Hi all,
Will the Project Zomboid Writer-y type guy here. First time on reddit, so I apologise if this gets lost somewhere on the page.
I stand by my initial statement from late last night: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/10/project-zomboid-burglary-statement/.
The Zomboid guys are quite heart-on-sleeve, when prodded they will react - and they will appear human. Especially when they've a) had someone come into their house and nick all their stuff and b) had a bit to drink.
It's clear that there has been a fuck up here, I'm currently etching the list of 'lessons learned' into my arm with a kitchen knife. No-one has been run over by a bus though, and I'm confident we can get things back on track.
I'm flying off up to Newcastle tomorrow so we can get the battle-plan sorted.
Cheers all,
Will
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/
These guys were behind a tech demo of a zombie game that sold a huge amount of pre-orders for promises of a finished product. Now they are going around creating the worst PR disaster since the BP oil spill. One of them got drunk on twitter and start insulting everyone, and now the account is deleted.
It's a bit of a two sided coin, while it wasn't their fault for being robbed, they were operating with no external backups of code that contained months of work.
If you ever plan on being a successful developer, try not to insult/disappoint the people handing you wads of cash with no real assurances of your competency.
The press release is worth a read.
Personally I wish the guys the best. Sure, they should have backed up, but burglary sucks. Also, the alpha release showed real promise, I think.
Yes we have! We love seeing LPs and streams of Project Zomboid--not only does it help spread the word (important for a small company like us!), but sometimes when working on a game you get a bit isolated, but when you watch people playing and enjoying it, it really provides a motivational boost and reminds you of what you're working toward! We really appreciate the time and work LPers and streamers put into PZ :)
Btw, if anyone reading this wants to make an LP/straem, here's the link to a page that gives permission for you to do so, in case YouTube starts hassling you: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/youtube-terms/ -Mash
Here's one of the things that pissed me off so much about that: they were getting all pissy about hindsight, they couldn't have expected to be robbed etc etc.
Meanwhile, back in May, this had happened: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/things-can-only-get-better-surely/
>On top of that, it was sounding alarmingly like our entire building could explode at any minute. Good job Nick had the presence of mind while half-asleep to grab his laptop and, therefore, the entire PZ code-base.
They already had a scare regarding the physical copies of their code! Yet just 5 months later, here they are doing backups between laptops in the same apartment, and not keeping up with remotes. And then they have the balls to get all whiny about people getting on their case about it.
If your code base potentially being literally detonated is not enough to get you to make regular off-site backups, you don't get to be mad at anyone but yourself when something inevitably goes wrong.
I'm pretty sure it was due to the fact Google Checkout has in the fine print a clause that says donations cannot accepted for a sold product. Long story short if I remember correctly Google Checkout froze the account and they could not get their money.
Edit* Here's a blog post about it from the source: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/04/warning-how-google-checkout-screwed-project-zomboid/
Sounds like you're looking for Project Zomboid. It's not first-person, but it's very immersive. There are multiplayer servers, although I've almost exclusively played singleplayer. I believe they aren't giant deathmatches like DayZ.
There's a demo on Steam you can try.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/108600/
/r/projectzomboid
I'll start.
Interactive health screen/system, like this (you can interact with it to perform actions). So if you get shot in the arm, you have an arm wound that bleeds at a certain rate and you can check it, disinfect it, bandage it with different types of wrappings, and have to remove old bandages after so many hours and redo it all.
Magazines! I want to have to use actual magazines, be able to put them in quick access pouches (or it takes like 20sec to reload), and have to manually load them with ammo (drag and drop, not like one bullet at a time, I'm not crazy masochistic).
Just two things I think are sorely lacking in a open world survivalist game.
Pirates took a small, indie game that was using the Minecraft development model (pre-orders, incremental development), and made a free version that auto-downloaded updates. The downloading costs the developers money that they quite literally didn't have.
Considering these are the same people who have had trouble with Google Checkout in the past, I am a bit sceptical about their side of the story.
Keep an eye on http://projectzomboid.com/blog/, animation reworks (and thus a buttload of other featuers, including more clothing and weapons to name a few) are the main feature of the next upcoming build.
No ETA's on that of course.
How about this one? ^.^
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/
Full disclosure, I mod the forums and I know the developers. It's looking pretty fantastic right now, we've got an alpha released already that's playable by anyone who's bought the game (and a very old demo that's playable by anyone), plus it's only about $8.
Do you know the actual problem? They aren't complaining about piracy in itself, the issue they have is with a particular pirated torrent. The hacked version updates (re-downloads) the entire game every time it is run. They are charged for this download. As a small dev they can't afford what could turn into a massive bill - as they said in the post on the website, it may be that the cost wouldn't amount to much anyway; but they can't afford to take a risk that could finish them.
This question is answered on the game's website or Steam store page, and at more detail in the development blog. TBH it seems rather odd to me that your first reaction was to post a question to Reddit, instead of looking in the couple of most obvious places on the 'net.
