Since we announced, and subsequently released the tech demo of Project Zomboid, we’ve received a lot of praise, and a lot of flak, from our various trials and tribulations during development. We thought we’d make this post to address some of the more common complaints or comments people have made. A bit like a FAQ.
Indie Stone are idiots. They didn’t implement strong enough security for their game.
People paid money. Invested it really, for us to develop this game. That’s what we’re doing. We figured that people would prefer we were working on the game, instead of spending months writing advanced security (DRM if you will) to avoid people pirating the game. We believe that even with months of effort, regardless of our experience in cryptography or lack thereof, the game would still be cracked, or our download server still be accessed, perhaps buying us a week tops of additional time until it happened. The net loss then is not a day of downtime as happened here, but a month or more of less features in the game.
We don’t think anyone payed their £5 to fund airtight DRM measures to combat piracy. Considering we don’t store any personal information about our customers beyond an e-mail address, the most they have to lose is a day or so of down-time if something goes amiss. The extra time for development of the game means they have more features to play, and isn’t that after all why they bought the game?
Don’t be down on piracy
We’re not. We’ve said repeatedly that we understand why people pirated the game. With no PayPal options, for a start, there was literally no way for anyone without a credit card to play the game until the demo came out. And until the demo came out there was no way for anyone to try the game to see if it was ‘their cup of tea’. We respect their wishes to try the game before buying, and beyond the leaking of our private test version to 4chan (a betrayal of trust from within the tester group) and the fact that our hands have been forced twice now to release a buggier and less polished game publicly due to piracy issues, we have no ill feeling toward those pirating the game or those distributing the pirated copies of the game. We’re mainly glad that people feel it’s worthy of pirating.
We’re sick of the sob stories
We’ve not asked for coverage, or reddits, or anything else, making a big deal about our misfortunes. We’ve merely posted them here and on our forums, and sites have given us coverage, or people have reddited the stories. We’re not making excuses, we’ve just been honest, for better or worse, about everything that’s happened to us since announcing the game.
We’ve had a string of bad luck, so that’s all we had to report on, and was the thing of main relevance to our customers. Since release, beyond this piracy blip, things have been amazing. We’re just keeping the community informed since we believe our mistakes or difficulties may be useful information for other devs to read about, and not censoring our experiences for the sake of appearing ‘professional’. Which leads us onto this:
Indie Stone are unprofessional.
You bet your arse we are. We’ve all worked in the commercial games industry for over a decade a piece, and we hated it. Loathed it. We’re sick of the commercial industry, and the last thing we want to be is the new generation of the corporate machine. What you get here is honesty, pure open game development where we are just us. A bunch of guys and a gal making a game they love who want to be a genuine part of the community that surrounds the game they are making.
People seem to love this about us, that we’re real human beings who respond with love or frustration, tell people the honest truth about how things are going and how it feels. We want to connect with our customers, and we try to show how loved up with them we are, how excited we are, how stressed we are, how happy we are, how sad we are. Of course the other side of the coin is when someone attacks us maliciously we don’t have a PR department and lawyers that forbid the dev staff any contact with such people, so if these things get to us we might occasionally reply with frustration.
Sorry about that, we genuinely try not to. If you don’t like this, we apologize. But that’s just two sides of the same coin, and it’s hard to have one without the other, as the only way to avoid getting that emotionally involved is to distance ourselves completely from the community, and I doubt the majority of the community would want that.
That all said we do try to refrain from letting such comments get to us, but when it’s a labour of love, the most important thing you’ve ever done, and people say vicious things about it when it’s 5am and you’ve been stressed to hell trying to get it out there for the past 30 hours straight, it gets to you and it’s very easy to cave and reply to these people. Just like when people say lovely things they can be sure of a loved up appreciative internet hug from us.
If we ever become stony faced emotionless ‘professionals’ then we’ve lost something very dear to us, and we’d like to believe a lot of those who support us would feel the same way.
The game hasn’t got ‘X’ feature or is buggy
We know. We put the warning screen before the game for this exact reason. The announcement of the game, the paid-only release and the public demo were all ‘rushed out the door’ because of circumstances beyond our control. The announcement due to the fact we were approaching rent day and were completely broke, the paid-only release due to its leaking onto 4chan, and the offline public demo due to the ‘auto update’ crack forcing us to remove the paid version from the servers.
If we had our way, no one would have even heard of Project Zomboid yet. We’re sorry if you don’t find what is there worth playing at the moment, we genuinely are. That’s why we labelled it a ‘pre-alpha tech demo’, because we’re fully aware it’s not polished, has bugs and doesn’t have the content we feel it should have upon public release. That said we’ve been blown away by the reception of those who realize its potential in the future, and that is what encourages us.
We hope you will return at a later date to find the game is more to your liking, and thank you for your interest! <3
No matter what anybody else says I believe you guys are doing a phenomenal job with what you have. I’m already addicted to project zomboid and its still in its alpha stage, I can’t wait to see how much is added within a year. I also agree with all your points on the security, I would have rather had you work on the game then work on a DRM that would have surely been cracked eventually
I love this game, and I’m proud to say I helped fund it. Keep up the good work!
Oh my god, I feel bad for you lot.
You start a very ambitious project with minimal funding, and are shut down twice while trying to get said funding, and now people have found a way to effectively vacuum up all your bandwidth. I hope you guys can get things sorted out, ’cause this game and its dev team are far too good to succumb to all this shit.
the game is great guys this game is gonna be a HUGE hit keep up your hard work cant wait to see the full version =D!!
Regarding the part of the “unprofessional” nature of your team I appreciate your honesty and transparency of what’s affecting the development of the game and the personal interaction with the community.
I also agree with the first point. I can’t think of any game that hasn’t been pirated so I’m happy you focused on game play rather than security. Hopefully, implementing security on the paid version won’t eat too much of your time of developing the game.
I wish you good luck from here on and after. The game you are developing is great.
PS. I purchased the game despite it being a demo only at the moment.
Proud to say I helped fund it.
You guys are doing an -amazing- job, keep it up, this game is going to go far
Game is awesome, 8$ well spent for me.
