Starving
“After walking and walking and walking, I’ve come to a dead stop: no humans, no animals, no food. All that was left was grass, rocks, and water. To somehow fill up my stomach, I’ve gotten close to the ocean to drink when I noticed a red puddle just across, and a sheep sitting on top.”
Game Concept Proposal]
People:
The only living being on the earth is the player, the last living zombie. Without any more humans or livestock, the zombies starved to death. There will be remnants of dead zombies and humans within the world, mostly in the shape of leftover bones and chunks. The player searches throughout the wasteland hoping to find food or any viable living moving animal.
In the player’s final days, when the game takes place, they see a sheep. The sheep interacts with the player, fully revealing that they’re just the player’s imagination. The player keeps on talking to the sheep and learns that this sheep is based on Dolly, a lab experiment animal the player used to work on before they turned into a zombie.
Place:
The game takes in the countryside of Scotland, specifically near the beach. The area is stuck in 2016 architecture, as that was the last time humans had any progress within the area. There’s nothing left there except for car roads, grasslands, and rocky ocean, with occasional abandoned buildings and cars. The time is early morning, misty but bright at the same time. Throughout the area, the player can discover remnants of humans and zombies, which tells how the population died off.
Things:
Dolly’s Fur: This can be taken when the player pets Dolly. It also comes with an ear tag that has Dolly’s experiment number.
Bottle of Red Water: The player needs to pick up a water bottle thrown along the road and scoop the red ocean that’s around Dolly. The player can drink it, to check if it fill any hunger(it slightly does)
Files: Scattered inside the car, the player can pick each paper to find records of Dolly’s research(4 in total)
Car key: The player can dig up a car key from the dirt and try opening the car right next to the ocean.
Style: The game would be melancholic, as the whole color scheme would be very saturated(except for part of the ocean that would be red). Some areas would be misty, but it would be clear enough to see the whole area. It would look similar to that of Little Nightmare and Silent Hill but a bit brighter.
Gameplay: The game is based on a post-apocalyptic world. The game itself would be a simulation rpg, where the player walks around to find food and listen to their last hope, Dolly. It will be based much more on the story rather than action or thrill, so the player would be relaxed while playing it.
Game Concept Sketch]
MoodBoard]
From top left to bottom right in order]
1&5) Modeling of the player(aka the zombie), who will be wearing ragged clothes.
2) The overall feeling/texture of the game where it looks empty but at the same time filled with stuff. Along with the cement structure.
3) The design of the game, where I’m planning it to look slightly low-poly(looks old but not too much)
4) The way items would be laid on the ground along with the color scheme.
6 & 8 & 9) The way the area would look like(a mix of beachside but with more grass, rocks, and cement rather than sand).
7) The whole atmosphere near Dolly, where it’s the only place that isn’t as saturated as the other areas.
I find it really interesting that you are putting some of the apocalyptic tropes on their heads, having the player play as not a human survivor but a zombie one. How will you keep the player from wandering off? What would you use for barriers?
I’m planning to block off the areas with some wave dissipation blocks and trees(and a tunnel). Dolly will keep talking to the player to tell where they should look around, so the player will have a singular motive the whole time.
I love the environment you’ve decided on for the player’s final hours. I know the bright and misty environment will look so cool once you render it out! My question is about the last zombie. Your description implies the zombie has a shred of humanity left it in and I’m really curious to see where you’ll take that. Will this game center around themes of hope or will it be more focused on giving a vibe of there’s nothing the player can do even if they try?
The player/zombie would be half-conscious and half delirious. Where the player understands some words Dolly says but can’t seem to get themselves to make coherent thoughts. I’m planning for the player to drown by the ends trying to chase dolly into the ocean so it’s theme would be closer to acceptance of death.
The idea of zombies running out of food and dying off in their own second apocalypse is really neat! The focus on melancholy instead of horror also makes it really stand out. Do you plan on exploring how nature (at this point, plants) carry on as the now-dominant species?
I want the game to look no different from the current state of the earth since the setting I have in mind is that the downfall of humanity and zombies went really fast(in a few weeks). Plants and trees will be grown but it won’t be overwhelming. Some plants would be dead because of lack of human intervention though.
I love the silent hill/walking dead vibes this gives off. Do you plan on having the games artstyle be more low poly and simplistic or high poly and detailed?
I’m planning the game to be low poly but not like in silent hill 1, closer to silent hill 3 or 4(enough graphics to look like real life but not enough to seem too real). I want it to look realistic enough to real nature but also somewhat offputtingly past.
I like how specific your item descriptions and in-game effects are. How big would the explorable game world be?
It wouldn’t be big as the map would only consist of the beach area with Dolly, an abandoned container box, and the truck/road area. Rest of the area would be blocked off.
I enjoy the story of the game; an emotional tale during an apocalypse, but from a zombie’s POV. Will the zombie’s imagination/memories appear on the screen as text? Or will it be implied through gameplay actions?
the memories would come out in text and also from Dolly’s words(text). However each text would be incomprehensible considering the zombie’s mind so that would be implied gameplay.
love the tone you have going so far. do you plan to lean more into the horror elements of this, or some other direction?