Zombies only Call of Duty game?

[electricpenguin7]

I'm sure that this has been posted before, but I think that Treyarch should totally make a stand alone zombies game. It's gotten extremely popular, and I think that the game would be a huge success. I've been thinking about how I would design the game, and I want to know what everyone thinks, or how you would design a zombies only game.

First off, I would not have a campaign. I think Treyarch should continue their way of telling the story through the easter eggs and whatnot in the maps. I think a campaign wouldn't be good, but some people may disagree.

Now, obviously they should include Nacht der Untoten, Veruckt, Shi No Numa, Der Riese, Kino der Toten, Five, and Ascension, as well as all of the zombie maps that are going to be DLC on Black Ops, the way they are. Don't ass aynthing to them. Oh, and Dead Ops Arcade should just be an easter egg, like it is now. If you add up all of the current maps excluding Dead Ops, that's 7. I'm guessing anywhere from 2 to 4 new maps on Black Ops brings us up to 9 to 11 maps. Then, they should double it for the zombies game. For example, say 2 new zombie maps comes to Black Ops, bringing the map count up to 9. They should put those 9 on, then create 9 new ones, so the game has 18. Now, I know that is a large amount of maps, but remember that the multiplayer portion of Call of Duty usually has 12 to 14 maps plus 2 or 3 map packs. Then they should release a new map every month or two for like $3. There would be a lot of maps.

The engine that runs Black Ops would be perfect for a zombies game. I personally haven't found anything terrible about it, so using the Black Ops engine would be good. And of course keep all of the options available such as solo, Xbox live, PSN, all that jazz, as well as 4-player splitscreen, not just 2.

Now, 18 or so maps is alot to handle. So what Treyarch should do is have Nacht der Untoten available, then in order to unlock Veruckt, you have to get to round 5 on Nacht der Untoten, and just keep adding them up like that and have to unlock all of the maps. It would give players something to strive for, and have players get better at all of the maps and develop strategies for them.

Ok, this may be the biggest topic of them all: the weapons. The way I organize weapons (Call of Duty weapons at least) is by the era they were used. I've come up with 3. WWII, Cold War, and modern. So as you play the maps, you should be able to pick what era weapons you use. However, you should have to unlock the era. For example, say you did a challenge on Der Riese, you could be allowed to put modern weapons in the mystery box, of Cold War weapons on the wall. Here's a little chart I've thrown together to kind of visualize what I mean. These show the maps in their original games.

Map Wall Weapons Mystery Box Weapons

Nacht der Untoten | WWII | WWII

Veruckt | WWII | WWII

Shi No Numa | WWII | WWII

Der Riese | WWII | WWII

Kino der Toten | Cold War | Cold War

Five | Cold War | Cold War

Ascension | Cold War | Cold War

However, the hardened and prestige editions of Black Ops changed the first 4 maps to

Map Wall Weapons Mystery Box Weapons

Nacht der Untoten | WWII | Cold War

Veruckt | WWII | Cold War

Shi No Numa | WWII | Cold War

Der Riese | WWII | Cold War

So in the zombies game, you should be able to change the columns to WWII, Cold War, or modern, by doing certain things on the maps (Eg, get 50 headshots in one game on Veruckt to be able to use modern weapons on the wall). So by doing the challenges, you have a wider spectrum of weapons available to use. When you go to pick the map, you can go to the wall weapons category and pick the option you want, or default, and you can go to the mystery box and chooose the option you want, or default. Or if you didn't unlock those weapons yet, you could hit a button for it to tell you what you had to do to unlock those weapons.

Ok, here's a summary of what my design of a zombies game would be:

- Keep all zombie maps from WaW and BO just the way they are

- Double the amount by adding new maps

- DLC a new map every month or 2 for $3

- Unlock maps by getting to certain rounds on already unlocked maps

- Be able to customize what set of weapons to use by doing challenges

That's it. I know that's a lot to read, but what do you think? Agree? Disagree? How would you design a zombies game?

[Killerpuggle]

Great idea dude, one of the best zombie game ideas on this site. I like the idea of unlocking everything, it would help the newbies.

