Viral Resistance

[yufra]

It is true, I changed all the doors to be transparent for the time being since most of the doors in hospitals that I have visited have windows in them. Hmmm... the player DOES escape potentially contaminated doesn't he/she? That helps with my transition into the next quest/scene. Thanks!

[yufra]

Ok, next version is released and available for download here.

Changes include:
- new zombie types: leaper, spitter, bomber... watch out!
- new talent: tackle (think ToME rush with stun and a small possibility to stun yourself)
- added a location birth option so you can choose between the hospital (storyline) or sandbox (random dungeon filled with just zombies)
- all classes can now shoot at the start, but only the policeman starts with a gun
- modified talent: shoot (range dependent on talent)
- player color is linked to viral load
- a few tweaks to the start-doctor quest

Future plans:
- next quest in storyline
- develop the hospital map more (specifically on-call room for doctor start, security station for police start complete with gun locker, morgue, etc)

Keep the suggestions coming!

[darkgod]

Player color change is really nice IMO !

It seems if I wait too much before talking to the doctor the zombies still do pop, this is neat but the poor doctor still wants to go on with his quest maybe he could react a bit to the events

The new types of zombies are fun (I saw them in the sandbox)

Keep it up!

[Shoob]

a couple of things:
1) nice game
2) if you kill a monster and there is a monster right behind it, that monsters gets to both move up and attack normally

and then what I said in chat about items (stop when adjacent/on them and text when on them (so you know what you are standing on).

[Zonk]

Trying this out - looks quite fun, if a bit...hard.
Little nitpick on the descriptors: shouldn't the 'healthy as an ox'boxer get a bonus to str and con? Especially since cop gets +1 str & dex...

EDIT: It's actually not particularly hard, if you're a cop

[yufra]

The balance is still WAY off, especially since most zombies are unable to close when someone has a gun. I am trying to figure out which direction to take the balance which is a more difficult decision than I would have thought.

[Zonk]

Oh, I agree - shooting is EXTREMELY powerful, while melee is...not worth it(especially since getting hit is very bad...). Maybe ranged weapons shouldn't be that good against the zombies, though you might want to allow for the small chance of a headshot doing critical damage - maybe have a special talent called 'Headshot' with a very high critical chance but taking 2-3 turns to aim.

I've got some other suggestions too, in random order:

1) what if there eventually was a way to become partially-zombified? Say, high virus counter would unlock some special talents(you'd still have to spend points for them)/advantages. Basically, fight fire with fire, trying to exploit the intermediate stages of the virus. However...you'd still 'die' when your counter gets to 100, as you'd become a full zombie with no real mind.
It would be a risky but possibly rewarding strategy, keeping an high but not-to-high virus counter in exchange for increased physical stats...however you'd better hope you don't run out of antivirus vials
2)Make empty ammo clips disappear. They simply add clutter to the inventory/level otherwise.
3)More items, such as: body armor(although realistically it wouldn't be that good against zombie attacks), a special sealed suit to protect against the virus, melee weapons(knives, scalpels..chainsaws if you want to get silly), medical stuff other than first aid kits, drugs that give temporary bonuses at the cost of penalties later on...the game being inside a hospital, there are many interesting possibilities.


Also: the talent display seems to be broken, as 'current talent level' and 'next talent level' display the same thing.

[yufra]

Oh, I agree - shooting is EXTREMELY powerful, while melee is...not worth it(especially since getting hit is very bad...). Maybe ranged weapons shouldn't be that good against the zombies, though you might want to allow for the small chance of a headshot doing critical damage - maybe have a special talent called 'Headshot' with a very high critical chance but taking 2-3 turns to aim.

Mmm, headshot. I like the aiming idea and will give it some more thought.

1) what if there eventually was a way to become partially-zombified? Say, high virus counter would unlock some special talents(you'd still have to spend points for them)/advantages. Basically, fight fire with fire, trying to exploit the intermediate stages of the virus. However...you'd still 'die' when your counter gets to 100, as you'd become a full zombie with no real mind.
It would be a risky but possibly rewarding strategy, keeping an high but not-to-high virus counter in exchange for increased physical stats...however you'd better hope you don't run out of antivirus vials

Something like this has been planned from before I started coding in T-Engine. My original Python Viral Resistance already had it, and I think the idea will translate to this iteration with a few tweaks. Instead of using it as an offensive capability the player would embrace the virus. This would change the player's faction to "Player infected" which would have a negative reaction from humans (they would attack you) and a neutral reaction from zombies (they would ignore you). The viral load would increase faster, and the higher the viral load is the higher percentage the player character will act like a zombie (and use the zombie AI to pick an action regardless of what the player wants the character to do). Additional talents in that category could modify the different aspects of this sustained state by decreasing the viral increase and probability of losing control. I would probably incorporate the viral abilities as well, and this will be particularly useful as I start adding human enemies. Thoughts on this?

2)Make empty ammo clips disappear. They simply add clutter to the inventory/level otherwise.