Keep up the awesome work! You have my full support now and in the future!
Besides Terraria, this is the best indie game ive ever played (:
LOVE it already and its still so very early (:
baah paying for a game with less quality then a flash game..
NO…..
Perhaps if you actually read the post you’d realise that it isn’t nearly finished, and that paying will help finish it. Besides, its much better than most flash games I’ve seen – flash actionscript is severely stunted game-wise when compared to Java.
lul, you fed the troll.
Don’t hit on flash. If you look at games like wakfu (www.wakfu.com) you will see that there are real mmorpgs developed in the language. Besides Wakfu is probably one of the best mmo, with its NPC-less sandboxish style.
never heard of it
I love how you’re a troll! You actually took the time to go to this website, read the post, leave a comment, and you claim to not be interested? What a loser.
Anyways, this game is amazing! I cannot wait for the downloadable version to be released, and I cant wait to leave the suburbs and visit other parts of the city!!!
I love you guys. You have to be the most honest, sincere game devs that I ‘know’. I am happy to be apart of your community. Thanks for the post and haters gonna hate.
<3
Well, I am damn glad we still got sane people in the game industry :p
Wow, this was very nice to read! I love these insights into your lives. Don’t let the naysayers bring you down and keep doing excellent work!
Don’t let the trolls distract you! Gamers and developers will always support you guys!
I think anyone will pay good money for a game like this to continue development.
Keep doing an excellent job! 0.1.4c was awesome!
Haters gonna hate, mate
I bought the game even not having played it because the basic premise of the game appealed to me and basically promises everything i ever wished for in a zombie game.
So i found a creditcard to use and paid the 5 bucks, something i could not regret even if i hadnt liked Project Zomboid AT ALL.
Thankfully i love it, and i have been spreading the news of Project Zomboid over several internet forums since.
All i wish right now is to be able to use a different payment method so i can buy the game again, but this time for 15 bucks instead of 5, so i dont have to scavenge a creditcard again
But all in due time. I’ll be there when you are ready.
I played the demo last night and died 3 times in rapid succession. So far I can say I love this game and cant wait to get home from work to try again. (maybe this time I wont die in a fire)
Please ignore the haters, what you have here is amazing and I cant wait to see what it will become. I will be buying my copy as soon as I can.
I paid for the tech demo and I would/will pay for an advanced version again. Paying for stuff thats worth to pay for makes sense to me. Give and take. I think u can have trust in a paying customer base and ignore the bunch of kiddy crackers and idiots as long as your product rocks. Simple
I hope…
I paid for this game a while back and I loved it. I played it for hours after buying it and have been looking forward to each new update. Take your time in doing what you need to do. My friends and I have been spreading the word. You’ve got our support.
if i got a mail whenever there were any news on this project i could wait for a long time for the final version (not forever!)
if you were thinking of just closing it untill you had something more like a real beta ready..
Ive followed the current developement of this game very closely
commenting on most if not all the new updates multipul times :/ and the fact that i payed for this shows my support for this. Aside from being a HUGE zombie/ infected fan the whole aspect of this appeals to me greatly, the amount of understanding and honesty you have with the game it also astounding. Yes this public demo has been released earlier than expected and yes the payed version has been temporarly removed from the site but it seems that this has all been done for the welfair of your game. The amount of time and effort you have put into making this game shows. unfortunately ive lost sight of the point i wanted to make and i have gone off on a tangent 
Anyway the word of this seems to spread fast and ive been and will continue to help spread word of it
as Seth2007 says you have support and it would appear alot of it.
I helped fund an awesome game. You guys are awesome.
And all you haters wanna touch my trololo?
omg slyfox creepers <33333333333
This game > Any recent AAA title I’ve played in the past few months (except LA Noire maybe!
). I absolutely love Indie games, and paid my part to help you guys in development.
Funnily enough, me and a friend were discussing an idea I’ve had for a game for years now, that of a zombie survival game set in a 3D, first person perspective. Literally the day after, my friend saw this game on Facebook being advertised by a friend, so naturally he gave me the link. I was not disappointed, the game is looking great so far.
I eagerly await more updates, keep up the great work. I myself am a games artist and I want to start up my own game project at some point, so it’s inspirational to see you guys doing it!
“We don’t think anyone payed their £5 to fund airtight DRM measures to combat piracy. ”
Damn right. If you’d have told me that my investment would be spent on DRM, I’d have come down there and ripped your face off.
I expect my investment to be spent entirely on beer.
I want receipts, damn it.
Hell yeah.
If I find out you guys are using the money I gave you to fund a lifestyle of hard work, late nights and constant programming … well … let’s say I won’t be happy.
It was for beer and the pool table, you fools!
I usually pirate games like this for entertainment for a night or two but when I read stories on /v about this game, I knew that whoever was programming this thing deserved my investment, even if only my 8 bucks. Seriously, people can complain all they want but through the game and through these posts I can see a dedicated and sincere team that will build something beautiful as we’ve seen in Minecraft and Terraria. Yeah, it’s not perfect, but for an Alpha, I freakin love this game and know that as it is developed, it will get even better. So guys, I hope in some way, shape or form this counter acts a shitty email or two by saying thank you for all of your hard work, dedication and patience in making a sweet zombie game.
i paid the £5 for the alpha tech release, ill pay again £10 when you release the full demo, and then ill pay £20 when you release the full game.
ive had more fun with this game than any other lately, and the promised content makes me practically giddy with anticipation
its kind of depressing that we have to rely entirely on small indie devs these days for any actually good games, but i want those good games, so youll get all my support
take my money dammit, and give me innumerable zombie related deaths in return
This site has endless potential! I’m very very glad to have caught it in such an early age so that I could help development! Ofc it has a lot of bugs and limited content but if anyone bought the game unaware of that it wasn’t due to the lack of warnings by the team.
I wish the devs best of luck and I only hope that they can turn a profit out of this game soon…
Ps.: I really don’t care if the devs are cool with the hackers… I personally think this recent wave of hackers (screwing up sony, bethesda, sega, etc.) is despicable… They’re destroying what the internet is all about and in this particular case (in which indie stone actually “loses” money for every hacked version update) they’re actions are at par with theft.
