Idea for a new game - ZOMBIES

[Brian O]

I had/have a game about Zombies in the works called "Game of The Living Dead". The name is a take on the movie Night of The Living Dead. I didn't get very far, probably because I haven't programmed in awhile. I also haven't done a game with more than one enemy updating at a time.

 

The game play is like the Activision game Oink! kind of. You start at the bottom and have to barricade your house in. The zombies come down the screen and try to break in your house to eat your brains.

 

I like this idea. Any chance of it becoming a reality?

 

-B

[Impaler_26]

there was also a zombie game announced long ago that never got finished, i remember screenshots with tombstones in them, but i tried google and can't remember the name... anyone?

I think you mean "The Ravenous Dead" by Tim Snider. There were a few screenshots on DP iirc but i can't get on the Site atm (server too busy)...

I found a post about it on Stella:

 

http://www.biglist.c...1/msg00026.html

[sandmountainslim]

Don't forget Batari's game Zombie Chase.

Wp

[Godzilla]

yes, it was the ravenous dead... http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/115600-bb-brings-the-dead-back-to-life/page__p__1396184__hl__ravenous%20dead__fromsearch__1#entry1396184

 

now only three years dead

 

ahhh, yes...

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20020211033937/www.atariage.com/development_page.html?InDevelopmentID=3

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/110979-graveyard-game-screen-shot/page__p__1343014__hl__ravenous%20dead__fromsearch__1#entry1343014

 

pictures all gone http://web.archive.org/web/20021025082903/http://www.geocities.com/gameagain_2000/risen.html

[tokumaru]

I noticed you called them players, and then mentioned missiles, are they different?

Yeah, the 2600 doesn't use the same concept of sprites as the NES. There are only a few objects available to draw stuff: 2 players, 2 missiles, 1 ball and the playfield. They were probably named like this because of the simplistic games the designers of the video chip had in mind. Also unlike the NES, the 2600 doesn't have enough video memory to hold the picture of an entire frame, only a handful of registers that define how a single scanline will look. If programs don't change the registers every scanline, they'll look the same all the way from the top of the screen to the bottom. There are also only 4 "active" colors at any given time: one for player 0 and its missile, one for player 1 and its missile, one for the playfield and the ball, and one for the background.

 

The background color is like color 0 on the NES, it fills the entire background and the other objects are drawn on top of it. The playfield is 40 "blocks" wide, but there are only 20 bits for storing its pattern, so the right side of the screen is either a mirror or a copy of the right side. Alternatively, the program can overwrite the 20-bit pattern mid-scanline to make the halves unique. The players are 8 pixels wide, but they can be stretched to twice or 4 times their regular width. They can also have 2 or 3 copies (i.e. the same player shows up multiple times on the same scanline) when they are not stretched, but there are only a few hardwired options for the spacing between copies. The missiles and the ball are only 1 pixel wide (so they are either "on" or "off" on any given scanline), but they can be stretched to 2, 4 or 8 times that.

 

As you have probably already seen, a lot of games are very creative with the use of these objects. A missile doesn't necessarily have to be used as a projectile, and a ball doesn't have to be kicked or thrown around. In "3d" racing games like Enduro or Pole Position for example, they are used to draw the sides of the road. The steps of the escalators in Keystone Kapers are drawn with the ball. By changing the colors, positions and patterns every scanline, games are able to build very complex scenes out of these few objects.

[GreenDayRlz]

Interesting....hmmmm.

[jrok]

I had/have a game about Zombies in the works called "Game of The Living Dead". The name is a take on the movie Night of The Living Dead. I didn't get very far, probably because I haven't programmed in awhile. I also haven't done a game with more than one enemy updating at a time.

 

The game play is like the Activision game Oink! kind of. You start at the bottom and have to barricade your house in. The zombies come down the screen and try to break in your house to eat your brains.

 

I like this idea. Any chance of it becoming a reality?

 

-B

 

I was actually working on something similar awhile back (though I don't think I posted any progress on AA). Instead of heading down the screen, the zombies enter on the right and move towards the player who is shooting at them from the left. Between the zombies and the player is a wall that the zombies gradually chew through when they make contact with it. There's enough vertical separation to get up to 12 zombies on the screen without flicker. Here's a quickie demo (minus the shooting player).

