haha
Thats fantastic Borsty, I'm just waiting for one of my mates to set up an SVN repository for the Contagion project, once thats done then we are cooking really. I have started breaking the artwork I have into tile sheets ready for use. I need to make alot more world graphics obviously and also the huge amount of character animations required - I just need to find the time to fit this all in
I'm also working with Surtic by email, and I'm sure he is eager to hit the ground in 5th gear once SVN is up.
I'll post a few questions and answers that Surtic asked in an email, that will shed a little more information on gameplay.
Questions and Answers
Level sizes: I'm not sure what the tile count will be to be honest, I'll have to figure that out in the concept stage. Ideally I want to mock up the first level and then I'll have a better idea if that size is achievable.
Population count: The population of the initial area will always be small, once you become more known to the world and a large threat then outside authorities will be brought into the area to support the civilians. Initial population of a town could be 10 to 15 (maybe even 20 if the environment is large enough) with a buffer amount of 8 for outside authorities.
Population Death: No, people arn't born, the objective of the levels will be to incapacitate or kill a percentage of the population (this percentage will lower and raise depending on the level the player is on) This percentage is only for the initial starting civilians and does not include any outside authorities that may have entered the area.
Getting Better: No, people don't get better if you have infected them, all the authorities can do is slow down the effects of the sickness. For example, if you have infected a civilian, that civilian can be treated with steroids and other medication to slow down the drop in health until a cure is cracked. The sick get better when your genetic code is broken and they can make a vaccine (that is when it's game over for you).
Infecting your environment: At the start you are simply an airborne virus that must be inhaled to take effect. By mutating with other virus you can gain the ability to infect through different means, such as Human Contact and Contamination. When you have the Contamination ability, once you spread over a water tile you can infect that body of water. The player will have to wait until the timer ticks down (imagine a cool-down rate like in MMOs). Once the timer has elapsed the water supply and all the residential water supply will be infected giving you a small bonus when making someone ill. Food is done in the same way; if you spread into a kitchen you may contaminate exposed food sources.
What if you can’t infect: This will never happen. Yes, there are areas that will be difficult to spread into but with patients and planning there isn't anywhere you won't be able to spread to. The player's starting position (his deployment) will always be in a well designed place for game play. If for any instance there aren’t any AI in your vicinity then there is nothing stopping the player in choosing a direction to spread to slowly (Players also can speed time to make movement faster).
Designing your disease: I'll be honest with this, it’s the one aspect of the design I've overlooked, but the initial Virus Setup screen aims to be simple. The player will simply select 2 symptoms from a list and 1 Perk from a small list of Level1 perks. Once this is done the player will be assigned his code and he can then give his Virus Strain a name (I always liked: Andromeda Strain) and then start the game.
Mixing with other illnesses: Just like the question above, I've not thought about this much but there are a few ways we can do this.
Other viruses can be found in 2 ways. As you spread through the level you will find other small clouds of different coloured viruses (much like yourself) and by spreading into the square that they occupy they will be mutated into you NOTE: it will take longer to spread into a square thats occupied with a virus, to take into account the assimilation time). The other way of finding other viruses is if you make an AI character ill. Some AI may already be ill with something and by making this person ill, you will mutate with their other illness.
We can either go down the timer route, where a timer ticks down untill you have digested the new virus or we can have a 'Mutate Virus' button which will start a mini-game of some kind...it all depends on time constraints and gameplay.
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Small areas of the design still require more thought and nothing is ever set in stone and subject to change...isn't that always the case with these things - one of the many pleasures of working with different people.
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