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Dogpants made me think of Day of the Dead. Now if I remember the layout of the complex in the film...

fabyak wrote: Locations: Underground Military base

Stage 1: Starting in the darkened tunnels. The survivors have to fight their way through to the zombie-proof gate.

Stage 2: Through the research area, offices, labs, etc. Say "hello" to Bub.

Stage 3: Call down the big lift thing. Zombies pour down from above, some from corridors. On the way up the fight hordes from below, some from above. Wait for the chopper, more zeds.

Not very descriptive I know but you can use your imagination if you've seen the film. That's the 1985 version.

Dog Pants wrote:Locations:
Some classic zombie story locations - prison, mall, missile silo, island, stadium, warship, lighthouse.

Events to happen:
Fuel power generators, close gates (prison/mall/silo), turn on lights (lighthouse/stadium), warship arrives

Adding some of Fab's ideas to some of mine, how about this:

Stage 1:
Players start out holed up in a prison on an island, Alcatraz-like. This is a fairly common zombie setpiece - prisons are usually very secure and well stocked, and writers love the irony of having them become bastions of humanity. In this case I like the idea of the campaign being set after when most films would have ended. Power fails, zombies start pouring in, survivors have to abandon their sanctuary and fight their way out. Safehouse - a railcar on the outside.

Stage 2:
Fight to the mainland over a two-level rail/road bridge. The survivors need to skip between the levels to avoid unassailable obstacles such as crashed trains, trucks, and holes. Stone stantions could contain a few indoor sections (I think some old bridges had these, but I've not researched it). Possibly raise part of the bridge to stem the flow of zombie from the island. Safehouse - building at far end.

Stage 3:
At some point over the last few levels a ship can be seen out to see, fairly close by. A lighthouse is a little further down the coast. Survivors make their way to the lighthouse and restore power by refuelling the diesel generator, then possibly ascend to the top and manually activate it. Ending at the top means the path down would have to be retraced though, so maybe activate at the bottom and make the saferoom a higher floor.

Stage 4:
Ship signals to meet at a dock. Survivors possibly leave lighthouse through crashed ship, across docks, and to waiting warship. Survivors must hold top deck while ship sets sail again before the navy will let them inside.

Just a quick spew of ideas to begin with.

Good stuff doggers!

Berk also made a good point of starting off with the safe rooms at the end of each map so we know where to start from

fabyak wrote:Berk also made a good point of starting off with the safe rooms at the end of each map so we know where to start from

Not sure I'm understanding but isn't that a given?

spoodie wrote:Dogpants made me think of Day of the Dead. Now if I remember the layout of the complex in the film...

Not very descriptive I know but you can use your imagination if you've seen the film. That's the 1985 version.

The missile silo was inspired by Day, although I don't think that's what it actually was. A chained up Bubba setpiece would be fun.

Lateralus wrote: I picked Wolf 3D as its maps are so basic compared to what we get these days, just to properly put in context how bad I would be at any mapping project.

It would be time to learn then, old padawan.

Ooh, additional to mine - opening the bridge to stop the zombies lets the ship out to sea. Gives them a reason to let the survivors on board (I feel a need to tie these things together. Still need a reason to tie in the power failure coinciding with the ship).

Ship accidentally hits undersea ethernet cable which turns off internets for Asia?

Good ideas coming through here. If they get made, I'd be delighted to play them!

Baliame wrote:
It would be time to learn then, old padawan.

Given that I don't have much time for gaming these days, I'm not even going to pretend I'll have the time and the inclination at the same time so as to get involved in this. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to, just that it'll never happen at the moment I'm afraid.

Dog Pants wrote:Ooh, additional to mine - opening the bridge to stop the zombies lets the ship out to sea. Gives them a reason to let the survivors on board (I feel a need to tie these things together. Still need a reason to tie in the power failure coinciding with the ship).

Have the ship's crew rob the fuel from the prison's generators, or crash into a pylon or something, might be easier to make

while I think of it, how about a section done along a stretch of beach where you have to go through a section of caves in total darkness?

That works. Keeps with the coastal theme nicely.

A good-looking cave is a hard and long process though (unless you want to make it look like it was carved by humans), I'd suggest a canyon. You can make it pretty deep (which explains the dark) and you have to worry less about the looks and more about the details.

The prison made me think of Assault on Precinct 13, the original - although the escape tunnel they use in the remake that conveniently appears after they've withstood the siege would make a good safe room in the context of L4D.

I also thought of a sports stadium of some kind - I've seen them used as places people congregate in films when there's been a disaster, or similar to the mall, could be magnet for zombies with memories of life. Seeing zombies streaming across the pitch or the bleachers would be fun.

Thinking more on the prison/opening a bridge thing, I'm not sure that makes much sense.

I think it's safe to assume at least one person would have made it to the island over the bridge, and if they had half a brain, they'd've opened it behind themselves, to stop the zombies (assuming they're not LOTD submersible zombies)

also, given the nature of a prison island, the boat should be able to go around the other side, the openable bridge being a concession to make boat travel easier, and as a security doodah.

Am I the only one getting mysql errors when I try to view this topic?

There is an problem with votes (and a few other things) that we can't fix directly. We're working on it, but it might be a case of waiting for DH to clear out the cache.
Voting probably won't work.

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