Fall of the Living: First Outbreak (Full Game Thread)

[sswave]

Merry Christmas everyone!

My name is Sunny Singh and I am the music composer/story writer/story script writer for Fall Of The Living. Today, I have a little present for you! Yes, you guessed it; ear candy!

Walt Of The Living:

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplaye ... 83134&q=hi

This Machine:

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplaye ... 83143&q=hi

Hope you enjoy! Thanks in advance for listening and for your support.

 

[LumberWarrior]

The music is awesome sswave, sounds great for a zombie apocalypse

 

[saikyo765]

So I don't remember if I announced it but the game will feature a stealth system.
I'm still working on it but let me try to explain it, as some things are still in concept.

Dynamic Music- The music will play depending on certain things. Such as if none of the zombies on the map notice you and you have not been discovered, the regular music will play. When you walk very close to the zombie, a diffrent type of music will play.But when you walk away from him it will return to its normal state if not discovered. As you are spotted and the zombies are moving in on you, another music will play. When you attack them, a diffrent piece of music will play. "battle music" so to speak.

Lets get into the system.

Light and shadows will play a large part in this. There are 4 levels of light and they interact with the zombies vision.

1-Bright: This is when you are standing under a light or in a place that is not dark at all. The zombie will easily be able to spot you. They will be able to see you from many tiles away.

2-Standard: The zombie will be able to see you if you're just standing there, but there is a chance he will not if you move quickly enough into cover/shadow.

3-Dark: The zombie will only be able to see you if he is 2 or 3 tiles away from you or so and if you are not standing still.

4-Very Dark: Most zombies wont be able to see you at all if you walk while in these areas.

This is all done using terrain tags.

Sound attraction: Zombies will walk towards the area they hear noises like gunfire, explosions, reloading (there will be a stealthy way to reload, but it will be slower), or loud noises from debris such as running into an empty can or something which will result in it skipping across the street.

The best way to use firearms would be only if you really need too. But if you're the kind of player that wants to run and gun, than you can do that too. But stealth is an option for lets say you have low ammo or health. Or there are far too many zombies in the area. You can just sneak passed them. If they get suspicous from a sound from the area, and don't find where it came from they will simply ignore it.

Silencers are one way to help with the sound. They deteriorate after prolonged use though And silencers dont fully silence the noise. If a zombie is within 3 tiles of you shooting a gun with one on, he will get suspicous.

Stealth attacks are availble. Kill them silently with a knife, or a bash to the head when you are behind them.

On the corner of walls you will be able to stick to the wall, lean your body out slightly to get a shot, then return behind the wall quickly. Either that or blindfire.

The storyboard is fully complete. I am just working on the diolouge and boss fights, which is coming out great.

 

[Rathalos]

Stealth sounds pretty badass. As do bosses. I love a good boss ^_^. I'm sorry if you've mentioned this before, but is there a release date?

 

[Makasu]

I have a question!

[offtopic]Rathalos I love your name. :3[/offtopic]

How are you going to keep things "fresh" in your game? Because from what I'm reading it seems like all you're going to be doing is fighting the same 3 enemy types over and over again. And while its good the first 100 or so sooner or later its going to take its toll. Now I'm not trying to bash your or anything like that I'm just trying to get some developer insight on the thing seeing as how this is one of the popular games on this forum. So tell me Sai as lead developer how are you going to push the envelope and keep this from falling into the "Survival Horror" cliche that we've been exposed to for ages? What exactly sets your game apart from the others.

While you have many good ideas will these translate properly in game and will it affect the quality of the game focusing on the little touches most?

Oh yeah if I can't ask questions let me know mods and I'll keep to myself. Thanks!

 

[saikyo765]

Stealth sounds pretty badass. As do bosses. I love a good boss ^_^. I'm sorry if you've mentioned this before, but is there a release date?

Thanks. I love a good boss too. There will be many sub boss and bosses. Most of them are already written into detail on my wordpad file. Most of them will be human, but there will be many events too. You will also get a choice of the way to do things. I guess it's safe to give an example. Here is an example of a non human miniboss. It occours on a supply run the first mission. You have to drive your jeep to the gas station downtown to get gasoline for the generator, refill the jeep with gas, and pick up any food you see there (which is just a few boxes of cheap gas station tv dinners and hotdogs and such).

But here is how it is written on my wordpad file

Spoiler

Since this is the very first mission it is a simple one. You just pick up the boxes from the garage, then walk outside and place it in the backseat of the jeep.

After putting the final supply box in the back seat a cut scene is triggered.

