In this column this week, our own Dana Massey looks at the survival genre and asks... Why Not A Survival MMO?

Of all of the untapped genres out there, Survival Horror is best suited to an MMO, but for whatever reason has never been tried. A true sandbox MMO that throws out many of the assumptions of these types of games would be the perfect way to recreate this popular genre online.

Movies are what make this genre, and each entry in it follows a pretty similar script. A group of ordinary people start out, pushed together by proximity to defend themselves against a mystery plague that has turned everyone bitten into a zombie. They have to adapt, learn new skills and defend themselves.

Read Why Not A Survival MMO?

I completely agree with this entire article. Ever since the Resident Evil and Left4Dead series I wondered why no one has made a valid attempt at survival horror. Just reading this article makes me want to play one. I, for one, am tired of the fantasy and other types of MMOs flooding the market. Push something original out there, I bet it will shine.

They would have to be small servers wouldn't feel to alone if there were 15k players running around. Probably 400-500 max i would think, but I really like the idea. I would play a survival horror mmo.

Putts

I've always liked your MMO ideas, but there seems to be a common thread: lack of scalability. All of your ideas could make great Multiplayer Online games, but not many (including this one) are feasible when it comes to the Massively part.

How much will the game feel like Survival Horror when there are hundreds of people in the same "cities"? How many times is that farmer going to be rescued and then plopped back where he was found for another group to rescue? The answer to those questions may be instancing, but if you're instancing practically the entire game, what's the point of making it Massively Multiplayer?

I like it, call me when you need Beta Testers.

It doesn't sound terrible but you know damn good and well what the developers would do to it.  You would log in to the game and the first thing you would see is a NPC with a big glowing question mark over his head.  You would talk to him and see a block of text, "Bla bla bla bla....kill three zombie rats and bring me their tails."

Then you would notice a bunch of other NPCs with big glowing question marks over their heads and pretty soon you would have about twenty run-and-fetch-it "quests" to keep you busy.  Before you could quite finish all of those maddening little "quests" you would have more "quests" piled on to the stack of endless errands you're supposed to run. 

Nobody would ever group for this stuff for two reasons.  First: it's all so incredibly easy that you don't need to group for it.  Second: all of that frantic running around to collect crap makes grouping totally impractical.  But if you don't do the stupid little "quests" you won't get your upgraded gun, you won't get your silver bullets (or whatever), you won't get your kevlar armor and you won't unlock any special abilities for your character.

So that's it.  That would be the sum total of the game, endlessy running stupid little errands alone, going where you're told to go and doing what you're told to do.  Oh...untill you hit the "endgame".  Then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt.  And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt. And then you would go to an instance with a bunch of other people to kill some zombie lord for his phat zombie lord lewt.

Ugg.  This is why I have often said changing the setting of games is not the important thing.  The important thing is for someone, some dev or company, to separate themself from the herd and change the basic nature of the gameplay.

 Now that's a fresh idea, maybe TSW will attempt something like that? It's Funcom, but you never know who may bring something new from the mere ideas realm into something practical and playable, even if it's just a failure it may inspire future developers.

Originally posted by kamenwati

I've always liked your MMO ideas, but there seems to be a common thread: lack of scalability. All of your ideas could make great Multiplayer Online games, but not many (including this one) are feasible when it comes to the Massively part.

How much will the game feel like Survival Horror when there are hundreds of people in the same "cities"? How many times is that farmer going to be rescued and then plopped back where he was found for another group to rescue? The answer to those questions may be instancing, but if you're instancing practically the entire game, what's the point of making it Massively Multiplayer?

I think I might have that answer. Players start in random places / spawns not instancing. Through out your over ran city of zombies the dev can make rooms/ tops of buildings /houses with some limited safe spaces. The farmer spawns in 5 to 10 diffrent locations and dose not have an arrow on your mini map to his location....you need to find him. The quest giver tells you to head north to find him. The next time he tell the next player to head south to find him.

