VideoGameTales

PlayGames-CreateNarratives-WriteTales

[vgtales-blog]

Book 1, Chapter 2: Best laid plans.

11:30 AM, 9th July, 1993

So a lot has happened since my last entry despite the short time, and not all of it disastrous (but a large portion of it most definitely was). Needless to say I survived long enough to log the morning’s activities here. This will probably be an ongoing theme from here on out. I will try my best to document my survival day by day, as long as the aforementioned survival allows it. Don’t expect fleshed out narratives of my day if I’m starving, avoiding hordes of undead, or just lying wounded and dying somewhere in town.

Wow. I just painted a very bleak future for myself; let’s try not to do that again any time soon.

Ok so how did my morning go? Good, or not good? I suppose it was a little from column A, and a fairly large sprinkling of column B throughout. To start with I thought it best to take stock of the food and drink I had at home, a nice safe task to get the ball rolling. Whilst I had nothing rivalling the alleged majesty of the Callahans’ liquor cabinet; I did have enough fresh food to keep me going throughout the week, and tinned food to sustain me for at least a few days beyond that. And hey, if everything goes to shit quicker than I anticipated, I found a good amount of bleach and antidepressants that could end things slowly and painfully if I felt it necessary.

I also found a bunch of Michelle’s stuff while I was looking around. You know the usual things; lipstick, hairspray, her toothbrush. It’s only everyday junk but it still kind of means something. I’ve dumped it all into its own drawer for now; I don’t want to have to deal with that on top of everything else.

As I was walking around the house I realised my lack of curtains was going to be a real problem if I wanted to stay unnoticed. Being the resourceful man I am I grabbed some bed sheets from the cupboard and hung them over a couple of the windows, but I still had a bunch that needed covering. I definitely didn’t have enough sheets for that. It was about then I started realising I couldn’t put off going out much longer. I grabbed my old baseball bat and got ready to head out the back to the Callahans’ place.

Now I’d love to tell you it all went swimmingly and I’m now stocked with enough food and drink to last me until the next zombie apocalypse, but I can’t. Because it didn’t. The only silver lining is that I got out alive, and not just alive, but completely unscathed! That’s bloody magical! Although I’m not sure how I feel about using up all my luck on my first time out…

I remember it being quiet when I stepped outside. Not an eerie quiet, but kind of peaceful. Birds were still singing, the wind was blowing leaves across the street, but there were no voices, no cars or sirens. It was almost nice. Until she appeared. A woman, or as near as can be described, came stumbling out of the bushes in front of my house. My first instinct was to shout at her, ask if she was alright. After she looked up at me however, I realised she wasn’t alright and probably hadn’t been for at least a few days now. I don’t really remember much looking back on it now but whatever happened felt like it took both a second and a lifetime.

I know I raised the bat, I know I waited, and waited. I know I hit her. More than once. I know I was surprised how many times I had to hit her to keep her down. And I still remember the exhaustion afterwards. I mean, I’m not an unfit guy but it took everything I had, and not just physically. Once I’d taken some time, I checked her; initially to find out if I was safe, then to see if I knew her. I didn’t, thank God.

It took a lot more effort than I thought it would to force myself out of my garden and across the back field towards the Callahans’. After the surprise I had earlier I walked slowly and made sure to check no one was around before approaching the back door of their much larger house. Not that I’m jealous at all. I was pretty surprised to find it unlocked, then again if I was leaving home in a hurry would I bother to lock the door behind me? Probably not. I turned the handle and slowly let myself in, the house was quiet and nobody seemed to be around. Their house pretty much lived up to everything I’d expected; polished wood floors, marble worktops, high ceilings. I began to walk towards the first door on my left when I was deafened by the loudest fucking sound I’d heard all week. A fucking burglar alarm. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so angry and scared in my life. How the hell did I not realise a house like this would have an alarm. Idiot!

By the time my body had gotten over the initial shock and started running out of the house I could already hear movement and groaning from the garden. Two of those things (I’m just gonna call them zombies, I mean that’s what they are right?) were heading straight towards me, drawn by the sudden noise no doubt. I swung the bat at them as I ran by; I know I clocked one of them pretty good but I’m not sure about the other. I had no intention of turning back and checking.

