Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG - coming to Early Access on December 10th

[Alienman]

I got another question.

If a NPC gets bitten and turned in combat, will his look and inventory remain?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

1) Are there "interrupts" and/or overwatch?
Yes, there are interrupts and we just added an overwatch mechanic in our last build (doesn't have a pretty overlay yet, but works). The overwatch is based on the weapon equipped. So a handgun or shottie will allow you to watch a large cone in close proximity, while a sniper rifle will set watch at range, in a tight cone. This will also allow you to ambush snipers on overwatch, because their view range will be focused on that small cone.

2) Is infection a thing? Can player-controlled characters be turned into undead?
Yes, bites will be the secondary attack of all zombies and they can infect you. If you do not treat the infection...mmm... bad things happen.

USG_Mucifikatorul In terms of being JA2 inspired, have the devs taken into account how calculations were actually handled in JA2 under the hood? For example if two characters saw eachother the target had an opportunity to dodge a shot with their agility + level and stance being taken into account while the shooter could counteract that with their dexterity and experience level. Or how getting shot/hit would reduce the opponent's ability to react on their turn, something that was sorely missing in Silent Storm and made melee a pain in the ass to use.

Our programmer has read the JA2 source code more times than an old lady who reads her Bible. While not everything in there can be transplanted to our game and some mechanics work differently in Unreal, yes, we've used that as an inspiration. We use a body-part injury system where injuries to each body part will yield different impairments so yes, you will feel an impact of those shots.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

I got another question.

If a NPC gets bitten and turned in combat, will his look and inventory remain?

Turning takes a while, since first you get an infection so most likely won't happen during combat. But yes, if a zone is "zombified" and you return there, you will notice the natives are zombies (they won't look as ragged as classic zombies, but they'll move and behave like them). Most likely their inventory will stay with them too since we use a "drop-all" system anyway.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Tell me more about the scavenging. And the CHEESE.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Well the fact that they all move as a horde, in a single turn, can flip the tables on you pretty fast if you're not careful. Also they don't do a lot of damage individually but if you're surrounded by a group they all get to clobber you in that single turn. And if they don't kill you outright, they can KO you then finish you off. So... don't let them do that.

PS: HD version

Is there going to be different kind of zombies?
Runners? Hulk-zombies? Crawlers? Headless zombies? And more?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

All zombies will be vanilla. There might be - and that is entirely dependent on what YOU do in the game - zombies that used to wear armor before they died. And those might be tricky to kill. But no State of Decay zombies - bloaters, juggernauts, etc. Zombies in USG are dangerous to fools who trigger their herding instincts, not because special powers.

 

[agris]

We use a body-part injury system where injuries to each body part will yield different impairments so yes, you will feel an impact of those shots.

:excited:

Is this represented anywhere in-game, like through red silhouettes on the paperdoll?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Yes, on the team rooster screen you have a detailed medical file showing combat injuries for each team member and there's also a quick info screen on the inventory screen that shows wounds and afflictions.
We'll show those one of these days working ingame.

 

[razvedchiki]

if your party members get bitten can they get infected?

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Seriously bro, please put cheese in the game. You have no idea how happy it made me finding that cheese in Dead State.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

if your party members get bitten can they get infected?

Yes. Not always though.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Seriously bro, please put cheese in the game. You have no idea how happy it made me finding that cheese in Dead State.

No cheese, but we have spam.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

That's cool. Compared to Dead State I'm getting the impression zombies might actually be a real challenge in this game. Imagine coming around a corner and stirring a bunch of zombies like this up.

I'm not a big fan of zombie-related media, but isn't it typical for zombies to become more of a minor threat after humans are properly prepared to deal with them?
Humans are alpha predators because of intelligence and advanced communications, something zombies purposely lack. It's difficult to turn zombies into the predators unless the odds are purposely stacked against the humans(e.g., scenarios like you see in left4dead)

Seriously bro, please put cheese in the game. You have no idea how happy it made me finding that cheese in Dead State.

No cheese, but we have spam.

add spray cheese

 

[Alienman]

That's cool. Compared to Dead State I'm getting the impression zombies might actually be a real challenge in this game. Imagine coming around a corner and stirring a bunch of zombies like this up.

I'm not a big fan of zombie-related media, but isn't it typical for zombies to become more of a minor threat after humans are properly prepared to deal with them?
Humans are alpha predators because of intelligence and advanced communications, something zombies purposely lack. It's difficult to turn zombies into the predators unless the odds are purposely stacked against the humans(e.g., scenarios like you see in left4dead)

Seriously bro, please put cheese in the game. You have no idea how happy it made me finding that cheese in Dead State.

No cheese, but we have spam.

add spray cheese

I guess, but in Dead State they were pretty easy already at the beginning. Non-combat characters have no real problem fighting them off, even when swarmed.

