Browser Based Zombie wave survival Roguelike

[sokol815]

How many waves can you survive for in an endless onslaught of zombies?

You start with a handgun and a knife. Go get 'em, tiger!

Made from javascript/css/html, so it runs right in your browser!

http://exilania.com/jsZombie/

I'd love to hear people's opinions on this one.

My personal best is dieing on wave 17
Zombies killed: 292
Total Score: 34064
Turns: 1964

future updates will include:

• procedurally generated map
• more weapons - new ways of damaging enemies, like projectiles that bounce off walls, laser beams
• armor
• grenades
• Zombie escalation reaction - the zombie has been kited for so long it increases in strength and speed
• weapon skills - improve ability to use weapons with more kills DONE!
• Magic - why not? I think it could be cool to have technology and magic intersect (80% - need more spell pieces and learning spells)
• used damage types
• Campaign - instead of just mindless killing, there is a story behind it.
• Stat training/leveling system (80%)

Also note, you can now build your own spells in this game!

[sokol815]

Worked on updating the UI so it doesn't look terrible. I think I am getting there. Fullscreen mode now works pretty well. I turned the entire screen into the view, then I have transparent UI stuff sitting over the corners of the view.

Still located at http://exilania.com/jsZombie/

[TheGeoff]

Made it to wave 9 first time and wave 13 the second. It's a cool game! Great for getting a zombie-survival-action-roguelike fix when you haven't got long to play.

The only thing which wasn't clear was the mystery boxes. The one in the first room seems to work but none of the others do... they're a darker grey colour, like they haven't been activated or something? Probably something obvious I missed but it was the only game mechanic I wasn't clear about. It'd be nice if the game told you how much something will cost (opening a door, activating a box) when you stand next to it, before you try to actually do it.

Also, at the moment there doesn't seem to be any incentive to leave the first room - just played another round where I sat in the starting room chopping up zombies with the chainsaw till wave 15 

Awesome game though! Looking forward to seeing the magic.

edit: forgot to mention, the weapon skill progression is really satisfying. You've definitely nailed that part!

[sokol815]

Made it to wave 9 first time and wave 13 the second. It's a cool game! Great for getting a zombie-survival-action-roguelike fix when you haven't got long to play.

The only thing which wasn't clear was the mystery boxes. The one in the first room seems to work but none of the others do... they're a darker grey colour, like they haven't been activated or something? Probably something obvious I missed but it was the only game mechanic I wasn't clear about. It'd be nice if the game told you how much something will cost (opening a door, activating a box) when you stand next to it, before you try to actually do it.

Also, at the moment there doesn't seem to be any incentive to leave the first room - just played another round where I sat in the starting room chopping up zombies with the chainsaw till wave 15 

Awesome game though! Looking forward to seeing the magic.

edit: forgot to mention, the weapon skill progression is really satisfying. You've definitely nailed that part!

Thanks for reviewing my game! It's been (and still is) quite fun to make.

I have implemented some of the stat training. When you are carrying enough weight to get your weight level to B - D, Strength has a (small) chance to improve, but your speed suffers. When you kill enemies with melee weapons (or with your fists) you also have a (higher) chance to improve your strength.

You didn't miss anything with the mystery boxes. They just don't switch, yet. I have the code in there to in-activate a box, but not the code that would switch it to a different box(I have other parts to concentrate on). I figured the game would suffer greatly if your box suddenly disappears and then you don't have a place to get any more weapons before you found it again.

I've also been toying with the idea of removing the mystery box and switching to zombie drops, where they will drop items instead of giving you points to spend.

I just finished this morning getting the spell system partly working. You can actually choose to cast fireball (by switching to the spells tab, then clicking on the spell 'fireball') It has a pretty high fail chance, and it can only get better with a higher mysticism. (which cannot be increased right now) The general effects spells have not been coded, yet, so the healing spells won't do anything. And it appears there is a problem with the area-of-effect spells.

I actually might just go back and re-write it into a spell-piece-wise system. But that is a post I will be putting up in a bit in the design section.

[Xecutor]

Looks like you changed the balance in the last version. I made it to wave 25 and then got bored and closed it

[sokol815]

The game is much easier right now than I want it to be. For the most part, though... This is really a tech demo of the game I am working on. I'll have to bump up the difficulty.

[sokol815]

just got a new release out. This one greatly simplifies working with your inventory and equipping items. just press escape.
you can look at an item on the screen by pressing the corresponding alphakey. (Shift + key for the capitals)

weapons now also have a table denoting their damage curve.

I've exposed most of the time system to the player:
-how long it takes to attack with a weapon
-player's current time
-player movement speed

Other (notable) changes:
-semblance of a leveling system implemented

Next in-line is:
-make spellbooks with casting pieces
-allow reading of spells/scrolls
-casting/reading spells increases successful chance percentage (but not scrolls... they have the magic embedded in them!)
-UI for player spell creation. (DONE)

[sokol815]

Well, I have gotten a ton of work done on this. Changes:

• Spell Creation system implemented. just press t
• Zombie kills now give you experience
• Leveling up now occurs
• Zombies have been made 2x as powerful
• greatly lowered chances for strength increase

This game may actually pose a challenge now. The spell creation system ended up working out just like I wanted it to. Let me know if you have any suggestions on how to improve anything in here. (I know, I know... more spell pieces!)

[Vanguard]

It's really easy to survive indefinitely.  Just leave one zombie alive at the end of each wave and run from it until your health and magic are full.  Then spam bayonet attacks and vivid touch (the only spell that matters) until there's one survivor so you can repeat the process.

[sokol815]

It's really easy to survive indefinitely.  Just leave one zombie alive at the end of each wave and run from it until your health and magic are full.  Then spam bayonet attacks and vivid touch (the only spell that matters) until there's one survivor so you can repeat the process.

good call. Also, you could just try "Self Vivid" that would be a little more efficient.

Good call with the waves lasting forever. I have fixed that now. A wave is capped out at about 100 turns, at which point the interim between the 2 waves starts. Good luck!

also, I might change vivid to instead do 1d(lifeMax*.3) healing instead of just lifeMax*.3

[Vanguard]

Also, you could just try "Self Vivid" that would be a little more efficient.

Huh.  Somehow I missed the "self" option.

I don't like the idea of 1d(lifeMax*.3).  That's excessively unreliable for such an important effect.  (lifeMax*.15)d2 or a similar formula would at least ensure the player gets something in exchange for their turn and MP.

[sokol815]

Huh.  Somehow I missed the "self" option.

I don't like the idea of 1d(lifeMax*.3).  That's excessively unreliable for such an important effect.  (lifeMax*.15)d2 or a similar formula would at least ensure the player gets something in exchange for their turn and MP.

Self is the default target for the spell when no other target method is selected.

1d(lifeMax*.3) does seem a little more harsh than I would want to go for. seems to me that "(lifeMax*.15)d2" is a nice compensation between the two.

[sokol815]

OK, some more balance changes:
-PC has nowhere to hide.. no matter where you go, there are at least 2 directions zombies can come at you from.
-mystery box has a 36% chance to move to another spot when you activate it. (and you get nothing when that happens, just a refund!)
-Vivid heal changed to maxLife*0.15d2 (can upgrade to maxLife*0.2d2 upon serious usage)
-zombie's stats tweaked to make them a little different from each other. Consequently, lots of harder hits, now.