Dead Rising 3's Zombies Are All Unique

Cognimancer

Imperial Intelligence
Jun 13, 2012
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Dead Rising 3's Zombies Are All Unique



Dead Rising 3 uses procedural generation techniques to build its zombies piece by piece, so in theory no two zeds will be the same.

Wounds from being eaten alive by the undead are a lot like fingerprints: no two people have the same set. That's the case in Dead Rising 3, at least. Rather than building giant hordes from the same handful of character models, the developers at Capcom randomly construct each enemy from a big pile of body parts like a ghoulish Mr. Potato Head.

"You'll never see the same zombie twice," boasts Capcom producer Mike Jones. "It's all procedurally generated: hair styles, clothing, colors, textures. And the gore is too: missing jaws, missing eyes... it's all totally dynamic. That's a whole system that we built. We didn't just model the zombies, we had to model the pieces and the system puts them together."

Dead Rising 3 is drawing on the power of next-gen consoles to make its environments more diverse, in addition to its hordes. "You're looking at more custom work and less reuse," says Jones. "Every building and every interior in Dead Rising 3 is handmade and hand crafted ... Absolutely it costs more money and more time. But ultimately it yields a more unique experience and you'll run through the world and know where stuff is without looking at the map because everything has its own feel."

You'll be able to admire each zombie's individuality as they're gnawing on your brains when Dead Rising 3 launches alongside the Xbox One on November 22.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/431320/dead-rising-3-to-feature-procedurally-generated-zombies-handcrafted-world/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS]

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KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
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Detail like this is impressive, but ultimately wasted when the enemies come in large seething hordes; that are now a dull color palette of gun metal grey and caramel diarrhea brown.
 

Gearhead mk2

New member
Aug 1, 2011
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Didn't they use this technology for the civilians back in Saints Row 2 five years ago? And does it really matter when you'll be too busy clubbing their heads in to get a good look at them and the palette is so limited and dull?
 

Tortilla the Hun

Decidedly on the Fence
May 7, 2011
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KeyMaster45 said:
Detail like this is impressive, but ultimately wasted when the enemies come in large seething hordes; that are now a dull color palette of gun metal grey and caramel diarrhea brown.
Oh, most certainly
Really though, the overall color palette may not be very vibrant, but what stands out are the more wacky parts of the game and I think that's just fine.

More on topic, I really hope this doesn't remain an Xbox One exclusive for long.
 

Xan Krieger

Completely insane
Feb 11, 2009
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Now if only it would come out on a next gen system people will actually buy, the Dead Rising series while hard as hell is also extremely fun when you just spend time coming up with new ways to kill zombies. I love how in the second game you could let the plot expire and just kill the undead as long as you wanted.
 

attackshark

New member
Nov 16, 2010
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yeah. pretty zombies. i'm sure i'll notice the subtle differences in the zombies as i'm running them over with a lawn mower. idiots.
 

RicoADF

Welcome back Commander
Jun 2, 2009
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Xan Krieger said:
Now if only it would come out on a next gen system people will actually buy, the Dead Rising series while hard as hell is also extremely fun when you just spend time coming up with new ways to kill zombies. I love how in the second game you could let the plot expire and just kill the undead as long as you wanted.
Pretty much this, until they release it on a decent system I don't care
 

VladG

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Aug 24, 2010
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Oh yeah. I can't wait to jump into the game and go OH MY GOD! THAT ZOMBIE IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER 200 Zombies I just slaughtered this minute! This one parted his hair differently!

Next gen tech right there.
 

Quantum Glass

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Mar 19, 2013
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Eh, I suppose it'll increase the immersion--it's fine for zombies to look identical if they're androgynous and wearing rags, or in military uniforms or something, but considering these ones are presumably meant to look like semi-decayed civilians...well, I'll be honest, it's a nice touch.
 

Vigormortis

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Nov 21, 2007
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So, in essence, the same system used in Left 4 Dead?

Good. I'm glad other companies are starting to realize that, even if it's subtle, randomized variations to your 'hordes' can make a world of difference.
 
Jun 20, 2013
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Part of the gameplay of Dead Rising was memorizing the zombie placements throughout the game's timeline.

