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I am working on a small project for school that includes me researching what it is that people like with post apocalyptic games and what they don't like!

So I would want to ask following questions;

What is it with post apocalyptic themes that is so appealing?
What do you NOT want to see in a post apocalyptic game?
What do you WANT to see in a post apocalyptic game?
Would you prefer a post apocalyptic game set in an alternative history or in the future or in some other time?

Pleases include your age and sex!

I'd be happy for all the answers i can get! Thanks for taking your time!

Hope this thread is not too late to answer.

-Well...Its the spread, the time when you need to pick up that dusty gun in your basement and use it for a good reason. And if I want the world to end, its gotta be Z-Day, not some cheap disaster.....Mother Nature will pay... Sometimes who knows, maybe because it feels good to kill something that is ment to be killed and your doing it for a good cause.

-Types of zombies, it doesn't make sense, they mutate from a virus and it ends up being Resident Evil-themed. I prefer the classic Walkers or Runner zombies, not a fat boomer that can spash acid in your face from L4D >_>

-I want MORE zombies, not 1, 10, 100, I want THOUSANDS in a game. Basically you were chased by a zombie, then found a tall building and camp in it, while you locked the zombies out, wake up another morning, there are hundreds, if not thousands of zombies moaning and trying to get into the building. Also another thing, is maybe the "Last Stand" If you ever watched Resident Evil Retribution's ending, THAT is the most epic last stand of humanity i've ever seen, we need THAT in a game.

-Hmm..........I really don't see a good theme in future Z-Day, its just that today's modern day seems perfect for a Z-Day since many citizens have no guns or emergency supplies, which makes it interesting.

Age, 16 Male.

Thank You Sharps!

Inget namn wrote:
I am working on a small project for school that includes me researching what it is that people like with post apocalyptic games and what they don't like!

So I would want to ask following questions;

Why is it with post apocalyptic themes that is so appealing?

i think it is a modern version of the old wild west theme... outlaws and heros taking it out on the streets... a quick man with a gun wins against the baddies...

What do you NOT want to see in a post apocalyptic game?

too much ruthlessness... it has to be there... but subtility wins the day for me...so no rape and other too cruel stuff...

What do you WANT to see in a post apocalyptic game?

the ruination of big civilizations... big states lost to barabrism...and the fighting for the last rescources of our once shiny world...

Would you prefer a post apocalyptic game set in an alternative history or in the future or in some other time?

alternative history would be some fresh new take on the post apocaliptic world thing... also set in a time long ago... why not a psot apocalyptic setting set in the victorian age?...that would be new indeed!

Pleases include your age and sex!

i am 38 and male...

I'd be happy for all the answers i can get! Thanks for taking your time!

i hope we see what this can achieve too

good luck!

Inget namn wrote:
Why is it with post apocalyptic themes that is so appealing?

The idea of all mankind's greatest achievements brought low by a disaster, be it manmade or natural, is extremely evocative to a lot of people.

Thank you Viktor von Domm and Coolyo294! I appreciate your help!

Inget namn wrote:
I am working on a small project for school that includes me researching what it is that people like with post apocalyptic games and what they don't like!

So I would want to ask following questions;
Why is it with post apocalyptic themes that is so appealing?

Well, there are numerous things. English is not my native language so my explanation may be a little wonky.
First of all: it's aesthetics. I don't know if I should expand that but that one is quite simple. I like how things look like in most settings. I like the destroyed, burned cities, the cheap and poorly built houses, the weapons and armours.

Next thing is the mix between good aspects of future sci-fi and the past fantasy. This may get a little erratic.
You have things like future weapons and power armours and all the cool new stuff but it's not everywhere and there is also room for backward nailed club and spears and all that. Cybernetic hand with western revolver and cowboy hat riding in 90's car? Sold!
You need backward, feudal town who worships sun? No problem. Next location could be super advanced. All this is without the "suspension of disbelief".

There are new "races" but unlike the fantasy they are not 'elves', 'dwarf', 'another token race'. They are/were humans. You also don't need (outer space) aliens to have something 'alien'.

The hopelessness of the setting. It's own GrimDark(TM). Unlike space travel sci-fi and stumbling upon backwards planet you can't just leave and go back to your high-tech home. This is all there is and there is nothing else. Everything is dangerous. From the basic things: the food, water, your body (due to post-nuclear diseases), going through the mutants, no roads to travel safe, gangs, bandits to the idea that there is an unknown, scary world out there. You can't go and buy food in the supermarket any more. You have to hunt / find a shelter.

Even if it's Earth, it's still unknown and hostile. You may know that there was a city in the north but is it still there? You have legends and myths from before the cataclysm in the futuristic setting.
Also, due to the unknown there is the exploration part more known in the fantasy setting. Maps have been lost, cities disappeared, continents sunk. If you go out there, you don't know what you'll find. The world is scary.

