Swamp Slogger
Posts: 168
Joined: Sunday, 27th February 2011, 16:54
How to make zombies more interesting?
Sorry if this has been mentioned before or if it's a dumb idea...
Although the central place for design discussion is ##crawl-dev on freenode, some may find it helpful to discuss requests and suggestions here first.
Swamp Slogger
Posts: 168
Joined: Sunday, 27th February 2011, 16:54
Dungeon Master
Posts: 3618
Joined: Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 12:43
Swamp Slogger
Posts: 168
Joined: Sunday, 27th February 2011, 16:54
Dungeon Master
Posts: 3618
Joined: Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 12:43
Tartarus Sorceror
Posts: 1888
Joined: Saturday, 9th July 2011, 20:57
ClawlessVictory wrote:Or how about this? In addition to the proposed ideas, what if the zombies resurrect themselves after a short time like those in Infra Arcana? Of course, killing them again awards no experience. Maybe this is a bit much, and it could become cumbersome to keep wading through the same old zombies again and again. Unless the only way to permanently stop them is with fire?
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 3037
Joined: Sunday, 2nd January 2011, 02:06
Swamp Slogger
Posts: 168
Joined: Sunday, 27th February 2011, 16:54
Crypt Cleanser
Posts: 726
Joined: Friday, 11th February 2011, 18:46
Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1189
Joined: Friday, 28th January 2011, 21:45
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 6393
Joined: Friday, 17th December 2010, 18:17
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 3037
Joined: Sunday, 2nd January 2011, 02:06
Tiber wrote:Man, what's with all this talk about cutting? Spider's Nest is the first added content in a long while. and people just keep wanting to take away parts of the game.
Crypt Cleanser
Posts: 718
Joined: Monday, 14th February 2011, 05:35
Grimm wrote:Zombies in fiction are usually depicted as attacking en masse, so perhaps Crawl zombies could be restricted to special vaults which would confront the player with a huge army of them - like the room of orcs or bees but on an even larger scale and harder to just run from.
Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1244
Joined: Thursday, 10th March 2011, 19:45
Tartarus Sorceror
Posts: 1729
Joined: Wednesday, 19th October 2011, 21:25
Location: New England.
Grimm wrote:Another possibility would be going the 28 Days Later route and making zombies superfast and aggressive - they could automatically berserk upon seeing the player.
Shatari wrote:I traded a goat for a Nintendo DS XL, and a ton of games.
Blades Runner
Posts: 575
Joined: Tuesday, 18th January 2011, 15:11
mikee wrote:There is already a common vault that is basically a ton of zombies in one room, with a few vampires and lesser undead thrown in. It is really tedious, and between vampire summon and all the pointless zombies, it's one of the only times that I just hold down tab. The idea of zombies somehow being stronger when in a large group has some potential, I think, but just "let's have a ton of them" is not the best way to achieve that.
Tartarus Sorceror
Posts: 1776
Joined: Monday, 21st February 2011, 15:57
Location: South Carolina
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 5832
Joined: Thursday, 10th February 2011, 18:30
dpeg wrote:The idea of a recurring enemy has appeal but I wouldn't use it for a staple monster like zombies. Chances are, if you killed one zombie, you'll kill the next one as well. That might be different with phoenixes, say, what with the holy background.
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 5832
Joined: Thursday, 10th February 2011, 18:30
jejorda2 wrote:Taking Dispel Undead out of the Necromancer's starting book helps this along.
Dungeon Master
Posts: 1531
Joined: Saturday, 5th March 2011, 06:29
XuaXua wrote:* I don't understand why zombies (and maybe skeletons?) appear to be the only monster where there is no damage meter.
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 5832
Joined: Thursday, 10th February 2011, 18:30
minmay wrote:Monster trolls are nearly as boring as zombies, especially rock/iron/deep trolls - I'm not seeing any reason to single them out for resurrection other than "it's in D&D" or perhaps "it's in NetHack."
Temple Termagant
Posts: 5
Joined: Wednesday, 7th March 2012, 13:16
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 3037
Joined: Sunday, 2nd January 2011, 02:06
Tartarus Sorceror
Posts: 1776
Joined: Monday, 21st February 2011, 15:57
Location: South Carolina
XuaXua wrote:jejorda2 wrote:Taking Dispel Undead out of the Necromancer's starting book helps this along.
You haven't looked at that starting book recently, have you? It's gone, replaced with Charm Undead.
Tartarus Sorceror
Posts: 1776
Joined: Monday, 21st February 2011, 15:57
Location: South Carolina
Snake Sneak
Posts: 100
Joined: Friday, 30th September 2011, 07:08
Vaults Vanquisher
Posts: 451
Joined: Sunday, 11th September 2011, 00:07
Dungeon Master
Posts: 4031
Joined: Thursday, 16th December 2010, 20:37
Location: France
ebarrett wrote:What about replacing zombies/skeletons standard placement on level creation with something similar (but not equal) to Zonguldrok wizlab mechanics - mindless undead start buried and roll a chance to rise and fight you every turn you are in line of sight of their resting place. All non-vault areas of crypt start completely deserted (well, apparently deserted) apart from some high-level undead (which upon noticing you would call on all still buried undead in a certain radius to rise and walk towards you). Heck, make skeletal warriors a crypt-only monster and bury them too, that'd make them more interesting than Yet Another Pack Monster You Always Fight In Corridors.
