Sandbox Mode

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Sandbox Mode


Sandbox mode is a campaign that can be selected from the main menu.

Customization

The player can choose from a selection of heads and skin tones, and a list of professions and traits. Negative traits give positive points while positive traits spend these points, so you must take negatives to obtain positives.

Differences

In sandbox mode, the player starts out in a random structure in the Suburbs, Downtown district, or one of the villas. The player is not given any items, and zombie spawn is immediate, unlike Story Mode. It is up to the player to find a base, weapon, tools, food, water in time. Whereas in Story mode, there are quests and events that give the player supplies. In sandbox mode, many of the scripted events are taken away (ex. The raider coming into the tutorial house, or the aggressive guy in the supermarket), and most of the hint buttons (in the tutorial house) are taken away, although some still remain due to a bug.

Events

In sandbox mode, the game world slowly changes. In days 1-4 after player spawn, the zombie numbers slowly grow, until it's peak in day 5. In about 5 days after the character spawns, the water works fails, and the player has to rely on the water that he salvaged. In about 15 days, the power plant fails. When the power plant fails, food that needs to be cooked cannot be cooked, and refrigerators no longer deter the rotting of perishable foods. The greatest change is in about 30 days after player spawn, the horde will LOOK for the player. To be specific, the horde will migrate around the map, until it finds the player. This will make going outside more dangerous for the player. But by this time, the player should have gathered adequate supplies and make complex fortresses.

NPCs

In sandbox mode, there are NPCs who roam around the map trying to survive in the apocalypse. These NPCs are able to carry supplies, wield items, use items, get hurt, become zombies, eat, drink, etc. NPCs need food and water for survival, and roam around the map competing against the player for food. The NPCs can be recruited by the player, to help the player fight, but they also consume the player's supplies. Once recruited, NPCs can be issued the following commands: "follow me", "guard the area", and "stay here". Also, if a NPC rejects a player's recruitment offer, both the player and the NPC will get angry. If the player keeps asking for recruitment, the NPC will eventually get so angry that he will want to duel the player. If NPCs are killed, they drop all of their supplies, which usually includes their weapon (if they have any), some food and water, and some other items. NPCs have "bravery", some NPCs are more brave than others. Those who are brave will stand and fight against numerous zombies. Cowards will run away at the sight of zombies. NPCs are also able to form groups amongst themselves, but these groups are never large or significant to the player, because there are only 7-9 NPCs in the entire map at any point. Because there are so few NPCs, most are loners.

Note: From this point onwards, it is my(Zombieslayer123) opinion of the NPCs. Personally, I believe that NPCs are best killed on sight. Although that makes me a loner and affects my combat efficiency, they consume food and an NPC's uncontrolled use of a shotgun create noise that attracts zombies. I would much rather use the food for myself than on a bunch of NPCs. However, I believe that recruiting them as "zombie bait" is a good idea. In this tactic, I will tell the NPC to guard the area, and I will run off while he distracts the zombies. However, I recommend using this tactic only when there is both a horde of zombies and a wandering NPC.