Project Zomboid

Project Zomboid (abbreviated as "PZ") is an up and coming WIP Zombie Survival Simulator, with Open-World RPG and Sandbox game-play elements. Coded in Java, Project Zomboid is set to be released on PC, Mac and Linux.

Currently in development by The Indie Stone, Project Zomboid has been in active production as far as March 15 2011, the game's Official Announcement date.

The Indie Stone have been very open with their fans on the forums, which has allowed the game to change shapes along with the growing community's requests and the developer's own image of the planned final product.

The game is currently in Alpha stage, at version 2.9.9.10, which is distributed on Desura and a test version 2.9.9.17 (11) on Steam Early Access.

Desura, as well as The Official Project Zomboid website, distributes previous build versions for free as a "pre-alpha tech demo." They intend to do this until The Indie Stone fully releases the game.

Game Modes

The character creation screen.

Currently, there are 3 Game Modes: Story Mode, Sandbox Mode and Last Stand.

Story Mode

Story Mode's only "scenario", which will be reimplemented soon, is 'Til Death Us Do Part, which tells the story of Bob & Kate Smith. It's also the game's tutorial, showing you how to move, craft bandages and treat wounds, barricade your house, etc...

More stories are planned in the future by either The Indie Stone or the Modding Community itself, as mapping tools have been distributed freely.

when selecting Story Mode, players are taken to the Character Creation Screen, where you can customize your name, appearance, profession and traits.

Sandbox Mode

When selecting Sandbox Mode, the Player can set different environment options like weather, zombie properties and loot rarity, after this players are taken to the Character Creation Screen, where you can customize your name, appearance, profession and traits.

Last Stand

in the Last Stand Mode you start in a House with preset Loot in it, including several melee weapons, a shotgun, a gun and ammo. Your Goal is, like in the other modes, to survive as long as you can, which is much harder than in Sandbox or Survival because the Zombies are allready moving towards and seeking for you.

this Mode is good to train your combat skills.

Gameplay

Played from an Isometric point-of-view, players must survive a zombie apocalypse in Knox County, a fictional city.

Survivors must scavenge weapons, food and medicine while exploring vacated streets and buildings. When encountering zombies, the player must fight with whatever he has on hand which can range from a powerful Fire Axe to a puny Butter Knife. Sometimes, running away is the best solution.

NPC survivors can found wandering about at random and can give you quests, like ransacking the nearest General Store for supplies.

When night falls, the player must fight against himself: exhaustion, hunger, thirst and boredom. These select few status effects, called Moodles, can be treated by sleeping in beds, eating previously scavenged food, refilling your Water Bottle at your nearest faucet and entertain yourself by reading books, magazines and newspapers. The Moodles increases the immersion and realism of a zombie outbreak as well as a real human life with needs.

Players can fortify a Safehouse by barricading the doors and windows with Wooden Planks and Bed Sheets using carpentry tools like Hammers, Nails and Saws. More creative players can go as far as building a custom house by creating Walls, Doors, Window and Door Frames and Stairs.

After enough training, the player can Level Up and distribute a skill point to 1 of the 14 available Skills, giving the character a boost.

The main goal in Project Zomboid is to stay alive as long as possible... or die trying. When the player dies, a message will scroll from bottom to top indicating how many years, months and days have passed since the game started. Also, dying Auto-Saves the game, meaning you have to start a new character. This prevents "Time-Traveling Quick Load Cheating", making the game more Hardcore.

Development

Project Zomboid, coded in the ambitious Java programming language, is being developed by The Indie Stone, a small independent gaming studio based in the United Kingdom.

The current team includes:

• Will Porter a.k.a. Batsphinx
• Andy Hodgetts a.k.a. CaptainBinky
• Chris Simpson a.k.a. lemmy101
• Marina Siu-Chong a.k.a. MashPotato
• Paul Ring a.k.a. ringod123
• Romain Dron a.k.a. RobertJohnson
• Zach Beever, Music Composer.

Reception

Despite being in pre-alpha stage, the early builds/versions have garnered a considerable audience, praising the realism and old school isometric approach. Now with almost 10 000 registered forum users, the early versions of the game "morphed" with the community's suggestions and The Indie Stone's view of the final product. Anyone can go in the Suggestion forums and share any ideas they have for the future, and even have a chance to be replied by the developers themselves.

As of March 27 2012, Update v2.0r as been announced and has generated a lot of hype, mainly due to new game mechanics implementation, new weapons and overall game polish. With over 780 replies and 63000 views, it is one of the most active thread since the new update's announcement. Some jokers on the forums went as far as changing their post's title from RE: UPCOMING to RE: RELEASED, tricking newer forums member into believing the update has been released.

On April 10 2012, The Indie Stone posted 2 new videos about a new sprite animation system. Opinions on the forums were divided. Following this, lemmy101 posted this thread regarding the new sprites.

Minecraft

Since September 11 2011, the popular sandbox game Minecraft has been giving shout-outs to Project Zomboid via the main menu's yellow Splash Text, saying "Also try Project Zomboid".

At the 2012 BAFTA Awards, Markus "Notch" Persson, during his Special Award speech, mentioned Project Zomboid along with Fez and Proteus.

Youtube Link @ 7:35

See Also

• Version history
• Project Zomboid Wiki

External Links

• Official Project Zomboid Website
• The Indie Stone forums
• Project Zomboid on Desura
• Project Zomboid on Wikipedia
• Project Zomboid on Steam