sspeck

I was bored in my safehouse, and on the verge of depressed. I then read 4 books in about 1 minute, and my character was just fine.
 
Maybe all books should have a set amount of pages, and it takes a much longer time to read them (like skill books), but instead of boosting your XP multiplier, it reduces your boredom and unhappiness.
 
It would have a set amount of pages (i.e. Magazines have 30 pages, newspapers have 20, books have 200.) So for example you could have one book that you've been reading for awhile, but haven't had a chance to finish so you read it in your spare time instead of reading 4 books in one sit-down like in the current game. 
 
Just though this would add to the immersion factor a bit! Then maybe when you're done with a book it's benefits are cut in half for you because you've already read it, instead of just disappearing as if you burned it.

Just a thought.  What about the ability to Forage inside buildings?  Say for instance someone was inside a previously looted warehouse and he foraged.  It would be nice to find some nails or shotgun shells that may have been missed... I wouldn't expect this to work if the building had been fortified tho.

Just a thought.  What about the ability to Forage inside buildings?  Say for instance someone was inside a previously looted warehouse and he foraged.  It would be nice to find some nails or shotgun shells that may have been missed... I wouldn't expect this to work if the building had been fortified tho.

Hi, guys!

I don't really know if someone already posted this suggestion, but... there I go:

Something that would be a really nice adition would be if zombies could get frozen in winter.

It's actually realistic. They can't feel cold, but their body obviously can freeze, so they would be slower, and maybe some even completely frozen if they stay too much in the outdoors. Zombies indoors would be not affected, maybe.

This could make things easier in the winter, but would totally add more realism to the game.

Well, I hope you guys liked it!

Thank you!

So as the new build 31 has been released and one of my new favorite features is player reanimation. As my character was shambling around with his new "friends" and all I could hear was moaning everywhere. I was thinking of build 30 and how the added zombies group with moans so I was wondering if you could press Q like you could as if you where alive but instead of shouting out your player zombie moans and can make zombies come towards you and form a small horde what do you think? is this a possibility?
 
 
 
 
 
I would love to hear you guys/girls ideas please write them here
 
 
 
 
-Decay

So ecstatic IWBUMS 31 is public now!
 
Thanks so much PZ/IndieStone Development Team!
 
I will report any bugs, errors, glitches, typos, and miscellaneous issues I may find.
 
EDIT : Loving the new splash screen! This truly is sweet as cake. =D

This is all great news!  However, depending on our choices at character creation...  Will we be able to spawn with a specific item?  (Fireman=Axe) or (Carpenter=Hammer)?  Just wondering.

Should be easy to implement: fixed sitting position + new sprites. In the beginning it would be good without the pedaling animation.
 
On a bicycle you can go slower or faster, these two speeds must be faster than their counterparts (walking and running).
 
You can only make a sharp turn while pressing the sneak button, or making greater turns.
 
You can store things on your luggage rack, but can't wield weapons.
 
Can push zombies in sneak mode or when standing still.
 
Zombies can still slow you down, scratch or bite you.
 
-----
 
Overall:
 
Only safe in zombie free zones.
 
Fast transport.
 
Trains corresponding skills (running, nimble, lightfooted, sneaking, etc.)
 
 

Wouldn't it be pretty awesome if the Devs gave a weird welshman the go-ahead to record some gameplay footage of Build 31 and he did that and you could all watch it but instead of being all forward about it he subtly linked to it in the bottom of his weird message about the possibility of it happening?
 
Yeah that'd be pretty cool Tooks but I think you've made your link too long I dont think its subtle anymore why are you still going for the love of god stop

This is one of the core components for the game that has always interested me, and with build 31 on the brink, we get first hand to experiment and play with some of these. This is what will make mutiplayer and more importantly npc's dynamic and exciting since we can never know what to expect at any given moment from anyone, pretty much like real life. Things from good to bad to (random genetic traits) like starting a new game and you character happens to be a diabetic so you may need to find sweet things to eat more often. Stuff like that makes it interesting and fresh, besides what the player can choose from. Cuz most players will try and choose the "best" traits while choosing the "least worst" ones to counter. Though the devs have plans to change that so its not so easy this random trait idea can throw you a curve ball that the player must deal with.(oh shit my player has what wrong with them?!?) moment is priceless. Anyway here is a list of all possible traits i can think of from good to evil to leadership and the like.
 
