Kevin Sheehan. Alternate Reality Games Live Action Games Blur the Magic Circle Often involve use of...
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Transcript of Kevin Sheehan. Alternate Reality Games Live Action Games Blur the Magic Circle Often involve use of...
Humans vs. Zombies Season 3 Postmortem
Kevin Sheehan
Alternate Reality Games◦ Live Action Games◦ Blur the Magic Circle◦ Often involve use of media
Examples◦ Assassins/Killer◦ The Beast◦ The Amazing Race
ARG’s (What are they?)
Base Game◦ Started at Goucher
College, Maryland in 2005◦ Played on large college
campuses◦ Typically 500-2000 players◦ Zombie Tag + Nerf blasters◦ “Lasts until it ends”◦ Occasionally have
“Missions”
Humans vs. Zombies
The DigiPen Game◦ Started Fall 2010◦ First Game (Season 1)
Roughly 60-80 players Missions every night Zombie Starvation hardly enforced Heavily plot-driven Fixed-duration game Big rescue “finale” on Friday night
Humans vs. Zombies
The DigiPen Game◦ Second Game (Season 2)
Roughly 70-80 players Missions every night except
Monday Zombie Starvation abolished Not as plot driven Still fixed-duration game Another “finale” on Friday night Lots of player complaints
Humans vs. Zombies
Goals for the Third Game (Season 3)◦ Make the game more manageable for players
It’s an enormous time commitment◦ Better risk/reward from previous games
Poor R/R flourished in Season 2◦ Improved narrative integration
Why did I get this for doing that ?
Humans vs. Zombies
Goals for the Third Game (Season 3)◦ Make Zombies more than “the Losing Team”
Zombies would often quit the game◦ Appeal to a group of new players
Fresh batch of incoming Freshman◦ Appeal to a group of veterans
Experienced Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors
Humans vs. Zombies
What Went Right
Joining Late◦ Player could join on Wednesday night◦ Roughly 18 Late Joiners
Mission Mailers◦ Consistently mailed out every day at noon◦ Communicated essential information clearly◦ Aided the narrative
What Went Right
Stronger Risk/Reward◦ The four mission rewards were proportional to the
mission difficulty
Stronger Narrative◦ All missions made sense sequentially◦ Mission Rewards made sense with the mission
What Went Right
Zombies were totally into the game◦ Zombie pride was beaming all week◦ Zombie mission attendance was very high
What Went Right
No legal conflicts or interruptions◦ Communication with neighbors was high◦ The police were preemptively informed of the
event
Designer as player◦ I was able to play without perfect information◦ Game Director handled all sensitive information
What Went Right
Marketing◦ Hugely successful (150 players!)◦ Orientation Promotion◦ Word-of-Mouth◦ Flyers & Facebook
What Went Right
What Went Wrong
Zombie spread was out of control◦ More Players = Faster Spread◦ We expected 100 players at most◦ 37 Zombies at the end of Day 1◦ Tuesday mission simplified◦ Wednesday reward buffed◦ Thursday mission cancelled◦ Finale was brief
What Went Wrong
Wednesday reward buffed◦ Zombies reached Day 5 numbers by Day 3◦ Full-team Vaccination to retain Human numbers◦ The game was more casual until the finale
What Went Wrong Right!
Late Joiners….joined late◦ Wednesday night starters didn’t sign up
until Wednesday◦ This influenced Wednesday’s mission
objectives
Legion Combat◦ 150 players means large-scale combat◦ Combined with new Zombie tactics, this
means mass confusion during encounters
What Went Wrong
Friday Night Finale◦ Hardly resembled intended finale◦ Wasn’t a climactic ending◦ Humans were killed shortly after
reaching the first objective point◦ Human backup plan ended up prolonging
a Zombie victory
What Went Wrong
Administration change threatened the game◦ Change in faculty meant the game might not
happen◦ Weeks of meetings, often cutting into class time◦ Game wasn’t green-lit until 10 days beforehand
What Went Wrong
Looking Ahead
No more original zombies◦ Multiple Starters creates a more reliable bell
curve◦ Day 1 no longer contradicts core dynamic◦ Tested in 2012 Post-Season Game
More dynamically different missions◦ After various mission changes, missions were
very similar conceptually
Looking Ahead
Zombie Respawning◦ One of the most tedious elements of play◦ We will be testing an airsoft-inspired respawn
system
More small-scale encounters◦ 81% of survey takers said they preferred small-
scale encounters over legion combat◦ Tested in 2012 Post-Season Game
Looking Ahead
New Game Tracker◦ Passionate HvZ player
developed an in-house game tracker
◦ Tested in 2012 Post-Season Game
Looking Ahead
Strategic Escalation◦ Every game introduces new
strategies from Human and Zombie leaders
◦ New N-Strike Elite series could change the game
◦ These details, while uncontrollable, must be accounted for
Looking Ahead
Larger Development Team◦ What was a 3-person development team will soon
be 10-12 people◦ New positions created within Art, PR, Design, and
Production fields◦ Each position will result in portfolio-worthy content◦ New recruits will work closely with each of the 3
former developers to ensure quality
Looking Ahead
Larger Development Team
Looking Ahead
We’re still recruiting.
Q&A