NPC zomboid # RIP

[mariotusek]

So i remember project zomboid talking about adding npc's soonish a long long time ago, actualy i am waiting 5 years and the havent added the npc's in the game. How long will the wait before adding the npc's???

 

Does anyone care about npc's or everyone forgot about them??

[nasKo]

Just to nip this straight in the bud:

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/14491-the-silver-lining-of-npc-delays-etc/

We can only repeat what's been written in the Book of Lemmy:

 

 

[...]

So I guess around to my point: I know waiting for NPCs is hard. I know they keep getting pushed back, seem vapourware at this point, and trust me I want NPCs out there more than any single one of you, by a factor of like 10000000. I know many of you are patient, I know a few aren't, but I also know their impatience is a good sign as to how much people care. I also know that these NPCs are one of the most ambitious NPC systems in the history of games. It feels arrogant to say as much but I can't really argue against that statement. I'm aware of what we're biting off here. I'm totally confident we can do it, but the fact is after this huge delay we HAVE to deliver, and we HAVE to deliver something brilliant. So that's ironically the reason for the delay. They won't be released until they are brilliant. It's as simple as that. I don't want to say NPC development is a nightmare, because it is also wonderful and exciting in equal measure, but it's a shit ton of pressure that is on around the clock. It only makes me want to weep with sympathy imagining what GRR Martin is going through with the sheer monstrous scale of pressure on his shoulders compared to ours.



BUT. This is a good thing. Not for us, but for you. Why? Right now, EVERY member of the Indie Stone is working full time on PZ. We need to provide you with stuff, meaty content, to keep you happy, interested, and to improve the game in the meantime while we get our shit together with the NPCs and whatnot. We can't have 6 months or a year of no updates while we tick off our last remaining big bullet point planned features. We can't go 1.0 until NPCs are in. If that took a gazillion years that means a gazillion years of updates and support for PZ. If you think of all the many many great features that have been added into the game in the past couple of years since NPCs were removed. A lot of them would have made it in anyway, of course, but many of them may not have been.



As we say, we don't plan on abandoning PZ at any point in the forseeable future. But the fact still remains, that when NPCs, or Vehicles, or the completed map, go into the game, the longer they took, and the more delays and frustrations they had in getting here, they WILL go in. And if they take a long time: The game they will be dropped into will end up better, more feature rich and deep because of it. All the while having the entire Indie Stone dev team dedicated to the game with zero distractions.



So yeah. Brain dump, but its a point of view I wanted to share with you all. hope you don't hate us for dreaming of new adventures at some point in the future.