ApocalypseZ V0.3.3 Updated 20/09/15

[evildumdum]

UPDATE!

This project is now scrapped. My coding has come on leaps and bounds since this project, but i've dropped it in favour of the Ashes of Bavan: Monster Rising project i am currently a member of. If i ever return to this project, i don't ecpect to use anything you'll find in here.













Most of the fluff has now been moved to the new blog to de-clutter this thread. I will also be using the blog to let people know what i am working on.

So its still going to be a few weeks until i have a stable version of the game to update. The tiles for the new map just suck up time like nobodies business. However... I finally got hold of a character artist. Its pretty expensive, so I'll only be able to commission a small amount at a time. I'm very very happy to show you guys some characters that will be featuring in the game

New character designs:
Llith:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

First is Llith, a character from the cult of mutation. She has several demonic mutations as well as a mouth that is sewn shut. Don't worry, she has an extra mouth on her throat, leaving the interesting possibility of a throat-job open.

Sami (Placeholder name):

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

A character from the Bandits faction. She's not been officially named yet, though i'm using Sami as a placeholder name. Anyone is free to suggest better names for her.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

NEW MAP SYSTEM: check out the blog for more details.

Mellard_way.jpg (122.42 KiB) Viewed 7721 times

ApocalypseZ blog:
http://apocalypsezgame.blogspot.co.uk/


There is now a shop implemented. Since all you can do at the moment is run around blasting the heads off zombies and other nasties you might encounter, i've made it so you start with £1500. Money is relatively hard to collect at the moment, and there is no incentive to just keep fighting zombies with your fists. Buy a few things and try them out.

Screens:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

combat_screen1.jpg (146.79 KiB) Viewed 8633 times

title_screen.jpg (172.69 KiB) Viewed 9010 times

V0.3.3 is now the current version. I had wanted to bring in contcact with the cult of mutation in this update, but sadly I ran out of time to do that. The main reason is that the current open world is too bulky and awkward to navigate. Before i can bring you into contact with any faction i need to re-work the open world. I have a system lined up that will be similar to the one seen in Trials In Tainted Space, though not exactly the same.

Changelog V0.3.3
- Three new enemies. Raiders, Wild Dogs and Hellhounds. Don't underestimate them. Each one is very dangerous in its own unique way.
- Twelve new items. (Six weapons, a consumable and four items that will become more useful when crafting is introduced. Dogs and hellhounds also have a chance of dropping a collar when you kill them. No prizes for guessing where that is leading.)
- Exp gain and levelling system, allowing you to increase your stats.
- Some under the hood fine tuning in the combat engine. When choosing weapons in combat, drag the box with your mouse to see more weapon options if you have more than 4 weapons in that class.

Changelog V0.3.2:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Looting no longer just dumps loot in your inventory. You are given the option of taking what you like and leaving the rest. With a weight limit on your inventory it is only fair, plus helps prevent an inventory cluttered with lots of useless crap.

Now for the big one, the combat engine. It has changed completely:

1. You may now fight up to 3 different groups of enemies at once. Each one operates independently from the others.
2.The GUI has been vastly improved. you are no longer spammed with text telling you how much energy / hitpoints everyone has, you just have displays that show all the time.
3.Combat is no longer entirely reliant on strength. This was a major flaw of the old system. If you had low strength then it was virtually impossible to win fights. Now all weapons have a base max hit. Strength gives a bonus that can raise the max hit for melle damage and increases the range of thrown weapons.
4. Similarly to strength, hitting an enemy is no longer entirely reliant on a high accuracy skill. Each weapon has a set chance to hit the enemy. Accuracy simply raises the max hit of the gun or thrown weapon you are using in a similar way to strength.
5. The biggest change by far is that fitness is now arguably the most important skill in a fight. It now determines how often you get to act compared to your enemies. You will see an attack speed bar under your hitpoints and energy. Your enemies will have one as well. The higher your fitness, the faster the bar will fill. When the bar is full you can act. Whenever one of your enemies gets a full bar, they get to attack.

Changelog v0.3:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Expanded map
Five new weapons
Improved inventory display and mechanics
Limits to the weight you can carry (based on strength)
A shop, though please consider the prices placeholders for now.
Major bug hunt, most bugs found in v0.2 should be zapped

Working on:
Complete overhaul of the open world, navigation and map.
Contact with the cult of mutation.
Some sex scenes that will include monster rape.


I will apologise in advance, some of the text is bad grammatically. With this being my first project and quite a complicated one, i've been focusing on the code and I've neglected the text a little bit. This will be solved, but not until i've got the mechanics of the game to an acceptable point.

Here is the link to download the game:
Unfortunately due to corrupted files in the backup version I was using to post hotfixes for V0.3.3 I have had to remove the download link temporarily. As soon as the new version is posted (i'm aiming for towards the end of November) there will be a link to the game again.

