Different zombies

[Daniel Ferguson]

How would you make zombies different, original, basically not stock-standard?

 

[Ratty]

I direct you to TV tropes good sir. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurZombiesAreDifferent this should have everything you need. Now I'm going to close TV tropes so I don't get sucked into it for hours.

 

[Keoul]

I'd do everything Valve did with left 4 dead.
And now all we have to do is wait for l4d3 for more zombies to copy, I'm sure the wait isn't long now!

 

[ChristopherT]

The standard for zombies only really exists in thoughtless mass-consumed material. Zombies have many variations and rules. Zombies in general shouldn't be just about 'the dead kill people', they can be a great tool used to create a story, why not use that tool. That being said I still enjoy dumb zombie entertainment.

For me, I prefer the old Romero style, slow, eat people, barely coherent, destroy the brain. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead. Video game wise oldschool Resident Evil.

But zombies come in different flavors from the styles of
Left 4 Dead
the remake of Dawn of the Dead
Return of the Living Dead
George RR Martin's Meathouse Man
Sankarea
Tech Zombies
the remake of Day of the Dead
Plants vs Zombies
Zombies with Guns
Lollipop Chainsaw
Suasan Palwick's Beautiful Stuff
Herbert West-Reanimator
to name a few. They exist you just have to find them.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Spoiler

Uncharted

(A certain PS3-exclusive trilogy) gives two different and very interesting takes, since the games aren't horror games.
But the origin story for them is also very important in their shaping. A virus or illness is kinda boring. CoD has a great backstory for the zombies, that include loads of the weapons and game elements. God, I love CoDZ...

 

[NeutralDrow]

Sankarea

You just had to remind me of that. That manga creeps me out to no end, because it's just slightly not creepy enough for me to drop entirely, and thus I can't make myself stop reading it whenever I see a new volume out. ;_;

That type of zombie would make for an interesting game, though. I think Yahtzee did an EP column with a game idea where the main character gets weaker over time; if you married that to the concept of playing a sane zombie trying to accomplish some goal while racing the clock, undertaking some actions (eating hydrangea) and avoiding others (being in direct sunlight) to arrest physical and mental degeneration long enough...

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

One thing I am finding very repetitive about zombies is the diseased/dirty look. what if you did zombies cleaner. I know I know it's kind of nutty, but this is about doing different things with zombies. Another bit I have been thinking about for awhile is you know the candy skulls. Is there a way you could style zombies off of them?