Alpha Undead Arena 3D First Person Zombie Shooter

Kentae

Member
Undead Arena v0.1 (alpha)
Devlog
Platforms:
- Windows

Made with:
- GameMaker Studio 2

Other softwares used:
- Blender for 3D models and animation
- Quixel Mixer for texturing
- DaVinci Resolve for video editing

Also used in this project:

- TheSnidrs Animation system.
- The blender addon for exporting animated models to TheSnidrs model format, developed by Bart. (And TheSnidr?).
- TheSnidrs particle system.
- The 3D collision system originally developed by venomous and fixed up by DragoniteSpam.
- The 3D pathfinding system, developed by me (See the forum post: https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/3d-pathfinding-using-a-navmesh-and-a.74253/).

Download link to the latest update of the game:

The Idea:Zombie_Game_004.jpg
So, I had this idea to make a game that I would realese on halloween. This would give me three months to develop it. This project was supposed to give me a kick in the a** so that I would finally get around to creating a few systems that I needed for my main project and update some that I already had. With such a short deadline there was no more "I'll wait for a better time" when it came to creating the new systems. For all this to even make sense however, the new project would have to be reliant on the same systems that I needed in my main project. In addition, since I've decided to realese it on halloween I figured it should fit that theme. Hence, a small 3D first person zombie shooter was born. This would require me to make the systems I was still missing. Such as a 3D model converter that would allow me to convert OBJ models to my own custom model format so that I may have cool effects like normal mapping in my game. I also needed a system for creating texture atlases easily, and lastly I needed to update my, already made, 3D pathfinding system to work better with GMS 2.3 and it's functions.
So, in short, the idea was to create a project for myself that required the creating and updating of systems that I have a need for in my main project. As an added bonus this project would also give me something to point to when ever my friends and co-workers asked about what I've made and if I have ever released anything. usually my answer was: a bunch of unfinished stuff and no. Aaand after about 17 years of game development I figured, it's about time I have something out there that people can actually download and play.



The Project:
As mentioned above, it will be a first person zombie shooter. Since I only have 3 months, in total, to develop it, it wont be a very big game nor will it be a game full of different functions and game modes.Zombie_Game_002_small.jpg
This game will be a small game with one level (more if I have any time left), a few weapons and a basic scoring system based on how long you are able to survive against a horde of zombies and how good your killstreaks get.


The level:
The one level that is planned will be in a town setting. It will have a few buildings that can be entered and some that are just for show.
The buildings will have a lot of zombies in them and few open areas to fight them in. that is why the best weapons can be found there. sort of a risk/reward kind of situation.

The weapons:
There are, in total, 5 weapons planned.

The Baseball bat.
This is a melee weapon that can't run out of ammo. It's essential to let the player have something to fight with even if they run out of bullets.
As it will be harder to kill zombies with the baseball bat, the score gained from killing with it is higher than normal.

The Handgun.
A simple handgun that isn't too powerfull and has medium ammo capacity. This one will be relativly easy to find and get ammo for.
As it is easier to kill zombies with a gun the score is lower than that of melee kills. However I am considering making headshot kills yield more points.

The Shotgun.
A pump action shotgun that has low ammo but high power. I'm not sure if this one or the assault rifle will be the most effective to kill zombies with, so where it can be found and in what capacity is yet to be determined.
In any case, a shotgun is an essential part of zombie shooter games... Or at least I think so.

The Assault Rifle.
An assault rifle with high ammo and medium-high power. As mention above I'm not sure wich one of this and the shotgun is going to be the most effective.

The Grenade.
A throwable grenade that does AoE damage. These will be quite rare as they will be very effective against large groups of zombies.



