PC A solution to the "Run away from hordes" problem.

Dimpy

Dimpy

New member
The idea: During the blood moon, zombies that are in total darkness move MUCH faster. Like 10x faster.

What this does:

Running away from the horde is a lot harder. If you carry a light source, the zombies won't instantly catch up to you, but they will always be on your heels.

Players are encouraged to stay at their base because it's a lot safer.

Lighting up your base actually has positive gameplay benefits, so there's less temptation to forgo light sources and turn up the gamma.

What are the downsides?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hey guys, we already have an active thread for the generic "keeping players from avoiding horde night is pointless" debate. If you could focus on the specific subject at hand, that would be great.

 
Hey guys, we already have an active thread for the generic "keeping players from avoiding horde night is pointless" debate. If you could focus on the specific subject at hand, that would be great.
Click to expand...
Well, if the point isn't to stop players from avoiding the Horde, what is it then Dimpy?

I ask that sincerely, cause, yeah, this thread is duplicating another one, so I'll merge them unless there's some different aspect to your thread (which I'm missing).

 
Well, if the point isn't to stop players from avoiding the Horde, what is it then Dimpy?
I ask that sincerely, cause, yeah, this thread is duplicating another one, so I'll merge them unless there's some different aspect to your thread (which I'm missing).
Click to expand...
I was hoping it would be more about how this specific fix (light vs zombie speed) would have negative effects on the gameplay or game feel, not on whether horde fixes in general are a bad idea.

 
I was hoping it would be more about how this specific fix (light vs zombie speed) would have negative effects on the gameplay or game feel, not on whether horde fixes in general are a bad idea.
Click to expand...
Ok, now worries Dimpy. Let's amscray the Horde avoidance talk. :-) Horde avoidance posts moved to https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?119721-Correct-me-if-I-m-wrong/page3

Ok, so back in regular forum Joe mode, I think I can see one issue here.

If darkness speeds up zombies, what do players do before they can rig an electrical system up? Keep in mind, torches generate heat, so dropping them all over the place could have some unhappy side effects to.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The darkness causing zombies to run fast was a major component of earlier alphas.

I don't know why that was changed.

I suspect that it looked weird when zombies would come in and out of dark buildings... but not certain about that.

 
The darkness causing zombies to run fast was a major component of earlier alphas.
I don't know why that was changed.

I suspect that it looked weird when zombies would come in and out of dark buildings... but not certain about that.
Click to expand...
True, and there's definitely some appeal to the idea. Unfortunately I joined after that was edited out (it was VERY early Alphas), but it'd be fun to have a "zombies walk in light, run in dark" mode - but then, I think you'd have to remove the HeatMap element from torches.

 
I think it was driven directly by the light values, independent of the heat map. So they would be running, then suddenly stop the moment they exited a doorway. Really, I think all they needed was a good animator to build some transitions. They have someone who is working on the "mantis shrimp", so now might be a good time to bring it up.

 
Ok, so back in regular forum Joe mode, I think I can see one issue here.

If darkness speeds up zombies, what do players do before they can rig an electrical system up? Keep in mind, torches generate heat, so dropping them all over the place could have some unhappy side effects to.
Click to expand...
The Aoe of torches would have to be pretty big. Maybe in a 5m radius they would slow zombies down the maximum amount, and at 20m they have no effect. There certainly would be a trade-off between keeping a large base well-lit for horde night and keeping a base that doesn't attract screamers, but I don't see anything wrong with that. It's certainly better than torches purely being negative.

 
I think it was driven directly by the light values, independent of the heat map. So they would be running, then suddenly stop the moment they exited a doorway. Really, I think all they needed was a good animator to build some transitions. They have someone who is working on the "mantis shrimp", so now might be a good time to bring it up.
Click to expand...
Yes, I knew it was driven by the light values, the point about the Heat Map I meant is that if you had this sort of mode, you'd need to remove the Heat Map element from torches, so that placing lots of those didn't induce "Perpetual Screamer Syndrome", since until the player advance enough to make an electrical system, torches would be their only way to generate light to slow the Zombies down.

- - - Updated - - -

The Aoe of torches would have to be pretty big. Maybe in a 5m radius they would slow zombies down the maximum amount, and at 20m they have no effect. There certainly would be a trade-off between keeping a large base well-lit for horde night and keeping a base that doesn't attract screamers, but I don't see anything wrong with that. It's certainly better than torches purely being negative.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that could be another way, leave the Torches heat map element in, but increase their area of lighting effect massively.

