Taraq's JSON Emporium

Taraq · 2013-12-09T01:24:00.000Z

So, I was going to just expand zombies, but then something I saw in the experimental inspired me to make a weapon, so… this is just going to be a bunch of random stuff now!

{ "type":"GENERIC", "id": "sword_glass", "symbol": "!", "color": "light_blue", "name": "makeshift macahuitl", "description": "A two by sword with jagged chunks of glass lodged into the sides to form makeshift cutting edges, making it much more lethal.", "material": "wood", "price": 0, "volume": 6, "weight": 650, "bashing": 10, "cutting": 4, "to_hit": -1, "flags": ["CHOP"], "techniques": ["WBLOCK_1"] },

{ "type": "recipe", "result": "sword_glass", "category": "CC_WEAPON", "subcategory": "CSC_WEAPON_CUTTING", "skill_used": "fabrication", "difficulty": 2, "time": 5000, "reversible": false, "autolearn": true, "qualities": [ {"id":"CUT","level":1,"amount":1} ], "tools" : [ [ ["rock", -1], ["primitive_hammer", -1], ["hammer", -1], ["hatchet", -1], ["toolset", -1] ] ], "components": [ [ ["sword_wood", 1] ], [ ["glass_shard", 4] ] ] },

[spoiler=Original Post]So I thought I’d make a little mod adding more later game zombies to the cataclysm, that spawn as time progresses to make the game more challenging later on. I’ll be putting any code questions I have here, and you should feel free to make suggestions here.

So, for starters, the ideas that I’ll try to add in:

Slasher Zombies (With cutting weapons. Powerful cutting weapons.)
Bone Armor Zombies (Mutated to have a sort of exoskeleton, strong armor.)
Trackers (High vision, speed and smell, spawns in random areas and hopefully has some other zombies with it.)
Torchers (Should be able to light things on fire/spit fire. Hopefully. We’ll see how this works out)
Spikers (Shoot little spikes (Think hedgehog/porcupine) as ranged weapon, probably similar in power to low powered guns)
Crawlers (Low speed, low power, nothing special)
(Not sure what to name these…)(Also not sure if I can do this with the code I know) (Hides just below/at ground level, not visible without scent or getting really close, jumps at player when spotted).

And my eventual goal once I’ve added a lot would be to make a sort of randomizer, so the game takes these 6 zombie attributes and adds 3 random ones to each zombie, for example, so you could have armored shockers, crawling shockers, etc.

I have a bit of C++ experience and I’m getting to know how the monsters are structured in the JSONs now, and I have a few questions now:

How do the “frequency” and “cost_multiplier” attributes for monster spawning interact?
What is the time unit for when spawning starts and ends? I’m assuming hours, but I’m not sure.
How are monster flags managed? I assume it’s somewhere in the C++, but is it all in one place or distributed or what?
[/spoiler]

FunsizeNinja123 · 2013-12-09T01:28:42.000Z

Nay to torchers 'cause I don’t want a city I’m looting to be burned to the ground.

Taraq · 2013-12-09T01:51:17.000Z

FunsizeNinja123:

Nay to torchers 'cause I don’t want a city I’m looting to be burned to the ground.

Then you’ll miss out on all the fun!

Binky · 2013-12-09T01:58:17.000Z

If you can, I’d add a few of these into classic zombies - crawlers for sure and possibly a modified version of the slasher zombie which is a sort of ‘decayed zombie’, where it’s mainly bones which cause extra cutting damage.

Also, if you get a system up and running for spawning more different types later (I think there already is one actually) possibly adjusting classic zombies to become more resilient over time could be put in?

Classic Z doesn’t seem to get much love, but everyone I know who plays it off the forum pretty much exclusively plays Classic, so it’d be much appreciated if you had time!

jcannon98188 · 2013-12-09T04:12:56.000Z

Adding special zombies to the classic zombie mode seems to defeat the purpose of classic zombie mode no?

infectedmochi · 2013-12-09T04:46:13.000Z

Yes! More late-game zombies, I like it.

I have a few nitpicks though:

Crawler could be confused with the Crawling zombie variant added in github recently, maybe change it into something else? Also, since these Zs are supposed for later game, what is the role of Crawler? You said “low speed, low power” - it’s seem rather redundant.
Torcher, I can see their flame be used against them and if they are fire-resistant, other zombies. Also, having my surrounding burned to the ground just because of one stray shot from those zombies seems too much. How about making them spit flammable liquid (oil) instead? You can then light up the oil to create fire but if you are also covered in oil and not careful you may also light yourself on fire too.

moist_zombie · 2013-12-09T05:25:44.000Z

Maybe make an options menu toggle for torcher (or for torcher building burning in particular), if he ever becomes real? I personally would enjoy having my shelter burned to the ground (seems… cataclysmic…) Would definitely add some items to my daily “to-do” list after that :>

Dominae · 2013-12-09T07:57:01.000Z

… as an alternate to the “Torcher” mentioned, you could have him/her/it be on fire but it doesn’t randomly light things on fire unless you hit it. That way, it doesn’t go around burning the whole damn city to the ground while it wanders/chases you, but if you smack it with a pipe, it splatters napalm all over and stuff burns down.

Imagine a thin-skinned, bloated zombie pinata filled with flame’y magma.

Binky · 2013-12-09T11:43:46.000Z

jcannon98188:

Adding special zombies to the classic zombie mode seems to defeat the purpose of classic zombie mode no?

