YOTPP: January Update

In case you are wondering, I haven’t forgotten about my lofty idea: The Year of the Pig Project. As promised, the last day of each month this year, I will shed more light into the process of this year’s ultimate goal, making a video game from scratch. Hit the jump for more...


This month’s goal was simple, but took a lot of thought. Come up with the idea for a game. I wanted it to be original, and I wanted it to be something I felt confident in undertaking (no Gears of War graphics). I have the idea for my game, and to be honest, I am pretty excited about it. Almost everyone I have talked to about my game idea, has not only been supportive, they have also been excited. I am getting ideas from friends about as fast as I can write them down.

First of all, have you ever played The Oregon Trail? If you are anywhere near my age, the answer is probably yes. It was one of the only games I could play at school that I actually enjoyed. If you aren’t familiar with it, check out this video. As with most things on the Internet, you can always find a nerd who uses crazy hand gestures to explain something for you.



Here’s my concept. The same resource management and path decision strategy elements of The Oregon Trail set in a Zombie infested post-apocalyptic world. Still with me? I know what you are thinking. It doesn’t sound very original, I mean I am seemingly ripping off an entire gameplay concept. But bear with me. The basic storyline is that it has been several months since the initial zombie outbreak. In the Romero timeline, it would be somewhere between Dawn and Day of the Dead. You and your friends have been safely hiding in that time, but your food and medical supplies are wearing thin. Rather than roam from abandoned town to abandoned town and ravaging random supplies, you decide to head to a rumored safe place. I haven’t worked out all the story elements yet, but the basic idea is that your party wants to eventually arrive at a place where society is trying to rebuild.

This is where the contrast of Oregon Trail pays off so well. Originally, The Oregon Trail game was a colorful tale about hope and the beginning of modern civilization. My game will be a fun little juxtaposition presenting a dark (but still humorous) tale of despair and the possible end of all civilization. Ultimately of course, you have the hopes of returning to civilization, but I won’t spoil the endings, I’ll let you play the game yourself.

As mentioned, the gameplay will be very similar to The Oregon Trail. Like the original, you will be managing food, gas, ammo, and direction and speed of travel. Multiple stories and game scenarios will be featured depending on the difficulty you choose. The greater the difficulty, the greater potential for a higher score. It will be dark on the surface, but I plan on putting in a lot of humor and random zombie references. There will always be the possibility of someone in your party getting bitten by a zombie. You will have to decide whether to kill them immediately, and lighten your load, albeit morbidly. Or continue in the hopes that a cure awaits at your destination. You will have to pick your rate and direction of travel, and random events can occur that determine your outcome. I haven’t yet decided on a name, but as a placeholder, I am just referring to the game as The Zombie Trail.

Now, what lies ahead? January’s goal has been reached, what’s in store for February? Research! I plan on watching (almost) every zombie movie ever. Yes, there are some out there I haven’t seen. Also, I plan on reading The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. Finally, I plan on playing The Oregon Trail dozens of times. As I said in the original post, this project is not about getting as much done in as little time as possible. It is more about consistency and good planning. I probably won’t even start coding until May.

Leave me some comments. How does my idea sound? Would you play this game? Any ideas you want to add? Do you also like the taste of brains?