GodWaffle

As more of a lore-type question, and a question about zombies in general (not just in Project Zomboid), I just had a thought: Why do zombies bang on doors and windows? Now firstly, just gonna rule out any of the 'smart zombie' stuff, I would never watch any zombie film that has memory-retaining or tool-using zombies in it simply because I find it stupid, it doesn't and will not make sense to me no matter what anyone tries to say. So let's look at the zombies in Project Zomboid, where they will see you inside a building and walk towards the windows or doors (why don't they all push up against the walls?), but they will stop at the window/door and stand there, repeatedly bobbing back and forth trying to smash through the window, however doing this seems like it would require some extent of thought processing: See foodChase FoodWalk into invisible wall (window)Lean back and then headbutt window to create force to smash through Surely a zombie's thought process should simply be to see, chase and eat people, they shouldn't have the ability to know that there is a window in front of them, they should simply attempt to walk through it, effectively pressing themselves up against the glass. Windows would still smash, however I'd imagine that a single zombie wouldn't be able to break through a window by himself, there would need to be a few pressing against it, using their body weight to break through, rather than them consciously doing it. Now this may just be due to the animation they have when breaking in, but it does bug me a bit. The same applies for zombies that vault over fences and through the windows, I don't see how this would be possible, they need to trip/stumble over an obstacle if it is low enough, or get stuck against it until their sheer weight breaks through it. I don't like how they seem to posses the same motor skills as you do. Just my thoughts on this, would like to know how you guys feel about these things! -Ben

Awesome to see my little zombie eating bodies suggestion here, I agree with all of these ideas, none of them feel overpowered or too advanced for the game. I especially agree with the water animation, although I've yet to try fishing in the game, when I first saw water I wasn't actually sure what it was because it doesn't even really look like water. Some form of basic Minecraft-like water animation would be sufficient enough to give it less of a solid feeling. I also think they need to expand upon water and make it a feasible escape route. (If I'm being chased by a horde of zombies I would swim across a river to escape them.). As for the terrain details, I'd actually like to see the forests expanded a bit more, maybe make some trees that are two tiles tall, add more details and reasons to bother venturing into the wilderness (which takes up a huge chunk of the map, you'd think if they had nothing planned for it that they'd make treelines solid like water and only add details to the edges of that 'forest')

The Governor is the new 'codename' for the sadistic AI director, Lemmy told us all Yes this is a much faster and more natural way of doing it I think, mouse input in this situation would be too time consuming, and imagine in a more tense situation (an NPC has one of your group members at gunpoint, you're trying to talk him down), where you simply wouldn't have time to hand-eye-coordinate your mouse while also focusing on the situation, having numeric options would make that feel more natural I think.

I also agree that zombies should roam the map, but my more important point was this: If a zombie grabs you from behind, you should not be able to walk away unless you push that zombie off, the game shouldn't be holding your hand and making you assume your character magically struggled away, that should be a player action and if the player action does not happen, then the player should face the consequence for walking too close to zombies. I personally do not think this should be only for 'superhuman' zombies, in reality anything with a human weight behind it that grabs you and tries to pull you back, will do a lot more than just slow you down. This is my only real concern, it's almost like in the suggestions for 'tripping over' randomly, people argued that the game should not cause the players grief by taking control away from them, I suggest that vice-versa the game should not make the game easier by taking control away from them.

I hate to be a bastard and do this, but the game is still a work in progress. Not everything is done -- and I'm sure they'd want better animations for this sort of thing. Yet some people still struggle with this . . . not to mention it being tedious as hell, particular if your character is weak and becomes exhausted. The axe is one of (if not the) best weapon for doing this work. A single zombie isn't meant to be a threat except in situations where you're caught off guard or without a weapon (though the latter applies more-so to people who've not gotten down the shoving/kicking mechanic -- something which is rather over powered).And of course they're dangerous -- if you do something stupid (like in the movies), or are distracted (which fits the latter), or become over-confident and work yourself between several zombies that converge. That I can agree with. Well, almost. If it wasn't possible to swing an axe 60 times a day and do cardio, the logging industry never would have come into being. Enigma, I usually agree with your posts but I completely agree with Alex in this one. I think that a single zombie should be a huge threat unless you actually acknowledge it's existence. In that video, I do not believe the player should be able to do that without the zombie biting them or at the very least scratching them, I understand you saying that the player was slowed down and 'struggled' for a moment, but it shouldn't be an automatic thing, the player should have to push the zombie off rather than us assume the character struggled away from the zombie. If a single zombie was a bit more dangerous then hordes would be even more dangerous. As it is right now, you can weave your way through many zombies pretty easily because your character 'struggles' away unless three or so grab you at once. I think that if a zombie grabs you from behind or the side then a huge slowdown penalty should be added, from directly in front of the character maybe you'd have more of a chance since your hands are there but if the zombie is behind you or to the side I think you're gonna get bit, struggling may help you but it wouldn't be effortless at all.

