Some Ideas (to increase the tension)

[Vestire]

Hi guys, Iam new to this forum. Just read the threads until now. I want to excuse my rusty english in advance. 

After some multiplayer games (2 players) I got some ideas to increase the tension and immersion: 

 

What do you think about the idea of moving zombie hordes - beside the ones who are already there, but not just standing around. There could be more hordes on the map and they are walking the whole time in random directions and the players always have to take care if there's a horde nearby before making risky actions. I thought about this feature after I didnt feel myself (in 2 Players Multiplayer) really in danger. We ran around and hit everyone with our baseball bat dead. Sure this is not the solution to increase the difficulty, but it could give a lot more tense when you have to watch your back. You shoudnt really be able to fight them.

They could be a serious threat the whole time. They could be walking around important buildings and you have to entice them away from there.

 

Players should craft a kind of alarm-system to warn if theres a horde incomming. Like a wired place with rattling bells. Or something to draw their attention with. Like corpes from the future comming npc's. What about you can kill npc's, loot their stuff, use them like I said before, but you lose something like humanity?

 

 

As well I thought a graphical feedback for sounds from zombies would be cool. You could locate a walking or moaning zombie by - for example - a very small graphical soundwave.

After a game where I hid in a house and i knew there were zombies around I thought this feature would be really cool. Looking outside a window could be punished more with aggressive zombies when they see you - so you have to make advantage of your ability to hear them. There could be even a skill to increase the radius. Or you get deaf by using the shotgun too much (->earmuffs).

 

I know my post doesnt have a real structure, just some thoughts from me. But maybe you've got as well some nice ideas how to increase a permanent tension and a real challenge to survive - even in multiplayer. (I know its still in work-in-progress)

Cheers,
Vestire

[Aricane]

Most of your ideas have been on the table (and haven't been pulled of again). It's called migrating and the feature has come to be called the Sadistic AI director. It is currently disabled though, because players started experiencing zombies that could walk through walls, when the player walked few squares away.

 

Alarmsystems or more generally distractions are definitly bound to happen in the game. Getting deaf by the shotgun isn't something I have seen before. It could be a good punisment for overusing the shotgun.

 

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but you apparently have eyes in your back. You are already able to percieve zombies behind you, because of "hearing". Other than that zombies are pretty quiet. They usually only moan when they're gone aggro.

[TheCenturion]

What Aricane said, though I'd like to expand on the soundwave thing a little. I know it got brought up a little while back, and I'm pretty sure that the overall reaction was negative, but I still think it has merit. Not everyone has positional sound available through their sound setup (though I do), and hence, small 'waves' would surely be appropriate for events such as meta game gunshots or helicopters. 

[Fortport]

 

What Aricane said, though I'd like to expand on the soundwave thing a little. I know it got brought up a little while back, and I'm pretty sure that the overall reaction was negative, but I still think it has merit. Not everyone has positional sound available through their sound setup (though I do), and hence, small 'waves' would surely be appropriate for events such as meta game gunshots or helicopters. 

 

I like this, actually. Little sound waves, indicating the direction of the noises you just heard, would be very nice. Whenever you hear a gunshot, headset, speakers, or not, you really have to guess where the zombies are being lured. Whereas if you were actually the character, you would know exactly where the gun was shot, and how to utilize it. Helicopter going overhead? Totally confused! Probably more than the zombies. You have no idea where it's going in and out. Hearing zombies, also, is confusing. You know they're there, but not exactly. You could hear one banging on a window, but you do not know which window. If you were in the survivor's shoes, you would know these things.

[MrHobo]

Sounds like zombies banging on doors can be reasonably pin-pointed just by moving around and paying attention to the volume, obviously the sound gets louder as you get closer. Visible sound waves would still be nice though, especially for sounds which happen outside your vision. Right now there doesn't seem to be any way to figure out where the sound of breaking glass came from, even though a person in that situation would have a general idea.

[Guest]

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