Brainstorming notes

Brainstorming Notes

2011-09-01

General

• What point of view were y'all thinking? There's the overhead type like Diablo but David was saying there could be an equally viable third-person behind the back; I don't know if first person would be amicable though.
• If we're going to do ability-based characters, I'd suggest a cool-down paradigm rather than an expendable resource (mana, energy, etc.)
• Friendly fire? Reduced-damage friendly fire?
• How to determine death condition? HP meter? X amount of hits? One hit down?
• If a player dies in a round (aside from being Quadrocopter struck in the gut), do they get to come back? Will it be on the "team-mate revives" paradigm?
• Wave-based zombies or constant stream? Maybe with some opportune breaks like after killing a special / boss zombie.

Objectives

• First and foremost, survive. To do so, there will be a variety of options: character abilities, character development, maybe an inventory system, class combos (see classes features), etc.
• Here's my vision of how the game might play out:
• Zombies come from the edges of the map and seek out the players (nearest). Players will get points (for character development or whatever) for each zombie killing-blowed (lol) as well as benchmarks for the number of zombies killed / rounds completed / special or boss zombies killed (maybe for support activities too). Zombie health / numbers increase with round or benchmark completion.
• The map could consist of several key components:
• The fort: An easily defended area that allows for escapes when overwhelmed but little in the way of supplies or movement space.
• The armory: Grants players armor / repairs; when they are hit by zombies, their armor will lose integrity and fail, leaving them vulnerable.
• The workshop: Can be used to craft different defenses / upgrade items and weapons / etc. Maybe have round points as well as account points: the round points instantly add to the account points (used for character development) but will also be used for upgrades and purchases within the individual game. For example, each player starts with 0 round points, and with successive kills, etc. can then use the round points gained as a sort of currency for upgrades.
• Quarry/Mines/Etc: Can yield resources that a player can take back to any of the above three areas to fuel / upgrade / supply them (maybe disallow ability use while carrying a resource so that the team will have to escort them).
• Fields: Wide open areas (maybe some terrain features and different levels) that give a lot of movement space, but also are wide open to attack; these could fill the areas between the above strategic locations.
• Features:
• Achievements, as we've seen from that TED talk, contributes a large desire to continue long-term play.
• Persistent accounts.

Classes

• Specializations: We think we should take a departure from the traditional classes that most games in the genre implement (warrior, archer, mage, etc.) and vie for a more creative spread of abilities that will make for fun and strategic gameplay; here are just a couple spitball examples:
• Tactician: This was admittedly lifted from an old game called Asheron's Call that failed really fast and is no longer active, but it was a really clever idea; the tactician had the ability to construct (temporary) walls, some permeable (like a fire wall that harmed enemies passing through) and others solid (like an ice wall that was impassable and slowed passing baddies), along with turrets that shot from the safety of a strategically walled-fortress. I'd like to see a rebirth of this intriguing class for our own purposes, though its implementation might be a little difficult.
• OK I lied, that was the only kinda clever one I can think of; let's hear your ideas.
• Do we want a healer class?
• Features:
• David and I were thinking that there should be cross-class combos that will require good teamwork to pull off (rewards POINTZ?!) that can increase a weapon / ability effectiveness or create new strategic opportunities. For example, a tactician lays down a flame wall, and some ranged class fires through it to deal extra damage.
• Character development might be a tricky thing; if we provide multiple classes, does the account level up (meaning a person playing one class will level at concurrent rate in other classes) or do the individual classes level up; furthermore, what will this mean? Unlocked abilities / items / stats?

Co-op Play

• General: How will users connect to one another? Here's what I imagine:
• Initial screen: login, followed by character / class management, then choose a class and equip abilities / etc.
• Followed by hitting the "Find game" button, which can include an option to join friends in a game or something...
• Features:
• Chat? Pre-programmed emotes?