Zompound

I updated this video to be more comprehensive. (8/22/12) Whether you haven't seen it yet, or you haven't played the map, or you just don't think you are into infection games, watch it anyway...




This cliffside mansion compound near Bozeman, Montana has long been the home of millionaire fanatic cult leader Dr. Raymond Tangier. Recently, several Bozeman citizens have been reported missing, and strange noises have been heard coming from the woods around Tangier's compound.

Calls to local and federal agencies have gone unanswered, so the residents of Bozeman have taken matters into their own hands. They put together a militia investigation task force made up of 4-15 local residents. (good thing 4-15 of them happen to be Spartans)

Although they set off early in the afternoon, the party does not reach the edge of Tangier's estate until just after the sun has set. Some in the group are starting to have second thoughts about the whole expedition. Luckily, none of that will matter soon. In a few seconds they will all learn that Dr. Tangier is a much more persuasive recruiter than anyone had previously imagined...











Zompound is my attempt to make an infection map that plays as much like a real horror film as possible. I tried to compile as many monster chase/escape scenes in my head as I could. I then attempted to in-game organically re-create them with the layout of this map.

The human players all start outside of the cliff mansion compound. They will want to move inside as quickly as they possibly can. Of course, just like in a film, or in real life, you can always decide to go it alone and stay outside...

I realize that infection (like most horror films) is about as unoriginal a game type as there is. I recently discovered that a protagonist's progression across Montana to a hold-out building has clearly been done before, (i.e. Survival: Lighthouse, Insanmiac)
However, the Cliff Mansion house itself is the real star of this show. It is what makes Zompound so different and exciting.












The house has 4 main interior floors and a rooftop. There are 8 total entrances, some more obvious that others. These entrances can be approached from a wide variety of angles.

The first floor consists of a single basement bunker room. The room holds an Assault Rifle, a DMR, and two Magnums. (One of my main goals for this map was to make movement essential to both the humans and the zombies. To help create this movement, I laid down a ton of low powered weapons throughout the house. However, the weapons all come with only one, or no spare clips at all. So you can't camp out forever, or wander too far from the house for long.) The basement bunker room has two entrances. One coming directly in from outside, the other is a ramp up to the 1st floor.

Basement Bunker Room:














The 2nd "ground" floor of the house has 4 main rooms, a terrace, and a solarium walkway.

The first room, which is directly above the basement bunker room, is the screening/briefing room with adjoining terrace



Screening/Briefing Room + Terrace:














The next room, directly behind the Screening Room, is the Pump Room. This is one of the rooms that I am very excited about. The floor layout itself is pretty basic. A large 4-Strut "pump machine" is the central figure, and a two slope narrow ramp upstairs is to its left. In the far front right corner of the room you will find a teleporter. (to the attic)

My favorite parts of the room, however, are the rafters. The two horizontal, and two vertical rafters give humans the ability to elevate themselves above the zombies. The rafters are set at the perfect height, so that it is possible for the zombies to jump and hit someone down, it just takes a very well timed and aimed attempt. They can also get up there and track down their victims straight on.



Pump Room:




















The central and most dynamic room in the entire building is the Grand Entrance Hall. The entrance hall extends up through the 3rd floor, and has a huge chandalier hanging in the center of it. This chandalier has 4 support beams that can be accessed from four different areas on the 3rd floor. This makes for all kinds of incredible scenarios. You will often get to see a preview of your own fate as your fellow men are ripped apart on the floor below. Also your ability to corner better, due to less sprint speed, can actually come in handy when attempting to escape a zombie.


Grand Entrance Hall:































The room to the left of the Grand Entrance is the far side stairwell. It is a pretty simple design, but the spacing, and elevation work out very well. There is an assault rifle on the ramp, and a magnum at its base.


Far Side Stairwell:




Finally the last section of the first floor is the Solarium Hallway. This hallway connects the back of the Grand Entrance Hall to the back of the Pump Room. It also connects to the narrow ledge path that winds around the left side of the house.


Solarium Walkway:





Since I don't want to ruin all the surprises I am just going to show the rest of the pictures from the third floor and the attic. If you want to know it all ahead of time you can always just do a run-through in forge. If not, even without any written explanations, I will issue a minor SPOILER ALERT:












Oh, so thats why there are monsters in the attic...



I also would like to apologize for the minor flicker frame issues during the initial run in. It would have required me to change the gameplay too much in order to remove enough objects to eliminate it. After you get in closer to the house they will stop. It is just annoying for the very start of the round.





Portfolio:



Find God



Trench Run




The Pool



Civil War

 

Thanks a lot Kon3z and anti. I worked really hard on making every room play differently. I wanted to make sure I explained it all as well as possible.
Trying to hold out on the chandelier, roof, or in the attic gets crazy.