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It's basically a survival game, where you are fighting your way through hordes of rabid people who have been infected with a mind-altering virus. It's a bit like 28 Days Later, but without all the drama.
Who knows? Maybe some day, it will become an actual game. Maybe some big company will totally rip off my idea and run off with all the fucking money! How awesome would that be??
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P L A G U E
Synopsis
An unknown virus begins to turn people into mindless savages. The virus, known simply as the Plague, spreads violently in Asia, and eventually makes its way onto American soil. The entire west coast of the United States is quarantined to contain the virus, and anyone who attempts to breach the quarantine line is to be neutralized on sight, by order of the Commander in Chief on the United States Army. Having realized that it is impossible to fight the virus, the Government has decided to simply contain it, and wait for it to die out, along with the millions of innocent lives that will eventually become infected or killed.
Citizens inside the Quarantine Zone try in futility to survive the horror of this Plague. The Government has abandoned them. Society has forgotten them.
Scientific research has discovered that people with blood type O are completely immune to the Plague. The player takes control of Daniel Crawford, one of the lucky individuals with type O blood, who is nothing more than an average man trying to fight for his life in the midst of a biological disaster. Daniel is a man of average build, in his mid-30's, with short brown hair, glasses, and unkempt stubble, who lived in a small house in Garden Meadows, which is a suburb of Seattle. Unlike most games, where the main character is a silent, unstoppable killing machine, with good looks, and no personality whatsoever, Daniel is just an "Average Joe" of sorts, whose only combat experience was serving in the Gulf War. His wife and kids went on a trip to Montana, prior to the incident, to visit his wife's parents, but the Quarantine has separated them from Daniel, and they presume he is either dead or infected. Daniel decides waiting out the Infection is futile, and goes on a perilous voyage to cross the Quarantine line, to get to his family.
Controls
The game is in a first-person perspective. There is a life bar in the upper-left corner of the screen, and an ammo count in the lower-right. The crosshair can be moved all over the screen using the Wii remote, and moving it to the edge will cause the camera to move, similar to the control scheme in Red Steel. A cross hair is always visible on screen, being a simple white circle, except when a melee weapon is readied. When a firearm is aimed, the crosshair varies in size depending on the accuracy of said weapon, and the steadiness of the remote.
The A button serves as the lock-on button for all weapons, and also the 'ready' button for melee weapons. For example, when A is held, the screen locks on to the enemy, the weapon is readied, and it's movement is completely proportional to the Wii remote's. There are no preset animations for swinging a weapon, the player swings it himself, and it's collision with the enemies body will cause damage. The amount of damage dealt is dependant on the speed of the swing, the part of the body it strikes (hitting an enemy in the head causes more damage), and the stats of the weapon.
Heavier weapons are slower than lighter weapons. This is shown by a lower responsiveness with the movement of the remote.
Blunt weapons will do less damage than edged weapons, but have more stopping power, meaning that if an enemy is struck with a pipe, he will stagger back and recover from the blow. The player can also thrust with a blunt weapon, by thrusting the remote forward toward the screen, but this will do very little damage, and serves only as a way to push the enemy back from a distance.
Edged weapons have more damage, but lacks the ability to knock the enemy back, which makes dodging and blocking more important. Also, edged weapons' thrusting attacks will do much more damage than a blunt weapon's.
Blocking is performed by holding the Z trigger.
Firearms are used in the game the same way, as the movement of the gun onscreen is proportional to the movement of the remote. The A button both aims the gun and locks on to the target, and the Z trigger fires.
The player can carry 2 weapons, which can be selected using the left and right D-Pad buttons.
Pressing down on the D-pad causes Daniel to crouch.
Pressing up on the D-pad reloads the current firearm.
On the nunchaku controller attachment, the analog stick controls movement (forward, back, strafe left, strafe right), the L1 trigger is held to make Daniel sprint (at the expense of stamina), and the L2 trigger causes Daniel to jump. The player holds the button to make Daniel grab onto ledges and climb up, if possible.
When no weapon is readied, then Z is used to interact with the environment.
