[GameDev][WIP] Z Collapse - A Grand Strategy game with zombies ! Thread

Hello guys!

I would like to introduce the game I am working on : Z Collapse (Steam page : Store.steampowered.com)

It's a real-time Grand Strategy game, that simulates a zombies global invasion. (the screenshots below are of course WIP !)

Most of zombies fictions set the lights on surviving groups, in a post-collapsed society state. Z Collapse is instead focused on the beginning of the pandemic : Where the first infected are appearing, leading to the invasion of the World.

For the game development, I'm freely inspired by the World War Z novel, from Max Brooks, that treats specifically this subject : the way that Humanity would react to that situation, on a global perspective.

In Z Collapse, you can so play a country amongs 170 availables. Your only goal is to ensure that your government will survive, and to prevent your coutnry from collapsing by the chaos generated by the pandemic.

We are the first June of 2021, all seems to be quiet at the moment...

My aim for this project is to propose a new gameplay dynamic on this kind of game. In most of strategy games, the player starts with a low power, and then is gaining more and more strength, to become unstoppable at the end. Here it's different, the player begins with his full power, but must spend the early-game by preventing the erosion of his strength, caused by the initial outbreak. Then, after having entrenched, collected resources, and discovered technologies, the player will be able to retake the upper hand.

South korean special forces are trying to catch the infestors, responsible for the early outbreaks

In this game, we are in a situation where nowadays geopolitical balances of power are completely changed by this pandemic. Indeed, against zombies, all the modern and complex military arsenal is useless (it is also very well approached in World War Z). The keys for victory resides here in the huge manpower, and the amount of resources available. In that configuration, the easy countries to play won't be especially those that are expected to be!

A zombie horde was formed in Nigeria, just like everywhere else around the world !

A zombie horde is attacking a military base in El Salvador

Regarding the resources, they will be of a crucial importance. They will allow on one hand to produce new troops, but also to produce energy, to keep your population under control. In case of shortages, panic will spread progressively, and your brave peoples will join bandits groups. They will become a thorn in your side, because in order to survive, they will attack the state installations.

A bandit group is scavenging for resources to loot

Desperate to don't have access to any oil anymore, a dutch expedition is launched against a refinery in the northern Sea

The game also includes the refugees management. They can be welcomed, or chased away. Of course, having a strong population in that situation is a solid advantage. But if you don't have enough resources for them, you can regret it...

The Iceland thought they would be safe... until millions of refugees desperatly try to reach it. With some of them infected by the virus

I will post here the advancement details, and more introduction about the game features. They will also be available on Twitter Twitter.com

Hello there,

The project is progressing well, and it's now the time to reveal a first gameplay concept : the pandemic management

Zombies will first spread accross the world by using infestors. Those special units are cloaked and hard to detect. They will try to reach a city close to them, to initiate the pandemic oubreak. At this point, human nations can deploy some troops to try to detect and eliminate them before they reach the cities.

However, if an infestor reach the city, it will earn a infestation point. Zombies will now begin to proliferate, and decimate the local population. Thus, the city population will daily take casulaties, that are proportional to the infestation level. Contaminated humans will then reinforce the regional zombies forces, allowing them to create hordes, and buying new infestors...

Even worse, The city infestation will increase more in more automatically during time. It represents the disease outbreak growing faster and faster. And this is made proportionnally to the amount of population in the city.

So the player is now in a vicious circle, with a ever-growing infetation. In this case, what are the options to keep control over the situation ?

-The player can buy some ambulances and send them in impacted places. They will allow to reduce the infestation level. This is a first measure that will allow you to gain some precious amount of time.

-The other solution is to evacuate the cities population, and regroup them inside refugees camps that you previously built. Those refugees camps are indeed very less exposed to the infestation growth. Because it is easier to keep an eye on the population parked there.

With time going on, the player will also unlock new technologies that will allow to limit the disease progression, and to improve the ambulance efficiency.