Anyone that pulls the “information is free” excuse is completely clueless… -.-’
Ignore the haters, you guys are doing an awesome job under fairly crappy circumstances at times. Hopefully things start looking up
But regardless stick at it! A lot of us really appreciate all the work you are doing and are really looking forward to seeing what happens with project zomboid in the future 
All the best dudes!
You guys are doing a great job and I have a ? I try to start the game and nothing happens Halp D:
“Sob stories” Who do these people think they are saying sh*t like that? I love (as I’m sure most people do) knowing what is really going on within the company, NOT hearing the BS commercial ‘professional’ companies that send out messages like robots to why they are delayed or why there is a glitch in there server etc etc. I was one of the very first to play Minecraft and it felt like being part of a family. It’s why I play and support indie games. I truly feel apart of the PZ family too.
Dangit, this FAQ didn’t answer any of my questions! I wanted to know more about the game, not this apologizing crap.
You guys did nothing wrong, so whats the big deal?
By the way, the demo is super fun!
Take a look over here
http://theindiestone.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=508
Hey guys, I bought this game as soon as a friend told me the story of his first attempt. He tried to give his wife a pillow to make her more comfortable. So far from what I’ve read about what your are trying to do and how you are doing it I love you guys. I’m a software developer fresh out of University and its my dream to someday do what you guys are doing. If I ever do start making a game I wouldn’t do it any differently than you are now. You guys are obviously aware of the gaming world. You understand that spending time and money on security is a waste. When the crackers do it for the challenge anyway. Anyway I respect you because you are truly making a piece of art. Making a game is like making art. Most big companies now try to figure out how they can make a game as fast as possible to get revenue. I know you guys are trying to make something different. A piece of art that will be admired for the thought and detail put into it. It’s people like you who take the gaming world to the next level.
Thought I would post my support.
I have paided for quite a few indie games now before they are released as I wish to support a part of the industry that is not afraid to try something different as the AAA industry slowly stagnates from sequels and HD updates.
It’s great to see your very indepth posts it’s nice to have a company not afraid to let us look behind the curtain. I hope you have not become to dis-heartened.
Keep up the greatwork…..also it’s the fans that matter they will keep spreading the word and screw those other guys they’re just dicks anyway.
it gets better before it gets worst
Indie game development is slowly but surely becoming known as the superior form of game development, as far as I’m concerned. Why? Because the people involved are dedicated to the community, and not to the money. They’re dedicated to making the best damn games they can, and that’s why everyone loves them. I admittedly haven’t done my part to support this game, but as soon as I can find a friend with a credit card I can pay, I would more than gladly fund this game. Indie developers like you guys actually deserve the money you make, and when I’m out of school and university altogether, I want to develop games the same way you do. With the community in mind, and for the sake of bringing an idea to life!
None of these were questions
you guys are awesome! really more than anyone expects from a game developer, bravo!
As a proud sponsor of Project Zomboid, I have to say I really do enjoy what the devs are trying to do in making a game that’s built on a one-to-one basis with the consumers (probably not entirely one-to-one, but the impression and work so far is certainly there)!
My only concern is that as the days roll on, as the game and the code gets significantly more complicated, and as the feature requests and expectations ratchet up to the same level that Minecraft has now, I just hope you guys won’t snap or give up!
I got my paid version from weeks ago and love it. I know there is much content to add and I’m happy about that, Can’t wait for any new recipe or feature that you add guys.
Keep the great job, create a great story, make an awesome game.
I knew if you guys released the demo it would spread like rain fire – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAR7UvKAXiU <–people are already putting up positive reviews of it which should really help gain the game more exposure which is excellent.
I hope you get well soon,I love this PZgame.
u guys are doing a great job, dont worry about the negative comments given by a small majority. this game is amazing and no matter how long it takes to finish i wont care because i know thats how long it took for you to put all your and some of the communities great idea and concepts in the game, keep up the good work.
You rule
to show my support for you guys against the piracy problem, i just bought a copy of Project Zomboid
I just wanted to let you guys know that you all are doing a fantastic job on this game! The possibilities are endless with this and the potential is absolutely limitless : ) I know people are going to say some cruel things but most of the time that is just because of ignorance or just plain stupidity. You guys and gal at Indie need to just keep trucking forward and soon people will be able to see all of the hard work you guys have accomplished!
Ok first and foremost I would like to address the developers to this comment.. Guys I would like to thank you for everything you guys have done for the community. I personally love the game and been following it for like 2months or so.. then, I found out that I can play it if I bought your other games.. In fact I used my dad’s paypal and email with permission of course to buy the game and Honestly I love the “aspect” of the game! for me this game is very simple, crisp, challenging, and my favorite of it is that this game is not totally linear!
Yes i know I will die eventually.. but I have options on this game.. This is what I love on this game! So big hugs and thumbs up for the devs. of this game 
Oh the thing your saying you guys are unproffesional, don’t worry guys.. we are people we have mistakes too.. but for me the measure of success and achievement is far greater than the measure of being failure or something like that.. and lastly I hope you guys have more luck in developing this game and I promise to buy the full game if it is release ASAP 
I REALLY got ADDICTED at this game! 
Thank you devs. and Godbless! (oh btw: im following you guys on twitter.. :p) keep \m/
Keep going, guys.
Don’t let the script kiddies and spoiled brats get to you guys. When it’s 5am and you see that one comment that has no punctuation or appearance of effort that lambasts your labor of love, remember that there are a hundred other silent ones who support you all 100 percent. I’m looking forward to your game more than any other, and the alpha tech demo is already a blast to play. My wife and I can’t wait to survive the zombie apocalypse together! We wish you the best!
