Next game idea: Free Roam Zones
One of my favorite but also most disappointing aspects of BfN are the free roam zones. As @stukapooka points out, they all have the same kind of flow; get the basics, defeat a series of bosses so you can pass the zone’s special obstacles, beat the main boss, and that’s it for the zone’s story. You still go and find all the hidden things, defeat the bounties, solve the puzzles, and get all the badges done, but then you feel finished with the zone and only go back to help others or to take in the sights. While more work could be put into the zone progression stories so they are more different from each other, these zones had to take a lot of work to make and it’s a shame that they are so limited in scope. I’d like to present some ideas for new ones and how they work for the next shooter.
I’d like there to be at least 3 per side at the start and I’m of 2 minds on how to make these work, either:
- Whenever a zone is added there will be plant and zombie version of them with their own separate quests, unlocks, puzzles, chests and other activities.
- Each side gets completely unique zones.
While the 2nd option means a lot more variety in places to visit, the first option lets them use all the work put into a new zone with a bit of extra work to add new puzzles and chests instead of having to make completely different zones for both sides. I really don’t want the Town Center situation in BfN where you complete it as a plant and then are 30-something percent done as a zombie as all the gnomes are found, the puzzles are done, and you share the same special currency.
I actually like the idea of visiting a zone as both sides but having different objectives, quests, puzzles, and other stuff to do; it would feel like you’re both the hero and villain of the tale woven by the zone as each side and it would mean the team could reuse the worlds they add and get more out of their efforts.
Quest lines: I did have fun finishing all the zones in BfN, but they do fall into that same rhythm as I listed in the initial paragraph. This should be mixed up and extended; add some other objectives and mini-games to advance the story, try to avoid falling into the pattern of needing to grab all the pieces of a thing to open the restricted gates before facing the boss (boombox, lawnmower, stink bomb, mouse fly harmonica). I don’t feel that having one zone like that is bad, but having them all the same makes them more repetitive than they should be. Mixing this formula up would go a long way towards making them more engaging and fun, and making them longer would also help with them feeling more important to the overall story.
Making these longer, more interesting, and more varied would go a long way towards keeping people invested in playing in these zones beyond just wanting to get the zone specific rewards like special consumables and costumes. I would also like to be to repeat these much like in BfN, and to have side quests that may have their own unique rewards as well.
Zone currency and rewards: Of course playing in these zones will provide XP and coins, but they also will have their own special, zone only currencies like in BfN but they will always be useful and reliable, and there will be consumables and costume pieces that can only be unlocked in these zones, using your zone currency to do so.
I’m not sure which way of handling consumables would work best, you’d use zone currency to unlock them, but then any of these would work for me, not sure how other feel about it:
- You’d only spend coins at Rux to buy copies to use.
- You’d only spend zone currency in the zone to buy copies to use.
- You’d be able to spend either; coins at Rux or zone currency at the zone vendors for copies to use.
I’m leaning on the either option as it gives players more flexibility. Of course, if like in BfN you could cash in zone currency for coins, you wouldn’t need that option and once you’ve spent zone currency to unlock something, you’d spend coins to get copies from Rux for consumables or in architect mode in your personal battleground to place buildings.
Like BfN’s gnomoliths and other special events, you’d use the zone currency to trigger them, but I’d like to see more of these events with other rewards or other reasons to play them more often so you have more reasons to play in the free roam zones.
A big part of why you want to visit the free roam zones are for unique customizations and consumables that would be themed to that zone; for example, an ancient Egyptian (Zgyptian?) zone would let you unlock costumes in that style, consumables like the sarcophagus zombies, and buildings for your personal neighborhood (Egyptian styled museum as an example). Some would be from special rare chests that require more effort to open, but most would be available from in zone vendors that take the special zone currency to buy.
The main reason I’d have a zone currency separate from coins is to encourage folks to play in the zones before being able to unlock certain things in them. It’s probably be easiest to have the same currency for both sides for each free roam zone if they make a plant and zombie version of each zone, but if they did make unique zones for each side, unique currency would be used. I don’t want to use too many currencies as that can be a bit tedious and confusing, but limiting it to coins for the general currency and zone only for the zones isn’t too onerous, even if we get a lot of the zones over time.
Repeatability/replayability: One thing I’d like for the next shooter is to also have an adventure bent to it. I’ve not played Destiny but I did play Warframe briefly and while I’m not a huge fan of adding a lot of grind, the idea of being able to go to the free roam zones at any time and get rewards beyond getting more XP and coins does have appeal and some folks prefer PvE over PvP anyway, I tend to seek both in shooters and sometimes you just want to mess about on your own or with just a couple close friends.
You could also add gnomes to mess with both sides, special events that spawn special enemies with special rewards, and other ways to spice the zones up. Maybe certain activities that can only be done once you’ve unlocked other parts of the zone too.
I would love to see the ‘PvE end game’ in the new shooter to be the free roam zones, so we have more variety than we did in GW2 with infinity Time. I didn’t mind Infinity Time but it did get repetitive.
Exploration, puzzles, and other activities: My favorite parts of the free roam zones in BfN, besides escorting Washy of course, are finding the chests, solving the puzzles, and exploring. Finding a hidden Easter egg, puzzle or chest to open, or solving a puzzle always felt good in BfN. And while you can’t have the excitement of finding new stuff in a zone all the time, adding new zones and new activities over time can help with this.
Integrating the free roam zones and events: The pie hunt in BfN was sadly the only time that BfN did this and I really hoped for a lot more. Some of my favorite times in GW2 was when we’d get those seasonal quests in the backyard and even when they were simple, they were a welcome addition. Having those also see us visiting the free roam zones in a new game would only make them more interesting and increase the value of the free roam zones to boot. Of course, we need to make sure that you don’t have to have everything unlocked in a zone to do the seasonal quests, so new players and those who can’t play as much feel left out.
Free roam zone ideas. A simple list of a few, mostly based on PvZ2 and the other prior games. Some would involve time travel to visit, just like in PvZ2, with ideas for zone currency.
- Ancient Egypt/Zgypt: explore the pyramids, solve hieroglyphic puzzles, avoid getting lost in the desert, and marvel at the impressive statues while keeping Zomboss/Crazy Dave from exploiting the riches and marvels of this age. Zone currency: lapis lazuli scarabs.
- The Moon: Much like our battles in GW2 at Lunar Landing and Moonbase Z; deal with low gravity, seek the elusive lunar worm, explore alien ruins, and thwart Zomboss’s Crazy Dave’s plans while looking to add a rocket base to your neighborhood or space themed costumes and consumables to your collection. Zone currency: moon rocks
- Primordial: Travel back to the time of cave zombies and those primordial plants! Want to grab the weasel herding zombie consumable, the primordial heal flower pot, or want to have a stylish bone in your nose? You’ll have to handle all kinds of dinosaurs and whatever Zomboss/Crazy Dave have I store for you! Zone currency: dinosaur teeth.
- Old West: Hankering for brainz or some old west herbs? You’ve come to the right place, pardner! Beware the piano zombies and the sheriff peashooters while working to unlock cowboy hats, spurs, and corrals for your neighborhood! Zone currency: sheriff stars (like Mount Steep)
And let’s be honest, there are so many ideas for free roam zones, decorations, and consumables that would work perfectly with PvZ! Even just having a simple reskin of a summonable zombie or plant adds a little extra personalization to your experience. We could have alternate versions of Suburbia, visit the Dark Ages, go to the Gnomiverse, and so on!