Originally posted by EricDanie

 Now that's a fresh idea, maybe TSW will attempt something like that? It's Funcom, but you never know who may bring something new from the mere ideas realm into something practical and playable, even if it's just a failure it may inspire future developers.

Failure doesn't inspire Wow sub levels do.

Urban Dead

Sure it's a Web-MMO not a traditional 3D one but the concept has been proven to work.

A survival MMO would be very cool, however it would really need to have elements to give it longevity.  Here is a quick idea I have for something related to Survival MMO

Normal Leveling system, with several semi-safe starter zones.  At certain times, those starter zones would be flooded and it's every man/woman for themself.

Once you are beyond your starter area's there would be regular over-runs that would take time to clear based on large group/raid style teams to help clear it up.

Dungeon type zones would be considered semi-safe to start and will give groups or raids an area to buy supplies, fix equipment and work on quest type stuff all while outside the dungeon things could really be crazy and not safe to go into.  Talk about a neat way to try to survive... you have to stay in a dungeon with a group :-)

That's just some spit-ball ideas from me.  If someone uses them to make a real game,  hook me up with a small royalty check :-)

You'd almost have to have perma-death in a game like this. In other genres, wounds usually are usually easily healed and don't get infected. But in zombie-land, usually if you get bit, you're a goner.

Would a medic/doctor player role even be needed? Maybe as a secondary skill set. I suppose players could be injured by other players or get non-bite wounds that would need treatment and not turn you into a zombie.

Something that might be interesting an twist would be if there was some sort of vaccine or post-bite treatment. If it was a vaccine, make it so that it loses its effectiveness after a period of time so need boosters. Or for post-bite, if you could get treated within a certain time frame, you could stave off the effects, but then you'd need to continually be getting a booster. There could be a few "secure" medical facilities where the stuff is produced that you'd have to travel to get it. Not to raid the facility (because they'd stop making it), but you'd have to fight your way there, help defend, and then fight your way home.

Maybe having a medic in your group would increase the amount of the vaccine you receive or increase its effectiveness (due to better administration & care).

The world could even have different resources depending on region. Money would be fairly useless, so bartering would be necessary. Maybe a more urban town would have access to vehicles, a rural area would have more food, a military base would have weapons and ammunition, and so on. People could trade for stuff they needed.

Originally posted by Neanderthal

It doesn't sound terrible but you know damn good and well what the developers would do to it.  You would log in to the game and the first thing you would see is a NPC with a big glowing question mark over his head.  You would talk to him and see a block of text, "Bla bla bla bla....kill three zombie rats and bring me their tails."

Then you would notice a bunch of other NPCs with big glowing question marks over their heads and pretty soon you would have about twenty run-and-fetch-it "quests" to keep you busy.  Before you could quite finish all of those maddening little "quests" you would have more "quests" piled on to the stack of endless errands you're supposed to run.

You have been playing to much WoW if you think all mmo are like that.

If you make a game like that, you will not really have quest, you more had ppl that game you info about where to finde stuff.

easy to make dynamic quest, meaning that the ppl giving out quest or what you need to do is never the same as always. Then the first time to do it, wins the reward.

reason you dont see it, becouse alot of mmo players just wants the reward, they dont care about the story or the fun you have doing it.

Originally posted by themilton

You'd almost have to have perma-death in a game like this. In other genres, wounds usually are usually easily healed and don't get infected. But in zombie-land, usually if you get bit, you're a goner.

Would a medic/doctor player role even be needed? Maybe as a secondary skill set. I suppose players could be injured by other players or get non-bite wounds that would need treatment and not turn you into a zombie.

