New Release: Exit Plan Z 2

[R'zo]

I have finally played Exit Plan Z 2
I am not sure I like it better than the first one, which was full of clever ideas, but it is certainly much more accessible.

I played on the second difficulty level (cake walk) and made it on the first try: 53212 points, 6 rescued, 31 killed zombies.

I will also try on a harder setting before I get back to you with more feedback and perhaps some suggestions.

Thank you.

A lot of thought was put into the changes from the first one.

The flicker effect in the first one left me feeling disoriented after an hour of play. I've thought about attaching a warning. I did enjoy how simple the effect worked out.

I felt the whack a z battle system was a fun idea but the 8 directional control didn't work very well on hardware. A wanted directionals in this one to be 4 way so it could be easily played with the keyboard. I felt like running the whack a z with only 4 directionals would be dumbing it down so I chose to leave it out and go with a more straight forward arcade action feel.

In the first one I used arrays to store and access the zombies x,y positions. In 2 I put them in the tape buffer to save space in basic. Using Austro-Compilor this limits what graphics I could work with to the rs232. This was actually a fun limitation to work with.

Thank you again. I look forward to your feedback an suggestions.

[hasseapa]

The flicker effect in the first one left me feeling disoriented after an hour of play. I've thought about attaching a warning. I did enjoy how simple the effect worked out.

I felt the whack a z battle system was a fun idea but the 8 directional control didn't work very well on hardware. A wanted directionals in this one to be 4 way so it could be easily played with the keyboard. I felt like running the whack a z with only 4 directionals would be dumbing it down so I chose to leave it out and go with a more straight forward arcade action feel.

Sorry for taking so long.

Yeah, I really liked both the flicker effect and - especially - the battle system, so I was a little disappointed to see them both left out. Actually I can imagine 4 directions only working just fine.

I have tried EPZ2 again but this time on "relatively difficult", which was aptly named. I felt the main reason for the increased difficulty was the fewer number of survivors to rescue and gain lives from. It led to some frustration but also required more strategy while moving, which I enjoyed.

The concept "number of rescued survivors = number of lives" is great.

The game is pretty long and I was thinking of how shortcuts could spice it up. Say stairs/elevators that carry you 3-5 levels up instead of just one. Perhaps the same key could be used for these but they could be much more heavily guarded and positioned in narrow/risky parts of the floor. It would be a way to add another high-risk-high-reward mechanism and would also work well with a down ticking clock.

Thank you for the game

[hasseapa]

Had another go at "virtually impossible" difficulty. It was not that bad. You have to move both strategically and fast (to use your speed advantage). I like that there is no "Evil Otto" or constant spawning of Zombies so that you can bide your time and wait for passages "opening up". Definitely nerve wracking and fun!

I am afraid I also found a bug for you! On level 10 the key was immured! Locked away from me within brick walls... Or is it a bug? I came to think of the "virtually impossible" label and decided to shoot at the walls but quickly ran out if bullets

[R'zo]

Thank you for the feed back. I'm sorry it has taken so long to reply, work has been keeping me very busy.

As for the trapped key, that's just a consequence of using random functions to build the levels. I am honestly surprised it doesn't happen more often. You can hit z to reload the level should you, the door or the key be trapped in by walls.

Hopefully I can find time to finish the game up soon. There are only 2 minor edits I want to make.

1 when you shoot something at point blank range there is no sound. It's a minor detail but it has always bugged me.

2 the key board buffer is only read at the title screen. If you hit z in the game to reload a level it is held in the buffer until you return to the menu after game over. This causes the game to auto start. Again a minor bug that should be an easy fix.

[R'zo]

I finished the game.
Here's the final version epzii16k

I am very pleased with the final version, I hope every one enjoys it. Thank you every one for all the support and feedback.

[akator]

I love it! All of those difficulty levels will keep me playing for a while...

[8-bitter]

I finished the game.
Here's the final version epzii16k

I am very pleased with the final version, I hope every one enjoys it. Thank you every one for all the support and feedback.

Nice! Thanks for the update.