 

ZOMG.bin

[yuppicide]

Here's a mock animated .gif I made showing what mine was supposed to look like:

 

CLICK ME.. I'm ANIMATED!

 

 

So imagine you're at the VERY bottom boarded up in the house. When they touch the house they remove a board, but also die. If another zombie happens to come down the same spot before you board it back up, he gets in and you get eaten.

 

You use the paddle. Pressing the joystick button makes you move up in whatever spot you pressed it.. you move up and put a board back in that spot.

 

It would start off slow, but get faster.

Edited December 15, 2010 by yuppicide

[Brian O]

Sounds awesome. Are you planning on actually making this? Seems like it'd be really fun to play.

 

-B

[flammingcowz]

Kind of like the zombies in Call of Duty, removing boards to get in as you put them back up.

[yuppicide]

That's nice. Your zombies make me think of the Michael Jackson video for "Thriller" where they're dancing.

 

I had/have a game about Zombies in the works called "Game of The Living Dead". The name is a take on the movie Night of The Living Dead. I didn't get very far, probably because I haven't programmed in awhile. I also haven't done a game with more than one enemy updating at a time.

 

The game play is like the Activision game Oink! kind of. You start at the bottom and have to barricade your house in. The zombies come down the screen and try to break in your house to eat your brains.

 

I like this idea. Any chance of it becoming a reality?

 

-B

 

I was actually working on something similar awhile back (though I don't think I posted any progress on AA). Instead of heading down the screen, the zombies enter on the right and move towards the player who is shooting at them from the left. Between the zombies and the player is a wall that the zombies gradually chew through when they make contact with it. There's enough vertical separation to get up to 12 zombies on the screen without flicker. Here's a quickie demo (minus the shooting player).

 

ZOMG.bin

[miker00lz]

Besides...

 

NES is for douchebags.

 

oooh. you just made my shitlist. for whatever that's worth.

[Syntaxerror999]

IIRC, The Atari has 2 sprites, any more then that requires flicker. Having a zombie game, you need two things is seems....dumb zombies, and lots of them as time goes on, and they shall also get faster.

 

 

It'd be awesome to see, but maybe not for the Atari. I was thinking of a NES game but meh, just was a though of it'd be cool. Like Smash TV just with zombies! I think this would be a great 16-Bit game for SNES or Genesis. I think flicker on the 2600 would kill it, though. :/

Flicker? Have you ever played Berzerk? This seems perfectly possible on the 2600.

 

 

Besides...

 

NES is for douchebags.

 

 

BOOOO! Pong may be my first video game... but Nintendo was my first cartrage console (parrents woudnt buy the atari... but I didnt even need to ask for a nintendo, they got that on their own)

Edited February 28, 2011 by Syntaxerror999

[Corby]

I like killing Zombies!

[Syntaxerror999]

For anyone that plays the newer system and games, you know that zombies is a huge deal right now. The most popular ones are still the Call of Duty zombies and the 360 arcade game "i made a game with zombies". On the new Call of Duty, they also have an arcade style one that you could say is competing with "i made a game with zombies".

 

Well, those arcade types are what I think would make a good 2600 game.

 

======THE GAME=====

 

top down view

 

You are in the center of the screen and move in all directions as zombies come from all directions towards you. You start off with a simple, single-shot weapon. Face a zombie, shoot it, and move to the next. After a few killings you either automatically get or can pick up another weapon, a little more powerful. Maybe have it shoot the whole time you hold down the button.

 

Zombies get more plentiful as you play more, and you get more and more weapons. explosive bullets, rapid fire weapons, etc.

 

Hmmm... Megamania couyld be recoded into a zombie game....

[Syntaxerror999]

i am an NES fan, so watch your filthy mouth.

What are you going to do, call my mom?

 

I'll tell her tonight! BAZINGA!

[man vs. 2600]

Resident Evil 2 was also a zombie game worth exploring I think.