Idea's to improve the mod or for a stand alone game, Your thoughts?

[rageness 17]

Long winded I really hope some of you like these idea's please read it all.

1stly I would like to say this.

I have always wanted to make a game involving survival and zombies, but for all the idea's that I have, I am missing game design experience so my idea's are as far as it goes.

It's amazing how many zombie games there are and how many flops there are. The trailer for dead Island looked truly amazing only for the game to a complete bag of junk. Resident evil has turned into a kids shooter with an 18 age tag. Dead island is fun for a hour and currently nothing fills the market that dayz has.

It's strange I was pitching an idea to clan m8's about a zombie game that would basically take on real life, You would have to hide out, find food and make camp. You would have only 1 life and if you were to die everything you had would become lost and you would have to start again. It was uncanny that 2 weeks later some 1 tells me about this mod for arma 2.

I watch a couple of vids and did not think much of it, as I already had arma and OA I thought well I'll give it a go. Instantly I was hooked and fortunately for about 20 people in our clan I more or less forced them to buy arma 2 just for this mod.

I have played with and on average about 7 to 10 people every night in a group and without a doubt this is the way to play. Don't get me wrong, if I play alone I could more or less survive without dying for a very long time but I would not have the fun I have in a group.

The 1st few times I played I did not shoot on sight and tried to help any 1 I could. Even in a group fully kitted and armed we did not shoot on site. But every time I took a moment to trust in mankind I found out the player behind his pc playing was in fact a horrible little bastard and promptly shot me in my face even when I was a beenie.

Which leads me to 2 completely separate idea's.

1st, The idea of an MMO in this kind of style could be brilliant, Basically what you have but with many additions including the following

*small islands off shore which players can live on and claim, This would make defending there base a little easier as to get there would involve swimming or a boat. Obviously once the zombies were cleared out the only thing you would have to worry about would be venturing outside for more supplies or enemy attack.

**It would be fantastic if you were able to make your island self sustaining. Grow some plants, farm some animals, build some cabins and beds, clear a spot for a helicopter to land, build walls and houses. But with each of these it should take a realistic amount of time.

For example you would have to find books and train to be able to build walls etc and then find concrete and cut timber. These things would take a couple of weeks between your group of survivors giving each person a role. Say 2 players would have to go and chop would (a lot of it) another couple would be in charge of building the wall while some 1 else mixes the concrete. While other players make sure the town is guarded from intruders.

While some of this may seem tedious to the odd cod player for many this would make a great realistic experience, The time it takes to do these things would require true clan team work and of course you would want to protect it.

Eventually you would have everything you need, a fully self sustaining island, a Helicopter with a trained pilot (maybe some multi choice questions etc to train). You would have guns and ammo, boats and vehicles, food, house, bed, etc etc. At which point it might seem to be a bit of an end to the game as you would hae nothing else to do.

But...

I am not sure how this would work but your clans island would be saved to a main data base. So if your gone for a week come back and some 1 has looted and taken over your base it has gone and you and your clan must either take over another or start again.

Now to make this interesting a hosting system would work like this; You join a party with your clan m8s, The party leader then looks for a server (clans would be ranked to make it fair so you don't end up fighting a group of 30 if there are 5 of you, or fighting a fully functioning clan and island if you have only really started, unless you want to) You join the server and your island and every 1 with everything spawns as it was according to it's last save. There are several island slots on every server so you never spawn over some 1 else's island, From here you can play peacefully or battle it out and defend your base. Obviously if you needed further supplies you would have to go from the safety of your island and risk being eaten by zombies.

Of course it doesn't have to be island it could also be up in the wilderness and you could have created a safe little camp, or you could go lone wolf and just carry your tent around finding items every day to stay alive.

I have got plenty of other idea's along this route but I will be typing all night so the above is the MMO idea.

2nd idea

*rather than an MMO how about something along the lines of dead island or left for dead, But instead of it being a rather boring fps shooter with some gore it would be a truely horrifying and difficult survival game, With decisions that would actually test you on a conscious level.

Ok so you start out either alone or if you have friends something like up to 10 player co-op. The map would still be huge and not level based with borders etc.

You could choose to start out alone, in a pair or maybe 3 but not all 10 together with your new characters. The 1st things you would need to do would be the obvious things like grab supplies just like you do now as a beenie. You would start some where safe, maybe your home or hospital, places that you would expect to be if this happened for real.

Guns would be some what rare as you would expect, I live in the uk and although I could get hold of 1 easily if this did happen I may have a job getting to the gunshop to get it. It certainly would not be in my top draw. People in the USA may not suffer this problem but lets assume every 1 in your family who are now dead had already taken them and they are gone.

So the 1st thing you would want to do is find your friends, Lets assume at the start oif the game mobiles etc are still working so people you play with on team speak would be able to give you an indication of there plan as if you had rang them. I cannot imagine if this happened for real that all mobile an land networks would just go down. They could be hundreds of miles apart so this won't be easy.

What would make this different is there would be no bandits, It would not be an MMO. You would play on a small server or self hosted party like many games on the 360. But with friends and clan m8's you know and would have no worry of being shot etc.

Zombies would not be the currently easy to escape mindless walking dead that they are now, They would be fast terrifying eating machines and there would be thousands (Think 28 days later). Making movement and survival very difficult indeed, One bite and your dead or infected until you die.

Say maybe you get your hand bitten, Players around you have choices to make. They could quickly put you out of your misery, Leave you to die and turn, or maybe 1 would opt to amputate your arm via an axe very quickly in an effort to save you. These are all conscious decisions you and your friends would have to make. Chopping your arm of would obviously make surviving harder and they may see you as a burden.

Now although there would be no real life bandits (ie other players who are just out to rui your game) There would be NPC's these NPC's may have jobs or quests in return for items. You would not need to do any of these in order to advance but doing so may help you, some may be so dangerous that you have no choice but to turn them down. Bandit NPC's would exist from time to time and you may have to face them or try to avoid them at all costs.

I was also toying with the idea of extreme 18+ content, It is no secret that if anything like this did happen rape would be some what rife as well as murder and torture. I am not sure how this could fit in or how well this would suit and it depends how realistic you would want the game to be. For those that think that's going over board in some sense I agree but these days games are like movies and you immerse your self in them.

Horror films like hostel and the hills have eyes are very popular and clearly stimulate some senses of fear.

The end result of this game would be to meet with you friends, complete quests, find safety and like in the mmo game learn and build your own camp in order to survive. Trails through dark woods and beautiful vivid landscapes would make this atmospheric and very appealing.

Weapons should be rare and the use of them should have consequences like firing the lee enfield. Vehicles should be abundant but bikes would be more useful for passing the dozens of cars stuck in the road as people tried to flee their cities.

I have more idea's and will update as I can, But it is now 2am and I must go sleep. Please try to post your thoughts and feedback and excuse any mass typos.