I'm not lying about myself to impress you, if that's what you're worried about, sillybilly. Here's where they were a year ago (http://projectzomboid.com/blog/2014/07/its-an-npc-related-mondoid1-no-hype-pls/ -- all you have to do is google "zomboid NPC" and it's in the first few results). Your last point relies on a false dichotomy--you forgot at least one more possibility: "take as long as they need and release something amazing, probably with a few blemishes that will be patched soonafter". Here's a forum post from one of the programmers a couple months ago directed specially for people like you: http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/14491-the-silver-lining-of-npc-delays-etc/ . Here's a nice excerpt: "... these NPCs are one of the most ambitious NPC systems in the history of games. " Chill out, dude. You don't know what you're talking about when it comes to programming AI, and that's okay so long as you don't pretend you do.
I feel the same way, because honestly? I've been checking back on this game irregularly since 2012, and for sure remember NPC's being a topic of discussion as far back as 2013, if not further.
Not to mention, they were supposed to be added at least around 2015 as the game was 'on it's final march toward 1.0'.
Lots of people here will defend the development with "Ugh, but did you read the mondoids? They halfway mentioned it once a few months ago!" but come on, they're basically vaporware at this point, we have dozens of tiny snippets showing them from years back, but not a single time have we seen anything tangible come out with them. It's easy to say "Well, they want to perfect them first", but that's just wishful thinking.
And people will also defend it with "Oh, but game development takes a long time!" which is true enough, but this game has been development for a long time. Even generally speaking, I think squatting on early access for such a long time (and having had paid alphas prior, mind you) is not okay for really any game, and I'm not going to give this one a pass because I would like this one to succeed. There's been a buy-in with expectation of a 1.0; 'releasing the game' doesn't mean halting development, but it does mean that at some point, we deserve a finished product, where missing features can't just be swept under the rug. And so far, that doesn't seem to be happening; which sucks, because I'd hate to see this game perpetually stuck in the comfort zone of early access, and simply die out before ever reaching release status.
You should try Project Zomboid. I consider it one of the best survival games out there. It's a game based on the zombie apocalypse, Romero-style. However, don't expect it to be in fps style nor the likes of DayZ. It's retro-isometric in perspective. The best part about it is this:
Survive. "Surviving isn’t just about blowing zombie’s heads off. Depression, starvation, trust issues, loneliness, illness, insanity. These are just some of the things you have to deal with in Project Zomboid."
Build. "Build and craft items to help you stay alive. From weapons, food or traps to a simple plank of wood nailed to a door. "
Defend. "Protect yourself and your allies from the relentless horde with a range of weapons and defenses."
Check out the game here.
> No one does. Anyone who comes forward with such stats are liars.
Not if they are clear about this being estimates. With some online games, devs have been able to see that the number of concurrent players means the pirated copies are at least 10 times more than the legal ones, and that number is guaranteed to be a small fraction of the real numbers.
Heck, Battle Dungeon had to close down because they couldn't afford to run the servers with the number of pirate scum using their resources for free. Same with Project Zomboid, their built in updater tool used so much bandwidth from pirates, the bill from Amazon Cloud almost killed their little startup before the game was released and they had to take the game down temporarily.
Probably not exactly what you're looking for but Project Zomboid (tl;dr) looks pretty cool. Just bought it a few minutes ago, think they've released a alpha demo also.
Edit: Off topic obviously, but I tried the alpha for a few minutes! It was awesome, even [up until the point where I stopped playing because I forgot to turn the oven off when preparing a meal for me and my wife(?). Fire everywhere, it even seemed to catch on to the fortifications I had put up on the windows and doors...](/spoiler)
Hopefully this turns out as good as it seems, it's got a lot of promise
Pirating
1) Japanese shit that is unavailable outside of Japan. Seriously, importing that would be a nightmare. And I wouldn't pay for a game I couldn't actually read (but trying).
2) Games so old it's not even available outside of piracy. I'm talking DOS games and NES roms.
Buying
1) Steam. Basically whenever there's a sale I buy shit I shouldn't (because I have so much shit left unplayed).
2) Humble Bundle. I like what they're doing and I support it, so I always throw a few bucks their way, even though I might not end up enjoying the games all that much.
3) Pre-alpha "investments". Prime example is of course Minecraft, but also Project Zomboid and Overgrowth.
My recommendation is for Project Zomboid.
It has all the mechanics we were looking for in TDL, but approached in a more wide scale way, (Its not first-person whatsoever, but at a third-person from REALLY far away). Its more of an RPG in its gameplay, but still has all of the same looting, fighting, and building aspects we all loved about TDL. And the maps are huge, because they're based on real towns in Kentucky.
There's also a huge modding community for it, so that helps with the overall content is you ever get bored of the base game while updates are coming out.
Edit: There's also a free demo for anyone wondering if their computer could run it.
It seems like they will try to keep developing.
But this guy's twitter stream is pretty entertaining.
I beleive this is coming in pretty soon! The last Mondoid Blog said so http://projectzomboid.com/blog/2015/02/yippee-ki-yay/
Reanimation
The return of the feature that would see infected survivors turning upon death – letting you watch your zed as it stumbles around – quite possibly attacking other players if you’re in MP.
