Global rework of zombie behavior

[Akuman]

Hello everyone. Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch the second version of the game, the suggestions for which were included in the update (I have a weak laptop at the moment), so I'll focus on what was not announced and what I haven't mentioned yet. If something is already in the game, please correct me.
Regarding zombies:
To be honest, it seems to me that the spider zombie is not that scary and dangerous. He is slow, easy to dodge, as far as I remember. In this regard, I suggest making him a night monster that will be able to climb walls and trees. Whether this has already happened or not, write in the comments, I'm interested.

Also please change the zombie mechanics that makes all zombies attack the player by default. The reason is that it is too uninteresting and predictable.
Solution: make zombie behavior models based on the point of interest principle, the change of which will depend (or not depend) on the player's actions. This will allow adding a neutral zombie to the location, which will do something neutral until it is interrupted or killed. (Killing this zombie can also be a trigger).

Of course, there will be zombies that immediately attack the player, but the number of behavior patterns of zombies before the direct attack or the variability of these patterns depending on the player's actions will make the world truly alive. Example: some zombies in a certain location (time) can appear behind the player and sneak before attacking. Or watch the player from a tree (hiss when approaching), as well as strong (fast) melee zombies that will run to cover (houses) when shooting from afar and wait for a trigger close by!!

Please pay attention to this mechanic: let zombie hits, hits on zombies (wounds), zombies and the player stepping on garbage, as well as shooting without a silencer attract the zombie's attention to the source of the sound, but do not detect the player!! (more on this later) Zombies will tend to reach the first sound they hear and linger near it for a while. This will not cause confusion when attracted zombies cause new sounds as they move.
Imagine how alive the zombies will seem, crowding around a fellow breaking a block or approaching a thrown stone or bottle... Some mortally wounded zombies will lie on the ground and "groan", attracting their fellows. Therefore, waiting out the "wandering horde" in a secluded corner of the base may not work...

Let zombies be attracted to the location of their sound trigger only for a certain time!! In this regard, you can add more zombies to the streets, but at the same time seriously limit their radius of aggression triggering!

Important: detection of the player by one zombie will cause active attraction of other zombies to sounds from the zombie that sees the player, in which they will break through blocks. In other cases, with sound triggers, zombies do not break anything and move calmly on foot. The walls of the lockers can be made like rotten boards, so that the zombies don't have to break them. Imagine: a zombie runs to a comrade, reaches him, then notices the player and reorients to him! How realistic that would be!!

Exclusive offers to enhance your immersion!

Let a shot or object thrown at a zombie !while it's at rest! cause the zombie to fall over with an animation based on where the projectile hits.

!Let zombies be killed only by headshots! Everyone loves dismemberment in zombie games? I love it very much! I repeat, let zombies be killed only by headshots. Developers, please add an animation of a hole in the chest when there is damage to the body. Zombies deprived of all limbs (or having received a critically large amount of damage) will simply lie and groan. In other words, I want to make it so that it's actually harder for the player to deal damage to the body rather than the head. This should add some extra interest to the missions, since during the blood moon everyone uses grenades predominantly.

Imagine having to wash yourself in blood while finishing off helpless zombies moaning in agony? Cool... I don't think there will be many of these zombies, since at high levels you can't do without grenades and Molotov cocktails with area damage. Also, the number of zombies upon death can be limited so as not to create a load on performance.
By the way, let point-blank shots from firearms drench the camera in blood, which needs to be wiped off on a separate key... 

Well, let the vehicle skid a little at the start in a pool of blood and let it skid when turning after a collision with a zombie. I will write additions to the topic in the comments, or edit the post. Thank you for your attention 

 

[Akuman]

So, first comment on adding mechanics to immerse the player in the game world: a zombie that attracts attention to itself with a "usual" sound that is not a result of player detection has a small chance to signal other zombies to be eaten by the player's zombie eating animation.

Creepy? Creepy! Atmospheric? Atmospheric!
I've never seen a zombie eating animation from a second person perspective and I'm sure it would be creepy. BTW. Why not add this animation as one of the zombie's calm behavior patterns before the sound trigger?

By the way, if you follow my idea, any zombie sound will have a chance to trigger zombie-cannibalism from comrades, then imagine: zombies that moan will sooner or later be eaten, and also, literally during the fight (blood moon) and after returning to vanilla zombie behavior in the blood moon, some zombies will occasionally pounce on each other and devour right during the fight! Imagine how atmospheric it will be.

 

[Akuman]

Also, at high player levels, when completing a mission (in the wasteland), you can open a branch of zombie skills, including eating raw and rotten meat (straight from the body of a dead zombie). By the way, bandits will appear. Eating the bodies of bandits, huh? 

By the way, why not open skill branches for each biome through merchant missions? What do you think about it?  

 

[Akuman]

Also, if you make a zombie spider climb walls and trees, you can add the ability to jump from tree to tree, as well as a behavior pattern to hide indoors during the day. If the update makes the forest more dense, imagine what a formidable opponent a zombie spider will be in it, especially when there are several of them. Also, let the intelligent mutant zombies run away to restore hit points

 

[Akuman]

I want to further explain why it is necessary to change the behavior of zombies. Because all the intrigue when you hide from zombies in today's version of the game breaks in one moment. Because zombies find the player immediately. Now the player, if he hears some growling, knows that they are running for his soul and he is already ready for anything. The only option for the development of events is to fight or run away. And this is boring. 

