GodWaffle

I believe that perhaps some form of antibiotic could keep you going in a weak state, meaning combat will be extremely hard even against a single zombie, and also you'd need to find more of this medicine if you want to stay alive long. That, in my opinion should be a possibility, however inevitably you will die (either from not finding meds, being killed by zombies in the weaker and slower state, or being killed by an NPC/Player) So really, you won't last very long anyway.

That could possibly tie in with the Socially Confident (Or maybe call it Charismatic) trait, since you instill hope in your survivors when you're around, making you a good leader. However none of these would apply to all NPC's, you'd always get some of the 'bad' guys.

Is that planned? If so, that's great, can imagine things like cowardice should subside after a while during a situation like this - a year into a zombie apocalypse surely you wouldn't be panicked at all times. I can understand this contributing to it though, in that your 'Strength' trait could go up one level or down one level to give a more natural change. Another idea whilst on the topic of traits: Social Traits With the arrival of NPC's coming 'fairly' soon, there isn't much in the way of traits that really contribute to your social abilities and interaction with other human beings (okay, short tempered could perhaps be related), so how about a few traits for better/worse social interaction with NPC's? Deceptive (-4) - People are less likely to be suspicious of you Obvious Suspect (+4) - People are more likely to be suspicious of you (even for things you may not have done) Cool Tempered (-3) - You don't get angry often Intimidating (-6) - People are less likely to cross you Timid (+4) - You are more likely to be threatened/attacked by other people Socially Awkward (+6) - People are less likely to listen to you (pretty much impossible to lead a group with this trait) Socially Confident (-6) - People will listen to you and look to you for guidance (Easier to become a leader) These are just a few, I can imagine there is a very large amount of social-related traits that are possible. Some of these (Intimidating and Timid) could just expand on existing traits (Strong and Weak, respectively). Also the point addition/subtraction is not accurate, balance would need to be struck. Just a thought

Thanks for the positive feedback guys! I'll remove #5 from the list. Also, how about this: When choosing traits for a character, there could be an "Advanced Options" button in the corner that changes the trait menu into advanced mode. Advanced mode would mean that rather than choosing individual traits like: Strong Short Tempered Light Eater Brooding It would allow us to assign points to each trait (kind of like how Fallout does it) so that we could go: Strong <2> Short Tempered <1> Light Eater <4> Brooding <3> The number between the arrows would be the point number (1 to 4), which would increase and decrease by using the arrows. The 4th 'level' would be the maximum for the trait and would be stronger than the default is (let's say that the default for Strength would be 3, choosing 4 would make that strength trait a little bit stronger at the cost of an extra point, while choosing 2 or 1 would give a little bit of strength but not as much as default, but in return letting you use the leftover points to spend on other things such as Athletic 2 or 1) Tried to explain this best I can.. I did suggest this in a different way on another threat but thought I'd add it to the rest of my suggestions.

