Zombies!

Zombies!
Beta Project
Developer	Tuplis
Theme	Zombie
Influences	Community-driven
Released	June 11, 2012
Updated	Continuously
Licensing	Closed Source
P. Language	Java
Platforms	Undecided
Interface	ASCII
Game Length	Short
Official site of Zombies!

Zombies! is a game created by a community-driven agile development process.

Project description

The project is managed by Tuplis who is also the sole coder but anyone can join as a gameplay designer. The project was initiated as an experiment on whether it is viable to develop a game using an agile, community-driven approach. Practices typical to agile development such as continuous integration and agile planning are used. Only a vague description of the game scope was initially locked down: A zombie apocalypse Roguelike. Anyone looking to participate can join with the developers in the project's homepage where the current version and project documentation are provided.

Project scope has now been further refined. We're looking to steer the game towards a stealth-centric zombie apocalypse scenario with some survival elements on the side. This'll mean the gameplay revolves around moving around and completing objectives undetected and gameplay mechanics are built around that: Creaturescan hear and react to gunshots and other actions and will smell the player. Survival elements such as gathering food will play a part in the backgroud, directing gameplay objectives but not necessarily being centric in terms of gameplay functionalities.

Features

(as of July 30)
- Maps can be created by anyone by an easy syntax that uses predefined xml object templates
- Random map (city) generation based on xml templates
- Anyone can create items (melee/ranged weapons, armor, health restoration), creatures, quests with objectives and environment tiles with simple xml templates
- Melee and ranged weapons
- Scrolling view of the map, unlimited map size.
- Line of sight
- Zombies have rudimentary AI behaviour - attack any living, flock when idle, track any scents, move towards loud sounds
- Multiple maps with transitions between them
- Actions can generate noise which creatures can react to
- Creatures can generate smell around them over time and creatures can track other creatures by scent
- Quests with objectives
- NPC's

Latest developments

August 6: When defining a transition to a random map, a transition back to the previous map will be generated automatically.
August 1: Moving against a friendly npc swaps positions (ty finka). Vastly improved creature behaviour (upgraded from crap to bad). More balancing to smell.
July 30: Added friendly human npc’s. They start following you when they see you. More adjustment to smell.
July 27: Created lists for creatures and items where you can define what to spawn on a tile and define what their weight (probability) in relation to the other list items are. Check the ZombieList.xml, WeaponList.xml and 1.txt to see how to use them.
July 24: Random map generation (first version). Random maps can be defined with xml files and linked to custom maps just like a custom map would be. Integers in the xml files can randomized by putting a number range, for example 5-10. The same random number will be used for every instance of that object.

Credits

Management & implementation

Tuplis

Gameplay design & testing

Tuplis
Dariush
finka
Springare
nullzero
Sayaks

Content

nullzero
Sayaks

Other

Steven Black (yam655) - Blacken UI library