies in Zomboid are inspired from old classic Romero movies, in other words that means infection is made from bodily fluids (blood or saliva). I don't really agree that there should be a mist with infection, though it would be cool with normal mist and other realistic visual effects, I'm not sure if this is planned already though. Anyway sorry for disliking your idea but I just don't think it fits in this game. Oh and about the hygiene stuff, I'd love that too, but it's already been said they won't add it (most likely). :'(

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I'd have to agree with Robban on this. If the zombie virus could ever be transferred through the air, it's game over for all humans everywhere. Now.. it could be that the virus dies REALLY fast if it ever get's airborne to make it reasonable in the way you describe, but to me that seems like a trifle that would take more away from immersion and gameplay than it would add. (I'm talking about introducing the concept that the virus can become airborne... ooooooh the posts about the "possibilities" from there). On a side note. Your name... Gorkhun, is that from Star Trek?

 

 

On a different sidenote (and I'm really not trying to insult you here, just hoping you might find the humor in it as I have), usually the TL;DR section of a persons post should be shorter than the long post itself :P and welcome to the forums! (clyde)

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we will NEVER know the reason for the actual, first zombie outbreak. that is intentional, and has been discussed numerous times in here in detail. that is a major reason why there will never be a "cure" for it.

 

could be airborne, could be germ or micro organism related, could be a mutated West Nile Virus spread thru mosquito bite....maybe even Martians from above, or the Greys who live below. we don't know.

 

we do know, as we have seen in the game, that a zombie bite or scratch has a great chance of turning you into one.

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Interesting Idea. I think you should also be able to smear the Zombie blood on your self like Camouflage and be able to walk amongst the Zombies. But dont run :D (Hello, WalkingDead)

This is a strong no from the developers and would basically be so stupid you deserve to die :P not a strong point of TWD and not something the devs want in PZ. Sorry!

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Not you personally should die lol, but any character that tries it. Smearing infected fluids all over you when the infection's main method of transmission is fluids… I wouldn't call it bright, at least. I didn't like it in TWD, either, but they're much more cavalier about what you can get away with without being infected than TIS is from what we've seen.

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Oh ok xD lol. Its a smart reason u have there. I just thought it would be nice if u could walk among Zombs unnoticed but always fearing they might stilll jump you. The Thrill! \o/

It's a popular idea- nothing to be ashamed of- just one the PZ devs have expressed disinterest in.

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