Hi all,

The development is still going on, and it's time for me to introduce a new gameplay concept of Z Collapse. This one is so important that it will define your whole strategy : the resources management !

As the zombie invasion is in full swing, human governements will have to fall back, shelter their population as much as possible, and hold firm while waiting better days. In this context, states strategical resources stocks will be primordial to ensure your population survival, building constructions, and armed forces upkeeping.

There are 5 strategical resources in Z Collapse :

-The Production : This is a generic resource that represents all materials and mechanic tools coming from the industrial world. This resources can be produced in dedicated factories. It is mainly used to build new structures, and producing new troops.

-High Tech : Those are complexes industrial pieces, coming from material and crafting from different location in the world. they are essential in producing tanks and helicopters. As they can only be produced in a globalized-type of World, it's not anymore possible to create them when global trade is disturbed by a zombie invasion. Therefore, human nations will only rely on the initial existing stock of high tech pieces. If you are in shortage, maybe you can take some from your neighbours ? ...

-Oil : The black gold is of crucial as you can imagine. When you are in shortage, your motorized troops won't be able to move anymore, as your boarded units as well. Oil can also be used by your power plants to create energy. It can be produced by oil wells, and off-shore.

-Coal and Uranium : Those two resources are extracted from mines. They can be used to produce electrical energy. This is very important as a good energy supply will allow your population to keep a relatively normal activity, and keep them under your control. If your population lacks energy, they will panic and progressively join bandits camps.

All those resources can't be stacked as will. They need to be stored somewhere. Cities and refugees camps can have some, but the better option is to build some dedicated storages. It's useless to say that they will need to be watch with strong military forces, as they will attract greeds from everywhere...
It's also possible to loot your neighbours, or even wait for them to collapse, and take all what remains. It's all yours.

Hello there,

This new post will introduces the population and refugees management.

As the number of infected peoples is exponentially rising, and the zombies hordes are getting bigger, the only solution for a government and for a country is to keep its population alive, and the largest possible. In this context where the war for the survival of the species becomes total, the strength is found in numbers!
Indeed, from your population depends your resources production, and your manpower for recruiting troops.

However, you have to keep in mind that the largest your population is, more it will consum energy (which represents the daily consumption for their survival). So you will need resources to maintain it. The smart-player will seek to make his population grows, by ensuring the available resources stocks high level.

How do you keep your population alive ? First at all, by making sure that they won't join the zombies crowds of course !

In your infected cities, the population will progressively turn into zombies. And the more overcrowed the city is, the quicker the infestation will rise. The situation will quickly became unbearable at those places. There will be no other choices than building refugees camps to bring your population to, so they will be easier to watch!

The player will have to organize the cities evacuations to avoid that the situation gets out of control. However, take care. Evacuations are never a harmless operation. It will generate some panics and chaos among the population.

The evacuated peoples must be quickly brought to refugees camps. The more time they will stay outside, the more people will die from diseases, hunger, and even joining local bandits and zombies forces.

Another kind of refugees are the neutral. They come from other countries where the governement has collapsed. When it happens, all the population contained in cities and camps are throwed on the roads. They will wander around, try to find refuges on neighbours countries, and even try to reach some isolated islands (Iceland, Madagascar, Cuba, ...). Those refugees can be welcomed if they cross your national territory, or if you bring an army near them.

If you decide to not welcome them (if you lack the required resources for instance), don't forget that the natural attrition from those wandring groups will reinforce zombies and bandits in your countries. You will have to decide if you just wait for them to leave, or if you take more brutal and ruthless measures... A zombie apocalypse mays take your humanity...

Hello there,

Here is a new update from the game. Today I'd like to share a new side of the gameplay: armed forces and combats. To survive a zombie invasion, you will have to fight. How surprising! But how? Moreover, zombies won't be your only opponents here...

