“Girl in leather Cat Woman?”
I do believe that Poison Mara was talking about Sipher.A,
(A Character who I originally believed to be someone cosplaying as Commander Sheppard), She can be found in one of the new locations Jim has added to the game (Don’t know if I’m allowed to spoil it), and she comes to your potential rescue wearing some pretty bad-ass amour and acting generally “Nicer” than one would expect of someone who is implied to have suffered a tragedy and in the middle of a dangerous situation with a stranger.
(She sounds like a pretty cool character though my encounters with her are bugged so all I get to do is say thank you before a very rude zombie starts calling.)
However going back to the linear and sandbox question above, you could always have major events play out after a certain number of days (Give or take time with certain characters and items, like for example a Bandit group might form a bit of a murder boner for you on day 22 because of Jamie, but if you went out of your way to kill people or piss them off that story line may occur on day 10 Or perhaps you consider stealing from one of your neighbours because you don’t have any food and this could happen on day 7 or 30 depending on if they are alive or if you have any food at all. And the basic Idea would be that all our mini-adventures are either preparing, delaying, stopping or causing us to run into big events that give story importance, like a really bad sickness, being hurt, looking for a cure, no food, killing people or not…Or Zombie Exodus itself).
Though those are just my thoughts and I love the way Jim has done the game so far, but my own opinion is that linear and sandbox don’t have to be separate, but to include them both requires way more work than doing them separately
Exactly as @Oirbse has said. Sypher. But is a complicated name and Cat woman fits nicely. All black leather a badass weapon, and she is taking nice and like a purr kitty. Also in pure denial shock she believes that she could restart her math mayor in a month or two. Yeah, keep trying. I don’t know what Mara will do with her. Half of them would fall in love and the rest would just kill her there. I know that zombies would enter so I can’t stole all he has but @JimD let me pick something from her like some armor and weapon. When i could fake being a military personnel alo would be better.
@poison_mara if Sifer lives in your game, you’ll have a chance to con or rob her later.
New version up which fixes many errors.
http://zombieexodus.com/ze2/web/mygame/index.html
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Leather armor for Mara 
Someone would be dead soon or walking nude
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The Walking Nude. 
@JimD You’re crazy for creating a game like this. Love it. 
Hope you can see it through without getting buried in variables. Those are my arch nemesis, the pesky little things. How do you do it, keep a database with them? 
A couple of quick play-throughs later. Spotted some errors:
Kleptomanic con artist:
You step into the living room. Over the fireplace, a new painting hangs, framed in hardwood, an image of a boat on turbulent waters with a saturated ray of sunshine piercing through clouds. The canvas consumes most of the wall. A small gold box sits on the corner of the mantle, and you palm it in your hand and slip it in your coat when she looks away.
In this case, Garret was a he, but referred to - in this instance only as far as I can tell - as a she.
Commander with a pet named Max:
Use $**(**pet_name} to create a diversion while you run in through the living room.
A regular parenthesis instead of a brace (curly bracket) in the beginning.
So many variants when playing. 
I am certain now - you are crazy. Crazy good. 
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Hey @JimD, it’s me again. Been quite some time since I last played, and I must say that I’m very pleasantly surprised with the update.
Regarding the linear-vs-sandbox thing, I’d aim for a hybrid. Write us a main story but let us act on our own between plot-moving scenes. Kinda like the games in the GTA series, where you can do whatever you like between missions. Some people would aim to improve their skills, some would aim to save other people, some would aim to gather supplies…In the end, you’d have a few highly-replayable scenes, instead of a complex branching story that wouldn’t fit in a dozen flowcharts.
Now on to the story. I really liked the new character additions. I didn’t the “connection” I was hoping for with any of them, but it’s always good to have people to look after. Sifer seems particularly promising, and I think I’ll have a great time fixing her up psychologically. Parker is definitely a cool guy to have around, and I feel like I’m going to save him more than once. Rachel is okay, but too business-like to me. At least she’s good with her words, so she’ll be able to hold my interest by talking.
I really think you should add an option of going out with Parker (or at least offering to) when he says he’ll get supplies. It feels kinda weird that an armed, skilled professional such as a Soldier or Police Officer, would let a civilian go out alone during the apocalypse to do a task which they would be, obviously, better suited to.
I like that now I can take my nephew and dog with me more times than before when I go outside. They really add to the scenes. I bet I could piggyback the little guy over that wall at the three-story home, though. Maybe let him sit on top of it, climb, and then catch him on the other side so he doesn’t hurt himself on his way down. Not sure about the dog, though. I could also just climb myself and open the door for them from the inside. That garden can’t be left untouched lol
After failing to convince a certain woman to drop her shotgun, I decided to re-think my stats. The leadership/persuasion thing I was aiming for consumes a lot of points and makes both skills kinda useless. After focusing on both of them individually, I feel that persuasion fits me the best, so I’ll be investing in it from now on. I can post my new skills so you can update that test character, if you wish.
I got an error message saying that there’s no parameter for the soldier background when talking with Sifer about my profession. I think you’d like to know that. Also, the game acts as if the zombie is still alive when she rescues me, even if I kill it when given the chance.