Devlog Videos:

ToDo List:
- First Person Camera.
- 3D Collisions.
- Player Physics.
- Add Projectiles (used for grenades).
- Make Player hands model.
- Add Player hands.
- Make Baseball bat model.
- Add Baseball bat.
- Make Handgun model.
- Add Handgun.
- Make Shotgun model.
- Add Shotgun.
- Make Assault Rifle model.
- Add Assault Rifle.
- Make Grenade Model.
- Add Grenades.
- Add basic zombie AI.
- Implement TheSnidr's animation system.
- Implement TheSnidr's particle system.
- Implement my navmesh system.
- Add Point lights.
- Add Spot lights.
- Add Shadows.
- Make Shadows cover more visible area by moving the shadow camera as the player turns.
- Add Bloom effect.
- Add Shooting/Attacking.
- Add Weapon pickups.
- Add Healthpacks.
- Add Zombie spawn points.
- Add Pickups spawn points.
- Add Ammo functionality.
- Make Zombies use a navmesh to navigate the world.
- Add Zombie collision avoidance.
- Fix the normals orientation.
- Upgrade the bloom effect.
- Add a Game Over screen.
- Add a settings menu.
- Add a main menu.
- Fix an issue with the lighting system.
- Get more sound effects
and some background music.
- Add zombie attack and die animations.
- Add the ability to turn the flashlight on and off.
- Upgrade the zombie AI.
- Make the player take damage from zombie attacks.
- Come up with a name for the game.
(It's now named Undead Arena)

I will add more things to the ToDo list as I come up with them :)

And finally, because I just know this is coming. Yes I know I should go to Unity or Unreal for 3D games, but guess what! I don't care. I like the workflow in GMS and I enjoy making 3D games in it. even if it's not good at it ^^

Last edit: November 3rd 2021
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Kentae

Member
Hello fellow Game Makers! ^^

I've gotten a lot done the last couple of weeks so I figured it'd be a good idea to post a little mid-month devlog update.
Here's a video of how the game currently looks (as of September 15th 2021):

Things I've done since the last time:
- Added zombie model.
- Added zombie animations.
- Added basic zombie behavior.
- Added more buildings.
- Added a shop (loosly based on the one I work in IRL).
- Added the baseball bat.
- Added animations for the baseball bat and some more animations for the shotgun.
- Added shoot/attack functions for the shotgun and baseball bat (check out the video).
- Fixed an issue that caused the game to run slowly. In other words, I remembered to freeze the vertex buffers I load in xD
- Added sounds for the baseball bat.
- Added a basic UI.
- Added scoring (not finished yet).
- And some more fixes and things that I can't recall right now.

I have also updated the main post to display the new video and a more detailed ToDo list.

See ya'll later ^^

PS: The HP counts you can see above the zombies' heads are there for debug purposes and will not be part of the game on release.
 

Kentae

Member
Unnamed Zombie Shooter Devlog 003 (Oktober 2nd 2021)
(Please help me find a name for this game xD)

Hello fellow game makers! ^^

Time for another devlog. I've been working mostly with the shaders and light systems these last 2 weeks.
That means that there isn't all that much added this time around. I have however made the models for the
rest of the weapons and pickups, such as healthpacks and ammo. (See image below.)

First of here's the new video for this log. This is how the game looks now, as of Oktober 2nd 2021:

Things I've done since last log:
- Added spot lights.
- Added point lights.
- Made weapon models (Handgun and Assault rifle)
- Made pickups models (Healthpack and ammos)
- Fixed an issue where the normals where incrorrectly oriented. lighting now looks abou 1000x better as a result.
- Added the grenade counter to the HUD.
- Fixed the terrain shader so that it would accept more textures.
- Fixed an issue where the terrain would get big, nasty seems all around because of how mip mapping works.
- Added reflections to, well, reflective surfaces. (best seen in the windows of the buildings)
(and yes, I know that's the daytime skybox being reflected but everything just looks black if I reflect the nighttime skybox xD)
- On that note, made it nighttime.
- Made the lamppost model.
- Added lampposts to the world with accompanying spot ligths.
- Added a flashlight for the player. (makes it easier to see inside the dark buildings)
- Added weapon and ammo pickups.
- Added healtpacks.
- Made the shadow map cover more of the visible area.
- Added functions in the light system to determine 8 spot lights and 8 point lights to be calculated in the shaders. Determined by distance from player and if it's in the view spectrum.

There might be more but I can't recall as of writing this :)
I did also take a few days of from dev latley because I was feeling a little burned out and to test out New World. With the queue times that game has I've kind of prioritized playing latley xD
Gonna shape up a bit there from now on... especially if I want to hit my deadline of halloween xD

As last time, I've updated the main post to reflect the work I've done and added the new video and some new images there as well.