[adam120694]

That would be my favorite game ever! Awesome ideas dude. I see you went to a lot of trouble making this so [brains]

[DeckchairsFTW]

Nice idea, i'd buy it.

But, (there's always a but....) i'm just guessing here, correct me if i'm wrong, but surely a Zombie map takes a lot more processing power than the average online map what with the easter eggs and whatnot. So 18 might be a huge ask. But then again (a good but this time!) if there is no campaign then it would surely free up some space.

Forgive me if it sounds like i'm talking out of my arse, it's really late, i'm really tired, and really not sure if a Zombie map does use more processing power than an Mp one, it's just my guess. PC Nerds, help!

Deckchairs FTW

PS: +1 [brains]

[TheOutlawAmbulance]

Great idea but I was thinking, what if they added a community section for PC? Something like where you can make your own map and then download it for free from a community section or something! :)

[electricpenguin7]

@DeckchairsFTW: I believe you're thinking of space on the cd. Yes, zombies maps do take up more space than multiplayer maps, but as you said no campaign does help with room on the disc

@TheOutlawAmbulance: That would be cool for pc players, but Xbox and ps3 players would miss out, unless they had a way for xbox and ps3 players to somehow download those maps. Maybe release a editing program for pc that you could upload to a server for all platforms to play? If this could happen, it would be the best thing to happen to Call of Duty. Ever.

[nhcre8tv1]

Looks better than Dead Island :/

What?

....

I don't like how it looks. It's ANOTHER RPG/FPS trying to be cool, on top of it another, right, ANOTHER co-op zombie game. Jesus christ zombie games are the Vampire movies of video games. I love zombie games, as all my favorite games have zombies in it, but Dead Island will be a flop, and I will not be getting it, I'm sorry.

But I WOULD get a Nazi Zombies game, totally, yeah.

:|

[xxAKSHUNxx]

keep zombies how it is.. i mean i would buy an all nazi zombies game but wouldn't wanna see it get ruined if it didnt get the sales they were looking for and decided to scrap the idea for zombies in later cod games

[DeckchairsFTW]

@DeckchairsFTW: I believe you're thinking of space on the cd. Yes, zombies maps do take up more space than multiplayer maps, but as you said no campaign does help with room on the disc.

*Does a 'I was right but used the wrong wording' Dance* :P

[Vikings-Call]

Would totally buy this, i play black ops for the zombies most of the time rarely going on to play multiplayer and mayby they would finally have 8+ people zombie killing :D

[MasterSubZero]

I just hope they wouldn't spoil the story or rush it to make money as this game has a lot of thought and dedication behind it.

Either way I still think what Treyarch have created is like no other mini game and big thumbs up to them.

I hope the Treyarch team keeps the story going for a while and continues to make it better and better with every new map and keep all of us guessing with new Easter egg's, hidden items and keep adding new perks and guns for us to play with.

RESPECT TO TREYARCH...

[Shooter]

We can dream cant we?

Awesome ideas!

[jediloomis]

Here's a few more ideas...

:: Fully customizable private games (Weapons, Difficulty, etc)

:: Some type of class system (choice between two or three basic starting weapons, one perk until you go down, weapon skins, choice of 1 tactical grenade and 1 lethal) Of course, these would all have to be unlocked as you level up. This would have to be toned down a bit from the standard CoD multiplayer set up, but I think it would help keep things interesting.

:: Have a winning round (For example, you win at round 30 and there's a cut scene that shows the survivors moving on or whatever) but you can continue after the thematic ending for the map. That way, you don't change the format, but you still have a campaign of sorts as the maps each tell a story and you have to "beat" a map before the next one unlocks.

:: There would be a "Classic Zombie" mode that would be an unaltered version from the WaW/Black Ops games for all the Zombie purists out there. 8-)

Just a few more ideas. If you like these ideas, how about some brains? I'm starving here.

[electricpenguin7]

@jediloomis: Ehhh... I don't know about all that. Those ideas seem to kinda stray from what the core of zombies is. I mean, I like how the story is almost "hidden", and you have to go search for clues on what's happening. As for the classes, again that's multiplayer, and zombies stands out from multiplayer. The point of zombies is to start with next to nothing and build up point, weapons, perks while keeping zombies off you. Starting with all of that would almost distort the image of what Treyarch wants in zombies. As for the difficulty, I don't know about that either. Zombies was meant to start easy and incline in dificulty untill it becomes just plain brutal. I don't know about all these sudden changes.

