Zombie Evolution: Suggestions/Ideas thread

Game Talk The Drawing Board
1

I’ve been working on giving some content to our new zombie evolution feature, coming up with the types of enemies that the blob may mutate their host into becoming, and I’m looking for some feedback/ideas for the kinds of enemies a zombie might evolve into or from. First, a few that I’ve had a hard time thinking of some late-game versions of are the shrieker, grabber, skeleton, and the dogs. We’d probably want to keep the z’s in their respective roles:

Shrieker: Alerting zombie. Not harmful by itself, merely calls for reinforcements.
Grabber: Support. Again, not harming the player directly, just stops you from dodging and running away from its friends.
Skeleton: Anti-ranged zombie. Hard to hit with any ranged weapons, which makes the usually melee-useless ranged characters take a few hits on the cheek.
Various dogs: A scouting-vanguard type enemy. Gets to you first to soften you up and alert nearby enemies.

Now, we need to keep in mind that the enemies should be engaging game-play wise, and still fit within the lore.

And second, would it make sense from a lore standpoint that the blob could fuse the body armor on army and police zeds to become part of their body?

2

With late-game shriekers I can think of the following:
Evolve more along the alerting path and have a shrieker that shrieks louder and always sees you, ignoring smoke, darkness and other stuff. Tracker zombie?
Or evolve more along combat capability and add a sonic-based attack. Largely ignores armor. Can deafen and stun and do a little damage, especially to the head. Thundering zombie?
Also, zombies that glow in the dark.

Late-game grabbers could grab the character from farther away and possibly pull, or pin if they attack point blank. They could be sticky, with greatly increased chance of weapon stuck-ins, and a need to pass a strength check to move away from them or even from a square with their corpse.

3

Scorched/charred zombies that have been downed by fire but not destroyed and now have resistance to fire while giving off large amounts of heat.

Not really an upgrade, just a suggestion.

4

A variation of the spitter zombie, where instead of acid, it spits out some sticky slime that can slow a character’s movement speed.

Or, in general, have some zombies with similar traits to some of the mutation branches. Like slime zombies, or medical zombies, or alphas, etc…

5

Actually scorched/charred zombies might be an upgrade for the smoker. They don’t have to actually attack with fire, just their smoke would be scalding hot. Lore would be that whatever biological process they use to create smoke is amplified by high temperatures.

6

I wanted a way to incorporate some fire like effects into the enemies, but dragons were already off the table :stuck_out_tongue:
The smokers also giving off heat is pretty interesting though. Maybe they could also have something like a ranged smoke attack, where they’d blast a column of smoke in your direction.
Super loud shriekers that could deafen and distract you could be alright, though a sonic-attack may be a little too sci-fi. And sticky zombies sounds good too, especially the increased stuck-in chance.
What about an upgrade to skeletons where they grow a big, bone-y exoskeleton and have tons of cutting resistance, and a decent amount of bashing resistance. They’d cut you all up, and you’d need to use a sledgehammer or a car to kill em.

7

Don’t add a fire zed yet. Fire needs balancing - it is extremely devastating against the player. Heavy power armor won’t help much against it.
When it’s balanced, a fire zed should probably be a suicide bomber.

Heated smoker is also quite sci-fi. It would take a lot of energy to fuel something like this, so it shouldn’t happen continuously. If it only heated up the player it would be quite weak, if it actually dealt damage it would wreck armor rather easily (due to the way fire “attacks” the player).
Unless it dealt the heat damage directly, without checking the armor. But then firesuits wouldn’t help.

Ranged smoker would be strong against weak characters, but incredibly weak against anyone above that. Smoke also needs balancing, because it stacks too easily against weak characters, while being harmless against stronger ones.

Loud shriekers will need to wait for deafness balancing. I PR’d one, but it’s not merged. Once deafness is balanced, a deafening shrieker could be OK.
An evolved shrieker with large radius of nightvision would be totally fine right now, though.

