Zombie Exodus, going forward

Hosted Games Works In Progress
1705

I say do it in order 1234

1706

Hey I was doing the beta, and I was watching Carl beat Jason and stopped uncle Lou from intervening, and later it said I was holding him…?

Killed Carl found typo “think of a few way possible ways to proceed”

1707

Holding him back?

1708

@rrr yeeup

1709

@JimD It’s your blood, sweat and tears. So if you’re up for the extra effort that’s fine by me. And I agree that being in the final chapter makes it a non-issue for the future. I am however saddened to hear that chapter 4 is the final chapter. :frowning: I’m enjoying your story far too much to like the idea that it will be ending soon. :slight_smile:

BTW, I played through the latest version of the chapter 4 beta earlier and found that Carl escaped before I could either talk to Mindy, or to him a second time after I told him I needed time to think about his request. So it appears no longer possible to talk to everyone. Is that intentional?

An interesting side-effect of not talking to Mindy, or of talking to her but not bringing up the relationship, is that I managed to keep my theoretical Mindy romance intact without the variable mindy_like being set. So the love triangle decision scene never occurred. And quite frankly, now that I’m a bit more certain of where things stand between Heather and my character, I’m less inclined to pursue things with Mindy. It would be interesting however if additional opportunities to act on that romantic interest popped up in the future, particularly if things became more rocky between my character and Heather.

Finally I’m not entirely satisfied with the romantic options with Mindy in the TalkToMindy scene. If you do bring your relationship up with her, you either have to make a declaration of love, or end things right then and there. Since things haven’t really started yet, there really shouldn’t be any need to end things however. You can be concerned and caring because you have a soft spot for her without making a pass at her. It also seemed a little dramatic to make a declaration of love before the two of you have even kissed. So basically I’m suggesting two more choices in that scene:

  1. A more relaxed, less dramatic way of initiating a physical relationship with her that doesn’t involve a declaration of love before you’ve even kissed.

  2. A way to show you value and care for her while keeping the door open for the future without crossing the line into something physically intimate that would require making a decision between them or otherwise hurting one of them.

1710

Agreed Λ

1711

@revanrulesrussia Carl will most likely make an appearance, if alive.

@Thatdudeoutthere I’ll re-look at that section but yes, if you restrain Uncle Lou, he mentions it later. Thanks for pointing out that typo.

@P_Tigras thanks. That’s great feedback, which I will definitely incorporate.

1712

Whats gonna happen to Jason since hes in a coma?

1713

Is there any way of having sex with Mindy?

1714

Its implied…it wont make a whole scene out of it.

1715

R u sure. Mindy turned me on after the demo?

1716

@mbrandino321 lol way to be blunt about it. :-bd

1717

hi
oh no part four will be the last one?
*sad*

I’ve got a problem with the saving part in ZE, (not the beta)

i have finished the game on the choiceofgames.com itself,
http://www.choiceofgames.com/user-contributed/zombie-exodus/
mainly because it did ask me an e-mail address to save the game.

I atempted to play the game on zombieexodus.com,
http://zombieexodus.com/zombieexodus/mygame/index.html

and for saving, it will provide a ~huge~ password which you should copy it down somewhere, and continue.

unfortunetly my screenReader locks up at that part, i think maybe it atempts to read the password from up to down then considering the spam it locks up. then when i reload it, i simply cannot find the next button to continue.

oh and, a screenreader is a software which let’s the visually impaired (blind) users (like me) to interact with the computer.
I think i’m going to share this game with some of my friends and see that they will have the same issue, or not.

thanks.

1718

@revanrulesrussia Jason’s fate (if in a coma) is fairly grim considering the Cathedral is ill equipped to give him the care he needs.

@mrbrandino321 You can get close to Mindy and there will be vaguely written scenes with intimacy but this isn’t 50 Shades of Mindy.

@arash Choiceofgames.com has a database that stores passwords through email but my beta site does not. Unfortunately, I don’t know a better way to allow saves than to do the huge password feature. It sounds like the screenreader does not interact with it well. Sorry about that. I don’t know of a way to fix it but other people are creating hard save options and hopefully we can all make use of them soon.

1719

Is the mission where you go to Temperance with Mindy alsoo to help Jason?

1720

@jimd

cool, i think hopefully when part 4 gets completed it will get onto choiceofgames server too.

also i’ve contacted my software’s company, because the problem is on my end actually.

thanks.

