Zombies, Run!
Mission Pitch - Who watches the watchers

It’s the middle of the night. You’re jolted awake by the sound of breaking glass. You grab your baseball bat and quietly creep downstairs, heart pounding in your chest. You round the corner to find your living room window smashed and a horde of zombies pouring through the opening. 

You grab your walkie-talkie and run through the back door. Nothing but static on the walkie and your spotters outside are both missing. The bodies are gone which usually means the worst but one of their trackers is pinging from a nearby underpass and moving slowly- a bridge on the verge of collapsing, lately zombies have been dragging their prey back to here. If they’re still alive they could be receptive to the antidote but you have to be quick before the treatment window runs out.

Collect the antidote from the Dr and take it to the underpass. If the antidote fails to take, you might have to choose whom to save as the Dr only has 2 vials. Save the spotter and get to the communications tower, something big is happening but we don’t know what. Bureaucracy is what it is with the new faction, tension is at an all-time high and we don't know who we can trust just yet. There are med packs and a mask on the way to prevent the contraction of any contagions. Oh one more thing, there's an immune biochemist who needs help getting to the tower as well, make sure you get him there...alive.

Scene 1: Wake up and get out

Scene 2: Evading Zombies

Scene 3: Tracking clues

Scene 4: Collect the antidote from the Dr
 

Scene 5: Discovering the Dr is infected and grabbing the antidotes. Head to the communications tower.
 

Scene 6: Fatigue, the zombies close in, find a point of refuge for you and the biochemist you are escorting to the safe point (communications tower)

Scene 7: Safe point by the river. Fall asleep from fatigue. You awaken to see a company unloading toxic barrels. Time to go.
 

Scene 8: Collecting resources left by the company workers. You both take masks and med packs but you notice the company insignia is the same as the person you are helping to get to the communication tower. You keep this to yourself for now but it causes tension.

Scene 9: Journey to the comms tower

Scene 10: Biochemist you are escorting, falls and injures themself. This slows you down. You mention the insignia which causes an argument,. his company is clearly on the wrong side of things

Scene 11: Reaching the comms tower. Drama unfolds..

App ideas  outside of writing:

I'd like to see markings added to the map, Silent Hill 2 style - where you mark areas as safe/unsafe or blocked areas that you need to come back to in the daytime/nighttime, at a certain time or season, or with a solution to the puzzle. It could be that some helpful citizens are so rattled and reclusive that they rely on passcodes that you can find elsewhere; before they will consider relinquishing resources or their sage wisdom or a recommendation from a trusted ally. This would encourage longer runs and circuit runs with players.

 

Online ability to mark infected/safe areas for other players to see, like the notes left from players in Elden Ring. 

Smart watch integration.

 

Visible zombies on map (I used to play a game that I believe was called Zombie Run on Android that had visible swarms).

 

The ability to 'swarm' a problem horde of zombies, or to solve a puzzle/ door that takes two people to open etc; with another player. Unlocking something new. Only with pre-approved people and would need to make this safe for players.

Voice over headphones reading how long the player has travelled in the distance; vs proximity to destination. Similar to how Nike's running app works.

 Have recommended Spotify playlist (e.g containing Zombie themed playlists with songs like Zombified from Falling in Reverse and Zombie by the Cranberries)

Spotify integration somehow? without needing it open separately. Cross sponsorship with Spotify? if it doesn't already exist.

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Marking of danger zones (places to avoid running near main roads etc) - to assist other players

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AR implementation; imagine being able to see codes, clues, markers, characters, maybe zombies etc.

 

Character ideas:
Mallory- A mute that you find from coded messages, communicated in morse code
Silas- the biochemist working for the other side; that you need if you want any hope of finding the lost cache of treatment vials and your estranged wife.


Ending Notes:
Apologies for not mentioning specific player names; all I can say is that given the chance I'll write some excellent narratives with cohesive character arcs that I will study and engineer to work with subtle but gratifying setups and payoffs in terms of story and keeping the player invested in the game. From the missions I've played so far, I think the game could do with some more diverse voices, maybe from some older folk as well.