Monsters, zombies and so on

[charon productions 10]

If the troops work best in terms of movement AI would it not be easier just to make zombies an Opfor unit, rather than civilian or independent? Maybe have them on both blue and opfor, so you can pick the ones for the mission.

They have to be of side resistance and be friend with the player.

Otherwise their AI will let them stand where they are (remember the engine wants to use the best suited weapon for AIdistance and shoot the enemy and not run up to him which is non-sense in a military game) and do nothing.

When they are friend with the player side the engine will not try to position them away from the humans.

It`s all about cheating the game engine here.

As long as you dont mutually declare friend then they are still considered enemies by the humans and will be engaged.

It`s kind of funny but that`s the only way.

Edited October 24, 2009 by Charon Productions

[Ludovico Technique 0]

They have to be of side resistance and be friend with the player.

Otherwise their AI will let them stand where they are (remember the engine wants to use the best suited weapon for AIdistance and shoot the enemy and not run up to him which is non-sense in a military game) and do nothing.

When they are friend with the player side the engine will not try to position them away from the humans.

It`s all about cheating the game engine here.

As long as you dont mutually declare friend then they are still considered enemies by the humans and will be engaged.

It`s kind of funny but that`s the only way.

So having zombies who want to get close, is the next problem how to make them kill?

Could it be an interim solution just to have anything that comes within a metre of them die? Then stick an animation on the zombie to make it look like it's attacked them or something. It's not ideal, or even close to ideal, but getting zombies to do their thing for the 99% of the time before they actually make the kill would be a good start. You'd get a perfectly viable zombie game, that would be a little ropey when they actually get on top of you, but by that point you're probably dead anyway.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Could it be an interim solution just to have anything that comes within a metre of them die?

No, because that it the only problem we are currently having. They prefer to just run back and forth instead of going directly to the player. If i run up to them they just attack me like they should. But they never reach me by themselves, there is no point in fighting back, because there is no such thing as a fight in the first place. Instead you can take a nap. :p

[charon productions 10]

Well, pretty much all zombie mods and even that funny Land of the Dead game use arm movements (damaging strike).

You can see it in this video, together with single headshot kills:

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[goose4291 11]

Well, pretty much all zombie mods and even that funny Land of the Dead game use arm movements (damaging strike).

You can see it in this video, together with single headshot kills:

Looks good apart from the attack animation.. couldn't you use something like the old Strokefist?

[charon productions 10]

It`s not implemented in Arma2, or hidden in the hard-code. At least its ="" in the config.

[icebreakr 3101]

Mission setup is the most important. You have to limit the ammo, take away the fuel ;) or give players *everything* just to find out that their:

- chopper gets broken down

- army f*cks you over when trying to contain the spread of infection

- survivors attack your convoy to get out of there themselves

... when its time to extract etc ;)

p.s. I prefer faster zombies from 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later and I am Legend ;)

[NeMeSiS 11]

It`s not implemented in Arma2, or hidden in the hard-code. At least its ="" in the config.

It would be a good idea to speed the 'throw grenade anim' up though, makes them look more dangerous.

[charon productions 10]

@Nemesis: Hehe i had the same idea after what MadRussian said. Would be nice to have them strike much faster.

[madrussian 347]

Trapper's ZOS zombie system back in OFP did attack side things a bit differently, and to great effect.

Whenever the zombies would get close enough to attack you, they would swing their arms at you (like normal), but this would trigger the player automatically swinging his rifle back in defense! Thus there was a brief melee exchange between zombie and player. This small detail achieved two very important things missing in all Arma1 zombie mods (at least afaik):

1. Having the player auto-swing-back would keep the player in place momentarily, which gave the zombies a better chance to surround and swarm him. Overall effect here is that it amped up the tension and put the fear of death in you. You did not want to let them start getting close. I get shivers just thinking back on it. :eek:

2. Having auto-swing-back also gave the player great feedback that he was actually taking damage. I can't count the number of times in Arma1 where I got blindsided by a lone zombie and had no idea I was even being attacked... suddenly I am dead. Wtf? :confused:

btw- Good to see all this progress!

