Zombox

I put more work into the vehicles this week…

They can now be driven, deal damage, receive damage, and more!

This week in Zombox update news:

I’m going to be adding several new vehicles to the game. Here’s what their base (ie…untextured) models look like:

I’ve also added a bunch of new findable items:

And finally, a new location! This is the survivor encampment where the game begins.

It’s been a while since the last update, but never fear! Zombox is still alive and well.

Here’s a rundown of the features that have been added!

• All NPC dialog trees have been finished.

Also, here’s an image outlining how the node system works:

• The main sewers are now filled with NPCs
• You can buy/sell from NPCs
• You can loot items off dead NPCs
• You can heal NPCs who are injured for an XP bonus.
• There are now 15 mini-sewers packed with secret areas, items, and zombies.

Here are animated examples of each of those, in order:

More updates to Zombox this week!

NPCs can be convinced to join forces with you. They will do their best to follow you around and attack nearby zombies.

NPCs can also use guns now. However, if they’re standing too close to their target to use a ranged weapon, they will switch to a melee weapon.

You can rob NPCs by shooting at them and then holding them up with your gun. When scared, NPCs will throw their hands in the air and give you their money (be careful though, because nearby NPCs will come to your victim’s defense, and/or your victim will attack once you take what they have).

Here are some .gif animations to show the new features!

This week I’ve been working on getting a wider variety of NPCs into the game world. The main type players will come across are “generic” NPCs (shown in the last post). Those are the ones that can offer general information/help/etc.

Other types will be hostile NPCs, NPCs who only want to trade (and who will carry special goods), depressed NPCs, crazy NPCs, etc.

Here’s an example of an encounter with a depressed NPC:

This week I worked on NPCs (non-playable characters). They are basically the other survivors in the city.

NPC AI is based on zombie AI. It runs in a modular behavioral hierarchy. Right now NPCs can perform many different actions. They can wander, give the player attention, attack the player, attack zombies, flee, talk, etc.

If they’re near the player, they can shout phrases in small, floating speech bubbles. These phrases can be greetings, cries for help, taunts, etc.

You can initiate a full chat with an NPC, by walking close to it and pressing the chat icon that pops up in the top right of the screen. In these full chats you can respond to what the NPC says and essentially have a little conversation with them. Certain responses you give will trigger a positive reaction in the NPC, other responses will trigger a negative one. You can also ask the NPC to follow you, or trade with you. If you anger the NPC too much while talking to him, he will attack you.

NPCs will also attack you if you purposely attack them, and if nearby NPCs see this altercation, they will gang up attack you as well.

The full NPC chat system is based on a dialog tree editor that I wrote, which uses Helium for its schematic view. Here is a scaled-down image of a complex dialog tree created for generic NPCs found outside of the sewers:

The blue boxes are branch nodes that are seed-locked to each NPC, so NPCs will “respond” to a player’s dialog choice predictable at that point in the tree. The rest of the branches are chosen at random to keep conversations unique. Green lines represent conversational choices that trigger a positive reaction in the NPC. Red lines represent negative reactions. If you insult/threaten an NPC too much during a conversation, he will attack you.

So these last couple of weeks I’ve been working on the overworld and underground sewer system.

The layout of the overworld has been changed to sync up with the overall storyline of the game, which will involve traveling across three large islands to…well, I don’t want to give too much away right now

Each island features a sewer system, which is where most of the NPCs live, since they’re the only places free from zombies. The sewers will get progressively larger as you visit larger islands, and each one contains various shops, medic stations, eating rooms, etc. The largest sewer system even contains a derelict gambling room, where you’ll be able to play on old slot machines to try and earn some extra money.

Here’s an image showing the layout of the sewer systems. Note: the largest sewer isn’t finished yet, and is missing many props/decorations.

Here’s a sped-up animation showing the player entering, exploring and exiting a sewer:

A.D.D. Gamers just published on article on Zombox.

Click here to read it!

Lots of updates to Zombox this week!

I worked on creating some weapons that allow the player to use fire and explosive power against the zombie hordes. All of these new weapons must be crafted from various supplies.

(all of the following .gifs depict sped-up gameplay footage)

The molotov (click here to view example .gif) is made from a bottle, a lighter and some cloth. Tossing it towards a group of zombies will quickly light them all on fire.

The fire bow (click here to view example .gif) is made from a crossbow, a lighter and some duct tape. It turns normal crossbow projectiles into flaming spears, capable of piercing through zombie flesh while dealing extra fire damage afterwards.

The pipe bomb (click here to view example .gif) is made from a pipe, a lighter and some gunpowder. Great for blowing up zombies, buildings, and anything else in the game.

The boom bow (click here to view example .gif) is made from a crossbow, a lighter, some gunpowder and duct tape. It turns normal crossbow projectiles into explosive darts, which detonate on contact.

I also added the ability for the player to barricade doors with the construction mallet. Doing so will add extra HP to the door, making it harder for zombies to knock it down. Here’s a .gif showing off this new feature.

Finally, I added a food system that requires the player to eat food at regular intervals. If the player doesn’t eat when the food icon pops up next to the player icon in the top right of the screen, after a while the player will lose health and eventually die from starvation. Here’s an image showing how the bubble icon looks onscreen when the player gets hungry:

This week in development I worked on getting the weapon crafting system working, as well as giving the player the ability to collect supplies which can be used to construct walls and doorways. Last week’s update showed the ability to construct those building elements, but there was no way to actually gather the raw materials necessary for them. Now, every time you destroy an object in the game, there’s a chance it may drop some useful raw materials that can be picked up.

New weapons can also be crafted now, by combining various pieces together in the crafting window. For example, you can combine a box of nails and a baseball bat to create a nail bat, or a pool cue, some duct tape and a knife to create a lance. Right now there are about ten craftable weapons that I’ve added to the game, but in the future there will be many more.

Also, the construction mallet shown in last week’s update has been given two modes: repair and destroy. Using it to repair an object costs money, and in destruction mode it can damage solid objects faster than most other weapon types.

Finally, new particle systems have been implemented, which generate debris every time an object is damaged. The type of particle emitted depends on the substance of the object being hit. A door will emit shards of wood, a wall will emit chunks of concrete, etc.

Here’s a video demonstrating all of the above features!