I've played a number of MMORPGs…some of which keep me invested for months on end, while others bore me within a few days or weeks. I've been a dwarf. I've fought orcs. I've seen too many elves to count. I've flown in space. I've shot lasers. Throughout my adventures, however, I've never ran across a true horror themed MMORPG (no, slapping a vampire or werewolf in as a playable race is not a horror MMO in my book). In this series of articles based around a theoretical trip through the world of building a MMORPG, join me as we discuss the creation and premise of our very own game: Dead End.

First up, while this series of articles will follow the creation of our own MMO, it's strictly an idea and there is no game coming from any of this. If the idea got in the right hands, however, I'd certainly be down for collaborating on bringing the idea to life…just saying. I wouldn't mind becoming a famous game designer.

After tiring of MMOs that do little more than expand on the same fantasy and sci-fi settings and traditions, I wanted our fictional MMO to be based in the horror genre…a true horror genre. As I stated in the opening paragraph, putting in a vampire or werewolf into a game as a playable race doesn't make you a horror MMO in my book. While it's nice to see something like a vampire included in a game besides an elf for the hundredth time, despite that graphical coat of paint the game is still usually the same point-and-click MMO that is the bulk of the market right now. Before we get into the gameplay features, however, we need a premise, world, and story. We also need that special something that makes our game uniquely horror.

I present to you: zombies!

With shows like True Blood and books like the Twilight series being widely popular right now, it would make sense to try and capitalize on the horror icon known as the vampire. I've always been more partial to zombies, however, and feel that a story about fighting ourselves (though an undead form) is ultimately the way to go, and to have a MMO centered around a zombie apocalypse, especially, would be an amazing setting for a game.

Imagine waking up one morning to find that something is not quite right. You had a sickening feeling that something wasn't right when you went to sleep, but now something is really wrong – namely the fact that your little suburb has become infested with zombies, and they're looking for anything that's living with a brain. As the zombies close in on your position, will you be able to escape and find your way to the safety of a haven?

And thus begins our game…

The story of waking up in this world gone wrong would be the designated tutorial area, allowing the player to learn the ropes when it comes to gameplay mechanics and controls. You'll wake-up alone, not much in terms of living humans around, and only zombies coming at you from every angle. You open a door – zombie. You turn a corner – zombie. If you don't escape, however, you'll be dead long before you have a chance to live in the game. The tutorial would end with the player's newly created character escaping from their suburban nightmare and making their way to a city – let's call it New Haven – which is the first zone free of the threat. After arriving at New Haven the official game begins and it has only one goal: survive.

Too often I end up quitting a MMO because while there are elements that make me feel like a character living in this sci-fi/fantasy world, there always comes a point when it's just me sitting at a computer, clicking the same attack buttons, grinding away levels on enemies. It's usually at this point where the virtual reality loses me and I come to see that I'm just playing another game. Also, beyond completing quests and learning some lore, there's not much to make you feel invested in the overall happenings in the world.

Dead End – the game's title for sake of having one - would have minor story elements that would be most associated with arcs in a comic, but the overall idea is to merely live in this world and try to survive. When you look at horror movies – zombie apocalypse films especially – while there are several major and minor issues to deal with, in the end the hero is successful if they're just alive by the time the credits roll; Dead End would thus be similar. Players would still have short-term goals to work towards like rare armor and weapons or the pursuit of a certain level, but overall the goal is living. You stay alive and if so you're successful.

The game takes place in a fictional version of the United States during the time of a zombie apocalypse. Players start by picking their starting city (aka server) that will take them to their far corner of the country. As players explore and investigate their own neck of the woods, they'll eventually find their way expanding outwards, wondering if the whole world is like this or just their city.

While the main crux of the game is the idea of surviving, greater story elements will be at hand. Should you choose to progress along the game's story mode, you'll begin by getting familiar with your surroundings, and helping the city with some problems. Killing a few zombies to show your worth to the populace, making needed runs to the supply depot, researching something outside of the city that one of the upper government people need, etc. As the story progress you'll ultimately run across larger, more grand stories, such as trying to find a loved one to see if they're still alive, and ultimately working towards the final part of the story, trying to see what caused the zombie apocalypse and if there could be any cure.

We will end our first installment in this new feature right there, giving you a taste of what the game's story and world will be like and where we could be heading from there. We hope to continue the feature with future articles, detailing other things we've got cooking in our heads like ideas for the gameplay, character classes, PvP, perma-death server, enemies, loot, player housing, and much more.