Suggestions - melee, chases, etc

[TimF 79]

I have to say first, I can't remember having such fun with a game before. Actually that is wrong - it isn't fun, it is nail biting heart racing memorable experiences ;) Even my wife has started sitting next to me for hours helping to look out for zombies and planning the next move. I saw someone else comment about role playing and they are right. When my friend broke his leg he could have just respawned and met up again. Instead we found a hospital and I snuck in through zombie infested streets to look for supplies to fix it. When we found a boat on the coast it was just awesome cruising up through little islands till we ran out of fuel and had to loot a jerry can then do multiple trips back and forth from a gas station, crawling on our bellies the whole way because of the growling zombie in the servo shop.

Anyway - couple of thoughts, hopefully more about general mechanics than specific ideas.

Chases

You can end up getting chased by a few zeds for hours, no matter how much you duck and weave through the forest. I wonder if a solution is to make their speed more random. Sometimes you'll be faster and escape, sometimes you'll be slower and either have to make a stand and fight, or die.

Melee

Adding to that, if melee was a bit more flexible you could stop and try to fight them in those chase scenarios. Don't get me wrong melee shouldnt be easier but if there were more ways to attack them, even risky ones, I think that would make sense in such a desparate situation. If I was getting chased by a zombie I couldn't outrun at some point I'd have to stop and fight with whatever, hands, feet, rocks, tree branches. Could there be more melee pickups in forests like that, even totally weak ones that you only use as a last resort with a good chance they will still kill you?

Food

When you are trying to find everything to hunt meat you get more and more desparate trying to find that last thing - knife, matches, hatchet, etc as you get hungrier and hungrier... this is great but then finding a tin of beans almost feels cheap. This might be a bit too sadistic but what if, to use beans, you had to at least find a can opener first? ;)

Map

I'll admit to looking at a downloaded map to get an idea of where I am. But instead of cheapening the experience this has added heaps. In no other game have I ever had discussions with other players about landmarks, topography etc or used the stars or my watch and the position of the sun to navigate - that is an amazing part of the experience. On my boat the other day I had an argument about which island we had just passed that was just like I had a backseat driver in real life. I'd never have had that if I had waited to find a map in-game, so I wonder if it would be better to spawn with at least a partial/rough map (not showing player location of course).