[Release] Zombie Train Beyond Earth

[jan]

Update: It's an itchio: 

 

 

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Edit: kevin888 is also making a Zombie Train game, with, it seems, more zombie-smashing and more nick breckon...

 

So this is going to be a weird one...

I have this (not yet fully formed) idea for a exploration/walking simulator/adventure kind of thing set in a train. In space. With zombies. But the zombies are a bit different than you might expect.

 

I'm currently learning to use Unity and I've never made a full game in it before, so don't expect much.

But anyway, here is the result of some testing (warning: brains):

 

 

Not sure about the zombie design yet. I was going for a kind of fancily-dressed-undead look but my character-drawing abilities are quite limited.

[ke51n]

It's so scary! Very nice.

I too am doing a zombie train beyond earth. It seems to be a pretty popular. I'm doing more of an adventure game thing though. All zombie trains will be cool. Zombies, trains, space, you cannot go wrong with all three.

[jan]

Thanks! I'm excited to see what you come up with.

[Vasari]

Your zombies look great! This already looks fantastic.

[Xeneth]

I wound up shying away from my initial Zombie Train From Beyond Earth idea for various reasons, (such a strong title...) but this already looks great!

[badatstuff]

This looks great!  Any audio/music help you might need, I would be happy to help!

[jan]

Today's progress:

- I cleaned up my prototype and implemented some basic systems for walking around and interacting with things.

- The player can move from one train car to the next by interacting with he door. (Not sure if one scene per wagon is the best way of doing this, maybe I'll think of a more seamless way of transitioning later on)

- I abandoned the flat look I was initially going for in favour of some much nicer looking lighting.

- I still have no idea where I'm going with this project...  but I'm learning a lot of things about Unity, so that's good.

[Stack Smashing]

Man, this looks so nice. Really cool! I'm digging the atmosphere in these screens. ... and somewhere off in the distance, Adrien Shephard waves hello. Looking content with everything that is happening.

[root]

The train cars look like train cars!

[jan]

I didn't have much time for game dev the past couple of days but now I'm back to it.

Making a game where all you do is walk through a train and the only people you meet are zombies that don't talk is probably not the best thing to do in a game jam with limited time and I might have overestimated my ability to come up with interesting content a little, but this is still more of a real game than I have ever made before, so I'm sticking with the idea.

I may have a preview build ready tomorrow, for now I have to rework my interaction system, my raycasts aren't hitting thing properly for some reason. And I still have to do something with the whole space/beyond earth theme, as of now there isn't really a reason for this train to not be on earth.

Here are some screenshots:

 

Also, there will be zombies in my next post, I promise.

[CEJ]

I'm continually delighted by how sparse environments in video games are often more evocative than their triple A, hyper realistic counterparts if that makes sense.

 

Those suitcases are very cute and the zombies.

[jan]

Edit: Disregard this post. I had to change some things.

[ke51n]

Looks really nice and super polished. Lighting and all that is really good. I can't wait to play it!

[jan]

Just to manage expectations: Right now the game is very short.

[ke51n]

Haha, yeah, I just like the look of it. Also thanks for linking my thing. It's not really that much zombie smashing. There is probably three. Or 30ish depending on where you go.

[jan]

I kind of lost interest in this project for a while so it's far from finished.

I migh work on it some more next week but for now, this is Zombie Train Beyond Earth, based on the title of Idle Weekend Episode 6, the

shortest and most linear walking simulator you'll ever play:

 

https://oddjumper.itch.io/zombietrain

 

Controls: WASD + Left Click

You might have to turn up your audio a little, I think I mixed it to be a bit too quiet.

Also, there is no pause menu yet.

[Dr Nick]

This is really cool! It felt like a spooky Doctor Who episode. 

[Vasari]

I was really excited to play this from the first screenshot, and it turned out great!

[Knight]

Congrats on the release! I like the look for the zombies, reminds me of Brendon Chung.

[Foggy Cornslakes]

Oh, this is great! Really reminiscent of "The Last Express", IMO. Not sure if it is because the model is especially similar, or because not knowing much about trains makes any train-feature automatically evoke associations to the few train related things I do know. It also has to do with the path you make through the train, which in both cases include climbing out of a window to the roof of the train. 

[jan]

Congrats on the release! I like the look for the zombies, reminds me of Brendon Chung.

Thank you. Brendon Chung's characters were definitely an inspiration.

And thanks to everyone else who said nice things about my game! Don't hesitate to comment if you've played it, I love hearing any kind of feedback.

I might work some more on a post-jam release, add some of the sounds that are missing, add proper pause and main menus and expand the train a bit...

[getinthedamnbox]

I enjoyed this quite a bit. There's a lot of detail to admire with the foley, models, textures, and lighting. I liked that the door handles and faces and stuff were drawn onto the textures rather than modeled---that was cool stylistically.

[z_bill]

Wow cool! I nearly didn't play due to Zombie Aversion, but this was smartly done. I love the simple cinematic presentation and clever bits like joining the zombie passengers when you die. It was a cool moment, "Oh no, I'm one of them!"

The style of the charaters was cool too, like a mix of Brendon Chung and South Park that works super well. I'd like to see more in this vein.

[ke51n]

Space is very pretty. Zombies are cool. Nice story. Very well done atmosphere. One of the best zombie trains I have seen. 10/10.5.

[coughlinjon]

I loved this game! So much Blendo Games to it The brains on every table, the zombies staring at you, their demeanor and clothes lol, the curtain snapping shut. It's all so good! I'm jealous of your minimalist storytelling aptitude. You make so much out of just a few assets.