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Archive for February, 2010

23
Feb

Suggestion Time: Assault Rifles

   Posted by: Con    in Game Design, Last Stand

UPDATE: Thanks for all the suggestions, think I’ve got the final list sorted out. Here they are:

- M4A1
- AK-47 / 74
- M16A2
- SCAR-H
- FAL
- ????

They were picked for their various calibres and actual performance differences. The key thing were that they function differently to each other.  The last one on the list, well that’s a secret.

13
Feb

The Last Stand: Union City – Q&A – Part II

   Posted by: Con    in Last Stand

You guys love your questions, I’m on the phone to Guinness now and it looks like I’m in the running for a record. Let’s do this Question and Answer thing again. It got a bit out of control last time so this time there’s some more ground rules.

1. Keep it to one question.
2. Don’t repeat questions from last time.
3. Two days only! (Time is up. Comments locked.)

I guess that’s it. I’ll answer the most commonly asked ones in this post. If you break these, your comment will be deleted and lost to the oblivion of internet space. Fire away!




Multiplayer / Co-op?
No, no no, no. No. No?

Is there a melee shove?
I’m working on that at the moment. Seems to be working well, just need to make it look good.

Will zombies adjust to my level?
Certain areas will have certain zombie types that will be tougher / easier than others. In general though, zombie health and base zombie types will be spawned according to your character level.

Achievements?
Yes. They may even tie to giving your character bonus weapons / equipment.

Can my character and other survivors become infected?
We’ll have to see.

Will there be barricade defence like the last two games?
Not in the same way, there’ll be barricades throughout the world that you may choose to hole up behind.

Will the game be downloadable?
No. This comes down to me needing to make a living off this stuff. If it’s downloadable, I can’t run the dynamic ads I run now, no ads, no food.

How many equipped weapons can I have?
You’ll be able to equip two at a time, but you’ll be able to hold as many as you can within your weight limit.

Is running out of ammo going to be an issue?
The plan is for ammo depletion to be a problem at some times during the game, but not to the point where you’re constantly running out. I know where the fun lies in the game (shooting zombies) and don’t want the need to search for ammo to get in the way of that too often. It’ll likely come down to some weapons having ammunition more readily available and powerful / abstract weapons having rarer ammunition.

How many in game days will there be?
I kind of answered this in the last Q&A, but it’s really up to how you play. There’ll be certain missions that trigger an end game which will have a very definite path towards ending the game, if you don’t follow that, you can run around as long as you like.

How will I interact with survivors?
As I mentioned, you’ll be able to talk to them to get their stories. These stories might give you missions / quests that you need to carry out to gain their help. Others might just be after specific items in return for something useful of theirs.

Do zombies have weapons like in the LS2?
Probably yes. Good thing you’ll have armor to protect yourself.

Is there going to be missions / quests to do?
It’s an RPG kids, of course.

What happens if survivors die?
They’re dead, you loot their corpse to get all your gear back and go about your day.

Will there be bosses?
No plans at this stage.

What use is all this junk, cash etc? Can I trade it?
It’s apocalypse, very early days of it. Some people will still think that cash has value and want it, others might want basic things like cigarettes or particular food. Some may be willing to give you items in return for these. There won’t be a trader setup somewhere though.

Pets, Dogs and Zombie Dogs?
No pets, dogs, cats, hamsters planned at this stage. Zombie dogs are likely yes. Other animals, maybe.

Will there be a morality system?
Morality really only works in a context where you’re answerable to someone. In this case the only people around you are either dead or complete strangers, so no. No morality system.

How does food work?
Food and drink will decrease your nourishment need. I may look at including some ‘less than fresh’ food that has a negative effect on your health, but we’ll see. It’s all time people.

Can I kill survivors?
No, why? Bullets are for zombies.

Here’s an early look at the searching and inventory system for TLS: UC. It’s all very rough at the moment and you’ll see a bunch of small interface glitch type things as you play around with it. Also, there’s a bunch of icons and such missing and only short descriptions for items, but I hope it gives you an idea of the scope I’m dealing with here.

Things to know:
- Containers aren’t remembering their contents at the moment and will randomly populate every time you open them. In the final game they’ll populate with random items (depending on the type of room you’re in) the first time you open them and then be saved.

- Items in the search screen that are marked with a star are items that have been found as a result of either a luck or skill roll. This all happens behind the scenes but it’s an indicator for players who’ve put points into Luck and the Searching skill.

- You can open the Backpack via the button on the bottom or by hitting TAB.

- Zombies are turned off for the moment.


THE LAST STAND: UNION CITY – ALPHA v0.6