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Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

I plan to make a set of "Zombie Survival" games, I need assistance with the situations the survivor(s) could come up with, bearing in mind that:

 

- Characters are not zombified by bites and scratches, they are all already infected and come back upon death of any kind.

- Characters are entirely mortal and are affected by injuries, illness and fatigue.

- The story starts from the earliest stages, and the spread will not be movie-like and eviscerate the population within a day or two, the process will take months or even years, but gradually more and more people will succumb to the disaster.

- The story is based in Southwest England, so ammunition is uncommon for shotguns and similar sport guns, and military grade ammo is exceptionally rare except in military bases, which majoratively will still be occupied.

- There will be few correct choices and incorrect choices, more like fatigue and injury, so fighting too many times will lead to your death, and running around all day will lead to exhaustion.

- I am planning on using a time system where you will have time left in a day, and then it goes to different chapters, with different events.

- I am planning some potential crossover between different characters in different storygames.

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Well if you're making a zombie survival game, know that one of the most important things about these types of stories is character development. Can I ask first the type of characters that you plan on including? (eg. police officer, sports jock, doctor)

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

The characters so far are:

Character 1: An "average joe" office worker type person called Richard Fox, he has no special skills like gunnery, close combat, DIY, or anything like that, but he is intelligent. He is fairly even tempered and patient, which makes him get on with people, although it doesn't make him so well known. He is middle class, not very strong, but after his regular jogging excercise and marathon running, he can run for extended periods of time.

 

Character 2: My actual self. I figured that I could make a good background and persona with the one person I know best, so I don't have to fret about details, I could just refer to what I would do. I have some close combat knowledge due to Historical European Martial Arts, but I am terrible at DIY, and I even have asperger's syndrome, meaning people don't get on as well with me at times. I am middle class, below average height, and not especially strong or fast.

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Coolness! Well I personally prefer zombie games like The Walking Dead where you have to make tough decisions, to games where it's mostly running around killing things, so some interesting situations would be:

Two survivors are both getting attacked by zombies and you only have time to save one. The other dies.

A person you really care about becomes a zombie, and you have to kill them.

You find a child survivor, but they make loads of noise and won't stop crying, and they're drawing the zombies attention. You need to figure out a way to make the child stop screaming, or kill them before the zombies get you.

One of the zombies still seems to display some sign of human intelligence and emotion, and you have to decide whether to kill it or try to communicate with it. If you decide to spare it, the zombie gradually becomes more aggressive and depending on future decisions, it either kills you, or sacrifices itself to help you get away from other zombies.

With zombies running around everywhere, there's no law enforcement, so it's not only zombies you need to worry about, some of the survivors are dangerous too, and would happily kill you for a packet of animal crackers.

Romance is always a nice addition to a game. Maybe you meet a lovely young girl who you fall for, and the pair of you could live happily ever after... Or she could die tragically at the end. Either's good.

That's all I can think of so far. Remember, if the game's got a lot of characters, you should try to make them range in age and race, and have roughly the same amount of female characters as there are males. Also try to get some creepy little kid zombies in there! Nothing scarier than an adorable little kid that gets turned into a zombie cheeky

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Um... Aren't all of those situations part of Berka's game? xD

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Are they? I dunno, I only played through it once cheeky

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Really, only once? I've played it about 7 times. 

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Wait, Berka Zerka made a game?

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Yep! That's kind of what the site's for cheeky

http://chooseyourstory.com/story/dead-man-walking-(zombie-survival)

Should give you some ideas on how to write an awesomeful zombie game ^_^

Further plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Oh of course, I've already played that storygame!
I just didn't realise that Berka Zerka made it.

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Those are all situations in Berka's game, but seriously, that game covers every usual (and unusual) situation in zombie media, it'd have one helluva writeup on TVtropes....

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

While I know there is another character to choose, the whole author self insertion thing is a huge negative. The only positive in that regard is he didn't make himself "SUPERMAN." Still don't care for it though, and if this one is going to be in first person, I'm not even going to bother. Lol.

So hopefully the rest of the story will be a lot better to make up for it, but given that this is going to be yet another zombie story, it's going to have to be even better than Berka's zombie story.

The goal for "realism" in a zombie story is at least a step in the right direction though.

But then if "realism" is the goal, why not just do a straight up post apocalyptic story without zombies? Tons of the same dangers, same survival concerns and you could get complete realism that way and it would stand out a lot more since there aren't a lot of flat out post apocalyptic stories on here let alone realistic ones.

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Will there be quarantines, executions, and witch-hunts? (all of which will result in the undead popping back up for a day or two)

A tad more plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

There may well be attampted witch hunts and executions and such things, but essentially people will die off from their old ways.

