Octopus

Isn't the game set in '93 though? Granted, I don't play the Tech Tests or IWBUMS Builds, so the starting year could've been changed since the last time I actually played PZ.

I also noticed a lack of public libraries in the towns of PZ. Dammit, sometimes I just want to curl up with a good book while I'm being eaten alive.

Agree with seeing the time since infection started. How long has the world been going to hell around us while we've been sitting in our houses, anyway? Also, would it be too realistic if we had to put cars in neutral before we started pushing them?

Should they have a noisy siren at all? I just assumed they were equipped with an orange "flasher" light to draw attention to themselves while they were working. Similar to how heavier trucks make a beeping noise when they back up.

We definitely could use a few more pickup truck models in PZ. The game is set in rural Kentucky, after all. Perhaps a compact pickup such as the Chevrolet S-10 or Ford Ranger to complement the full-size pickup already in-game.

Will all cars in Project Zomboid have air conditioning, or will it be restricted to newer and more expensive vehicles? It seems less likely to me that the older and cheaper vehicles in PZ would have A/C - especially in 1993.

Let's give some love to the poorer neighborhoods in Project Zomboid with one of the greatest jokes on wheels: The Yugo! Cheap, slow, ugly, and notoriously unreliable, the Yugo was sold in the U.S from 1985 to 1992. It was cheapest car available for sale in America at the time. At least a few of these would've been kicking around the poorer neighborhoods of Louisville and trailer parks of Muldraugh. Maybe parked outside Pizza Whirled with a plastic delivery sign on the roof. Alternately, something along the lines of an 80's era Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon would also've been a fairly common economy car of the time. This four-doored hatchback was still cheap and ugly, but at least it wasn't the punchline that the Yugo was.

I'd enjoy seeing an early 90s Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera in Knox County. I remember reading that at one point these were one of the most common stolen cars in America.

I disagree with tuning vehicles down to make them more accessible. Nobody's forcing you to fiddle with parts in-game. If you want to drive a car in-game, just find one with the keys in it and go. When the car breaks down, just find another one. Rinse and repeat as necessary. That said, being able to upgrade and maintain our favorite rides is a great feature for those of us who want to put the effort in. In the same way that building up our carpentry and metalworking skills and using them to upgrade our bases is rewarding for those of us who put the effort into those skills. After all, there's nothing stopping the casual player from just slapping some boards over a window and calling it a day. In the end however, Project Zomboid is a game that caters to those who are willing to learn its complexities. And while I certainly can't speak for everybody, I'd be willing to guess that most of its players prefer it that way. It's what attracted a good number of us to this game in the first place, and if you take away that complexity, you take away a lot of what makes PZ special. There are a ton of casual zombie games on the market, but there's only one Project Zomboid.

Am I the only one who now wants a minigame where you actually have to pull wires out from under the dashboard and connect them in order actually hotwire the car? The lower your skill, the more unnecessary wires you'd pull from under the dash, and the greater your chance of doing something stupid like shorting out the car's electrical system and permanently disabling your ride (or at least giving yourself a nasty shock). Plus the idea of somebody desperately trying to fiddle with twenty-odd wires as a horde of zombies surrounds their car is just amusing. Alternately, somebody with higher skills would only pull out the wires they needed to start the car. They'd likely be faster at stripping and connecting them too.

There's a world of difference between live animals and dead meat that has been drying in the sun for hours. Zombies (at least traditional style ones - such as the ones seen in Romero movies, The Walking Dead, The Zombie Survival Guide, and Project Zomboid) tend to eat the former, but not the latter. As far as a zombie is concerned, anything that's been dead for more than ten minutes may as well be a pile of rocks.

I don't think zombies are interested in swiping dried meat. I do like the idea, though.

Instead of blocking cars completely, maybe mailboxes could be replaced with scrap wood and metal after they're hit?

Speaking of VHS tapes, shouldn't the game map contain some video rental stores? Even small towns in the 1990s tended to have several such businesses. Hell, in that era, even convenience stores tended to rent videos.

Jumper Cables?

I'm assuming he's referring to the Dixie Trailer Park, located off the highway between Muldraugh and West Point.

If this becomes an option, I hope it's tied to a skill. A car painted by someone unskilled should have visible streaks and missed spots, while somebody who actually know what they're doing should be able to deck their ride in totally sweet flames and stars and stuff. Maybe paint a cool octopus on the hood.

I understood your post perfectly. I also understand that we have very different ideas about what constitutes "taking things too far", as you put it. What you see as overly complicated, I see as an interesting challenge. Also, I am perfectly comfortable waiting until 2018 if it means giving the developers time to do things right. It's what I've been doing for six years (I first bought this game in late 2011), and I feel we've been getting one hell of a game because of the developers have been given the time to do things right. If you want a rushed half-assed zombie game, there are plenty on the market to choose from.

I'm still hoping we'll eventually be able to drive a car through the wall like an improvised battering ram on wheels.

All of those ideas sound awesome, and in a poll I would vote "hell yes" for every single one of them.

Body Harvest? Also the name of a 1998 N64 game developed by the same studio, back when they were known as DMA Design?

The phones found in game aren't cell phones - they're cordless phones. They're essentially land lines - they wouldn't work outside the house they're found in. Also, the game's set in 1993. Cellphones did exist in 1993, but they were rare and expensive. A stockbroker or a lawyer might own a cell phone, but the average person would consider them a luxury good. I also can't imagine the reception being very good in rural Kentucky in 1993 either. The cellular phone grid was still restricted to large cities at that point. Also, even land line telephones aren't working in Project Zomboid. Part of the game's lore is that the telecom network around Muldraugh is currently non-functioning. You can hear this from in-game radios/television. My assumption is that the local phone networks were shut down by the military to prevent news of the zombie outbreak from reaching the greater public.

The hatchback isn't new. I just think it looks a little oversized compared to the other vehicles.

Would taxis in small town Kentucky have advertisements (don't know if there's an actual term for them) on the roof? I live in a rural area, and I've never seen them on a taxi. Also, is it just me, or does that hatchback look way oversized compared to the rest of the cars? The doors especially look far larger than those seen on almost any of the other vehicles. Ignoring that, everything shown has me very excited.

With a high enough skill, you should be able to convert vehicles to run on alcohol or rig a gasifier to their engine.