Players take up the role of relatives of a rich old uncle that has recently passed away. His lawyer summons you all to his estate to read his last will and testament.
It is already late when the last of his relatives get to the estate. Everyone is summoned into the library where the lawyer reads the will. In it, everyone at the meeting is given a part of his estate and fortune, on one stipulation, that each person spends one night in the house.
The lawyer asks if anyone objects and then bids all a good night. The front gate is locked as a measure of "safety". And the lawyer leaves for the night. He will be back in the morning to unlock the gates and divvy up estate and money.
Right away things seem out of place as everyone sits in the house. It isn't until they notice shadows moving outside in the family plot outside that everyone truly begins to understand how wrong things are.
The dead are rising from their eternal rest and now it is up to the players to escape the estate. In order to escape they will need to find the spare set of keys for the front gate, keys for the old Buick in the garage and a spare can of gas to fill the vehicle up.
Each time a new game begins the house's contents are randomly generated throughout the estate. Keys, weapons, money and more will be placed in different areas of the house, or property. Some rooms will be locked in the house, requiring keys or special skills to open the doors up. The game is set up in such a fashion, that it is very possible for the players to be unable to even escape the estate.
As a added bonus there is a hidden treasure on the property as well that the uncle has left behind. Players who find that will get huge bonuses to their score. The final cash flow is divided up between survivors. So essentially, the less people who live, the richer you become.
Players that die will re-spawn as zombies. They will be able to move around, open doors and even command more zombies to follow you and preform actions.
The game ends when:
1.) All the players die, Zombies win. Any players that are Zombies get a score bonus.
2.) Survivors find a means to escape from the estate and get away. Survivors get a score bonus.
3.) Survivors manage to last the night in the house, the lawyer comes back in the morning. Survivors get a score bonus.
(You might be wondering why the game ends if the players manage to survive the night without escaping. Long story short, it is like a curse on the estate, once it is day light, the dead rest again.)
Idea and concept are still sketchy.
ID:265792
 Nov 18 2007, 2:15 pm
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Nov 18 2007, 2:23 pm
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Cavern
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Sounds really good.
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"The final cash flow is divided up between survivors. So essentially, the less people who live, the richer you become."
You'd have to be a pretty sick weirdo to murder a relative just to get rich. You should definitely get loads more score if you survive the entire night as opposed to escaping (assuming the former is braver, and harder to pull off). | |
That uncle's a jerk.
Anyway, I think you should ditch the idea of escaping. Just have it be about surviving until morning, and scoring based on who else is alive. Killing other players directly is not allowed, but you can leave them to the zombies. Of course, then they'll come back for revenge, but hey, the money's worth it! Also: why would you give a score bonus to zombies if everybody dies? If everybody dies, then they're all zombies! They just got a score bonus for losing! | |
Yeah, thanks for pointing that out, that would have been a serious design flaw, everyone just keeps dying to get their score up. Not a good idea.
Maybe I will make it just about surviving. I was thinking about adding in some role playing elements, so, later on, you keep your cash and can buy items for your player to carry around, like lock picks, or a knife or something. You know, from the start, instead of finding it. | |
You could give zombiefied players a bonus for killing another player, possibly, but you'd want it to be a small one.
On the whole, a very interesting idea. I'd certainly play it a few times. If I decided I liked the game, it'd probably be on the list of games I play semi-regularly. | |
Please keep it consistent! If it's set in your old, wealthy uncle's house, you'll only find items an old, wealthy, slightly eccentric uncle might have.
Lock picks? Er. A kitchen knife, maybe. A machete from his travels in the jungle, definitely (located in his study, along with the bizarrely bell-shaped elephant gun (Think the guys with the big gun that fired a rocket with a mallet on from the original Rayman. Although this one isn't loaded, so it's only really good for bashing with. Except this is your game so I should probably shut up.)). Draw inspiration from Shaun of the Dead. Snooker cues. A spade. Pub-style darts. Maybe a chair or two. | |
I think guns and ammunition should be in the game.