Dungeon Master
Posts: 3618
Joined: Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 12:43
Barkeep
Posts: 4435
Joined: Tuesday, 11th January 2011, 12:28
Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1189
Joined: Friday, 28th January 2011, 21:45
Swamp Slogger
Posts: 168
Joined: Sunday, 27th February 2011, 16:54
ebarrett wrote:What about replacing zombies/skeletons standard placement on level creation with something similar (but not equal) to Zonguldrok wizlab mechanics - mindless undead start buried and roll a chance to rise and fight you every turn you are in line of sight of their resting place. All non-vault areas of crypt start completely deserted (well, apparently deserted) apart from some high-level undead (which upon noticing you would call on all still buried undead in a certain radius to rise and walk towards you). Heck, make skeletal warriors a crypt-only monster and bury them too, that'd make them more interesting than Yet Another Pack Monster You Always Fight In Corridors.
Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 3037
Joined: Sunday, 2nd January 2011, 02:06
ebarrett wrote:What about replacing zombies/skeletons standard placement on level creation with something similar (but not equal) to Zonguldrok wizlab mechanics - mindless undead start buried and roll a chance to rise and fight you every turn you are in line of sight of their resting place. All non-vault areas of crypt start completely deserted (well, apparently deserted) apart from some high-level undead (which upon noticing you would call on all still buried undead in a certain radius to rise and walk towards you). Heck, make skeletal warriors a crypt-only monster and bury them too, that'd make them more interesting than Yet Another Pack Monster You Always Fight In Corridors.
Dungeon Master
Posts: 1613
Joined: Thursday, 16th December 2010, 21:54
Vestibule Violator
Posts: 1509
Joined: Wednesday, 21st September 2011, 01:10
Location: St. John's, NL, Canada
Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1189
Joined: Friday, 28th January 2011, 21:45
Dungeon Master
Posts: 4031
Joined: Thursday, 16th December 2010, 20:37
Location: France
dpeg wrote:use corridors and slow speed to return to standard battle patterns.
Dungeon Master
Posts: 1531
Joined: Saturday, 5th March 2011, 06:29
galehar wrote:dpeg wrote:use corridors and slow speed to return to standard battle patterns.
How about using the Lair ruination algorithm (is that how it's called?) in Crypt, but tone down? I think it would help in the lower dungeon too, to have less reliable corridors.
Dungeon Master
Posts: 3618
Joined: Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 12:43
Halls Hopper
Posts: 88
Joined: Saturday, 17th September 2011, 17:18
Tartarus Sorceror
Posts: 1729
Joined: Wednesday, 19th October 2011, 21:25
Location: New England.
inkydood wrote:Zombies are mindless, slow, and spread their disease by attacking others, starting out as a few infected but slowly overwhelming with numbers
In practice, I imagine this would play out like a modified version of jellies. Zombies spawn randomly on a floor, like jellies do, and attack monsters they come across. The monsters they defeat join their ranks, so if the player takes too long...okay, I'm not sure how to get from A to B exactly, but the idea is that eventually the floor is swarmed with zombies.
Shatari wrote:I traded a goat for a Nintendo DS XL, and a ton of games.
Slime Squisher
Posts: 369
Joined: Saturday, 3rd September 2011, 18:22
Crypt Cleanser
Posts: 720
Joined: Friday, 7th January 2011, 01:43
duvessa wrote:Christ, you can't remove anything without tavern complaining about it.
Vestibule Violator
Posts: 1500
Joined: Monday, 3rd January 2011, 17:47
Jabberwocky wrote:inkydood wrote:Zombies are mindless, slow, and spread their disease by attacking others, starting out as a few infected but slowly overwhelming with numbers
In practice, I imagine this would play out like a modified version of jellies. Zombies spawn randomly on a floor, like jellies do, and attack monsters they come across. The monsters they defeat join their ranks, so if the player takes too long...okay, I'm not sure how to get from A to B exactly, but the idea is that eventually the floor is swarmed with zombies.
The problem is that zombies tend to be weaker than the original monster so the end result is a easier floor.
Swamp Slogger
Posts: 168
Joined: Sunday, 27th February 2011, 16:54
Swamp Slogger
Posts: 159
Joined: Friday, 25th March 2011, 04:05
inkydood wrote:In practice, I imagine this would play out like a modified version of jellies. Zombies spawn randomly on a floor, like jellies do, and attack monsters they come across. The monsters they defeat join their ranks, so if the player takes too long...okay, I'm not sure how to get from A to B exactly, but the idea is that eventually the floor is swarmed with zombies.
Dungeon Master
Posts: 1531
Joined: Saturday, 5th March 2011, 06:29
Slime Squisher
Posts: 400
Joined: Saturday, 24th September 2011, 03:45
Return to Game Design Discussion
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 158 guests