They may not help each other out in trouble, they may take foolish risks, they may decide that guns/CQC only will be fine, they may even run out of ammunition, or simply be overrun.

The point is, there will be a slow and gradual decline of the population as things get tougher and tougher, with each successful infected attack causing more and more people to join their ranks.

Item/Variable assistance needed.

11 years ago

I am planning on using items as part of different pathways in my storygames, but I would like some suggestions as to what kind of things you would like to see in them.

I have just today updated my Richard Fox version with a choice between carrying a kitchen knife, and a claw hammer. The knife being better for fighting, and the hammer having more utility usage.

 

I personally think I will also make different deaths/progressions based on injuries, so the same page has different effects depending on how the character's status is. Would you guys like that?

Item/Variable assistance needed.

11 years ago

What I'd like to see is great character development. All the great choose your own adventure zombie stories have had great character development. As far as items go, just make sure that they all have a use/purpose. I personally don't like seeing an item in my inventory that I NEVER will use for any reason. Also, give them there own purpose. I once played a zombie adventure and every melee and ranged weapon had the same function. It made no sense to me that I could accurately shoot someone on a roof with a sawn-off shotgun when I am on the ground hiding behind a car.

Item/Variable assistance needed.

11 years ago

Indeed, I already started that sort of thing before making that post.

 

Currently we have one set of different items:

- The claw hammer is less effective at combat and makes you receive more injuries when using it, whereas the knife allows you to take fewer injuries when fighting.

- The knife has little to no utility function, as per the item's description, whereas the claw hammer can nail down, pull nails and pry items apart.

 

Any suggestions as to other items you want to see featured?

Free test for all!

11 years ago

I will let you guys have a sneak peek at the current progress of the storygame.

Link here:
http://chooseyourstory.com/story/the-great-infection~3a-richard-fox

Free test for all!

11 years ago

It looks fine for a start. Make sure you have images for those items. As for other items I would suggest anything that would make sense to use in situations like these, however with the items you have now it appears to be working.

What I'm about to suggest may be complicated, but if you use guns in the story, they should have their own traits. Such ass a shotgun being able to kill almost anything at close range, or a rifle for medium to long range etc.

I like how your melee weapons mention that the range is only as far as you can reach and that they are best used in certain situations.

Free test for all!

11 years ago

Yes indeed, and you may notice that using the hammer or knife to fight is perfectly fine, but using the claw hammer makes you receive more injuries.

There will be parts in the game all over the place which you can easily progress on, but if you're too injured, then you will die no matter how good you think your plan is.
That's what I like about my storygame, an end to basic Win/Fail choices!

Free test for all!

11 years ago

Eh, for balance, I think picking the hammer in the future would result in a lot of unlocked "secrets" (aka inaccessible areas), and also...

Why can't we hold both the knife and the hammer?  They're relatively light objects each, and it'd be weird to not have something to makeshift pack them in at least.

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

Ahem.  Alright, so to begin, I think that you have a fantastic beginning, not to bad, although it could use some work, as if it would be possible for players to be allowed more options.  Other than that, this game would be amazing, and I am looking forward to playing it!wink

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

The plan is to open up the options when the whole thing kicks off, like the choice to save that woman or flee will branch the story out right from the start., although whether you use a knife or a claw hammer will only change the description and the injuries received.

Plot assistance needed.

11 years ago

What if I use my necromatic powers instead? :P

Sounds interesting, and I like what I've read except for a few things like in the first two choices and their resulting pages.

One, you mention Martin on one page as a friend but on the other you mention Martin but without naming him. Is there a reason for this?

Also make sure to use the correct words to match what a character is doing. (Example: Motioning could be replaced as Stumbling or Shuffling.)

Plot assistance needed still.

11 years ago

Indeed, I am trying to improve the grammar, continuity and detail.

Please bear in mind that the infected personnel featured in this storygame are basically ex-humans, rather than stereotypical "shufflers" and "walkers", so they can run for example.

Basically imagine them as very animalistic people, and you can get a reasonable idea of what they can do or not do.

Plot assistance needed still.

11 years ago

I figured that but "Motioning" is not a movement word unless you are trying to get somebody else to move. So unless that zombie was trying to get me to walk over to him... lol

Plot assistance needed still.

11 years ago

Dangit! Where is this 'motioning' word you're obsessing about so much?

I'm going to scour my whole story until I root it out!

Plot assistance still needed.

11 years ago

So, do you guys have any further suggestions?
I am trying my best not to leave this stagnant, even while I juggle my work.

 

Note: Story has been upgraded again, with the claw hammer now coming into play!