Some character traits have to do with your underlying values or beliefs. Some examples of these types of character traits include:
 
Religious Honest Loyal Loving Kind Sincere Devoted Ambitious Satisfied Happy Faithful Patient Determined Persistent Adventurous Homebody Considerate Cooperative Cheerful Optimistic Pessimistic Funny Some character traits can be bad, and you may not want these traits associated with you. Some examples of these types of character traits include:
 
Dishonest Disloyal Unkind Mean Rude Disrespectful Impatient Greedy Angry Pessimistic Repugnant Cruel Unmerciful Wicked Obnoxious Malicious Grumpy Quarrelsome Caustic Selfish Unforgiving A leader or person who likes to be in charge may have the following character traits:
 
Domineering  Boorish  Persuasive  Ambitious  Bossy  Disparaging  Picky  Sly  Cold-hearted  Rude  Self-centered Conceited   Some character traits can be consciously developed, learned or acquired. For example, character traits that you may consciously choose to learn or adopt
include:
 
Educated Informed Some character traits for children include:(mind u i know kids are not planed for the game, but hey lets face it not everyone become mature, they just get taller):
 
Playful  Zany  Active  Wild  Silly  Affectionate  Funny  Rough  Talkative Rowdy  Smart  Fidgety  Shy  Lively  Submissive Stubborn  For example, some character traits that can be used for a main character that is a hero include:  
 
Dauntless  Strong  Courageous  Reliable  Fearless  Daring  Tough  Brave   If character is a romantic interest, he may have the following character traits:
 
Charming  Loving  Affectionate  Lovestruck  Charismatic  Ugly Evil Cunning Deceptive Murderous Psychotic

well as of now if you had a hammer or axe you can enter someone else's safe house. Either destroy the door or unbarricade the door / window to make entry. Hammers can be somewhat more common then the axe so i think you should only be able to enter someones base with just the axe. What i mean is for example if i was in my base and barricaded it, then the only way someone would be able to unbarricade my planks is by being on the inside of my house, since that's where i hammered them in at.

I gotta say, this game is really fantastic.
I bought this game on a whim for $10.00 sometime in 2013. Now, I normally don't purchase early access games on a whim after what happened with Minecraft, mostly because of the risk involved. I am so happy I made this drunken purchase, because Zomboid, in its incomplete state, accomplishes far more than many games that are "complete". Not only that, but you guys also put out updates on a regular basis, while actually taking time to interact with the community. Even if you all stopped making updates, and just said "fuck it", the game would still be playable! Now, I would really hope you wouldn't do this, especially with all the work you put into it so far, but that still speaks volumes for the work done so far.
I am incredibly impressed with this game, its moddability, its community, and its developers. I don't want to sound like a fanboy, but honestly, it is hard to not sound like one when an early access game is this good. Hell, you did more than just convince me that early access can work, you also restored my faith in the zombie survival genre.
The industry could use more developers like The Indie Stone. Keep up the good work.
If you are on the fence about this game and researching it, strongly consider buying it as opposed to some other early access game. Chances are, it will never even reach the point Project Zomboid is at, even if the devs of that game slap a 1.0 down as the version number.

Just a thought.  What about the ability to Forage inside buildings?  Say for instance someone was inside a previously looted warehouse and he foraged.  It would be nice to find some nails or shotgun shells that may have been missed... I wouldn't expect this to work if the building had been fortified tho.

Just a thought.  What about the ability to Forage inside buildings?  Say for instance someone was inside a previously looted warehouse and he foraged.  It would be nice to find some nails or shotgun shells that may have been missed... I wouldn't expect this to work if the building had been fortified tho.

