And let me tell you, straight up, they ALL sucked.
(no he didn't make Raccoon City )
Which is why I want to talk about this: What makes Zombie maps so attractive?
1. Easily triggered. It is just you killing a horde of infested kerrigans/zealots
2. Acts like a defense
3. Can make own RPG'ish terrain, doesn't require you to give space for the players to build defenses like in actual defense games...
4. Lots of blood and gore from good ol' Starcraft's Death animations..
5. Teamwork and Achievment
6. Can implement Storyline/RPG elements
7. Scavenging for awards such as Money for upgrades or Better weapons.
But, most maps are just horrid to play. They are unbalanced, and are basically you vs. a giant hack and slash zombie horde.... all of it feels like a grind... You'd think by now someone would've made a good Zombie map that is well balanced, has cool triggers, a good storyline, good terrain, good balance, good challenge.... err I guess it IS harder than it looks...
But, since I'm pretty busy.... I'd like to share what'd make a good Zombie map.
A) ADD WEAPONS THAT ACTS AS SPELLS (i.e. grenades)
- These will also act as scavenged items. This encourages exploration, which would be dangerous when there're zombies running around you.
- Can input cool triggers to make the game look professional, and also help when a big horde of zombies... Plus, it is just so fun seeing a huge group of zombies explode by a grenade.
- Can implement original ideas.. like the Pipe bomb for L4D for example.
- Like, why are there still no maps that have Chainsaws like the ones in Fuel tactics arena?
B) LIMIT AMOUNT OF UNITS YOU CAN CONTROL
- maybe you yourself can control up to 3 units... therefore, you'd need to strategize what units to get..
- obviously, getting a medic'd be a good idea... but u can also see the use of a firebat and two ghosts.. As long as the firebat and ghosts are balanced so that the firebat has high armor and can tank zombies... well u get the idea
- Also, if u're gonna have spell like weapons.. u should probably stick to players only having 1 unit at a time.
C) LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
- It's cool to have Vehicles.. It's cool to have Helicopters to bring you to different areas.. It's cool to make the game like the Test of Survival.. it's cool to have crazy weapons and/or spells... It's cool to have players becoming the zombie after death... it's cool to be able to build barricades, it's cool to be able to order computer units around... But it is DEFINATELY NOT COOL if all of these things are in the same map. Why? because it's freaking confusing. It is hard enough to optimize one mechanic. If you have so much going on, it'll be just too confusing for the players... Focus on a few mechanics that works.
D) BARRICADES!!
srsly, such a ez mechanic.. and i don't see this being implemented... hello?? scv building supply depots?/ that's the best.. Heck, u can even make the scv a vehicle u can go in and out of... but make it more rare so that u don't want that SCV to die.
E) SCARY//UNDER PRESSURE
- The game should be scary, in order to immerse the player into the game..
- OR, the players have to be constantly or repeatedly under pressure by HORDES of zombies...
- This is just something that would not make the map feel like such a grind.
Anyway, to me, a perfect zombie map would be a map that kind of acts more like an RPG then a Defense. Have the players start off at a healing spot with their base constantly under attack.. sooner or later, they'll have to explore and find other healing spots, and they'd have to choose which base to cover... The map'll be completely open, allowing risky explorations, but maybe have a best linear route, with a final goal, which is to somehow escape or kill all zombies (?) .. Each player can only have 1 unit, but have a range of spell like weapons like med kits, grenades, pipe bomb, molotav cocktails, and definately chainsaw... and other stuffs... While their base units can probably be Firebat, Ghost, Marine. Firebat being highest dmg and armor, then marine with lowest dmg, medium armor, ghost being low armor high dmg... And maybe upgrades to these units can be found later .. stim/range/cloak/lockdown also requires exploration.. and etc.
The obvious story would be that they start getting overrun by zombies all of a sudden, and they have to find smth, which'd lead them to their next heal spot.. then more story unfolds, and until they finally manage to find smth that's.. i don't know... somehow related to this zombie outbreak.. kills it, and escapes in a final epic, TIMED run to the helicopters. if they don't make it in time, they lose the game.
Man just thinking about it.. really tempts me to make it..
WHY HAS NO ONE MADE THIS?
DOES ANYONE KNOW ANY MAP THAT COULD FULFILL MY REQUIREMENTS?? D:
None.