The DREAD of the DEAD

[vict0r]

Hello everybody. Im starting a new game here i'm kinda wanting some opinions about the game story, so i thought this was the right place to post this. (And btw i really need artists for the game! Not much experience needed.)

THE STORY:
Our hero has just managed to get away from a bunch of bloodthirsty zombies by getting into an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. Our hero (Named Jack btw) manages to get down a hatch in the floor in this building and by using an all-armored bat mobile-ish car getting as far as possible from the zombies as possible he starts his quest trying to find the source of the horrible plague that has ruined almost all of mankind and trying to find something to stop the zombies.

Plz say your opinion about the story
(sry if this is the wrong place to post it but this seems like the best place to post )

[PsychicHeart]

first of all, welcome to the forums.
second of all, i like the story but it sounds a bit cliche and sterotypical.
third of all, we're not gonna hunt you with dogs for this, but write in full, rather then ths stuf plz.
Again, welcome to the forums

--Blake

[Nine Toes]

Hmmm... that story sounds awfully familiar...

Yeah, it's a bit cliche.  *Hyde blushes

[Darth Mandarb]

Doesn't really sound like an adventure game to me ...

It sounds more like a shoot-em-up FPS.

I wouldn't worry about the clichè part though ... most Zombie flicks/games these days are nothing but one  clichè after another.

The trick is to find things to add that haven't been added before to make it somewhat original.

I think your biggest problem is going to be making it acceptable as an adventure game.

Perhaps you should ask Hyde about it ... he knows something about Zombie games and AGS

[Nine Toes]

 :o

Zombies, sure... AGS, barely...

I'm gonna pass, give it to Eric.Ã,  He's got the book, and he's actually finished a game.

[vict0r]

Thank you for the reply folks. First of all i'm gonna start talking full and second of all im gonna try to answer some of the stuff you said. This is not going to be a shoot-em-up game. It's made completely in ags and may actually not have any visual zombie smashing at all.(please straighten my typos. im norwegian) It may be we wont see any zombies at all in this game, but that they are only a part of the story. And what is this clichè talk about? Please tell me what adventure games that has a zombie story and i'll make my game as different as possible

[Darth Mandarb]

I meant clichè only in the zombie sense, not the AGS game sense.

Typical zombie movie fare:

Everything is fine and calm.
Attacked by Zombies.
Escape.
Meet up with other survivors.
Shore up for a bit.
Try and escape.
Fight zombies.
done.

That's what I meant by clichè.

And don't worry about your English skills and/or typos.  Just avoid using txt style typing!

I think a game dealing with Zombies, and you don't actually see them, could be really neat.  If done correctly.  Keep working on the story and really hammer out all the details!  The more time you spend working on it, the better it'll be.

Good luck!

[MarVelo]

Hey this game sounds interesting. I would be willing to do some backgrounds, and some possible inventory sprites. (I cant to character sprites ((except mods of others)). It seems my partner for IJHAA has abandoned me so i'm out of work, I'd love to help! If you have any more story ideas PM me.

[vict0r]

Thanks for the enthusiasm! And if taffytom really wants to make some/all of the sprites this game may turn out somewhat good I'm not even half finished with the story so if any of you have any ideas it would be nice 
Thanks again

[MarVelo]

As I email you Vict0r, I have an idea for the beginning.


I think it would be interesting if the hero (Jack) was an auto-mechanic who, in the beginning, was sitting around on a slow day all alone in the garage. A man burst through the front door, totally silent, then he come up to Jack and says that everyone is changing, and yadah yadah yeadah, and so on, until a super para-military soldier arrives in the doorway and blasts the dude away. Jack escapes with only the clothes on his back and a few meger items in his pockets.



I have made a 320X200 background for that occasion. Here it is, what do you all think? Crits please.





(Vict0r- In the email I meant an additonal artist to myself)


EDIT: I tried a few lighting effects in photoshop to make it more dark and dingey.

[vict0r]

I could definetly use your help! The thought that he could be a car mechanic or something sounds good, but didnt really get the part about the soliders and stuff Seen as im now at an internet kafè in italiy( ) its pretty hard to send you anything really, but i m prolly back in norway in about two weeks or so, so im gonna send my all too crappy prototypes when i can.  if you know of anyone who can make the characters please tell me.

[MarVelo]

I have made another Background for fun (possible for this game) It is supose to be an alley but I can't for the life of me make the dirt/gravel/grass part of the ground in the middle right. Could someone HELP?

I fixed the blocks and it looks much better. The gate is suppose to be wide enough for cars to pass. Thanks for saying I'm a good artist!

P.S. Any comments on the previous Pics?

[Setsuna]

Hey, i see the door you've drawn in the upper right corner uses vertical lines, maybe you could do this for the cracks/bricks on the wall, i think it should help making it look straighter.

And the house in the background may be a tad too small compared to that door i mentioned but maybe it's just me.

I think your previous bg looks good, although i don't really like the lighting after effect. (not the same style)

Vict0r: Even if the story sounds very cliché, i wouldn't care too much about it, as long as the atmosphere's here ;)Ã,  And it seems you've found a great bg artist, i wish you good luck with this project and hope too see more.

[Ozwalled]

I'm especially intrigued about the idea of (possibly) never actually seeing the zombies. If I was making this game, THAT would be one of the things that I'd really be building on. I think it could be interesting to play the role of a survivor in a zombie plague who is doing his very best to avoid any sort of contact with the undead at all costs and survive while doing so.

While the subject matter would be a bit dry, I think that handled well, this could make for an interesting game.

As far as the "batmoblie" type vehicle, that sounds weird to me.

And in terms of the "finding the source and stopping the plage" thing, it's a little bit used, too. If you wanted to include that sort of thing, though, maybe it'd be best if the hero sort of stumbled on some information that could lead him to maybe help, but that he'd be really quite reluctant to do so, because it'd be pretty risky to even try anything. But eventually for some reason it'd come down to him having little to no choice if it meant surviving.

[vict0r]

First of all i have to clear up in something The thing about the batmobile-ish car was only a small part when i tried to make the game alone so forget about that. Second of all i still really need a character artist! (ain't gonna be no game without characters) So if there are anyone interested please tell me
Oswalled: I have taken your advice and dropped the "find the source and stop the whole thing" This would not only make the game more (as you say) clichè but also remove the posibillity of a follow-up. And you said something about wanting to help(at least thats how i interpreted it) so please let me know if you have anything to contribute with!
Taffy: The background may be useful so just keep it.
Everyone else: Im actually using a nice thing called The Zombie Survival Guide( http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/zombiesurvivalguide/ ) to make my game as realistic (if there are anything as a realistic zombie game) as possible

[MarVelo]

I made a dirt/road area in the middle! It came out surprisingly well. I also decreased the size of the gate.

[Phemar]

Your perspective on both backgrounds is a bit off ...

If it's an alley, there won't be many cars driving through, so I'd move the grass to the sides and dirt to the middle.

[vict0r]

Taffy: It looks good but i think there should be a bit less dirt on the sides of the "alley". Tomorrow i can send you some ideas for the first rooms of the game

And again, I NEED CHARACTER ARTISTS

[MarVelo]

I fixed the road its quite better, looking forward to seeing your sprites!!

[Nine Toes]

Nice background.  I'm looking forward to seeing more.