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Zombie types

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IHateThisMap Joined: 18 Mar 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Quake, ID, B-Movies, Comic |

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:20 am Post subject: Zombie types |

So I was messing around with roaming monster tutorial and discovered I really like the way the zombies in Quake look and move. I have seen them a million time by now, but from some resion inspiration hit. So as I try to wrap my head around QuakeC I'm also thinking ahead about the kind of mod I would like to make, and I have decided one a zombie mod. I want to replace all the monsters in the game with different types of zombies.
Now I'm stuck though, having just one zombie roaming around the world would be boring but the classic Romero zombie doesn’t give you much to work with in video game design terms. The Quake rip-off-parts-off-my-body-and-throw-'em-at-the-player type zombie is here to stay and a melee zombie is a no brainer. I was also thinking of having a zombie pick up objects and throw them at the player because I'm using gyro, but that may be beyond my programming skillz. It's also a lot like the normal Quake zombie.
I don't want to get out there as well; I want to stick with something near to Romero-like zombies. While I like the near-dead zombie-monsters from games like Resident Evil and House of the Dead thats just not the feel I want to go for. Those "zombie" are really just monsters and there no point in replacing the almost perfect Quake monsters with half-baked monster of my own.
So what do you think? Do you have any ideals on different kind of zombie I could use or is my criteria just too narrow and that way other zombie game maker picked a bunch of zombie-like monster?

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Wazat Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 732 Location: Middle 'o the desert, USA |

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:21 am Post subject: |

Someone once recommended an old scifi movie called Moon Trap for a Quake monster idea. The basic idea is there's this little pod that sends out tentacles to grab various objects it finds and use them as limbs, armor, etc. So it might grab several sticks, a metal beam, a chainsaw, a Care Bears plushie, etc and be walking around with those as its limbs, and possibly weapons.
The creature was most interested in other living things, however, because the "parts" it could obtain from them were of a level of complexity far beyond sticks or even machines.
So the quake monster might be a pod that builds itself out of various items, weapons, and gibs it finds. The monster would be a boon for the player because he can pick up and use some of the items it was composed of once he kills it, but it's also dangerous because it can use the same weapons he can once it becomes complex enough, etc.
That might work well for your zombie mod. At the very least, it can grab other gibs by telekinesis and pull many zombie parts together into one walking or floating mass that not only throws gibs, but uses the gibs as a shield/etc. The player has to keep shooting to knock away the gibs and other objects and reach the zombie inside.
Could be a cool boss fight.
Other ideas:
*Flame zombies are on fire all the time, and their flaming gibs (both those it throws at the player and those that come off of it upon death) can set the player on fire.
*Frost zombies are blue colored and slow the player when they hit him.
*Zombie grunts are slow moving but have high HP and no pain reaction. They fire their shotguns too.
*Cluster Zombie: When it dies, its giblets become little tiny monsters that run across the ground (like the ferret bombs in my Wazat mod) and leap at the player, exploding in a bloody blast when they hit the player or a wall.
*Boomer: Inspired by Left4Dead, this zombie fires throwup streams at the player and explodes on death.
*The smoker is also up for grabs: Do a harpoon-like tongue that can pull the player to the zombie for some melee attacks.
*Fast zombies: They move into melee range very quickly, and strike for high damage.
*Poison zombies: Green zombies that poison the player if they hit him, and rupture into a green poison cloud on death.
Those are some ideas.
_________________
When my computer inevitably explodes and kills me, my cat inherits everything I own. He may be the only one capable of continuing my work.

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MeTcHsteekle Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 397 Location: its a secret |

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject: |

half a zombie - craws on the ground at a fast rate so the player cant see it as well so it goes up and bites his ankles poisoning him the other half - runs up and kicks you a lot ...thars all i gotz kaptan _________________ bah

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leileilol Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 1321 |

Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 4:09 am Post subject: |

i liked the snow zombie from that quake christmas mod, he threw his own snowballs

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IHateThisMap Joined: 18 Mar 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Quake, ID, B-Movies, Comic |

Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:07 pm Post subject: |

MeTcHsteekle wrote:
half a zombie - craws on the ground at a fast rate so the player can’t see it as well so it goes up and bites his ankles poisoning him

