sprkng

I think it would be both realistic and good for gameplay if there were bigger differences between different types of windows, doors and walls. Right now it doesn't matter much if you find a key to some place, because you can almost always just open a window, and if that doesn't work you just smash the window and enter with very little inconvenience. There are a couple of security doors in the game but those don't offer much resistance either, as you can disassemble it using a blowtorch, whack it a couple of times with an axe or wait for the zombies to break it for you. When you find a sledgehammer just knock down any wall and you can go into any place. The sledgehammer is quite rare so it can take a while until you find it, but my point is that with very few items the whole map becomes accessible to you. IMO this is a bit boring from a gameplay perspective, but sinze PZ is primarily a sandbox survival game I don't want anyone to force gameplay elements just for the sake of adding progression and delaying "end game". However, I also think adding more depth to environmental destruction would be more realistic. I can't imagine someone being able to knock down concrete or metal walls with a sledge hammer. So my proposal is to add different tiers, for example something like: Simple windows (shed, trailers) that can be opened with common tools like screwdrivers, hammers, large knives. Standard windows (most houses) that can be pried open with a crowbar, or you can choose to break the glass. Reinforced windows (most stores) not possible to open, but can be smashed with the sledge hammer. Heavily reinforced window (police station weapon room, bank, weapons shop, etc) same durability as the wall it's mounted on. Doors could have similar durabilities as the corresponding window types, but without the glass-smashing option. And for walls it could be something like this: Wood, plaster and light brick walls can be destroyed with the sledge hammer just like before. Concrete walls requires you to get a gas powered cut off saw which would be a new item, perhaps as a rare spawn at construction sites and uncommon spawn at fire stations so you get a reason to check those out too. Keys would become more important, especially early in the game as the proposed changes would make it more difficult to get into many places, so drop chances for them might need to be increased.

I only watched the first season of TWD, but from your description it sounds like one of the things the devs have said never will be in the game: https://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/192-commonly-suggested-suggestions/

1088 In-game road atlases that you can find so you don't have to resort to out-of-game maps when driving between towns. Road signs would also help

Since Project Zomboid is set in the '90s I think it would suitable if there was a MacGyver-like TV show. The dialogue could include him rescuing his side-kick who constantly gets into trouble and building ridiculous contraptions out of household items. Watching the show could give xp in random skills and occasionally teach you an engineering recipe (smoke bombs etc.) This would give you a reason to watch something other than Life and Living channel all day, and I think there's some potential for funny dialogues that would be in line for what they've written for the other shows.

It wouldn't be perfect, but it should definitely be good enough to counteract any negative effects in game. My normal glasses are something like -2.3 and -1.9 plus astigmatism correction, but when I was younger I liked to use disposable contact lenses. Those lenses were only available in 0.5 increments (and without astigmatism correction) so I had to use -2.5 and -2.0 and it worked just fine for pretty much everything, including driving. And since reading tiny text at a distance isn't very relevant in a zombie apocalypse I think that effect could be ignored for the sake of game play.

They could specify which diopter you need (perhaps somewhere between -5 to +5) and giving a random number to each pair of glasses in the game so that you're able to find a replacement if you're lucky. Negative numbers (i.e. on the prescription) would reduce sight distance, or blur the vision of the game engine is capable, while positive numbers could make reading increasingly difficult.

As people who have played IWBUMS recently have noticed, low fences and windows are extremely effective for killing zombies now. This was brought up on reddit and I came up with the following suggestions that I think could balance the situation: 1. Let zombies attack over low obstacles if the player is adjacent. 2. If the player is just out of range, add a lunge attack where the zombie tries to throw itself towards the player. It still ends up on the ground but might be able to scratch they player while falling instead of just going limp on the ground. 3. If the player is further away the zombies just topple over fences as they do now, but maybe add a small chance of them becoming crawlers instead of standing up if they can see the player. In theory I think this would keep it possible to kill single zombies by luring them over a low obstacle, but it ought to require a little more skill and timing since you have to stand further away and only run close once it is on the ground. Dealing with multiple zombies ought to get much more dangerous, since the next one coming over the fence/out of the window might attack you when you run forward to smash the head of the previous zombie.