Edited October 24, 2009 by MadRussian

[NeMeSiS 11]

Trapper's ZOS zombie system back in OFP did attack side things a bit differently, and to great effect.

Whenever the zombies would get close enough to attack you, they would swing their arms at you (like normal), but this would trigger the player automatically swinging his rifle back in defense! Thus there was a brief melee exchange between zombie and player. This small detail achieved two very important things missing in all Arma1 zombie mods (at least afaik):

1. Having the player auto-swing-back would keep the player in place momentarily, which gave the zombies a better chance to surround and swarm him. Overall effect here is that it amped up the tension and put the fear of death in you. You did not want to let them start getting close. I get shivers just thinking back on it. :eek:

2. Having auto-swing-back also gave the player great feedback that he was actually taking damage. I can't count the number of times in Arma1 where I got blindsided by a lone zombie and had no idea I was even being attacked... suddenly I am dead. Wtf? :confused:

btw- Good to see all this progress!

I was planning something like that for ArmA2, except that it would involve the player blocking the zombies attack somehow. (A timed press of a certain button which would depend on the angle you got attacked from or something)

But since i dont have any working zombies it never took off. :p

EDIT: Though i think that all zombiesmods except for the very first version of CZM played a sound when a zombie attacked. So i dont really see how 2 could ever happen.

[charon productions 10]

A slightly better kill scenario,blood fx and fast swing animation. You hear the zombie swinging at you, but there could be blood particles displayed right in front of the camera to visualize that the player has been hit :

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKYK3DQilHc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKYK3DQilHc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[nicolasroger 11]

keep up tehgood work guys, i want to kill zombies :D

[goose4291 11]

A slightly better kill scenario,blood fx and fast swing animation. You hear the zombie swinging at you, but there could be blood particles displayed right in front of the camera to visualize that the player has been hit :

Improving with every update mate!

[celery 8]

A slightly better kill scenario,blood fx and fast swing animation. You hear the zombie swinging at you, but there could be blood particles displayed right in front of the camera to visualize that the player has been hit :

Is that a script or an addon?

[charon productions 10]

Is that a script or an addon?

It`s both, addon with invoked scripts, nothing special really, just a simple experiment. That`s all.

[Blozzard 10]

When can we download it? :)

[celery 8]

It`s both, addon with invoked scripts, nothing special really, just a simple experiment. That`s all.

Would be cool if it could be done with a script only.

[charon productions 10]

Well if scripts alone could retexture models, tweak animations, add custom sounds and assign different models to config classes, then it would be done with scripts only ;)

[celery 8]

Well if scripts alone could retexture models, tweak animations, add custom sounds and assign different models to config classes, then it would be done with scripts only ;)

I mean only the AI thing. That way a zombie mission could be done in vanilla A2 which is imperative for public MP.

[charon productions 10]

The AI is a script that is being run from a module. When such an addon is signed properly i see no reason why it should not run on public MP. But i am not so much into MP stuff.

All i can say is that convincing monsters or whatever you call them can`t be done without addons.

There is certain problems with the animations.

Women skeletons can`t perform the throw grenade animation, so female zombies can`t have any attack animation which sucks. Found a silly looking but at least somewhat offensive looking animation to replace it for women.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Charon Productions

[charon productions 10]

A little texturing effort, to attempt to let units look like Zombies:

[Spartan 163 0]

Just waiting on the zombies. Me and a few friends have started to zombie up some vehicles n junk. I also got the layout of a great mp mission (I hope) were you have scrounge for weapons, ammo, vehicles, car parts, gas and other stuff. You will also be able make baricades n junk to hold off attacks. Zombie Life is not that far off.

[Uglyboy 10]

Zombie hookers, what should we ask more? :D

[b00ce 160]

I hope we get something by Halloween. :D

Edit:

Hooker could use a bit more bite marks and bruises.

Blood splots aren't enough. :p

Edited October 26, 2009 by b00ce