Alright, warning, slightly long post here with a few of my suggestions for the game. I will continue to add to this topic when I feel an idea is worth adding, and I'll remove any ideas that you guys dislike. Would really love to hear a dev's thoughts on these to see where they stand. Please take a look and share your thoughts and ideas! #1 - The Hunger Zombies are primarily known for their hunger for human flesh, however in the game currently they'll take chunks out of you UNTIL you drop dead, at which point they'll leave the body and wander away. As of now this doesn't matter much, but when NPC's and Multiplayer are added, you'd expect the zombies to actually eat bodies, if they find a corpse they'll start to munch on it (unless there's already one or two zombies eating it) until they see a living human. For one thing it would increase the diversity of zombie behaviour, it would be easier to sneak past zombies who are in the middle of eating, and also can be used as a distraction (shooting your pal and letting the zombies eat him). Also it would give yet another incentive to remove dead bodies from near your base, as walkers would come for a meal. In order for this to work, there would need to be a new eating animation (bent over, gnawing on the corpse), and also perhaps a new corpse sprite (the point in which it's a bloody mess of half-eaten gunk). If left for a while the zombies will devour corpses entirely. #2 - The Bowman Bows and arrows, suggested a lot, but I feel like I need to add this here. In the gun store in West Point, I feel that there should be bows and arrows to be found. The bow would be equipped, and when holding CTRL or RMB, the character raises the bow, and aims in the direction of the mouse. Holding the left mouse button will draw back the string, releasing it will fire an arrow. Releasing RMB or CTRL before firing will cancel the shot. Bows would be a silent weapon, headshots would be essential to kill a walker, and your aiming skill would determine the probability of hitting the head (a lot like a gun does, however probably less chance on lower skill levels). Arrows can be recovered from a corpse or from the ground. Bows can also be crafted, albeit a more inaccurate and flimsy bow, same goes for arrows (trajectory would be off) Crossbows would work similarly to guns, in the way they are used, they'd have more range than a bow and also more accuracy, however the expense being the time taken to reload and being able to fire one shot at a time before reloading. Bolts can be picked up from corpses. Crossbows would not be craftable, only found in the gun shop and rarely in houses. Also they would not be entirely silent, about as loud as a melee weapon. #3 - Some more customization options Because why not? I think that at some point we should have a range of new hairstyles, faces and beards to diversify when multiplayer comes along. Also, a new range of clothing would be cool too (basic t-shirts, puffy jackets, cargo pants, hats, waterproof jackets with hoods, etc), the waterproof jackets would help out during the rain and puffy jackets would slightly decrease the possibility of bites and scratches breaking the skin (a bit like construction worker) I understand that graphics-wise this would be pretty tough to implement with all the animations, etc, but currently we do have a very limited customization range and I think things like waterproof jackets are definitely needed so that we can be out during the rain without getting wet (assuming you have your hood up which ALSO limits peripheral vision, so it's balanced) At worst, this could be a mod, however I do feel the game lacks in clothing, and diversity of characters. #4 - Some better weaponry Okay, so currently the majority of weapons generally do not survive a lot of combat, they break pretty easily since they're not designed with combat in mind (kitchen knives, baseball bats, etc). I was thinking maybe we could get some more combat ready weapons, I'm no weapons expert but a combat-knife of sorts would be similar to a kitchen knife but a lot more durable. Also machetes or even swords would be suited better for combat. As for blunt weapons, again I'm no expert on this but I'm certain there are plenty combat-ready blunt weapons. Honestly I don't care much for guns since they make a lot of noise, but an assault rifle and hunting rifle would be pretty good to have when dealing with hordes (on the downside, scarce ammunition for the assault rifle), hunting rifles will come in handy for hunting animals (also bows and crossbows for this) All of these 'better' weapons would be a lot harder to find than the common counterparts, any military or police buildings would contain some of the combat-ready weapons, and perhaps a store containing medieval weapons like swords, maces, etc; also, armour. #5 RIP #6 - Corpse Disposal Corpse disposal is planned, however I'm not entirely sure of which way we will be able to remove corpses. Personally, I'd like the ability to drag the corpses to an open area (or put them in a pickup truck and drive them there), put them in a pile and set it alight. However if it was a member of my group, I'd like to be able to bury the corpse and even give their grave a tombstone (craftable). I think that having a shovel, and the context menu option 'dig grave' could appear, allowing you to dig the grave, place the corpse in it and 'fill grave' would fill it back up. #7 - Better Trait System When choosing traits for a character, there could be an "Advanced Options" button in the corner that changes the trait menu into advanced mode. Advanced mode would mean that rather than choosing individual traits like: Strong Short Tempered Light Eater Brooding It would allow us to assign points to each trait (kind of like how Fallout does it) so that we could go: Strong <2> Short Tempered <1> Light Eater <4> Brooding <3> The number between the arrows would be the point number (1 to 4), which would increase and decrease by using the arrows. The 4th 'level' would be the maximum for the trait and would be stronger than the default is (let's say that the default for Strength would be 3, choosing 4 would make that strength trait a little bit stronger at the cost of an extra point, while choosing 2 or 1 would give a little bit of strength but not as much as default, but in return letting you use the leftover points to spend on other things such as Athletic 2 or 1) #8 - Social Traits With the arrival of NPC's coming 'fairly' soon, there isn't much in the way of traits that really contribute to your social abilities and interaction with other human beings (okay, short tempered could perhaps be related), so how about a few traits for better/worse social interaction with NPC's? Deceptive (-4) - People are less likely to be suspicious of you Obvious Suspect (+4) - People are more likely to be suspicious of you (even for things you may not have done) Cool Tempered (-3) - You don't get angry often Intimidating (-6) - People are less likely to cross you Timid (+4) - You are more likely to be threatened/attacked by other people Socially Awkward (+6) - People are less likely to listen to you (pretty much impossible to lead a group with this trait) Socially Confident (-6) - People will listen to you and look to you for guidance (Easier to become a leader) Comforting Presence (-3) - Your presence will help comfort most people (Kajin's Suggestion) These are just a few, I can imagine there is a very large amount of social-related traits that are possible. Some of these (Intimidating and Timid) could just expand on existing traits (Strong and Weak, respectively). Also the point addition/subtraction is not accurate, balance would need to be struck. -SUGGESTIONS END HERE- All done, let me know what you guys think of these idea, and to the developers, please consider these, I've tried to think of them in ways that will really fit with the game and enhance it. Thanks for reading. -GodWaffle

