so id ABSOLUTLY LOVE to see this go in.
Basically when you die you get a menu pop up. with 2 options:
- Re-spawn
- Zombie Time
oh yeh, you know where im going with this. How about having it so you can respawn as a player OR actaully choose to play as that zombie, when you become the zombie you can use it just like the "pill zombie". you suddenly become hostile to everyone, as your a frekin zombie, so you dont need to worry about killing other players or even your own community.
in the TAB player list you will see "Zombified" under the name rather than their community.
The zombie you become wont hit any harder than normal zombies and you will have the same HP and way of dying as a normal zombie, so its perfectly fair, your just alittle more "smart". cannot open doors, pressing "use" on a door will instead cause you to do the knocking action that zombies do on doors and some windows.
You have a 30% chance of your headcrab falling off upon dying so you may still play as headcrab working the same way as the "headcrab pill" without the burrow/healing factor.
This does not mean you can stay a zombie and stay out of trouble as you have a timer of living. you can be this zombie for a maximum of 5mins and when the headcrab falls of you it has only 2 mins of living. Also this doesnt mean the zombie will die only that you will respawn, so your zombie or headcrab will be where you last was when the timer ran out.
Suicide and killing yourself in anyway will not allow you to become a zombie, you have to be killed by another player or an NPC. (so i suppose NPC suicide would still work, but you get where im coming from)
to prevent the use of this ALL the time you could have it so you may only become a zombie on death once every 30 mins, OR maybe add something into the shop menu called "Virus" and if you have one of these equipped or even just in your inv at the time and die you can choose to be zombie. not choosing zombie upon death will not remove the virus from you. it should cost alot or even Have it so a zombie will drop it when it dies or you loot the zombies body, this item would be very rare.
recap:
-chance to play as zombie upon death
-only stay as zombie for 5 mins and headcrab for 2mins after time is out you respawn and your zombie is where you last were.
-community name in player TAB menu will say "Zombiefied" instead
-pressing use on a door will make the zombie do deafault bang on door action
-30% chance of headcrab dropping when your zombie dies
-cannot suicide to become one
Alternate way:
-same rules as above exept you need to either "make" or "find/loot" the virus from a zombie or shop to have a chance to become one on death.
-virus is very rare thing to get, or very expensive to make.