 
The Aoe of torches would have to be pretty big. Maybe in a 5m radius they would slow zombies down the maximum amount, and at 20m they have no effect. There certainly would be a trade-off between keeping a large base well-lit for horde night and keeping a base that doesn't attract screamers, but I don't see anything wrong with that. It's certainly better than torches purely being negative.
Click to expand...
Also, I think it might help bring some more incentive to working with electricity if keeping well lit is a must but using too many torches is bad. Not that it's bad to avoid it, but it's always good when all of the content gets touched.

 
Yes, I knew it was driven by the light values, the point about the Heat Map I meant is that if you had this sort of mode, you'd need to remove the Heat Map element from torches, so that placing lots of those didn't induce "Perpetual Screamer Syndrome", since until the player advance enough to make an electrical system, torches would be their only way to generate light to slow the Zombies down.
Click to expand...
Ah ok. Well, I don't know how bad that would be though. If you managed to build a massive base that requires a screamer-worthy amount of torches (assuming that for some reason you need every square inch of it covered), you have probably reached the point of being able to use electricity. I never really paid attention to when I am capable in relation to my base size.

 
Ah ok. Well, I don't know how bad that would be though. If you managed to build a massive base that requires a screamer-worthy amount of torches (assuming that for some reason you need every square inch of it covered), you have probably reached the point of being able to use electricity. I never really paid attention to when I am capable in relation to my base size.
Click to expand...
Probably true, perhaps the Heat map element to torches would need only be tweaked a little, or the area of effect increased as Dimpy suggested.

Either way, having a "walk in light, run in dark" zombie mode would be fun to have again, but I doubt we'll see it. Still, one can hope.

 
The thing that might deter them now from such a thing are the options. The option to turn off run in the dark can have a different meaning in the context of zombies run at night. If you have no run in dark, but run at night, does this mean they run or no? It would be weird if you had it set to run at night, but no run in dark and it resulted in them walking around outside, but once they got into your well-lit base, they started running (because it's night).

 
The thing that might deter them now from such a thing are the options. The option to turn off run in the dark can have a different meaning in the context of zombies run at night. If you have no run in dark, but run at night, does this mean they run or no? It would be weird if you had it set to run at night, but no run in dark and it resulted in them walking around outside, but once they got into your well-lit base, they started running (because it's night).
Click to expand...
One of the reasons I doubt we'll see it - the more options in a game, the more that has to be tested, and not just more, but exponentially more unfortunately. Doubling the number of options results in far more than doubling the number of combinations that have to be tested for.

Still, it'd be nice to see such an option, but yeah, probably not going to.

 
It might be an opportunity to have this apply to a certain zombie type, as opposed to a global setting. The settings would work as usual, but for the zombie here it just increases the speed already determined by the settings plus x percent. Maybe the wights... they look like they've thrived in darkness for quite some time.

 
It might be an opportunity to have this apply to a certain zombie type, as opposed to a global setting. The settings would work as usual, but for the zombie here it just increases the speed already determined by the settings plus x percent. Maybe the wights... they look like they've thrived in darkness for quite some time.
Click to expand...
It could make for an interesting new type of zombie, that's for sure.

 
It could make for an interesting new type of zombie, that's for sure.
Click to expand...
Could take it a step further, where the zombie actually slows down and takes damage in bright light. That could bring lighting to a new level on par with traps. A good use for motion sensors attached to spotlights!

 
It might be an opportunity to have this apply to a certain zombie type, as opposed to a global setting. The settings would work as usual, but for the zombie here it just increases the speed already determined by the settings plus x percent. Maybe the wights... they look like they've thrived in darkness for quite some time.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I'm thinking shadow zombies. When in light, they look mostly normal, expect for some smoky particle effects. When in darkness, they half dissociate into smoke, and move at unnerving speeds.

 
Yeah. I'm thinking shadow zombies. When in light, they look mostly normal, expect for some smoky particle effects. When in darkness, they half dissociate into smoke, and move at unnerving speeds.
Click to expand...
What's funny is that when this was a mechanic, where other zombies would slow down in the light, the Wight was unaffected and would still move fast. The exact opposite of what I was thinking.

I like the idea of this strange smoky character, but I think that a lot of players would see it as out of place. While the game is far from being realistic, it is even further from being this fantastical. At least that's what I've seen in response to similar ideas. The Behemoth was scrapped for this reason. In a way it's a shame, because there would be an infinite possibility of zombie types otherwise.

I would at most perhaps introduce another stage of zombie progression. Assuming that Wights developed in darkness, perhaps something that did so even more.... like a cross between a Wight and a spider zombie, pale, very animal and Golem-looking, but not too far-fetched that it couldn't exist among the others without people crying about immersion.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top