SoE On Zombie Behavior In H1Z1:You Will Fear Them

Multiple SoE developers expand on why H1Z1 will have fearsome zombies, mainly thanks to the emergent AI they're building.

[Godmars290]

If they expect anyone to "fear them" they're going to have to do better than what they've shown from their pre-alpha.

They have some work to do in other words.

[porkChop]

Yeah I agree. They've made some really bold claims/promises, and so far the game doesn't look all that special.

[Alexious]

That's the price of live streaming a pre alpha build, they caught a glitch with AI unable to attack and now everyone thinks zombies are disappointing. I don't agree with this exaggerated live streaming mania during development, though I have to say that I was very disappointed myself with the absence of dismemberment. It's so vital for zombie fiction, including games.

[Godmars290]

More about zombies just running up or after you in single file in open areas. There should be crawlers and runners as well as climbers. They should have habits and tendencies. Have different reactions when a limb is damaged, as well as when they take a direct head kill shot.

[Mankey]

time will tell.

[GribbleGrunger]

Ironically, fear can only exist if there are more moments when the enemy doesn't attack than when they do. It's those quiet moments, when the 'possibility' of getting attacked makes you feel insecure and vulnerable. So I really hope they don't just ramp up the attacks to create 'pseudo' fear which serves only to acclimatise you to the environment and make real fear impossible ... Hello RE.

[kaiserfranz]

Yeah, I agree with that. In a good sandbox there is space. Also players are always a possible threat as well, so they do need to balance zombies carefully.

[Godmars290]

Hm, zombie "ecology":

Give walkers a tendency to group up when attacking, use mob tactics like the mass of the group, but spread out over several yards when "hunting" or when nothing living is in their area. When one spots or encounters something, they make noise calling their own and any other group to their location, as well as "runners" who are quick but tend to be silent.

Could even have "ambushers" generally motionless zombies that wait for people to pass by.

Really, you could have several types of zombies based on behavior before getting to the exotic RE kind.

[GribbleGrunger]

I want this game to be Don't Starve: Or Get Eaten. I really hope it's possible to play this as a singleplayer game.

[TheUltimateGamer]

I couldn't agree more. I can't stand games that just keep throwing things at you with no time to enjoy it. If they gave a bit of space and let the anticipation build, then yes.. I could see where we might "fear them," otherwise this game will fall into the typical routine and be forgotten.

[TitanUp]

the developers might want to tone down the aggressive marketing or this game is going to hit rocks

[GameDev1]

Don't think they should, they have already hit that stride, giving lots of informations and claims which they are backing up. If they slow down, thats when people will start doubting them.

H1Z1 looks good anyway, hopefully out for the PS4 soon, i can put hours into this type of game

[Alexious]

It's true that they are marketing it heavily. Hopefully it will be worth it in the end

[MysticStrummer]

They are talking a bit too much about it. It could be a good sign that they're excited, but PR speak is certainly a player in the industry today and Sony is no exception. I remember watching excited devs talk about The Agency too… damn I wish they'd bring that back for PS4.

[Op_Static]

I remember when pre-alpha games were games that may or may not even function...now people judge stuff by them and expect things from them...damn you Steam
A pre-alpha cheeseburger is a lump of uncooked meat...please don't eat it.

[Alexious]

I'm totally with you on that, man.

[avengers1978]

At first I thought this game was only going to be on PC for some reason, I didn't think it was gonna be on PS4 (silly I know) but I hope to see more on this soon, a well done zombie mmo could be a lot of fun. Me and some friends being survivors and killing anything living or dead that stands in our way.

[assdan]

I mean, A LOT can change from pre-alpha to gold. pre-alpha is very early on into making a game, and a lot can and will change. Also, not to mention that they've basically shown nothing so far except for a few screenshots.
I'm not going to get on the hype train for this game yet because I'm nervous that it could let me down, but I think this game has massive potential for success.

[karamsoul]

Next best thing to DayZ on consoles. I'm there!

[Dumb_username]

It's too soon to say that.

[boskoz]

Just wait a bit guys, this game will deliver, don't criticize now.

I bought DayZ for 20 bucks but honestly this game is developing faster, even if it started later, so I am putting real hopes on this one

[Scatpants]

Is everyone not over zombies yet? I certainly am.

[MysticStrummer]

Not me. I'm still waiting on the perfect zombie game. I don't think H1Z1 will be that, but it does look fun to me.

[ALICE666]

Hopefully. Zombies to me have always been weak in gaming. I really wish them to be hardcore. Like make them extremely quick like 28 days later version and extremely hard to outrun... or if they are the slow type make them able to swarm you 100's of them. Make them able to grab victims and pinning you down etc as well. I hate just being able to run past and getting a scratch and abit of the screen goes red. We want hardcore please Sony.

[Coach_McGuirk]

they're trying to gain momentum by focusing on DayZ's deficiencies. I don't doubt that their zombies will have better AI, but I do doubt that they'll be able to make the overall experience as immersive.

[micx]

I hope so. I'd like to see more enemies you'd fear in games, not just by their looks, but intelligence as well.