See ya'll later ^^
 

Kentae

Member
Unnamed Zombie Shooter Devlog 004 (October 17th 2021)

Hello fellow game makers ^^

New devlog up! This time I've added a few things and fixed up a few others.
In general I've made the project into more of a game. As in, you can now be attacked, zombies respawn,
You can die and so on and so forth.

Here's a video of the game as of October 17th 2021:

Things I have done since the last log:
  • - Added the Handgun.
  • - Added the Assault Rifle.
  • - Upgraded the bloom effect so that it looks much nicer.
  • - Redid the shooting code to work better with hit detection.
  • - Also fixed up the weapon spread to act according to the players movement speed and rate of fire.
  • - Fixed up the scoring system. You are now awarded points depending on how you kill the zombies and how long you survive.
  • - Added a Game Over screen where you can either choose to quit or retry the game.
  • - Added Attack and Die animations for the zombies.
  • - Fixed up the zombie AI a bit.
    • - Zombies now react to the player shooting them from outside their aggro range.
    • - Zombies call for help from nerby zombies if they are shot or hurt by the grenades.
    • - Zombies now do damage when they attack.
  • - Added some zombie spawn points.
  • - Added the zombie spawn system. they can only spawn if there aren't already too many zombies in the world and only outside the players view and at a certain range.
    • (this is to make it less likely for the player to see zombies suddenly popping in to the world)
  • - Found a way to pre-sample the player animations to avoid lag or slow-downs during gametime.
  • - The player can now turn their flashlight on/off by pressing "F".
  • - Added a flashlight icon to the HUD.

I wish I had been able to do more this time since it's now less than 2 weeks untill I plan to release the game. Unfortunatley I had to put the work on pause a bit latley
to take care of my GF whom recently had a rather large operation. I still think I'll be able to release a game that is at the very least playable by halloween though ^^
Hopefully it will also be at least somewhat fun to play hehe :)

Thanks for now and see ya'll next time! ^^
 

Kentae

Member
Undead Arena v0.1 (alpha)
(Download link at the bottom of this post and in the main post)

It's finally here!.. And almost on time xD I know, i know, it's technically past halloween now (at least in my timezone) but not by much.
There were a few last minute bugs and issues to work out before I could post a download link to the game :)

Here's a little video of me playing a round of the game... well, almost. I ended it early so that the video wouldn't be too long.

! IMPORTANT ! read this before you play:
I've decided to call this an alpha release because I just can't in good consciense call it a full release yet.
There are still a few features missing from the game that I wanted to have in it, most noticable of wich is the lack of a settings menu.
This unfortunatly means that the game is currently stuck at a 1080p resolution and all other graphics settings are at their highest.
My computer handles this without any issue but that does not mean that all computers will.
This also means that you wont be able to adjust the sound levels in the game so you'll have to adjust it in Windows or on your headset/speakers.

There are also a few known issues to look out for:
  • There was a sudden and silent stop when I was test playing the game. no error message. It could be a random occurance but could also be a memory leak. Please tell me if you experiance the same thing.
  • The pathfinding system for the zombies is far from perfect. they seem to love lampposts and they can get stuck in corners.
  • It is possible for the zombies to lift you up. this may cause you to go up one floor in certain buildings.
  • The player itself can get stuck on walls and in corners if they jump there.
  • There is no flock avoidance for the zombies. they will walk into one another.
  • When you press the "Start Game" button on the main menu it will take a while before it goes to the loading screen. this is because of poor planning on my end and a lot of loading is done before the loading screen pops up.
  • If you die in the game, press "Quit" to go back to the main menu and then press "Start Game" again without restarting the game itself it may not start this second time around.
These are issues I currently know of. Please do tell me in as much detail as possible, preferably even with images and/or video if you encounter other issues or bugs and I'll add them to the list.