Now, even with my character being an infantry soldier with 60+ ranged skill, the game still says I never fired any weapons. I guess you should take a look at how the description checks are made. Even with mediocre ranged skills, someone with a military or law enforcement background should be described as being comfortable with firing a gun…
-Feel free to ignore what’s written below-
…Or rather, not being described at all. I guess the readers can figure out what they feel upon seeing their character pulling the trigger. What if they’re pumped up by it? What if they’re sad? You can never guess what they’re feeling, so wouldn’t it better to just let them decide for themselves?
I think you describe things a little bit too much, especially the protagonist. I know that some people like to have everything described to them, but it doesn’t work that well when you’re role-playing (even more so if you’re doing it as yourself). Dropping a few details here and there is certainly welcome, but you try to describe everything. How they feel, how they act, how they look, how they interact with the world around them. That’s a nice thing to do if you’re writing a novel, but kinda out of place in a game, especially one with character customization.
Having myself constantly described as someone totally different from, well, me is a real immersion-breaker. It screams “you’re a character in a game” over and over, right in my face. This is perfectly normal and understandable, but I don’t think this is what you’re aiming for, that’s why I’m pointing it out. I’m used to it, actually. I learned to just block out the trivial descriptions and only pay attention to the stuff that has an impact in the game, such as a character needing glasses or walking with a limp. I don’t really need to know the shape of a person’s face or the color of their nails, as this has no impact whatsoever in the game.
Physical features are extremely useful if you’re introducing a character for the first time, and will be really useful up to the moment we learn their name. Then they’ll become useless. Using physical features to describe a character’s personality isn’t a bad thing per see, but it’s unnecessary and can become cliche sometimes. Unless that feature will impact the story, such as a character’s long hair getting grabbed or their tallness making them unable to hide in a small space, is it really worth describing? Sure, they help the readers imagine the character, but couldn’t they just imagine it? It’s it the point of text-based games after all, so you can imagine the visual part on your own?
I’d drop the whole “personality and morality” stats and try the game a few times, seeing if they really make a positive difference. People have different reasons to do things. I could hide upon hearing a noise outside to ambush the potential invader, or I could just be scared. I could just want to let them make the first move so I’d know their intentions. There’s endless reasons to do things, and trying to list them all would drive anyone crazy. Do yourself a favor and let the players decide for themselves why they pulled the trigger or why they offered to patch the stranger up.
I’m certain that many people will disagree with me, and I know what I said has no realistic chances of ever being implemented in this (or, really, any other) game. You’re writing your game to a huge audience, after all, and that audience contains few people who think like me. You need to make the largest amount of people happy with it, and to do this you’ll need to disregard some suggestions, especially such radical ones like mine.
I can, and certainly do, enjoy games such as the one you’re writing. In fact, this unfinished game is the best text-based game I’ve played so far, followed closely by the first Zombie Exodus. It’s one of the best of it’s genre, despite not even being finished yet. However, I’m yet to find a game like I’ve described, so it would be nice to see one around. Thank you for reading through all this.
@JimD
I found an error in chapter 2 in the city, at the event with George and Gina.
I chose “Shoot at the zombies from inside my home.”
Change it to “You pull out your ${p_weapon} and draw open your window.”
I found some spelling mistakes in ZE1 in the raider epilogue.
“The third, a teenage boy, long and lean with darker blond hill”
blond hair.
“She resembles little of the woman she once was: cover in tattooed,”
Covered in Tattoos or tattooed.
I might have a mistake where you choose your profession, then select ‘Custom Profession or Background’ then ‘Other’.
‘Do you identify with any of the following professions (answering YES gives the option to choose that profession’s prologue]’
On one part of the sentence you have round brackets and on the other square brackets.
One trick is to track them in separate files so I can refer to them. For example, I have a code.txt with commonly used variables. Also if I create a variable in ch2 I plan to use in ch4, I drop an *if [variable] in chapter4.txt with a *comment to remind me what to do.
@StarshinaSokolov
That’s the consensus opinion. I think it’s the best. It’s how I did ZE chapters 3-5.
I haven’t given a huge chance to get to know them but I am trying different conversation styles. I hope people see that.
It’s coming, you mind reader 
It’s hard to code. I hate both of them every time I have to code a mission but when I finish writing it, I am happy for what they add to the story. The nephew gives me license to call out the MC on their decisions.
I’m going to redesign it. Every time I try to fix it, the scene gets worse.
Again I need to redesign this. In most CoG games they use stats to flavor text but I’m terrible at writing such descriptions.
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I disagree with this. A physical characteristic or feature defined can add a lot to a character, especially the perception of the character in the mind of the reader or MC.
A prime example of this is Stephen Donaldson’s describing the general Troy as blind in his “Unbeliever” series. This fact alone changes the motivations and reasons for his actions and as such, the reader or MC would gain in her understanding of that character.