-- speaking of Mondoids.. new one up :D
I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind, but Project Zomboid fits the discription pretty well. It's quite early in development though, so a lot of the NPC features are not done.
Project Zomboid is a really good one, you start out with nothing/very little, have to scavenge for supplies, and fight off zombies in the process, also you can barricade houses or buildings and camp out there, they were also going to add multilayer support which seemed pretty awesome. It heavily based on survival.
Project Zomboid
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/
Its a blast however it is still in beta. It's basically a game based on "how long can you survive?" That's it. You go home to home, gather supplies, fight zombies, can become depressed etc. Its worth checking out in my opinion.
1: Yes, the developers often release a major update every 3-4 months, and often times you can play those updates much earlier in the sort of beta builds called IWBUMS, which are updated usually on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. In fact the developers just released a major update recently adding vehicles and such to the game. The developers also release a weekly blog update about the game here
2: If you play on the normal branch, yes.
3: Indeed, there are numerous mods on the workshop and on the forums, some very large and some relatively minor.
So lets sum it up:
Refusal to code/work because a minority of customers requested refunds for slow/lack of updates. (and calling them dickheads in the process)
Robbery with a screenshot of police report (someone did check up on robbery reports in the area and only one has shown up so far which wasn't related to this. It could be slow to update as they pointed out)
2 laptops lost between 4 developers causing "months" of lost code with no "recent" backups between other systems or the other 2 devs.
Paypal/google checkout incident
car bomb incident. Quoted "Good job Nick had the presence of mind while half-asleep to grab his laptop and, therefore, the entire PZ code-base." This happened back in May. So this at least says that they've been failing to practice backing up code for a while now.
I didn't really follow the game and know little about the paypal and google checkout incident. I assume it checks out. The car bomb incident checks out as well (same area, reported on other news outlet). The robbery is still kidna iffy as well as the same mannerism between the 4 developers.
My thoughts remain the same. Not a scam. But the last two major incidents, makes me FEEL like they are trying to buy time because they've been promising a big update and it's been taking too long. I just don't see how a polite email for a refund can cause you to lose all motivation to code or how you don't have any backups/copy of said major patch between 4 people. Either way, these devs seem too reckless for my taste although the game idea seems really fun.
So many delays and promises over the past few months, but we were all willing to let that slide. But now coincidently/conveniently the only computers with the new update version on it are stolen?
I hope to hell that they are telling the truth and are not just scamming everyone who paid for the game (in addition to hoping they can recover the laptops of course), but looking back at everything that's been going on it really doesn't look good.
BTW, the following is on their page for buying the game:
Make a note of that last sentence there.
However we are not legally bound to provide additional updates, and you are paying for the product as it stands now.
>And I've never played a video game where zombies don't die with a headshot. And when they die, they're dead.
Think of them like bees. If a bee stings you, are bees no longer a threat? Of course not, you'll walk two minutes and be stung by another bee. Zombies are not an individual monster, they're a hivemind with their ears and noses primed for you to make just one little mistake in a dead-silent city. If you shoot one in the head, that shot echoes and your position is given away. If you slip and fall, your crying echos and your position is given away. If you drop a jar of pickles, you've damned yourself to an unending hell after being ripped apart by wild animals.
The depth of a genre isn't limited to examples from that genre. Hip hop is filled to the brim with the most inane shit I have ever heard, but it's also impossibly beautiful when done right and on a deeper level is essentially poetry set to a beat. If zombie games modelled sound properly, you'd seriously regret shooting that zombie in the head.
edit:
>But throwing them in video games is getting so, so overdone.
Agreed, but I'd add something to this. Throwing them in mediocre games is getting so, so overdone. World War 2 is fucking amazing if Red Orchestra is doing it and so-so if Medal of Honour is doing it. Swords and staves are fucking amazing if Bethesda or Blizzard are doing it and annoying if Korean MMO farms are doing it. Zombies, try this and tell me what you think about zombies.
From the source blog post.
>So in summary, when ‘evil’ Paypal took issue with our account: > > * They gave us 5 days warning, allowing us to get the money we had in there. > * After the 5 days, it turned out that the only real limitation was that they hold onto 5% and we couldn’t close the account. > * After a slight clarification on the buy page and an explanatory email, just out of the blue reversed the decision and have been fine since. > >Google Checkout did this: > >* Completely blocked us taking any more orders >* Give us no access to the money made since day dot (which probably accounts for about 80% of what we’ve made) >* Provide us with no clear option to appeal or even contact them for more information and replied with a stock incorrect response that didn’t even apply to us.
I think that's the most concerning aspect of the whole ordeal. No amount of "legal issues", excuses the treatment they received from google.
http://projectzomboid.com/ Is a cute survival Rpg made by The Indie Stone. Its only in alpha at the moment but there are regular updates. Gives a walking dead kinda feel without being a walking dead game.
You won't be alone, because their plan is to add NPC's. There was just a (what I believe to have been) devblog the other day. Here: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/2014/06/march-to-1-0/ Plus there is always online.
