robban279

Or the good old fasion doom2 "i'm too young to die"

No, no forced tutorials. Games get uninstalled and reinstalled. No one who knows how to play a game wants to sit through a mandatory tutorial.

Reading that got my adrenaline going. This sounds excellent and I'm still not a good PZ player. I die like it's my job here so this should be interesting.
 
Also, just watched Zombieland last night... got me in the mood for some zed slayin.

Just to get everyone on the same page . . .

Beginner is meant to be the "learn the game, please don't hold us responsible if you don't know how to play yet" mode.

Survival is the default experience, assuming you know how to play it.

Sandbox is the mode in which you get to define how Survival plays.




Leery about using "causal" explicitly in PZ, though. That word is everything the game isn't supposed to be: a tablet/cell phone game that's very easy to get into and doesn't require any real dedication from the player.
 

Don't call it "casual". It doesn't matter what you call it. Add a tooltip or somesuch that pops up the first time you start a game, with a message akin to "If you've never played PZ before, it is strongly recommended that you choose the beginner preset". A lot of games do this with their tutorial. Development endorsement for starting out slow helps people feel less wimpy about it.

I kind of agree (and Will raised this very issue) however calling it Normal is a no no because it is NOT normal and we don't want to paint the impression that playing on this mode is a 'normal' PZ experience as it's not. Maybe we need a different name to beginner but we need some indication that its easier. If people forgoe it even with the accompanying text warning them explicitly, then they deserve to crash and burn and nothing we can possibly do can steer them

I respect your opinion, but I also disagree with you Sailorwolf, you shouldn't say "us as gamers want to beat it". I don't mean to offend you, but you can't speak for everyone like that.
From the start of this game developing I've been "praying" that TIS sticks with their original idea.
I want something that's on the verge to impossible to accomplish and if I'm still lucky / skilled enough to survive for a while after "endgame", then it'll feel even better.
What made me stop playing this game was the lack of challenge. I just want me and my group of surviving NPCS, my dog and our safe house to be under constant threat. I want us to have difficult decisions and risky choises that literally has to be done! When a day start I want to worry if everyone is going to still be here when the night comes.
The way I imagine this in my head, would be the ultimate game for me. I'm so lucky TIS is making this real, cause I honestly don't think anyone ever done this before and I can't imagine that any other developer share the same ideas I do about surviving the z apocalypse.
I genuinely don't care about "gamer psychology" or the "need of completing a game", all that stuff belongs to the mass producing, main stream gaming industry. This game is far better than most of them and it has far more potential.
I do not wish for this game to be another greyed out title in my steam list, I want it to stay under the "favourites" tab for years.. And I genuinely think that if TIS completes their goals and keep the challenge alive, that's what's gonna happen.

I respect your opinion, but I also disagree with you Sailorwolf, you shouldn't say "us as gamers want to beat it". I don't mean to offend you, but you can't speak for everyone like that.
From the start of this game developing I've been "praying" that TIS sticks with their original idea.
I want something that's on the verge to impossible to accomplish and if I'm still lucky / skilled enough to survive for a while after "endgame", then it'll feel even better.
What made me stop playing this game was the lack of challenge. I just want me and my group of surviving NPCS, my dog and our safe house to be under constant threat. I want us to have difficult decisions and risky choises that literally has to be done! When a day start I want to worry if everyone is going to still be here when the night comes.
The way I imagine this in my head, would be the ultimate game for me. I'm so lucky TIS is making this real, cause I honestly don't think anyone ever done this before and I can't imagine that any other developer share the same ideas I do about surviving the z apocalypse.
I genuinely don't care about "gamer psychology" or the "need of completing a game", all that stuff belongs to the mass producing, main stream gaming industry. This game is far better than most of them and it has far more potential.
I do not wish for this game to be another greyed out title in my steam list, I want it to stay under the "favourites" tab for years.. And I genuinely think that if TIS completes their goals and keep the challenge alive, that's what's gonna happen.

Ok, than lets start this ^^ ( inspired by The Purge/Hotline Miami )
http://imgur.com/nsP4fUM

Edit: Also 300 posts , woho ;D
 
 
EDIT by Mash: put the picture in the thread
EDIT by Me again: Thx alot

If we have fat American zombies could we have the occasional British zombie, identifiable by its bad teeth and a cockney twinge to its moan?
 
