Zombie Disposal Unit

Here I am again with an old and unfinished idea, with a lot of new information and videos.

The game originally started as a quick idea from the Mandela effect. We wanted to see if we could create a stage that would change on play-through. This would make the player uneasy due to objects being in different locations, such as a shack not being located in the same area.

This game used the Oculus Rift and we (Andres Salazar and myself) tried to incorporate some newer mechanics. Like melee damage to an enemy from punching, and shooting weapons while looking down sights.

The video showcases a few different areas we had. The first area seen is one of the first areas created. It was just a forest with some weapons on a desk. These were the weapons we were focused on and trying to get to feel right. The first weapon picked up was an AK-47. I think at this moment in time, I had written a bullet script that used actual bullets. These would spawn on press. That's why they bounce around, they were actual objects in the world. The first enemy you see is just the standard Ethan character model. It is a standard asset for new Unity users. I believe Andres had just set his 3rd person AI controller to have a target, which was the player. So naturally, Ethan just followed you until he was in your face. It was kind of creepy honestly.

Ammo was also just starting to take shape in this video. From the looks of it, you could pick up ammo and tap your gun with it to refill the weapon. Later this becomes more of a mechanic.

The white orbs you can see in the video are either spawn points or AI navigation points. If spawn points, then enemies spawned there. If AI points, the AI would move through these points as a checkpoint, then set a new checkpoint and travel to the next one. They were definitely using the Nav mesh at this time. A Nav mesh is just an overall map showing where the AI can go, this had to be re baked if any major map changes were made.

Melee weapons seem to be in their infancy as well. Andres can be seen about 45 seconds in trying to pick up a katana style sword as well as a chainsaw in the other hand. Perks of VR i guess, dual wielding.

AI enemies had rag doll effects at this time, however it will be tweaked later to feel better. There is also a material problem with that weird white guy in a tux. His material had been set to transparent on import, so there's that as well.

At about the 1:30 mark we start testing out dual grip stuff. The rifles could be held with both hands. You could also look down the sights. The room you are located in was just a test room, the enemies would spawn at a specified rate, allowing debugging and testing to occur.

At the 2:15 mark, it showcases a slow mo mechanic we wanted to work on. The player could slow down time and attack however they wished. This area also focuses on the melee punch mechanics. The player could damage enemies depending on the force they attacked with. A velocity change was calculated, and if you broke the barrier, damage would be done.

At the 2:30 mark, the ammo pouches on the character are shown. We were able to grab items and store them in the belt. Soon after, the new ammo mechanic can be seen. Hitting a button would eject the current mag from the current weapon. Allowing you to place a new magazine in manually.

Around this time you can also see the actual bullets change. I am no longer using a 3d object as ammo, but am instead casting a ray cast. This makes shooting weapons in games a lot more precise, but now we need to add bullet effects and muzzle flashes.

At the 2:50 mark you see him throwing the weapon up slightly and switching hands. This was a cool little byproduct of the mechanics and VR.

3:20 shows that the weapons can also be used as melee weapons. Pistol whipping and that sort of thing.

3:30 showcases another mechanic. When zombies got a head shot, they could drop a full brain. All nearby zombies would swarm to eat it. This could also be picked up and used. Zombies would follow you if you were holding it. So we figured, why not booby trap it and put a grenade in. When thrown, zombies would swarm to eat it, then boom. Bodies flying.

The 4 minute mark also showcases an elemental ammo idea.

The video below focused on the weapons from the first few weeks of development. I worked on the zombies, their movement and their coding. I'm not sure how far into this video my reach goes, but I do know Andres Salazar recorded and edited all the game play footage. So definitely a shout out to him.

Early testing

Early testing 2

Early horde testing with 3d ammo.

Experimental Ammo test

Experimental Ammo test 2

The following video is probably one of the earliest demo's we had with most of the initial mechanics in play. This being the beginnings of level design and player progression, player movement, weapon pickup, weapon purchase, score system, health system, ray cast weapons, melee weapons, melee attack, flashlight, enemy spawns, enemy attacks, and the earliest instances of hoarding.

Since it is early on, there are many different bugs and sound effects missing. The weapon aim and hitting is off, and rag dolls pop when activated. Making them launch in an unwanted but funny way.

The next video showcases laser weapons. In these builds, the weapon system had been changed to do a ray cast for weapon shots, instead of actual 3d bullets.

This next video still showcases our weapons, but there is a ray line out to show where the players hands are pointing. This is just a debugging tool that lets us see what is happening with a ray cast out. When the line intersects with a usable weapon, it highlighted it. Then, on select, it would snap the object to the hand. This does take away some of the immersion though, due to the weapon snapping into place, instead of physically picking it up.

You can also see the players weapon and ammo slots being utilized. There is a small equip/unequip audio cue that sounds when something is released in the equipment slot.

The player has a few different equipment and weapons slots they can use. I believe there are 8 ammo pouches in front of you, on your belt. On the left and right sides are pistol holsters, on your lower back, there is a hatchet/melee weapon slot, and finally on your left shoulder, there is a rifle slot. So the player can collect a variety of weapons and use them when needed.

Later we added a melee punch attack, this is just a final attack option if the player did not have any other weapons.

The following video, stay with me.. with me we are almost half way through. This video shows some of the ammo stacking ideas in play. We can place multiple objects of the same type into a single ammo slot. This would later be changed to allow only up to 5 max.

After the first clip is emptied, Andres drops that clip, and loads a new one. This new ammo clip has an explosion on impact effect. Showing the different attributes we could apply.

Additionally, you can see how the laser pointer works on objects and bullet impact decals.

The enemies had a experimental shader attached, this made the zombie mesh bubble over like an infectious monster. Cool effect, but may be too much going on for the game itself.

I wrote a small code for a brain beacon which can be seen in the video as well. Sometimes after a head shot, zombies had a chance to drop a clean brain, this would attract all zombies in the area. This was an instant reaction and the player could tell due to them crawling after it to eat it. Once completely consumed, they would continue after the player, if in range.

Small Experimental shader test

Experimental shader test 2

The next video showcases the initial grip point testing. Andres had to figure out the mechanics with this and where the players grip points would be located for maximum effect.

Here is a demo where the most of the mechanics are in play and bug free. You can also see the implementation of the zombie grinders. Throwing dead bodies in here yielded more points to buy weapons. My favorite is the brain grenade. Taking a full brain and putting a live grenade in it. Causing zombies to try and eat it.

More mechanics testing in a test room.

In conclusion, this VR project was extremely fun to work on and I learned a lot. One day we may return to this and clean it up to release a demo. If any one is interested in this, please let me know. We could definitely get something going with this. All comments and responses welcome.

Thank you all for the time and your support!