[jediloomis]

@jediloomis: Ehhh... I don't know about all that. Those ideas seem to kinda stray from what the core of zombies is. I mean, I like how the story is almost "hidden", and you have to go search for clues on what's happening. As for the classes, again that's multiplayer, and zombies stands out from multiplayer. The point of zombies is to start with next to nothing and build up point, weapons, perks while keeping zombies off you. Starting with all of that would almost distort the image of what Treyarch wants in zombies. As for the difficulty, I don't know about that either. Zombies was meant to start easy and incline in dificulty untill it becomes just plain brutal. I don't know about all these sudden changes.

I feel ya, bro. However, I don't think I explained myself clearly enough. I'm not talking about a fully unlockable class with every weapon in the game eventually being available. I'm talking about some very basic starting weapons and that's all.

As for the story, it can still be hidden to where you don't know what's going on fully, but have some type of reveal at the end of the map that answers a few questions and sets up the next map that is being unlocked.

Also, like I said, there would still be the option of having a "Classic" game mode where everything remains the same from previous Call of Duty Zombies installments. However, if you're talking about a full game of nothing but Zombies, you gotta mix it up and add more features. If not, Treyarch would be better off just continuing to add Zombies as a game mode to their standard Call of Duty games.

[PeterTarrant]

Well what I was thinking is this - maybe 6 regular zombie maps on the game, but also more added as DLC, perhaps double the amount per year as we get with Black Ops.

A custom/private match lobby to change difficulty and settings and also a different leaderboard for each mode.

Different modes - like Co-op, Versus etc.

Different maps were you could be seperated like Verruckt, but perhaps all 4 in different places and whoever reaches power room 1st wins? IDK..

Modes where you can have more than 4 players.

An online multiplayer section where you fight each other while waves of zombies come at you aswell...

AND a solo storymode that will explain all the secrets etc...

[electricpenguin7]

@jediloomis: Ehhh... I don't know about all that. Those ideas seem to kinda stray from what the core of zombies is. I mean, I like how the story is almost "hidden", and you have to go search for clues on what's happening. As for the classes, again that's multiplayer, and zombies stands out from multiplayer. The point of zombies is to start with next to nothing and build up point, weapons, perks while keeping zombies off you. Starting with all of that would almost distort the image of what Treyarch wants in zombies. As for the difficulty, I don't know about that either. Zombies was meant to start easy and incline in dificulty untill it becomes just plain brutal. I don't know about all these sudden changes.

I feel ya, bro. However, I don't think I explained myself clearly enough. I'm not talking about a fully unlockable class with every weapon in the game eventually being available. I'm talking about some very basic starting weapons and that's all.

As for the story, it can still be hidden to where you don't know what's going on fully, but have some type of reveal at the end of the map that answers a few questions and sets up the next map that is being unlocked.

Also, like I said, there would still be the option of having a "Classic" game mode where everything remains the same from previous Call of Duty Zombies installments. However, if you're talking about a full game of nothing but Zombies, you gotta mix it up and add more features. If not, Treyarch would be better off just continuing to add Zombies as a game mode to their standard Call of Duty games.

Ok, I see what you're saying now. I had to re-read your first post haha. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is a good idea. So like have 3 or so weapons from WWII, 3 from Cold War and 3 from Modern, and play through the maps listed under each era, unlocking later ones. Classic zombies would be good, and now that you clarified your cutscene idea, I think that would be cool. So, have cutscenes at certain rounds just to almost confuse people, then have them search the map for answers? That'd be awesome, and it would make the storyline even more involving.

[jediloomis]

@jediloomis: Ehhh... I don't know about all that. Those ideas seem to kinda stray from what the core of zombies is. I mean, I like how the story is almost "hidden", and you have to go search for clues on what's happening. As for the classes, again that's multiplayer, and zombies stands out from multiplayer. The point of zombies is to start with next to nothing and build up point, weapons, perks while keeping zombies off you. Starting with all of that would almost distort the image of what Treyarch wants in zombies. As for the difficulty, I don't know about that either. Zombies was meant to start easy and incline in dificulty untill it becomes just plain brutal. I don't know about all these sudden changes.