Evolved skeletons are a good idea, but should wait until armor changes. Currently enemy armor means very little, so if you balanced it against it and then it got buffed, they’d be unkillable.

Sticky spitter sounds good.
Also grab+pull zed. Could evolve both from the hollow and the grabber.

8

Searchlight-type zombie that shines light in a random area-ala military searchlight, with shriek effect if it spots something.

Breeder-type zombie that creates ‘clones’ of zombies, or turns a nearby blob into a zombie(by wrapping it in skin).

Zombie that produces a blob-like field which will lower the damage done by bullets(like reinforced glass).

Breather-type zombie that shoots a pink-goo that turns into breathers, and if the field is intence enough forms into a goo-tower that fires bile or some sort of player-effecting field.

Hollow hulk that has a ranged grab and throw.

A variation of the spitter zombie, where instead of acid, it spits out some sticky slime that can slow a character's movement speed.
easy enough to do, there is already a slimed effect in game that does exactly that.
9

Speaking of blob zombie things, how about a massive blob-like-thing that has a bunch of zombies floating inside. Slow, lots of hp. Can attack by spitting out a random zombie, and when killed several zombies are released. If it does the spit attack, reduce number of zombies spawned on death. Or something like that.

Burrowing zombies.

Instead of a fire spitting zombie, how about a zombie that creates a small fire on top of its corpse upon death? Won’t directly set you on fire, but it becomes a spotlight at night, or can be possibly dangerous if said zombie is fought in an indoor area.

Alternatively on the armored skeleton, a zombie that has bony spikes sticking out of it? Hitting it at close range has a chance of damaging you due to the spikes. Maybe a stronger version that can shoot out spikes.

A zombie that has some insect larvae inside it. Can spawn a large insect of some sort… somehow it grows very big when it exits the body.

Teleporting zombies. They can’t control where they’ll end up in, but there’s a chance where they can teleport right next to you, which could alert more zombies in the area.

A zombie runner. Big, and has an attack where it speeds up as it tries to catch you. If they do, you get hit as if a small car hit you, doing collision damage or an attack like a hulk/brute where you get sent flying. They tend to run in straight lines, so you can avoid the attack, and maybe lure them into hitting a wall. Either way, if the attack hits you or a sufficiently hard enough obstacle, they get stunned and damaged. They can do the charging attack if they see you, or hear something that’s sufficiently loud.

10

I like the idea of multiple upgrade paths for zombies, like a regular zombie could turn into a spitter zombie, which could turn into an sludge spitter or a slime spitter, or instead of turning into a spitter it could turn into a fast zombie, with a chance to turn into a feral, and so on.

Tentacled zombies that can reach, pull, grab, and pin players. Zombies aren’t much of a threat as long as you can keep backing up, but imagine being yanked into the middle of a group of zombies.

Slime spitting zombies that slow everyone and every zombie inside their slime.

Howling zombies, shriekers with a higher radius, but also makes the player a little demoralized (fear).

Upgraded zombie dog, also howls, higher damage.

Upgraded z-9, has a leap/pin attack.

Calloused zombie, upgraded regular, higher armor, same speed, slight damage increase.

Strong zombie, another upgraded regular, same armor, same speed, moderate damage increase.

Fast zombie, another upgraded regular, slightly lower armor, moderate speed increase, same damage.

Charger zombie (I know, L4D, yeah yeah), upgraded brute with a charge stun/knockback.

Bony zombie, upgraded skeleton with thorns style damage when attacked. Extra damage to cloth/leather armor.

Plated zombie, another upgraded skeleton with heavy armor. Should act as a distracting damage sink in melee.