Your down to earth attitutde just made me decide I’m going to “invest” in this to help you guys out
IF THE GAME IS GOOD I WILL BUY 5 COPIES OF THE GAME DONT FUCK WITH THE DMR OR DRM OR W.E IT IS
if a game is good everyone will donate like crazy/tell there friends ever one wants a good game and when they can donate directly to the team making the game shit can get crazy trust this system and zomboid will do alot of good in the indie world you need to focus on the community
i personaly would pay 15+ for the game itself your charging 5 which means if i like the game ill donate that other 10 for the team
Why not contact one of the game hacking groups out there (Like fairlight or razor1911) and ask them what makes a game difficult to crack, and if they had any suggestions. I’m sure they would be happy to help. A lot of groups go for a good challenge and asking a cracking group how to help prevent your game from getting cracked would be something that no commercial dev would be willing to do. put their names in the credits as a special thanks or something.
If they’re up to it of course, you’d probably end up with a game that would be better security wise, and with little super oppressive DRM.
like i said “The announcement due to the fact we were approaching rent day and were completely broke, the paid-only release due to its leaking onto 4chan”
this has done alot more advertising rather then damage im gonna say this right now and i hope you eventually read this whenever it may be most helpful to hear is that…..this is the next step of zomboid well itd be a good idea to embrace it.
Zomboid is now gunna be juggled though groups of people / websites friends and foes. But in the end this is a week of ProjectZomboid if you could take advantage of this week window you could make large sales / possibility have a little wiggle room to add a person to the team and or boost dev Progress
either way i want you guys to know im new here but know when im seeing something im gonna come back to for years to come well into my days were id be glad to come donate on a weekly basis
Keep it going guys, I’ve funded the project at an early stage and I’m proud of it. I’ve been enjoying every bit of playing the pre alpha test demo.
You guys are great!
Hey Indie stone,
As much as I would love to pay the 5 bucks for your game, I don’t have a credit card. I do however own a paypal account. Is there anyway i could buy the game using Paypal?
If not, are you going to implement paypal?
Hi FA4ED, their Paypal is currently locked because Paypal thought it was suspicious that they were making money. There is however a moderator on the forums who is offering to help people with Paypal by purchasing for them. He has done this for many people already. It takes a little bit of trust but until Paypal gets sorted its the only way.
Take it as a testimonial from me that he was fast, prompt and understanding of my payment issues.
(I had a card locked to the US only and luckily he was in the US.)
“We’re mainly glad that people feel it’s worthy of pirating.”
Awesome that you guys have balls to say something like that on your own website. Thanks for piracy you have now 2 if not 3 new potential customers
I sure will support such a good indie company.
Game looks promising! I hope the game will success, good luck!
Hey Devs,
Love the pre-alpha Tech Demo. I’m totally cool with the fact that word on this game came out, because honestly I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. Instead on a weekly basis I am pimping this game to everyone I know and better yet I’m going to pimp the game to any readers of my website tonight.
But most importantly I just wanted to say Thank You for putting out a game that had more value in the tech demo than some full-priced games I’ve purchased recently. The seemingly endless re-playability of besting my own top score is wonderful.
I just hope that some kind of counter for my best survival time will come with future updates.
Good luck! I already bought my copy(and some nifty little thing called droids)
I think its funny you guys spend a major portion of your blog defending yourself against haters who appear to be no more than know-it-all trolls.
Because I sure as hell don’t care about these trolls
No one cares what they think. If you look at 99.9% of the comments, everyone here effing loves your game and loves everything about you guys.
You guys are like a sensitive minority group freaking out about racist comments on YouTube. That stuff is going to be there no matter what you do. If you’re constantly tuned in to the negative, thats all you’re going to see. Look at all the positive review you’ve gotten, stop worrying about some 12 year old who thinks he knows more about marketing, programming or security. Let him make his game. Call his bluff.
I bought witcher 2, portal 2, and crysis 2 at the end of school semester and I’ve played this more than all those games combined. Ive bought it and so have my friends.
Just keep doing your thing, and maybe post something positive about what you’ve been doing so we can share your joy
Just one little thing:
I’ve already had more fun with the current Project Zomboid version than with more than half of the 50€-Games I own!
Stay awesome!
Awesome that you don’t bash pirates like some people!
I love your game and bought it instead of DLing it from TPB. I’m sure there are many pirates that buy your game just because they, like me, love this game and want to support the indie gaming scene.
Most of us love you guys. Those who don’t… have something stuck up their asses… Paulsoaresjr brought me here, and I thank him for that. But I thank you… you… dev team… you… for making the game, for spending time on something, that will kill our boredom, and consume our time… I love spending time on something good.
It just seems bizarre to me that people totally ignore what you’re saying. I mean, it IS the internet, and I should be used to it by now…
But this is just ridiculous.
oh btw plz let me jump out windows and put roket lanchers in thnks
That’s bullshit the fact pirated versions auto-update sucking up bandwidth and $$ from your bank account. It’s so unfair for you developers. I personally used the pirated version, not the updating one though. I assure you I’m going to buy the game and throw the pirated in the freakin shredder, or I wouldn’t be saying it in the comments. I thought I had right enough money in my card but… it seems I didn’t according to google. I cancelled the order twice and repeated it twice. Still nothing. I hope they didn’t take those few pennies i had in there. Anyways, as soon as my local post office computers will be up again, I will go charge my card with some $$ and order this thing.
i find it hard to live past one day due to the AI who ransacks your house and kills you are your wife, i know that’s not end game but, perhaps make it so that of you remove all weps from your hot bar you can reason with him and he will join you? Other wise, REMOVE HIM! even though he has a shotgun, his AI attitude would have him face the horde and die. so in retrospect he wouldn’t survive(possibly at lest give an option to skip the text between you and your wife at the beginning?). otherwise, cool game.
You can skip the text between you and your wife, just hit the escape key…
Fantastic work guys, this honestly is everything id want in a zombie game… realism. Left 4 dead gave some, but to make a workable FPS in their environment they had to sacrifice alot. However this game seems made for people who actually want to struggle, its brilliant. A whole heap of brilliants, and I can only see this getting better.
I have to say that what you people are doing here is a wonderful thing it is fun and in my opinion can be one of the most popular games on the net and that i am glad that i payed for this because if no one payed the simple 5 pounds then this game would get nowhere keep up the good work fellas you are truly good people. I can also understand wanting to pirate this i mean some people just dont have the money or just want to try before buy but if it is a game that you really like please buy the game when you get the chance because it is truly phenominal but with people pirating there is no way to better the game or fix some mistakes but once again i bought this game the moment i heard of it and havent regretted the descion at all ever. period.
