Been working on a new casual endless wave-based zombie game, designed to be similar to games like Zombie Uprising. Just wanted to post since I was curious if anyone would have feedback:
I really like this game and it is obvious to the typical player, myself included, that a lot of effort went into this. I’ll summarize my feedback into simple pros and cons:
Pros:
- Gameplay is at a really good pace where things are hectic enough to keep you on your toes and moving at all times, but not so much that it is a running simulator
- Combat is very satisfying and the weapons are fun to use, dismemberment with zombies is always a sight to see
- The maps are extremely detailed and expansive, though this is something I will address in the cons as well.
- Progression system is rewarding for the time played and I can see myself coming back to play more
Cons:
Before I get into the cons, I want to say that I think Zombie Zone, even with its flaws, is very well made and only needs minor refinement in my opinion. These cons are just some of the small details that could help make the already-great game even better.
- Round progression is not significant. Yes, I noticed a few new zombie types appearing in waves 2, 3, and 4, but by then, about 12 minutes have passed by. For an endless zombie game, it shouldn’t take longer than 30 minutes for things to get wild. I think the best way to go about this is to either ramp up the difficulty (PS please enable hard mode) by adding more zombies/zombie types or speeding up the rounds.
- User interface is a bit weird. This is a very nit-picky con, but I am a UI designer so I have some merit when it comes to stuff like this. When I first entered the game, it was not very clear as to where I am supposed to go to enter the zombie-killing action. It took me a few moments to see the rather small green play button at the top of my screen. Once I got in, I had a change of interface and kinda ran around the map a bit before I found where my health bar and stamina was. In short, main gameplay elements should be the biggest and most central part of my screen. I saw a lot of weird buttons that took up that screen real estate, which only added to my confusion.
- Maps are too big. I assume the game gets very hard as time goes on, but even at the 4th round I was left with a bunch of empty space to roam around.
- Zombies aren’t scary enough. This is not about their design, which is indeed freaky, but rather the threat they pose to the player. A typical green zombie, even en masse, do not dish out much damage. The zombies I ended up taking seriously were those big giant green nuke zombies on the 4th round. Everyone else I was fine running around (or even through). I would say to increase the damage that zombies do or decrease the health of the player.
That is the end of cons.
Extra suggestion: perhaps explore more fast-paced movement? I am a big fan of fast-paced shooters, so I am biased, but I saw a lot of potential when I started using the dash mechanic and sprinting all over the map. I think there are some great things that could be done in this area. Perhaps some wall-running, double-jumping, sprint-boosting zombie-killing action?
This is super thoughtful feedback. I really appreciate the detailed response. I think all of your cons are really good points as well and I will definitely take these to our team to work on addressing. As for your third one in specific, the maps are primarily made with a larger amount of players in mind. We are debating having 8-12 player servers, so that’s why there’s so much empty space in them. I also really like your feedback about more fast-paced movement. I am wanting to add sliding/crouching as well as some other movement things in the future so that’s definitely something I agree with you on.
Thanks again for testing and giving your thoughts!
I’ll keep this short:
From what i’ve played (not much) the map seems linear and kinda boring,
the guns feel alright,
enemies constantly spawned in front of me,
i experienced some issue with sprinting and reloading where it would cancel sometimes.
all in all this could potentially be a good project
(I played on the sci-fi looking map with the bridges and vents)