Humans vs. Zombies Season 3 Postmortem

Kevin Sheehan

Alternate Reality Games◦ Live Action Games◦ Blur the Magic Circle◦ Often involve use of media

Examples◦ Assassins/Killer◦ The Beast◦ The Amazing Race

ARG’s (What are they?)

Base Game◦ Started at Goucher

College, Maryland in 2005◦ Played on large college

campuses◦ Typically 500-2000 players◦ Zombie Tag + Nerf blasters◦ “Lasts until it ends”◦ Occasionally have

“Missions”

Humans vs. Zombies

The DigiPen Game◦ Started Fall 2010◦ First Game (Season 1)

Roughly 60-80 players Missions every night Zombie Starvation hardly enforced Heavily plot-driven Fixed-duration game Big rescue “finale” on Friday night

Humans vs. Zombies

The DigiPen Game◦ Second Game (Season 2)

Roughly 70-80 players Missions every night except

Monday Zombie Starvation abolished Not as plot driven Still fixed-duration game Another “finale” on Friday night Lots of player complaints

Humans vs. Zombies

Goals for the Third Game (Season 3)◦ Make the game more manageable for players

It’s an enormous time commitment◦ Better risk/reward from previous games

Poor R/R flourished in Season 2◦ Improved narrative integration

Why did I get this for doing that ?

Humans vs. Zombies

Goals for the Third Game (Season 3)◦ Make Zombies more than “the Losing Team”

Zombies would often quit the game◦ Appeal to a group of new players

Fresh batch of incoming Freshman◦ Appeal to a group of veterans

Experienced Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors

Humans vs. Zombies

What Went Right

Joining Late◦ Player could join on Wednesday night◦ Roughly 18 Late Joiners

Mission Mailers◦ Consistently mailed out every day at noon◦ Communicated essential information clearly◦ Aided the narrative

What Went Right

Stronger Risk/Reward◦ The four mission rewards were proportional to the

mission difficulty

Stronger Narrative◦ All missions made sense sequentially◦ Mission Rewards made sense with the mission

What Went Right

Zombies were totally into the game◦ Zombie pride was beaming all week◦ Zombie mission attendance was very high

What Went Right

No legal conflicts or interruptions◦ Communication with neighbors was high◦ The police were preemptively informed of the

event

Designer as player◦ I was able to play without perfect information◦ Game Director handled all sensitive information

What Went Right

Marketing◦ Hugely successful (150 players!)◦ Orientation Promotion◦ Word-of-Mouth◦ Flyers & Facebook

What Went Right

What Went Wrong

Zombie spread was out of control◦ More Players = Faster Spread◦ We expected 100 players at most◦ 37 Zombies at the end of Day 1◦ Tuesday mission simplified◦ Wednesday reward buffed◦ Thursday mission cancelled◦ Finale was brief

What Went Wrong

Wednesday reward buffed◦ Zombies reached Day 5 numbers by Day 3◦ Full-team Vaccination to retain Human numbers◦ The game was more casual until the finale

What Went Wrong Right!

Late Joiners….joined late◦ Wednesday night starters didn’t sign up

until Wednesday◦ This influenced Wednesday’s mission

objectives

Legion Combat◦ 150 players means large-scale combat◦ Combined with new Zombie tactics, this

means mass confusion during encounters

What Went Wrong

Friday Night Finale◦ Hardly resembled intended finale◦ Wasn’t a climactic ending◦ Humans were killed shortly after

reaching the first objective point◦ Human backup plan ended up prolonging

a Zombie victory

What Went Wrong

Administration change threatened the game◦ Change in faculty meant the game might not

happen◦ Weeks of meetings, often cutting into class time◦ Game wasn’t green-lit until 10 days beforehand

What Went Wrong

Looking Ahead

No more original zombies◦ Multiple Starters creates a more reliable bell

curve◦ Day 1 no longer contradicts core dynamic◦ Tested in 2012 Post-Season Game

More dynamically different missions◦ After various mission changes, missions were

very similar conceptually

Looking Ahead

Zombie Respawning◦ One of the most tedious elements of play◦ We will be testing an airsoft-inspired respawn

system

More small-scale encounters◦ 81% of survey takers said they preferred small-

scale encounters over legion combat◦ Tested in 2012 Post-Season Game

Looking Ahead

New Game Tracker◦ Passionate HvZ player

developed an in-house game tracker

◦ Tested in 2012 Post-Season Game

Looking Ahead

Strategic Escalation◦ Every game introduces new

strategies from Human and Zombie leaders

◦ New N-Strike Elite series could change the game

◦ These details, while uncontrollable, must be accounted for

Looking Ahead

Larger Development Team◦ What was a 3-person development team will soon

be 10-12 people◦ New positions created within Art, PR, Design, and

Production fields◦ Each position will result in portfolio-worthy content◦ New recruits will work closely with each of the 3

former developers to ensure quality

Looking Ahead

Larger Development Team

Looking Ahead

We’re still recruiting.

Q&A