Hey guys keep up the good work. Its good to see a project this ambitious to be undertaken by a small team. Wish you guys the best of luck and as a paying customer I understand the measures you took and hope that in time….oh game of thrones time
love you byee byeee
Don’t let the haters get you down. The only way to never be criticized is to do nothing.
I think you guys are doing great work, it takes courage to actually try to be a indie dev.
So just laugh off any criticism that someone may have that they spend a whole £5 on investing in your game and they don’t feel they got results.
Your game is their whole life, they have never felt the touch of a woman, project zomboid’s Kate is the closest thing they have to ever having a women in their life lol.
Considering how fast £5 can be spend and how much entertainment it gets you when you try and spend it on other media, no one can complain that they haven’t got their moneys worth.
Anyone with a IQ greater than a monkey with down syndrome knows that no one has created a DRM system that has never been cracked. Studios with million dollar budgets have their efforts cracked in a day, why would we expect you to waste your time on crap like that, the answer to that is, we wouldn’t.
You guys are creating something that will be synonyms with zombie games. I’m not talking a fleeting moment like L4D, I’m talking resident evil.
Keep on trucking on, alot of us are happy to know that our small investment could help create something amazing.
This game is great! Don’t let little kids on 4chan and Lulzsec beat you down. Games will always be pirated and it is annoying for the devs. I hope you guys continue cause this game is really great.
In all honesty, I agree with everyone else when they say that this game is pure amazing. I understand that it’s not going to have uberamounts of stuff (at least not yet), but ever since I heard about it and tried it out(paid for it), I check in on the website because I’m interested in the progress of the game.
Even though the leaks did occur, the amount of press this got you guys is still something awesome. I for one have been telling my friends about it, allowed people to play on my account so they can try it out (don’t have to now that the public demo is out). I appreciate all the hard work you guys put into things and eagerly await each and every release. You guys have a fan for life.
I gotta say I love where this is heading! Just as MC, you guys have a TON of potential to build something original and amazing. Keep it up! You guys do seem a bit unprofessional (only in language) but appear to be doing everything you can do which certainly more important. I’d rather hear you guys be real than some cleaned up politically correct version.
Also, LOL DRM. DRM is not a solution to the problem. You could restrict downloads to logged in users and limit the amount of times in a certain time period. I don’t really know what was broke but I just assumed there is no authentication to download the game once you have the URL.
As for the game, time I played for the first time today. I LOVE the music. It’s captivating and I wish MC had as good of music. It really draws me into the game. Took me a while to realize where to get sheets from only because that object doesn’t highlight. The text was small only because the game looks like it opens at my LCD’s resolution of 1900×1200. I can only play zoomed in. Since I had no sheets the tutorial didn’t teach me and I had to figure it out. Wasn’t that bad to eventually figure it out. After I found out where to get the sheets I actually played the tutorial which I think does a good job explaining things. I realize it was a pre-alpha and think it has amazing potential and while has a few bugs is very solid for an early release.
rock on people
havent decided if the game is even my cup of tea but I may well buy it before the end of the day just by reading this FAQ – pure, un-marketed/hyped non-bullshit and the way you guys don’t shy away from adressig criticism is admirable.
I am impressed (also, non-drm and linux support {Im guessing as I saw this on a linux site} are DEFINITE plusses)
I will wait forever for you, Project Zomboid… I love you guys for attempting this.
When i downloaded the torrent for Project Zomboid, it keeps crashing at “These are the end-times”. My friend has beaten my record at how long you can survive already by 5 days! D:
Keep up the good work guys. I’m turning more and more to Indie games. I’m proud and happy to fund the development of Project Zomboid, Minecraft and others. I think it’s were the good titles, the new ideas and innovation are going to come from. Could you even imagine or dream of a big gaming corp. releasing a game close to this? It would never happen because they like to be in control with their templated games. Also one of the reason I don’t play COD or MW.
Keep going Indie Stone.
Really love your Game and I believe it has a lot of potential.
Keep up the great work guys!
Stop apologizing! You totally have the moral highground here … and dont be too light on the pirates…stealing from the “big guys” and a tiny group of indie devs are two completely different things.
And seriously…its not that hard to get your hands on a credit card nowdays. -.-
Anyways…keep up the good work! The game definitely has potential. I hope you get past all the trouble and maybe you can really do it and create the first “genuine” Zombie Survival RPG. And dont work too hard…dont forget to have some fun in life even while inventing new ways for us to die ;P
<3
Downloaded the 0.1.4c and thrown the pirated in the shredder
ill keep the 0.1.4c until i have some time to go bear the queue at the post office o.0
Anyways I had a great time this morning with the new demo ^^.
Zeds eventually trapped me in a tiny bedroom with one exit. Had to gift them some lead to successfully get out of there…and that was crazy and awesome. Ended up being scratched and infected. Duh. I noticed that the guy was having hallucinations after a while being sick xD That was cool.
I’m very impressed of your work,if this is a game tech i can’t imagine how the finished game will be.
Just hope u will put some (maybe random) events that can be useful guiding you up,i don’t think that leaving the player just doing what he wants is the best for this kind of game,i think that some minimal guided plot should be necessary.
However,grat work,keep doing
I tried your game, i’m verry enthousiast. I’m bit of a retro gamer and in love with zombies : you are the first to try to bring us this exact type of game. A pure zombocalypse simulator. Keep the good work !
I tried the Demo. There is a lot of potential in your work. If you can implement the features you are planning then this game will definitely turn out to be a masterpiece.
FUCKING. RADICAL. GAME. seriously. please know that there are people who absoLUTELY love this game. obsessed would be a nice word to describe my several friends and i ‘s nightly discussions over this game and other zombie EOTW (end of the world) scenarios.
KEEP ON KEEPIN ON.
good writing and mechanics drive games like this, and you’ve got in spades. DROVES of spades, on the way to a drove/ spade convention. cant wait to see where this goes.!
