State of Decay - Upcoming zombie MMO for consoles & PC

[ProfessorChaos]

recently released video showing a bit of strategy and scavenging...still looking very promising. really getting anxious about an official release date, but i've heard spring 2013. this will probably end up dropping within a month of gta5 and i'll be torn between which game to play for hours on end, as both are must-haves for me at this point.

[Christopher Jon]

As an MMO, I don't see the long term appeal of the game. Just seems like it's going to get real boring real quick. Yes, call me Debbie Downer.

[AcesandEights]

Look in' good so far! The more options for interacting with the world the better.

[ProfessorChaos]

As an MMO, I don't see the long term appeal of the game. Just seems like it's going to get real boring real quick. Yes, call me Debbie Downer. this is no longer an MMO, but rather a single-player XBLA game. last i heard, there will be a disc-based MMO for consoles coming down the road which this game is the basic foundation for. i've been scouring youtube a lot today, and there's quite a few videos out there from PAX, many of which are quite good and offer a ton of stuff to digest. here's one, there are plenty more for those interested.

[Neil]

^^ The fight towards the end of that clip shows you can be bitten over and over without concern... Guess that's required to make the gaem playable/fun though!?

[MinionZombie]

Not being an XBLA'er, I wonder if the on-disc version will have this apparent single player mode? That would be up my street.

[ProfessorChaos]

^^ The fight towards the end of that clip shows you can be bitten over and over without concern... Guess that's required to make the gaem playable/fun though!? most zombie games i've played (the dead rising games, the left for dead games, plus quite a few others) always take this approach. it would be kinda cool to have the bite=death formula, but it would probably make the game pretty damn difficult. perhaps they could include an option like this, such as a "hardcore" mode...

[MinionZombie]

Looks like they need to improve the controls and character animations - iffy car controls, rigid animations, delayed control responses etc - those need refining, certainly.

[Neil]

Looks like they need to improve the controls and character animations - iffy car controls, rigid animations, delayed control responses etc - those need refining, certainly. Looks like an XBox, so controls will be 'stiff' compared to a PC!?

[MinionZombie]

Looks like an XBox, so controls will be 'stiff' compared to a PC!? Erm, not really no - my concerns are down to the coding and animating of the game itself (regardless of format, if they aren't fixed, you're going to look a tit climbing a ladder on PC or consoles, or your input on a joypad or keyboard will encounter delays in your game character doing something etc). Aiming isn't as good on consoles - this is very true (it's best with a mouse) - however, walking is much smoother with much more control over variations of speed, whereas on PC it's either on-or-off movement (you're either stood still, walking slowly, walking, or running - whereas consoles, with their analogue sticks, allow for all the points in-between for better control in that respect). However - that wasn't what I was talking about - regardless of platform, if the coders and animators haven't got their engine working properly for translating input into actions, or making jumps, punches, kicks, running, walking and so on look good enough (i.e. well animated), then that's going to have an impact on the gameplay. That's what I was on about.

[Neil]

^^ Fare enough. But surely game play is king, and the animation/graphics far down the scale of importance?

[MinionZombie]

^^ Fare enough. But surely game play is king, and the animation/graphics far down the scale of importance? Animation can directly affect gameplay, as can unresponsive controls - that video seemed to suggest the game needs work in those areas - the graphics look fine, that's not a problem and is a separate thing entirely. Point being, you don't want to have solid gameplay marred by annoying controls or underwhelming animations/iffy control response. Such things can pull you out of the game too - you're invested in what's going on and then you encounter some zombies, but you end up trying to fight them like a rabble of drunk children whose arms are being controlled by their blindfolded friends. It's merely a case of some extra polish that is required before release. It's even like comparing The Saboteur to Assassin's Creed in terms of scaling buildings - the former was a really enjoyable game, but having to take every stride up a building one-button-mash-at-a-time became distracting and slowed the flow of such an action right down. In the AC games you leap up them smoothly and just point yourself in the appropriate direction for easy movement (that's very well animated to boot) and away you go. Small details can have a large impact if they're left unfinished, is what it comes down to.

[ProfessorChaos]

recently posted to the undead labs site, "state of state of decay"....a great read to let us know where they started out and what they had in mind from the get-go, and most importantly, where they're at now. which, from what i can gather, is two or three months at most from a release date. i was re-reading the dead island main thread (it's only 10 bucks this friday at wal-mart and i was reviewing the thread to see if it's worth bothering with) and it's funny, cuz many posts in that thread described everyone's dream game, and what it would be. this appears to be the closest thing we've seen to what many of us have been waiting for...fingers crossed, for sure. not long now, brothers... Over the next two months, we’re going to explore the two main pillars holding up State of Decay in articles, images, and videos on this website. Richard Foge is going to take you into the world of the tactical game. Fighting, with weapons or without. With an assault rifle, or up close and personal with a hatchet. How vehicles can be your salvation in the apocalypse, and how they can quickly turn into a metal coffin. Stealth. Reaction time. Distraction and evasion. It’s all important to a game that isn’t just about running and gunning the undead, but instead requires you to think like a survivor. After that, James Phinney is going to dive into strategy and simulation. Base fortification and customization, along with outposts. Resource gathering and stockpiles. Survivor management, and the role morale plays in survival. Planning ahead, and long-term thinking. Yesterday we delivered a massive Content Complete milestone to Microsoft, which means the focus from here is polish, bug fixing, tuning, and balancing. The end of the road is in sight. We’re incredibly excited to get State of Decay into your hands. Thanks for being with us so far. main article: http://undeadlabs.com/2012/11/news/s...tate-of-decay/

[kaushalsingh]

well, it seems it's just going to be an arcade title with no online play, but my interest is definitely still up for this game, now called "state of decay" http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/...state-of-decay http://undeadlabs.com/about-state-of-decay/ nice work on animation zombies are good i like it......

[ProfessorChaos]

new video released today: looks like this could be headshots only....which is fucking awesome. i've had my ms points saved for this for like months now...i just wish we'd get a solid release date/price, etc.