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Hi there, just got my safehouse in flames and lose everything in it; i wondering why my character didn't have the sad moodlet seeing evrything he got going into smoke ? because i was haha sadness and depression in a zombie apocalypse should come more often, not just by reading too much skill books or eating cold beans

What would a zombie apocalypse smell like? It probably wont be a very pleasant sensation to be honest, but I think a game like Project Zomboid could use a bit of realism like this! I feel as though the incorporating of a smelling mechanic would be pretty interesting to experience within the game. When I was thinking it through, it would be included as a moodlet that the player has. When in close proximity to rotten food in containers or on the floor, this example of a moodlet would appear: Stench: "smells terrible here" It could have varying amounts of severity depending on the level of rot: "smells a bit bad" "smells terrible here" "smells absolutely disgusting" These are just ideas of of what they could display. Being around something that stinks could also prompt the already existing "queasy moodlet" when staying in that area for a while. Of course, a very useful way to find out if food could be going bad. Another small and maybe a far out suggestion for food items to have an option to be smelled. This could also help in a way with the new nutrition system. Though this could be a bit primitive, zomboid is all about realism and when surviving in apocalypse, we will use all of our thinking ability, power and sensing to stay alive. Which leads me to another very important aspect that can add to the zomboid experince. Smelling zombies. You know that feeling when your raiding a house with your fire axe in hand, opening each door of this seemingly quiet empty house very carefully, and suddenly a zombie comes at you from a sharp corner without any sort or warning? Well what if you were alerted to its presence before hand with that beautiful thing between your nose? This could possibly take away from that absolute shock when raiding, but it will add much much more to the experience. In addition, as another suggestion, each zombie will probably emit a varied "stench zone". Perhaps the decomposition of a zombie will stink more as a fresh zombie will not. I was just thinking about how the recent addition to 3d sound to the game could also work as 3d smell. (which in retrospect sounds silly) Hordes, as you can imagine, will also smell terrible and probably emit a larger "stench zone", alerting you to their presence even if you can see them straight away. Imagine your on the first floor of a quaint home and you've cleared it pretty well, but you "smell something absolutely disgusting". this will give you an indication of something waiting upstairs, which in my opinion would make this game just a tad bit more immersive. In addition, this will give more insensitive to clean out home bases or general spaces that you need clean. In conclusion, smell will help overall with the zomboid experience in my opinion. Not sure though.

((( I had submitted this topic on the general discussion forum because it wouldn't allow me to create it here for some reason. It seems more fitting in suggestions. A PZ Dev actually confirmed that smell might probably be added which is pretty awesome haha. Original post on general discussion: What would a zombie apocalypse smell like? It probably wont be a very pleasant sensation to be honest, but I think a game like Project Zomboid could use a bit of realism like this! I feel as though the incorporating of a smelling mechanic would be pretty interesting to experience within the game. When I was thinking it through, it would be included as a moodlet that the player has. When in close proximity to rotten food in containers or on the floor, this example of a moodlet would appear: Stench: "smells terrible here" It could have varying amounts of severity depending on the level of rot: "smells a bit bad" "smells terrible here" "smells absolutely disgusting" These are just ideas of of what they could display. Being around something that stinks could also prompt the already existing "queasy moodlet" when staying in that area for a while. Of course, a very useful way to find out if food could be going bad. Another small and maybe a far out suggestion for food items to have an option to be smelled. This could also help in a way with the new nutrition system. Though this could be a bit primitive, zomboid is all about realism and when surviving in apocalypse, we will use all of our thinking ability, power and sensing to stay alive. Which leads me to another very important aspect that can add to the zomboid experince. Smelling zombies. You know that feeling when your raiding a house with your fire axe in hand, opening each door of this seemingly quiet empty house very carefully, and suddenly a zombie comes at you from a sharp corner without any sort or warning? Well what if you were alerted to its presence before hand with that beautiful thing between your nose? This could possibly take away from that absolute shock when raiding, but it will add much much more to the experience. In addition, as another suggestion, each zombie will probably emit a varied "stench zone". Perhaps the decomposition of a zombie will stink more as a fresh zombie will not. I was just thinking about how the recent addition to 3d sound to the game could also work as 3d smell. (which in retrospect sounds silly) Hordes, as you can imagine, will also smell terrible and probably emit a larger "stench zone", alerting you to their presence even if you can see them straight away. Imagine your on the first floor of a quaint home and you've cleared it pretty well, but you "smell something absolutely disgusting". this will give you an indication of something waiting upstairs, which in my opinion would make this game just a tad bit more immersive. In addition, this will give more insensitive to clean out home bases or general spaces that you need clean. In conclusion, smell will help overall with the zomboid experience in my opinion. Not sure though.