Thanks! Now that MP is in (albeit still in need of work) the biggest feature we're working toward is NPCs, which is really what we hope will set our game apart :) This blog post is fairly old, but it's a good sum up of where we want to go with NPCs http://projectzomboid.com/blog/2013/01/tales-from-the-metaverse/ -Mash
One so far I will look through everyone elses suggestions: Project Zomboid!
Edit: Fixed link and don't let the graphics fool you it is a very detailed realistic zombie survival game. You make noise expect it to draw attention from survivors and zombies. Just one of the many crafting skills you can use in the game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMryy7MtoVQ
Probably Project Zomboid. I played the game when they released it for free, or maybe it was just the demo, a while ago and it had a lot of elements other games wouldn't have. You have to find food, you have to make shelter (barricading doors and windows), you have to sleep, guns and ammo are rare, you have to regain composure after you get startled by zombies (fighting them, taking damage from them). The game is pretty difficult, but it was fun for a few play through. And they have their own subreddit.
The one realistic looking zombie game I'm looking forward to is Dead State. This game deals with the social aspect of surviving the zombie apocalypse. You have to keep your group happy with your decisions, making shelter while fighting off the undead and living. Apparently it's been in development for a while, I just hope it eventually is released.
Oh lordy lord! Version control is absolutely essential reading; whether working as a team of developers or individually Just as these guys who didn't use an external SVN. The issue is you never really experience it at university; it hits you in one big shot when you join a team.
Learning the terminology can really help get you started though (Trunk, branch, tag, update, commit). If you want to go the whole hog; try the below tutorial (Apache SVN and TortoiseSVN (Which has got alot better since the 1.7 update))
I apologise for highjacking your top comment but there's just something that I wanted to say about these guys.
They've gotten front-page Reddit posts a few times, and the traffic kills their site every time. They are currently living off pre-order money, so if you're really interested consider bookmarking the site (http://projectzomboid.com/blog/) and checking back in a few days.
Again, sorry for the highjack, and no, I'm not affiliated with PZ, just a well-wisher.
Because, sometimes, customers are wrong about what they thought they were buying. With EA games (along with most crowd-funded, alpha-funded, or in-dev games) that's access to a product that may or may not evolve, without any timeframe, usually made by a group of people that have no safety net and no means to make even the flimsy pretence at a guarantee that publishers attempt. This exists because customers want something more than what triple-As can give them. They're willing to risk a couple bucks, get "early access" to a flawed game, and hope for the best.
This was made clear in even 2011, before Early Access was a thing. and further explained at some point in the early blog posts wherein they discussed emulating MineCraft's alpha-funding method.
That's not in any way meant to say you shouldn't (or won't) get a finished product at some point, or in a timeframe you feel is reasonable. It doesn't excuse TIS from its seven years of development on Project Zomboid. This is just trying to explain why it's why this may not be as "anti-consumer" as you think.
What's anti-consumer is the following practices:
flipping assets and demos;
lying within the context of an aggressive marketing campaign before release;
selling EA titles for a premium;
dumping titles that should be EA into the Steam store;
selling DLC of cut content;
pushing out a 1.0 that may or may not be technically complete but is just a shallow representation of what you thought you were buying; and,
moving on to the next project the moment the game's profitable; and,
etcetera.
It's the old adage of "You can have two: fast, cheap, or good." TIS went with cheap and good.
Project Zomboid - matches your description almost perfectly, it's in a post apocalyptic where you start sometime after the whole world has become zombies. It is a hard game, so if you want to play a demo before you buy they have a free download on their website - http://projectzomboid.com/blog/buy-download/ Hope this is what you were looking for.
Scrap it? No fucking way. They said NPCs are an assured part of the game much like vehicles. It just takes time.
This is the state NPCs were in <strong>over a year ago</strong>.
You can read the mondoid and watch the other NPC test videos they released here.
As for when we'll actually these NPCs in the game we have no clue, as far as the devs tell us it'll be a little while yet.
Sanctum is an interesting take on tower defense from what I can see from youtube videos, very interesting indeed.
As for what you're doing op, you are pretty awesome for doing what you do, and it's fantastic that you're opening a discussion for the next giveaway. (something I've rarely seen on here)
As for what could be the next giveaway you do, I bid for the game Project Zomboid. Yes it is an early access game, but it is one I feel that is done right (along with Kerbal Space Program and Prison Architect). It's also one game I rarely seen given away on here, usually only seen in bundle giveaways in my experience. Project Zomboid has an interesting history, in perticular to it's times before coming onto Steam.
Before Steam the game was sold like Minecraft was, at a reduced price while in Alpha. I remember at one point before it got onto Steam, the Dev's were burglarized and lost all their current (at the time) work on the game, and despite the uproar/drama of the fans the Dev's persevered, continued development despite the losses.
The game has come a long long way since it's beginnings, and has made many great improvements since then. With constant updates on progress from the devs and great interaction with the players this game seems to be coming along very nicely. From the videos I've watched multiplayer seems awesome and the soon to be included npcs that they have been working on for a long time seems to be finally coming into fruition.
