Zity - (The Beginning)

Zity

Hello internet, my name is Frank Norton. I'm one of the millions of people who love video games and one of the many thousands who are pursuing a goal of creating one. I've developed small projects throughout college but have now firmly taken steps to completing a game that I think people will enjoy. On first impressions of this game you might think 'that's just another generic zombie game', 'he's just following the zombie hype like every other developer', or 'Nothing new here'. I very truthfully believe my game, Zity, is a different extension of the zombie genre. Now let me explain before I've lost you completely.

Zity started out as a an experiment with tile based design and different things I could achieve with that. However after a few months of creating and testing I realized I had an idea in my head, an idea that I really wanted to see happen. And thus a few months ago I started building the foundation for my idea.

What I wanted to achieve was a game more about exploration, survival, and openness then mass zombie murder or horror. DayZ (if you haven't heard of it - here you go ) took a route similar to what I desired by focusing on atmosphere and interaction. The differences then between my idea and what has been accomplished seem minimal, yet I still felt the desire to make Zity.

I came up with a fairly firm scope for my game in my mind after I realized how so many of the aspects of the game I had longed for were beyond my capabilities or simply beyond what Zity should be. What I ended up with is this: A 2D, top-down, multi-player, zombie survival game set in a massive, empty city entirely explorable... and procedural. I wanted a game that wouldn't play twice, that you could pick up with friends and roam around for awhile, always in a different environment. I was looking for a game that could be easily changed and modified in the future. I didn't find all of these features in an existing game so I went after it myself.

Currently I have gotten through almost all of the tedious, repetitive ground work needed before I can get actual content into the game. I have the map, generation, physics, lighting, camera, screens, and pathing systems already implemented (although some need will need some altering later on). What I'm working on now is the city itself. I started with just a grid of street blocks dividing the map, then I tried using noise maps to create separate areas, but I settled on a vector system to create and draw the map. Currently I'm implementing this system to create rivers, bridges, highways, streets, alleyways, and other aspects of a city. Once the city generation gets to a point where it entirely works and can be changed in the future without breaking anything, I can move on to everything else I have planned (item/player/zombie spawning, stats system, AI, manipulable objects, classes, etc..)

Here's a simple list of features and aspects of my game: A variety of vehicles to drive, buildings with multiple floors (procedurally generated), loads of weapons/items/equipment to find and use, dynamic lights and line-of-sight, day/night cycles, multiple classes to choose from and unlock, and a stats system. I'll expand on these features as they near completion.

I started this blog simply to keep track of my progress and to give me something to look back on when all is said and done. I hope some of you people out there might take interest in my game but ultimately I'm developing it so 'I' can play it (which I believe is the best reason to develop something) I'll be including pictures and videos in further updates so be sure to check out this blog periodically.