For those who have read Zombie Exodus, thanks for helping with the beta! I really appreciate the thoughtful, thorough feedback. I will be submitting to CoG on Thursday or Friday, so thanks again for helping to test it.
For those who haven’t read it, go to http://zombieexodus.com/ if survival horror or zombie apocalypses interest you.
I have some ideas for going forward with Part 3 and 4 and want to throw out the ideas for feedback.
PLANS FOR THE GAME
I am considering building up the story as group survival instead of solo survival. You will be in part of a group of survivors in a “safe house.” Goals will be finding food, staying alive, securing the shelter, and getting other resources. There will be character stat building and group stat building. For example, your personal dexterity may improve and your group’s defense rating may improve.
I will allow players to be “good” or “evil”. Maybe you have always wanted to be the bad guy or gal in the story – this will allow it.
Many characters from Part 1 and Part 2 reappear: Mindy, Candace, Devlin, Jason, and of course Emma and Heather.
The real-time pace of Part 1 will change to greater intervals, mostly weeks.
QUESTIONS
So here are some questions for those willing to provide their opinions:
Does the group survival sound interesting or does solo survival have more appeal?
For this game, should there be more action (i.e. fighting zombies), more adventure (i.e. puzzles/problem solving), or more character building (i.e. focus on relationships and even romance).
Should the pace be real-time or progress over time?
Do you have a sense of the characters of Emma, Heather, and Devlin. Is there too limit character development so far, or just enough? Do you like them, hate them, don’t care, etc?
Do you have a favorite scene from Part 1 or 2? How about least favorite?
Thanks for any feedback and please feel free to be as critical as you want, so that I can make this the best game possible.
It should be a choice, and people should be able to get killed easily (other than yourself, obviously)
More action sequences, but claustraphobic and tense moments when you are hunting/being hunted. Time chases out of buildings, for example, with zombies coming after you, or a group member being attacked…
I don’t know what you mean by that… lol. Make main events in the game, like horde fighting, but maybe seeing the aftermath of the battle/being there early may have good effects…
Emmy (your sister) should have more character development. I’ve got Devlin as a smug, narcissistic but generally good person (Del-Boy comes to mind), and heather as a feminist “tomboy” who is a pragmatist, and really a Mary Sue, but because she is displaying all her worst qualities, it makes her a great character. Emmy… I don’t know. I THINK she is the NPCs off of escort missions (I’m going to folllow you, get in your way, be in awe when you kill zombies even with me purposely annoying you and not die when being told to charge to your death), but I am not sure. I want her to have more personality, but she reminds me of a tertiary character (one that is involved for a few scenes like the geek in the first scene), with no real value.
The comical value of imagining when Candace and Mindy were hitting that zombie… I wanted an option to be "join in hitting the zombie with a third broom.
@devex3 I will make Part 3 and 4 more dangerous, since the zombie exodus will start. I can not program both solo and group survival, but will have to pick one, although I am allowing players to be selfish, even anti-social in their behavior. For example, you find food but don’t share it, or see someone attacked by a zombie and don’t help.
I like your other ideas and you are absolutely right about the character development.
Wow I cant wait till its finished. I tried posting a Looooong comment in this thread today at lunch using my phone. (You know how I like to blab on) But it didn’t post for some reason. But it was basically agreeing with everything that was said ahead of me.
@JimD
You going to reprogram some of the parts? That’s going be one Hell of a hassle … I suggest you just build up Emma’s towards part 3 and 4… unless you already thought of that… ^.^ anyways I like your idea finding food but not sharing etc… but knowing me… I play as though I was really in the CoG… not just do what I would do if I could do that in real life…key word there is “could”… I play it as though it is real life and do what I know I would do… like in real life if there was a zombie apocalypse… and someone was dieing… I would run and help… its not that “Oh its a game so its okay if I help don’t help the guy.”… lolol how do you play it JimD?
@MouaThug – I am not going to change Part 1 or 2 before writing 3 and 4. I am going to do like you said – build up Emma more going forward. I play CoG games like I am really living them, but as someone who has done roleplaying for years as a dungeon master and storyteller, I like to give options for people to play evil and antisocial characters if they so choose. Plus, I do enjoy replaying games as a “bad guy” to see how different it is.
I just mean that there should be times in which you can go as a group, or go solo commando, instead of sending specific people instead. As long as it doesn’t turn into a kind of zombie game where the apocalypse isn’t an afterthought.
1.Group does sound more appealing to me. Besides, who could really survive a zombie apocalypse alone? LoL!!
2.Their should be more focus on character interaction. Maybe a flash back scene on life before the zombies. (I’m no professional author so it’s just an idea)
Real time is cool and it works for this story. I’d say stick with it.
The only character that I feel like I don’t really have a sense of is Emma. She seems like she doesn’t have a mind of her own and doesn’t have much to say about major decisions. But everyone else is good.
5.I don’t have one set favorite scene right now. The best so far are the sort of unpredictable ones like the zombie action scenes and finding devlyn. The worst scenes I think are the mushy signs of affection from Emma. But none are really in the “bad” category. You do a good job of keeping the storyline interesting. It’s just as good as the choice of games. Keep up the good work!!
I disagree with ice500 about Emma. She is your character’s sister and it’s predetermined so far that they have a good relationship. They are bound to be affectionate with each other. Even the television show supernatural, a show about two brothers killing demons, had mushy brotherly scenes.
I don’t think the “mushiness” will change because that is a character trait (modeled after my sister) but I will be making her more of a central character. I can see the argument people have made that she is not as developed as Heather or Devlin yet.
Also, in part 3, you will have chances to strengthen or weaken the relationship with Emma, so she may not be so affectionate if specific choices are made.
unless you already thought of that… ^.^ anyways I like your idea finding food but not sharing etc… but knowing me… I play as though I was really in the CoG… not just do what I would do if I could do that in real life…key word there is “could”… I play it as though it is real life and do what I know I would do… 
like in real life if there was a zombie apocalypse… and someone was dieing… I would run and help… its not that “Oh its a game so its okay if I help don’t help the guy.”… lolol