Fuzzy Wolfy

At the current moment? It's being stunlocked. Not held. It's a bug—maybe one the development team tolerates, but not one that seamlessly adds anything to, or compliments, gameplay. What I'm unhappy with is the animation looping or being queued repeatedly without any opportunity for player input. Not that I died. The game's code, as it is, already has functions in place that allow for greater odds of injury, like if the player is or isn't blocking, for example. Adding the above suggestion, wherein the player has a buffer between animations or has the "pulled down" animation initiated from getting attacked by more than one zed, simultaneously, would be relatively easy.* * Obviously, it'd be more involved than the example below, but it'd still be a simplistic addition. I've not had an internal look at Zomboid since Build 39, so spaghetti code may make it more complicated, if present. > Player.Player:LoadAnimation(game.Workspace.Animation); > wait(5) No one who's complained about this issue has asked for a new, special animation for the above situation. Some either want it to flow more organically with gameplay, and others just would rather not see it happen, period. I'm in the former camp, wherein I'd be fine with it being an instant-kill, same as being attacked from behind... Just not this ping-pong match that goes on for a full minute. That ruins immersion, is frustrating to watch, and honestly demeans the good work the Zomboid crew have done with the animation overhaul. I'll take my comeuppance for not being careful enough, but this doesn't look nor feel like I was bested by the game. I'm going to be brutally honest with you, though I mean no disrespect when I say this: The flailing looks infinitely stupider than any unrealistic, narrow escape. It also has the disadvantage of feeling, overwhelmingly, like an animation bug. That instills a feeling of having been cheated by the game, even if that isn't the case.

To start, I want to make it clear that I have a tremendous amount of support for Zomboid and it's development team, you guys do great work and I have nothing but respect for all involved. That said, take this as a genuine bit of constructive criticism from a player with well-over a thousand hours in the game. The stunlock players suffer when getting attacked by a zombie is not fun. It still happens in the 41.53 IWBUMS build. I realize it's been said in the past that this is intended or, at least, a tolerated function of the game—a dangerous outcome to letting a zombie get too close; —And, to an extent, I agree. Unfortunately, this isn't the way to go about it. I've lost a handful of characters to this bug and, typically, in situations that rightfully shouldn't have killed them outright. Whether the character was decently armored, well-prepared, or actively fleeing an encounter with just two or so zeds—I'm not shy about calling it quits and avoiding combat when it isn't necessary—only to get snagged by an automatic animation and have no input or choice but to sit and watch my character just repeatedly push or elbow a pair of zombies while they alternate getting chomps in. It's just... It's not great. It happens regardless of if from the front or the back, though the back tends to be more immediately and properly lethal. From the front, however, it just looks incredibly dumb. My latest example fits perfectly in the above description; I was sneaking around in a low population area, still warily taking my time and clearing rooms before looting; mid-way through clearing the second story, I open a door and—bam—my character gets hugged on by a zombie, taking me by surprise and immediately prompting me to want to just run and make distance... But I couldn't. The two zombie in the room, as said, just took turns initiating the "push away" animation on my character, leaving me unable to back off, turn around, or do anything, really. For the first two attacks, I didn't get any damage, but then the scratches, bites, lacerations, and bites started slowly rolling in, and I just couldn't do anything. I had no control over the character whatsoever. Half-way through that, I just quit to the main menu. I was stuck for a full twenty seconds, slowly getting damaged, and I just had no input whatsoever. This isn't a case of me being unhappy because I lost or because my character died. That happens. That's Zomboid. The issue stems from the game just deciding- Nope. You're done. Put the keyboard down. You can't do anything. I would've accepted it if I were able to break off but, as a result of the surprise attack, I got cut or even outright bitten from being unable to defend myself from the second zombie. I would've accepted the price of the game successfully surprising me, but this was literally just an anti-climactic, full-to-dead, very buggy-looking death. Nothing about it was satisfying or dramatic. My character was just juggling two zombies in a doorway for half a minute and would've eventually just dropped dead. Please. Fix this. I don't care if the injury is guaranteed, just let the character break off at some point or get properly dragged down. Not the above.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You guys are a breath of fresh air in this era of indie games and half-baked releases. I've supported Zomboid since its debut on Steam, and never once have I been disappointed with how you guys handle your transparency or workflow, it's been a constant and very much appreciated grind of improvements and updates that always bring new and better things to the game. Things might be slow-going, and this is one pretty serious delay, all things considered, but I have no reason to even doubt you guys for even a second. Please. keep up the good work.