Yeah I should clarify - the others position IS to have both not to not have recipe books. just saying personally I'd be in favour if ditching XP multiplying books completely and rebalancing it all around professions / skills.

It's my personal belief that now we have professions / traits modifying the XP gain speeds, XP multiplying books should be a thing of the past and books should be exclusively recipe acquisition based. I know others in the team disagree and think they still have a place, but that's what I'd like to see. I think it'd make the books feel more special and unique, and have quite a significantly unique effect on the game, instead of just an XP boost. Also would get rid of the issue on MP of people having to stand still reading for 20 minutes.

In short, as discussed in the carpentry debate, we have numerous ways to balance the system. It'll likely stay in IWBUMS for a good while as we see how character builds tend to go and balance to make them as diverse as possible.
Re cooking / crafting etc, we have plans for a major crafting / books / skills overhaul post 31 that ties into the direction we're going with traits / professions. We have a plan and it very much includes a great deal of new recipes and survival techniques tied into new skills and more focus on profession/trait/book recipe acquisition.
And if a few professions get picked rarely outside MultiPlayer / prior to NPCs, as long as SP still have a ton of choice, I don't see this as a problem personally. There is still a significant gain in character customization in 31 over 30.

Food:
I think to take only one "food gaining"-skill would be wise than two or more. It will depend on your base location: At the river (or lake) it will be usefull to take fishing, in the woods foraging/hunting/trapping, in the open field farming. Fishing has a downside because you'll need cooking (fresh uncooking meat), but I think even with a mere multipicator (without books) of 0,33 you can maybe reach the first four stages (of ten). In RL I'm also no master chief and managed not to die from my cooking skills . Ingame you just have to watch your exp when cook something and it won't burn. Maybe there will be in the future cooking restrictions for food (with stage 1 you can barely make a sandwitch and with stage 3 you can make a 5 minutes soup)
 
You can also live from nonperishable food (if you settle down in the city) and if you are a nomad than take forageing.
 
Weapons:
Specializing at one melee weapon skill. Most prefer clubs, some knifes. Choose one and stick with it. This is one of where I'll spend points to reach the 1 multiplicator. There are enough zombies to push your skills. Markmanship is interesting because of the limitaion of ammo I would prefer a higher multiplicator to reach a higher skill with less shooting. Melee weapons can be repaired but to craft ammo is impossible. Reloading... not if you using a handgun.
 
Physical:
I think here are the skillpoints for good use. Sprinting is a good one. Running/sneaking from a horde is better to fight it.
 
Crafting:
Capentry with multiplicator 1 would be good if you aim for the rainbarrels and other stuff (there are books to push the multiplicator). If you want build castles then spend more points into capentry .
First aid is... I don't know. Maybe on multiplayer useful, if you got shot. If you got bitten by a zomie and you are zombified the first aid won't help you. It's wise not to get scratched, bitten or hurt in this game, so its hard to train this skill: so either spend many points in this skill or none.
 
Edit: I want the new proffession/trait update!

Just a thought.  What about the ability to Forage inside buildings?  Say for instance someone was inside a previously looted warehouse and he foraged.  It would be nice to find some nails or shotgun shells that may have been missed... I wouldn't expect this to work if the building had been fortified tho.

Should have a Deaf trait along with Hard of hearing one!
 
Difference being Deaf u have 0% sound.
Not being able to hear zombies braking your windows/door as they get into your base can be a nice little handy cap, also ppl like me IRL that are deaf can get alittle extra points to make up for being Deaf lol

This is all great news!  However, depending on our choices at character creation...  Will we be able to spawn with a specific item?  (Fireman=Axe) or (Carpenter=Hammer)?  Just wondering.