I feel ya, bro. However, I don't think I explained myself clearly enough. I'm not talking about a fully unlockable class with every weapon in the game eventually being available. I'm talking about some very basic starting weapons and that's all.

As for the story, it can still be hidden to where you don't know what's going on fully, but have some type of reveal at the end of the map that answers a few questions and sets up the next map that is being unlocked.

Also, like I said, there would still be the option of having a "Classic" game mode where everything remains the same from previous Call of Duty Zombies installments. However, if you're talking about a full game of nothing but Zombies, you gotta mix it up and add more features. If not, Treyarch would be better off just continuing to add Zombies as a game mode to their standard Call of Duty games.

Ok, I see what you're saying now. I had to re-read your first post haha. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is a good idea. So like have 3 or so weapons from WWII, 3 from Cold War and 3 from Modern, and play through the maps listed under each era, unlocking later ones. Classic zombies would be good, and now that you clarified your cutscene idea, I think that would be cool. So, have cutscenes at certain rounds just to almost confuse people, then have them search the map for answers? That'd be awesome, and it would make the storyline even more involving.

Exactly. I was thinking sort of like Gears of War where you can change your starting character and weapon but your choices are very limited. The main weapons and power ups are still on the map and must be gained by fighting your way to their position. I really think there's a ton of things you could do to make CoD Zombies a standalone game that people would buy in high volume.

[electricpenguin7]

Ok, then in that case you'd probably have to spawn more zombies right off the bat, as you would have access to higher power weapons than the M1911.

So, here's a newer list of what a zombies game should entail:

- All maps from WaW and BO

- A set of brand new maps

- No campaign, but cutscenes for certain rounds on maps (I was thinking you could turn this off once you saw it the first time)

- Maps sorted into 3 eras: WWII, Cold War, Modern

- Able to customize loadout for player, options limited

- Leveling up system similar to multiplayer (Exp added at end of game depending on kills, headshots etc.)

- Able to customize era of weapons on the wall via challenges

- Able to customize era of weapons in the mystery box via challenges

- Maps unlocked once certain rounds are reached on other maps

- DLC for extra maps

- Classic mode played as zombies were on WaW and BO.

Wow, what a list. I don't think prestiging would be necessary because once you level up, you would only have access to like 9 weapons to customize with, out of the 70+ available from wall and mystery box.

I'm liking this so far. The ideas are awesome and if this game comes out, all I'd have to say is: awesome. Should difficulty be a factor? I don't think so, especially with these new ideas, but I could be wrong. What do you guys think? Should there be different difficulties?

[dumbdumb888]

Nice idea, i'd buy it.

But, (there's always a but....) i'm just guessing here, correct me if i'm wrong, but surely a Zombie map takes a lot more processing power than the average online map what with the easter eggs and whatnot. So 18 might be a huge ask. But then again (a good but this time!) if there is no campaign then it would surely free up some space.

Forgive me if it sounds like i'm talking out of my arse, it's really late, i'm really tired, and really not sure if a Zombie map does use more processing power than an Mp one, it's just my guess. PC Nerds, help!

Deckchairs FTW

PS: +1 [brains]

If this is to happen, Activision must provide a completely upgraded engine that is much more powerful than the BO server. There are a couple things that prove that the BO server is not strong enough.

(Note: I have not read the entire thread yet so don't kick my ass if I restate something that's already been posted)

First of all, there is a reason why it is incredibly hard for zombies to support more than four players on their current engine. Zombies takes a LOT more power to run than MP. MP includes many features that cannot be run in zombies because of the engines capacity being pushed. For example, you cannot pull yourself up onto a ledge such as in MP. The connection is also harder to keep for four people in zombies than it is for 18 people in ground war. On last thing that shows the engine's problem is the fact that zombies has a quality of many Bethesda games (Elder Scrolls, Fallout). Not sure if any of you have ever noticed, but there are NO ladders. Anywhere. They are very hard to support in a mode that already pushes the engine to it's limits. Bethesda has also avoided this issue because of their engine's capacity.