How about an 'advanced mode' option in the character screen that allows this, dividing the points futher so that we can really tweak up our characters. By default we use the same system we have now, but in the advanced mode let's say every trait has 4 levels to it. The default system would limit your options to always being the '4th' level of a trait, so if I choose Strong, I'm really choosing Strong 4. Rather than having individual traits such as: Strong 1 Strong 2 Strong 3 Strong 4 There could be an up/down arrow next to a trait, which goes from 1 to 4. The up/down arrows appear when the trait is actually selected for the character. This would allow people who enjoy deeper customization to really bring out a good character. Essentially it's the same, but instead of going the full 6 points (would probably chance some things up for this system so that it is dividable into 4) you could opt for 'half' strength, so you only spend the 3 points, giving the other 3 for half athletic, etc. I think this would be a really neat addition, and wouldn't detract from the simplicity as by default you're given the current trait menu, however upon clicking the 'Advanced Options' button, we'd get all this customizing goodness. +1

Ha, didn't even notice my Un-Pancakelike behaviour.. Waffles ftw

Yeah that's what I've been doing so far.. what I do know is I have no meds in my safehouse, left them at the old place so I'm wondering if it's worth making a trip back there for medicine or waiting out the sickness and eating well. Must say, am I the only one who actually has like a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach when playing? The inevitability of death creeping up on me is really there, and I think that's what makes this game so good, that you really feel that fear of being in a zombie apocalypse, you feel the hopelessness.

Just about there on the map, there's a building further down with 'Food Market' on the wall. I'm staying in the second floor apartment there. That's good to hear, currently I've been picking clean a very small area around my place (mainly because all of the shops are here, including the large supermarket literally across the road that I didn't spot until everything in it had rotted away. As for fortifying my windows I have no intention as all the windows I use are on the second floor, the front of the shop is a no-go zone for me, I use the back door into the car park since I've set up some walls back there, also giving my a safe route into the back door of the shop next door which has a lot of nails in it. I think first of all I should recover the non-perishables from my starting house (also had a bit of medicine stocked up in there), then expand my search radius. Also, a side note, last I played, my character got sick from eating a 'rotten salad', I only ate it because it didn't have the negative effects in the tooltip.. am I going to die from that? I hope not, doesn't seem right if I die from eating one rotten salad haha.

Thing is, I really like living in my little apartment, and I find that the town center is a great way to avoid zombies (going through shops, out the windows, into another shop window, etc), plus I've spent quiet a while walling off the car park round back.

Guys.. I'm alive on day 13, this is the longest I've ever survived (I usually commit suicide by feeding myself to hordes because I'm a sadistic son of a bitch), and I'm really trying to survive this time. So I'm set up in the town centre in West Point (inside the Food Market store or whatever it's called, I'm on the second floor apartment.), pretty dangerous place to live, however it's been going quite well, I'm looted the surrounding buildings (and taken wood from a lot of doors), and I've started doing some construction in the car park round the back of the building. I've also cracked open the gun store just out of town, however I don't need the ammo right now (I took the fireaxe though). Things are getting really tense, I have a genuine sense of dread when playing now, since I feel quite 'comfortable' where I am, it's TOO quiet. I have the sense that a horde will tear through town soon. That's the least of my worries though.. all of the food is starting to rot! I'd been meaning to start farming, however I'm in the middle of the town and I've never farmed before. I'm not sure what I should do, it seems like everywhere is full of rotting food and my supply of chips and canned food is dwindling. I do have a previous safehouse that I abandoned without taking supplies from, I had stockpiled some food there so that's my short term move. What about long term? What do you guys suggest will keep me alive for the coming months? Preferably without farming since I'm comfortable in my current abode. And also, say a large horde does come booming through town, if I hide in my apartment (there's a few doors to get up there and also navigating to the back of my store), will they find me if I don't attract them? Could I wait them out? Thanks.

Thing is, with a game like this a troll wouldn't be a big issue, say he's going around shooting off his gun like an idiot, either the zombies will get him or you can just sneak up and take him out no problem. As others said, I like to think of the trolls on this game as survivors who have cracked basically, and as such they need to be dealt with (meaning a shotgun through the eye)

This.. I think people are forgetting that as a leader of a group you need to make choices that your group should view positively or risk getting your own head blown off by a group member.

