Indie-Resource.com

For so long I have been debating which project I should go with. I've always wanted a nice big world. I am looking to make it multiplayer too..
The big question for me is which of my two games do I want to actually keep producing.

1.
Ever since Resident Evil Outbreak came out I wanted to be able to play a huge zombie game, but all of the zombie games since then that have been released still havent met my ideas.
A basic idea of the game:
A big map that I can continue to add to, the original idea is going to be loosely based off of my home town, then spread from there. Buildings won't and can't be exact but will certainly be as close as I can get them to be (mainly my immediate area where I know what all the houses look like). I have very obtainable milestones that will keep the project in perspective. This is an art heavy choice, which I am fine with, but I am not going for photo realistic. I'd like a rather big invention system that I can keep adding to. It's going to be a realistic feel to it despite the non-perfect graphics. I dont want zombies to be the main focus in this, and don't want it to be seen as 'yet another zombie game'.

or
2.
A samurai/fantasy based multiplayer game. I've always liked this choice but I feel like something in constantly bringing me back to the first choice. Basically a fantasy MMO like a lot of others unfortunately, just with way less magic and more of an actual historic feel to it, but with a strech of some magic lol. I also have milestones set in place for this one.


What do you guys think? Do you like one of the ideas better than another? Do you think I should go with my gut finally and actually start with my zombie mmo survival..?

I personally am more interested in the first choice you listed. Like an open world zombie free-for-all?

I think that unfortunately zombie games are a bit heavily done at the moment. There are a couple of huge zombie PBBGs that are really kind of absorbing most of the zombie game players (I can't remember their names, but I think 2 of them have over a million players). However, you can't always let stuff like that stop you. If you have a more advanced vision than what is out there, it could be a big draw

I would be interested in the first choice. The open-world style of a zombie survival game. I'm hoping that there will be elements such as being able to create barricades, traps, vehicles to drive, and just going on a rampage. Maybe have sound be a factor to attracting more zombies, thus using melee weapons would be a bonus.

I have always been looking for that right zombie game to really get in to.

What sharlenwar just said pretty much sounds like the best zombie game ever. Even going further into it by being able to lay traps or using explosive diversions. Building whole towns of survivors. Making your own weapons and having to gather resources to survive. I could go on about it all day but that would pretty much be an amazing game.

Urban Dead! That is the name of one of the juggernauts of zombie PBBGs. It actually has a lot of the features you named above!

Urban Dead is pretty good and been around forever but I think could be easily dethroned with a much better version. UD is outdated.

I like the first choice. I had a huge a response around Viral Dawn and got me into GDC so there is still a big market.

Very true

Well, there is an interesting one called Dead Frontier. I used to play that until it got repetitive as with so many other games. Another one that has an interesting style is Project Zomboid.

As far as PBBGs, I used to play them years ago, I just tend to lean towards games that have some graphics, immersive, and keep one occupied.

A lot of the features stated I had in mind. I also wanted to make ranged weapons rare to get since they can be all too common. Another feature I wanted was colonies (kind of like a clan) that can form and own areas/land and can raid each other. I want roughly 50% of the houses to be scavengable, 20% cars to be able to be stolen, with a total of 50% to be looted. One of the biggest things I want is the crafting/invention to be huge and allow every day items to be turned into weapons (even for a short time). Wanted certain areas to be able to trigger city events eg:
doing certain task inside of my local mall would trigger an event where all people are allies and hordes of zombies swarm inside do to the event.