Hulking abomination, not an upgrade in the strict sense, but when multiple corpses in the same or nearby tiles are left alone without being butchered (this includes being pulped) for a decent amount of time, the corpses reform into a hulk-style enemy. Strength could (should) be based on how many corpses are absorbed, with possible tiered enemies. I would like to see enemies of this type drop something interesting or useful, perhaps a certain special crafting ingredient, or some other reason to give the player a reason to allow this to happen every once in a while.

11

So the current option for upgrading zombies in the experimental doesn’t actually have upgrading zombies?

12

? No, it’s just that currently it’s only been implemented for a normal zeds and a very small handful of special zombies; the majority of zombies will therefore either not upgrade or only upgrade once at the moment.

13

Yeah, multiple upgrades and upgrade paths are things that’ll certainly happen once we get enough varieties created.

I’m really liking some of these ideas, and on the hulking abomination: having a sort of chimera zombie that gets created, fusing different zombies and inheriting some or all of their abilities would be pretty cool, though I have no idea how to go about implementing something like that…

Re L4D charger: I’m surprised it’s not already in since we already have smoker, spitter, ect. :stuck_out_tongue:

And on the fire zombies, I like the ‘combust on death’ idea like spitters do, so I might need to go in and tweak fire damage like I did with acid.

14

It’s not just about tweaking - you’d have to actually implement fire resistance for player. Currently full fire gear is just as good as going in naked.
Then you’d have to tweak the “onfire” status, because it stacks indefinitely and is deadly.

If you actually want to do it, implement it as armor resistance - that way it will be easy to keep track of it. Acid resistance is implemented as armor, which means all abilities that deal acid damage check it.

15

Hulk Spitter Zombie.

Webbed Zombie - Leaves behind webs.

Spider Zombie - shoots webs randomly and can poison player.

Stinger Zombie - Has a stinger which it can use to sting the player.

Flying Stinger Zombie - Has wings like an insect.

Bloated Boomer - Larger bile radius and/or vision comes back more incrementally.

16

Flinger Zombie - Launches adjacent zombies at player.

spitter zombie dog/zombear

bloated zombie dog/zombear

It would also be great to consider more downgrades for zombie revival. Such as becoming a skeleton version of your previous type.
skeleton hulk
skeleton tough zombie

17

–> Highly evolved mole-Z’s.

These would complement the addition of a “zombie-charger” greatly. In addition to getting those worms and wormlings out of the way, they would ‘entangle’ the player and remain a constant hazard for soil-hiking characters. I’d invite packs of these onto survivors who are hoping to gain some distance through the woods, amongst the bushes and other obstacles. Then, another evolved octa-ped Z-monster could try and stun, hurt or slash (bleed) the player char so the horde is able to catch up.

18

This is a list of stuff from posts I made in a different thread a while back.

Injector Zombie: A zombie that delivers a more potent bite. (Infection chance is higher)

Skull Cap Zombies: Zombies that have grown a second outer skull covering their head. These zombies are a little tougher to kill than normal, and make head shots less effective. Weaker bullets have a very small chance of bouncing off of them. (The skull cap trait works with any zombie, including the fearsome hulk.) Uncommon Trait

Feral Spitter Zombie: Because why the heck not? This will be a relatively rare zombie, but encountering it will make you wish you had a ranged weapon on you. Rare unit

Bone plated Zombie: A zombie that has its entire body coated in a thick bone plating. These zombies gain a slight bonus to attack, and a large bonus to defense. However there movement is slowed. Bludgeons or explosives are the best way to fight these zombies. Piercing is also pretty decent if you have a good enough skill/weapon. Cutting and plain fire won’t do very much to stop these behemoths. Bullets, arrows and throwing won’t do very much either, as most of it will just bounce off of this zombie’s body, merely leaving a scratch. (This trait works on normal zombies, brutes, and hulk zombies.) Now we can have a super durable hulk that’s really hard to kill, able to take on anything! (More so than the normal hulk) Unique trait.

