Zpocalypse: Survival Overview feature

Zpocalypse: Survival is a game about exploration and survival in a gritty post-nuclear zombie apocalypse setting. Your job is to help a group of survivors attempt to eek out an existence and build a place for themselves in a brutal world. You will need to scavenge for supplies and food, find and fortify a shelter, recruit other survivors to your cause, defend your people, and attempt to grow and expand, facing challenges every step of the way.

THE WORLD

When starting a game of Zpocalypse: Survival, the player will be able to choose a theme for their post-apocalyptic world as they unlock them through gameplay. This theme will determine the look and feel of the world, some themes may be more dangerous than others and perhaps have special conditions associated with them (for example a radioactive waste themed world having more radiation zones, more radiated zombies and a higher chance for survivors to get radiation sickness).

The world will be broken into a number of Areas, with each Area will have its own unique feature. For instance, in a Town themed world, one Area might be a house with a yard, while another Area might be a school playground. The layout and content of Areas will be procedurally generated when the world is created.

Scavenging

One could argue that the entire point of going out into the world in Zpocalypse: Survival is to scavenge. When out in the world, besides staying alive, the goal of the player will be to find stuff to scavenge and bring back to base for use in shoring up its defenses and improving its quality.

THE CHARACTERS

During the course of the game, players will control numerous characters in the wasted lands of the zombie apocalypse. To highlight the brutality of the Zpocalypse, this game will be designed with a high turnover rate of characters in mind; players will lose characters often to starvation, disease and zombies. To this end, the character stats will be quick and easy for the player to understand and use and the character advancement system will be light but still interesting.

Roles

There are 3 Roles that every character will fall into: Fighter, Bruiser and Smarty. Each Role has their own strengths and weaknesses and a unique advancement tree. Within their advancement tree each Role will have opportunities to further differentiate themselves even from other characters with the same role.

THE BASE

The central nexus around which all games of Zpocalypse: Survival revolve is the player’s Base. This Base is where the player’s survivors have gathered to try and eek out an existence in the Zpocalypse. It is where their characters sleep at night (hopefully), where they store their food and supplies, and where they craft the tools and equipment their group will need if they hope to survive for one day more.

Base Center

Bases will be defined by their Base Center, which is a safe location in which the characters can retreat to in an emergency and where all the supplies and gear found by the player are stored. The quality of the player’s Base Center determines the quality of the Base entire. The better the Base Center the better stuff the player can craft, the more survivors they can have in their band and the more storage space available.

ZOMBIES

The major threat to characters in the zombie apocalypse is, of course, zombies. Zombies will have stats, just like characters. These stats will be used for combat purposes to determine how hard the zombie is to kill, and how dangerous they are if they get too close to a character. Initially there will be two types of zombies you will encounter Day Zombies and Night Zombies.

Zombies will have multiple levels of physical degradation. Zombies degrade usually from the result of combat, though when encountered, they will be given a random state for variety.

COMBAT

Combat in Zpocalypse: Survival will be a brutal but measured affair. Most times the player will have ample opportunity to make good tactical choices, both because the pace of combat will be slower than most RPG style games, but also because our pause feature will allow the player to take the time they need to review the situation and make decisions if he chooses.

That said, combat will still be hard and brutal. We WANT characters to die because we WANT the player to feel the pressure of keeping their survivor numbers up, alongside all the other things we put on his/her shoulders. Players can take their time to plan their strategies, but if something goes awry, if zombies get too close or appear where they were not expected, then things could go horribly wrong right quick.

EVENTS

Events will be used to add setting and story flavor to the game in interactive and exciting ways. Some events will be scripted and some will be semi-scripted occurrences. These events could play out a larger story arc or they could be simpler occurrences that add flavor and something unique to your current experience. While one of the key aspects of the game is trying to survive we want to make your survival experience interesting, especially when you playthrough multiple times. The base game is not about winning or losing, instead it is about the drama and sometimes comedy that goes on while you try and survive.

AI Manager

The AI system will do more than simply control NPCs. It will also work to keep the game interesting and different. Modeled after the AI Directory from Left 4 Dead it will keep track of your game and will work to keep things interesting by creating events or tapping into deeper stories dependent on your game play and the choices you make.