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[DEAD STATE] XCOM + ZOMBIES. New Info Pg. 8
Sheep
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
When the Obsidian/Troika veterans Doublebear announced that they were making a Zombie-themed RPG, there was an immediate response in our comment thread. Namely, posting comments. It was then codenamed ZRPG. Now, it has a real name. It’s going to be called Dead State and we’ve got the first hard information, screenshots and an interview with head Doublebearer Brian Mitsoda.
Dead State is set in Texas in the fictional town of Splendid, in the middle of nowhere. The idea being to create a landlocked place with few large cities and a distance between towns – and, metaphorically, a dying area in real life too. The game is predominantly rural and suburban in design, with the major cities basically forming a natural border for the map area. Because, frankly, due to the disaster, the cities aren’t where you go.
You’re in charge of the local shelter – a school – which works as your base of operation. The basic mission is survival. You go out, gathering food and finding allies – and every person who can join you is a defined personality. You stay in, improving your defences and upgrading equipment. The sort of elements of the game are discussed further in the FAQ but the key element is freedom. The game doesn’t have any defined enemies. Yes, it has people who you’ll likely end up hostile to, but other groups of survivors will like or dislike you based upon your actions to each other.
Zombies, of course, won’t like you at all. It’s a zombie purist game, concentrating on shambling brain-eaters rather than any manner of super-sprinting-zombie. Alone, they’re not really much to worry about. In large mobs, attracted by gunfire – like, for example, you may engage in when fighting other survivors for precious supplies – they’re rather more troublesome.
In short, with its freedom to explore and lack of a classical arc, this seems to draw heavily from the Fallout well. Marrying that to an unexplored (in this particular genre) theme, and we’ve got something that’s terribly exciting for anyone who cares about RPGs. We talked to Brian Mitsoda (ex-Troika, ex-Obsidian) about what’s waiting out there in the desert…
Interesting quotes from the devs:
it’s really the human self-preservation instinct and the survivor mentality that we’re interested in portraying.
Most of the groups either don’t want to deal with you or they just want your stuff, so convincing them to work with you or teaching them to fear you will take some doing. Not everybody wants to be found and most people will see you as a potential threat. NPC groups will act against each other, so sometimes your help or inaction can have an effect on other groups. We let the player choose their allies and their enemies – there is no ultimate bad guy threat to all the groups, well, I guess unless the player manages that.
As I was mentioning earlier, we wanted to make our allies feel as though they were individuals rather than extensions of the player. They can be ordered around by the player, but as to whether they will follow that order or not depends on their ability, their aversion to the task, and their respect for the player’s commands. That might make it sound like they will NEVER do anything you say, but really what it means is if your ally is scared of zombies and you tell him to run into a pack of zombies, he’s most likely going to ignore the order or do it and possibly start panicking as the zombies start to mob him. Each ally has different perks and personalities, and most of these can be altered by your interaction with them. Through dialogue/time they might grow to respect you and be more likely to put themselves in danger to protect you or your encouragement might make them fearlessly aggressive – there’s quite a few ways you can shape their behavior, and not always in healthy, feel-good back-patting.
The big difference in our group and something like Jagged Alliance is these are normal people with little to no combat experience, not a veteran squad of commandos, so they handle like you’d expect them to.
Well, we only have one type of zombie – three if you count crawling zombies and zombies that have been set on fire. Zombies are attracted to sound – in fact, you can even make noise to try and lure them out of a building, If you’re unsure how many there are. There’s a noise meter in the combat interface to let you know how much noise has been made. Make noise, local ones will come to investigate. Make a lot of noise and distant ones will start looking for you. Make enough noise and zombies will be lured to that map. It’s okay to be loud once in awhile, but if you sustain noise for too long, they’ll be coming from all over. Stay quiet for a few rounds and they will forget about you if you haven’t been spotted.
More from that interview:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/25/a-blood-red-state-dead-state-revealed/
Old stuff here:
Care of NeoGAF.
Quick background. Brian Mitsoda was (one of?) the lead writer(s) in VTM: Bloodlines. He then went on to work at Obsidian, where he helped create the Dialogue Stance System for the upcoming ALPHA PROTOCOL - MODERN SPY ACTION-RPG PC/PS3/360: OCTOBER 2009.
So where is he now? Looks like he's founded a new independant game company, DoubleBear http://www.doublebearproductions.com/
And it also looks like their first project will be a zombie RPG.
http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=be6d325a19695c7cff9a210c7f961926&board=11.0
Infos:
-Set during the breakdown of society as emergence of zombies causes widespread panic and disorder.
-Slow, shambling zombies. Spreads like a virus/bite transmission. No, you are not a zombie, that would be stupid.