Although people are saying that more customization has ruined other games, I don't see that happening with Project Zomboid, in my opinion the more customization the better, same goes for vehicles when they're added, I think that there should be plenty of ways to 'upgrade' your vehicles (within the bounds of reality obviously).

The devs need to see these ideas, definitely would add a ton of depth to the game, I mean, in a real zombie apocalypse, who would be walking around slamming doors open and shut without a shed of caution? They would be a vital obstacle that can save your life (or doom it, if locked) and I think they should have a bit more depth.

I believe addiction is something that the developers intend to add, so wanted to just share some of my thoughts on how this could work. Firstly, there would be an 'Addictions' menu which could appear with the other character tabs. In this menu, there would be a table which would show an item, and next to it a percentage of how addicted your character is (things at 0% won't be shown). All 'addictive' items would have a 'addiction risk' when hovering over them, so you can avoid accidentally getting addicted. Once you are addicted to something, if you go for an amount of time (depends on the item, and how addicted you are) without a fix, your character will get these moodles: Fidgeting - Could do with some <ITEMNAME> Withdrawal - In need of a fix, starting to feel symptoms Bad Withdrawal - Feeling the withdrawal symptoms badly After going through bad withdrawal for a certain amount of time (depends on the addiction risk), you'll be through it, however you'll be at risk of becoming addicted very easily if you go back to taking the item. If there are NPC's taking items that you are addicted to, your character will start 'fidgeting' and depending on the symptoms, can become angry with the person. The withdrawal symptoms would really only add more moodles such as tiredness, weakness, sickness, fear, anxiety, etc. We already have these moodles in place so this should be fairly easy. The symptoms you get depends on your traits and the item you're addicted to. For example a 'brooding' or 'short tempered' character should get angrier without alcohol (if they are addicted). Anyway, I just came up with this now, hopefully some of these ideas can be useful!

I think I'd try and lay low for a week or two, try not to attract any attention to my house, if someone tries to break in I'd threaten them and if they persisted then I'd have to kill. Once the initial panic was over then I'd go out and quietly loot whatever I can, I'd probably head to the motorway and loot people's cars where they would be abandoned. I'd probably also raid libraries and what-not on maps and books that could help me, and head back home, eventually I'd plan to move to a more permanent place, perhaps Warwick castle.

Of course you wouldn't be burying every zombie you come across, that would be silly. You would bury your group members or people you know, and you would burn other zombies. I think this would definitely suit the main game and should be added, I don't want to see that just as a mod to be honest.

As much as I enjoy the isometric view/graphics of this game, I would very much enjoy a more realistic first person game with the same mechanics/concepts. I would also love a more in-depth looting system, where you would actually open cupboards and drawers and search through them manually, rather than an in-game window. It is something I would love to see (with a focused singleplayer mode like PZ), and also with Oculus Rift/VR support, that would be amazing. Of course it will never happen for PZ, but we can hope that someone will do this someday! (And get it right)

Hrm, are you running on a multiplayer server? Is this an upgrade, or a clean character & map? It's a singleplayer map, and I started the world on the last IWBUMS branch.. One of my containers reset but that's manageable, I will test on a new world when I get home later.

Hey, just tried recording a new episode of my let's play series with the new build but I had to stop, for some reason when loading cells the game seems to hang for about half a second and sometimes more, only when entering another cell though.. I've never had this before. Any thoughts?

finally, someone have brought this up. It does make sense to make it visible - good idea bro! Haha thanks, this is actually something that really bugs me when playing for some reason, like my guy has a back on his bag and is carrying another one but there is no visual representation of that at all.. also when equipping a weapon it should be in one hand unless you choose "equip in both hands".