Whew, I didn't expect to type all that, but I really just went with the flow concerning my thoughts on this bid for the next giveaway ha. Again op, you rock for doing what you do.
Also, good luck to all who enters this current giveaway!
Depending on how open you are to some retrogaming, you might be interested in Project Zomboid.
Edit: I just double checked. It does have all the elements you mention in the title. I've never played it, but they had a lot of success when they launched their alpha. In fact, they were so successful that PayPal shut them down. That's when you know you've hit it big.
Project Zomboid is currently updating, even if the latest release is a few months old. For example, they're commenting on sawn-offs and sprites.
Project Zomboid is already into this concept. They have a good idea, but their execution has much to be desired at this point.
Do you have any other games under your belt? A Zombie Survival RPG requires a huge scope to be fun and successful. Don't bite off more than you can chew, pun intended.
They've clarified that statement. While it will be a long while for the game to be purchased on steam, Desura and the Project Zomboid team have an agreement with Steam for distribution.
So as I said you'll be able to hook it with steam, just so long as you buy it from Desura or the Google Checkout.
Source: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/08/just-to-clear-something-up-re-steam/
Minecraft? It has zombies!
Also, tried Project Zomboid? http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/free-public-demo-released/ free demo here.. But the game is in very early stages ATM, so might be a bit of a tease..
https://pzwiki.net/wiki/Version_history ctrl + f "stable release" will give you most of the dates, though it looks like the Wiki hasn't been updated lately.
This one provides a "just the highlights" look: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/2013/08/buildstatus/
Last stable build was released in July. The current IWBUMS has had 19 updates since August. It's definitely one of the longer periods PZ's gone without a stable release.
> Or perhaps it's just that the updates come in small bites rather than major content updates, and so the core game changes very slowly over time.
Yep, it's pretty rare there's any big, huge "Everything has changed!" build. Outside of maybe the original tech demo, the 2.0r series, the Steam build, build 27/28, and the July build, almost everything else is iterative, slowly changing over time. The exceptions to this is animations (which is the start of the NPC release cycle) and cars.
The game is largely mature at this point -- there's a couple things the devs want to tweak or expand, but it's not as though we're suddenly getting functional windows, multi-height carpentry, a skill system, the ability to craft and cook, multiplayer, or weather effects again.
It's much more underwhelming to say "food can now turn to compost over time!" vs "you can now grow plants and farm!"
TIS has been doing just that for as long as mods have been around - the terms and conditions have clauses to address feature incorporation and credit. Modded features selected for incorporation are not chosen by popularity (nor should they be!).
Just really slow, but new features keep coming with each new version. It might be slow, but I think it's looking pretty good so far.
Every monday they upload a post in which they explain what they are currently working on, what they are implementing next, etc. You can check it out here.
The closest thing I can think of is either:
If you don't mind simple graphics then Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead would fit as well. It's an incredibly deep game.
The developers are pretty on-point. They're great at engaging with the community, putting out weekly bulletins and regular updates. It's neat to be asked specific questions about testing game modes (like finding a "sweet spot" of zombie numbers and spawn rate with their Sandbox mode, or timing/difficulty of Challenges). They're active on their forums and take advice to heart. You can read their devlog here.
Outside of the development process, they've been hit with more than their share of bad luck. There was a problem with their PayPal account, they've had some piracy issues, and their flat/office was actually broken into and their computers were stolen (they had a backup off-site, thankfully). For all those hurdles, though, they're set on finishing the game and doing it right.
There's plenty of "finished" game in place right now; it's not one of those unfinished messbuckets by any means (one of my biggest pet-peeves with Early Access games). Multiplayer works well, and there are a bunch of public servers out there to jump in on.
All in all, I think it's "one of the good ones," like Kerbal Space Program or Space Engineers. I'm happy with the game right now, and I have full confidence in the developers.
“And finally, I’ve also introduced padlocks! You can add a padlock onto your hand-made crates to secure them. They’ll be automatically unlocked if you have the key, but in MP others won’t be able to get inside them. Although, of course, if they have a crowbar that’s a different matter.” Source
Does no one read the patchnotes when they release updates?
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/2014/12/have-a-30-new-year/
New health system. Your wounds can get infected in Build 30. Even before build 30, if you have the Hypochondriac trait, you can develop "infection-like symptoms" even when you haven't been infected by the zombie virus.
Cars are being worked on.
The early access blurb on the steam page says this:
>Two major features are yet to be implemented into the game, both of which are currently in full-time uninterrupted development each with dedicated full-time developer support. These are:
>[...]
>Vehicles - Fully physics modelled 3D vehicles, siphoning petrol, mechanics skills.
And Here is a picture they released awhile back.
So yeah, cars are definitely going in, however, horses have never been mentioned.
Their blog is pretty good where they discuss what's coming along and there's a subreddit too.
Getting a handful of people you know to play with you is a great experience. My friends and I took over a school and I became a carpenter and quartermaster. We sent out scavenging teams in pairs with each watching each other's backs and started a farm.
