Lately I’ve been enjoying Urban Dead, a browser based multiplayer zombie apocalypse game in which you can either play a survivor in a zombie infested city or one of the infesting zombies. Or more likely than not, start out as a survivor and end up as a zombie. It’s a good deal of zombie-smashing/brain-eating fun and, unlike most multiplayer games, not too time consuming. That’s because you only have a limited number of actions you can take each day and once they’re gone you have to wait for them to slowly replenish. That can lead to some suspenseful moments because when you’re out of actions, you’re pretty much an easy target for any zombie that comes along. As a human, the game mainly revolves around finding safe buildings to hide in and barricade, along with venturing out to kill a few zombies or help out your fellow humans from time to time. As a zombie, well it’s all about those sweet sweet brains. At any rate, if you’re playing and happen to see a scientist named Gorman running around in the suburb of Dulston, stop by and say hi and please don’t try to bite my face off or anything.

Comments

Comment by Neal on 2005-08-23 23:13:50 +0000

Awesome. I just created a character by the name of Brew Slee.

Comment by Will on 2005-08-24 09:10:57 +0000

Cool, what area did you start out in? I’m up in the upper right corner of the map, where it had been relatively safe until recently. This morning I logged in to find that the well barricaded hospital I had been hiding in with a bunch of other people had been compromised and there were 5 zombies inside. I managed to make it out with brain intact but the whole suburb seems to be more heavily infested now.

Comment by Phil on 2005-08-24 11:55:50 +0000

Hey, I made a character named Kavis that I’ve played for about 80 actions so far, but for some reason I haven’t gotten a single point of XP. None of the zombies have ever attacked me, and I used ALL of my ammunition without getting a single hit. Also, I haven’t found anything apart from the items I started with.

Is this normal?

Comment by Will on 2005-08-24 14:23:43 +0000

It sounds a little unlucky, but not unusual. Your chance to hit starting out is pretty low, so it’ll take a while to earn XP. You get XP equal to the damage you do. The quickest way to earn XP through damage from the start is to be a firefighter and use the axe, since you start with the axe skill and don’t have to worry about finding ammo. My character is level 6 and hasn’t even attacked a zombie yet because i’ve been getting all my XP by healing others and extracting DNA from zombies, or every once in a while reviving them. As far as not being attacked by zombies yet, that’s normal too. All the zombies in the game are actually player characters so unless one of the zombies near you just happens to be someone who’s logged on to use their AP you won’t see them doing anything. It’s pretty rare to actually get attacked while you’re running around. The trick is to hide someplace good when you’re low on AP where you won’t get munched on. In general you shouldn’t hide in hospitals, malls, or police stations since they attract the most attention from zombies. Find a good, non-descript apartment building or something near a hospital or police station and hide there (especially if its barricaded). Rest in there and then head out to search for ammo/med kits and hit and run on some zombies. It’s not worth it to try to kill them really, unless they’re already almost dead since they can just get back up again. Just attack them to get some XP and make sure you leave yourself enough AP to get back to your safehouse.

Comment by Jeff Eaton on 2005-08-26 18:03:26 +0000

Heh. Thanks for the heal, by the way. Found your site via Gorman’s UD profile. A number of compatriots and I are throwing in our lot together and trying to carve out a safe haven in Dulston. Viva la humanity. 😉

Comment by ian on 2005-09-24 02:28:21 +0000

ha! my own dan fern just met your boy pustulent in st. george’s hospital in greentown. i tried to open a line of communication (someone had suggested offering candy) via my own native understanding of zombiespeak. i really thought we’d be able to keep you as a pet, man…

…did they kill you and throw your ass outside?