On a brighter note, here is a list of things I've gotten done since the last update:
  • Added the reload animations for the Handgun, Shotgun and Assault Rifle.
  • Added the navmesh pathfinding system for the zombies.
  • Created the actual navmesh. (this took way longer than expected)
  • Got the zombies to use the navmesh. (man there were a lot of issues to go through here >.<)
  • Added the main game menu.
  • Added more sound effects like footsteps and zombie groans.
  • Made the audio system work in 3D. (apparently it didn't before, I just thought it did)
  • Added all zombie spawn points.
  • Added all equipment spawn points.
  • Added equipment spawn system.
  • Added equipment like weapon ammo, grenades and healthpacks as pickupable objects.
  • Prepared the game for compiling.
  • A bunch of bugs and issues fixed (not all thou)
That's about it I think. Now for the good part.
Here's the link to my dropbox where you can download the game:

Have fun :) and please do tell me your highest score. I'd like to see who can do best ^^
Thanks a lot and see ya'll next time!
 
Last edited:
I encountered one major flaw that made the game unplayable, and it looks like you've hardcoded the game to run at 1080p. I'm on a 1440p display, and both the menu and loading images don't fill the whole screen. In-game, the GUI looks perfectly fine, but the camera is completely broken, which also causes odd issues with the bloom effect on the lamps.
 

Kentae

Member
I encountered one major flaw that made the game unplayable, and it looks like you've hardcoded the game to run at 1080p. I'm on a 1440p display, and both the menu and loading images don't fill the whole screen. In-game, the GUI looks perfectly fine, but the camera is completely broken, which also causes odd issues with the bloom effect on the lamps.
As mentioned in the post above yes it is currently stuck at 1080p. This is a mayor inconveniance I know >.<
I am planning on patching that along with the settings menu that is currently not there :)
Remember it's just an alpha :)
 

Kentae

Member
Ah, I overlooked that part. Sorry! However, it does stop me from playing it, so I will have to wait.
I am sorry for this. I will try to fix it as soon as possible :) There's an increasing amount of people who's got monitors running other resolutions than 1080p at this point :)
 

Bart

WiseBart
From the gameplay video the look and feel is great! It all seems to run very smoothly as well.
I downloaded the game and gave it a try myself, but unfortunately it runs at a very low fps on my system (integrated GPU though).
I will wait for the version with the configurable graphics settings and definitely try again then! :)
 

Kentae

Member
From the gameplay video the look and feel is great! It all seems to run very smoothly as well.
I downloaded the game and gave it a try myself, but unfortunately it runs at a very low fps on my system (integrated GPU though).
I will wait for the version with the configurable graphics settings and definitely try again then! :)
It ran on a PC with an integrated GPU? o_O Even at low fps I'd say that's impressive xD Hopefully it'll be better with the graphics settings :)
 

Kentae

Member
Hello fellow game makers! ^^

A small update for ya'll. I've added the settings menu so now it's possible to play the game on different screen sizes ^^
There are also some graphical settings that may help lower end computers to run the game at a more acceptable framerate.
Although I have not been able to test to what extent these settings may help.
Might not be as much as I wanted but should help at least a little :)

Settings are applied when you click on them in the menu but you wont see any differance until you're in game :)

The main menu and loading screen backgrounds now strecth to fill the game window. They are just 1080p images so they may look blurry on high resolution settings xD

Some things to note:
  • Dying, pressing "quit" to go to the main menu and starting the game again from there still might not work. I was not able to figure out why, so you still have to quit the game completely and start it up again for a new round.
  • There is no delta time (not from a lack of trying) so if the game runs at a lower frame rate it will also feel slower. I'm sorry about this one :(
  • When you press the "Start Game" button it still takes a while before it goes to the loading screen. Just be patient :)
Now for the download link:

Hope it works out better now and that you guys have fun playing it ^^
I have also updated the download link in the main post.
(My current highscore is 156800 ;P)
 

Bart

WiseBart
I played the new version. Unfortunately my computer still won't run it too smoothly (I played on lowest settings) but that's something on my end that needs improving I think 😄
In some areas it runs quite well, perhaps that has to do with overdraw and the number of pixels being shaded at once? (with all the lighting going on and all)

I did play for a while, though. The aiming feels really smooth. Controls and movement in general feel very smooth.
The game world has a really nice, dark atmosphere. That's also definitely enjoyable!
Some things that caught my attention:
  • There are visible seams on the interior walls, not sure where they come from.
  • I eventually lost because of getting stuck on a staircase on my way down (is it one of those known issues?). I got a high score of 9000 😀
  • A zombie outside didn't move at all when I was inside
  • The resolution of 1280x720 doesn't switch to fullscreen but stays windowed
Some ideas that I think could be nice additions:
  • It doesn't seem to be possible to shoot through the windows
  • Zombies entering the buildings through the windows would be really neat
  • Press LMB to reload instead of R when ammo is 0
It's nice to see everything come together in such a solid 3D game in development in GameMaker. I'm really interested in seeing how this will progress!
 