Next thing I know I’m back home, door locked and lights out. I’m currently sat on the bedroom floor (The only room with covered windows) hoping writing will calm me down. I’ll let you know when it does.

I know I need to go back out again, I know I need to be less fucking stupid.

Maybe I’ll start with a place as shitty as mine. I might not find as much, but at least I’ll have a better chance of not drawing every fucker in a 2 mile radius to my only safe haven in this shit storm. Yeah, maybe that’s a better start.

  -A. Thompson

[vgtales-blog]

Book 1, Chapter 1: End-times.

“These are the end-times.”

“There was no hope of survival.”

“This is how I died.”

9:00 AM, 9th July, 1993

I don’t know if what I have to say is worth listening to. I also don’t know if there will be anybody left to read it anyway. All I know is that something has to survive through this, and if it isn’t going to be me, then maybe my words can. For whatever little they’re worth they might be all that’s left of anything when this is over. Now isn’t that a depressing thought?

My name is Aaron Thompson and I am nobody special. I never have been, and probably never would have been either. I definitely won’t be now. The world has gone to shit and I'm a 30 year old man who decided to start a diary. It’s weird how your mind tries to cope when tragedy, world-ending diseases, and the living dead come knocking. I’m writing this from the relative comfort and questionable safety of my single bedroom bungalow in Muldraugh, Kentucky. It’s not much but it’s about all we could afford when my construction contracts started to dry up and work became harder and harder to find. I shouldn’t really say “we” but I guess old habits die hard huh? Our marriage broke down a few days ago; I thought that was the worst of it but it turns out society and the world I’d known had broken down too; but I was too busy shutting myself away and blinding myself with alcohol to notice. I can’t really say for certain when all this happened, a few days ago at most, but reports of strange behaviour and an increase in violent crime had been circulating for weeks. Water and power still seem to be working though, even if the TV and radio aren’t. But I can’t imagine they’ll last much longer if the disruption is as wide spread as I’m coming to believe it might be.

Zombies. The Living Dead. Walkers. Biters. Whatever you choose to call them, I still can’t really believe that’s what it’s come to, but here we are. I have no idea if help is coming or if it’s already been and gone. The way I see it, I have nothing left to lose and nobody else fighting to keep me alive, so I better damn well do it myself.

First order of business I suppose is to take stock of my supplies. How long can I reliably last on a kitchen full of week old food and empty liquor bottles? Not that long I’d wager. After that I better start thinking about where to find more substantial food and drink; I hear the Callahans next door had a pretty impressive liquor cabinet.

That sounds like as good a start as any.

 - A.Thompson

[vgtales-blog]

Public Service Announcement.

Just a quick PSA to inform you that I am still trying to work out a posting schedule for this whole project. I want to keep it regular, but I need to be able to work around my job and my crippling need for procrastination…

I think for now I’m choosing to settle on weekly posts until I find a good rhythm. So you can expect Chapter 1 of Project Zomboid some time over this coming weekend.

(Probably Sunday because let’s be realistic, that need to procrastinate is pretty darn crippling)

- G

[vgtales-blog]

Book 1: An Introduction.

Before we begin the first chapter I thought it wise to give you an introduction with the aim of providing some context for what is to follow. If you like the sound of the game please do consider checking it out; it’s most definitely deserving of your time (and money).

With that being said, I give you...

Let me first start by saying that Project Zomboid is a damn good game. As a follower of the game since its early alpha builds I have seen it grow into the sprawling and complex survival horror that it is today. Granted, it had some rough patches along the way, but what ambitious indie game doesn’t?

At its core Project Zomboid is an open world survival horror. Developed by The Indie Stone, it’s set in a zombie infested portrayal of real-world Hardin County, Kentucky (although the information in game and on Wikipedia incorrectly says Knox County). In the game’s survival mode the aim is to, surprise surprise, survive as successfully as you can for as long as you can. To do this you’ll need to find somewhere safe to call home, scavenge supplies, craft tools/weapons/defences, stave off illness, manage your inventory, balance hunger/thirst/tiredness, keep yourself entertained, not make noise, not get lost, not get ill, not get injured, not get infected, and ideally not get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things you need to do to stay alive. A difficult task, believe me.

If the general description of Project Zomboid’s gameplay didn’t give you a clear enough idea of how intimidating and claustrophobic it can be, then its details certainly will.