I’d say that they weren’t so much special zombies as much as variations on the classic theme

Really though, the problem is that classic currently is far, far too easy and most of that is because you get to a point pretty quickly where none of the zombies can even scratch you before you take out a whole herd. My thoughts were just to have classic zombies get stronger over time, whilst crawling zombies and almost-skeleton zombies have been a mainstay in most zombie flicks and would add some flavour/different challenges.

Taraq · 2013-12-10T01:50:59.000Z

[quote=“infectedmochi, post:6, topic:4435”]Yes! More late-game zombies, I like it.

I have a few nitpicks though:

Crawler could be confused with the Crawling zombie variant added in github recently, maybe change it into something else? Also, since these Zs are supposed for later game, what is the role of Crawler? You said “low speed, low power” - it’s seem rather redundant.
Torcher, I can see their flame be used against them and if they are fire-resistant, other zombies. Also, having my surrounding burned to the ground just because of one stray shot from those zombies seems too much. How about making them spit flammable liquid (oil) instead? You can then light up the oil to create fire but if you are also covered in oil and not careful you may also light yourself on fire too.[/quote]

For the crawler - I’m thinking of it being more of a movement modification to other zombies, so you could run into crawling versions of dangerous zombies earlier than other versions… If I ever get that far.

For the torcher - I’m considering it having a special attack that lights creatures on fire, but not other things, or a melee that ignites, or at least fires that go out quickly and can’t burn everything to the ground, only damage the player as a more hazardous kind of spitter.

Binky:

[quote=“jcannon98188, post:5, topic:4435”]Adding special zombies to the classic zombie mode seems to defeat the purpose of classic zombie mode no?

I’d say that they weren’t so much special zombies as much as variations on the classic theme

Really though, the problem is that classic currently is far, far too easy and most of that is because you get to a point pretty quickly where none of the zombies can even scratch you before you take out a whole herd. My thoughts were just to have classic zombies get stronger over time, whilst crawling zombies and almost-skeleton zombies have been a mainstay in most zombie flicks and would add some flavour/different challenges.[/quote]

I might also add in a power increase on classic zombies - so they get no special abilities, but get more and more powerful as the game goes on. However, the point of this is not to make more classic zombies or add to classic mode. This is just a variety/difficulty expansion.

Taraq · 2013-12-15T15:58:22.000Z

Alright, some things:

I made a makeshift macahuitl because the experimental inspired me. Roughly the same statistics as a nord. (See first post)

Aand slasher zombies:

{ "type": "MONSTER", "id": "mon_zombie_slash", "name": "slasher zombie", "species": "ZOMBIE", "symbol": "Z", "color": "dark_red", "size": "MEDIUM", "material": "flesh", "diff": 9, "aggression": 100, "morale": 100, "speed": 105, "melee_skill": 14, "melee_dice": 4, "melee_dice_sides": 8, "melee_cut": 2, "dodge": 4, "armor_bash": 3, "armor_cut": 3, "item_chance": 40, "luminance": 0, "hp": 100, "special_freq": 20, "death_function": "ZOMBIE", "special_attack": "BITE", "description": "Once an ordinary person, this zombie has grown hideously long, sharp claws from its fingernails.", "flags": ["SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "BASHES", "POISON", "VIS50", "NOHEAD", "BLEED", "FLAMMABLE", "REVIVES", "NO_BREATHE"] },

They should be more combat capable than most other zombies, and they have a tiny bit of melee cut because I’m not sure how that works. And they can outrun any non-boosted character, speed 105. They start spawning after the first week, with the same frequency of the current specials, if you add this to monstergroups:

			{ "monster" : "mon_zombie_slash", "freq" : 30, "cost_multiplier" : 10, "starts" : 168 },

(Add that to the zombie group, and all the other store/etc groups where zombies spawn.)

And then we have the stalker zombie:

{ "type": "MONSTER", "id": "mon_zombie_stalker" "name": "stalker zombie", "species": "ZOMBIE", "symbol": "Z", "color": "brown", "size": "MEDIUM", "material": "flesh", "diff": 9, "aggression": 100, "morale": 100, "speed": 110, "melee_skill": 10, "melee_dice": 2, "melee_dice_sides": 8, "melee_cut": 0, "dodge": 6, "armor_bash": 0, "armor_cut": 0, "item_chance": 40, "luminance": 0, "hp": 70, "special_freq": 20, "death_function": "ZOMBIE", "special_attack": "BITE", "description": "This zombie crawls on all fours close the ground, somehow matching you even at a sprint. It's nose and ears are hideously mutated.", "flags": ["SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "VIS50", "GOODHEARING", "KEENNOSE", "NOHEAD", "GRABS", "BLEED", "FLAMMABLE", "REVIVES", "NO_BREATHE", "HIT_AND_RUN"] }

Similar to the feral hunter, but actually a hunter with better hearing, smell, and sight. It can grab you and (should) spawn in small packs almost anywhere with this:

{ "monster" : "mon_zombie_stalker", "freq" : 6, "cost_multiplier" : 10, "starts" : 168, "pack_size" : [3,10] }, { "monster" : "mon_zombie_stalker", "freq" : 6, "cost_multiplier" : 10, "starts" : 336, "pack_size" : [3,10] }, { "monster" : "mon_zombie_stalker", "freq" : 6, "cost_multiplier" : 10, "starts" : 504, "pack_size" : [3,10] },

Which you should add to GROUP_FOREST, GROUP_SWAMP, and all of the normal zombie spawns.

Both of these won’t start spawning until week 2, and cannot be headshotted, are faster than you, do moderate damage, and should be able to kill a starting player every time.