More Sound Dampening inside Walls + Zombie State Structural Damage

[ZombieHunter 79]

Right now it feels Zombies are still way to attracted by players inside buildings. 

 

The reason being in real life there is a lot of ambient sound especially in the 70s - 80s. 

Crickets \ Frogs \ Birds \ Wind \ etc. When a Wall is involved there needs to be a bigger decrease in sound propagation beyond the wall.

 

 

As well as improving it by Having 3 Zombie States.

 

1. Wandering - does no damage to structures

2. Curious - Minor damage to structures

3. Agro - starts damaging structures but on a cool down if it has no visual confirmation.  After a specific period of time if it gets no stimulus goes back to stage 1. 

 

This kind of behaviour method would stop buildings look like a tornado passed through. 

While at the same time maintaining the "zombie aesthetic" 

[TrailerParkThor 86]

Yeah, I agree with the fact that zombies have annoyingly good hearing even at Normal Hearing settings. I get that they might be able to hear the TV on if it's loud and they're right outside the wall, but how can they hear me closing a door upstairs from the street? They're supposed to have base level human hearing. When I'm outside a house, I can't hear much inside unless people are yelling, listening to loud entertainment, or doing some handy work. Kids manage to have quiet parties that even cops can't hear if they're worried about getting busted. How can zombies mindlessly hear better than humans trying to listen for loud teens?? Definitely needs work.

 

I like the idea of zombies having different states but I don't think that they are supposed to have rational thoughts. They just follow the last noise they heard until something new grabs their attention. They are like forces of nature. Doesn't really make sense for them to be curious. It might also mess with the strategy of the game. You couldn't use sirens, noise makers, or alarms to distract zombies if they would walk away when not seeing a survivor and you wouldn't have safe looting.

 

Maybe, instead, they could define the noise reduction of each type of wall, floor, window, and door. Trailer and cabin walls could be very thin. Even listening to quiet radio in a shack would be audible to zombies. On the flip side, concrete walls would be essentially soundproof. Certain stone-type buildings would be safe to watch loud tv or build things inside even if surrounded by zombies. Normal houses would have insulation and should be decently soundproof. Player-built structures should scale with skill level, probably never maxing out at normal house noise reduction. I would assume metal walls would have better soundproofing, so maybe max level metal walls could be slightly better than prefab house walls.

 

Doors would have the best sound dampening, windows the worst. I would imagine something over the window would help the low noise reduction. Blinds would probably have a minor effect, sheets would have a moderate effect, and curtains could keep the most sound in. Maybe we would even find or craft an item that could help block even more, but I think that would be kinda dumb lol

[BentNose 65]

I disagree that curiosity isn't a thing that zombies would have. Curiosity is tied to wanting and Zombies want food. But I do agree that there needs to be something to trigger it because there's just not much going on upstairs in a zombie head.

Otherwise though, I do play with reduced zombie hearing and memory because that makes more sense to me. They are creatures acting without conscious thought. Only hunger drives them. I can understand them tracking smell since smell lingers. I try to keep my character clean because I'm suspicious of how well zombies can find you by scent. But sound is to a large extent ambient, not something the average human can use to pinpoint locations. It needs to be a sustained sound, like a generator.

But it is worth asking, who in their right mind slams doors during an apocalypse? Maybe when exhausted, perhaps they aren't lucky and accidentally slam a door occasionally. Otherwise, I do have a hard time believing that doors make that much noise when exploring a house. It also has the downside of zombies hidden in buildings noticing the player and announcing themselves by banging on doors. Sure I get the jumpscare sound scratch... but I already knew the zombie was there.

If you really wanted doors that had sound, give them a random chance to squeak and give the player the option to carry some oil. The older or cheaper the house, the more chance any of the doors inside will squeak.

[TrailerParkThor 86]

Yeah I play with Normal Sight, Poor Hearing, and Bloodhound Smell. Hunger is tied to smell so heightened hunger should mean heightened olfactory senses. Also human smell is one of our strongest senses we just barely have practical use for it these days. Zombies have pretty lame sight already. Hearing needs to be lowered to even match base human level hearing irl.

 

20 hours ago, BentNose said:

But it is worth asking, who in their right mind slams doors during an apocalypse? Maybe when exhausted, perhaps they aren't lucky and accidentally slam a door occasionally. Otherwise, I do have a hard time believing that doors make that much noise when exploring a house. It also has the downside of zombies hidden in buildings noticing the player and announcing themselves by banging on doors. Sure I get the jumpscare sound scratch... but I already knew the zombie was there.

If you really wanted doors that had sound, give them a random chance to squeak and give the player the option to carry some oil. The older or cheaper the house, the more chance any of the doors inside will squeak.

 

Really like this idea. Maybe doors should be contextual. 3 types of door openings. The current fast open/close with the loud slam should only happen if opening a door while Jogging/Sprinting. There should be a slightly slower open/close that will be significantly quieter that is done while walking. Finally, a super slow and incredibly quiet open/close for crouching. This one could be the one that has a chance at creaking. Imagine a high level Stealth build creeping through an overrun building and all the sudden, the door creaks loud as hell. You dead son

[BentNose 65]

15 minutes ago, TrailerParkThor said:

Really like this idea. Maybe doors should be contextual. 3 types of door openings. The current fast open/close with the loud slam should only happen if opening a door while Jogging/Sprinting. There should be a slightly slower open/close that will be significantly quieter that is done while walking. Finally, a super slow and incredibly quiet open/close for crouching. This one could be the one that has a chance at creaking. Imagine a high level Stealth build creeping through an overrun building and all the sudden, the door creaks loud as hell. You dead son

I'm now imagining a spin-off change where characters who are panicked or have the coward flaw shout out loud when they are surprised and stumble directly onto hidden zombies. To be used when the Zombie hasn't given themselves away by groaning (multiple zombies nearby so it can't reasonably be pinpointed) or this zombie in particular wasn't banging on a door or a window.