Everything was going fine until two of us tried to break into the hardware store. Breaking a door down was noisy enough to attract attention, so we pegged it. This attracted more attention and we got trapped in a side street. To my shame I jumped through a window, leaving my friend to die. I escaped, never looking behind me and crawled back home. A throbbing pain in my arm informed me I'd been bitten - I tried to bandage it and heal myself but it got worse and worse. I took a bottle of whiskey into the back of the P.E. changing rooms and waited to die.
...if that doesn't convince you to buy it, I don't know what will.
I hope it is, I just reckon this might be another period without any contact. I'd much prefer Wolfire to do something like this - http://projectzomboid.com/blog/category/news-development/ with a post to engage with the community each week regardless of progress on the project itself
This is probably the most complete listing we have from the dev's side: http://web.archive.org/web/20130306150320/http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/tldr-just-give-me-the-jist
It's somewhat of a shame that it didn't transition to the new site.
Project Zomboid - A zombie-survival RPG with procedural generation. Still in development, but many people have said that what they've gotten out of the game in its pre-release form has been worth the price of admission.
AI War - Another Arcen product, I'm guessing you already checked this out since you love AVWW so much, but I figured it's worth mentioning in case you didn't.
Cortex Command - I think you would love this one. Big on physics based gameplay and dynamic results.
Both of those games are finished products. I'm assuming Lemmy (who works on Project Zomboid, an unfinished indie game) is referring to games which follow the Minecraft-style of development.
"Project Zomboïd" is quite good, if you want a zombie-survival it's for you.You can craft weapons and different objects, protect yourself by hiding from the hord in some houses and gather food to survive.
From what I understand, they will keep working on it. Now, they just need to figure out what to do of this situation and start all over.
The word "beta" is almost meaningless to a project like Minecraft. They could take the next version, call it "final" and nobody could complain.
Minecraft started as fully playable "creative mode" browser demo. People probably would have happily payed for that alone and, in a way, have.
To be completely fair Zomboid has a working prototype available as well. I think people tend to forget that. I doubt a scammer would go through such trouble and it shows they can put something together.
More info here: https://twitter.com/#!/lemmy101
Very crappy circumstances. Kinda awesome that despite the numerous set backs they're still wanting to go on, though this will probably be a fair bit more major than the Paypal/Google Checkout issues they had.
Is a bit silly they used the two laptops to back each other up mind. This day n age NAS/External GDD/Cloud isn't too expensive for peace of mind.
You can buy the game/demo it here if you're wanting: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/buy-our-games/
>Just to Clear Something Up re: Steam
>There have been a lot of questions regarding what’s happening with Steam. We are not going on the Steam store. It will not be possible to purchase Project Zomboid on Steam for the foreseeable future, and no agreement has been made to do so in the future. We’d love to be on the Steam store, for obvious reasons. But we’re a bit early on for that kinda thing.
I know. This is a subtle thing. I'm technically on their side, I see their problem and what they are doing is the only reasonable choice they have.
What I meant is: The length of this post. Once again, the biggest news we get from Project Zomboid is some piracy/hosting-cost post. They could have just said: "There is an exploit that lets people download the full game via the 'update' button and it's killing our servers. We have to take it down while we're working on a fix. Sorry, it hopefully won't take long". Done and done. No need to wallow in it over 4 paragraphs.
Sigh... Sorry, this is not terribly fair, but I felt like saying it out loud because frankly I think this is what many people think. In the short time since this game was announced, 90% of information we get about it is about its production model and payment drama. On the one hand, they are cool bros about piracy, on the other they blur their sprites in the dev blog because someone could "steal" them, which is downright paranoid. Those guys just have so much "bad luck", one has to wonder whether it's really fate or if they just constantly fuck up and then wait for the internet to comfort them. Other games, even if there is drama and hardship in the background (as there always is in projects like this), you hear about the gameplay first and foremost.
Buy one of their other 'games':
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/buy-our-games/
Then forward your Google Checkout receipt email to
They'll reply with a username and password you can use to log in.
There's a public demo in the works, you can see the explanation of the buy-in only preview, demo and the torrent at the sites blog here
It seems kinda laughable to have two Warning: How [...] Screwed Project Zomboid posts on your front page though. Not the greatest impression an indie game can give...
Item crafting is mentioned in two or three spots from Jul 2011 up to the replacement of this website in 2014.
the way they've explained it in the past is that the NPCs and AI will integrate into almost all the other systems they build. so if they put everything into npcs now, every other non-trivial update/upgrade will require retooling of npcs/ai to work with them. otherwise, they might need to totally rewrite some parts due to unforeseen problems, and rewriting parts of the npc/ai system have far more consequences than rewriting the code for moving furntiure.
that said, npcs are coming, eventually. they've made that clear enough
edit: misremembered this. the way they used to have NPCs coded required a lot of rework
Guys seriously.... srosly: Project Zomboid
Indie game that makes zombie apocalypse fun, I think Cry played it some couple of years ago when it was in the early stages of development, besides that no famous fun youtuber ever plays it.
Its fun as hell, lots of tension and jump scares, all with a pixalated screen, death is certain...