I liked this ideal. Like after you gib a zombie instead of it throwing a head model it would sometimes throw a crawling torso. Not bad.
As for the pod zombie, the more I think about the more I like it and the more I don't think it will work in my mod. Never the less I think I'm going to try it, just because I think it's a cool ideal, so I will keep you updated if I ever get it to work.
As for as some of your other ideals; flaming zombies are a no brainer. I was think the zombies would become on fire after taking damage from an explosion but not gib (i.e. kill) them. Some of the L4D stuff is too out there and doesn’t really work in my view of the way I want my game to feel. Frost Zombie will just be grabber zombie that holds the player in place on untill they drop them, and all zombie melee attack will randomly poison the player.
Finally the cluster zombie will be limited to the zombie dog. If you gib him his head will remain alive and will bit the player when they walk over it.
Thank of the ideals, would love to hear more.

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Gilgamesh Joined: 26 Oct 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Brazil |

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 12:34 pm Post subject: |

Years ago i've made a mod that replaced all monsters with random variations of the originals, so you got a surprise at every corner. But with my lack of talent in modeling and texturing i've made the variations using copy'n'pasta (yummy) with the quake assets.
For zombies i've done:
- Vicious Zombie: you must destroy all his gibs after gibbing him, because his gibs attracted other gibs until he reassemble again. Very hard to kill when packed together.
- Suicide Zombie: had a bunch of grenades on his torso and used a jump attack like the fiend, to explode in the face of the player. Was one of the scarier variations...
- Grunt Zombie: the regular grunt with a zombiefied texture and no weapon on his hands. He did only a punch attack, was very weak.
- Dog Zombie: like the above, a variation of the dog with lots of wounds and rotten body. His bite could infect you: you would lose 5hp each 5s (60s total).
- Rotten Zombie: a zombie with a greener texture, would explode in a cloud of gas when killed (dammit, l4d!)
- Violent Zombie: a zombie with a whiter texture, was faster then the regular zombie, throwed a bunch of gibs per attack and screamed like hell.
_________________
#EOP

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scar3crow Inside3D Staff Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Posts: 837 Location: Las Vegas, NV

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:16 pm Post subject: |

Quote:
Rotten Zombie: a zombie with a greener texture, would explode in a cloud of gas when killed (dammit, l4d!)

You mean dammit Diablo2?
IHateThisMap - You might be interested in http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=15610
I've not tried it, but nonetheless, its an idea.
For generating zombies, there is the obvious first thing of making every monster just be converted into a zombie immediately, just have that entity point to the variety of zombie you would like it to be (or roll the dice and pick from one of a few zombie types). For supplemental counts, you could actually use entities like deathmatch spawn spots, teleport destination brushes, and items, namely weapons and artifacts which usually have ample space around them. Throw in a little wandering code at the onset so they aren't just squatting on that rocket launcher, and you have a "more full" level pretty quickly.
One way to make this a bit smoother is to have these entities do a radius check, and a trace check for the player. If the player is not in line of sight, and isn't within so many units, and the zombie count is lower than zombie minimum, then spawn the zombie there.
For the zombies themselves, instead of drastic differences, go for nuances and 'personality'.
Within the normal zombie you can have a few flavors where they move at slightly different speeds, or lurch forward kinda fast for a specific frameset, you can adjust how often they check for the ability to do a ranged attack... On top of that you can go beyond the normal gib throwers, and add in strict melee types, one that clubs with their arms, one that bites (use the Fiend melee attack sound for this), and one that grabs and chokes until you knock them away with damage (choking can dim vision, and does damage ignoring armor). With those handful of things you've got a lot of what feels like rather natural variety.
The crawling zombies are always a memorable thing, and it would be nice if you implemented a "partial" gibbing, where the damage check is between 0 and the normal gib value, so theres the chance of hitting that awkward amount (gibbing a group of zombies, one of the ones on the outside is partially gibbed, becomes a crawling zombie).
Don't forget about zombies that start out laying down, that can shake things up in a very simple respect.
If you're willing to require an engine, or just have it be ugly, you could do phantom zombies, transparent zombies which are silent, who only make sound and appear when attacking.
Another thing would be a "collective unconscious" zombie, a rare zombie type, who as long as they can see you, all zombies are aware of you and your exact location - this would be more effective with waypoints of course, but could still have some impact.
Just some thoughts.
_________________
...and all around me was the chaos of battle and the reek of running blood.... and for the first time in my life I knew true happiness.

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