Kentae

Member
Thanks for playing ^^

I played the new version. Unfortunately my computer still won't run it too smoothly (I played on lowest settings) but that's something on my end that needs improving I think 😄
Hehe, can't really help you there I'm affraid xD

In some areas it runs quite well, perhaps that has to do with overdraw and the number of pixels being shaded at once? (with all the lighting going on and all)
Quite possibly. The game was never ment to be anything but a small, quick project to see what I could do in that time so it's not really all that well optimized.

I did play for a while, though. The aiming feels really smooth. Controls and movement in general feel very smooth.
The game world has a really nice, dark atmosphere. That's also definitely enjoyable!
That's nice to hear, thanks ^^

  • There are visible seams on the interior walls, not sure where they come from.
  • I eventually lost because of getting stuck on a staircase on my way down (is it one of those known issues?). I got a high score of 9000 😀
  • A zombie outside didn't move at all when I was inside
  • The resolution of 1280x720 doesn't switch to fullscreen but stays windowed
  1. That's because of the s*** way I did the texturing xD I found what is possibly a much better method of doing it later on but did not have the time to redo all the models in order to use it :p
  2. Can't say I've gotten stuck in the stairs myself yet but I do believe that it's possible. The player collisions and movement could deffinatley benefit from some more refining :)
  3. At a certain range from the player they will go between "Idle" and "Patrol" states until the player is in range or shoots them. Or a zombie near them, as they will then be called in to help by the zombie that was shot.
  4. Yes, the game is always in windowed. I considered adding the possibility of switching between fullscreen and windowed but never got arond to it since I so often required the game to be windowed whilst developing it :/

  • It doesn't seem to be possible to shoot through the windows
  • Zombies entering the buildings through the windows would be really neat
  • Press LMB to reload instead of R when ammo is 0
  1. The windows are kind of boarded up by the collision model and this seems a bit weird I know xD It was ultimatley an optomization thing since having open windows in the collision model would increase the polycount quite a lot. I did plan on doing something with the windows to make them look like you couldn't shoot through them as well but didn't have the time :)
  2. It sure would! But I haven't the foggiest how I should make that happen xD My navmesh system isn't all that advanced I'm affraid :) And it would require more animations for the zombies. maybe if I ever go back to this game in the future. I have some things that take priority first though :)
  3. Hehe, I actually thought of at that one time but I think I ended up forgetting to add it xD As said above, maybe if I go back at this game again some time :)
@Bart Thank you so much for your feedback ^^ I actually enjoyed developing this game so much that I am actually considering making something more out of it some time :) maybe something more story based with several levels and actual objectives to complete :)
 

Bart

WiseBart
I almost forgot to leave another reply here.
It would definitely be neat to see this turn into a somewhat bigger game! Story and objectives would fit well I think.

Going to keep following the progress on this! :)
 

Kentae

Member
It would definitely be neat to see this turn into a somewhat bigger game! Story and objectives would fit well I think.

Going to keep following the progress on this! :)
I have been considering latley if I want to just use the engine from this game to create my next project (and improve it obviously). I have for a long time wanted to create a sci-fi shooter. So, switch out the zombies for aliens maybe :p
Haven't quite decided yet though ^^

Btw, I meant to ask. How low does the fps go for you?
Are we talking 40-60 (kinda playable) or like 20-40 (practically unplayable) ish? :)
Ans if you wouldn't mind, what specs you're running :)
 

Bart

WiseBart
That sounds like a great idea. It's clearly a solid engine already!

I played the game again with Windows 10's FPS counter enabled. It runs mostly with FPS somewhere between 30-40. In interiors it happens to go over 50 and occasionally it goes below 30. That is on lowest settings on an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U CPU with Radeon Vega 8 integrated GPU, with 8GB RAM.
 
Top