Good point. One possibility is to turn ammo clips into another object, empty ammo clips that stack in the inventory. I will go this route if I can think of a reason to keep empty ammo clips, otherwise I will have them disappear.

3)More items, such as: body armor(although realistically it wouldn't be that good against zombie attacks), a special sealed suit to protect against the virus, melee weapons(knives, scalpels..chainsaws if you want to get silly), medical stuff other than first aid kits, drugs that give temporary bonuses at the cost of penalties later on...the game being inside a hospital, there are many interesting possibilities.

Melee weapons... how about brooms (use it like a club/staff) and tonfas (found on guards)? I really like the idea of interesting drugs, eg. adrenaline for an increase in speed but higher lose of stamina. There is now a small stamina drain for any activity (moving, etc) so you cannot retreat/talent/retreat/talent indefinitely. I think this captures the zombie horror theme better.

Also: the talent display seems to be broken, as 'current talent level' and 'next talent level' display the same thing.

That is odd, mine doesn't show that. Can you show me some specifics (class, etc) of when this occurs? I started a policeman and the shoot talent displayed correctly.

[Zonk]

That is odd, mine doesn't show that. Can you show me some specifics (class, etc) of when this occurs? I started a policeman and the shoot talent displayed correctly.

Started as a policeman. Checking the 'Shoot' talent.
'Current talent level:2' says it has a range of 15. This is right.
'Next talent level:3' also says it has a range of 15. This is wrong, because checking the calculations in talents.lua, it should be range 17.

[yufra]

Ah, I misunderstood your original point... I thought you were saying it showed 'Next talent level:2' as well as 'Current talent level:2'. The bug has been squashed!

[Shoob]

running around the sandbox now, (playing a boxer ) not really finding it all that difficult (right now I am lvl 8, with 24 first aid kits and 29 anti-virus). What I do find annoying is stamina maybe you could make a talent that slows down stamina loss? Or really make stamina loss on move less, as it quickly eats up your stamina, making the game drag on

Oh, and could the background colors be changed, I sometimes run around aimlessly thinking that I havent explored something when in reality it was just a different shade of gray

and also in sandbox mode: when you go down stairs you are placed on the down stairs.

[yufra]

You must be playing from the repository! I agree, the stamina drain is not working out the way I had hoped. The goal was to remove the ability to retreat ad infinitum, and I think I may instead implement a walking speed mechanic. There would be a positive stamina regeneration when walking, but a negative stamina drain when running. Running would increase your movement speed only (not your attack/talent speed). Do you think that sounds like a workable mechanic?

The first re-balancing effort had the sandbox mode at near impossible, taking nearly an entire clip to kill a zombie and going hand-to-hand was sure death. I am currently digging into the damage code and debating on whether the ToME algorithm will work in VR. I think I first have to decide what type of power curve VR is going to have and then base the rest of the game around that. Any thoughts on the different types of power curves? I was leaning towards a weak one, but have never played a weak power curve RL.

[Shoob]

For the run/walking I think that would work fine.

for combat, I am working on my own system, where there will either be a bell curve for learning or an inverse exponential one. (that is you have to fight more to learn how to fight better) I am torn about which way to do it for my module as well. The tome system wont do for mine either (lets just say damage dealt was rather high), but I was never planning on using it either.

and a thought: right now recent zombies are killed when they enter the bombers goo. maybe instead make zombies "immune" to viral damage and give them a counter too which when it increases high enough, they are replaced by a mature zombie, and if it goes beyond that threshold they will turn into the spitter, then to the leaper, and finally to the bomber (as the virus is growing and growing in their body, until it overloads it) (or use rng.chance() to decide on rarer zombie types such as leapers or spitters, where x is a 1 in x chance).

and bomber could use a desc too

[yufra]

For the run/walking I think that would work fine.

I'll work on that soon.

for combat, I am working on my own system, where there will either be a bell curve for learning or an inverse exponential one. (that is you have to fight more to learn how to fight better) I am torn about which way to do it for my module as well. The tome system wont do for mine either (lets just say damage dealt was rather high), but I was never planning on using it either.

Sounds interesting! I have reading articles over at RogueBasin and Temple of RL, and am increasingly convinced that I need to spend a solid bit of time figuring out how the system will work. Are you working on the system on your own or posting about it somewhere?

and a thought: right now recent zombies are killed when they enter the bombers goo. maybe instead make zombies "immune" to viral damage and give them a counter too which when it increases high enough, they are replaced by a mature zombie, and if it goes beyond that threshold they will turn into the spitter, then to the leaper, and finally to the bomber (as the virus is growing and growing in their body, until it overloads it) (or use rng.chance() to decide on rarer zombie types such as leapers or spitters, where x is a 1 in x chance).

The zombies dying on bomber goo is a bug, and the mutation of recent zombies into more specialized zombies is another planned feature. I think the threat of zombies mutating will be a good push to keep the player constantly on the move, but will also require balancing. More balancing!

and bomber could use a desc too

Yup, already fixed!

[Shoob]

mainly working on it on my own I have the algorithm (for the bell curve, I just need to implement it into the combat code (not quite decided on how) and give the actors the necessary code).