Not everyone is a sharpshooter, and shooting these zombies in the head might not incapacitate them. So, the effectiveness of guns against zombies should be fairly low (Just as effective as a melee attack?) since zombies don't feel pain. It should take more than a single 9x19mm bullet to incapacitate a zombie. Just give him hunting rifles, shotguns (maybe 20 gauge and not 12 gauge), and handguns. How many and what kind is up to you. I think that player reactions to zombies should be: - If it's a lone zombie, try to take it out - If there's a large group, escape if possible - Barricading and Trapping are more effective than fighting | |
Elation wrote:
A machete from his travels in the jungle, definitely (located in his study, along with the bizarrely bell-shaped elephant gun It would make more sense if the gun was in the shed or something, that way, it is a lot harder to get to considering the majority of the zombies are outside, and the only way to get the most effective weapon in the game would be to risk your dear life. Also, bullets are never loaded into a gun unless it is being used, so of course, you will have to find the bullets also. One of the shelves in the shed maybe? | |
It is? Wow I should see that movie again...I'm not talking about a bat, I'm talking about the thing little kids used to be spanked with at school, the paddle I meant.
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Cavern wrote:
It would make more sense if the gun was in the shed or something, that way, it is a lot harder to get to considering the majority of the zombies are outside, and the only way to get the most effective weapon in the game would be to risk your dear life. A gun should be kept in a warm, dry place -- a shed is usually the opposite. Guns are tools, except unlike shovels they're delicate tools with moderately complicated internal mechanisms. A gun is best kept in a locked box indoors, preferably in the attic (assuming your attic is a warm zone), with a combination trigger lock. If you don't have a warm attic, a closet is the next best place to store a gun. (I'll reserve opinions on the best place to store a gun if you want to hide that gun from everyone, since I'd prefer make my job easier if I ever get into the police. ;-)) So from a gameplay standpoint, you're fairly accurate, but from a realism standpoint it's something of an unusual idea. Also, bullets are never loaded into a gun unless it is being used, so of course, you will have to find the bullets also. One of the shelves in the shed maybe? Ammunition is also something that should be kept in a dry place, although at least the local temperature doesn't affect it much. | |
I think this was an episode of Scooby Doo. It was the lawyer who did it, and the inheritance was all in Confederate money so even if you win, you lose! :P
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Jtgibson wrote:
A gun is best kept in a locked box indoors, preferably in the attic (assuming your attic is a warm zone), with a combination trigger lock. If you don't have a warm attic, a closet is the next best place to store a gun. True. My grandpa has a few shotguns in his home, but he keeps them in a locked cabinet meant for holding shotguns. Nobody really has a gun laying around their house. Some people do, but that is ridiculous. The point I am trying to make is: the gun should be hard to get seeing as how it is the most effective weapon in the game (I know you understood that part since you mentioned it was a good idea from a game standpoint). So, if you really want the gun within the home that the players are staying in, it should be locked in an unbreakable, steel proof locker/cabinet or something, and the keys for it could be in the shed. There could be an old note laying around mentioning were the keys are or something. For example, a player could look under a couch and then words can come up saying "You find an old, crumbled up piece of paper" and it can be the owner of the house telling his wife he left the keys in the shed or something in case she needs the gun if something were to happen. I don't know, just an idea. But if there were a gun, then you will have to make the player have to go outside in order to acquire it by getting something, but I guess that is for the creator to figure out. | |
Zombie Survival Guide: The Google of the zombie-killer world.
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Talking about barricading the house brings up a point I didn't mention. The zombies can't open doors or windows through conventional means, but they can break though doors, windows and some wall types in larger numbers. So estentally if you aggravate a huge cluster of zombies and have them chase you down, there is a good chance they'll just break though a wall or something. One zombie alone most likely won't even break a window, but add a few friends and they will find a way to get in.
I have been considering the possibility of other victims before the players, still in the house, randomly left laying around. (besides the main room they start in.) | |