This is a mirror of the list i made in another thread. This includes a list of all concepts i feel are essential to all zombie maps, and could be used for most horror maps.
PlotAn essential element to any good map. It is a necessity to have a good storyline, players want to know whats going on and why. This can be achieved through a series of cinematics, also another sign of progress in the map. Cinimatics will also motivate players to continue playing, rather then walking around for hours with the only objective to be to kill. Collaborated with the storyline should be a series of objectives/missions. Objectives seem to play a major role in a reason a player will play your map more then once.
ActionWhen someone plays a zombie map, they are looking for a lot of killing. The more gore the better. The action keeps the player's attention and essentially keeps the player to continue to progress in the map. Think outside the box and come up with new ways to surprise the player. Say you have to regress to an area earlier in the map, maybe something hops out of a window over looked earlier in the map. Actions like these motivate the player to apply his/her full attention to their current surroundings.
TerrainHow many times have you played a zombie map with massive amounts of endless terrain that lack detail? This can play a major role if a player is going to continue to play your map. If your terrain is too repetitive, a player may lose hope and just quit. Detail can be very essential to the plot as well; However, this should not be confused with cluster. There is a big difference between spending time on terrain and filling the map with pointless cluster that takes away from the illusion of your environment. Your terrain must be balanced between detail and good unit placement, if you want to keep a player in the map.
SoundEssential to any good zombie map, are a series of wav.files that set the tone of the map. This includes anything from scary background music to basic walking movements. Another great way to add a little more to the map would be a zombie moan or a scream noise every time you're attacked. These little effects can play a huge role on who is going to enjoy your map.
SystemsOver the years, some basic systems have become essential to the RPG world. Below are a list of systems i find help the delusion of starcraft, and more of the illusion of a real zombie game.Essential Systems and Concepts:
Inventory System and Item system
Whether it be from a drop ship or probes dragging items to a beacon, this is probably the most crucial system to any good zombie map. An inventory system allows for a quick way for the player to do some of the most basic needs in a horror map. As players are roaming the map, they are going to want portable health kits, ammo, and other weapons. No one is going to want to have to regress regularly in order to heal, this is frustrating and will cause less positive feedback of your map.
Upgrade System
Players like to be able to feel like their aimless killing is for a better cause than saving civilians. Upgrading is another way to keep the players attention, motivating them to continue the fight for survival. Quite frequently is this system overlooked, but i personally feel it's very helpful tool.
Ammo System
Ammunition can play a big role in making your map require more strategy. With an ammo system, you are going to be more cautious on when and where you use it. However, you need to be careful and make sure you're adding plenty of ammunition boxes throughout your map, depending on the # of players. A good idea to add to this is, is having the ammo randomly spawned in the map depending on the # of players that are in your game. Detecting this would be rather easy, and prevent players from getting too much ammo if they have less players in-game.
Non-essential Systems and Concepts:
A is for Atack
Disabling auto-attack and forcing the player to use "A." Using "A" for attack is normally associated with the ammunition system. While this isn't an essential, it surely adds more difficulty to any good map.
Night/Day Effect
A good way to add realism to your horror project is to add the night/day effect. Essentially just a way of identifying time, this could be used for projects that really aim for scary effects. At night time you could have less vision, causing the player to be more cautious of his/her actions. Perhaps it could also be used for zombie-beings that roam only at night; allowing the player 12 minutes of safely roaming a city, and another 12 of hell.
Apocalypse Effect
Along side with night and day, the apocalypse effect can be another way to get the feeling of time progression in your map. A good example is a city plagued by a viral outbreak. If your storyline starts prior to the infection taking over the city, perhaps it should be taken into consideration that it takes time for it to spread. Over time the city will become more and more apocalyptic, such as burning structures and crashed cars. Along with the element of mission objectives, the combination can be used to really have a pre- and post- apocalyptic effect.
Infection
Say you get attacked by a zealot named Zombie, well that zealot has just infected you with the virus it carries. Rather then have users depend just on re-healing, they could be in race to find a way to stop the virus from spreading through the body, causing them to become "one of them." This also adds a real challenge to the map, causing the player to apply a lot more caution when roaming through it. However, one con with this system would be that you really have to watch the ammont of zombies your placing. If this system isn't thought through, it can be more annoying than anything else.
Objects used as weapons
The title says it all. Lets face it, not everyone has a gun. If your a civilian in a city full of undead your going to grab whatever you can to bash their brains out. The use of any random object to kill a zombie is a really forgotten factor in the world of starcraft. There are many melee units that could be used to symbolize a player with random tools/items they find. If you have a large mashety, it should be quite easy to eliminate a zombie in one hack. If this system was collaborated with infection, players would cautiously use this method of "one hit kill." Even if its a one hit kill, no player will run out in front of 5 zombies if they need to avoid being bitten.
Zombies and Zealots
Zealots are quite over used to symbolize zombies. Lets be real, not every zombie should look the same, instead a handful of different sized and shaped zombies should be in your map; each having their own level of health and strength. Zombie map makers forget, there's a tone of units in starcraft that could be used to symbolize zombies. As for health, spending an extra 5 minutes changing the HP in the property box of your placed units could make for less predictable battles. If all the zealots in the map can be killed with 2 hits, you will know exactly how far you need to stand away to attack. If the units have all different healths it can be less predictable and more challenging.
Life after Death
A great way to keep players to continue playing the map is a life after death system, that would allow the players that die to come back as one of the undead. If done properly this could be a quite fun system and it also gives the players still alive more of a challenge.
A combination of these elements allow the player to really get the feeling that their achieving goals, and feel more "inside" the game. The more you can alter the reality of the player, the better. I hope you take the time to read this, i aim to help you think outside of the box.
Post has been edited 11 time(s), last time on Jan 10 2009, 8:41 am by T-Virus.
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