So this is, at least may be ... more simplification to appease the CoD crowed.
Also, randomness tends to be bad game design in most cases. When it comes to civilians in a massive city, yeah it's not a big deal, but the Zombies are the things you actually fight in these games <_<
 

Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
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How is this not cool to people...? I mean, if its been used before, it's not that as neat as it first seems...but I definitely appreciate the fact that I won't be killing the same exact hawaiian shirt wearing zombie as the last time. I actually noticed that stuff and it did bother me after a while.
 

ZZoMBiE13

Ate My Neighbors
Oct 10, 2007
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Mr.Pandah said:
How is this not cool to people...?
Because it's an X1 game and people are riding high on Microsoft bashing right now. Don't let it bother you. This, as all things, shall pass.

On Topic: This is a feature I'm glad to hear about. Sure, it's not the most important thing in the world. But in DR and DR2 you did start to notice the patterns. It didn't break the immersion really, but the variety will be nice. And for huge Dead Rising fans like myself, it'll be a welcome addition.

I can't wait to get my hands on DR3! :)
 
Jun 20, 2013
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ZZoMBiE13 said:
Mr.Pandah said:
How is this not cool to people...?
Because it's an X1 game and people are riding high on Microsoft bashing right now. Don't let it bother you. This, as all things, shall pass.

On Topic: This is a feature I'm glad to hear about. Sure, it's not the most important thing in the world. But in DR and DR2 you did start to notice the patterns. It didn't break the immersion really, but the variety will be nice. And for huge Dead Rising fans like myself, it'll be a welcome addition.

I can't wait to get my hands on DR3! :)
Well, being on the Xbone certainly doesn?t help, but that's another rant for another time.

My issue comes from a lot of the other changes they've made already. It's to the point where it's not Dead Rising any more. Sorry if this sounds pretentious, but it feels like they've ripped the soul out of the game. They're trying too hard to appeal to a wider audience while disregarding the audience that they already had (or at least a chunk of it). I'm a massive DR fan myself, and I feel outright betrayed by this game. I have no probable with growing or innovating, I have no problem with games being open to a wider audience, but surely there a is a way to do it without giving a bunch of gamers the bird. To me, DR3 represents almost everything wrong with the industry right now.
 

DrOswald

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Apr 22, 2011
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BigTuk said:
Yup, that'llcertainly worth the could hundred man hours it took.

Seriously Why put that much detail into something know one will have the time to notice or care about. This is a classic example of big game devs thinking 'graphics still matter' they don't YOu've reached the point where graphical detail is simply going to be lost in the action. Also technically unless the system is keeping track of one combinations it has previously dynamically generated...it'll likely wind up spitting out the same zombie a couple times.
Hundred man hours? yeah, you wish. Try closer to 1000. Between everything that goes into creating one of these zombie parts, from character modeling to programming and everything else, 100 is an incredibly low estimate.

Words cannot express how little I care about this feature. In fact, I care so little that I have looped back around to actually caring about this because it makes me think valuable resources were spent on this that could have been spent elsewhere.

But then again, this game looks terrible in general. I wasn't going to get it anyway.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
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Mortis Nuncius said:
KeyMaster45 said:
Detail like this is impressive, but ultimately wasted when the enemies come in large seething hordes; that are now a dull color palette of gun metal grey and caramel diarrhea brown.
Oh, most certainly
Really though, the overall color palette may not be very vibrant, but what stands out are the more wacky parts of the game and I think that's just fine.

More on topic, I really hope this doesn't remain an Xbox One exclusive for long.
You know, the wacky parts probably wouldn't stand out as much if the colour palette was more vibrant so I think they're actually on the right track. This is where Saints Row The Third went overboard. Everything wacky was just ordinary.

OT: While this is neat an all I can't help but thinking that I would never notice if two zombies are the same or not. Oh well, at least you won't see two identical guys standing next to each other.
 

Warachia

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Aug 11, 2009
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Mortis Nuncius said:
KeyMaster45 said:
Detail like this is impressive, but ultimately wasted when the enemies come in large seething hordes; that are now a dull color palette of gun metal grey and caramel diarrhea brown.
Oh, most certainly
Really though, the overall color palette may not be very vibrant, but what stands out are the more wacky parts of the game and I think that's just fine.

More on topic, I really hope this doesn't remain an Xbox One exclusive for long.
No need to be a dick about it, they're referring to the enemies being bland and uninteresting, not the game or the character.
Seriously take a look at your own screenshots, the zombies themselves all just end up blending together.