-Serious examination of a national crisis or natural disaster. Humans and a lack of order are a bigger threat than the undead. Think Hurricane Katrina, Children of Men, Dawn of the Dead NOT Resident Evil, Return of the Living Dead, zombie shooter-type games.
-Game is about survival. Scavenging resources, exploring the area, dealing with other survivors, and managing a “shelter†of sorts are the main focus of the game. More on this later.
-Game is open-ended. There are characters and events that could happen, but the story depends on where you go, what you do, and who you meet. Of course, there’s a lot more to this and we'll go into more details as time goes on.
It also looks like it'll be using indie RPG Age of Decadence's tech.
The scope is moderate. Naturally, if gas stations were closed, roads were clogged with cars, and people/zombies are a constant threat, you wouldn't be able to travel too far. More on the map and location later.
Skill-based, with some very basic stats. Skills generally make two or more common types of actions easier in the game. For example, if you were to increase the Leadership skill, you'd open up more Leadership-based dialogue options and increase the effectiveness of your allies.
Only shambling zombies - no runners, no spitters, just classic Romero/Shaun of the Dead/Zombie Survival Guide shamblers. But... Romero showed us that PEOPLE are the real danger more than any brainless zombie...
As a matter of fact, food is important. It's somewhat like a form of currency. It's one of several important resources in our game. The player will never have to worry about feeding themselves in the normal mode of the game, though it will be a factor in the survivor mode (the hardcore/iron man mode). If the player has allies, they will need to eat [each other] or conflicts may arise.
Our zombies aren't that bright, nor are they that that much of a threat when they're alone. But they are persistent. Attract the attention of too many and things get nasty very quickly. And yes, they can lunge and they can grapple if they get close enough.
Dealing with allies and their personality quirks is definitely a big part of managing them. They have a wide range of behaviors. Depending on how your character manages them, you can change their default behavior and curb some of their less desirable traits - or encourage them, if you find that more helpful.
No karma meters here. I'm not a fan. However, depending on your actions, certain NPCs are going to approve/disapprove of your management. Over time, there are consequences and rewards. I'm going to go into detail about this system at another time, but essentially as a leader, you have to make decisions that keep your group functioning as a whole. Lose support and people start losing faith in your ability or the group's ability to survive. There's bit of a political aspect to it.
There is nothing in the above quote that does not reek of super-fucking-awesome.
The official forum has topics of interest.
EDIT
More infos from developers.
The need to eat - I'm hoping this will be an automated process based on your predetermined choices and your current food supply. Manual management of food consumption has gotta be one of the most boring stuff in games that have it. If it isn't automated, well, elaborate?
Yes, automated.
Is food expiration in, depending on food types and condition? It better be!
Yes.
1) Is it set in the real world? Present time?
Yes to both.
1)How is your studio being funded?
reason we can't afford to employ fifty people at once. We wanted to do a project on our own terms and 100% own the property and all the profit it generates over time.
2)Are you the only two employees or do you have a separate design team?
Right now, we're the only two official employees of DoubleBear, but the Iron Tower guys are going to be working on the title as well. Oscar has already completed some fantastic stuff for our project. And as mentioned, we/Iron Tower are adapting AoD code for our game.
Iron Tower are developing the above mentioned game, Age of Decadence.
3)VD gave some hints over on the Codex that the game would not be fantasy. If true (and bit of a bummer if it is) why? Also, if its not fantasy and medieval what period is it set in? Future/post apoclyptic/sci fi? Some hints would be nice.
Our game won't be fantasy, no. Our game, as far as I can tell, is the first RPG to use this setting. It will make more sense, of course, when we release details on the game. People who have seen the design are kind of shocked no one has made this game before.
4)Will you be able to make your own party at start or is it one pc at startup only?
Make your character, NPCs can join, player does not control NPCs directly but can give general commands.
5)Will there be any sort of magic in the game (or psi if you will)
No magic whatsoever, as it wouldn't fit the setting. Though being a game, you can expect that there will be something that totally flies in the face of reality but makes sense in game logic.
6)Are you liscensing any rulesystem to use or is it custom built from scratch?
Custom built. The system was the first thing we worked out.
7) Is the game first person or third person?
Third. As we are using the AoD tech, it is going to utilize the same perspective as that game, although we've made some changes to the interface to fit our game's setting and the system changes.
I have no idea what AoD is.
How do you guys feel about infection-weary gameplay? Should the player be immune to the zombie virus or not?