Overview of Controls
Analog Stick: Movement
L1: Sprint
L2: Jump
D-Pad left/right: Select Weapon
D-Pad up: Reload
D-Pad down: Crouch (toggle)
A: Lock on/Aim firearm
Z: Interact
A+Z: Block w/Melee Weapon, Shoot
Weapons Overview
MELEE
(Light, blunt)
Tire iron
Aluminum Baseball Bat
Rebar
Crowbar
(Heavy, blunt)
Lead pipe
2X4
Sledgehammer
(Light, edged)
Meat cleaver
Machete
Hatchet
(Heavy, edged)
Fire Axe
Miner's Pick
Katana
FIREARMS
(one-handed)
.38 Snub Nose Revolver, capacity: 6 bullets
9mm Glock 17, capacity: 15 bullets
.45 Smith and Wesson 4505, capacity: 8 bullets
.357 Magnum Revolver, capacity: 6 bullets
(two-handed)
.22 Lever Action Hunting Rifle (no scope), capacity: 10 bullets
Pump-Action 24 Gauge Shotgun, capacity: 8 shells
Double-Barreled 10 Gauge Shotgun, capacity: 2 shells
M-16 Assault Rifle, capacity: 30 bullets
OTHER WEAPONS
Chainsaw (Move the chainsaw with the remote)
Molotov cocktail (hold A to ignite and ready the weapon, wave the remote to throw it.)
Pipe bomb (same as above)
AI
The enemy will not always directly attack the player. They will often use flanking movements and animal instincts to surround their prey, at which point the player must fight his way out. The enemy is a zombie-like creature, that will shamble toward it's prey in an awkward fashion, not quite as advanced as the Los Plagas from Resident Evil 4, but still more agile than the average "George Romero zombie." The Infected are not undead by any means. They can be killed in the same ways a human can be killed. The Infected attack their victims in a very frantic manner, thrashing, and swinging their arms like lunatics, viciously grabbing and trying to bite the victim's throat. The Infected can also use melee weapons, which they swing relentlessly at their victims. They are not, however, capable of using firearms due to their lack of mechanical intelligence.
Effects
The visuals should be gritty and realistic, with intense lighting.
Sound is crucial to the experience. Gunshots should be earsplittingly loud, and each type of melee weapon should make it's own distinct sound when hitting certain objects, such as clanging against metal, and ripping through flesh. The speaker in the Wii Remote should also be used. Gunshots should fade from that speaker to the TV speakers, to create an echo effect.
The gore level will be realistic, but not overdone. If someone gets bashed across the face with a pipe, it will generate a decent amount of blood and other appropriate particles. Decals are a must; bullet holes, cuts, and bruises should appear on an enemy's body after he has been struck. Hitting an enemy in the same area a certain number of times with an edged weapon will cause that part of the body to be dismembered, e.g., hacking an enemy's neck repeatedly with a machete will eventually cut his head off, the same goes for the shoulders and hips. Firing a shotgun at very close range will also remove an enemy's appendage.
Basic Ideas of the Game
One important aspect of the game is realism. There are no supernatural occurrences whatsoever. The Infected are not undead, they are humans that have been affected by a mind-altering virus, very similar to the way rabies affects animals. Daniel can be killed just as easily as he can kill the Infected. Daniel cannot be infected, due to his blood type, but he can still be bludgeoned and torn apart by the Infected, shot and killed by the Army, or even trampled to death by panicking survivors. During conversations, profanity is often used, mainly to give more realistic and down-to-earth conversation.
The game basically takes place in grey, rainy Seattle, starting in the Suburbs, but eventually, moving to more densely populated areas. Daniel will eventually try to sneak past the Quarantine Line, and get back to his family. There are also other enemies besides the Infected. One of them is the Army. They will stop at nothing to kill anyone who attempts to cross the Quarantine Line, even if they are not infected. Another, possibly more dangerous threat, are the survivors themselves. Survivors of the Plague have resorted to their instincts to survive. They will often kill others for food, water, or simply fear of the person being infected. Daniel is no exception. Suburban survivors will be more courteous to their fellow man, but in urban areas, it's a different story.
Physics play an important role in the game. When an enemy is killed, his body goes into ragdoll, but the gravity will set at a level where he will fall quickly to the ground in a realistic manner.
The masses who have been affected by the Plague are simply known as the Infected. The Plague has no official name, and neither do the Infected.
Ammo conservation also plays an important role, as ammo is never just lying around for anyone to use. Once a firearm's ammo is depleted, the weapon is useless, and must be swapped with something else. The firearms are types of guns that can be bought at a typical sporting goods store. The only firearm that is different is the AR-15, which is recovered from dead Army soldiers when Daniel attempts to cross the Quarantine Line.
The game should definitely involve more than simply running from area to area killing savages. For example, the player could be driving a jeep across the Quarantine line, while dodging artillery fire. The main idea is to balance frantic, and extremely immersive gameplay with a simple - yet - original storyline. It's important for the characters to have deep personalities that the player can identify with, and that the dialogue is somewhat Tarantino-esque, in that it is down-to-earth, and not always on the topic at hand.
The control scheme is very important to the gameplay, especially the melee attacks. Coordinating the weapon's movement with the remote is a big step in gaming, making the player actually feel like he's swinging a crowbar, or aiming a pistol.
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