*hi five of epic proportions*
Hang in there, guys! The crew at Runic Games supports you!
hank you crew at Runic Games!
:D <3
OH wow. Runic Games! I (Binky) own Torchlight!
I’m definitely buying this when it goes back online. Can’t flipping wait.
I just want to say that I was introduced to this game yesterday (via some blog or other) and I have a good feeling about this one. I have a few friends who are really into the indie-game-dev scene and if this project goes the direction I think it is, you’ll have the four of us as customers. I may wait a bit to see how things pan out for the paid version before commiting. I loved the atmosphere and potential of the demo, but it only makes me want more out of the full product (intuitive controls and context systems, etc). Oh! And I know this is an ongoing project, which further convinces me that the long term for this game will really pay out. Anyway, great job on this and I look forward to seeing how this game develops.
Nice info and really cool for new player. Thanks.
Nice post and the sincerity of your group – if I may call it like this – are pretty awesome. That gives a “plus” to a game that is awesome by itself.
This project looks brilliant. A Zombie RPG with Minecraft-alike sandbox-features is *awesomeness*. I just tested the tech-demo and i’m infected. With joy.
Greetings from Germany and: KEEP IT UP!!! :thumbsup:
Found my way here through Notch(Minecraft). Didn’t know what to expect, got the demo and must say, this is impressive. I really like the feel of it. Although I haven’t bought it just yet, I’m keeping an eye on the development. I admit, I do pirate games, alot, but when it comes to indiegames there’s no way in hell I’d forgive myself. I just don’t know enough just yet to purchase it, but if it keeps getting developed on, I will surely purchase a copy soon enough. :]
Also, regarding this FAQ-update. Are those really the only things people have said? I mean, it’s a good thing you’re answering and defending yourselves, so people know what’s up, but aren’t there any real questions or positive questions to be answered? o_O
Keep up the good work, I’m still tempted to purchase it right away though.
Great work on this guys, have to say I’m a big fan!
Though I’m missing the original noise when you die, freaked the hell out of me when playing in the dark…
Would giving an option to have that noise back be possible in the future? =)
Don’t let anybody get you down guys, you’re doing excellent work.
unbelievable game guys, a few minor bugs here and there but thats to be expected and i have to say im really excited for the release of the full game, keep up the good work and know that there is a huge fanbase supporting you and this game
I think this game is fantastic, I love the direction it’s taking and the “it’s fun to lose” slogan. This is the chance to evade the ever imposing question of “Why Bother?”.
The graphics are definitely a throw back and the “pre-alpha tech beta demo kappa banana” release is great. I had no idea what to expect going into it other than that it was a zombie survival title, and I accidentally left the stove on for 30 minutes and burned down the house leading to a horde crawling at my door. Next play through I accidentally smothered my wife trying to give her a pillow for comfort! hahaha, I felt terribly guilty about it! Third time I tried to survive I woke up to the door knocking, it was my neighbor he greeted me and as I walked to the door he shot me with a shotgun. Holy shit!
Then I played and survived for 6 days and 4 hours, running around everywhere, gathering food stealing shotguns, whiskey, ammo, lighters, and gasoline from cabins in the woods and chugging sodas to stay alive. I went out like a badass in a pool of blood in my upstairs bedroom next to my wife with roughly 40+ zombies dead and undead in that room.
TL:DR;
Thanks for keeping it sweet and simple, this game is tight even at pre alpha!
Great game, great sandbox style, great story left to the imagination, great random time of events, great great great! I want more!
I think that so far it is a fantastic game. Those who pay attention realize that it is half complete and will continue to support you. If I look at a half complete house I don’t think, “that house doesn’t have [this]“. I’d think, “that will be a wicked cool house. I hope to live there.”
I really prefer the way you are doing it over the way that the big game companies do it and I have way more respect and appreciation for your style than I do for EA, Rockstar, Activision, etc. Your are more respectable, and your game will earn you greater respect.
Look at the attention you’re getting! Tim Buckley pretty much ran a free ad for your game in Ctrl+Alt+Del. Every big gaming ezine has an article about you. There are videos up on YouTube. You are drawing more and more attention and some of it has to be bad. You will do great.
Good job so far. Don’t lose hope.
It would be nice to add a save/load feature to the game when it gets bigger.
I pirated your game.
I loved it.
Then I bought it.
Am I evil?
No.
Same here. I just bought it right now
Lol, I’m thinking about pirating your game RIGHT NOW just so I can play. :3
Just play the demo.
Surely it’s been enough for me to buy it. (I’ll buy it tomorrow when I get paid, regardless if I can or can’t play anything different than the demo!
Already bought it. o:
Here’s a suggestion for the developers.
There’s this other guy, Benjaminsen, who made a game which has beta players and non-beta players. The beta players, after paying a one-time fee, get to ‘buy’ new features early and also get some other stuff upon becoming beta testers. The other players, like myself, have to wait before we can ‘buy’ these features. ‘Buying’ features in this case involves accumulating points or ‘Energy’ over a period of time and spending them on new items.
The suggestion: Those who purchased the game could get new features early, then, a while later, possibly a month, those who didn’t purchase the game get those features. Those who purchased the game could also get features that only they would get.
By the way, I’m not trying to advertise the other guy’s game, I just needed an example.
Good luck, guys. I’m rooting for you
Folks, I keep playing this game- even with it being in pre-alpha. I’ve paid my £5 (I’d happily have paid double that lol) and I’m really looking forward to sinking my teeth into this game as it evolves. Take it easy, and keep it up!
x
p.s can you -please- put this blog on a blogging site like Tumblr so that I can actually follow it instead of suddenly remembering it every now and then
I’ll happily help with making a tumblr theme if you need a hand x
Hey guys,
I heard about PZ on BoingBoing and played the demo – you had an amazing idea and turned it into a great gaming experience. Your love for the zombie genre is clearly visible and I want to thank you for your work. I had never heard of Google Checkout before (internet cred = 0), but as soon as I have an account I’ll send you your well-deserved money and will be happy to receive updates in the future.
Post-apocalyptic Z stories are a big thing right now (for reasons I already commented upon on overthinkingit.com) and your game is an important addition to the genre. There is no doubt in my mind that you will find a large and positive audience for your work.
