Talk:They Do Not Die

Custom Graphics

I touched up my people graphics:

(for anyone who wants to try these, "people.png" goes in SD:\apps\TheyDoNotDie\Media\Game\ )

I fixed them to make sure the characters fit completely within a circle, so there are no weird cropping issues -- you can probably remove the extra border you put around the circles to account for that (or I guess I could make them larger, heh).

If anyone also wants my Homebrew Channel icon to match my people graphics, here it is, heh:

Mr. Reaper 04:33, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Suggestions

First, the simple things:

• Gun sound effects!
• The "Energy meter" really isn't doing anything good.... I'm gonna recommend dropping it, and instead having a "Heat meter." As you fire your gun, it slowly overheats. When you stop firing your gun, it cools off. Otherwise, since there are unlimited bullets, there's really no reason to ever stop firing your gun.... I suppose if you still want to have a "run" option, it could just slowly reduce your health meter. But I think the run button should be Z on the nunchuck -- it might just be my preference, but that way you have all the movement controls on the left hand, and keep the firing controls all on the right hand.

Now I'm gonna try to sell you on some more radical ideas, because I think TDND really has a lot of potential.

I know you like these abstract mini games, and you make a lot of cool, innovative, creative things rather than just copying other types of games, but a lot of your games just seem "unfinished" somehow.... For one thing, games need to have a goal of some sort to stive for. Games where you just shoot things to gain points won't hold people's interest for very long, unless there's some goal to keep them playing, even if it's just "get to the end of the level," like in Swingball (congrats on 2nd place in the Nintendomax contest, by the way).

So the first idea: Make a Goal. I suggest "escape from town." For example, somewhere along the edge of the map, you randomly place an exit gate. The player must search around for that gate to escape the zombie-infested town. Ok, that's easy, right? So that's "Easy level." To increase the difficulty, the exit gate is locked and you also randomly place a key somewhere in town.... Now you must search for the key, then unlock the gate. And you can make increasing difficulty levels.... Maybe the gate needs 2 keys. Or, if you add in drivable cars (like in the PC version), you randomly place a car on the map.... Then you have to find the car, find the key, unlock the gate, and drive out of town. Maybe the car is out of gas! Then you have to find a gas can, bring it to the car, find the key and unlock the gate, then drive out of town.... You get the idea. You have to hunt around town to find what you need to escape....

Now, to add a sense of urgency (and make it not just a cake walk, moving around and picking up stuff), there needs to be a "time limit" so that if you don't find everything in a certain amount of time, you're doomed! But instead of a standard, boring clock counting down... you could do this: At the start of the game, zombies appear very slowly.... The more time that passes, the faster zombies start to spawn.... After too long, they are spawning so fast... you are doomed! And along those same line... the zombies you've killed will eventually come back to life! Then you can really call it "They Do Not Die!" -- they jump up off the ground where you killed them and keep coming for you.... The more time that passes, the faster the dead zombies come back to life. So, if you have taken too long to find your key, car, gas, exit gate, etc., you're going to be swarmed by hundreds of zombies that only stay dead for a few seconds... and you're doooomed! The general idea is to have a goal that you need to accomplish within a limited time. And by placing the objects randomly, each game will be slightly different -- that adds much replay value.

I like the "fog of war" kind of effect -- it would especially be good if you're going to have hidden things placed around the map that you have to hunt for.

Now... your graphics.... I know you love the abstractness of your games, but in this case, the simple graphics are really holding the game back. It does not draw the player into the game. This is a zombie survival game.... The creepy background music is a great start, but it's just un-engaging to have a circle shooting other circles.... Once you make your character a little guy with a gun, the player automatically relates to that; it's no longer just a circle, it's a person who you want to stay alive! And when you replace the green circles with zombie graphics, the player can actually relate to the danger of these zombies attacking the little person he's controlling! The sense of danger really heightens the experience. Soo.... I kinda think you should scrap the circles (or make them a non-default option). I'll help in whatever way I can.... because I think TDND could be polished into something really cool.

A few more ideas to consider: Randomly placed power-ups. Shoes that make you run fast for a while. An Ice Cube that keeps your gun cool for a while. A Survival Knife that automatically hurts zombies that touch you for a limited time. Stuff like that....

Mr. Reaper 07:38, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

download

Does anyone have an alternative download for this and the other homebrew games that were on the platonic robot site Sausage and eggs (talk) 15:27, 6 June 2021 (CEST)

You can probably get it from the Wayback Machine. Hallowizer (talk) 21:16, 6 June 2021 (CEST)