Capture Zombies

[CannedRat]

The post is about providing mechanisms for emergent gameplay with a small change to the game.    I guess this would be of more interest to late game players who might be looking for more challenging stuff to do. Anyway, the idea is to add some features to allow interaction with the zombies in more complex ways. Currently the only emergent trick the player has is to set a zombie on fire and lead it around.  My suggestion is to give the player a few more ways to interact with zombies.

 

idea 1) The first is to access a zombies inventory while its still alive.  This would allow the player to add items such as noise makers, alarm clocks, grenades, bells etc to the zombie and then "release it back into the wild"...(i.e run)

 

I visualise it like this.  The player knocks a zombie down and stands on it.  Then inserts some stuff into the zombies inventory. Then gets off and runs away.  The zombie gets back up and continues cruising around.  The alarm clock goes off or the noise maker goes off and draws a horde.  Perhaps the horde slowly wanders around or packs in so none of the zombies can move until the sound stops.  If the zombie could be rigged with some sort of timed explosive/grenade etc it could be even more spectacular. 

 

Idea 2) The second idea is to give the player options to "capture" a zombie.  Think about knocking it down, then standing on it, while hogtieing and gaging it.  Then you can transport the zombie by carrying it like a corpse.  You could access its inventory while its hogtied.  Add stuff, remove stuff etc.  See above.  It would be useful to be able to put it in a vehicle (trunk or seat).  It would be good to be able to release their legs so they can amble, or make a straight jacket so they cannot scratch/grab etc.  Make a muzzle so they cannot bite. Hoods so they cannot see. Ear muffs so they cannot hear. They then have the capacity to be used for various higher order game play. 

 

Obviously there is a chance of their restraints decaying or them escaping.  Or chances of failure when trying to capture them or release them.  There should be risk to do tricky stuff.

 

This idea leads on to a bunch of possible "uses" for captured zombies. 

 

a) Put zombies in a giant hamster wheel and use them as a power source. (Generator/electric fences/ water pumps/ saw mill/zombie grinder/zombie trap)

b) Use them to pull a plow/vehicle/chariot. 

c) Train zombies to fight other zombies (put a blindfold on them so they attack anything they hear) chain them to a post around the perimeter of your base with a bell in their inventory so any wandering zombies are attracted to them and either mob them or the captive zombie attacks them. Basically, guard zombies.

d) Mount a noisemaker on a deaf/blind zombie and let it loose in a new area.  All the other zombies would horde around but not attack it. 

e) Put uniforms on "your" zombies so you can identify them easily.

f) Capture zombies so you can keep them in a pen and use them as labour/fuel/resources/compost at a later time.

g) Make a sedan chair and mount it on some zombies.  Then lead them around with a bell on a stick. You could either travel in the chair or use it to carry gear.

h) Make a sedan raft with a bunch of zombies under it.  Use it to carry bulk gear.

i) Make a box with no floor. Put a zombie in it.  Attach many boxed zombies together to create a zombie powered bulldozer, control with a bell on a stick (or mount deck guns and you have Jabba's sail barge..:-)

j) Use hogtied zombies to generate heat inside a base in winter.  What could go wrong?

k) Use zombies to forage.  Attach a drag net to them and let them wander around with the chance of them snagging some random forage stuff. Drive a bunch of them through a wooded area using a noise maker on the other side of the forest, then gather what they have collected.

l) Use zombies to hunt small game like rabbits. Just put a muzzle on it so it cant eat the rabbit/mice/squirrel.

M) Put bells on zombies and release them locally so you know when the local horde has wandered near your base.

 

Idea number 3) If you can capture zombies, can you cure them?  Imagine if there was a stash of a few doses of an "experimental serum" somewhere in louisville.  Potentially, you could find enough serum, hypodermic syringes, alcohol swabs etc to try to cure a couple of zombies back to NPC's.  If you could find and cure enough useful zombies and start a garage lab to reproduce doses of the serum, potentially you could cure a few more.  However, this would mean gathering supplies/security/transport etc to get this fairly elaborate project up and running.  This would potentially create a high level game arc for very accomplished players in late game.  Its not a cure, and the player can still get infected and become a zombie, because the serum only works on someone who has gone through the infection (so you still need to become a full zombie before you can get onto the serum... so the player still needs to stay uninfected or they loose control of the game. 

The other idea is that the "serum" is just a managment medicine... it will not cure the zombie but it lets the NPC live with the virus as long as they get regular doses.  This would keep the player on the resource treadmill to keep their NPC's "normal" as long as they had doses left.

 

Thoughts?

 

[CannedRat]

I respect that this suggestion may be a bit left of centre, but for long game players zombies have to evolve as the game progresses and I propose, be seen as a resource.  And potentially a resource worth collecting and protecting.  Stay with me here.   The point of this is to make the game more than just a “waiting to die” simulator.  The tag line is “what would you do in the zombie apocalypse?”. 

In the early game (Early hours after the apocalypse, little skill and thin resources), zombies are a clear and present danger.  Simply a threat to be avoided or confronted. 

In the mid game (Weeks after the apocalypse, good skills, stable base, stable resources), zombies are a nuisance or potentially entertainment.  Big mobs are still a problem but without meta game events driving them towards the players base… zombies are a “solved” problem that only a stupid mistake or bad luck will change.

In the late game (months after the apocalypse, high skill, mastery of the environment) zombies are pretty much just entertainment.  The player has little other reason to seek them out.

 

What if zombies did not change over the course of the game, but their value to the player did?  As the player gains mastery of their skills and the environment, there needs to be some opportunities for the player to start to find value in the zombies individually or as groups.  Essentially, living with the zombies as there will never be an end to them (Within the scale of one person’s effort in the game)

If the meta events included something like drone bombing of anything that looked like a large heat source (think zombie mob or players bases) then players may want to coral zombies away from their base to attract the bombers.  Perhaps collecting zombies would suddenly be of value to the players.  

Another idea is large wandering mobs of zombies that overwhelm anything… unless the players had a “moat” of zombies around their base, captive inside double walls.  Zombies don’t attack zombies so, safety?  Potentially keep them passive via some herb that could be foraged or grown.

If the meta game or Multiplayer PVP includes base raiding, then having a moat of zombies around your base makes a lot of tactical sense.  While they may be a nuisance to manage, they are also a great defence asset that give you early warning that the neighbours have come calling.

 

Perhaps the “government” has found a value for zombies that is outside the scale of the map?  Perhaps they are offering a “bounty” for live zombies that are captured or “pacified” and delivered somewhere for healthcare/rehab/management/research etc.  This would turn the late game player into a bounty hunter (if they wished), with the challenge of trying to flush out, round up and build structures to capture and transport zombies to a drop off point(rail yard?) in exchange for high value resources.

This forces the player to consider the risk/reward of confrontations with zombies.  Are they a nuisance or a resource?  They are still dangerous, and mistakes happen, but the player is being challenged in a different way to deal with life after an apocalyptic event.    Dealing with other bounty hunters trying to cooperate or not rob the player could be another late game factor.  But at this point we are starting to play fallout.

[getstoopid]

Even if I wouldn't know how to do this properly without breaking some parts of the game - the risk/fear/despair part - I really find this idea appealing =)