Hello and welcome to the first production blog of Z.I.E.F. or Zombie Infestation Extermination Force! My name is Justin Amian and I am excited to share all the work our team has been creating to make Z.I.E.F. possible. Z.I.E.F. is composed of thirteen members and the design of the game comes from the vision of our game designer Christian Smith. If you’re interested in learning more about the design process you can learn more by reading Christian’s blog here.

Z.I.E.F. is a tactical zombie stealth game in which a player is dropped off in an infested zone. In Z.I.E.F. the world has collapsed after the outbreak of the zombie infestation and the remnants of society have begun working to rebuild. Sneak past zombies to retrieve technology, reactive systems and eliminate the infected. Players must achieve objectives before they miss their extraction window and are left to the bloodthirsty zombie hordes. Z.I.E.F. will have a variety of weapons that will allow players to select an appropriate loadout before leaving on a mission. 

Now that you’ve learned the vision that we have in mind for Z.I.E.F. let's discuss all the work that has been completed during our first sprint!

Modeling

Players will be introduced to a quarantined area of a city to explore and look for resources and technologies. In order to achieve the feeling of a town left to ruin our modelers have been working diligently to create all the necessary props. Our modelers are focused on creating props such as buildings, weapons, props and characters. In order to give our level designers the ability to make a variety of buildings without slowing down production the buildings are being created modularly. Modular buildings will allow a variety of different building types to give many interesting places to explore. The majority of our modeling team are working to create props that will give the world a feeling that it was once a thriving location before the downfall of humanity. Finally one of the highest priority models our team has been working on is the weapons by which you will kill zombies! With a variety of different weapon types players will be able to pick the loadout they feel will be best to complete the mission objective they’ve chosen. Below are some examples of the amazing work our team has been creating!

Programming

Our programming team has been very busy developing various systems for Z.I.E.F.. Players will be given an extraction window in which they can do mission objects. Each mission will have two extraction windows: a day extraction and a night extraction. During the day time of a mission zombies will be subdued and players will be able to sneak past them. If a player chooses to miss the day extraction so they can gather more resources or continue to complete objectives they will be given another chance to extract after surviving the night. During the night time zombies will be more active and will chance down the player to kill them. The programmers have been tasked with creating the different components that will be necessary for the game mechanics. The first priority was to make a system that we can vary gun parameters so that we will be able to implement a variety of different gun types into the game. Our programmer Tucker Holmes was able to quickly implement a weapon system with adjustable parameters. Zombie AI is also crucial to the success of Z.I.E.F. and our programmer Usume Jovi-Usude has been working to create the various AI and detection systems that will make zombies respond to their surroundings. With the extraction windows being pivotal to the missions of the game, our programmer Ragalla Seliby-Kaplan has created systems of timers and the day-night cycle that will change the zombie interaction. You can see examples of the systems our programming team have created below!

Level Designers

Our level designers have the challenge of creating a new world for the players to experience. At this stage in development we have prioritized making annotated maps of buildings players will be able to explore and complete mission objectives. The buildings our level designers are creating will have multiple routes so players can freely explore them without being forced to walk down a linear path. If a zombie gets in the way of the player they will be able to make the choice to engage or avoid the zombie. Items will also be placed around buildings as part of some of the mission objectives. Caring a lot of items will reduce the stealth of the player and may force them to deal with multiple zombies they’ve attracted. Look below to see some of the annotated maps our level designers have been creating. 

Conclusion

With our first sprint completed our team was able to complete a total of 131 points out of the 172 assigned. During our next sprint we plan to have a playable demo to showcase some of the game mechanics and hopefully a basic game loop. As we continue production our team will be working on creating more props, guns and buildings to flush out the game world. We will also create more systems and levels for players to enjoy the post-apocalyptic world we’re creating! Look forward to future posts about the design and production process of Z.I.E.F.!