I agree with this, I think a lot of people who play Project Zomboid would like to roleplay as their character, myself included, and as silents said there's always a chance of escaping when someone brings in food, etc. In a lot of zombie fiction, there will be times when a survivor is locked up by another group in order to obtain information, so why not have this possibility in Project Zomboid? I think if you end up in a cell, it's your own fault for not being aware of guys sneaking up on you, and if you really don't want to go you can try and fight them off and run for it. Things like this won't make the game boring, it'll become even more fun and interesting when you get thrown into a situation like this. And to be honest, I don't think people will want to keep a prisoner too long, it's a lot of hassle and also considering food shortages you're wasting food on a prisoner. I know a lot of people will be the DayZ shoot first, think later types, but I could imagine playing as the kind of person who wouldn't just kill other players, if I had a prisoner and found out what I wanted, I would let him/her go.

Depends on the person, a lot of people play sandbox because it's the same game experience apart from the fact that you can personalize it, I used to hardly ever play survival because sandbox exists, however my current game (9 days in) is in Survival. Sandbox is just a great addition to this game and really gives it a lot of replayability (even more so when more sandbox options are added), it allows you to customize how the game plays and it will affect the way you play it. I just wish more games had a 'sandbox mode' like this as it is an awesome feature. I'm assuming when multiplayer is added we'll have sandbox servers which allow you to set up all of the sandbox options for the server, and I'm really hoping for hardcore (one life only) servers, they will be interesting to play on.

I suppose.. I do play zoomed in all the time so it would be easier to spot them, however I'm sure a majority of players play on the default zoom level so I can see what you mean. I guess that just having a way of seeing a bite or a scratch (either yourself or as you suggested, your player seeing it) would be a really good thing to have.

This. I really want to do this, in order for them to add this mechanic we need: - Better Gun Mechanics - I suggested this before but the post didn't get a lot of views: http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/2691-better-gun-mechanics-before-multiplayer/ - Injuries - getting shot in the leg will make someone fall, and have to crawl - Hungry Zombies - make zombies actually take the time to eat people instead of just kill them Can't wait to betray my friends. OP's idea: Awesome, would love to be able to do this, would be a good way of taking prisoners too and leading them back to your zombie pit.

I think this is a great idea, especially on a hardcore server (one where you won't respawn if you die), where life is a massively valued thing. I can imagine keeping someone hostage and demanding supplies from their group in return for the person's release would be good.. or perhaps even to find out where their base is. I too would love to be able to capture a load of zombies and throw someone in the room since I'm an evil bastard. I think we should have the ability to knock someone out for a few minutes (2 at most I'd say), which would allow you to take their weapons off their 'body'. Some would say that's a bit overpowered but the way I see it, if I get the jump on you and knock you out, it's your own fault for not being more aware of your surroundings.

See, I'm against this. I think wounds and that should be hidden under clothing. I think a tell tale sign would be perhaps blood on the clothes, or some kind of tooltip when you hover over an npc/player and it might say (depending on some skill) 'You notice what looks like some kind of mark, but can't tell because its obscured by the clothing. Perhaps its nothing.' As long as its not gamey and doesn't provide the player all the information on hand because I would rather alternative options in finding out about someone being infected rather than just looking at the npc character and going, "Yep! He's infected. Say hello to my 12 gauge!" I want to have situations in which when I'm playing either with npcs or players (namely players) and one of us is infected, what fun is it if we can just instantly tell if one of us is infected? No fun at all! There's no risk at all then, and Zomboid is all about risk.. If I want to hide my bite mark from someone I should be able to do it in a balanced and fair way without any gamey systems that tells someone that I'm infected without putting much effort into trying to find out. This is what I'm talking about, I'm saying there would be a small-ish bite mark on the person's arm or whatever, however if they put a sweater over it it would hide it, I think that hiding a bite is something a player should think about doing naturally, there should be no obvious "OH, THERES A BITE HERE GUYS" On a player, but rather a small mark, that you would spot naturally if you looked for it (unless it was hidden), it wouldn't be an instant tell-tale of infection if you cover it, but I think there should be a way of seeing a bite if a player doesn't take the care to hide it. If that makes sense, I rambled a bit there haha. What if there's a chunk taken out of the clothes? If they have their sleeve torn off along with a chunk of skin from the bite, they have to put on a new shirt to hide it. I would then notice a different shirt from the one they were wearing when they left and demand to see what they are hiding. Then I would murder the infected fuck. That's what I mean, there would be a way to notice these things but it's something you'd do naturally, as in no tooltip or menu to show you, but just something that you spot. The way I see it they're 98% likely to die anyway so a bullet to the brain should be fine.