In ZCollapse, you will be able to deploy armies on the map from the garrisons contained in location that you own. You will then be able to move them on the map and regroup or split them. Those armies are a mix of several unit types, with each one its strengths and weaknesses.
Here are all units that you will find in the game:

-Civilians: They only come from refugees’ groups, and all attacked cities and refugees’ camps. Those terrified crowds won't inflict a lot of damages, but they will be decimated if exposed. Avoid them being caught in a fight at all costs!
-Militiamen: Composed of police forces and para-military groups hastily armed. They are quick to recruit and cheap. But their skills in battles are very limited.
-Infantry: The spine of your armies. They are balanced but a bit longer to recruit than militiamen.
-Tanks: Very efficient to fight enemies’ heavy units. They however need rare resources for them being built (High tech), and oil for moving.
-Helicopters: Very powerful and hardly destructible, they also require High Tech for them being produced, and oil for moving.

On the zombies' side, strange mutations are leading to multiple kinds of enemies on your way:

-Walkers: Basic zombies for sure. Slow and noisy. They are the hordes growling heart. They are also easy targets. But they may be in very high numbers. In this case it is no more the same story...
-Runners: Those zombies are running very fast, inspiring a deep horror inside everything that lives on the ground!
-Abominations: Huge monsters very resistant. They will provoke a lot of damages. Only tanks and helicopters may stop them.
-Spitters: Strange zombies that are able to spit some kind of acid. How is it even possible? Anyway, your helicopters are in danger because of them.

As it's not enough, your government will also be facing bandits, coming from the panic inside your population. They will build some camps and start to raid your bases. With them, you will meet the following units:

-Armed militiamen: The largest part of bandits’ parties. Dangerous in high number.
-Pick-ups: Basic vehicles but upgraded to protect their crews. They will cause a lot of damages on infantry. To destroy them, you better use tanks.
-Missile launchers: heavy weapons very powerful against tanks!
-Sharpshooter: Balanced units able to inflict a lot of casualties, without receiving many in exchange.

On a very classical way, battles are triggered whenever an army is met by another. The battles are solved automatically with a turn calculated each day. The only thing a player can do is to bring other armies to the battle, in order to be reinforced.

As you can see, a battle is also linked with a chaos value. It's the amount of chaos point that you will get in case of defeat. As a reminder, the chaos represents the loss of control from the central state. It is mainly raised by military defeats. When this value reach 100, the country collapses, and the player (or AI) loses the game. This chaos value in the battle depends on your number of troops engaged in the battle, compared with your total forces. But also, from the eventually attacked location (especially for cities, and your capital city, the chaos penalty will be salty!)

Hello there,
After monthes of work, the Steam page is finally here : Store.steampowered.com
Don't hesitate to take a look:)

Hello!

The project is still on its rails, and the next step will be a huge work on gameplay balancing and optimization. The objective is to make it tested by other players soon.

Now is the development ending of a major feature: the tutorial (very useful for this kind of game). So, I'm coming back to you, to introduce a new gameplay part of Z-Collapse: special units.

In addition to armed forces and refugees, other units will be at your disposal to allow you to go through this crisis. And even to take the upper hand on your neighboring countries. Those units will generally be available at the mid-game, when the player had previously secured a part of his population and ensured a relative resource supply. At this point, he can invest on those options that bring him more strategical possibilities.

The first of those has already been introduced: the ambulances. Sent in cities and refugees camps, they are used to lower the infestation level. A mandatory cure to don't watch anymore your population turning into zombies.

The second is the infestor. You heard right. By using technological research, you can learn to create your own infestor squads, that are totally under your control. You desperately need resources within the neighboring country, but it is too strong for you? You waited for too long for its collapse? So, give a hand to the fate by pushing your own infestors on its cities, and spread the disease there.

The third one is the agent. On the same style, he can destabilize other countries by spreading fake news and encouraging revolts. Send him on other countries' cities to make their panic to rise. And, as you already know, from panic are forming bandit groups.