Inget namn wrote:
What do you NOT want to see in a post apocalyptic game?
What do you WANT to see in a post apocalyptic game?

Like others said: I wan't grey vs. grey, not black vs white.
In a game I like some kind of leveling / skill / experience system. Free roaming would be nice.
I sometimes wish that being "evil" should me much more rewarding in this kind of setting. The world is filled with people who survived because they first and foremost thought about themselves. Expect to be lied, stolen from and manipulated especially if you are goody-two-shoes. I'd like to experience some loose-loose situation.

Inget namn wrote:
Would you prefer a post apocalyptic game set in an alternative history or in the future or in some other time?

I have no preference.

Hope that helps.
Oh, and I'm 28 year old male.

Inget namn wrote:
Why is it with post apocalyptic themes that is so appealing?

Dunno. I don't find them any more or less appealing than pre-apocalyptic themes.

Inget namn wrote:
What do you NOT want to see in a post apocalyptic game?

The "let's keep women in camps for breeding" style storylines. Or anything resembling rape scenes or implied rape scenes. It's stupid and tasteless and >99.9999999% of all stories that try it fail to give the subject respect.

Inget namn wrote:
What do you WANT to see in a post apocalyptic game?

Good gameplay first and foremost.

Inget namn wrote:
Would you prefer a post apocalyptic game set in an alternative history or in the future or in some other time?

Alternate history is awesome and there needs to be more games that use the concept.

Inget namn wrote:
Pleases include your age and sex!

None of your business, and female.

Thank you Macok and Melissia! And I am asking for your age and sex because i want to know if the opinions might differ (in general) between different groups! I am sorry if you feel offended by this request and it is totally up to you to decide what you want to include and not include!

Why is it with post apocalyptic themes that is so appealing?

Well for me its the lure of adventure in blasted cities, or wandering amongst the fallen world left behind after some disaster that left the world ruined

What do you NOT want to see in a post apocalyptic game?

Any game set in the ruined remains of USA makes me cringe. So dose games that relies on heros on super man suits

What do you WANT to see in a post apocalyptic game?

Intresting locations, main persons with flaws. And a story that makes me want to keep on going and most of all, makes my mind reel when new twists and turns are revealed

Would you prefer a post apocalyptic game set in an alternative history or in the future or in some other time?

The near future, it makes it oh so much more intresting to see what game makers can make come alive in such enviorments.

Male and 25

Thank you Trondheim

Inget namn wrote:
I am working on a small project for school that includes me researching what it is that people like with post apocalyptic games and what they don't like!

So I would want to ask following questions;

Why is it with post apocalyptic themes that is so appealing?

I find the desperate struggle for survival the most appealing, and exploring ruins, deep underground bases (love that) and improvised settlements the most appealing.

What do you NOT want to see in a post apocalyptic game?

fast-paced and forced narrative. I want to take my time, and appreciate the environments the developers created. Recently beat Metro 2033 and many of the missions seemed very time limited, and I couldn't take my time and enjoy the spaces they created. Everything felt like a big hurry, and while the devs may have wanted that, in the end I missed a lot of the amazing details they built into the game as a result.

What do you WANT to see in a post apocalyptic game?

Deep underground military bases, secret underground ruins, and hardcore desperate struggle for survival against overwhelming odds. Food, water, shelter, I want hardcore realism and attention to detail. I would like to see games that don't offer abundant med-kits, and go into extreme hardcore realism, with consequences like starvation, dehydration, wounds and infection, lack of shelter etc. That makes for interesting gameplay IMO.

Would you prefer a post apocalyptic game set in an alternative history or in the future or in some other time?

Either is OK with me, although alternative history is slightly less depressing.

Pleases include your age and sex!

M, 35

I'd be happy for all the answers i can get! Thanks for taking your time!

I like how post-apocalyptic scenarios explore the process by which civilisation crumbles, currently the TV series the Walking Dead has recently finished it's 3rd season and I've enjoyed watching the considerable differences between each of the 3 seasons in terms of the denigration of civilisation and how we as a species lose our humanity.

I don't like 'runner zombies' and prefer the shambling Rodriguez style. I agree with a previous poster as well that clear cut moral dichotomy should be avoided.

For me to enjoy the genre it needs to be either contemporary or sometime in the future.

30 years, male.

MarsNZ wrote:
I like how post-apocalyptic scenarios explore the process by which civilisation crumbles, currently the TV series the Walking Dead has recently finished it's 3rd season and I've enjoyed watching the considerable differences between each of the 3 seasons in terms of the denigration of civilisation and how we as a species lose our humanity.

I don't like 'runner zombies' and prefer the shambling Rodriguez style. I agree with a previous poster as well that clear cut moral dichotomy should be avoided.

For me to enjoy the genre it needs to be either contemporary or sometime in the future.

30 years, male.

Rodriguez?

Not Romero?

Thank you