Never saw anything like this suggested. What if high levels of depression would give you debuffs in speed, strength, damage, luck in terms of some random game events (like dropping a spear in the river/breaking it while fishing, or catching socks) or even lower the skills?

This feature was intended in my own zombie game project which was unfortunately not successfull due to lack of funding and the ability assamble a good team We however made a really nicely outlined plan for it (89 pages) and one of the things which would (i think) go well in this game is this. Your character can get "permanent" or "semi permanent" moodlets which only go away if some special treatment/event occurs or will not go away at all for example: "Crazy" - Your character has gone completely insane from the constant exposure to depression and anger. You will now suffer a penalty for interactions with NPC's (occasionally mumble random sentences could be fun?) "Veteran" - You have become a survivor veteran, you have seen so many things and overcome all challenges so far that there is now nothing that can surprise you. Gets panicked less. "Broken leg" - Due to the severe impact to your bones they broke, this needs to be treated or it can be the cause of your demise. Need to get a crutch or something, to recover or lose health over time while moving. Can recover in 1-2 weeks. Cause can be falling down from 1 floor, being hit by blunt weapon (NPC or Multiplayer). "Smoking Addict" - You have become addicted to smoking. Unless you get your regular cigarettes you become depressed and unhappy more quickly. Can come off it if not smoking for 1 month. "Drinking Addict" - You have become addicted to drinking. Unless you can get some alcohol in your system regularlry you will become depressed and unhappy more quickly. Can come off it if not drinking for 1 month. "Concussion" - You have been hit on the head too hard and you feel dizzy. Accuracy and vision decreased. Will go away in 1-3 days. "Iron stomach" - You are so used to eating bad food, that you eat those dead mice without blinking. Receives less penalty for unhappyness for eating disgusting food. (aquired by eating a lot of worms, mice, rats) These could even be like the traits you pick at the character creation, or listed as a moodlet I have a lot more ideas, but I just put down a few to see what you guys think!

Surely if you're feeling a little sad in real life (for any reason, whether it be the apocalyptic troubles, or wife problems), yoou go check on your crops outside and when you see their fully grown and ready tobe harvested, you cheer up and suddenly you're in a much better mood!! After obtaining the slightly sad moodlet very frequently, I thought of an idea on how to possibly addmore depth and realism to PZ. Suggesting that some actions, events and occurrences change your mood, whether it be making you more happy, increasing your boredom levels, reducing your boredom levels, making you more frightened, etc... Thunder/Lightning strikes increase your fear, they make you panic because of the loud noise (+Panic)Finishing a man-made structure makes your character very happy and gives himself a sense of accomplishment (+Happiness, +Boredom reduction) (this could be done by the game checking to see if 4 walls/corners of man-made material are connected, along with an adequate doorway and at least 1 piece of furniture inside the build - It could add more happiness for; each square inside the building (would stop people abusing it with 1x1 areas), Each piece of man-made furniture, each man-made window, etc...)Harvesting a crop (+Happiness) (For every plant/crop you successfully harvest you could gain a small bit of happiness)Securing a safehouse/Barricading all the windows and clearing all the zombies from a building (+Happiness, -Panic)(If no zombies are detected inside a building, no windows are left unbarricaded, all doors are closed and all openings/entrances are sealed off then the player should receive a large happiness boost and their panic should quickly reduce) Getting a full, uninterrupted nights sleep (+Happiness, -Panic)Being near a campfire (+Happiness, -Panic, +Tiredness) (People always feel safe and secure around campfires, it also helps you nod off quicker)there's many more events which could be added/made to affect the players moodlets, but I'm not going to suggest anymore here (yet!) This whole post is just to hopefully show the developers that this should be implemented!