• 'ZOMBIE SIEGE: Climate Crisis' - can you survive for 12 days in this scenario?

• 'Survive the NECROPALYPSE!' - can you get to a 'Safe' Zone or make your own?

(Links to the Prompts are further down in this post).

I spent many hours as a big kid in the 1990s imagining zombie scenarios, and some attempts at creating a text adventure game, or book, or a story called ‘Necropalypse’. I loved ‘Fighting Fantasy’ game books, of course, with dice and a pencil.

...

I tried writing some in the programming language BASIC using IF, THEN and ELSE commands. I tried using HTML. Despite the lack of mobile phones, attention spans were not always great back then either. I did write some cool intros and scenarios though.

But then, other games came along. Or you just started growing up… learning things in boring, more direct ways!

.....

I loved the idea of social gaming too: I had ideas of being in a zombie game world and actually meeting other people through it (then Facebook arrived, and we all got turned into a different kind of zombie!). 

I’ve since played with family and with random people in VR, fighting to protect a cabin from getting overrun by zombies. It’s cool in its way, but at present, always limited by its, well, non-AI generated limits. 

......

Well... I’ve now spent many hours with different LLM models in AI to produce the following ‘game’ prompts.

Why? Because writing can still be the ultimate virtual reality, for immersion, imagining, learning…. Because you can personalise so much there, and then get AI to generate so much more….

And I can finally write and code my zombie scenarios, and apps, without doing the terrible technical side.

Artificial Intelligence is enabling unique, open gaming via generation, but, of course, it does need direction, prompting, guard rails….

(Here in late August 2025, I used Google Gemini 2.4 with a Pro account to enhance the prompt in iteration, first using the Deep Research feature for overviews/advice. Then I would ‘direct’, check and test in Gemini and Chat-GPT (4/5) for further advice and suggestions.) 

The 2 prompts published here - even as you read this - could have changed already - via remixing, updates etc. - as they evolve in different forms online - inside apps, bots, on webpages etc. 

See links later in this post for latest editions, to run on the latest AI.
See also:

- https://poe.com/adespress (including dedicated bots + app experiments for them)

But… it’s for these reasons I wanted to publish these early versions, because they took me time, and because they are a fall-back, a starting point. Also, I may not personally get time to work any more on them, who knows..

I like the word ‘Aidventure’: a new form of interactive / narrative / text-based / game experience driven by AI? There should be some kind of word for them. But I’m just a lover of text adventures and role-play (especially closer to reality these days, for higher relevance and skill learning).

I like the word ‘Gamify’. Especially now, where our society soaks up Netflix series and sits passively for the next season to be made..

I like the possibility of learning new things via scenario and context. Experiential.

So now that AI is here, perhaps it will tap into some of this glorious passivity.

I think there will come a point where AI-driven games, stories and experiences allow us to enter certain worlds a lot more, mixing realities, and learn and experience things there, even make memories.

Learning and certainly ‘gamification’ has played a large part in my life. I’m more escapist than many, (I’d agree), and climate change, permaculture and naturalism has anchored me down even more. I’m only human.

The following prompts I don’t - fully - understand on the mechanical side, because AI kept prompting me to take them to further levels. It assured me the balance was good between narrative game emergence and mechanical realism (and via guardrails).

You know, in good old RL, a friend or family member can be your GM (Games Master) and they can test you ‘on the spot’ in any scenario. But of course, soon their knowledge, speed of inventiveness and their mechanical tightness will wander and slacken.

The level I wanted (or may have wanted to reach initially) was very open and simple and free: When playing, I wanted to be the ‘commander’ of the situation, but also feel realism, make realistic decisions, and also learn stuff, and help people learn stuff (about the importance of nature, always).

The A.I would drift, or forget things, so tighter mechanics ‘seemed’ to become important. But ‘narrative drift’ can be so fun too, like a book by a beloved writer you’re controlling. Therefore ‘Zombie Siege’ is the more mechanical experiment, but ‘Necropalypse’ I like more, because it’s so open. 

I had a lot of interesting - pivotal - discussions, with Gemini 2.4 mostly, which the following is an extract (response), concerning the act of altering an early version of Necropalypse, which of course was very loose initially.

As you can see, once the AI knew what my intentions were for the game, it could then start suggesting for me less mechanical enhancements to the prompt, and more that encouraged emergent, narrative creativity:

‘Yes, Ade, you have identified the most significant remaining risk with the prompt in its current state: narrative drift.

