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[GlyphGryph]

Hmm... I could do that, but it seems like it would be more annoying than interesting...

[Drevlin]

Yeah, you're right, it'll be too annoying because you would continuosly activate the item. Anyway, the flickering effect is cool (and somehow creepy!)

[Biag]

flavor stuff

I love all of this. Related suggestion: a common zombie-movie thing is to have one zombie that keeps showing up all the time- not necessarily someone the characters knew, just a particular zombie that keeps following them. What about adding a "Familiar Zombie" creature that shows up after a few dozen regulars have spawned? It could have the same kind of flavor text that Glyph suggested ("That zombie looks familiar..." "You've definitely seen this zombie before" etc).

[Koja]

Yeah, for me, I think factions and random scripted events would help a ton. Could be dreams, could be NPCs trying to setup a foraging expedition or new outpost, could be some type of gamechanging disease the player has. As an example, from a nonrandom event, fungal infection... Depending on when you get it, it can force a trek for the cure.

As an example of a random event, a bounty on a random NPC or somesuch. To save or kill, doesnt matter, you still have to trek out and do what needs to be done.

Also: A new map tile "town square" or something, with a randomly assigned name, to identify different towns. Maybe a randomized name plaque for bridges or something. Etc....

Also: if monsters in a location were a bit more dynamic. Wasps swarm and expand the hive(Killing zombies, laying eggs in corpses, and papering new houses), zombie numbers in a town fluctuate over time(between immigration and the massive numbers of zombie redeaths, it's kinda weird to be facing a horde of equivalent size every day), and so forth.

[pandamage]

flavor stuff

I love all of this. Related suggestion: a common zombie-movie thing is to have one zombie that keeps showing up all the time- not necessarily someone the characters knew, just a particular zombie that keeps following them. What about adding a "Familiar Zombie" creature that shows up after a few dozen regulars have spawned? It could have the same kind of flavor text that Glyph suggested ("That zombie looks familiar..." "You've definitely seen this zombie before" etc).

I like this.

[ChairmanPoo]

I dont think thats particularily common. I think its exclusive to Resident evil (if you can regard nemesis as a zombie) and army of darkness...

[Biag]

By "common" I mean "I've seen it a couple times and if it's uncommon it shouldn't be."

[jc6036]

Land of the dead had a very prominent recurring zombie, sort of like a pack leader.

[jocan2003]

wants bus safehouse too pretty-please-with-nice-eyes

[Aklyon]

+1 to bus safehouse, but how would it work? Buses are loud.

[jc6036]

Perhaps when vehicles are actually implemented?

[ConscriptFive]

Land of the dead had a very prominent recurring zombie, sort of like a pack leader.

Or Robert Carlyle in the fast zombie flick 28 Weeks Later.

It's not that he was stronger or even a "special infected," it was just that he provided a narrative.

It would be nice if some of the zombies had a sense of individuality or history.  I'm not saying that it needs to go as far as Dwarf Fortress where tracked kills from world-gen and bones files = fame and an auto-generated name.  ...But it would be kinda awesome, even if a fake or half-assed version could be pulled off.

Finding a panicked "survivor's journal" (or other souvenirs) in the stomach of the Hulk you just killed would be quite the easter egg to find.  Knowing you slayed the monster who within the first week of "Z-Day" slaughtered a daycare center, summer camp, convent, hospital ward... would be a satisfying accomplishment.

[SomeStupidGuy]

+1 to bus safehouse, but how would it work? Buses are loud.

Well, isn't that really the only way it would be balanced?
Also, as far as vehicles go bikes should definitely be added as an quiet alternative to cars.

Nightmares sound perfect for the game given the morale system. Plus, there could be a negative trait that increases the frequency and effects of them.

[DalGren]

Buses don't need to be active vehicles to serve as a shelter! (for modders or as a temporary situation before proper mobile vehicles work).

As for giving zombies an identity without going to DF extremes, I am currently investigating such a system for a game I am making myself (blame Whales and SS13, I was going to do a gauntlet clone and ended up starting a sandbox roguelike...I'll post about it soon). You can kind of generate a list of names and crude relationships for every "region" (extra space savings if you make family names indexes (ints) instead of strings, needing only to save the name and a bit of metadata), organize that data in a way that calling for it is cheap, and then pick one identity from the list every time you generate a zombie. It's nowhere near "simulation" but in most user's eyes it kind of does the trick. That way you get named zombies and whatever metadata has been kept track of, for cheap.

And about the areas looking bland, that's natural. Real life manages to fix this little issue with CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT and "irregularities", and a motivated enough coder should strive for the same. However, I won't try to lecture Whales about it. I understand the game is way before "stable release" and there's still time to add plenty of content or tune generation further.

Pimping out houses a tiny bit would be really useful. Floor types, wall types (both with slightly different colors so the difference is also visual), flower pots, furniture. Carpets with coloring as well. Nothing is really superfluous when the goal is to amuse the player (or trick the player into believing there is more than a few templates/prefabs).

On a side note. I am experimenting with BSP-ing tilemaps to get similar houses in my newborn game. I am starting to notice rectangular houses WILL be bland. I'll try to find an algorithm to generate irregular-shaped houses while still using BSP to partition them (maybe culling certain outside rooms...no idea of which rules to use though). If I manage to get it working I will post it here, it can be useful for someone. (and rooms like garages might be easier to make)

[ChairmanPoo]

One thing: why no apartment blocks? There are basements, after all...