Bone Horror Zombie: A somewhat fast zombie that has grown bone all over the outside of its body into large spikes. Facing this zombie in close range is not recommended as there is a chance of you cutting yourself on its spikes. (Especially if you’re using unarmed.) These guys aren’t as tough as they look though, and are actually considered easier to kill than the bone plated zombie by a lot. They’re just above a normal skull cap in terms of durability. Weaker bullets have a moderate chance of bouncing off of them. Rare unit

[T2] Digger Zombie: A feral zombie that has grown longer claws able to dig through the ground with ease. Much like the Giant Worm, this zombie will tunnel through the ground to reach you. (if possible)

[T2] Tentacle Crawler: This crawling zombie has sprouted gooey tentacles enabling it to crawl at a faster speed, as well as immobilize you with them or even disarm you.

[T2] Combustion Bloater: A bloater that has gained flammable properties to its goo. Killing it with bullets, flame, or heated weaponry will cause it to explode, and is overall not recommended. This Bloater shoots out goo at an accelerated rate causing it to catch fire and turn into a fireball of sorts which will burn the ground. (inaccurate attacks)

[T3] Combustion Bomber: Same as the Combustion Bloater, only any weapon will immediately cause this bloater to explode. Its AOE range is also bigger, and its fireball is slightly more damaging.

[T3] Reverse Mosquito (Normal Zombies only): This zombie has grown a large proboscis where it’s nose once used to be. It will attempt to inject you with a high concentration of blob/zombie virus. (whatever you want to call it). Infection chance is extremely high. This type of zombie has a hard time piercing through armor.

And some Traits

[T2] Unpredictable Stumbling - Trait: Zombie gains bonus ranks in dodging by shuffling side to side and bending in an unpredictable manner.

[T3] Vibration Dodger - Trait: Zombie gains a large bonus in dodging by swinging wildly in an incredibly fast way. In fact its swinging so fast that your eyes are having trouble keeping up with it’s body movements. This Zombie can even dodge bullets. (though less so)

[T2] Rampaging - Trait: Stuns barely even affect this zombie. It just keeps coming.

[T3] Unstoppable - Trait (Brutes and Hulks only): Stuns don’t affect this zombie, and knock-back is practically useless… Furthermore this zombie will plow through most terrain obstacles with ease, never losing speed. You better have a plan before taking these guys on.

[T2] Essence Stealer - Trait (Master Zombie only, extremely rare): This Master zombie will repair itself partially whenever it attacks (and hits) you. Additionally, upon reaching low life the Master zombie will try to escape. If it succeeds, it will try to find another zombie to eat, gaining all of it’s (useful) traits as well as repairing it’s body to full. Kill this creature on sight, for if you don’t it will just grow stronger and stronger. (If it were to find a hulk and eat it, well then…)

Also we need better hulks.

In terms of tiers Zombie -> Brute -> Hulk -> Beserker (attacks become stronger the more damage it takes) -> Titan (immune to knock-back) -> Tank (immune to stuns) -> Juggernaut (You better have a ton of explosives.)

19

Maybe allowing mutation to different speciality tree keeping original abilities?
And yeas, a xenomorph…errr zombie, that not only moves fast, hits hard and also jumps BUT also covers the players random bodypart with acid when hit.

20
Injector Zombie: A zombie that delivers a more potent bite. (Infection chance is higher)
[T3] Reverse Mosquito (Normal Zombies only): This zombie has grown a large proboscis where it's nose once used to be. It will attempt to inject you with a high concentration of blob/zombie virus. (whatever you want to call it). Infection chance is extremely high. This type of zombie has a hard time piercing through armor.

As has been explained many times around here, bite infections are not zombie virus and it’s not how the zombification spreads. They are mundane infections that tend to happen to wounds in unsanitary conditions (zombies don’t brush their teeth after all).

The blob is already inside most everyone; there is no need for it to “spread” via bites. The only thing keeping you from becoming a zombie is the fact you are alive (the blob can only take over a body after it is dead).