Project Zomboid Infects Steam Early Access

[Karloff]

Project Zomboid Infects Steam Early Access


If you're cool with bugs, and want to support the game, say the developers, then we'd love to have you on board.

It's still a little buggy, the developers warn, and downloading the demo is strongly encouraged, but if you just can't get enough zombie action and don't mind some rough-around-the-edges gameplay, then sandbox survival title Project Zomboid may be for you. It just recently gained Early Access to Steam, and if you've $15 to spare, it can be yours. Or you could just take a shot at the demo. It's sitting right there. Staring at you with fishbelly-white eyes ...

If you do try before you buy, you'll notice that the pre-made character's already doomed, having been bitten by a zombie. That's all part of Indie Stone Studios' scripted plan, to get you to play around with the systems while at the same time providing a definite end to your sorry saga. Not that Zomboid is a game of happiness and kittens; the whole point is, you'll die eventually. The only question is how, and when.

It's been a long, hard, discouraging road [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113668-Project-Zomboid-Derailed-By-Burglary] for Indie Stone. These are the same folks who took the game offline because it was being pirated directly from the game's servers, using bandwidth that the developer paid for. Then PayPal shut its account down, for 180 days. Then thieves stole two of Indie Stone's laptops, which meant much of the game's code vanished in a bag marked 'swag.' Fortunately current backups were found, and by June 2012 the game was on its way to Steam Greenlight.

"We're both excited and terrified, but it is Early Access after all, and there are many other games up there that have gone up much earlier in development," says Indie Stone, "so at some point we just have to bite the bullet, draw a line under it, and put our baby up there in front of the Steam audience." Consider the bullet bitten, a chalk line drawn somewhere, and a baby placed irresponsibly close to imminent danger. Or something along those lines, anyway. Congratulations to Indie Stone; here's hoping its sandbox horror title gets lots of zombie hugs for Christmas.

Source: Rock Paper Shotgun [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/11/project-zomboid-shambles-on-to-steam-early-access/#more-176014]


Permalink

 

[IndomitableSam]

I bought this a couple years ago for about $10 and thoroughly got my money's worth out of it. Now I may have to dig through all my old emails to find my confirmation email and geta STeam code for it so I can get it working again, as I've changed computers and such since then. But it was a fun game a couple years ago, and it seems quite different now, so I'll give it another shot.

 

[Schadrach]

It's buggy, and the inventory UI feels clunky, but it can be fun.

It really needs a good tutorial, someone to give the inventory UI a good seeing to, and some polish. If you want a zombie game that isn't an action game and is heavily about survival, then it's got what you need.

 

[tangoprime]

I bought this a couple years ago for about $10 and thoroughly got my money's worth out of it. Now I may have to dig through all my old emails to find my confirmation email and geta STeam code for it so I can get it working again, as I've changed computers and such since then. But it was a fun game a couple years ago, and it seems quite different now, so I'll give it another shot.

Same here, bought into it a year or so ago, and it was pretty fun, but very unpolished. I liked how many objects and interactions there were, desperately searching through other people's apartments for a can of beans and a can of cola before running back for my shuttered up top-floor room was always pretty tense.

 

[Nikolaz72]

There was a good turtorial once, part of the Storymode, short story about a guy and his wife and how she broke her leg and they had to stop in a random house and he needed to well..

*Bandage her*
*Give her painkillers*
*Barricade the house*
*Scavenge for supplies*
*Cook food*
*Interact with other survivors*

etc etc. Took a good few hours and taught all the basics. Used to be you had to go through it at the start of 'every' game, and the only way to get rid of the Quest Objective was to smother her with a pillow, which would initiate the most heart-wrenching dialogue and the saddest music. So instead of moving like a sensible man, I broke down every door within 2 miles with my fist for lumber, and made the house into an impenetrable fortress with a farm and a 20-rain catching barrles in the expanded double-wall layered backyard.

The wall was so far out that Zombies at the edge couldn't hear what was going on in the house and was such never provoked, enterring and exiting through a rope by the second floor window rather than the front door, also meant that I saved materials and always was able to come and go as I pleased without running into zombies as I went out to scavenge for matches/batteries/fuel whatever else you cannot grow in a backyard.

The game, in my opinion, is one of the more brilliant I've seen in a while. It take some imagination to immerse yourself as of now, but once NPC's, and later multiplayer is up and running I think this might become one of the more popular indie games on the market.
As you might guess

 

[IndomitableSam]

I bought this a couple years ago for about $10 and thoroughly got my money's worth out of it. Now I may have to dig through all my old emails to find my confirmation email and get a Steam code for it so I can get it working again, as I've changed computers and such since then. But it was a fun game a couple years ago, and it seems quite different now, so I'll give it another shot.