At the outset of the survival mode you are tasked with creating a character; the sole survivor you are about to drop defenceless into a world trying its best to murder them. Even this unassuming task is riddled with more complexity than you’d anticipate. Such as anxiety inducing decisions that could shape the success (or otherwise) of your entire game. You have to choose the profession your character had prior to the apocalyptic zombie outbreak, each with their own perks that affect your characters performance in certain aspects of survival. After this you must pick their positive traits; such as being capable with blunt weapons, or particularly skilled at cooking or moving silently. However, this is Project Zomboid, and just being able to choose them willy-nilly would be too easy. So they must be balanced out with negative traits; such as needing to sleep more often, or getting scared easily, or being blind. Good traits cost points, negative traits gain you points. Finish with a negative total and the game won’t allow you to continue, without even so much as an apology.

Once dropped into the game world you are randomly assigned a home, presumably the one your character inhabited before everything went to hell. From here on out the real nightmare begins, as you must now choose how to best start surviving. Is your home easily fortified and defended, or would it be better to find somewhere else? Should you spend the first day taking stock of what supplies you have, or make the most of the daylight and head out seeking more? Depending on how long after the outbreak you chose to start your game (Oh yeah, that’s also an option when you start a new game, did I forget to mention that?) the power and water could be out making survival that much more complicated. Then there are the zombies. Whilst they are your typical ‘Romero’ style slow-movers, depending on how long it’s been since the fall of mankind they can vary wildly in number, alertness, and aggression.

One bite or scratch from a zombie could potentially end your life. If you’re lucky enough to avoid the slow decline into zombiehood you may still succumb to blood loss, infection, fever, the possible scenarios in which your character could expire go on and on.

To go into every aspect of what makes this game so tense and so arse-numbingly difficult would take far longer than I am prepared to spend doing it. I haven’t even begun to mention the realistic inventory system, the depth present in the crafting or cooking menus, the use of skill books or how the level up system works. It even has mod support and multiplayer. But to be honest, it’d be far more fun to discover this all for yourself. Whilst the upcoming chapters built from my experiences may give you a good idea of what to expect from Project Zomboid, I implore you, try the game for yourself. It’s not expensive and it’s available from a number of different places that I’ll link to below.

Apologies once again, this post seems to have gone on much longer than I had initially anticipated. I’ll try to make them shorter in the future. Hopefully though this has given you some context to the upcoming chapters, or at the very least piqued your interest in a game worth checking out.

- G

Project Zomboid on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/108600/

Project Zomboid on GoG: https://www.gog.com/game/project_zomboid

Project Zomboid Official Site: https://projectzomboid.com/

[vgtales-blog]

New Beginnings.

I suppose after at least 2 weeks of nursing an empty Tumblr blog, it’s about darn time I wrote something to get this project rolling. What follows will be a brief (if you’re lucky) breakdown of what this blog aims to be, and why I felt the need to create it in the first place.

Quite a while ago now I had the idea for a project whereby I would create written narratives sculpted by the emergent nature of the games I’d been playing. Which is a needlessly wordy way of saying I wanted to write down the stuff I did in games. Not just any games though. I wouldn’t want to just regurgitate a storyline everyone who played the game had already seen and been a part of for themselves. The plan was to stick to more open ended games that allow the player to craft their own stories and follow their own paths. This way I could at least try to create new stories that people hadn’t heard before, but within a setting that felt familiar and recognisable.

So that was the plan. I drafted a list of potential games and decided a blog was the most practical delivery method for content of this nature. I created a Tumblr account, died a little inside, and then became overwhelmed with anxiety at the thought of putting my writing out there. So I procrastinated the hell out of this thing, convincing myself it’d be awesome when I finally got around to it tomorrow. Or next week. Or maybe the week after that…

So here I am now. First post almost done. Anxiety still there but being masked cleverly by caffeine. Over the next week I hope to have the first proper post up. I’m still trying to nail down a consistent format in my mind, but that might just have to be something that comes with time. I’ve chosen a game I think lends itself well to what I want to achieve, I just hope to holy hell it works. If you could all silently hope as well, it would be greatly appreciated.

Until then, expect nothing. It makes me feel better to think nobody has any real expectations.

- G.