See, I'm against this. I think wounds and that should be hidden under clothing. I think a tell tale sign would be perhaps blood on the clothes, or some kind of tooltip when you hover over an npc/player and it might say (depending on some skill) 'You notice what looks like some kind of mark, but can't tell because its obscured by the clothing. Perhaps its nothing.' As long as its not gamey and doesn't provide the player all the information on hand because I would rather alternative options in finding out about someone being infected rather than just looking at the npc character and going, "Yep! He's infected. Say hello to my 12 gauge!" I want to have situations in which when I'm playing either with npcs or players (namely players) and one of us is infected, what fun is it if we can just instantly tell if one of us is infected? No fun at all! There's no risk at all then, and Zomboid is all about risk.. If I want to hide my bite mark from someone I should be able to do it in a balanced and fair way without any gamey systems that tells someone that I'm infected without putting much effort into trying to find out. This is what I'm talking about, I'm saying there would be a small-ish bite mark on the person's arm or whatever, however if they put a sweater over it it would hide it, I think that hiding a bite is something a player should think about doing naturally, there should be no obvious "OH, THERES A BITE HERE GUYS" On a player, but rather a small mark, that you would spot naturally if you looked for it (unless it was hidden), it wouldn't be an instant tell-tale of infection if you cover it, but I think there should be a way of seeing a bite if a player doesn't take the care to hide it. If that makes sense, I rambled a bit there haha.

Thanks for the ideas man, I really think graphical bite marks would be the best way to show this, also that's a more realistic way of doing it, as you may catch a glimpse of the bite by accident, rather than having to check every NPC. Good ideas Do you know if visible wounds are planned? Bandages sure, but I'm assuming in the future when you stop the bleeding you'll be able to remove a bandage, so let's say this guy was out on a supply run and got scratched, or bitten (stopped the bleeding and removed the bandage later), he comes strolling back in, not yet feeling ill, but you can't actually see any wounds so you'd be none the wiser until he died and turned. We also need graphics for being eaten alive and also for zombies actually stopping to eat you

Hey guys, I just thought about something, when NPC's and Multiplayer come along, there should be a way to see if a player or NPC is injured (bitten or scratched mainly), whether it be a modification to the graphics, or a menu that shows the status of someone (much like your own one), of course the graphical modification would be better but I understand it would be pretty time consuming to make all the different body parts and directions. I just thought, because I believe there is a chance of surviving a bite (2%?), imagine you were this guy in multiplayer who shows off his bite from a year ago, "Yeah. Yeah, you see this? Yeah, I survived, bitch" that sort of thing. And of course if someone has been bitten they could easily be the zombie apocalypse suicide bomber, hiding out in your base to die from a bite, and thus turn into a zombie in the base. If we could see the bite then it would be harder for people to do this. Just a quick thought, I think this would be a good idea though.

I don't think I've seen this particular suggestion before, I may be wrong though and if so I apologize. I understand it's planned that we'll be able to dispose of corpses at some point, I think that there needs to be the ability to drag the corpses around and also to clean up bloodstains. In my current game I've cleared out a few streets in West Point (probably around 200 zombies on the streets and in the houses so far!) and want to settle down in the area, however the number of corpses is substantial. When we have the ability to (I'm assuming) burn the corpses, I'd like to be able to drag them all to a big pile and then set that alight. Then I'd like to be able to clean up the blood scattering the roads and interiors of houses, in order to make it 'feel' safe. Also, a way to bury a corpse could be cool too (and make a grave marker), when NPC's and Multiplayer are added, I'd like to bury fallen comrades and burn the zombies. Just think it'd be neat if you could have a graveyard (maybe even bury your previous characters after looting them ) What do you guys think? EDIT: Ah shite, just looked through the 'Commonly Suggested' post and saw it's pretty much confirmed My bad, well, burial is still there!

Not saying it's a bad soundtrack it's great, however I personally don't like it very much.

I do think that having a way of listening to personal music in-game would be pretty cool, I personally don't like the soundtrack in-game and I'd like a way to listen to my own music in-game, it works well in other games (GTA IV and The Sims 3) and I don't see why there would be any reason against having it, I know if it was a zombie apocalypse in real life I'd want a way of charging and listening to my iPod in those quiet moments when you're sitting around twiddling your thumbs. Whether it be a phone, a media player or a radio, I think that would be a cool addition.