Same here, bought into it a year or so ago, and it was pretty fun, but very unpolished. I liked how many objects and interactions there were, desperately searching through other people's apartments for a can of beans and a can of cola before running back for my shuttered up top-floor room was always pretty tense.

Well, getting my Steam key was painless - just googled it and you sign up for a quick thing and they give you a key right away. I have no idea if it actually works, though... as I"m at work right now, but I have -a- key. It might a steam key, it might be for Desura, which is the site also hosting the game. But the Desura site says I can now play the game, so hopefully it's all good.

As for playing the game - it was quite clunky and awkward, but I really liked it. My highlight game was one where I'd survived quite a while, ahd moved around a few times. I was holed up in the apartment block (doesn't look likt that town exists anymore) and was pretty well stocked. I'd just finished making an escape rope of bedsheets and tossed it out the window as exit plan b in case I got overrun inside. So I decided to test it out.

... I hadn't made it long enough. Fell to my death and just laughed my ass off for a good long time. It was hilarious. Loved it. Hopefully it's still fun like that.

(And to say how long it's been since I've played, I played when the bald dude and his wife tutorial was still working.)

 

[Miyenne]

So instead of moving like a sensible man, I broke down every door within 2 miles with my fist for lumber, and made the house into an impenetrable fortress with a farm and a 20-rain catching barrles in the expanded double-wall layered backyard.

The wall was so far out that Zombies at the edge couldn't hear what was going on in the house and was such never provoked, enterring and exiting through a rope by the second floor window rather than the front door, also meant that I saved materials and always was able to come and go as I pleased without running into zombies as I went out to scavenge for matches/batteries/fuel whatever else you cannot grow in a backyard.

Oh man, now @IndomitableSam and I are going to spend all next weekend trying that out. Thanks a lot. It's hard enough to get her to play FFXIV on her days off.

 

[Nikolaz72]

I bought this a couple years ago for about $10 and thoroughly got my money's worth out of it. Now I may have to dig through all my old emails to find my confirmation email and get a Steam code for it so I can get it working again, as I've changed computers and such since then. But it was a fun game a couple years ago, and it seems quite different now, so I'll give it another shot.

Same here, bought into it a year or so ago, and it was pretty fun, but very unpolished. I liked how many objects and interactions there were, desperately searching through other people's apartments for a can of beans and a can of cola before running back for my shuttered up top-floor room was always pretty tense.

Well, getting my Steam key was painless - just googled it and you sign up for a quick thing and they give you a key right away. I have no idea if it actually works, though... as I"m at work right now, but I have -a- key. It might a steam key, it might be for Desura, which is the site also hosting the game. But the Desura site says I can now play the game, so hopefully it's all good.

As for playing the game - it was quite clunky and awkward, but I really liked it. My highlight game was one where I'd survived quite a while, ahd moved around a few times. I was holed up in the apartment block (doesn't look likt that town exists anymore) and was pretty well stocked. I'd just finished making an escape rope of bedsheets and tossed it out the window as exit plan b in case I got overrun inside. So I decided to test it out.

... I hadn't made it long enough. Fell to my death and just laughed my ass off for a good long time. It was hilarious. Loved it. Hopefully it's still fun like that.

(And to say how long it's been since I've played, I played when the bald dude and his wife tutorial was still working.)

My current best running game is the one where I played as an outdoorsman. Plan was to travel by the road, just keep going north and see where that got me. Scavenged as I went along.

After a week of god damn traveling, I reached a FARM, I'm not shitting you. A farm shut in by a giant fence, with a well. There was food, water, and no zombies. Save is still running, I can survive forever there.. Its just that.. Well, my guy is becoming angry and bored from the solitude and having nothing to do. I might just have to cut down trees and kill pillows to make a bow and arrows and hunt Zombies for sport.

 

[IndomitableSam]

My current best running game is the one where I played as an outdoorsman. Plan was to travel by the road, just keep going north and see where that got me. Scavenged as I went along.

After a week of god damn traveling, I reached a FARM, I'm not shitting you. A farm shut in by a giant fence, with a well. There was food, water, and no zombies. Save is still running, I can survive forever there.. Its just that.. Well, my guy is becoming angry and bored from the solitude and having nothing to do. I might just have to cut down trees and kill pillows to make a bow and arrows and hunt Zombies for sport.

You can make bows and arrows now? Awesome. I haven't played since the map was tiny and just the tw little towns and a little bit of wilderness, so I'm excited to start again. The game should be really interesting when they get the NPCs working... and the mulitplayer down the line could be great. They've really improved the graphics from when I played, too.

 

[Nikolaz72]

My current best running game is the one where I played as an outdoorsman. Plan was to travel by the road, just keep going north and see where that got me. Scavenged as I went along.