[NEW STUFF]
Keys:You'll now spawn with a key ring and key of your house. You can find additional keys inside containers and zombies who spawned in this house. If you destroy a door corresponding to a a key you have, take the door knob and rebuild a door with it, you have the key! Perfect for your safe house! You can mouse over a key to highlight surrounding doors that correspond to this key Padlocks, 2 types:"Mechanical", need a key, can be put on hand made wooden crates Combinaison, you setup a 3 numbers code for your padlock. [MP] Added a /noclip command for admins, if you set it to true, the players won't collide on anything [MP]Added a NoFireSpread server option, if true, fire won't spread (but still trigger) [MP]Added a AnnounceDeath server option, if true it'll show a message of who killed who, or who's dead (like [PVP] RJ killed Lemmy. or [PVP] Meabe is dead.) [MP] Admin now able to add xp and teleport to a player. [MP] Added a DropOffWhiteListAfterDeath server options, if true when a player die, he's removed from the whitelist. [MP] Added ConstructionPreventsLootRespawn server option. Player will now revive as a zombie after being infected and dead. Follow your character becoming part of a new horde and slaughter other poor players! (or being killed... Again.. Urg.) You're now able to clean blood, you'll need bleach and a dish towel or a bath towel You now have an option to craft all the stacks of something (having 7 logs? Right click, "Saw Logs" -> "All" ) Splatter blood in a radial pattern when stomping a zombie.  Might change it back to directional, blood tended to fly for 100 feet though. Added a key binding (default F8) to hide/show the ping (top left corner) Hunger/Thirst reduction from base item now applied to evolved recipe (so if you used 25 hunger reduction to make your pie/cake, you'll have have this as a base when making your cake) Added Melee command (Spacebar or left trigger) to shove/stomp. [MP] Server "-adminpassword XYZ" command-line option bypasses the enter-a-password prompt when creating a server. (Issue #001481) Added translation support for challenges.  Made it easier to add challenges via mods. (Issue #001483) Added "Rack Firearm" keybind, X by default.  Only for Hardcore reloading.  It used to be spacebar, but Melee uses spacebar now. (Issue #001494) [MP] Added MinutesPerPage server option.  This is the number of gameworld minutes it takes to read one page.  The default is 1.0. The user can choose starting clothing and colors when creating a new character. You now have an option to craft all the stacks of something (having 7 logs? Righht click, "Saw Logs" -> "All" ) Added a key binding (default F8) to hide/show the ping (top left corner) Hunger/Thirst reduction from base item now applied to evolved recipe (so if you used 25 hunger reduction to make your pie/cake, you'll have have this as a base when making your cake.. Make sense? I'm not even sure what I'm saying, duh.) Recipes can use "OnGiveXP:MyLuaFunction" to award XP when a recipe is used.  MyLuaFunction should take 4 arguments.  See the top of media/lua/server/recipecode.lua for an example. Mods can add their own media/lua/shared/Translate/ files. Fixed shoving zombies through closed windows. (Issue #001403) Add some translations.  The translationProblems.txt file (which is created when using the -debugtranslation option) now lists all missing translations in a form you can copy/paste into your translation files.  It also reports different numbers of % substitutions. Added new 16 foods item Added Frog in foraging Added tainted water:You can now gather water from the river but it'll be tainted. Same for rain collector barrel water. Tainted water can still be drink but cause some food poisonning. Boil it (only in pot or bowl) to remove the tainted New Traits/Professions/Last Stand/Level system: Explained by the one and true Lemmy: You have now 10 levels instead of 5, the level 10 correspond to the level 5. Professions
Professions now often give skill points, and these tie in directly to the learning speed in those skills as well as the starting skill level. This is to further diversity character creation and make the professions feel like an actual previous experience exists instead of starting characters as blank slate.

Also professions are not all necessarily free, so there is the potential for some more powerful start professions to require negative traits to balance. Unemployed gives 8 points to start. This is very important for reasons that will be clear when we talk about the new traits.

So you may pick the Carpenter profession, and right out of the bat this gives you 3 points in carpentry. This not only means starting on level 3, but the carpenter will gain a 50% boost to XP in that skill.

The scaling goes as follows, based on the starting skill level:

0) 0.25x speed (eek)
1) 1x speed
2) 1.25x speed
3) 1.5x speed
4) 1.5x speed
5) -

This multiplier is permanent for the entire game. Even when you get to level 1 in a 0 level skill, you retain the x4 time to learn it.