Overall, an upgraded engine is required in order to support a zombies only game. Especially if they want to improve it drastically.

But I love the idea. And if they can provide nine maps, players will be busy for months. I love the idea of having to complete challenges and stuff to unlock the new maps and other stuff.

Finally, I think Treyarch has plenty of time to develop this kind of game, especially since Sledgehammer has joined to Call of duty squad for Activision. If Sledgehammer jumps into the sequence with 3arc and IW, Treyarch will have three years to develop this game.

[electricpenguin7]

Nice idea, i'd buy it.

But, (there's always a but....) i'm just guessing here, correct me if i'm wrong, but surely a Zombie map takes a lot more processing power than the average online map what with the easter eggs and whatnot. So 18 might be a huge ask. But then again (a good but this time!) if there is no campaign then it would surely free up some space.

Forgive me if it sounds like i'm talking out of my arse, it's really late, i'm really tired, and really not sure if a Zombie map does use more processing power than an Mp one, it's just my guess. PC Nerds, help!

Deckchairs FTW

PS: +1 [brains]

If this is to happen, Activision must provide a completely upgraded engine that is much more powerful than the BO server. There are a couple things that prove that the BO server is not strong enough.

(Note: I have not read the entire thread yet so don't kick my ass if I restate something that's already been posted)

First of all, there is a reason why it is incredibly hard for zombies to support more than four players on their current engine. Zombies takes a LOT more power to run than MP. MP includes many features that cannot be run in zombies because of the engines capacity being pushed. For example, you cannot pull yourself up onto a ledge such as in MP. The connection is also harder to keep for four people in zombies than it is for 18 people in ground war. On last thing that shows the engine's problem is the fact that zombies has a quality of many Bethesda games (Elder Scrolls, Fallout). Not sure if any of you have ever noticed, but there are NO ladders. Anywhere. They are very hard to support in a mode that already pushes the engine to it's limits. Bethesda has also avoided this issue because of their engine's capacity.

Overall, an upgraded engine is required in order to support a zombies only game. Especially if they want to improve it drastically.

But I love the idea. And if they can provide nine maps, players will be busy for months. I love the idea of having to complete challenges and stuff to unlock the new maps and other stuff.

Finally, I think Treyarch has plenty of time to develop this kind of game, especially since Sledgehammer has joined to Call of duty squad for Activision. If Sledgehammer jumps into the sequence with 3arc and IW, Treyarch will have three years to develop this game.

I do agree with most of this, however I never intended more than 4 players. I think any more than 4 is too much, and 8 is too many players to coordinate. It is true that zombies stresses the engine more, and an upgrade however minor would be needed. This isn't a problem because the Black Ops engine (I'm not positive about this, correct me if I'm wrong) is split into 3 parts. Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies. With Campaign and Multiplayer out of the way, Treyarch would have more room to upgrade the zombies portion. Also, regarding the Infinity Ward debate, if I'm not mistaken, Modern Warfare 3 will not carry the Call of Duty title. Also, last I heard, Sledgehammer put their game on pause to help IW with Modern Warfare 3. So I believe Call of Duty rests in Treyarch's hands, at least for now. But yes, Treyarch will have ample amounts of time to develop this game.

[Pandaman5797]

My only reservations for using the BO engine (at least for the PS3 game) is that by round 25 or so for 4 players (on Ascension) zombies lags A LOT! if they can fix this, Treyarch will permanently be my favorite CoD company :D

[DeckchairsFTW]

I did read somewhere a while ago that all the BO game engine is, is an upgraded version of the MW2 one, which was itself an upgraded version of the WAW one, which was an upgraded COD4 one. Correct me if i'm wrong, but maybe if they were to make an entire new zombies game, surely they would want to use a completely different, custom game engine.

[electricpenguin7]

I thought I remember reading that BO was upgraded WaW and the modern warfare games were seperate but I could be totally wrong.

[Pandaman5797]

thats what I thought, WaW was an upgraded CoD4 engine though