Idea Call of Duty-like Zombie Game w/ Splitscreen

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Matt - Scout of Honor

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(I'm not really sure whether this goes in this Game Design section or the Programming section, so please correct me if it is in the wrong place :))

So, I've been wanting to make my own Call of Duty-like Nazi Zombies game for me and my friends to play since they've been bored of BO3's zombie mode. How can I make a good zombies game with solo play, co-op local/online multiplayer?

(By the way, I am making solo play in GM8.1 Standard and co-op multiplayer in GM: Studio, and I'm planning on releasing a beta for Windows and Android, and possibly releasing a prototype for PlayStation 3/4/Vita, also I'll mention that the game is going to be a 2D platformer if that helps anything)

Thanks!
 
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nicktheslayer95

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If this is your first game, I recommend doing a few tutorials, you can find some good ones on YouTube. Here is a series detailing a platform shooter:

 
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Snail Man

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It would help to know exactly what you're asking: do you want help with the technical aspects of making the game work, or do you want to talk about the concepts behind the game and how they interact. (Eg: "How do I make zombie AI" vs "how does the aggression of the AI affect the gameplay")
 
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Matt - Scout of Honor

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It would help to know exactly what you're asking: do you want help with the technical aspects of making the game work, or do you want to talk about the concepts behind the game and how they interact. (Eg: "How do I make zombie AI" vs "how does the aggression of the AI affect the gameplay")
I'm in need of help on the technical aspects., like AI, rebuilding barriers, zombies breaking them down, etc.
If this is your first game, I recommend doing a few tutorials, you can find some good ones on YouTube. Here is a series detailing a platform shooter:

Thankfully, it's not my first game I'm working on, so that'll make things easier, but I'll be sure to check out this tutorial! :) I've always been a fan of HeartBeast ever since I started GameMaker
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Why are you using two different versions of Game Maker at once? It kinda feels like you'll need to make the same game twice with that approach.
 
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Paolo Mazzon

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I've been wanting to make my own Call of Duty-like Nazi Zombies game for me and my friends to play since they've been bored of BO3's zombie mode.
So right off the bat this tells me you want to make a game of Call Of Duty Zombies scope, except you're one guy, and Treyarch has a ton of (Experienced) guys, and they still took a while. I don't want to be a jerk, but if you don't know how to program things like AI that can break barriers down, you (Probably) are not ready to make a game that big and complex. Ignoring all AI/barriers or whatever, to make a game that complex, you need to be well versed in networking, 3D/3D collision/3D animation/delta timing, and if you plan on porting a 3D game to Android/iOS, you also need to be able to produce top-shelf code that is efficient enough to run on weaker devices. It's probably not a good idea to make a game this big as one of your (presumably) first projects.

That would be a big project for someone who's been using GM for many years, never mind relatively new. (I would most certainly not be capable of a project like that without at the very least my friend and a lot of time and patience.)
 
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Matt - Scout of Honor

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So right off the bat this tells me you want to make a game of Call Of Duty Zombies scope, except you're one guy, and Treyarch has a ton of (Experienced) guys, and they still took a while. I don't want to be a jerk, but if you don't know how to program things like AI that can break barriers down, you (Probably) are not ready to make a game that big and complex. Ignoring all AI/barriers or whatever, to make a game that complex, you need to be well versed in networking, 3D/3D collision/3D animation/delta timing, and if you plan on porting a 3D game to Android/iOS, you also need to be able to produce top-shelf code that is efficient enough to run on weaker devices. It's probably not a good idea to make a game this big as one of your (presumably) first projects.

That would be a big project for someone who's been using GM for many years, never mind relatively new. (I would most certainly not be capable of a project like that without at the very least my friend and a lot of time and patience.)
(Don't worry, constructive criticism isn't being a jerk in my opinion :p) I was thinking of working it on it with some of my other friends, and it'll be pretty basic. Also, like I mentioned, it's not going to be some insanely huge 3D game, it's just going to be a basic 2D platformer

(By the way, I am making solo play in GM8.1 Standard and co-op multiplayer in GM: Studio, and I'm planning on releasing a beta for Windows and Android, and possibly releasing a prototype for PlayStation 3/4/Vita, also I'll mention that the game is going to be a 2D platformer if that helps anything)
And if it was going to be some full-out 3D zombie game, I would probably look towards Unity for that. But anyways thanks for the feedback, always helps :)

Why are you using two different versions of Game Maker at once? It kinda feels like you'll need to make the same game twice with that approach.
Yeah. When me and my friends were brainstorming, we thought it would be cool to start the project in GM8.1, and when we were finished with solo play we would port the gm81 project to GM: Studio (if you can still do that lol) and make a multiplayer mode, but then we realized how inconsistent it would be, so we're doing it all in GM: Studio now :p
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Yeah. When me and my friends were brainstorming, we thought it would be cool to start the project in GM8.1, and when we were finished with solo play we would port the gm81 project to GM: Studio (if you can still do that lol) and make a multiplayer mode, but then we realized how inconsistent it would be, so we're doing it all in GM: Studio now :p
Good. And speaking from experience, it's a BAD, BAD, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD idea to make the solo game first and THEN add multiplayer mode... it's pretty hard to even add local multiplayer if you didn't plan for it ahead of time, and I'm can pretty much promise online multiplayer is going to be a helluvalot worse without planning ahead. Going from local-only to online multiplayer isn't that hard if you've done it properly, though... you'd just funnel control inputs to all the 'slave' player characters from online instead of from hardware you can read locally, and then you'd set up all the 'slaves' to mimic the 'master's state rather than simulate the gameplay themselves (or I guess the proper terms are 'client' and 'server'). Anyway, pretty advanced stuff. I've dabbled a bit in online multiplayer back in the GM6 days but never made anything really playable.
 
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