After a week of god damn traveling, I reached a FARM, I'm not shitting you. A farm shut in by a giant fence, with a well. There was food, water, and no zombies. Save is still running, I can survive forever there.. Its just that.. Well, my guy is becoming angry and bored from the solitude and having nothing to do. I might just have to cut down trees and kill pillows to make a bow and arrows and hunt Zombies for sport.

You can make bows and arrows now? Awesome. I haven't played since the map was tiny and just the tw little towns and a little bit of wilderness, so I'm excited to start again. The game should be really interesting when they get the NPCs working... and the mulitplayer down the line could be great. They've really improved the graphics from when I played, too.

The Bow and Arrow (And Crossbow and Sling) is a small weapons mod I downloaded. You can go to the mod database to see the available ones, whilst the Bow and Arrow is a bit OP, ammo is rare. Sling though, has unlimitted and no reload time so that's definitely too powerful.

One mod I can recommend is the Extra-Perks one, it adds more weaknesses and bonuses.

Also this - http://pzmap.crash-override.net/ Thank me later. Keep spoilers in mind though.

 

[IndomitableSam]

My current best running game is the one where I played as an outdoorsman. Plan was to travel by the road, just keep going north and see where that got me. Scavenged as I went along.

After a week of god damn traveling, I reached a FARM, I'm not shitting you. A farm shut in by a giant fence, with a well. There was food, water, and no zombies. Save is still running, I can survive forever there.. Its just that.. Well, my guy is becoming angry and bored from the solitude and having nothing to do. I might just have to cut down trees and kill pillows to make a bow and arrows and hunt Zombies for sport.

You can make bows and arrows now? Awesome. I haven't played since the map was tiny and just the tw little towns and a little bit of wilderness, so I'm excited to start again. The game should be really interesting when they get the NPCs working... and the mulitplayer down the line could be great. They've really improved the graphics from when I played, too.

The Bow and Arrow (And Crossbow and Sling) is a small weapons mod I downloaded. You can go to the mod database to see the available ones, whilst the Bow and Arrow is a bit OP, ammo is rare. Sling though, has unlimitted and no reload time so that's definitely too powerful.

One mod I can recommend is the Extra-Perks one, it adds more weaknesses and bonuses.

Also this - http://pzmap.crash-override.net/ Thank me later. Keep spoilers in mind though.

Just read a couple of the posts on the site listing some of the mods... some of them look like must-haves. ... @Miyenne's right, I won't be playing FFXIV much for a while. Happy me now.

 

[Sight Unseen]

It's buggy, and the inventory UI feels clunky, but it can be fun.

It really needs a good tutorial, someone to give the inventory UI a good seeing to, and some polish. If you want a zombie game that isn't an action game and is heavily about survival, then it's got what you need.

The inventory in the game as it currently exists is actually much better than the previous inventory they used, once you get used to it. May need a touch up here and there but I dont think they need to or plan to make any serious overhauls to the inventory screen anymore

My current best running game is the one where I played as an outdoorsman. Plan was to travel by the road, just keep going north and see where that got me. Scavenged as I went along.

After a week of god damn traveling, I reached a FARM, I'm not shitting you. A farm shut in by a giant fence, with a well. There was food, water, and no zombies. Save is still running, I can survive forever there.. Its just that.. Well, my guy is becoming angry and bored from the solitude and having nothing to do. I might just have to cut down trees and kill pillows to make a bow and arrows and hunt Zombies for sport.

You can make bows and arrows now? Awesome. I haven't played since the map was tiny and just the tw little towns and a little bit of wilderness, so I'm excited to start again. The game should be really interesting when they get the NPCs working... and the mulitplayer down the line could be great. They've really improved the graphics from when I played, too.

The Bow and Arrow (And Crossbow and Sling) is a small weapons mod I downloaded. You can go to the mod database to see the available ones, whilst the Bow and Arrow is a bit OP, ammo is rare. Sling though, has unlimitted and no reload time so that's definitely too powerful.

One mod I can recommend is the Extra-Perks one, it adds more weaknesses and bonuses.

Also this - http://pzmap.crash-override.net/ Thank me later. Keep spoilers in mind though.

Just read a couple of the posts on the site listing some of the mods... some of them look like must-haves. ... @Miyenne's right, I won't be playing FFXIV much for a while. Happy me now.

The Spraypaint mod is really good for helping you remember where stuff is and which houses you've already looted and stuff.

 

[Jumplion]

I remember reading up on this a long time ago. Glad it's got some recognition on some more mainstream platforms, it definitely looks like an interesting take on the whole zombie survival where the survival is more important than wasting zombies. I'll definitely keep an eye out on this one, and the isometric view is actually a nice change of perspective with these types of games.