All the best from Germany!
Keep up the good work, guys. You’ve seriously done a stellar job, and I for one think it’s well worth the donation for all the hard work. People who moan about the game are just trolls and are worth ignoring. How much was the donation cost? What, less than a takeaway pizza for a good few hours worth of gameplay and the promise of more to come? Now THAT is a bargain.
Hey guys, I felt like joining in on the praise. I heard about your game by a tweet from Notch (MInecraft), where he wrote about your current problem with piracy. So I checked your site out and wow, how have I not heard of this earlier?! The features sound amazing, so amazing that I instantly bought in on you guys, even before playing the tech demo. Now that I have tried the demo (and failed miserably *g*), I keep telling everyone with a bare interest in games to check Project Zomboid out.
I love the work of the Indie Game industry as of now and wish you all the best for the future.
i noticed somehwere a picture of this game where the player had a lighter it looked similar ro a zippo but when i check on the wikki there seems to be no such item why?
Whats the current status on the piracy downloading problem?
So those who bought it get screwed over and have to wait and those who aren’t paying for it get it free, no wonder Google checkout sent me an email telling me about the complaints your store is getting with people asking for refunds. Never again.
You sir, are a tool.
not just a tool…. tool has purpose…he..doesn’t… what a douche
I should probably point out that a douche has a purpose as well…… =P
Idk how much this game can improve other then put a cap on zombehs in the town but as the infection spreads there is more space and therefore more space for zombehs. so, at first 20-30 zombehs then about a month in 50-60 zombehs and more space to explore and loot. then 4 months after (story alert!) much attempts to find a cure/contain the virus, it has expanded to another city. but a BIG city. At this point there can be 200-300 zombehs in game. Finally when it overtakes a coastal city, you can find a boat, stock it with supplies and set sail to an island. thus a happy ending(requires Kate to be alive, a compass, a nautical map of the world and at lest 400 food supplies of any type). However if you decide to stay, all of America will be overtaken and you will have to face all of 1 million zombehs at once! (HOLY CRAP, right?) If you can kill them all, keep Kate alive and befriend a few npcs, you can retake America one city at a time, and research a cure. Sound OK? It gives a goal to achieve, you know? it keeps the sandbox part alive but gives a definite goal. If you like this, tell me. if you dont just say so. I gotta say though, nice game and i WILL buy it, If you get a paypal support, if not ill but a prepaid card and use google check out.
You guys actually know what the human brain naturally processes as fun. Figuring things out and deciding what would be the best for your survival gives a distinct pleasure to us. Zomboid isn’t just another run of the mill BOOM YAY BLOOD or I MUST SLAY SIR RUGNAR WITH MY +40 ICE SWORD OF ELDERS. You are incorporating so much strategy and many more features than any “proffessional” company could ever think of. I’m in love.
I pirate a lot of stuff, but I plan on buying this just because of your stance on piracy.
Devs, don’t listen to the shitheads that are running you down. I love you all for the work that you’ve done so far – much like other people, most people. Try and keep it as it is if you can, your game that is a MASTERPIECE… needs to stay a masterpiece. Continue taking info and ideas from the community and this will be a huge hit.
Guaranteed.
I must say that this will be the next Minecraft for me, besides actual Minecraft. When the finished product is released I will be sure to download it (Please make it so there aren’t any big games coming out also, I am short on cash because of four games coming out in a row, and would hate to have to pass up on this great game.)
Been playing the demo since yesterday nonstop. Absolutely love the concept, and can honestly say I’ve never fallen in love with a game this fast. You’ve got my cash. Best of luck with the game
When the game comes back up im going to get a copy!!
I pre-purchased and although I am saddened by recent events I want you guys to know you have my full support. Games with big ambitions are what make the industry great, though they are far too often unappreciated by the mainstream.
Never lose that unprofessional, yet personal spirit you have now. It is quite refreshing.
Even at the alpha stages, I’m addicted to this game. I keep playing it like an actual real life scenario – like, taking a day in to barricade the house up and get utterly shit-faced, just to down my sorrows. I love how far the team has come, even through such hardships. I’m extremely excited to see how this turns out. Don’t ever give up, chaps!
I’ll admit I was one of the few that did pirate it. True, however, it is that people like me without credit cards would rather try this game before asking our parents to buy it. Or to go spend our money of a giftcard to use online. I will also admit that this game, from what i’ve played, is completely awesome and an refreshingly original idea. I praise your work and you can bet your ass I will be spending money to get this game as soon as I possibly can. You’ve done good work, especially for an indie game. Good enough to most likely be on STEAM’s front page once it’s completed.
I am eager to see the final release, moreso then I was excited for Minecraft’s release. I honestly can’t wait to be one of the people who can actually say they bought this amazing game, and i’m pretty sure this will inspire big developers to work on some zombie simulation survival games, unlike that RUN AND GUN kill everything just for fun type of game, or being trapped in a mall or small sextion of town. Dammit, when I want to play a zombie game, I want the entire city and it’s surroundings. I want to run from zombie, not towards. I want to be scared! And this game does it perfectly even though it’s pixellated. It’s still a masterful piece of art.
Needs a donate button. I am willing to pay more then the 8$ +- for this game
Like many others I have invested money in this game and am eagerly anticipating any and all developments within the gameplay. Excellent job guys, keep it up!
Hi
Im looking forward for your Game i Think i would really like it to play, unfortunatly i cant play the Demo at the Moment Loading Screen always Crahes.
hope it runs in the future for me so keep up the good work
greetings viper
Played the demo, lots of fun. I’m looking forward to playing the full game.
Keep up the hard work.
First time i played this i sucked, clicking on pillow and using on wife: Not a bright idéa
But the fact that i replayed, retried, learned from my misstakes and moved forward tells me that this is a good game.
I survived for about 4 days, hiding close to the skyscraper until i finaly met my death when i was going out to get more planks.
It is fun now and i am atm looking forward to your next update, can’t wait!
