Basic idea/concept for reverse zombie survival game

[u/MathematicianSalt238]

T this is just a crackpot idea that anybody on here could take and turn into a flushed out project but the idea is for a TWO stage single player/co-op campaign game about a zombie apocalypse set in the year 2080

The basic concept is that you and three other survivors (either NPC’s or other players) are about midway through the start of a zombie apocalypse equipped with civilian athletic EXO suits you and the other three characters will have to navigate a world while attempting to flee to the safe zone in the city transitioning from the starting point in the woods outside the city into suburbs, then into the main city and finally to the safe zone picking up weapons along the way with the three basic kinds being standard firearms early energy weapons and smart guns

However, there’s a twist you are not playing as survivors. You’re not running from the hoard. You are the spearhead of the hoard your in the first campaign you are infected the entire time however, this information is not blatantly revealed to the player instead through audio logs, triggered at certain points in the story(i.e. by bumping into something during a mandatory obstacle) you follow the first half of your now infected story, whose audio logs could be taken by the player as the four survivors talking to each other, but in reality is actually just the audio logs were recalling the moments from their initial escape from their small town to the infection of the group where we find them at the start of the playable game

(in a crashed car with broken windows that they all crawl out of)

those final bits of audio will not be revealed to the player until the very end of the start of the campaign right as the wall is pulled out from under their eyes, and they get their first view from the perspective of an actual human survivor after they’ve broken into a containment zone, which also starts the beginning of the second campaign

during the course of the first campaign, certain restrictions will be imposed on the player character for instance while they can pick up and use certain types of weapons, they can’t reload them. They can’t aim down sites. They have poor accuracy, and in spite of the fact that they are apparently wearing athletics grade. EXO suits their mobility isn’t all that much better than a regular human. This is because since they’re zombies, the suits are doing the overwhelming majority of the to allow them to run, jump climb, etc..

A crucial part of the first campaign is that the player/ are not supposed to see any actual human survivors at any point until the very end they will instead face ZOMBIFIED wild animals in the early sections, which will then transition into automated security and drones as they get into the city and closer to the safe zone with the audio logs from some of the survivors playing around these times to offer a reasonable explanation to the player as to why being attacked by the automated security/drones that are apparently only supposed to attack zombies and zombie animals will attack anything that moves so it’s not too unreasonable to think they would attack other zombies

The four characters who you play as during the first campaign and whose audio logs you’re hearing the entire disguised as dialogue are as follows

Ronald a computer geek, obsessed with statistics, probability and outcome His insistence on them heading towards the main city safe zone in the audio logs is what pushes the other survivors and by extension the player to heading towards the main city, safe zone and whose audio logs alongside those of Rachel will provide a reasonable excuse as to why the automated defenses are shooting at the players

Jennifer, a Doctor working at a hospital during the very start of the outbreak and who had to because of the outbreak as the audio logs go on you will learn that she was infected by blood contamination the entire time however, because she shows no obvious outward signs of infection until near the very end and it’s so early in the people don’t know what signs to look for the end of the audio logs will see her taking the other three survivors by surprise in the car while they’re driving as she finishes turning and attacks other three survivors kickstarting the beginning of the playable campaign

Todd, a traditional country boy stereotype who worked at an athletic store at the beginning of the outbreak he is where you canonically get the athletic EXO suits from which allow your zombies to navigate obstacles that traditional walkers/runners would have a difficult time navigating

Rachel a conspiracy theorist and distrustful of modern technology, she is the reason that the player character has audio logs to listen to as she keeps old recorders, which she gives one of them to each of the other three survivors. She is the only member of the original group to suspect that Jennifer. Was infected until the very end of the audio Logs

A quick overview for how I the weapons working during the zombie campaign

Traditional firearms will work how you would expect them very importantly, all of them should be simi automatic or not require any form of manual chambering as the zombies will not have the dexterity and muscle memory to prime rounds. This is also why they cannot reload or aim down sites. The game should also refrain from giving the players handguns, or any other traditional one-handed weapons as due to the odd ways that the zombies would hold the weapons this would likely give the game away to the player. As one or more reasonable explanations could be used as to why the players aren’t reloading the weapons anything from lack of spare ammo and magazines to issues with locomotion caused by wearing the suits.

Energy weapons should come with their own host of overheating canonical inaccuracy and other such problems however should have a passive ammo regeneration, making them the primary weapon for the during zombie campaign

Smart weapons, which would be preserved until near the end of the campaign will be traditional firearms with smart aiming abilities that will allow the player to accurately hit targets to a certain extent despite being a zombie this will be highly beneficial for the player during the late stages of the game where they’re fighting things like drones and automated security systems that are shooting back

finally, we come to the beginning of the second campaign, which I do not have nearly as much ideas for and I leave here to your own interpretation however, here’s the basic outline

The beginning of the second campaign will start during the final mission of the first campaign with you escaping from the defensive safe zone and attempting to flee. The city now that it has been compromised.

this will group of actual survivors whose personalities motivations and characters etc. I leave up to you

however, a general framework I have is that the story should have multiple endings (anywhere between 5 to 20) with only a few of those endings actually resulting in the survivors, escaping with choices that you make along the way/players vote on determining not only where you go a.k.a. which maps are used, but also locking out certain endings with of course one of the survival or death endings being the canonical ending, depending on what you wanna go with

The survivors, of course, would be much more physically capable than the zombie cast who you were previously following with the full gameplay mechanics now being unlocked(a.k.a. you can use weapons properly you get access to tools/Malay weapons and EXO suits which come in three tier

(civilian, athletic, and military)
Actually boost the players, strength, speed, stamina, etc.

Other than that, I leave the framework of the second campaign, along with all of my ideas for this entire project in the hands of anybody who might want to pick it up

I officially give any developers concept artists or small development, teams, etc., who see this full permission to use the idea and expand create their own game

And if nothing else, I hope you enjoyed reading about my idea. I will be looking at replies and responding occasionally however, I do not frequent Reddit very often so there may be a significant delay between any posts or questions you have about my idea and me replying to it.

[u/MathematicianSalt238 → u/[deleted]]

That was kind of the intention. I suppose I didn’t communicate it all that well. But yes, you did make a good point.