Hey everybody, is Storm Epidemic co-creator of Ireland. I have even more Horde Mode ideas for Nelson to utilize in Unturned 2. This time the suggestions are focused with how the mode would be handled in game, rather than content in the mode.
Menus:
Servers for horde mode may seem tricky at first, but I believe this should function side by side with a Lobby system. Completely inspired from Call of Duty : Zombies, I believe there should be three buttons after you press “Play” on the main menu of Unturned 2. Like in Call Of Duty, these three buttons separate the game into 3 divisions : Horde mode, Survival mode, and Arena mode (if it returns in 2). This will also separate the server lists and depending on how Unturned 2 will load its content, will essentially split the game into three parts separate from each other. In Call Of Duty Black Ops (2010), there are three menus to handle all 3 modes of the game’s content. Story, Multiplayer, and Zombies. I feel this also open the door to how the game will handle maps as well, as some map lists will be split between menus, easily accessible by just going back through the menus.
Server Hosting:
I can only see multiplayer horde mode functionally working by using a lobby system. Again inspired by Call Of Duty, a player joins a lobby of a max of 4 players and 3 must “ready up” for the game to begin. I can’t see how horde mode would work (my idea of it) without this system. In 3.0, a player could join a horde mode server whenever and at whatever round the other players got to, and have nothing to fight off the very powerful zombies. I also believe that Horde Mode would work best if hosted officially, but this would be essentially locking down a gamemode to the gold upgrade. It would be ideal that the game would receive special curated maps similar to Call Of Duty map packs for zombies. Maybe each curation cycle 1 or two very detailed custom Horde maps are released?
Gameplay Tech :
The reason Unturned 3.0 horde mode is so boring is mostly due to the fact it is unfinished. However, it is also to do with how the game handles Zombies. You cannot tell if a zombie is damaged, so shooting guns is the same as shooting a wall that bleeds. Hopefully in 4.0 the zombies will feel less “floaty” and much more of a threat to the player. This introduces an alternate health system where a certain number of hits from zombies kills the player. A health system doesn’t work well in a COD esc arcade zombies environment.
Leaderboards:
The main thing that is missing from many of the COD Zombies games and maps, is a solid leaderboard inaccessible to hackers. Imagine getting to wave 40 on my map Hospital and have no recognition for it. The leaderboards would be accessible under the “Horde Mode” tab in the “Play” menu.
Curation / Offical Maps for Horde Mode :
I feel it would be ideal for curated teams to handle Horde Mode. My idea of what Horde Mode would be would only require a map about the size of a Tiny map in 3.0. However, these maps will require a lot of detail and time to be put into them, custom scripts, traps, a huge list of weapons, clothes, vending machines, lights, everything would have to be custom. Looking at any COD zombies map, none of them look the same and it takes the Treyarc team MONTHS to complete a single map for COD. However, this is totally up to Nelson on how he’d want to handle Horde Mode maps, he may just enjoy making them himself too!