The idea being that now, a carpenter with skills ONLY in carpentry may advance in carpentry at a fast speed. Their hopes of becoming an expert farmer any time soon are remote. So this further diversifies characters to provide much more varied runs in single player, and provides more potential for teamwork and specific roles in MP and ultimately NPCs. However a carpenter being doomed to ONLY ever be able to learn carpentry quickly is going to be in trouble, so enter: Trait Revamp
A few big changes to traits

1) Currently non relevant traits have been removed until NPCs go in. Light Drinker and all the other cheesable traits.
2) We've added a ton more. Some need better names and others may be OP/UP and may need nerfing or point values changing.
3) To counter the fact that a profession may only allow leveling up a single skill. Specifically, a range of traits now act as hobbies. Say you pick 'Gardener' trait that says the character enjoyed gardening in their pre-apocalypse life. This will give a single point in farming, for example, and while this doesn't seem like a huge deal in itself, since its a character creation skill point, it DOES mean that they are now learning farming at a 1x speed rate instead of just 1/4th speed. This makes farming a viable skill to train up during a run. Think Morrowind minor / major skills. So now the player is encouraged to pick a few hobbies or other traits that round out their character with skills they intend to use, and now with little in the way of exploits with negative traits they will have to build some bigger disadvantages into their character to compensate. This is why unemployed gets extra points to start. They have the time to invest in hobbies, and need them to have any skills they can train at a decent speed at all.

I haven't done the descriptions for the professions / traits yet (want to run them through Will) or any UI elements to convey the starting skills or training speeds etc, but here is a list of professions and traits: New professions list
Unemployed
Fire Officer (3 blade, axeman)
Police Officer (3 aim, 2 reload, 1 nimble)
Park Ranger (2 trap, 2 forage, 1 carpentry)
Construction Worker (3 blunt, 1 carpentry)
Security Guard (night owl, 2 sprinting, 1 lightfoot)
Carpenter (3 carpentry)
Burglar (2 nimble, 2 sneak, 2 lightfoot)
Chef (3 cooking, 1 blade maint, 1 blade)
Repairman (1 carpentry, 2 blade maint, 2 blunt maint)
Farmer (3 farming)
Fisherman (3 fish, 1 forage)
Doctor (3 doctor)
Veteran (desensitized, 2 aiming, 2 reload) Traits
Not going to list them all, just the ones that may not be completely obvious.

Adrenaline Junkie - Can run faster when in top level of panic
Inconspicuous - Just naturally better at not standing out.
Packmule - Raises amount that can be fit into bags.
Disorganized - Lowers amount that can be fit into bags.
Self Defense Class - 1 blade guard, 1 blunt guard
First Aid (1 doctor - should be unselectable with doctor prof really. same with a few others)
Fishing (hobbie - 1 fishing, should be excluded for fisherman)
Gardener (1 farming, should be excluded for farmer)
Jogger (1 sprinting, better endurance)
Illiterate (can't read skill books at all)
Dexterous (Faster loot speed. should impact other things too in future)
All Thumbs (opposite of Dexterous)
Pacifist (slower at learning combat skills)
Brawler (1 blade, 1 blunt. Don't like this name, but basically someone who gets in fights regularly)
Plays Baseball (faster swing with baseball bat)
Hiker (1 forage, 1 trapping)
Hunter (1 aiming, 1 trapping, 1 sneak)
Gymnast (1 lightfooted, 1 nimble)
Insomnia (fatigue recharge when asleep very very low. Will likely wake up tired) Challenges
Also in this version is a modified version of Last Stand menu that allows for challenges using the last stand challenge system but playing in survival game mode. I discussed this in an earlier thread that it's important to make this feel a more complete game, a way of unlocking additional challenges, a feeling of progression, and also providing some goals for players that may have none. Now the framework is there, so if RJ , EasyP, Turbo want to add any challenges, or for that matter everyone on here with some lua skillz chance to contribute. Want a fun challenge to be in the game? Make something and put it on this forum, and get it past the community and us and its in there.