Hi, so I was just thinking about the 3D system that's been added. I haven't got any modding experience with this game but it does interest me. Anyway, will there be some sort of tool that will convert 3D models and their animations into the game format? And then how will you be able to access these in-game? Personally I'd like to see (or make) a mod that adds more asthetic features to the game (characters mainly). I'd like to see: Hats, Jackets, Visible 3D Bags, Variations of existing weapons (visual change only), Different shoe types I would do this by extracting the existing models and animations and then attach my custom model where I'd like it (on the back of the player for a backpack, etc), then remove the player model while keeping the backpack with the animations still on it. I just wonder if the devs have any ideas on how easy or hard this would be to do? Will we be given template models and animations to work from? Also, what about 3D in-game objects such as (non-functional) cars which may have a random rotation on them? Forgive me if this has already been answered, just a thought I had. Thanks, -Ben

Basically the way I see it is that if it's only one or two zombies then they would not be fully eaten, only slightly chewed, however if there was a massive horde I just don't think there's any way that you'd be able to become a zombie after being torn into by that many, I think in that case then you'd be devoured entirely since you're still 'fresh', but one or two would leave to find fresher meat.

Hey Guys, So this was originally a post in one of my topics in the general PZ discussion board but I decided I'd post it here as it's basically a suggestion. This is my personal view on how vehicles should work when they're implemented with the new 3D engine. I personally believe that vehicles should be a large part of the game when it comes to it, I think that vehicles should be a large focus of development once the current big things are out the door (NPCs mainly). I just wonder about controls, and I'm thinking maybe there could be different control types for vehicles that could be switched in the options? Here's two different control types I've got in mind: Control Type 1: Hold W to accelerate Release W and car will slow and eventually stop Hold S to reverse/brake Release S and car will slow and eventually stop Hold D to turn right (need to be moving obviously) Hold A to turn left (need to be moving) Hold down space for handbrake Hold E to exit the vehicle (if it's not stopped then will take damage depending on speed, like falling damage) Hold Q for horn (if applicable, if riding a horse then just yell like usual) Control Type 2: Hold W to accelerate Release W and car will slow and eventually stop Hold S to reverse/brake Release S and car will slow and eventually stop Hold down space for handbrake Hold E to exit the vehicle (if it's not stopped then will take damage depending on speed, like falling damage) Hold Q for horn (if applicable, if riding a horse then just yell like usual) While holding CTRL or RMB, the car will turn towards the location of the mouse over time (depending on speed, if you suddenly move the mouse behind the vehicle while driving at a high speed then you should probably skid out and crash). I'm not sure which of these two control types I would prefer, but I believe that it should be an option between mouse and keyboard as I know a lot of people who play the game really do prefer mouse controls. I personally would have to try both to make up my mind. There should be a 'Maintenance' skill that you can learn which will allow you to fix up vehicles with new parts or repair old parts, and possibly tie in with some of the other upcoming features (electricity generators and PZ's 'redstone' type system) To go with the new skill, there would be a Mechanic profession which would give the traits: Pit Stop: All maintenance actions are 2x faster Conditioner: Vehicles are less likely to break down All maintenance actions will require that the player has a Wrench in their inventory (will equip it like a hammer). Now, if I'm going to go a bit further with this, we could make vehicles even more of an integral part of the game by having vehicle customization. (Bear with me) Firstly, there would be a new GUI window named "Vehicle". This would be empty if you are not next to a vehicle (similar to containers), however if you are within range of a vehicle then you would see the following: Status Tab: The 'Status' tab in the window would be similar to the player's health window with status indicators for different areas of the body, the vehicle status window would show a top-down outline view of the vehicle with status indicators for various parts. Right clicking on one of these parts would give a dropdown list with: "Add Part.." - hover over to see a list of available parts that can be added. "Remove <PART NAME>" - would remove the part from the vehicle The 'parts' that I refer to would require a welding tool to attach to the vehicle (similar to how carpentry requires a saw). You would be able to find or make parts such as: Bars (Attach to windows to stop zombies from getting in) Plough (Would help to push zombies out