Quite a bit has changed over just the past few months, but u/DontFearTheReapers does a much better job covering things than I could: https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/3eha7e/so_ive_been_out_of_this_game_for_about_a_year/ctf63an
If you'd like to be kept informed, we do have a mailing list: http://projectzomboid.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 which receives the Mondoid blog posts directly, as well as changelogs.
Okay so I am going to break your criteria and give you an early access game. However it's not your typical EA game.
While it is still in the EA phase, it is more complete than a lot of completed games. On top of that, the devs are working tirelessly to bring the game to where they think it should be. Not only do they listen to the community but have hired a couple of modders and added their mods to the base game.
On top of that we get Mondoids every Monday updating us on the current progress of the game. Informing us what they are working on and what the plan to work on in the future.
Should anyone decide to play Project Zomboid I highly recommend The Hydrocraft Mod which adds a lot of stuff that hopefully will make it into the base game one day.
So far I have almost 250 hours in this game and still look forward to playing it. Not to mention I still discover new ways to get myself killed after all this time. While it's not "Completed" it is worth every penny. However, Zomboid is not your typical survival game. It is the story of how you died in the Zombie Apocalypse.
Also Couch CO-OP FTW!
If you look at the API check class zombie.inventory.InventoryItem is has a setCondition(int) and getCOndition() method. I assume 0 is broken and MAX is whatever you define as MAX.
In lua you could use it something like this: getPlayer():getInventory():FindAndReturn("Axe"):setCondition(0)
Water bottles, Foods and certain other items like duct tape are of type DrainableComboItem which is a subtype of InventoryItem. It offers methods like getUseDelta() and getUsedDelta() and the corresponding setters.
But if you make a video containing game footage, you are using their intellectual property in your video.
Some developers give permission to use their content in videos and monetise it (here's one example from Project Zomboid - last item in the "We give you a license to" section), but it's not automatic.
Project Zomboid is pretty great if you don't mind the 2D isometric view. Probably the only good zombie survival game I've played.
Early access, though. Not really buggy, however. Haven't run into many in ~150 hours of gameplay. Frequent updates, too.
From the Build 29 announcement:
> Then, from these, you’ll be able to craft new stuff that’ll go all the way from stone axes – to really strong log walls.
In my experience, the main downside to log walls is that they take longer to build than standard carpentry walls. I'm unable to find any specific information about the health of log walls, but I can definitely say that log walls have more health than level 1 plank walls.
That being said, my advice to /u/Dumbass253 is that if you absolutely need walls now, build log walls, but if you can wait, stockpile as many different levels of the carpentry books as you can and do nothing but make planks. You can get to level 5 relatively easily on planks alone, leaving you with a huge stockpile of material and the skill to use it most effectively.
An Isometric game with really good survival mechanics. It's Early Access like most games of the genre, but there is a lot of gameplay to be had and it's a lot more stable and bug free than other games.
Mathas has a lot of Let's Play videos on that, in case you want to see it in action.
http://theindiestone.com/forums/ http://projectzomboid.com/blog/category/news-development/ Is a place to go to learn about updated mechanics, also I learn from logical experimentation, and from others who play the newer versions like ManBearPig.
It sure does, but lets hope they don't rush a release! To transfer your PZ to Steam is simple, just follow these instructions:
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/2013/09/steam-keys-available-to-all-customers/
I know that registration on theindiestone has an email updates option, but I didn't select it so I don't know how extensive it is.
I also know that somewhere I was able to sign up for updates on both stable and unstable releases... sorry I can't remember where that was though.
Edit:
Found it: http://projectzomboid.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
(The link is on this forums post: http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/8467-released-build-27/)
To quote today's mondoid: > We’ll be looking to get Desura updated tonight, providing nothing completely explodes in fireballs. Hurrah!!!
But you're not going to get massively frequent updates on Desura any time soon. Apparently the Desura upload and approval process is fairly arduous, and since there's no beta functionality similar to Steam, only stable versions can go on Desura.
This is a great idea! My friends and I have been thinking of a game idea like this recently, and it might be the first proper project we develop. Currently we're considering if it should be 3D and in the style of Wildfire Worlds. Alternatively, we could do 2D, like Project Zomboid or Bastion. What do you think, what would you like the art style to be?
You can see our rules here http://steamcommunity.com/app/108600/discussions/0/648811670543578065/
Specifically, "though we will still feel the need to step in to 'cool people off' with warnings and (if unheeded) temp bans when people break our main rule: "Be lovely" and are unnecessarily hostile to each other."
To reiterate: You're free to express yourself politely, but any hint of abuse followed by a refusal to correct your behavior after it's been requested that you do so won't be tolerated. A temporary cool-down period will ensue.
Though if you do wish to file a complaint, please do: http://projectzomboid.com/blog//about-us/ The mod team, developers, and other admins will get together and discuss it to determine if the mod action was inappropriate. If you're not comfortable with e-mails, please contact our community manager, nasKo, directly.
In the current build, a server reset removes all player created buildings. Your character is untouched, so all skills and xp gained remain. Also, anything you're currently carrying on your character will still be there.
