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Ok guys, just hear me out. I know you probably saw the title and thought "Ugh, another zombie story." But I'm here to try and get some advice and tips on writing it.

So for the past couple months, I've actually been planning out a zombie game and it’s taking a while because I'm planning out a LOT of stuff. Plots, the infected, missions, loot, and I've even drawn myself up a cruddy map to place all the locations. But just recently, I stopped and wondered if anyone would actually enjoy it. I've taken a slightly different approach to this, so I wasn't really sure. And by that, I mean I've changed the POV to first person and I created two default characters for the player to play as. A girl and a boy. And I also took a sort of Bethesda approach to this and added in some companions you could encounter and play through with. By now, you’re also probably thinking "sounds dumb."

And I'm sort of thinking the same too, lol. That's why I need some assistance. So I have some questions.

Does anyone even like default characters and first person POV? Especially since these characters already have preset characteristics too. And I know that already sounds lame.

And to probably make matters worse, that also means some of the choices may feel limited at first. When I decided on that, I was trying to find ways to make the characters and choices feel more realistic. However, at the time, I didn't really consider how anyone aside from myself would feel about this.

I have a couple more questions, but I'm going to wait and see what feedback I get from this first.

I always liked zombie games, so I wouldn't mind one with actual effort in it. What's the issue is people tend to make terrible zombie games. We really don't have that many good ones on the site. Anyhow, if you're willing to put in the effort, this sounds fun. 

I've never been the biggest fan of first person, but it's hardly a big issue. As for default characters, I feel creating them isn't worth the time, but if that's what you want to do, it's certainly not a bad thing.

 

 

Yeah, I've played a couple zombie games on this site which is why I'm asking for the advice and all. I just want to make sure I don’t create a terrible one. Especially since I've already put so much time into planning it out ^^;

And it actually seemed like creating some default characters would be a lot easier to plan out too. That way I know the character I'm dealing with and how the interactions would play out. May not sound like it makes any sense, but I'm sure I can make it work. Same goes for the first person POV. First person also makes it more personal, so there's that too.

I'm not a fan of first person for a CYOA, personally. It can be done well, but that rarely happens.

Add me to the list of those a little iffy on the first person POV, but you've put a lot of thought into this and seem literate, so that's more than we get from most zombie games.

I'm not a big fan of the zombie genre because at this point the stories all seem like a rehash of the same cliches, slightly rearranged, but I've always said that any idea could be made to work with enough care and skill put into it.

Can you tell me more about how missions will structured? You seem to be taking inspiration from RPGs, so are they like quests you can tackle when you want to advance the plot or to get supplies or other benefits, or is the whole thing more linear?

Really the more game like the whole thing is the more I'd be interested, the strategy elements of keeping survivors sane, safe and supplied are the main thing that actually appeals to me about this genre.

It's actually going to be a bit of everything when it comes down to the missions. There's some main missions that will advance the plot, optional side quests for looting, lending assistance, discovery, etcetera. And I'm thinking that there won't be just one main plot. It just seems kind of bland to push the player down a single road, even with some extra features thrown in. So that’s still in the works. I don't know for sure yet though.

This sounds pretty cool, actually. Once you have it in a workable stage, let me know if you need anyone to test things.

There are lots of possibilities as far as non-traditional ways to structure a CYOA go, but they take more work than an ordinary branching storygame so we don't see a lot of variations here. Hoping you stick to this and manage to pull it off.  

Yeah, I'm hoping the same XD

Anyway, thank you for the advice. I'll check back with you if I ever do manage to get this game started.

“Ugh, another zombie story, sounds dumb.”

Now that that’s out of the way…

Yeah, not really a fan of first person POV for CYOAs mainly because it usually comes off as an author  self insert because it’s “I do this…” “I do that…” etc.

Makes it feel like I’m “playing as the author” (And why the hell would I want to do that? Lol)

Still, there are examples that it can work. Usually if it’s a very short story, I can tolerate it or if it’s one of those noir detective settings where it works a lot better.

The zombie setting is fine, but it’s just oversaturated so you have to work extra hard to make it good, let alone stand out.

Default character I’m guessing you mean a pre-set character that somewhat already has his/her own personality. (Witcher 3 as opposed to Elder Scrolls) This doesn’t matter that much to me and it’s probably going to make the writing go faster if you aren’t agonizing over every little customization quirk that the reader might want.

Drawing up a map of locations and making notes of all your plots/missions, etc. is a good step in the right direction, so it sounds like you’re organized for something like this.

As for worrying about putting in what everyone is going to like as opposed to what you like, I wouldn’t worry about it excessively. You never get anything accomplished if you do that.

First person is weird for a CYOA. It really "Others" the protagonist from the decision-maker, which makes it odd, since apparently the decision was made by the character in-story, when what you've really done is tell the narrator to do something.

Thing is, you've planned out characters and stories, and you look like you're perfectly capable of writing a story properly. Since basically any concept can be good if you write it good,  you can just rest assured knowing whatever shit you put down, most people will pick up. The reason we have/had a lot of bad zombie games is because their authors were very shit, the stories hardly made sense, had little feel or buildup put into them, and generally didn't use the things humans use to tell stories that evoke feelings in a good way.

Sounds like you put a bit of thought into this :D

I'm going to say, first person is something that doesn't really work well on here, but I guess it depends on how you do it. If you're going to do a first person POV, please make sure you don't overuse "I" as the first letter of each sentence too much.