It's a completely different matter when you've been discovered, but there's still a chance to escape or ward off the threat. When, in addition to the fear for your life points, there's also the fear of being found, and not just the fear of not being caught on a pile of trash, but the fear that they'll look for you and find you unless you hide or find a way to distract attention!

I also want to make a proposal to reduce the viewing radius of zombies in a calm state. Add the ability to open the cabinet doors and hide in the cabinet!

Imagine with the new mechanics how you stepped on a pile of trash, heard a zombie and as soon as you climbed out the window, you watch as a zombie came into the room looking for you and then began to wander inside it. But you went and installed a mine in the room! And the zombie went according to the new mechanics not to where you are, but to where he heard you and at the same time goes as you planned, because he is not aggressive yet and does not break objects...

 

[Riamus]

Tip: It is usually good to try and keep suggestions clear and concise so people can quickly see what you're suggesting.  It's a little hard to follow since you jump around a bit in multiple posts.

The spider zombie used to climb, but that was removed long ago and isn't likely to return.  There are others who would like it to return, though.  As far as zombies being neutral, that doesn't really fit the game, I don't think.  POI designers can set some specifics about zombies, such as being set to attack or wander or whatever, but once you're seen, they'll all attack.  Other tactics are what you'll see from bandits and aren't likely to be seen by zombies unless they decide to add something to one of the new zombies.

I think that you could get a similar effect that you're suggesting regarding zombies being attracted to themselves from just turning on feral sense.  That will get more zombies interested in you, which would be the same kind of effect.  I suppose it could be done in a different way, but I'm not sure if it would really add much benefit.  In most POI, you end up getting all zombies that are in a sleeper volume attacking you at the same time already (unless stealthing) and you can't get zombies from other volumes to come since they aren't spawned until you reach those volumes.  It might have a minor effect outside of POIs, but there really aren't too many zombies close by for it to really change much.

Making zombies only die from a headshot isn't likely to happen in vanilla as a lot of people aren't good at that or don't want to only do that.  It would be something to do with a mod.

Zombies are interested in eating things that aren't zombies and already do so - dead players and dead animals.  It makes sense that they don't really care about eating each other.  Otherwise, they'd just want to kill each other all the time.

As far as your comments about not being able to hide, that is not correct.  That's what stealth is for and how stealth players play the game.  Once you successfully hide, zombies will go to the last place they heard you or saw you.  They won't go to where you now are if you are successfully stealthed.  So if you want to have that option, it's already available.

 

[Akuman]

 It's a little hard to follow since you jump around a bit in multiple posts.

I understand you, but the number of times you can edit a post is limited, so I write comments with additions.

Still, I think there is a big difference between what already exists and what I described. Yes, the mechanics are similar, but the essence is different. The thing is that now zombies, as I understand it, know exactly where the player is by noise alone and continue to know it.

What I meant in my post was that you can make noise, go into stealth mode, move away and watch as zombies crowd twenty meters away from the player without noticing him. 

Not to mention that zombies will attract each other with their sounds. For example, you wound a zombie with an arrow and the surrounding zombies will crowd around it at the sound of its scream. The same thing can happen if a zombie hits a trash block. I think this is what is called a living game world.

In the post I described active and passive search of the player by the source of noise. Now the problem is that you made a little noise, and the zombie who did not see you starts to break the building instead of trying to go through the open door on the other side of the house and go up the stairs... I think this is stupid. Or move away from the house, go into the garage and follow the path of the lanterns.

As far as zombies being neutral, that doesn't really fit the game, I don't think. 

I don't know why you think so. The game adds immersion by having to explore it. And the conditional neutrality of some zombies will be an interesting feature, causing the player to fear the unknown, where to expect the threat. 

Also, decreasing the zombie detection radius and increasing the number of zombies on the streets, I think, will make the game more intense and exciting. It will be possible to more actively use the distraction of zombies by throwing an object. The player will begin to worry more about zombies and the game will become more realistic. It seems to me that there are really very few zombies on the streets of cities. Much less than the people who could live in this city.

 

[zztong]

Also, if you make a zombie spider climb walls and trees, you can add the ability to jump from tree to tree, as well as a behavior pattern to hide indoors during the day. If the update makes the forest more dense, imagine what a formidable opponent a zombie spider will be in it, especially when there are several of them. Also, let the intelligent mutant zombies run away to restore hit points

I wouldn't mind if the spider zombies could climb walls. I'd be okay if they could cling to ceilings too.

 

[Akuman]

Я бы не возражал, если бы пауки-зомби могли лазить по стенам. Я бы не возражал, если бы они могли цепляться за потолки.

I would like to see an explanation as to why this ability was removed from him.

 

[Adam the Waster]

I would like to see an explanation as to why this ability was removed from him.

The main reason why was from what I remembered

Because the climbing was janky and was easy to avoid 

But I still think it should return with a basic climbing animation 

 

[Akuman]

Because the climbing was janky and was easy to avoid 

I think the zombie spider needs to be given the ability to jump from the ground to the wall and to the ceiling and back (from tree to tree). This should solve the problems with movement