Game Concept

2 years ago by toby_c

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Overview

Working title

Zombie Hugger.

Concept Statement

In Zombie Hugger you lay the undead to rest the only way you know how – by being nice, listening to their stories, holding their hand, and treating them like more than just another terrifying creature of the night.

Genre

2D wave-based rogue-like.

Concept creation process

Zombie Hugger is an anti-game that subverts the role assume by most rouge-likes and other action based genres. In typical action-oriented games the player has some way of attacking and eliminating enemies. Zombie Hugger subverts these expectations by drawing on the concept of ‘laying the undead to rest’ – which in media is littered with examples of characters resolving ancient grudges or trauma to allow the soul to pass on – and mashing that form of empathetic problem solving with the structure of a wave-based survival game, where the player is required to strategize based on enemy location and enemy type, among other factors. The result of the mashup is a game where the player has the tension of avoiding enemies but must interact with them non-violently. Subverting the 'attacking' component of the genre requires that players leverage their empathy to find amusing and heart warming ways of setting the undead free.

I settled on a wave-based game because it has particularly strong associations with killing enemies. As the anti-game aspect of my idea is important, it made sense to invert a genre with particularly strong associations with combat. After thinking about the initial interaction of hugging a zombie, the mashup that came to mind was Vampire Survivors meets Undertale (in which you are encouraged to engage non-violently in battles). I think this pairing is novel and worth exploring.

Influences

Zombie Hugger is influenced by the classic scenario of the hero arriving in a town where the cemetery is haunted by the undead, such as in the town of Ashbury in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. A player finding themself in this situation knows that they are probably going to be entering the cemetery and battling its denizens.

The Ashbury Cemetery. (Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Part of the anti-game subversion of the formula comes from similar games that have added their own twist to the concept of the undead. In Crypt of the Necrodancer, the player and all the enemies dance to the beat, and skeletons do a paired down version of the famous dance in Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video. I love the idea of turning classically scary enemies into sources of whimsy.

The undead aren't always scary (Crypt Of The Necrodancer)

In A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build – a puzzle game where you build snowmen – your player character gives each snowman a name and hugs them when you finish building them. This led to my first gameplay interaction: laying a lonely zombie to rest by giving them a hug.

Giving your snowman a hug. (A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build)

Exploring the idea of treating enemies with empathy is a core way the RPG Undertale (pictured) subverts genre expectations, and I wanted to find ways of exploring similar themes in the wave-based action genre, such as in the smash hit Vampire Survivors (pictured).

Non-violent turned based battling (Undertale)

The undead are usually killed with extreme prejudice (Vampire Survivors)

Audience and competitive analysis

Audience

Zombie Hugger is aimed at people who enjoy wave-based action games and rogue-likes where the player is comparatively vulnerable. The themes and novel approach to combat will appeal to lovers of heart-warming games, pacifist game modes, and simple pixel aesthetics. The strength of the theme will be more meaningful to slightly older players ( holding the hand of a lonely elderly zombie may have more emotional resonance with players who have lived long enough to comfort an older person in their own life), and as such the game has a soft 18+ age target.

Competitive analysis

Zombie Hugger shares genre DNA with the recent 2D wave-based hit Vampire Survivors, in that both are top down 'survival mode' titles with simple graphics that feature hordes of undead enemies assaulting the player. Vampire Survivors performed extremely well, with 98% of the over 113,000 positive steam reviews being positive. If we consider wave-based combat more broadly, Boomerang X is a recent first person title with steam reviews sitting at ‘overwhelmingly positive’. Of the two, Vampire Survivors is cheaper, more successful (Boomerange X is sitting at 586 user reviews), and asks less of the user in terms of moment to moment coordination and decision making. This indicates to me that it would be prudent to focus on a game play loop that is short and simple both visually and in terms of game play mechanics.

Zombie Hugger is the only undead themed non-violent waved-based action game in this space to my knowledge. As such I think it stands a good chance of standing out from the crowd of games with a combat driven loop. Other games that explore gentle non-violent interaction have performed very well in the past (most notably Undertale), which leads me to think that there is some desire in the game playing community for 'feel good' inversions of common gameplay tropes.

Game treatment

You are a young person who has spent their life in a sleepy town far from the capital and its strife. The town cemetery has begun echoing with the groans of the undead – people you and the townsfolk remember and miss. You’ve heard that the town mayor has sent word to the capital and in response a convoy of elite undead slayers is on the way to silence the cemetery. You’re a gentle soul, so when night comes over the town you sneak out your bedroom window and set about putting the denizens of the cemetery to rest.

When you open the gate you come upon the shambling form of Old Terence. He passed away lonely and afraid after his children moved to the capital. He lunges, but you dodge his attack and give him a quick hug, which instantly settles him down.

While you were focused on Terence, another undead had been making their way towards you: Gladys, the great-great-grandmother of the town mayor. She was renowned for talking the ears of anyone she could, and now she has begun talking to you! You don’t dare break eye contact with her until she finishes her lecture, but all the while other denizens of the cemetery are trying to attack you. You dodge and weave while keeping yourself politely facing Gladys until she finally stops, and falls back into a satisfied slumber.

When day finally dawns, you’re exhausted. You’ve spent the night listening to old stories, helping the undead find their lost heirlooms, and hugging like mad. But act by act, the cemetery has found peace…until tomorrow night.

Mechanics:

Dodge and scamper around a small top-down cemetery while avoiding a grisly fate and being a sweetheart at the same time.
Time pressure: help as many denizens as you can each night before the sun rises.
Use your quick wits to learn the regrets, needs, and attack patterns of dead townsfolk while they try to kill you.
Experience increasingly difficult survival: learn to manage increasingly numbers and combinations of enemy types.
Embrace novel methods of battling the hordes! Hug, listen, help, and protect your enemies.
Learn new moves to show the undead that somebody still cares.

Concept Art

Minit (pictured) has a quaint black and white pixel art aesthetic that serves as strong inspiration for the Zombie Hugger visual aesthetic. Furthermore, the character of the old man (pictured), who continues talking for an incredible amount of time is partial inspirational for Gladys, who the player must continue listening to while dodging other enemies.

Black and white and very cute. (Minit)

A rounded look (as seen in the first cemetery image below) contribute to a softer, more cartoonish feel that will help contribute to a sense of whimsy and kind-heartedness. I love these purple hues, but still feel that the overall design will be simplified by sticking to black and white. If we compare this image to a slightly blockier alternative (the second cemetery image below), the rounded softness of the first design is more apparent. In order to achieve a design closer to the first image, I will avoid ground design that is too regular or based on squares and rectangles, which contribute to the sharper, blockier layout.