The game is created in renp'y so you will need to dowload and install that if you haven't already to run it:
http://www.renpy.org/latest.html

Please let me know what you think of it, and let me know if you find any bugs / exploits.
I hope you enjoy it.

Quick Q and A:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Q: Is there any sexual content?
A : Not yet, I've made the framework for the survival aspect of the game, which is the hardest part. I'll be expanding the map next as well as putting in events and things to do. After that I will be implementing communities, the sexual content will come as part of that. What fun is an apocalypse if you can't take advantage of a world with no laws?

Q: The game is pretty basic right now, why is it being released at this stage?
A: The game is based on user choices and random variables. Even though it only has a few things you can do, depending on what choices you made previously there are thousands of possible paths to take and outcomes to situations. Solo bug hunting is virtually impossible so I'm hoping you guys will be able to help me. There shouldn't be any game breaking bugs in there at them moment, but you might find one or two that are very specific to certain paths.

Q: What can i do right now?
A: As of this version, run around killing and looting groups of zombies. Not much else sadly. V0.4 should bring more enemies to kill and a levelling system.

Q: The graphics suck. Why?
A: I am not an artist, not even close. All images are pulled from open sources I find on google. I can barely manage even minor changes, so I apologise for the bad quality and mismatched look. I am hoping to recruit an artist to the project at some point, which should solve the problem somewhat. (Incidentally, if you are an artist and are interested, please send me a message.)

Q: Rollback doesn't work very well. Why?
A: The game is programmed using a function called renpy.random.randint. It chooses a random number from the range i give it and uses that to chose an outcome based on your stats and previous decisions. It does not play well with rollback. If you hit a bug, using ignore should get you past it.

Q: I failed at something even though i should be really good at it with my stats. Why?
A: The game is designed so that even if you are really good at something there is a small chance you will fail and even if you are really bad at something there is a small chance you will succeed. I am in the process of completely overhauling the combat engine for v0.4 which should make things more realistic and balanced.

[DragonG]

it's encripted... which is the key to download on MegaNZ??

[evildumdum]

Thanks dragon, the link didn't paste right. you should be able to download it from the updated link now.

[UnLimiTeD]

Ok, this looks promising.
It also failed, though. Log:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/script.rpy", line 373, in script call
call pre_fight
File "game/Fight_response.rpy", line 233, in script
$ hipoints -= 10
File "game/Fight_response.rpy", line 233, in <module>
$ hipoints -= 10
NameError: name 'hipoints' is not defined

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/script.rpy", line 373, in script call
call pre_fight
File "game/Fight_response.rpy", line 233, in script
$ hipoints -= 10
File "F:\Spiele\H revive\ApocalypseZ-V0.2-all\renpy\ast.py", line 785, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "F:\Spiele\H revive\ApocalypseZ-V0.2-all\renpy\python.py", line 1382, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/Fight_response.rpy", line 233, in <module>
$ hipoints -= 10
NameError: name 'hipoints' is not defined

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.18.3.761
ApocalypseZ 0.0

It's kinda odd that "hitpoints" are not defined. Maybe it lacks some support program or something?
FYI:
Running Windows 7,
Chose stats focussing heavily on sneaking and accuracy, chose to sneak away from zombie, hit something.
Deciding to rollback fails horribly because it goes back to a step after I made the choice, while ignoring it works just fine.
The fourth wall breakage was unexpected.
Then again, earlier at the line "Of course, not everything is decided by what you did", I was kinda expecting the next window to read "Some things are also decided by what you decide other people did."^^
Look promising, though the images of hospital and apocalypse don't quite match in grim and colour palette.

[evildumdum]

The hitpoints issue is now fixed in the development model, it was specific to a hide outcome with a one in (roughly, depending on your sneakiness level) 15 chance.
Simply put i just misspelled hitpoints when i input the instruction to remove them.

The game is designed so that even if you are really good at something there is still a chance you can fail. You were more than likely very unlucky.

The fourth wall, well... the dialogue is pretty basic and grammatically awful at best. I've been focusing on the game mechanics since they are at the limit of my ability. I'm pretty much learning on the job. The dialogue i tend to just type in quickly before i focus on the mechanics of what happens next. It'll be sorted, but probably not for a few updates yet.

Rollback will not work with this game due to the randomised aspect of it. Using renpy.randim.randint to determine a random outcome based on your stats basically messes with the rollback function. It will more than likely not work if you try to rollback any choice that has been made. Ignoring should skip over the bug most of the time, unless it is game breaking.

Graphics... I am not an artist. Not even close. All images are pulled straight from open scources on google. I can barely do even minor changes, so i have to make do with what i can find. I'm hoping that in the future i will be able to recruit an artist to the project, which should solve the issue somewhat.