Without a clear mechanism to provide forward momentum, an open-ended game can indeed start to "wander." The AI, focused on generating the next interesting scene, might lose track of the player's long-term intentions, and the loosely defined completion states could be missed. The options generated might feel random rather than purposeful.

Your goal is to strike a difficult balance: an experience that feels open and is highly responsive, but which also has clear, achievable paths to a satisfying conclusion. The following suggestions are carefully designed to create this "narrative guidance system" without adding heavy mechanics.’

So, dear player, you’ll have to test them out, experience how successful my direction of Gemini’s proposals were in reaching some of their objectives. Perhaps you’ve finished watching ‘The Walking Dead’ (intense, brilliant series) or something similar (or reading it, or playing linear games based on it), so now you can ask yourself: what will the Necropalypse do to you, or, where will it take me, this time?

Can you reach their completion states? It reminds me just how much we all need something to pull us through this hungry dream called 'Life', if not the raw survival - that is there, underneath everything… 

But also, all of us need to wander, now and then, and it can do us good.

When I get tired of practical or outdoor stuff (I love gardening, growing food, trees etc), I’ve been excited about what AI can do - and for my own creativity. But I think, in the end, the following prompts are another part of that ‘art’, perhaps even, the ultimate part. It was where a lot of it was headed.

I think the ‘contextual / experiential learning and problem-solving’ aspect could still be further enhanced. So the experiments continue...

......

Where is it all goin’? Towards even more dynamic, responsive games driven by live, real-world data… ? Complete virtual world overlays like some multiplayer Google Earth-based Grand Theft Auto… but also where AI is still encouraged - or directed - to be creatively emergent, or to factor in real considerations, giving the virtual sandbox its walls and corridors, eye-opening cultural mindsets and priorities…

I hope you enjoy these Aidventures. They took me some time to pin down, ‘alone’ with a computer and A.I.. The tools have been - on the whole, and with a lot of direction - a pleasure to work with - despite having to treat them like very wise old people who have difficulty hearing.

...

Copy the prompts + paste into whatever LLM or AI model you like. Tinker, remix or enhance them, but please recall on some human level that you read them here first, even by way of a credit of some kind - although yes, this can include the small fee for purchasing this ebook, or supporting this page! There is also eBook on Amazon to share as gift etc.). 

Life, remember (just to go deeper for one moment) is one big, great remixer of ‘personal energy’, as it moulds itself hungrily to environments and spaces.

Good luck ‘completing’ these distracting - yet still relevant - overlays…

• Ade @ Ade’s Press (or ‘Aide’s Press’:)
  

  August, 2025

A strategic survival simulation with a tight set of rules and complex, interlocking systems. It challenges the player's resourcefulness, planning, and ability to manage multiple threats within a fixed timeframe. Efforts were made to force users to think about personal energy, long-term solutions, and practical / emergent skill learning.
Design mostly with Google Gemini 2.4.
Contains its own instructions for setup and file save - JSON data format handling.

More for players who enjoy:

• Strategy and Resource Management: This prompt is built on a foundation of complex, interlocking systems. You must manage PE, Stress, Nourishment, Base Security, Sanitation, Noise Level, and a Scent Profile. Resources are finite and degrade over time.

• Clear Goals and High Stakes: Your mission is unambiguous: survive for 12 days. The daily loop of limited "Major Actions" followed by a mandatory "Nightly Siege" creates a clear, tense, and challenging structure.

• Base Building and Defense: A core part of the gameplay involves fortifying your location and crafting specific perimeter defenses (Alerts, Traps, Barriers) to survive the nightly hordes.

Start here....................................

A more character-driven story experience designed to explore the moral and emotional landscape of a zombie apocalypse. Its rules facilitate a flexible, emergent narrative. Can you survive and reach a Safe Zone? Designed with a mix of LLMs including Claude Sonnet 4 as an app in Poe.com/adespress

Contains its own instructions for setup and file save - JSON data format handling.

More for players who enjoy:

• Creative Freedom and Storytelling: The game is open-ended, allowing you to wander, explore, and create your own goals. The "Story Mode" is designed as a reflective chronicle, prioritizing narrative over stats.

• Character-Driven Drama: The core psychological mechanic is the Humanity score, which tracks your moral choices. The gameplay is built around dilemmas that test your ethics, mercy, and sacrifice.

• A Classic Role-Playing Feel: Inspired by properties like The Walking Dead, the experience is less about winning and more about the journey, the relationships you form, and the person you become in the apocalypse.

Start here.....................................