Something that might be interesting an twist would be if there was some sort of vaccine or post-bite treatment. If it was a vaccine, make it so that it loses its effectiveness after a period of time so need boosters. Or for post-bite, if you could get treated within a certain time frame, you could stave off the effects, but then you'd need to continually be getting a booster. There could be a few "secure" medical facilities where the stuff is produced that you'd have to travel to get it. Not to raid the facility (because they'd stop making it), but you'd have to fight your way there, help defend, and then fight your way home.

I think this is a great idea. Maybe set a "Transformation Clock" in the corner of your screen after you got bitten: let's say five minutes. Your have that allotted time to make it back to the city to get vaccinated by the NPC physician, or perhaps in raids, a high level Medic will have the ability to administer it. If you don't make it back in time, or perhaps you die from more wounds before you get medical attention, your corpse rises as a NPC Zombie that will now exist in the world until someone puts a bullet in its head.  You will respawn back at the nearest checkpoint.

It will create a great dynamic for healers to stay aware of their raid partner's afflictions. Because one rampant zombie trouncing around can wipe the whole raid if he starts transforming others.

Originally posted by LordDmaster

I like it, call me when you need Beta Testers.

Amen to this.  - As long as there's no NDA.

Nevermind that, just hire me as a dev. I'll keep my trap shut then. I will warn you that I will go postal if the marketing ghouls start infiltrating the creative teams' compound.

Originally posted by Neanderthal

Ugg.  This is why I have often said changing the setting of games is not the important thing.  The important thing is for someone, some dev or company, to separate themself from the herd and change the basic nature of the gameplay.

Well said. Just changing the setting won't make it a good game, but I would still prefer a run-of-the-mill MMORPG with a survival horror storyline than yet another S&S or post-apoc setting.

It's rather amazing companies opt for me-too designs, rather than something different. A (well-done) survival horror game would kick butt.

Perhaps a niche market game needs to start small and expand after release. There might be serious business problems with doing so, though, as success breeds imitation. It is quite possible that a successful Survival Horror MMO would find its ideas copied quite quickly. An IP like George Romero's '...of the Dead', or Resident Evil would be some protection for copying.

I think the idea of 'dungeons' being buildings such as supermarkets, hardware stores, military bases, and hospitals which have a time limit to go in and loot and stay alive would play very well. Imagine that the supermarket has five possible exits, but each run you take only one of them is unblocked and usable.

Originally posted by mrputts

They would have to be small servers wouldn't feel to alone if there were 15k players running around. Probably 400-500 max i would think, but I really like the idea. I would play a survival horror mmo.

 

 

 

 

Putts

I'd say 15k people left alive in a city such as Los Angeles or New York normally populated in the millions would be very realistic.

Originally posted by vrembrantv

I think this is a great idea. Maybe set a "Transformation Clock" in the corner of your screen after you got bitten: let's say five minutes. Your have that allotted time to make it back to the city to get vaccinated by the NPC physician, or perhaps in raids, a high level Medic will have the ability to administer it. If you don't make it back in time, or perhaps you die from more wounds before you get medical attention, your corpse rises as a NPC Zombie that will now exist in the world until someone puts a bullet in its head.  You will respawn back at the nearest checkpoint.

It will create a great dynamic for healers to stay aware of their raid partner's afflictions. Because one rampant zombie trouncing around can wipe the whole raid if he starts transforming others.

 

What about having a roster of characters - some as normal, some as zombies?

Originally posted by megagame

You have been playing to much WoW if you think all mmo are like that.

If you make a game like that, you will not really have quest, you more had ppl that game you info about where to finde stuff.

easy to make dynamic quest, meaning that the ppl giving out quest or what you need to do is never the same as always. Then the first time to do it, wins the reward.

reason you dont see it, becouse alot of mmo players just wants the reward, they dont care about the story or the fun you have doing it.

That's the kind of players MMO devs go after. It's easy doing business with addicts. Now that the market has expanded, maybe some niche games will get away from gear grinding and actually focus on content.

I know what I like in an MMO is out of style now, but I'd have to ask, how do you build community if you're always running from zombies?