You the player looks around as he sees a large horde of zombies shambling towards his jeep.
As the color from the screen fades and is now a grey color a choice pops up on screen.

-Use the machine gun (on the back of the jeep)-
          or
-Attempt to drive away-




ATTEMPTING TO FIGHT:
If you select stay and fight the hero will jump in the back of the jeep and this is a mini boss. All you do is control the crosshairs and shoot the mounted machine gun as many zombies come walking towards you. If one gets close you can press the ESC key to switch to your pistol for close range. This battle last for a good 3-5 minutes before finishing.

After the fight: The jeep is surrounded by many zombie corpses and blood splatter on the pavement. Smoke is coming from the barrel of the machine gun. The hero jumps into the drivers seat and drives off screen

Note: If you attempted to fight the horde, you don't have to drive back yourself. The next cut scene will play right after, rather than having to drive back manually.




ATTEMPTING TO DRIVE AWAY:
If you select to drive away, you have to run and get in the drivers seat and start the car. The car stalls a few times as you press the action key to try and start it. After you start it you have to drive to the safe house with the car in one piece and without the supplies falling from the backseat. If you crash your car into a wall or something the supplies will fall out and you have to get out the car and go and put them back.

This is only the first mission. But the bosses I have written up will be very fun. I'll go more into detail on another boss if you like. But I don't want to spoil much.

I have a question!

[offtopic]Rathalos I love your name. :3[/offtopic]

How are you going to keep things "fresh" in your game? Because from what I'm reading it seems like all you're going to be doing is fighting the same 3 enemy types over and over again. And while its good the first 100 or so sooner or later its going to take its toll. Now I'm not trying to bash your or anything like that I'm just trying to get some developer insight on the thing seeing as how this is one of the popular games on this forum. So tell me Sai as lead developer how are you going to push the envelope and keep this from falling into the "Survival Horror" cliche that we've been exposed to for ages? What exactly sets your game apart from the others.

While you have many good ideas will these translate properly in game and will it affect the quality of the game focusing on the little touches most?

Oh yeah if I can't ask questions let me know mods and I'll keep to myself. Thanks!

Well my game is more story driven than anything, but while keeping the gameplay as detailed and fun as possible.

Zombies aren't the only enemy. Alot of the enemies are humans of all diffrent kinds through story events. It's kind of hard to explain without spoiling major plot details. The zombies are more of a "in the way" sort of deal. It's not focused on killing zombies. It's focused on survival. It's more about the trouble that people are in/cause while the outbreak is happening.

To keep from being stale, there are a number of things. While first is the story. The story is a gaurentee to keep you sucked in. Me and Sunny have put monsterous amount of work into developing characters personality, balances in diolouge, and the way the story is headed. You will easily care for the main characters. It steers far away from cliches. Also having to do with the story, the missions that progress the story will keep it from being stale. As the more the story progresses, you move to diffrent locations, and continue the story. The ammount of detail I put into the entire combat system will keep you entertained for a while too.  Detail is one thing that I am working hard on. I know no one can really judge right now because there isnt really much out for it. But when you play it, you will see what I mean.  I hope I answered your question, if I didnt explain well enough please let me know.

 

[Makasu]

No you answered them for the most part. Darn I was hoping I would stump you. I had something else I wanted to ask but I can't ask remember it right now...

OH YEAH are there going to be fetch quests? One of the things I can't stand in games are fetch quests. IE: Go get this item for me and I'll advance the plot. I know most games rely on them. Sadly even mine probably will. But if so are such quests going to be an intergal part of necessary to progress the game or make everything come to a complete halt until I find the blue keycard?

 

[saikyo765]

No you answered them for the most part. Darn I was hoping I would stump you. I had something else I wanted to ask but I can't ask remember it right now...

OH YEAH are there going to be fetch quests? One of the things I can't stand in games are fetch quests. IE: Go get this item for me and I'll advance the plot. I know most games rely on them. Sadly even mine probably will. But if so are such quests going to be an intergal part of necessary to progress the game or make everything come to a complete halt until I find the blue keycard?

Fetch quest? There is likely to have some but they won't be anything impossible. You would know the general area they are in. It won't be anything like backtracking every single step pulling your hair out because you cant find it. 

Oh and for the ideas that I post on here most of them are already complete or close to being complete. I wouldn't shoot for anything I know I couldn't accomplish. It's all about balance really. I'm constantly questioning about the fun factor, fairness, and repetitive-ness each thing I add into the game.