On a serious note, anything to add a bit of visual variety to the zeds would be welcomed by me, although I wouldn't say it's a neccesity.

There's a very compelling argument to be made about why adding "optional" features that are too attractive to pass up is actually quite unhealthy for many games.
As was said about KSP, it changes the way you play the game entirely, and can cause major balance and longevity issues (which PZ already struggles from considerably.)
I might even do a video on it sometime.

Really does suck when it's something strange -- like your  two-component rocket causes the launch pad to detonate or your parachutes just vanish mid-landing, but I've learned to live with it.

I don't think weight would be a big deal in this type of game.. considering the objective is to see how long you can survive and die ^^

It's one of the things I like about kerbal space program. They added the option to not be able to quick save or quick load in the newest version if you play career mode. Now when I play it, my little austronauts die and I love to miss them.
Before they implemented "iron man", I didn't have a single casualty and you know why? Cuz I can't stop myself from clicking quick save...
Now I really try my best to be careful and think through everything I do in the game... I don't "want" an hour planned trip to another planet to fail and all my crew die.
It's so much more pleasing and exciting to see them return from a dangerous journey that lasted a couple hours when I know I only got one chance to make it right, landing back on earth again, rather than "oh damn they crashed, I better press quick load".
Yeah I'd not play PZ with quick load or auto save, though I would if you could disable it when starting a new game.

Survival basically is ironman mode... Maybe they could incorporate a save system for the beginner mode, but it really has no place in the main game imo.
Telling someone to not use a system, isn't a good argument to implement the system. It's the same as with fast traveling in many games. If it's there I'll probably take advantage of it even if it kills the game on the whole. It's an easy fix for a temporary state of mind that'll bum me out later.
It's the same as giving an alcoholic a beer and saying that you don't have to drink it you know... To exaggerate a bit.

If I remember correct, this has been vetoed by the devs: there'll be sultry dialog, and the ability to censor it at the user's discretion, but I don't believe they'll be delving into racism/sexism.

This is a game where death is inevitable. Where one tiny mistake like accidentally tripping out of a window can end it all. Being able to just reload a save back to a point before you died would go against the entire point of the game.

Being able to save scum will never be a part of vanilla Project Zomboid. Sorry mate, it's just not that kind of game.

On the plus, you'll have another character to continue his work.

Are you sure it was accidental, and your character just saw an opportunity to jump... ending his miserable existence in the apocalypse? 

I have had this idea creeping around the back of my head for a while, and now that Martin the lovely Animation Man is on board, I think the timing couldn't be more accurate.
 
What I am talking about is, as title suggest, Idle Animations. A series of animations that the character would do when left unattended for some time.
 
Like, when you don't move your character for some time, he would pull a map/piece of paper from his backpack/pocket, and start to look at it, while sometimes scratching his head, or turning the map upside down.
 
Or your character would start to beat his leg on the ground onto some tune, or even the background music if the developers are too bored not busy. Or he would scratch his head, like he is annoyed that the player has "forgot" about him.
 
Now, I understand that the developers are busy with reworking/adding some animations and actions and whatnot into the game, and I don't even know how hard/time consuming making animations are, compared to how insignificant this is.
 
But!
 
I think Idle Animations would be cool, as they have been seen in numerous games, like C&C series, Donkey Kong Country, Sonic the Hedgehog, Many FPS, and many more. And they always have served as an "easter egg" in these games, as player rarely leaves the character unattended in these titles. It also brings some liveliness into the game, as the character would do some actions without the player giving them any commands to do so.
 
And as for coding this in, it sounds fairly easy in THEORY, as the animation would trigger if the player isn't doing anything for, let's say, for 10 seconds. And it wouldn't do it during any actions, like reading a book or rummaging your backpack, as I believe these actions will have their own animations in time. And for the "It would look stupid if my character would look his map during sneaking in the middle of a horde." this can be limited by the panic meter.
 
Talk, suggest, argue and share.
 

Thanks for the support, guys. You've really made me feel welcome here.
 
I really like the idea of the chat bubbles. That just sounds fun.

What they're saying. ^

Exactly!

Glad to hear we understand eachother
I See no harm in it if it's a sandbox choise or outside survival mode oh well it's up to the gods to decide (the devs).