That said, the latest mondoid talks a lot about the next upcoming build release which among other things will offer server hosts a soft reset. Basically leaving all player created buildings untouched, but refreshing loot spawns, zombie spawns and also cleaning up bodies and blood.
I picked up the game two weeks ago because of multiplayer and I'm absolutely loving it! Have fun!
Indeed. The way they're doing it is.. odd.
Basically, there's the Official Release which is .. 0.1.5d, I think. The prior Official Release is.. 0.1.4c or something like that, I forget.. that's free to download and play as a demo. It's missing some stuff from 1.5d.
That said, MOST people are playing the experimental build of 0.2.0q on the forums... or the EVEN MORE experimental weapons build which I don't even think has a version number.
Their versions are kinda getting all over the place, which is why I think they stopped releasing for a bit - they're trying to get Version Creep under control. That's my theory, at least.
Ah, I was right. Here's a link to the download pages. To play anything higher than 0.1.4c, you need to have purchased it. But 0.1.4c? Play it all you want.
edit Oh, the Roguelikes comment is more in the randomized loot aspect of the game, and the unfairness of it all as there is no mechanism preventing you from leaping off your constructed walkway to your death. The map is, unfortunately.. or fortunately.. static. Well, that is, the buildings don't move. Windows can be broken (and fixed by you) and doors can be destroyed (and fixed by you) and walls built and so on, but the base map is unchanging.
[](/rppshrug) Luna has provided a good bit of handy mod install assistance for you.
On the market easy to download survival focused zombie games aren't really available. There is the currently unfinished project zomboid but it's just as if not more finicky to set up and isn't multiplier.
Go for dayZ, follow the instructions and you'll be fine.
You could try this:
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/
Looks like there is a free demo you can download, I haven't tried it so I don't know if it's good, but looks like close to what you are asking for.
Edit: I played the demo of this for a few minutes and it seemed pretty cool. The controls felt a little clunky but it's a demo so I don't know. Also it's built on the idea that if you die, game is over and you start over, so it was kind of discouraging when the kitchen caught on fire by accident and I burned myself to death.
I bought it for 8. Its current version is lacking in depth. Apparently a big new update is coming soon. Here are some video links:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtEZArEji4U&feature=player_embedded#! http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2012/03/something-wicked-this-way-comes/
If you want a great indie zombie game that you can play now check out Project Zombid ( I'd add the link but I'm typing this under my desk on my iPod during my econ class) Edit here is the link to the dev blog
> I want a brutal permadeath system where you start over every time.
> That would require a procedurally generated world.
> Procedurally generated NPCs
> Or you can just try and survive for as long as possible.
It was inevitably resolved, but not without a fight from the devs that cost time and money.
> BitBucket's free service only allows 5 collaborators over the lifetime of your account. If you've tried to make games with other people (say, over Reddit), then you could have easily used up your 5 slots.
According to this their team has four members total. But I completely understand your point.
> Most web hosts don't also provide git/SVN hosting, nor do they usually allow you shell access (which you'll need to install arbitrary services). You usually have to pay extra for that.
Also very true, but for a company that seems to have more than three active domains I highly doubt they're on something like the lowest cost option GoDaddy offers that limits what you can install.
I know more and will try to go some way to assuaging your fears.
They are definitely all people that exist. I've been on a forum with them all for a couple of years, following them on twitter and the like (I was the person who posted the initial Project Zomboid announcement to reddit).
They weren't all drunk. Lemmy was drunk, the others weren't. Mash was asleep even, as she lives in Canada. Will Porter posted the statement on the site (and was the most level-headed at time, as he doesn't live with the 3 in Newcastle so didn't have his flat robbed.)
A version of the game that is playable and resembles what they planning on doing can be found here: http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/free-public-demo-released/
That's the demo, there have since been updates to the paid version (though only one major that introduced modding and classes, as well as bugfixes).
http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2011/09/save-on-quit-multi-map-section-game-world-sneak-peek/ There's some info and gameplay of the purported new 'features'.
Heres some information about the carbomb: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-13437376 (There was one article that had Nickenstein quoted and a photo, but I can't find the link right now).
As an internet chum, it's been pretty horrible to see this happen to them. I have no real evidence that the burglary actually DID EXIST, but they definitely are genuine people that wanted to make the game they wanted to make.
Development is still planned to continue on Zomboid, as well.
I'm gonna wait till monday when the dust settles and see what the team are doing. I sure hope they will try to recover and continue making the game. I love what i have seen of it so far.
Please read this from their website:Burglary statement
Well on their website they say they are going to keep working on it: >"Project Zomboid, however, will come back stronger."
They just put up this blog post TL;DR: They lost pretty much everything from the current update, but are committed to not letting this stop them in any way. Also, there was no customer information on either of the laptops, so don't worry about that.
Better yet, Download the current full version of the game from their website.
(I'm trying it out now, I know this game isn't free, not sure why they have the full version available, maybe since its still early in development.)
Edit: I was trying the demo version when I found the "free" full version, it asks for username/password so yea I guess its not free :P Check out the demo version, though!