Zombie master

Zombie Master and its Shambler zombies.
Mod Details
Genre:	Zombie RTS/FPS
Website:	Zombie Master Website
ModDB:	ModDB Profile
More Information
Forums	Zombie Master Forums
Downloads	List of Download Mirrors

Basic Overview

A team of survivors, playing from a first-person perspective, must work together to battle the undead horde, scavenging weapons and completing objectives. One player, however, chosen randomly at the beginning of the round, becomes the Zombie Master. From an RTS perspective he spawns and directs his zombie minions, using a variety of traps and powers to close the net on the puny humans.

Features

Human team:

   * A wide range of weapons to scavenge such as shotguns, molotov cocktails, rifles and more
   * A number of challenging objectives that encourage players to team up and work together
   * The ability to interact with the environment to build barricades and carry objects

Zombie Master:

   * Real Time Strategy gameplay; create and command your own undead horde
   * A wide variation of zombie units encourages the ZM to adopt complex tactics
   * Environmental "manipulates" allow the ZM to interact with the world in devilish ways

Detail

Zombie Master is billed as "a unique multiplayer modification...that it maintains the tense, frightening atmosphere of a zombie horror game whilst truly challenging the player to think tactically and never underestimate their enemy." It pits human survivors, playing from first-person, against a single player - the titular Zombie Master - who controls the undead legions. He must try and stop the survivors from completing their objectives by outflanking, ambushing or simply overpowering them - planning and executing strategies altogether beyond the simple zombie brain. The modification is still in early beta but is updating and improving all the time.

The team's stated intention was to create a zombie mod that challenged players and forced them to think. Rather than facing a brainless undead horde to be gunned down in waves, or fighting suspiciously fast and intelligent human-controlled zombies, players would be set against a malicious intelligence that could provide a true enemy, meaning both sides must think tactically - map permitting.

The Master is a player chosen randomly at the beginning of each round. He surveys the map in an RTS perspective, able to fly around invisibly at will. He has the ability to spawn zombies at selected locations, order them around, and set them to defensive or offensive 'modes'. He also has a variety of powers to help him - nightvision to see in the dark, physics explosion to destroy barricades, hidden spawn to surprise players. Finally, each map contains a number of 'manipulates', points where the Zombie Master can set off physics traps, close doors, electrify rooms and generally affect the environment to the detriment of human survivors. All of this costs resources, and although exactly what powers the Zombie Master is unclear (perhaps it's Fear!), he recieves a constant supply, boosted when he kills players.

He has four zombie types at his disposal:

• Shamblers are slow, numerous and cheap - the standard walking corpse. No threat alone, they nonetheless pack a powerful if sluggish attack and in numbers they can be dangerous, blocking off entire areas of the map, creating 'meat walls' and ultimately flooding unwary humans. They are also the only zombie type that can move physics objects, making them essential for tearing down barricades.

• Drifters float and jitter around the map, propelled by sheer spite and vomiting their poisonous blood at puny mortals. Their short-ranged attack is weak but disorientating, jogging the victim's view, making it harder for them to move and see. It can also attack at any angle, such as under low doors and up at survivors trying to zombie crowd-surf, and is very fast. They are also fairly tough. All of this makes the drifter a useful tool for the ZM because they are adept at blocking areas and doorways, or surrounding incautious humans. Used in concert with other, more powerful zombie types, they can be devastating. Even if most ZMs tend to neglect them.

• Banshees, or 'fasties', are the ZM's fast attack troops, able to run at high speeds and leap tall obstacles in a single bound. They scream like dying cats and lunge like tigers. While their agility can make them very dangerous especially in groups, they are fairly weak and best used in a flanking or ambush capacity. The ZM team were forced to implement a customiseable 'banshee limit' after Masters persisted in saving up their resources then creating vast armies of banshees and settling them loose at frustrated humans.

• Hulks. Gigantic. Tough. Powerful. These are shock troops, able to kill a player in two swipes of their giant goalie's hands, and they can run at a fair whack too. Well-armed humans, however, will be able to take them down. They used to die quicker if you shot them in the groin, but not anymore.

All of this means that the Zombie Master has many resources at his disposal to win. A skilled Zombie Master could attack with some expendable shamblers to distract the humans, while secretly concealing brutish hulks within a small house. Once the trap is set, faster units could be ordered into the fray, forcing the humans to retreat for cover - right into the zombie-infested building. How effective the Master's tactics are does, of course, depend on how good the ZM player is, and what possibilities the map offers.

It also depends on how well the human survivors do. Starting with no weapons, no equipment and no clue, they need to scavenge for weapons and complete objectives to escape or defeat the Zombie Master, collecting parts for a getaway truck, or activating a generator. They have a few weapons at their disposal, but it's important to remember that their greatest weapon is teamwork - several players working together can accomplish far more than one running alone. It's not just the ZM who can be tactical. As well as having to outwit their malevolent foe, survivors can distract and lead zombies away from important areas (the ZM orders them, but cannot control them utterly - they're zombies, for chrissakes) and must frequently make use of the environment. Barricading strongholds with bits of furniture can be crucial, as can the use of explosive barrels for thinning down the horde.

A lot of Zombie Master depends on the map being played, as mappers dictate the objectives, the placing of spawns and manipulates, and indeed the strategies and tactics players will have to adopt. Some maps are linear, charging the humans to push through the ZM's blockades by force. Others allow for a more intelligent approach, being more open with different avenues for success by both sides. Though there are only four 'official' maps - docksofthedead, minerinconvenience, warehouse and deathball - there are already plenty of custom maps appearing, most of which can be found on the Zombie Master forums.

Screenshots

To be added.