I agree that we have had the same exact survival horror thing going on. But this sticks closer to a film than a survival horror game, while steering away from cliches of course. With the storyboard finished by me and Sunny, I am very excited and proud the way things are going. I'm also excited for everyone to play the game as this is what it's about. Having fun.

 

[Rathalos]

Choices in boss fights = Epic win. Normally in these types of games, a boss= enemy with twice as much hp. But, are the choices just gonna be like a choice box comes up with 2 choices, or does the player think for himself? Either way is better than the "standard" boss, but I'm just wondering how much freedom you are willing to give the player.

Also, can you run things over in the jeep? If so, make sure you find a satisfying sound effect :grin: .

Oh, and I like my name too :rock: .

 

[saikyo765]

Choices in boss fights = Epic win. Normally in these types of games, a boss= enemy with twice as much hp. But, are the choices just gonna be like a choice box comes up with 2 choices, or does the player think for himself? Either way is better than the "standard" boss, but I'm just wondering how much freedom you are willing to give the player.

Also, can you run things over in the jeep? If so, make sure you find a satisfying sound effect :grin: .

Oh, and I like my name too :rock: .

Well a box with two choices will come up, and you either press left for option 1, or right for option 2. Depending on the situation, you will have a certain amount of time to select a choice or it will just go with the default way the boss is supposed to be fought. What do you mean on how much freedom the player will get? In boss fights or just ingame? Because in boss fights the choices will be two very diffrent things. Sometimes it may make it easier, or sometimes it may make it harder.

And yes you can run over things in the jeep, and crash into walls that will damage the car at going high speeds.

 

[Makasu]

Are you scripting all of this or is it done though events? Either which ways I have to see it in action to know for sure. But if it can hold up like you say it should be quite pleasing to play.

 

[saikyo765]

Are you scripting all of this or is it done though events? Either which ways I have to see it in action to know for sure. But if it can hold up like you say it should be quite pleasing to play.

The battle system is a script from scratch. From events attacking other events, and player attacking events is scripted. So is the stealth system. I want to post a new video but my PC is so weak when it comes to recording videos. (older PC)

The cutscenes and stuff is evented but I have 5 years or so under my belt for eventing so i know how to lay everything out. :D

Anyway, I posted on a few voice acting forums and got a few actors to play a few characters. The main cutscenes will have voice acting.

The diolouge is about 30% done, and the story board is 100% complete.

Either way I'll have something to show soon.

 

[saikyo765]

Just two little animations from the game.

(I had a little trouble with the playback speed on the gif animator, but these animations are already in game and have the right speed.)


The AK74 shooting and reloading.

And the berretta m92f shooting and reloading
The reason he lowers his hand halfway through the animation is because he is pressing the magazine release, letting the magazine out of the botton of the handgun. In the game the magazine is a charset so yeah.

 

[Rathalos]

What do you mean on how much freedom the player will get? In boss fights or just ingame?

In boss fights, and in game I guess, but when I asked the question I meant boss fights =P.

 

[saikyo765]

What do you mean on how much freedom the player will get? In boss fights or just ingame?

In boss fights, and in game I guess, but when I asked the question I meant boss fights =P.

Well in game like I said when not on a mission you can leave the safehouse and go explore the area you are in however you like. Doing so will let you run into survivors that arent on the main missions, find new weapons, food/supplies, and little mini bossfights.

For bosses, depending on the boss, you are able to survive anyway you can. The bosses are turning out fun. Some of them are over the top and funny.

 

[Rathalos]

Sweet :cheers:

 

[saikyo765]

So what do you guys think of the animations?

I finally found 4 voice actors for the main cast! Voice acting will only be in the main cutscenes, but I found the perfect cast.

I also finally started on the main cutscenes which are turning out good so far. And my great music composer Sunny is helping with the story and the music is coming along.

I'll have something soon.

 

[LumberWarrior]

Is it just me or does the butt of the gun go away while reloading?

 

[saikyo765]

Is it just me or does the butt of the gun go away while reloading?

Maybe it is just you. :P Its because if you look, he switches hands, so the but is under the arm of the left arm instead. I don't think it matters that much anyway.

But anyway I wanted to hear about the animation in general. Is it smooth enough ect.

 

[Rathalos]

The animations are great. They all run very smooth and lifelike, and there seems to be a lot of little details in them (Such as him switching hands as he reloads as mentioned above). The only thing though, is is that how fast he switches from firing to reloading, or is it just the way you animated it to show us? Because it seems like he goes from the firing animation to the reloading animation with almost no movement.