Absolutely. I think the player party should be susceptible to the zombie infection (with the possibility of keeping them healthy with antibiotics), but I'd save player infection risk for a hardcore mode. Plenty of games let the player character walk away from explosions or shotgun blasts to the head because they are the player character, but I do agree, the player and allies shouldn't heal 100% from sleep because then it would make scrounging for medical supplies somewhat obsolete.
Or should there be some (presumably medical) way to stop the disease before it spreads and turns the PC into a zombie?
Antibiotics should be able to slow the infection down. So, maybe a bitten character should be forced to take antibiotics, which means being forced to ration them and constantly look for them. So, if you have 3 bitten guys, but only 2 doses, then you kill one guy and take an emergency trip to a hospital crawling with zombies.
Yes, difficult decisions about who gets medicine, food, taken on "suicide" missions are what make the zombie apocalypse setting interesting. Also, imagine all the problems that start to arise between your group of survivors - everything from "I need more food" to " I won't work with him, he's crazy" to "Let's throw her out - she's a pain in the ass."
Assuming the player is not immune and there is no cure, melee combat would be highly, highly undesirable.
Which is realistic. The last thing a survivor of a zombie apocalypse would want is to get close to a zombie and whack it with a stick. However, if noise plays a role, then taking a risk and attacking a zombie with axes and machetes is better than shooting one in the head and attracting more zombies. Good balance of pros and cons.
Also, swinging a machete or pipe is "free" in that it costs you no ammo. You might be okay with making noise with your gun because you're confident you can take all the zombies in the area out, but when they keep coming because of the noise...
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Skepticism noted, but it is being created by a real developer with real tools.
Thank goodness it's not one of those fake developers using fake tools.
Although I'd even expect them to have some fake screenshots.
Yeah same here.
I'm pretty damn excited for this.
With a fucking vengeance.
The only way this would be better is with multiplayer.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I hope it has real-time hide in your attic and do nothing mechanics.
They've talked a bit about having to kill your own party members for survival. I wonder if you can expect NPCs to try and do the same to you or to eachother.
My skepticism is strong though.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Backlog Wars - Sonic Generations | Steam!
Viewing the forums through rose colored glasses... or Suriko's Ye Old Style and The PostCount/TimeStamp Restoral Device
It looks like it's trying to ape things like Fallout (especially with the UI.) But the early Fallout games looked good, 'cuz they used sprites and did it well vs the pretty lame 3d graphics in the AoD screenies.
Alas! Maybe this will look better.
I'm looking forward to the demo. Even if this guy happens to use valve time.
Better to have things right than halfass it for time restraints. And a small dedicated team can churn out some very good games.
Damn those magnificent bastards.....
Celeste [Switch] - She'll be wrestling with inner demons when she comes...
Super Mario Wonder - Wowie Zowie!
cannot wait!
I'm a little skeptical they'll pull everything in that list off, but I really hope they do.
The thread title made me think otherwise, and that made me laugh.
I was actually thinking heavily about a hardcore zombie survival game a few months ago after reading Day By Day Armageddon. Then I see this. A wish come true.
Though I am really really skeptical.
http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=be6d325a19695c7cff9a210c7f961926&topic=974.msg29888#msg29888
Oh internets
At any rate, SOLD. SOLD SO HARD.
The infection mechanics worry me, though. I'm the kind that likes to wade in and heal up afterwards. =X
Really the whole premise reminds me of the Walking Dead comic series. Everyone should check it out as its amazing.
I think the best part is that zombies are predictable, slow, and easily dispatched.
It's the humans that are the unpredictable, dangerous and cunning death dealers.
I hear their reactions upon realizing that not only am I gone, but the door is splintering, I raise my revolver and realize, just as half the zombies begin to fall down, tripping over each other, that I forgot to reload my gun.
Sounds like it. The interviews suggest that they certainly designed it around what would actually happen if lol, zombies!
For instance: Yeah, you could head for Costco or WalMart with all your buddies. Just like 50 other families. 50 other armed, nervous families, possibly including some infected people.
You could head for a farm. The animals might all be infected. There might be someone on the roof with a 3006 and lots of experience pegging a can off a fence post from 300 yards.
You could head for a zoo. Did the lions get out?
Who do you trust? The zombies have a pure motive, you have no idea what's going on inside your fellow survivor's heads. What are they going to do when your food supplies start to run out?
It might not be just the zombies who are hungry for your flesh.
not because it would be dangerous or anything, just because, well, why the hell would you go to the zoo?
Oh the cruelest irony! The survivors of a zombie apocalypse have run out of food and must eat each other to survive.
That is ironic right?
Infected Lions
Fuck that
Loads of food/fuel, lots of fencing, access tunnels, and who the fuck heads for the zoo? Besides, the animals are more likely to starve to death then to be zombified, given the fencing to contain them.