Games of 2020 Game Design Comp: Zombies, in Your Face!
In the spirit of helping out new services, and light humor... here is my short entry into the March 4th competition.
![](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt740a130ae3c5d529/bltba62518415cda0e2/652fe6ddbc479f8697ef691f/default-cubic.png?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale)
Here is a copy/paste of my email. Boy was I under estimating the length needed for this competition!
The first part is suppose to be a small blurb form a gaming site describing the game, the second is a quick overview of what is innovative about the game.
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Zombies, in Your Face!
Based off the retro classic "Left for Dead." Using your video/camera enabled eyewear; zombies will be introduced into your "real world!" Wherever you are, you can start your zombie hunt and rack up experience online through global wi-fi. You can either be automatically joined to a nearby group of players or host a personal server. The more survivors who join up, the greater the zombie swarm of attackers.
The game will use environment analysis to make zombies appear in the windows of houses and buildings as you travel down a street. The position, orientation and movement of your hands and feet are also captured and weapons are rendered to look like they are actually in your hands. Motion your hands as if you are aiming at the zombie in the window on the 3rd floor? Your gun will follow. Using the multi-function camera the game can see through layers to see you pull the trigger--even if you can't. Motion/g-force sensing allows for sensing each step taken for accurate body placement. For the hardcore, insert the feedback hookup to your Neural Port to feel the gun's kickback or the thrashing of a zombie who got too close*.
*Game-induced death is not covered by warranty. Please follow all system backup/checks before enabling the eXtreme Sensations setting.
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How it is Controlled:
The game is an overlay to your vision (tiny, unobtrusive cameras on your eyewear), so whatever you see, the game sees and will react to your head movement. The current tech of video on the inside of your glasses is already here, but it is much more robust, compact and affordable in 2020. Body movement is captured through cutting-edge g-force sensors and also video capture if you can see any part of your body (directly or through reflection). Also, the optional Neural Port has a direct connection to the nervous system, so all movement can be read through that for the best accuracy. The Neural Port also allows feedback if enabled.
Design Concepts/Innovations:
In 2020, the fad of zombie games is coming back, and to celebrate it, "Zombies, in Your Face!" is introduced. The gameplay is very similar to the 2000s-era zombie games, but takes the 4-player co-op of "Left for Dead" to a new level by matching up players who are actually standing next to each other, and allowing for large crowds of players. The innovation comes from using your own environment for the game's play area and the use of future tech to fully immerse the player into the game.
(Having players play as zombies caused riots and lots of lawsuits, so this mode is only played through hacked pre-release versions of the open beta.)
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Now some notes about the tech since when I showed this to a few people they thought it was way out there.
We already have all of this technology in one way or another; the cameras are easy to think about, the glasses are available at a high price right now (think HUDs in fighter jets and helmets if you haven't seen the sky mall ads for the funky goggles :P), the motion sensors are all over the place and the neural ports are even coming around. The neural connections can be thought of advancements to current tech in synthetic limbs or body parts including the eye or ear. For a good example, search the Wired Magazine archive for last year (or the previous possibly) for an article about a man who lost his hearing and has been using a chip behind his ear connected to his nerves to help him listen to his life-long favorite classical piece. Ten years is a long time for tech advancement these days--with stuff like this perceivable in the future, I can't wait!
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