And the last one is the hook. This brave unit can catch nearby hordes attention, that start to follow him rather that other units around. It only lasts a time, but this allows you to divert hordes from your vital structures. And even better, once hordes are following the hook, he can lead them on any other place (foreign countries, bandit camps, ...). The horde will then attack the designated place and destroy it... The perfect weapon for cunning players !

Hello there!

The project is still going on. I'm currently working on the gameplay balancing. When it will be done, this will be time for test sessions from other players, to get useful feedbacks and improvement advice.

(Steam page Store.steampowered.com)

But now is the time to introduce a new gameplay section: Technological research

Like many other strategy games, Z-Collapse has a full tech-tree. More than real scientifical discoveries, they represent the adaptation stages from an extinguishing human society facing a zombie apocalypse. This is made in 4 branches: Military, Economy, Society and Science.

Discovering those technologies will allow you to get a lot of bonuses in various domains. Sometimes it will also unlock some special units or buildings production. And above all, it will allow you to find the vaccine that will prevent every future infection and therefore winning the game. The player chooses his research that he wants to work on. Each-one requires an amount of research points to be found. By default, you get a daily amount of research point that you invest. But this can be also raised by building research centers and assigning scientists there.

Military branch


This seems to be the obvious branch in such a case. Those researches will allow you to get huge combat bonuses against zombies/bandits/humans. But also, to improve your troops production capacity. In this branch you can also find technologies allowing hooks units creation. And the option to reactivate satellites infrastructure that will remove the fog of war.

Economy branch


The economy branch allows to get bonuses on resources production buildings. But also, it gives you the opportunity to upgrade them. There is also a research allowing to set up a full vaccination infrastructure. This is mandatory for the finale vaccination research.

Society branch


The society branch allows you to change your population habits to better fit the new global situation. There are researches that will restrain the impacts of defeats and panic amongst your people. But also, to reduce your energy consumption. You will find too a research allowing to unlock the production of agents (units specialized in destabilization missions). And the planning of the vaccination campaign (mandatory for the finale vaccination research).

Science branch


In this branch, many researches will allow you to get bonuses on research points, but also to improve your ambulances actions. From there you can unlock homemade-infestors production too.
Above all, from here is your finale objective: the research for the full vaccination of your population. It requires a lot of preliminaries researches, and it will take some time to complete. During this time, foreign countries and bandits will attack you to get your discoveries. And zombies, we don’t really know how they will react. Will they fear the danger? We will see. YOU will see !

Hello!

I'm back after a few quiet monthes. The project is still going well. During all this time, I have been working on a huge feature of the game, that can now being disclosed : Z-Collapse will be playable in multiplayers mode !

Several players will be able to play together within the same game. Each one leading its own country, and trying to make it survive the apocalypse!

There will be 2 multiplayers game modes :

• Classic : Each player leads its country. They can attack each-others. You will find out who your friends really are...
• Cooperation : Each player leads its country, but can't attack each others. The fog of war is shared between players.

Furthermore, it will be possible to set the victory conditions as follows :

• The first player able to discover a vaccine win the game
• No game end, until you decide to stop!

Now I'm back to tweaks given by the first testers. I will keep you in touch !

• Distraction program : "Zombies? What are you tlaking about?". Forcing the press and medias to don't communicate about the ongoing global pandemic. This could allow to keep the population unaware of the situation. Isn't it the best way to keep the people under control?
• General rationing : Restrict consumer goods access to the population at its minimum. During those hard time, people need to scrimp.
• General Mobilization : Apply general mobilization to accelerate the formation of new military units.
• Information campaign : Inform the population as clearly as possible, so people really understand how critical the situation is, and reinforce their mobilization level.
• Screening campaign : Sending many medical teams to screen the infested population, and eliminate them before they turn into zombies.
• Scientists mobilization : Requisition all research teams accross the country, so that they better comply with governement's objectives
• Industrial mobilization : Requisition industries accross the country, so that they better comply with governement's objectives
• Distributing goods : Distributing massive consumer goods to the population to keep its support.

Edited by: Pokix