1721

This game is awesome. It’s massive, it’s atmospheric, it has zombies, and the player’s choices often have dramatic consequences.

I noticed a few mistakes in part 1. (I’ve played all 3 parts, but have only spot-checked part 1 so far.) I apologize if they seem very nitpicky - usually I wouldn’t care, but the more I like something, the more its flaws irk me.

Writing:

  1. Before you enter Arthur Connor’s apartment: “No light escapes the small crack opening.” I don’t know, the sentence just sounds strange.

  2. When you meet the zombie in the stairwell (outside your apartment): “He stumbles forward with legs at odd angles, steeping in and out of the trash…” According to my dictionary, “steeping” cannot be used in this way. Maybe you meant stepping?

  3. On the very next page: “…you drop down and roll under his body, the jag edges of the stairs digging into your back…” I think you meant jagged edges (jag isn’t an adjective).

  4. In the cafe: “…you spot the figure of a man hunched over a woman laying across the table.” I believe “lying across the table” is correct. (There are some other times when you use “lay” instead of “lie”, but I haven’t tracked them all down yet.)

Like I said, very nitpicky. The writing in general is very good. I found comparatively few technical problems:

Technical:

  1. If you find Thomas’ check and don’t use it to bribe the officers, it remains in your inventory for the rest of the game (all the way to the end of part 3). This is particularly noticeable when your inventory should be empty: “Inventory: You carry nothing.Thomas’ check”

  2. When choosing a car to rescue Emma, you can break into the faded red Honda Civic (and possibly the other cars - I haven’t checked) twice.

1722

@ghyltarvoke I think the fact that your nitpicky will serve well for Jimd because as far as I’m concerned he wants this story to be as well done as a published book, and so, your help will always be welcome, and so. WELCOME to the most fantastic part of the choice of games’ forums

1723

Thank you, TDOT! I agree, this thread has interesting discussions.

Some remarks on the game design:

  1. I find it odd that your humanity decreases when you kill zombifying humans (like Dave). From a moral perspective, it ends their suffering and reduces the number of future zombies, so everyone benefits. (EDIT: You automatically kill Robert for these very reasons after Linda infects him. The player has no choice in the matter, and his humanity is unchanged.) If “low humanity” means “desensitized to violence”, however, it makes sense.

  2. As others have pointed out, it is possible to die by making reasonable choices (getting zombified when you inspect the oozing mass, for instance). This is slightly frustrating. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to play a game where all the correct choices are obvious, so I guess you have to strike a balance. Also, with the addition of checkpoint saves, dying isn’t as time-consuming.

  3. The only activity that seems useful at the cathedral is “improving one of your own skills”. The cathedral is never attacked from that point onward, so improving its defenses is a poor decision. Building renewable water/energy sources and searching for food don’t help, since you still have to make all 3 runs. Similarly, your companions never fight (with the possible exception of Mindy), so training them has little effect. As far as I can see, scouting/improving your reputation does nothing. Finally, researching the virus doesn’t lead anywhere. Perhaps these choices will have consequences in part 4?

  4. The “exploit” in which you squeeze the maximum weight out of your backpack (by going right up to the limit, then adding something extra-heavy) is annoying, mostly because it’s not obvious. I would have liked some clarification of the weight system.

  5. To end on a good note - I absolutely LOVE the fuel run. It’s very intense, and much more frightening than any other part of the game. The darkness, your depleting NVG batteries, the absence of companions, and the time limit all combine to create a harrowing experience. I actually like the increased level of difficulty.

1724

A few more corrections.

  1. In part 1, if you decide to charge through the military blockade, then wait and watch the Cadillac: “They yelling at the driver, and the vehicle turns off.” (I assume “yell” was intended.)

  2. When you go to bed at Heather’s house: “Anytime, you look at Heather, she looks away.” (First comma.)

  3. On the same page: “…metal tables with bodies laying on them…” (Laying vs. lying.)

  4. After meeting Devlin: “‘So, anyway, why are you heading to head east?’” (I’m not sure if “head” was repeated unintentionally, or if it’s a slang/dialect thing.)

  5. When getting off the boat: “Three vehicles sit in a 4-car parking lot: a black Dodge van, a black Jeep Cherokee, and a red Pickup truck.” (I think Pickup should be lowercase.)