Also there may be another challenge in there called 'A Really CD DA' which may be fun! More stuff will be added as we confirm/finish test [bALANCE]
Reduced a lot the dmg of fire on zombies Zombies should less group when they follow you. Reduce the damage done by panic in melee Reduce the knockdown chance with panic [bUG FIX]
Fixed infinite loop when building a second Lamp-on-pillar. (Issue #000417) Fixed infinite loop when building a second Lamp-on-pillar. (Issue #000417) Show Unhappiness change in Literature tooltip. (Issue #001342) Transfer weapon upgrades from Shotgun when creating ShotgunSawnoff. Allow adding/removing weapon upgrades on broken weapons. Prevent zombies spawning behind stairs or in pillars. Right Shift works same as left Shift to select multiple items in the inventory view. Fixed ServerLOS thread not waking up after rejoining a server. (Issue #001326) Stop all sound effects before exiting to the main menu. (Issue #001322) Fixed OnCharacterCreateStats Lua event getting called when loading player corpses. Do the "smooth scrolling" listbox-thing with the controller. Replace existing parts of zones when adding new zones (to support custom maps better). Fixed some controller issues in the main menu. Forbid certain types of items being used as campfire fuel by setting tcampingFuelType to -1. Remove reanimated-player zombies when doing a server soft reset. Fixed LosUtil.lineClearCached() oscillating between visible/not-visible. Skillbook now train 2 levels of skills (so still 5 books). Can't play with curtains from the outside. Display name of food items that have no hunger reduction (canned food, cigarettes, etc). Draw progress bar in Health window when bandaging a deep wound. Added a background under moodle tooltips to make the text readable on snow days. (Issue #001451) Fixed the Pause key (F2 by default) unpausing the game in the main menu. (Issue #001447) Wrap long server descriptions in the server browser. Fixed long text being drawn outside text entry controls. Fixed player-death related NullPointerException when joining a server. (Issue #001463) Fixed a multiplayer multithreading bug. (Issue #001465) Fixed some wounds bleeding when the health panel reported they weren't. Fixed losing XP when the trait multiplier was < 1.0 for a partially-read book. Fixed thump sounds playing when zombies were on fire in multiplayer. (Issue #001467) Fixed other players displaying the wrong equipped weapon in multiplayer sometimes. (Issue #001471) Fixed all items in a stack being unequipped when only the first was equipped. (Issue #001474) Fixed table lamps turning back on after loading. (Issue #001473) Fixed "You survived for" time being 0 minutes 0 seconds when player survived less than 1 hour. Sleep dialog appears after walking to a bed/seat, goes away if player moves. (Issue #001420) Drink Milk, don't Eat it. (Issue #001476) Fixed being given Aiming XP for all potential targets instead of only the few that a weapon could hit. Fixed zombie gibs causing tree-rustling sounds. Fixed typo with has-a-cold moodle. (Issue #001482) Fixed map-corruption bug (base overwritten by another part of the map). (Issue #001318) Fixed fire-sprite syncing on burning characters in multiplayer. (Issue #001429) Move items to main inventory before drinking or transferring water from them. (Issue #001427) Fixed endurance loss from shooting guns. (Issue #001415) Fixed toggle-safety action being interrupted by attacking. (Issue #001433) Fixed reanimated player inventory syncing in multiplayer. (Issue #001418) Fixed /addxp server command. (Issue #001416) Fixed "panic" sound playing for reanimated players. Fixed reanimated player walk animation being broken 1 time in 40 (caused gliding zombies). Fixed map objects.lua files being loaded in reverse order. Fixed graphical glitch in "Major skills" list (bars overlapped the text). Fixed Strength/Fitness not decreasing due to laziness. Fixed crazy-high XP Multiplier sandbox option causing infinite loop and sound spamming. Fixed Disorganized trait breaking inventory management. (Issue #001374) Fixed uncooked/rotten/alcoholic foods having no effect sometimes. (Issue #001408) [Translation]
Updated the translations! (FR, DE, NL, RU, ES.... Everyone who posted in the official translation thread, thanks again guys, you're all a piece of heaven in awesome land)

I haven't noticed anyone else suggest this but i didn't delve far into the forum!
 