Great job people
Okay, i have been seeing all the comments saying that the demo don’t work for them and I’m wondering why. I dabble a bit in java and I’m willing to take a look at what the problem on yours might be. If you want to contact me you can contact me a jshamsavari@gmail.com.
I am NOT posting a modified Alpha testing…thing. I’m looking at peoples project zombiod folders and seeing if there is something misplaced and correcting that. if nothing is misplaced ill look at the coding and compare them with what is in my project zombiod folder to see if anything may have been changed in sending. most likely there is a simple file missing.
Oh, and also, a little java tip. i find running Java EE 5 SDK much more stable then 6 or 7.
Do whatever you gotta do to get that game back up. After playing the demo, and dying in the first two days, I’m ready to play more!
I am disappoint. i played out the raider scenario and it all ends in death. you will die. Can you do nothing diffrent? kill him and you will die. its an all lose situation. if you can make t so instead he believes its a break and feels sorry….or are you to damn lazy? “this is how you died” Ok, at the hands of a raider IF you follow the tutorial. Sure you can kill you wife, To what end? go out, find a new place and live there. Thats not what you meant at all is it? Well, I’ll go and write a review about it now and then say “this game is not at all finished but i don’t expect any changes.” And if i dont, I’m sure some1 will. this game had A LOT of potential and still does but if you have endgame at a max of 1 day 7 hours, thats just not cool. then again i could be raging and when he went into the bathroom he was supposed to look out the window then i moved. but I’m sure he wasn’t. he turned around and started shooting. I mean, WTF mate? So, i still will buy in hopes this goes beyond that in the future but i doubt it will. And im not saing its a bad game im just saying, if you want more then 5 mins of play, go and DL spiral knights from steam, its free and will offer more then a few mins of play. OR kill kate. but RU serious? done. /end rage
P.S. ok, ill admit i had fun trying over and over to find a different way out other then killing kate.
Read the disclaimer when you boot the game. This is a PRE-alpha TECH demo and incidentally you can save your wife. Not saying how but =P
I paid my money to you guys,
SALLY FORTH WITH DEVELOPMENT
You guys rock, dont let em get ya down, I played that damn tech demo til my wife finally convinced me to go to bed.
Your awesome, game is awesome, Pirates suck.
Keep marching down the awesome path, it is the one less traveled.
Im a big fan of zombie movies and when i saw the alpha on fileplanet couldnt help but give it a try. I had so much fun with the demo messing around on it for hours and then checking the site here seeing more to come oh i am certainly sold on this one. Keep the game going please for the love of god! So awesome!
wow some people are mean
First gameplay : ‘ Should I buy this game ? ” :/
‘
after 30 minutes : ‘damn I MUST buy this game
Amazing game guys can’t wait for this to be multiplayer!!!!
”You bet your arse we are. We’ve all worked in the commercial games industry for over a decade a piece, and we hated it. Loathed it. We’re sick of the commercial industry, and the last thing we want to be is the new generation of the corporate machine. What you get here is honesty, pure open game development where we are just us. A bunch of guys and a gal making a game they love who want to be a genuine part of the community that surrounds the game they are making.”
JUST BEAUTIFUL!!! awesome words! I hope you never ever go the way of mainstream again… we .. I hate it!!! keep doing what yer doing guys,.. and gal
I’ve already dumped an embarrassing amount of time in the demo. My record is three weeks! Kate was still alive – had a nice little food and supply stash, too. Then a hooplehead bit me on the leg. I did the only honorable thing: made a bunch of molotovs, lead the horde to the apartment building, and burned myself and the undead bastards to cinderssss!!!!!
So, yeah. Amazing pre-alpha demo! My buddies and I are eagerly awaiting what more you have in store for us.
Is there a save system?
I’m liking the game thus’ far. So damn difficult! And you really got to use your brain. The chill
I’ve felt when I realized I didn’t close the door when I left…
A save system would be nice, I imagine it’ll be implemented after the authors work on the features (Technical Thing, I imagine before you make a save system, you have to know what will be saved, and since there are still features implemented..) I love that instead of working on bazillions way to not let people play the game, you just let them, and let it speak for itself.
Hi Gal and Guys,
just because I think this kind of collaboration comunity projects are the future of society I put aside 100 € ready to donate to your Project. So where is the Donate button?
Just been reading your faq, with regards to the piracy bit, you guys should be down on pirates they are the lowest of the low. It’s because of them that smaller developers like yourselves who don’t have big money and corporate backup can struggle. Smaller developers like yourselves are the future of the gaming industry, bringing new ideas and creating exciting, unique games.
You guys have created an excellent game that is still in its early stages, I personally paid for the pre alpha version as soon as I heard of it and several of my friends did also. What you have given is already great so the future seems bright for you guys.
Screw the critics and screw the haters who will all try and bring you down, you guys are on the right track and are creating something brilliant, I look forward to what you guys will do in the future. Good Luck.
I just finished playing Witcher 2, amazing game! If you have any question about the game check http://www.how2games.com. I will answer to all your questions!
I don’t understand why you guys are waiting until it’s released to buy it. It’s only 8$, even if you’re unemployed you can manage that, and giving the devs money now would probably help them release the game faster.
What you have here is amazing, I’m hooked!
I havent been able to play 10 mins without dying or crashing but I love it!
Minecraft is definitely a unique game. I’ve been playing it for a time now and I’m undecided if I enjoy it. The gameplay is different, do you guys have any recommendations to spice it up? What about recommending any servers to relax and play multiplayer? Thank you for your help!
I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking all more than for this! Thank goodness I discovered it on Bing. You’ve produced my day! Thank you again! “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Oh my goodness! an amazing article dude. Thanks Nevertheless I’m experiencing situation with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting an identical rss drawback? Anybody who knows kindly respond. Thnkx
I have to say, just from what I have plaed, Im truly enoying the idea and implementation… I would just like to see one small change: Customizable controls. Combat as it is currently is very fustrating, mainly because I have to do finger twister to reach the control button and caps lock would be easier to reach for run or attack… or even just holding down RMB… Anyway, Love the game so far. Keep up the good work.
I discovered your page site on a search engine and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good work. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!…
HAIL TO THE MAX!!!!