of the way without damaging the front of the vehicle, useful only at low speed) Reinforcement (Depending on maintenance skill, adds reinforced plating on the section of the vehicle which will protect it from bullet damage and will give slightly better results when ramming through zombies) Tires (I don't know a lot about tires but I can see that this would be useful) There would be a lot more, being able to replace parts from the base vehicle (salvage extra tires from dead vehicles, remove seats to make storage space, etc) Fuel would be a valuable item in the world, could be siphoned from other cars or from petrol/gas stations, running out of fuel would mean abandoning that vehicle unless you can find fuel. Fuel would appear in the status tab as well. Storage Tab: The 'Storage' tab in the window would be similar to your inventory window, the vehicle would have storage 'containers' depending on what sort of vehicle it is. The boot or trunk of a car would be accessible from the outside but the rest of the storage would only be accessible if in the car. Passengers: The 'Passengers' tab would simply give a list of players and NPC's that are in the vehicle. So with regards to the vehicle's ability to ram zombies, I think that a couple factors would play into how the action would turn out: Vehicle Speed Number of Zombies Slowly pushing a few zombies out of the way would basically be harmless to your vehicle if you just slowly accelerated into them and knocked them down. The faster you're going though, the more damage your car would take, not to mention bits of flesh getting stuck in the vehicle. However, even slowly accelerating will be the end of you if there are too many zombies, think of what happens when you currently run into a horde, you get a little bit into the group and slow right down and then die. This would be very similar for vehicles except that they could get slightly further and get past more zombies, however if it is a large mob then (depending on the vehicle) the weight of all these zombies would be too much for the vehicle to push through, and by now they'd be behind you as well. In this situation they would smash the windows and climb in and devour you, unless you have your windows fortified with bars, in which case you will be stuck to die of hunger. For this particular situation I think there should be a right click option which (if the car has a sunroof) would allow you to exit via the sunroof and assume the 'baldspot on top of car with baseball bat' stance. Either way, you're probably dead unless you have a friend drawing the zeds away from the car. Vehicles would be able to carry as many people as there are seats (so if there is a say 20 seat bus then you could bring 19 passengers along with you), I think that when inside a moving vehicle all characters would be seated while the vehicle is moving (don't know how messy it could get if you were able to walk around inside a moving bus. Perhaps if the vehicle is stopped then you can walk around inside of it. (If it was possible to move around inside a vehicle as a passenger while it's moving, that'd be so awesome) With passengers in a vehicle I think that maybe as a cosmetic thing, the roof of the vehicle would be invisible so that you could see the inside of the bus or car, however that view could be toggled on and off by a hotkey. SO THEN, thanks for reading this massively long post and hopefully it can give the developers some ideas, I've tried to make it 'fit' the PZ theme and at the same time keep realistic (no super upgrades like chainsaw wings and crap), I believe that if this is done properly it would be one of the huge parts of the game (especially as the map gets bigger). Vehicles would deteriorate over time so I think a skilled mechanic would be a very valuable group member to have. As a developer I can say that this is something that would be very exciting to put into a game like this, a huge area of the game with so many different possibilities. Let me know your thoughts on these ideas! -Ben

Yeah I dunno I just found it a bit stuck up for him to say that when they asked him if he wanted to direct an episode. I'm fine with the way the zombies are but I do believe that having them eat would make sense, it doesn't seem to me as though a large horde would all swarm a single person and bite him a couple of times and then walk away, the way they come after you is relentless and I think that in that situation you would be torn to pieces and eaten. It would also serve as a pretty cool atmospheric thing to see some zombies chewing on corpses (again it would be a sandbox option), and I can imagine that if you character had a good relationship with an NPC and saw them being eaten alive or found zombies eating their corpse, it would affect your player mentally (which I believe is something the devs had in mind from the start, mental stability) And as for my idea, I mentioned the sandbox setting for decomposition, basically what I'm suggesting is a visual indication of this. Although the zombies do get weaker, we can't actually see these changes visually and I think that it could be a good aesthetic change along with the environment changing over time. -Ben

