Would you like zombies to be killed by light? (Sometimes)

I am working on a zombie based mod called Depraved and I had an idea to make it so that the zombies can get hurt by light... I was thinking maybe a certain colored light could kill them, such as purple or whatever works. (Ultraviolet light maybe?) I already tested this and it does work perfectly. (The player is unaffected)

So I was wondering if you would like to see this implemented. I am not completly sure what I'll do, I am leaning towards doing it, but I would at least like to hear what you have to say about it.

So, would you like to see this implemented?

I was just playing Alan Wake and they did something similar to this ... but light took away something akin to shields rather than outright killing enemies.

They were referred to as Taken, not zombies, because they were consumed by a dark presence.

You'd really have to model this around what kind of gameplay you want. And you have to think about you know the mechanics of your enemies and how that reflects in the story.

If the zombies get hurt by light ... what does that entail exactly for the rest of the game? Suddenly, it's unlikely that any of the game would be in daylight, for example.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

You do have some good points. The biggest thing that is stopping me from implementing it is the question: How will it fit? I think it is a neat idea but I am not sure if it is something that should really be done. (At least in this map) Also, I am not totally sure if the reasoning to it would fit well and players would like it. Because normally zombies are not hurt by light so I would have to have a good reason.

If the zombies get hurt by light ... what does that entail exactly for the rest of the game? Suddenly, it's unlikely that any of the game would be in daylight, for example.

If I used this then I was planning on maybe making it so that only a certain type of light will hurt them, so that there could be zombies in lit up areas.

Although there are quite a bit of dark areas since the map is at night, most of the darker areas are in the streets and there are mixtures of light and dark areas inside the buildings you go into.

At this point I am starting to actually lean against doing it just because I'm not sure if I can really make it fit well. But all ideas are still welcome though.

Well, you could invent a new creature instead of calling them zombies, and inferring Romero-esque zombies of people whom are inflicted with a dead walking disease.

If you have fun with the idea, you could expand it into something pretty unique, I think.

I mean ... you just have to think about what kind of thing you're making. Do you want it to be Left 4 Dead style zombie massacre where you're survival rate is dependent on your ammunition. Or do you want it to be like, survival horror, where it's really difficult to stay alive unless you're smart about what you're doing.
Do you want the enemies to be walking targets in a shooting gallery, or do you want there to be deep strategy to how you fight them. Etc.

Saying, these enemies should be susceptible to light, isn't a bad idea, at all. But, just tossing it in there replacing a gun with light ... wouldn't be very good, because, what's the point?
What's the point of altering the gameplay system ... if you don't actually change the gameplay system.

So, maybe think about other possibilities with this idea rather than just shoehorning it into what you're already doing.

There are all sorts of strategic gameplay possibilities with changing the way zombies are dealt with fundamentally in games.

For example, if you design your zombies to be scent dominant. Meaning, they don't really use vision to locate you ... that has all sorts of implications. Now you could lay down scent trails and have unique types of ammunition to use zombies against one another, etc.

So ... maybe think of a reason WHY light would hurt them, of any kind. And by light it could mean lots of things ... either a visible spectrum, or maybe a type of radiation. If you had something that was essentially a gamma radiation canon, with maybe some lights on it to show where you're actually aiming it. That could be interesting. You could boil them where they stand, basically.

So ... just maybe think about what exactly it is you want the player to be doing and design around that.

Feel free to use this thread as feedback for what you're doing with this.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

But, just tossing it in there replacing a gun with light

Just to be clear that having them be killed by light will definitely NOT replace guns. I was just considering adding it as a special factor. This mod has some very cool weapon models that I found, so I will definitely have guns.

If you had something that was essentially a gamma radiation canon, with maybe some lights on it to show where you're actually aiming it. That could be interesting.

That would be very cool but unfortunately I do not have that kind of modding experience, so I would be unable to create anything like that.

And by light it could mean lots of things ... either a visible spectrum, or maybe a type of radiation.

Actually I never even thought about anything like that before. I really like that radiation idea, or maybe at least something like that. Good idea!

Necromancer said:
Just to be clear that having them be killed by light will definitely NOT replace guns. I was just considering adding it as a special factor. This mod has some very cool weapon models that I found, so I will definitely have guns.

I wasn't saying there wouldn't be guns in the mod ... I was saying, your idea sounds like this weapon would just be a gun ... but instead of bullets it's light. My point being ... you should think about the functionality of the weapon. If it acts exactly like a gun ... what's the point? Is what I was saying.

Necromancer said:
That would be very cool but unfortunately I do not have that kind of modding experience, so I would be unable to create anything like that.

My suggestion is just a way to EXPLAIN using light as a weapon. But you could do some cool things with the idea. Like battery recharge or something like that. Making it fundamentally different for the player ... but still very similar to what you were intending.

Necromancer said:
Actually I never even thought about anything like that before. I really like that radiation idea, or maybe at least something like that. Good idea!

Just to get you thinking outside of the (gun) box.

If you want to think up new weapons you probably want to think them up so they're fundamentally different from the weapons you already have.

If a game has 7 kinds of automatic rifles that all act roughly the same ... then it's not very interesting to mess with them.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I was saying, your idea sounds like this weapon would just be a gun ... but instead of bullets it's light. My point being ... you should think about the functionality of the weapon.

Actually I didn't mean for this idea to be an actual weapon. The idea was that there would be environmental hazards that the players could use to their advantage. For example with the light idea the zombies would die when they touch the light or radiation, or whatever hazard there is.

Unfortunately, I do not even know how to make my own weapons.

Thanks again for your ideas! You have a lot of great points.