Game design problem

(Unsure what forum section this question should be posted in, so I posted it here since it's not quite a programming question)

I have a big problem. I'm not sure how I should continue the development of my game.

What I have:
Client and server. Server can spawn bots.
Each player/bot can play as a soldier or zombie. Bots can choose to play as a civilian too.
Players can walk around, one tile at a time, on the tilemap. Each player have X amount of Action Points, and walking one tile costs one AP.
Each round starts with the server telling all zombies to move, then the soldiers and last the civilians.
Zombies attacks anything that isn't already a zombie.
Soldiers attacks zombies.
Civilians runs away from zombies and towards soldiers.


But how should the zombies, soldiers and civilians fight each other?
The zombies should walk up to a civilian or soldier and "bump" into it, the server decides if the target was hit or not.
Soldiers should do the same, walk up to a zombie and "bump" into it.
When a zombie is "killed" it should lie down for a few turns.
When a civilian or soldier dies, it should lie down a few turns and then become a zombie. But I don't have any idea on how to continue after that.
After a while there will be nothing but zombies. Should the last man standing, if he/she isn't a zombie, win? And if so, what point would it be to play as a zombie?
Should players be able to "recover" from a zombie state? If so, why even have the option to start playing as a zombie? And is civilians only in the game to become zombies?
Anyone have any cool ideas on how I should continue, and hopefully finish, this game?

I'm grateful for any help


This is a proof that a game design document is a good thing., but the whole thing started as a desire to learn BNetEX combined with too much time wasted on www.urbandead.com. But the big difference is that I want my game to be more action oriented and less RPG-ish. And less text.

How about if soldiers can light fallen zombies on fire to remove them permenantly from the game?

Nice idea.
See? I suck at game design. I didn't even think of that! ;)
More ideas are still welcome.

honestly... You can't just place a point onto it and hope it works. Why don't you step back from it. Look at what you have that works, and design something that works with it.

Obviously there needs to be some reason to be a zombie. So make it a team effort system.

'Killing' a zombie returns it to the what it once was, civilian or soldier. If it is a civilian, it then blinks a few turns before it can be interacted with again by the soldiers. However, a zombie can reinfect it during that period.

Soldiers can tap civilians to 'save' them. When saved, they exit the playing field. Soldiers can also use their weapon that is ranged.

Zombies can tap soldiers or civilians, and turn them into more zombies, who don't have a ranged attack but have the added effect of being able to turn civilians and soldiers against into zombies.

In this way... there is a good reason to be either a zombie or a soldier.

The winner is whoever has saved or infected the most civilians after a time frame, or when every civilian is infected or saved who saved the most.

That was the reason with this thread.


That is the direction I want to take.


Sounds like a nice idea... Why on earth didn't I think of that? :P


Another fine idea.

Guess I should start writing things like this down and do some thinking. Thanks.

Taking notes is a good thing... just because you wrote it down does not mean you are LOCKED into the idea.

AND

killing zombies removes them completely... but you should always start with more zombies than soldiers + civilians.

Soldiers move towards nearest zombie. To plan this soldiers path consideration maybe should not be blocked by civilian... otherwise too many cycles for plan and rethink as lemmings (oops I mean civilians) rush soldiers.

The battle is between soldiers and zombies and the civilians are targets for the zombies... the zombies are targets for the soldiers and the soldiers are targets for the civilians...

How about when a civilian touches a soldier he becomes ENLISTED!!! and can kill zombies as a soldier...

Sounds reasonable. Some serious game balancing is most likely going to happen as soon as I have some rules in the game.


Not sure I understand you here. Should soldiers just walk all over the civilians?

The AI code is not yet in the game. For the moment every bot is just running in one direction until it randomly chooses another one. But I'm going to try to add some flocking behaviour in there for the zombies and civilians, unless they have a fresh brain in sight, or a screaming zombie behind them.


My brother suggested something like this, and I'm not so sure I want it to be like that. The number of zombies is going to grow, but if soldiers have ranged weapons they are probably going to whipe the floor with the zombies if they are allowed to grow too. So I think I like the other idea better, where the soldiers shoulg "tag" the civilians in order to save them, or at least have them move towards a helicopter/bus/towngate/whatever. And anyone who dies is going to be a zombie.

maybe the objective for the soldiers is to save civilians only, and shooting a zombie only makes them stop for a while to recover.

Hey, I'm the one making a zombie game :P

Zombies should not be able to die. Either shooting them will cause them to fall asleep or become slower for a time. Soldiers and civilians should be able to die.

Soldiers should be able to shoot zombies with an anti zombie serum and change the zombie back into a civilian. This serum should only work for a limited amount of time. each soldier should only be able to carry a few loads of serum.

When the soldier taps a civilian, the civilian should walk towards the rescue point. The soldier should only receive a point if he sucesfully converts, taps and escorts a civilian to the rescue point.

The soldiers should have limited ammo and serum.

The zombies should convert soldiers and civilians to zombies and specifically go for the tapped civilians. they should get a point for each conversion.

The above makes it easy for a zombie to convert soldiers and civilians, but dificult to keep them converted. It makes it dificult for the soldiers to convert zombies, but easier to protect them. The soldiers have more firepower, but kan run out of ammo. The zombies are weaker enemies, but can't die.


Andy

Brainstorming is fun, but you'll need to prototype and playtest ideas to make sure the game is fun and balaced (or at least balancable.)

Thanks for the help guys! Now I got plenty of ideas to think about and try out. :)

Cheers