I'm going to add the rollback, fail chance and graphics to the Q and A. Thanks for taking the time to help me out

[evildumdum]

Vo.3 is now out. There's a bigger area to explore as well as a shop. Thankyou to the people who played the last version and sent in bug reports, it really helps.

[Thisfag]

Played the game for a while. I admit, it's not bad... However it lacks content. For now I'll be patiently waiting for NPC's and more enemies perhaps.. How about bandits? Like, when you spot them you will have options like with zombies, but you will also be able to approach them and charm them, which could either result in more than you have bargained for, or something real disappointing, and, maybe options for what you will charm them would be nice.

[evildumdum]

Thisfag, all that and more is planned though i'm a solo programmer so it will take a little time. raiders should be included in the next update. in fact as soon as i've finished the combat engine update, i'll be starting work on new enemies. There will be wild dogs, frenzied zombies, raiders and flesh terrors included in v0.4

The new combat engine is far more versatile, and allows you to fight up to 3 different types of enemy. I've pretty much completed the background processes, but the displays are a work in progress. should have them done by the weekend. Then i can spend the weekend making the new enemies. This a screenshot to give you a better idea what combat will look like in v0.4

[Thisfag]

Aye, I assume adult content so far is an thing which we wont be able to see yet, unless you're planning on finally adding something like that?

[evildumdum]

v0.3 was a world expansion and framework update. v0.4 will be a combat engine, enemy and weapon update. v0.5 will implement communities. The adult content will start from there.

[Thisfag]

Nice, estimated time till v0.5 will appear? Or v0.4 at least?

[evildumdum]

I work in a factory 50 hours a week plus all the overtime i can grab (Its the only way to keep my head above the water), so i don't have a whole lot of time/energy on weekdays. weekends i tend to do eight to ten hours of programming. i would estimate about 4 weeks between each update is my target.

[Emily21]

Good luck creating the game

[evildumdum]

Thanks i need it lol. V0.3.2 is now out. It has not got all the features i wanted V0.4 to have so its not been called that. The reason im putting it out is that the combat engine upgrade pretty much involved me re-writing 80% of the script from scratch. It's about the same length script wise, but can process around 5x more. It needs fully play testing though, so i'm hoping someone might help me . See the origional post for the changelog.

[evildumdum]

So i've re-worked the concepts the game is based on. To be honest a simple zombie apocalypse is a bit bland. Many thanks to Sierra Lee for making games that made me seriously question why i had been so unimaginative with my own creation. Please let me know your opinions.

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, I might have skimmed over it a bit too fast, but in my book you mainly switched from generic zombie apocalypse to generic dark fantasy with a Warhammer Vibe.
Just like most other games around these parts that turn out to have a pretty good story, what matters is not the premise, but how you develop it.
Harem f.Ex. had a base story that, while interesting, immediately let to a cookiecutter development and subsequent expectation, but through deep characterization turned out to be so much more.
Other games I've seen in the past showed great promise, only to fall short.
And, as seen with f.Ex. the Witcher series, the worst enemy may not be the dragon, but his lawyer.

[evildumdum]

While a good backstory and setting is not necessary for making a game with a good narrative, it does give me lots more raw material for making conflict, politics, scheming and so on which definately helps. If i had kept the backstory as it was before it would have simply been zombies = bad, humans that fight you = bad, all other humans = good. Some scope for narrative, but not much. I was planning on having demonic cults anyway. Since i didn't want the zombies to be the type that turned you by biting you i had to come up with some other type, necromancers fitted the bill nicely. You probably will get a warhammery vibe from the demonic cults. I am using the same chaos gods since they make useful corrupting influences, which i need quite a few of. Its not entirely unintentional.

I'm hoping i'll be able to create a good narrative to distinguish this game, i can but try lol. Thanks for your feedback

[evildumdum]

Message received. I will be focussing on monster rape with a side order of non consensual / slavery sex . Im keeping the poll up for now to give me an idea of the spread of content wanted (i'll still be putting things i like in however, one of the perks of designing your own game lol).

Progress update:
Just finished the AI for raiders (a bandit enemy). Several thousand lines of code just for picking what weapons they use, let alone anything else. Each raider should be pretty much unique in terms of stats and equipment. They have 4 different weapons each in total, each has varying combat stats and they have a pool of 12 weapons to draw from and use in varying combinations. They are a great deal stronger than zombies and should be approached with caution when you encounter them in the next update.

[evildumdum]

Just posted v0.3.3 as well as created a blog to house some of the fluff and make this thread less messy.

[evildumdum]

The new map system is now up and working, still very much a work in progress since it is a very big project but it WORKS! (can you tell i'm happy about that)

Thanks to this i'll be able to start implementing content and events other than straight forward fights, as well as create a more visually pleasing and explorable world.