Might be a good idea to not make a habit out of that. The Discord is a good way to find other players and servers, but that's just my opinion.

In my opinion, not really required. You can be a pacifist, but still shoot guns recreationally, or know how to swing a bat. You would only really have a moral or psychological hindrance towards harming another "living" being, which is already reflected by your character not being very effective in combat, in general. In my mind, this is basically your character "pulling their punches" so to speak, even if they don't mean to. You don't hit as hard, and you're less likely to aim for obviously fatal spots, like the head.

Bathrooms do have a purpose, and it's a secondary water source and possible source of medical supplies. Mundane requirements, like having to empty your bladder, doesn't really add much value in terms of gameplay aside from a time-based required action that doesn't impact the game world all that much, unlike eating. Besides, not everyone would be comfortable with that as a base addition, but it might make for a fun / interesting mod.

Ahh, I see. I still haven't experienced that, but if that's the case, then yeah, maybe some temporary stun protection might help after the initial knockback.

Oh yeah, that much I know, it helps alleviate boredom, but there's no "Positive" effects aside that affect your mood, like for example; being 'Happy' or 'Entertained'. I've seen tons of suggestions for it where, say, being Happy might make you slightly faster at reading or interacting with things, and being Entertained will help keep boredom away for longer. It doesn't need to be a huge effect, but I think it'd make building a really nice base or collecting really good furniture worthwhile from a character point of view.

The Positive moodles for having a good home is something I've been thinking about quite a bit, and I still think it's a good idea. Having a nice home (or just interacting with nice furniture, like a Television), a decent diet, keeping yourself entertained and healthy, etc. I feel should contribute to how your character develops, like - it could give you a minor benefit to learning skills or earning XP, since you're in a better mindset. Likewise, being depressed, bored, or sickly could negatively affect how quickly your character grows.

When can I expect to be able to build a nuclear power plant in my backyard out of 1958 schematics?

I'll admit, I understand why these things aren't in the game at the moment from a development point of view, but I do really like the idea. Pulling weeds and grass out by hand, while thematic with having the survive the apocalypse, can be pretty tedious and boring. Besides, having more options and tools available for people who make gardeners and farmer-type characters would be really neato.

I can confirm, eating baked beans right out of the can with my bare hands does tend to make me pretty unhappy.

I've seen a good number of mods, like Hydrocraft, that let you make your own basic weapons and tools out of scavenged materials. That's a really cool idea, and I think it being in the game wouldn't be too terrible of an idea, actually.

A lot of these can already be set in the custom options when making a sandbox game, such as stronger or more zombies. I also recall the Devs saying they didn't want to steer too closely to L4D with "Special Zombies" or Zombies that grow stronger over time, but if that's what you're interested in, I believe there are mods are already do that. As far as animals go, I believe they're immune or just not affected by the disease, but I could be wrong. Fire trucks would be rad, though.

A lot of these are cool, but fundamentally impractical ideas, unfortunately. I am a fan of the idea that your base or chosen home might need to be maintained based on weather and time, like fixing or replacing planks over windows, or just performing upkeep on certain things if damaged enough by Zombies. If you mean the water you use after washing bandages, it might be safe to assume you disposed of it. I wouldn't drink potentially contaminated water even after boiling it. Much better to just use it to flush your toilet manually and boil yourself some new water, if the water's been shut off already. Also, I can't speak for everyone, but I'd rather keep the toiletries out of the base game. As immersive as it might be, with days last only an hour at default, it'd very quickly become a pain to manage your character's needs as if they were a Sim. Pretty sure that's already the intended mechanic, though I also have my suspicions that cleaning yourself might also help you avoid infection from minor wounds in the future. Yup, that's actually the way to do it, believe it or not. Ammo is scarce and finite, but melee will always be a reliable go-to for dealing with everyday encounters. That's kind of the spirit behind surviving the zombie apocalypse. Please, God, no.