I was thinking about this; it would be nice if some of the quests had some sort of running theme - where you encounter the same characters in different locations, each time things a little grimmer and bleaker than before - such as being sent from campus to help Lt. Elderman (upbeat, optimistic, leading a well trained, heavily armed group). Some missions go by, and doing the Mercy hospital missions, you're asked to take medical supplies to a different location. Yep, it's Elderman, looking tired and drawn from lack of sleep. He has fewer men, and those he does have, look as exhausted as he is, with several others seriously injured.

Fast forward to the militia, and you're sent to an emergency distress call at a safe house. The call turns out to be Elderman. His team is gone. His safehouse is rapidly being surrounded. He's badly injured and fast running out of ammo. The only person who can save him now, is you.

The kicker is, you can't save him. No matter how much firepower you have, the zombies turn up faster than you can kill them. As he's dragged screaming out of a window, you're forced to flee, with his screams ringing in your ears...

I think something like this would add some serious meat to the quests, and pull people into the "story" aspect of the game. :)

nice

excellent and original idea. To take that one step further maybe after you hit a certain level, you can trigger Lt. Elderman attacking you as a zombie, just to close that story arc.

Posted By Matt Aries on 03 Feb 2010 12:17 AM
excellent and original idea. To take that one step further maybe after you hit a certain level, you can trigger Lt. Elderman attacking you as a zombie, just to close that story arc.

That's a great idea - and would be the perfect way to end that situation. He might even turn up in a future quest, with the storyline written to reflect this - "You cautiously enter the dimly-lit room, and tense as you see a shadowy male figure crouched down with it's back to you. A floorboard creaks quietly beneath your foot, and you curse under your breath. Did he hear it?

You question is swiftly answered when you see him react to the sound, slowly rising and turning to face you. As he silently gazes at you, you feel a shock of recognition - you KNOW this man!

But then you see the familiar opaque eyes, the bone gleaming through his cheekbone. And you feel a wave of hopelessness wash over you as you realise Lt. Elderman has become one more zombie of the endless, ravenous horde..."

That way people (hopefully) get pulled into the total, overwhelming odds of what they have to face in day to day survival. Zombie films are unremittingly grim, brutal and downbeat, and main characters often die during them. In fact, damn nearly EVERYONE dies, during them. It makes sense that quests should reflect that; advancing the storyline, setting up the emotional "mood" in players, that things are grim, and they're only going to get grimmer. It's that sense of loss of someone you know, that should add darker tinges to the game.

Personally, I'd love to see players go to a future map, then return to this one for a quest - which takes them to the campus, which has been completely overrun by zombies. And you don't know, until you get there...

I agree. Branching stories and different dialogue options would be very cool. You could end up getting different respect levels from different NPCs depending on what you do.

You shoot the test subject zombie in the head. The military gruff dude will love you and reward you with lots of cash and ammo.

You cage the zed and send him to the scientists. The military guy is pissed and you get no cash and ammo, but the scientists offer an alternate reward. Or an even deeper branding quest.

Thanks for your input. In some of the upcoming quests the overall storyline will become more clear and a connection between the different quest locations more evident.

If you guys have ideas on what you would like to see in quests you are very much welcome to e-mail them to us or use beta feedback button and we will be happy to review and see if we can implement them.

Wow, awesome stuff here! No other MMO I've player or heard about does this sort of this nearly as intriguingly as you suggest here... the text based format of the game can really lead to some very cool and gripping experiences, almost like participating in a great book.

Tigerwolf, I like your idea. It could really improve the experience. A lot of the earlier quests could use a similar treatment where you re-visit previous events. I recently created a new character just to see if there is anything to improve in the early gameplay and to play with strategies (because as you keep playing you gain a different perspective). I realized that the guy who leaves a message on your answering machine is never really heard from again storywise. I don't doubt this is already planned, but it would help the story along a bit if you find out who he was. Like for example, when you get to the campus, after putting bits of the story together over time, you find out that he had an important role in the early stages of the outbreak (whatever it was). You can also try to remember what made you two friends through some side quests or whatever. But then you hear that he wasn't heard from after a mission he undertook. It would be really ironic if the mission were to come and get you (which happens before you wake up in the beginning of the game). After a few more quests, you are sent to investigate a distress flare. You go out to some zombie-infested place, and find your friend surrounded and desperately in need of help. You successfully fight them off, but you are too late. He's been devoured. Since you probably don't remember him all that well to begin with, you might as well loot the body. You grab his weapon(s) as a quest reward, but you also find something in his pocket which suggests he has been investigating the cause of the epidemic. Taking the evidence back to Mercy Hospital unlocks some more storyline quest.

Heh, kinda let my imagination run wild.

It would be awesome! I like this idea very much. It also might be cool to choose different paths, for example:
1. Give Rose the bartender the ammo you've found along with the food.
2. Keep the ammo yourself and only hand over the food.

When you come back the next time, you see that the bar has been attacked.
Option 1: You call: ''Rose'', but only a crying call emits from your throat. Suddenly Rose walks out of the pub holding a winchester. She says: ''Thanks Kid... That extra ammo really saved us!'' As she says that, a few survivors crawl out of the remains of the pub and thank you for that. You feel very happy inside.

Option 2: As you walk into the bar, you see tons of body's in the pub, infected, but also non-infected ones. As you check behind the counter, something jumps up and grabs your neck. You see Rose, missing an arm, a hunk of brains bitten out of her head, those warm eyes, now pale white. You kick the zombified Rose and she trips over, but immiedatly starts reaching towards you again. You pull out your weapon and whisper: '' I'm sorry, Rose''

Claire, I like the idea of having your choices affect later storyline events. So many different options...

Ah sounds like a super nice idea. Personally I didn't find the quests all too interesting or intriguing enough for me to like not skip past the text, go to the location, kill zombies, fix/save whatever/whoever and go back. This would I think get myself at least more interested in the depth of the story.

The choose your own destiny idea sound cool too. Brings back memories of those old goosebumps books by RL Stine. Total blast from the past.

Rebirth?....Uugghh....UUUUGGGGHHH....UUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!!!! O_______o

I AGREE, that does sound discussing, and HOW? O.o

Well with story choices people might want to try another choice so, I propose rebirth.

Uhm I don't know...Mabey you fall into a worm hole? Game Logic is unmeasurable.

I think a lot more of the game elements need to be hidden to help with suspension of disbelief.

not bad, i love to see characters involved in story-lines...

over a year and a half old?

Necropsy anyone?

I think this idea for a quest

Zombie threads. Just when you think they're dead...

This is actually a solid idea though, and the thread coming back isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I like the choices impacting the future story line. Options 1,2,3 lead to results 1,2,3. But they would have to be the last quests if they were to result in someone like Rose's death. It would drastically impact the locations, because they would be different for everyone if Rose is dead or alive at the bar. One option is to have them "leave" after the quest if they survive and you get some sort of bonus (cash or weapons)for giving them the ammo.