Tying it back here to ZE:SH - describing the bank robber’s accomplice the way @JimD does allows the MC to rapidly assimilate a couple of relevant facts that she should know in-game already and allows the MC to make a couple of decisions with those facts in mind.
The danger of cliche is only there only in over-use.
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De description is ok, always don’t include two things. My own character and his her emotions, and who is she o he attracted. It’s so annoying when game assumed I like x character features automatically saying I fall in love first sight. O when game obliged you to look for a sister . Talking about Emma demon, @JimD could you add a nurse called Emma I could kill in the hospital a not enough raid in hospital medicines.
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Haven’t really played ZE but… Wow people really, really hates that little sister.
Not really. Mostly just Mara. She’s kinda made it her thing. Aside from her other thing, which is slipping in and out of character as a fictional psychotic mass murdering alter ego without warning, or talking about said alter ego’s opinions on things in a way that makes her look like she’s speaking in the third person. You get used to it after a while. 
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@Zolataya, I don’t think you paid attention to the “Unless that feature will impact the story,” just after the line you quoted. I said it could become cliche as in “every woman who can handle herself in a fight has a ponytail and tomboyish militaristic clothes”, “every outcast has tattoos and piercings”, or “every ‘street’ character has a hoodie and jeans”.
I do believe that physical descriptions are important, if you want to describe something about the character that will play a role in the story (such as a muscular character being the only one able to interact with a plot-important heavy object or a tattoo on a character indicating they have or had ties with a certain plot-important group).
I agree that the way the protagonist views other characters is really important, but mainly in novels, where the author creates the characters. I don’t think the way a teen and a police officer would describe somebody in the same way, so you can’t just drop in the text and expect it to fit everybody. Maybe somebody’s hair color is important to a character, but couldn’t matter any less to another.
If you’re writing in the 2nd person, you’d have to either narrate the character’s thoughts faithfully or make the narrator a character on it’s own, with it’s own mannerism and thoughts, just describing the story in their own way. I really like when the narrator comments or lampshades something in the story. It makes everything so much funnier and more believable. It’s like the narrator is real character experiencing everything instead of just an omniscient voice guiding the reader, which helps us bond with the story.
@poison_mara, I fully agree with you (except the thing about Emma, I liked her ). I believe the “how do you feel” choices just add more variables to the code and more text to the script, while not really adding much to the game itself, aside from forcing the reader to view their own character through the eyes of the narrator, who has little more than a vague idea about what the the protagonist (as well as the player) is aiming for in the game.
I suggest that, instead of constantly asking and trying to guess the reason why the protagonist acts the way they do, making the narrator a character of it’s own would help portray the story the way you’re intending, while also freeing the readers to imagine whatever they want. Snarky narrators are the best (), and can call out the players on their actions in a funny way, without making them feel overly judged.
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Yeah, but of course I have to talk about Mara in third person, she is her own entity. Sometimes we even discuss about how rp her. and Emma, she is so annoying always crying and pouting. She reminds me the pig baby in Alice in wonderland. Same level of crying no sense. If i could kill her it would be like close the circle. Die Emma
As this is starting down a tangent, we can take any further discussion beyond this post to pm; @JimD runs a tight thread.
I did not ignore your follow-through - it really does not apply to the true-false statement you made and which I quoted.
“Then they become useless” is quite final in its proclamation and while you try to qualify descriptors of physical characteristics later - your prior statement condemns all such descriptors.
Physical descriptors are also important to reinforce concepts that the author is trying to imprint on the reader/gamer. They are not only used as devises to advance plot and to limit them thus is not to utilize physical descriptors to their full potential.
I appreciate your viewpoint but I still disagree - ymmv, I’m a very unconventional and non-orthodox writer, and our styles and experiences have colored our perspectives differently.
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I try not to give too many descriptions of NPCs beyond those necessary to evoke an image. When I wrote A Wise Use of Time, a major criticism was that I didn’t describe characters enough and readers learned characteristics too late or too subtlety. In Safe Haven, I describe Jaime as a large, smart man. Pretty generic. He can be any ethnicity, race, etc. I mention his size because you will have a lumbering giant next to you when reunited and that impacts how strangers react, Jaime’s ability to evade danger, etc. For someone like Parker, I have a very specific character worked out and his ethnicity and religious beliefs factor in early.
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Oh, @JimD, quick question. Are all your skill checks based on multiples of 5? Because I feel kinda cheated that some of my stats end in 3 or 8 and the game acts like I’m way under-skilled because of 2 points. I’d suggest rounding up to the nearest multiple of 5 for checks if that’s the case.
Not all but most.
For most checks, I have a high success, mid success, and fail. I check my list of stat averages for all professions and pick the upper third, mid third, and low third. I tend to round off when it falls to a 49 or 51. Sometimes high success is upper 20% to make it hard to achieve.
For example, when I write a fight sequence, I have ranged, melee, and bare handed, and have to write three outcomes each. I also do tasers and pepper spray separately, so that’s 12 outcomes. If I write 200 words per outcome, that’s 2400 words, which is a lot of effort. I have to cut off these checks in some way, so by 5s or 10s is necessary to generalize it.
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