What i was thinking was having a flashlight attachment for guns that take two hands to carry, this would enable the user to see better at night time and would be a huge help on multiplayer! (say you're going out at night with a group or alone whatever your option to scavenge, get revenge on others or whatever it is you funky ass people do! you're going to need to see at night and isn't unrealistic in any manner)
 
It could aid in accuracy in dark areas e.g houses once the power has gone out, going out at night, but would make you more visible to zombies as they would be attracted to the light.
 
I don't think it would be unrealistic to find these flashlights in a gun shop, shooting range or police station...but i wouldn't really know as i'm a UK player myself and we rarely see guns, but i just think it wouldn't be very farfetched at all!
 
Anyway have fun surviving!

I would be interested in a sandbox setting that allows the character to start in a randomly generated forest world with few cabins scattered across the entire map.  Basically hardcore survival.  Forage for food and materials for a weapon, killing zeds for clothing to create your walls... etc.  I don't know how hard it would be to add the option but it would be nice.  (I know what people will say, "Just go live in the woods and don't bother anybody").  What I'm saying is to remove the temptation.  How long would you survive without The Large Warehouse (out of town)?  Just say'n.  Thanks for reading and hit me back community!  

Just going to be adding new things as I think of them ingame.



1. Pens/Pencils - In their current state, you should only really be forced to use one of these early on in the game(unless you're very uncareful), so i'm looking at them with no stats or bonuses to damage or breakability(maintenance, luck, etc.)

Having said that, they seem to give a couple nice jabs and usually break before the jobs done, nothing hugely surprising here, but I see an opportunity.
Each stab should have a "critical" chance, or "mortal wound" whatever you'd like, of a high base number since they break so quickly. I'm thinking 15-30% to instantly kill, and LOSE the weapon.
The logic behind this would be an eye shot, yay!
You have a chance to stab the zombie in the eye, puncturing the brain, delivering a fatal blow, and the pen/pencil is of course stuck in the zombie as it falls away.
You would not receive a broken version, it would be in the corpse, and you would not be able to recover the used weapon.
It's a lot just for a little, but i really like the realism aspect of the game, I try not to be as bad as certain people, but this one bugs me.
If I was going to jab a zombie with a flimsy pointed writing instrument, eyeballs all day baby.



2. Jewelry - Useless right now, and this idea is farfetched at best, but it is slightly realistic and would have certain values.(LOL VALUES)

It's dark, there's a moaning, groaning army relentlessly coming at you, your spiked baseball bats are breaking, and you're fumbling with ammo, you need a break to eat and bandage, your legs are slowing down, and your burden becomes heavier and heavier...

WHEN OUT OF THE DARK COMES A GLEAMING SUPERHERO, PULLING THE JERKS AWAY!

Totally possible with new and improved +visibility jewelry!
Jewelry would have a +visibility stat depending on what it was, diamond rings and gold necklaces would flash more than pearls and regular rings, etc.
It would be stackable(more visibility, but more weight of course) and would result in a very noticeable glinting, shining, flashy person... Perhaps not represented ingame with effects, but the jewelry could be shown on your character, and a moodle would appear showing your flashiness.

"Your valuables barely raise a moldy eyebrow"
"You booty is distracting"
"Your spoils draw attention"
"Your treasures draw a crowd"

You could distract and draw groups or a horde of the jerks away from friends or strangers alike once in multiplayer.
Of course this is completely counter intuitive in single player, unless you want to lure in zeds for exp ^.^
You would give off more distracting glints of light in higher light levels, so holding a candle or flashlight would be a bad(or good) idea, and in the day you would be a beacon...
You would also give off more noise depending on the amount of jewelry you had equipped.

This one is a bit sillier, but it gives a use to items that are already ingame, and it fills a niche in multiplayer, without having to expend all that precious shotgun ammo pulling aggro.
Plus its ballin' and hella stylin', and I want to be the pimp of knox county.