I think Project Zomboid captures the horror of zombie swarms pretty well also. I'm hoping for a similar experience. It's easy to run around a couple, but when you get trapped panic quickly settles in. Never felt that in Dead State unfortunately.

 

[The_Mask]

No cheese, but we have spam.

Imma be at least 1% sour if I don't find some mici in the game. At least have 1% of the game exhibit our fine cuisine. :D

 

[razvedchiki]

Yes. Not always though.

in case of infection the player can scavenge antibiotics/some other cure?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Yes, there are lootable antibiotics and some specific shelter upgrades that help you source them later.

 

[lightbane]

Well the fact that they all move as a horde, in a single turn, can flip the tables on you pretty fast if you're not careful.

Looks like Zeds waste time and APs to get into a perfect biting formation, like the Dead State zombies, instead of attacking you immediately. Hopefully there's a speed up animations setting in the options.

And if they don't kill you outright, they can KO you then finish you off. So... don't let them do that.

Can the Mc be infected? Can you cut the bitten limb to brutally deal with the infection, at the expense of losing said limb, of course?

Most likely their inventory will stay with them too since we use a "drop-all" system anyway.

Better than Dead State already (although inventory was patched IIRC later on).

. Zombies in USG are dangerous to fools who trigger their herding instincts, not because special powers.

You could have crawling zombies due those having suffered leg damage, making them a smaller target and thus more dangerous. Zombie dogs too, if you wish. Or even zombie children if you're cruel.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Well if you watch the above example closely, the zombies, once they reach a tile they can attack you from, they take that tile. The pathfinding AI upgrade just allows the ones further away to avoid getting stuck until an attack tile is free and go around, trying to find their own spot. There's also a tweakable range for this pincer maneuver, something like 10-12 tiles so we avoid situations where a zombie goes around the whole map just to try to flank your group. In Dead State it was quite easy to kill large groups of zombies by creating even the smallest chokepoint and having them come at you 1 by 1. That tactic works in USG too since it makes sense (rather than fighting them in the open) but you'll need to pay more attention to their moves.

The player's avatar cannot be infected, everyone else is exposed. It is part of the storyline so no spoilers here. There's no amputation either. Sadly that would require an animation effort way above the reach of a small indie studio (when it comes to new animation you need to consider the fact that each change must be propagated to 30-40 states (entering state, in state, transition to new state just for 1 stance). But who knows, one day...

Same as with amputations for mercs - more zombie types means animations budget out the window and it's not the time for that now. But crawling zombies isn't a bad idea, noted.

 

[lightbane]

There's no amputation either. Sadly that would require an animation effort way above the reach of a small indie studio (when it comes to new animation you need to consider the fact that each change must be propagated to 30-40 states (entering state, in state, transition to new state just for 1 stance). But who knows, one day...

Not necessarily if you can only do said amputation once you're done with the combat, back to the safety of your base, thus done through screens, some pics, and optionally a scream of pain if the operation is done without anesthetics. No animation here needed except bare minimum, if at all.

 

[Zombra]

There's no amputation either. Sadly that would require an animation effort way above the reach of a small indie studio (when it comes to new animation you need to consider the fact that each change must be propagated to 30-40 states (entering state, in state, transition to new state just for 1 stance). But who knows, one day...

Not necessarily if you can only do said amputation once you're done with the combat, back to the safety of your base, thus done through screens, some pics, and optionally a scream of pain if the operation is done without anesthetics. No animation here needed except bare minimum, if at all.

And then what? The character goes back into battle using the same old animations?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

It's reverse "missing limb" syndrome. Instead of having lost a limb and feeling it present, you'll have the limb, but feel like it's amputated.

 

[Harthwain]

It's reverse "missing limb" syndrome. Instead of having lost a limb and feeling it present, you'll have the limb, but feel like it's amputated.

Ah, the tentacle limb!*

*

Spoiler

Some games make you perform tasks that require precision, but give you impaired controls (think: when you're dreaming you can't seem to hold anything properly for some reason). I call this "the tentacle limb", because this is how it feels to me. A good example of this genre is Surgeon Simulator:

 

[lightbane]

There's no amputation either. Sadly that would require an animation effort way above the reach of a small indie studio (when it comes to new animation you need to consider the fact that each change must be propagated to 30-40 states (entering state, in state, transition to new state just for 1 stance). But who knows, one day...

Not necessarily if you can only do said amputation once you're done with the combat, back to the safety of your base, thus done through screens, some pics, and optionally a scream of pain if the operation is done without anesthetics. No animation here needed except bare minimum, if at all.

And then what? The character goes back into battle using the same old animations?

Clearly the character has prosthesis that look like the real thing to have an excuse to recycle animations. Perhaps give the character a permanent physical penalty as well.

 

[Alienman]

Got a new question. How will the game handle losses? Can you recover if your team gets wiped out or are you SOL? I assume it won't be like the old X-com games at least