PZ Cycle 2018

[OLomasO]

This is for all the PZ guys out there who have been here from the beginning. They will know what I say is true. So on to the truth!!!!

 

In the beginning of each year they will announce a new feature to be worked on and implemented without ever fully completing (or in some cases never implementing at all) the last "big feature" from the year before. Then the middle of the year will arrive with multiple communications from the devs that things are "not going well" the team is stressed and needs a break. Fast forward to the end of the year where the team takes some time off to be with family (as they should) to brainstorm about what else they could add to the game. Then repeat. 

 

I have had and played PZ since the beginning(literally thousands of hours) and looking at the "progress" the game has had.... it really hasn't had much at all. There are just a lot of half completed features. NPC are a no go, The medical system is maybe half of what they first said it would be, Animations are not even on the horizon and the vehicle project has just interfered with the rest of the development of the game. (although it is probably the most to complete of any feature).

 

I know it's a small team and it takes time to make a video game. But we are 5 YEARS in and maybe at 40% of what is to be considered completion. There are at least a dozen other games with the same staff or less that have fully released games (which are much more complex than PZ) in a much more timely manner. I"m not saying they've done a terrible job. Or that the game isn't at least decent at this stage. I know they've been doing there best but the truth is. Their best just isn't good enough. The game has been out so long that it has become irrelevant and outdated. It's just another steam game that gets picked up on sale for people to throw 20 hours into and never play again. Sorry devs, but you're a one armed Atlas holding up a world where all the people have used their gravity boots to jump to the next system. Star Citizen will probably release before PZ does.

[skeety macskeet]

4 hours ago, OLomasO said:

There are at least a dozen other games with the same staff or less that have fully released games (which are much more complex than PZ) in a much more timely manner

who tho

[SlightlyOff]

1 hour ago, skeety macskeet said:

who tho

You will never get an answer to that because it hasn't happened.

 

I love the complete disconnect from reality... "At least a dozen... same team size... much more complex than pz... fully released."

 

There are valid criticisms, but ridiculous obviously false statements like this waste everyone's time.

 

I think it's a product of an outrage culture. I know this is an international community so please understand I can and am only speaking for the US. Here outrage is a product that sells very well from the AM radio talk shows to the cable news networks and many things in between. It feeds a false narrative of angry and self-righteousness as substitutes for adult conversations and/or arguments. Logic is thrown to the side as it feels better to angrily throw repetitious claims to the air and run away or just double down on the original claims.

 

 

[OLomasO]

Hyper light drifter, Hollow Knight, Absolver. Just to name a few

 

Here's how you look it up. Since you are more worried about just asking for information instead of looking it up yourself. (Which you will just look up anyway just to try and find some minor difference between the developers and use it as a crutch). Or trying to throw politics that don't apply into GAMING lol. Funny how the only people that complain about some kind of culture flaw sit behind a desk and just listen to the radio to and from work. I'm glad the radio is just so full of TRUTH just live TV right?

 

Step one: Get on steam

Step two: Look at games with the same size team or smaller

Step three: Compare quality and most importantly, time to completion

[Minnigin]

complaining the game is taking longer than expected isn't going to help anything...  does the progress of one game seriously get your blood boiling?

 

Atleast this game is still in development, I was on the Timber and Stone wagon from its first alpha release and now its dead and gone with many incomplete features and horrible optimization.

[Daman453]

Before everyone starts screaming at each other, can we all be lovely? I don't want to clamp down on any hate the game get's, but i really hate how long it's taking. I know it's going to be great... someday. What ever that day is, i hope i'm there and that i care. I think after NPC's have been put in, but put in right. Then we will see people calm before it starts back up again. I have faith in the TIS team to finish project zomboid, and right now i feel it's a wonderful experience to play in.  I'm 313 hours in, here's to 500 more hours!

[Jack Bower]

7 hours ago, skeety macskeet said:

who tho

Minecraft was originally just made by Notch and he did the majority of the work. I love PZ, but nobody who has been around for a while expects any patches coming any time soon.

[Rathlord]

20 hours ago, OLomasO said:

Hyper light drifter, Hollow Knight, Absolver. Just to name a few

 

Here's how you look it up. Since you are more worried about just asking for information instead of looking it up yourself. (Which you will just look up anyway just to try and find some minor difference between the developers and use it as a crutch). Or trying to throw politics that don't apply into GAMING lol. Funny how the only people that complain about some kind of culture flaw sit behind a desk and just listen to the radio to and from work. I'm glad the radio is just so full of TRUTH just live TV right?

 

Step one: Get on steam

Step two: Look at games with the same size team or smaller

Step three: Compare quality and most importantly, time to completion

 

None of those you named have anything even remotely comparable to the depth of PZ. Not saying they aren't great games- they are- but the systems involved are vastly dissimilar. I played HLD for a long time and it's a magnificent game, but it has *very* few systems and the world is quite small compared to PZ. It doesn't run massive amounts of AI, the map doesn't stream, it's not multiplayer.

 

While your criticisms about the game taking a long time are valid, your comparison arguments alongside it aren't. It stems from an ignorance of what makes software- and games specifically- challenging or complex. And that's not your fault. We don't expect you to know what goes into developing a game and clearly most players don't. That's not a problem, I also have very little idea how nuclear engineering or waste management works. Your posts make it clear you have no idea how to compare complexity of games or dev time. And again- that's okay. That's not a flaw on your part, that's just you not knowing how a highly complex industry works.

 

tl;dr I understand your issues with the game, but your post is inflammatory and doesn't add anything useful to this conversation that's not been said before. If you had any kind of constructive feedback aimed at the dev team I wouldn't mind so much, but you've simply aimed this at starting fires in the community and aren't even intending to address the devs. Feedback noted, but I'm closing this thread.

 

18 hours ago, Jack Bower said:

Minecraft was originally just made by Notch and he did the majority of the work. I love PZ, but nobody who has been around for a while expects any patches coming any time soon.

 

Minecraft as made by Notch was an amazing game engine that did most of the work for him. If you look at what he actually implemented, the game engine is amazing (though that took as many years as PZ has been around to come anywhere close to completion) but other than that not much was going on. Redstone, villages, none of that happened until he hired a team to work on the game. Not going to downplay Minecraft, but the comparison is silly.