What? I just don't like how everyone will jump on that suggestion anytime someone mentions it saying "IT DOESN'T FIT ROMERO LORE", however by my knowledge of Romero lore shouldn't the zombies all evolve and learn their old jobs again or something? Forgive me, I just haven't been fond of Romero since he called TWD a "soap opera with zombies" as if his zombies were the only zombies that were interesting. I mention that it should be a sandbox option since sandbox is basically the lore pick'n'mix. -Ben

Deterioration is something I would really love to see in the long run, I understand that in the sandbox options there are decomposition settings, however visual representations of this would be really cool. Using The Walking Dead for an example (since the devs seem to use it quite a lot), take a loot at the zombies in the first season, second season, third and fourth seasons and notice the change, in the first season they were pretty fast and strong and could even climb over things (watch 'Guts' and you'll notice the zombie climbing the gate). However the thing which stands out is how decomposed they've become. I think that in PZ if there were say 3 or 4 different zombie 'base' models which would change over time, this could be a huge visual enhancement, seeing all of the really skinny and rotting zombies and being able to tell how frail they are just by looking at them would help to distinguish the old and new. This would also affect corpses, over time corpses would change until they're basically skeletal with bits of flesh hanging off the bones ('living' zombies would never reach this stage because they'rr zombies and zombies do not become skeletons). World deterioration I believe is already planned (the world becoming more overgrown and crumbly over time). And for the sake of the post, zombies eating corpses would also be a great feature as has been suggested a lot. I understand it goes against Romero lore but honestly f*** Romero lore, when people think of zombies they generally think of shambling corpses coming to eat you. Now this could be a sandbox option (whether they only eat the living, whether they eat fresh corpses too and whether they'll eat anything). -Ben

I'm for this, I wouldn't mind having a very small chance of tripping up if exhausted, I see everyone saying that they want their death to be in their hands and not due to a completely random chance, but bear in mind that people do not ever intend to trip over, it is a random thing and we don't have control over it. Everyone has tripped over at least once in their life so it is perfectly natural that it could happen, especially when adrenaline and panic have the better of you. As for zombies and windows, I agree that they need a clumsier animation and possibly falling over when they climb in a window or over a fence. I also would like it if zombies would only attempt such actions if they were chasing the player, I don't think that zombies would see a fence as an obstacle, so they would walk straight into it. Bear in mind that when they're not chasing prey they just lumber around, so I don't think they'd all fall over a fence, they'd probably just bump into it and walk away. Same goes for doors and windows, I don't like how zombies seem to remember that windows and doors are entrances, they should ONLY start attacking doors and windows if they'd just seen prey enter that building. -Ben

In my time playing multiplayer I have gotten into many gunfights (which I didn't intend to get into), having a cover system will make this much more entertaining and give you more of a chance to survive, plus it can be used for ducking low and sneaking past zombies. NPCs are also a factor, I highly doubt that all NPCs will be friendly, and I assume that there will be gunfights with them too.

Yeah I think that if it was use sparingly so that it really creeps you out, then it would be amazing. I could imagine maybe things like hearing a window smashing downstairs and heading down to find that everything is ok would also be pretty creepy. Hallucinations could also work for NPC's, say you happen to glimpse a guy with a shotgun pointed at you from the side of your vision, look back and he's gone.

Hey, So I was reading a thread and I came across someone mentioning the old zombie hallucinations which used to happen in older builds, I was wondering if the developers plan on re-adding this? For those who don't know, basically when you were infected by a zombie, during the late stages of your sickness you would start seeing/hearing zombies that weren't there. It was a really scary feature, I remember I would be in my house in the dark, and walking down the corridor I'd just see movement in the room as I walked past, seeing the outline of a zombie shambling towards me (which vanished out of my field of vision as I was walking past), so of course I turned to fight it only to notice it wasn't really there. This was an amazing feature, and should be reimplemented maybe as a form of insanity? This could be great if you start seeing things that NPC's and other players can't see, it would really drive the mental implications of a zombie apocalypse as a game feature. Thanks, -GodWaffle

I'd just like to mention than the game is not supposed to be realistic, if you can fire a pistol as fast as you can click a mouse in real life, that's great. But in a game context it is not fun, I think that to prolong gunfights and make them more fun, delays between shots (even half/quarter of a second would be sufficient) would really help. I do think though that once a serious aiming system is in place that requires skill from players, then this won't matter as much.