Huge, Core Gameplay Changing Update Planned

[Matt Marche]

Nothing is set in stone, but jetboom has recently announced he's planning a large update to zs; One that changes the core mechanics of gameplay.

 

Not sure if I can link to the forums that shall not be named, so I'll copypaste the information.

 

 

 

 

General balance

 

 

 

> Zombies are now much more manageable. A few zombies out in the open or 1-2 in a room with you won't mean you are definitely going to lose a good deal of health or die.

• (already in) Fast Zombies previously were masters of chip damage vs. people outside. They have been made slightly slower and don't leap as far. To make them still viable, they have been given the ability to attack while climbing. This should make it so people barricade windows without using a slanted board and thus making the window basically invulnerable.
  
• Zombies which revive if not shot in the head will now have a greater cooldown for this effect. Zombies can no longer second wind a body shot 3 times in a row in rapid succession.
  
• Zombie crouch speed has been reduced so that they can't "crab walk" after you.
  
• Overall zombie health, damage, speed, etc. has been rebalanced.
  
• Boss zombies are still killing machines but have also received balance changes.
  

 

> Dynamic spawning overhaul

• The game no longer lets you spawn on zombies that meet certain criteria (not visible, not near human).
  
• A new class called the Infected Creeper can now create spawn points. The process takes 20 seconds and the spawn point / building process makes certain noise to help point them out. The class is not one that you would want to be to kill humans with. It is a rather weak class besides its unique ability.
  
• These spawn points are actual structures and can be destroyed by humans. Doing so will give you points.
  
• These spawn points obey less strict rules. They can still not be placed in human/zombie spawns and not near humans but the distance is reduced.
  
• A maximum of 1 per zombie. Building one removes any that you built before.
  
• You can cycle between these points the same way as you cycle dynamic spawns currently. Also, you cannot spawn on one if a human is near it.
  

 

> Barricades are now not as direly important.

• Barricades have an overall less amount of health but the repair capacity is slightly increased.
  
• The effect for props that have been made useless due to too much barricade damage has been made more obvious.
  
• Props which are heavier/bigger than a certain mass/volume will now take 20% physics force from zombie attacks. This makes it so piling a few props in a door way may actually be a viable short-term solution.
  
• Barricade phasing now takes 1 second to enable. You will be slowed to the phasing speed but unable to actually phase until the second is over. Ghosting players also play an animation to signify they are phasing.
  

 

 

Changes to overall gameplay

 

 

> Overall game objective

• At the start of a round, 3 Sigils will be created in random indoor locations which the profiler system has deemed appropriate. These spots will always be indoors and in a space which is not cramped, blocked, near spawns, etc. Because of this, each round should have humans barricading and holding out in a different spot (hopefully). Each Sigil will be some random important object such as a food supply, a bunch of supplies, a crate of some sort, etc.
  
• Sigils act as "home base" for the human team. They cannot be moved or damaged by humans.
  
• Sigils repair themselves over time and have a great amount of health. It is a good idea to try to reclaim them if you lose control. Their health is visible to all. Humans will always see where they are but zombies must search for them.
  
• Destroying a sigil as a zombie will have some effects:
  
• - You will spawn as a boss zombie.
  
• - The current wave will be extended by 2 minutes. If the wave wasn't active, the next wave will have its time extended instead.
  
• Destroying all sigils will make the game immediately go to the final wave with 10 minutes remaining.Destroying them all on the final wave will set the timer to 10 minutes left.
  

 

> Bones

• At the start of a wave, 5 bones will be placed in a similar fashion to the sigils but may be placed outdoors.
  
• If a human collects (touches) a bone:
  
• - They will be awarded 10 points.
  
• - The current wave will be reduced by 30 seconds.
  
• Humans can see these plainly but zombies must be near them to see them.
  
• There will never be enough bones to finish off the wave early (they disappear to enforce this).
  
• They do not spawn if less than 10 profile spots are available.
  

 

> Waves

• There are still 6 waves.
  
• Each wave lasts 5 minutes (but can be reduced thanks to the above). If there are no bones then they last 3 minutes.
  
• Wave intermission is the same.
  

 

> Winning condition

• Once the last wave is over, all sigils will be replaced with doors. If no sigils were standing then one will spawn in a random spot away from the humans.
  
• You must press USE on a door to open it. Only one person needs to open it. It takes ~10 seconds for the door to open and become available for use.
  
• Doors are visible to humans by world hints. Zombies cannot see the doors at all unless they are very close to them.
  
• Winning is still a group effort but becomes an individual one towards the end of the round.
  
• If one person makes it to a door, the map is considered a "win".
  
• It is considered a wave intermission during this time so zombies will respawn as crows.
  
• 3 minutes after the Sigil doors have opened, bosses will begin spawning. After 5 minutes the entire map will be filled with zombie gasses which are lethal and do not stop at 1HP.
  
• Players who die are not considered as winners and are considered to be zombies.
  

 

 

Additions

• All publish queue items should be part of the update. This includes the Drone, Burster class, etc.
  
• Add deployable (which is currently in game but bugged so it was removed): Force Shield. Blocks zombie projectiles and must be destroyed at its base.
  
• Add deployable: Shock Mine. Acts as a trip mine. Visible to humans but not visible to zombies unless they are nearby. Deals a large amount of damage and stun length (slowdown) to zombies nearby. Has a 10 second cooldown before its ready to fire again. Also takes 10 seconds from the time its deployed to fire.
   
   
  Thoughts? I'm personally looking forward to this for sure. It sounds like zs is going to get a hell of a lot harder, and a 10 minute wave 6 sounds intense.
  

Edited November 16, 2013 by Matt Marche

[shwazinator]

I haven't read the whole thing but when it says "

Overall zombie health, damage, speed, etc. has been rebalanced. Boss zombies are still killing machines but have also received balance changes.

this whole balance thing, is that an increase to these stats or decrease? It seems kind of vague to me

[Matt Marche]

I haven't read the whole thing but when it says " this whole balance thing, is that an increase to these stats or decrease? It seems kind of vague to me

 

I'm not sure, but based on " Zombies are now much more manageable." I would assume that it's decreeases. I don't want to see zombies being weak, but They are getting buffs in other categories so I'm fine with this.

[HEISENBERGVSWORLD]

I mean it seems ok but I like the classic zombie survival a lot better. Classic is nice and simple and thats good for new players and learning how to play. This new ZS seems a little harder to learn and much more difficult than classic.

Edited November 21, 2013 by HEISENBERGVSWORLD

[John_Conner]

I'm looking forward to this! It just means everyone will need to work together when a zombie, and not just give up or rush in one by one.

[Slime]

> Winning condition

Winning is still a group effort but becomes an individual one towards the end of the round.

I really like this one, and the cading becoming less important.

[ThunderPotato]

the cading becoming less important.

 

yes.