I've also been thinking that psychology ought to have a bigger impact on the game. The human civilization just ended, everybody you know is dead, the city is filled with undead who want to rip you apart. Overwhelming fear, sadness and dread ought to be the default state. Not only are the negative effects quite weak, but I think they're too easy to cure as well. Speed reading a book instantly removes anything and you can constantly pop antidepressants and beta blockers without side effects. Would be interesting if they experimented with constantly growing unhappiness and stress. The positive effects of reading ought to be limited, both for gameplay and realism. I propose that they make reading non-skill books much slower and put a limit to how much benefit you can get from it per day/week/etc. They could also add a random ID to each non-skill book and give it a name from a list to add a little flavour. That way you could read some pages from "Pride and Prejudice" before going to bed a couple of times per week to keep the gnawing sadness at bay. With increased unhappiness generation and reduced effect from books and comics there would have to be more methods for reducing it. Playing video games, listening to music on portable cd players, non-skill programs on TV/radio should also reduce unhappiness and stress. Pills could be balanced by introducing the possibility of becoming addicted and adding side effects. I've never taken anti-depressants myself but according to the internet the side effects include: - nausea - increased appetite and weight gain - loss of sexual desire and other sexual problems, such as erectile dysfunction and decreased orgasm - fatigue and drowsiness - insomnia - dry mouth - blurred vision - constipation - dizziness - agitation - irritability - anxiety All except erectile dysfunction and constipation would be easy to add in PZ :) Would be cool with something that causes nausea and agitation except zombification, so you wouldn't know for sure if you got infected by a scratch or if it's just your medication.. I like several of the suggestions in the previous posts but some sound like very generic game mechanisms and would feel out of place in the semi-realism that Indie Stone are going for with PZ. Hallucinations, insomnia and loss of appetite seem fairly realistic and could make a nice addition to the game, but I'm skeptical towards sanity meters, gaining sanity by fighting imaginary zombies and losing sanity from drinking alcohol etc. Losing control of your character could be a fun mechanic if implemented right (i.e. fairly realistic but not so much that it makes the game boring). Freezing when zombies start banging on the door to your safehouse or forcibly running away from hordes if your panic gets too high seems reasonable. Apathy due to excessive sadness could be implemented as fast forwarding time (like sleeping except screen doesn't go black) but it might not work in MP. Self mutilation/cutting seems to happen among severely depressed people, but it might be too dark to include in the game. Item destruction from unhappiness gets a big maybe from me. I've never heard anything like this from my IRL friends who are struggling with depression and I don't recall this ever happening in any zombie movie I've seen. People just don't seem to think it's a good idea to destroy their means of survival even if they're feeling like shit. And while we're talking about psychology and forced actions, I think it should be possible to lose the smoker trait, but if you find cigarettes while you have cravings your character will automatically smoke them and your addiction goes up again.

I think the biggest danger of this kind of mechanic is that it could encourage illogical player behaviour and metagaming. E.g. one might decide to not pick up any canned food at all, in order to keep the game difficulty low for as long as possible

Sunday driver could risk of stalling when driving a car with manual transmission. I.e. every time when they are accelerating the car from standing still there would be a risk of the engine stopping and the car doing a small jump forward. Increased risk if starting uphill

I'm running PZ in full screen on my right monitor, that has 1920x1080, but the game stubbornly believes it should use 1680x1050 which is the resolution of my left monitor. It doesn't actually change resolution but it will only draw over a portion of the screen. If I try to select 1920x1080 in the settings and apply it will change back to 1680x1050 when I hit apply. Borderless window also has a border so using that isn't a good solution atm. Using Xubuntu 18.10, GTX970 with proprietary drivers

FIX: 1. Go to game files (In Steam client, right click game and select properties, local files tab, browse local files...) 2. Delete the "Vehicles" folder from media/textures/ 3. Verify integrity of game files (same menu in Steam client as before) CAUSE: Upper/lower case issue with texture file names, based on console output log. It seems like the vehicle files have been changed to all lower case but in my folder they were mixed case. Steam verification wouldn't detect this but it was corrected when re-downloading the files.