· 8 years ago · Aug 12, 2018, 05:42 AM
1Zombies! 2 Survivor's Handbook
2==============================
3
4Table of Contents
5-----------------
6
7* Introduction
8* Day-To-Day Basics
9* Equipment
10* Appendix A: Preferences
11* Appendix B: Map Making
12
13
14Introduction
15------------
16
17Zombies! 2 is a weird kind of game. This guide can't tell you exactly how to
18play or how to win. There are a few reasons for this, the biggest being that
19there are different ways to play: you could be by yourself at a console, or on-
20line via IRC, or on some graphical UI that has yet to be invented. The point is
21that while there are no *specific* commands that will work across all of the
22clients. This handbook can only give directions and suggestions; refer to the
23manual or README for whatever frontend you use.
24
25Maps are another story alltogether. Each map and campaign is different, coded
26by some person in a faraway land. There's no way to predict how each one will
27need to be won, but there's one sure strategy that holds true across every game.
28Zombies! is a *survival* game, which means that you will most certainly lose
29if your characters die. Staying alive is one step in the right direction.
30
31
32Day-To-Day Basics
33-----------------
34
35Dealing with zombies is not for the faint of heart. You'll have to encounter a
36whole lot of them thoughout your adventures, and it's likely you'll lose a piece
37of yourself fighting them. You have to prepare for the worst, which is an idea
38you should grasp tightly at all times. This entails:
39
40* Keep yourself well-stocked. This means both ammo (you can never have too much)
41 and weapons (why have on machete when you can have two?)
42* Watch your entrances and exits. Keep an escape route in mind so when you start
43 getting overwhelmed by zombies.
44* Make use of explosives to clear overly crowded rooms, or to cut yourself an
45escape route if none exists.
46* Don't corner yourself unless you absolutely have to. Many maps spawn new zombies
47at a certain rate; you wouldn't want it to get too crowded just outside of your
48only exit.
49* Be sure to use bandages when you have them. They can't stop anything but bleeding,
50but bleeding by itself is pretty deadly, let alone bleeding in front of a few hungry
51zombies.
52
53
54Equipment
55---------
56
57This is a comprehensive list of all the weapons and items included in the core
58backend of Zombies! 2. Modified copies might not stick to this list.
59
60### Melee Weapons
61
62* __Switchblade__ Pretty much a joke of a knife. Don't expect to do any real
63 damage with it.
64* __Machete__ *This* is a real knife. Decent blade that's a good backup weapon.
65* __Axe__ A heftier weapon that hits more often, but with a low critical.
66* __Chainsaw__ The ultimate zombie-killing device. High chance of hitting, and
67 the highest critical range for any weapon
68
69### Ranged Weapons
70
71* __Pistol__ Your basic weapon, a good sidearm. Not very impressive by any means.
72 Fires 9mm bullets.
73* __Uzi__ Basically an automatic Pistol, slightly less accurate. Shares 9mm
74 rounds with its cousin.
75* __Hunting Rifle__ A high-power and accurate rifle that fires .308 Winchester
76 bullets.
77* __Assualt Rifle__ Less accurate and powerful than the hunting version, this
78 rifle is at least automatic. Fires 5.56mm NATO rounds.
79* __Shotgun__ The classic gun for any wannabe zombie hunter. High damage and a
80 critical that rivals the Chainsaw. Uses Buckshot rounds.
81
82### Explosives
83
84* __Grenade__ Your standard anti-zombie explosive. You never know what you'll hit,
85but a high damage rating means it'll cause some serious blood splatters.
86* __Claymore__ Exactly like a grenade, but more accurate. Can be placed and then
87remotely detonated from afar, or can be set to trigger when a zombie walks past.
88
89### Ammunition
90
91* __9mm rounds__ Low-impact pistol rounds. Used by the Pistol and the Uzi.
92* __.308 Winchester rounds__ Low-caliber but high-velocity hunting bullets. The
93 Hunting Rifle fires them.
94* __5.56mm NATO rounds__ Standard-issue combat ammunition. Fired by the Assault
95 Rifle.
96* __Buckshot__ 12-gauge shotgun shells that pack a lot of damage into a little
97 casing. Only used by the Shotgun.
98
99### Extranneous
100
101* __Bandages__ These handy first-aid wraps staunch bleeding wounds, delaying your
102death. Take an action to use, however, so be careful.
103* __Barricades__ Those who are thrifty can erect barricades in a direction to block
104access from that direction- both ways. These can take damage from zombies, though,
105so keep an eye on them; an untimely breakage would mean bad things for you.
106
107Appendicies
108-----------
109
110### Appendix A: Preferences
111
112Players can set the following preferences for their characters:
113
114* `starting-weapon-class` determines what kind of weapon you want to start with.
115 Accepts `random` (default), `melee`, or `ranged`.
116
117
118### Appendix B: Map Making
119
120Maps are easy to make, being only linked rooms described in plain text. This
121chapter will describe the options availible to a mapmaker.
122
123Before you begin, every map must be in some kind of campaign. All this requires
124is for the map to be stored in a subfolder of `data/maps/`; for example, all of
125the legacy maps from Zombies! 1 are in the "legacy" campaign, which can be
126found at `data/maps/legacy/`. Maps should be saved as plain text with the `.map`
127extension.
128
129Map files read like JSON or Python code:
130
131 attribute: value
132
133For areas, the value is more sets of attributes. You could honestly do that
134any way you wanted, but it would be best to indent the sub-elements:
135
136 area XX:
137 attribute: value
138
139Maps are described by two main blocks: the map description and a list of areas.
140
141#### Map Metadata
142
143All of these must be present:
144
145* `start-text` Introductory text for the map. Could be story, or just yelling
146 incoherently at the players. Shown before anything happens.
147* `objective` Should display the objectives required to win the game in plain
148 English.
149* `start-location` An area name that the players start in.
150* `conditions` Another attribute that has more attributes as values. It should
151 contain a list of condition attributes (see below).
152
153##### Conditions
154
155At least one of these is required if you want the players to win. Otherwise,
156they will lose eventually and/or get bored. Note that if there are multiple win
157conditions, all of them must be true for the players to win.
158
159* `no-zombies-in` A comma-separated list of areas that no zombies may be in for
160 the players to win. All of the areas must be cleared at the same time for
161 victory to occur.
162* `spawn-frequency` A number that determines how many turns it takes for a new
163 set of zombies to spawn (in the "spawn-zombies" areas). 5 would mean every 5th
164 turn, a new zombie is created.
165* `spawn-zombies` A comma-separated list of areas to create a zombie in. They
166 spawn as often as specified by the "spawn-frequency" attribute.
167* `time-limit` A number that represents the number of player turns the game will
168 last. Players cannot win before this many turns pass.
169
170#### Areas
171
172These should be prefaced by an `area XX` attribute, where XX is a number (of
173any length). Only the tags marked by "required" are needed in the description;
174all others may be omitted.
175
176* `name` *(required)* Name of the area for the players to read.
177* `desc` *(required)* The text to show for the area; a description.
178* `zombies` A number (or "none") describing how many zombies should start the
179 game in that location.
180* `items` A list of items that should be generated in the area. Acceptable
181 values are `gun`, `melee`, `ammo`, `gun with ammo` and `weapon`. These item
182 types can be prefaced with a number (the 1 is implied), and separated by a
183 comma if you want more than one.
184
185Any other attribute is treated as an exit; the value for it should be the
186number of another area. Examples include:
187
188 east: 02
189 up: 23