As of mid-2024, dedicated players of Project Zomboid are once again voicing their concerns. There’s growing discontent among players eagerly awaiting the promised update. Despite reassurances from the developers, fans are considering selling the game to a more committed developer.
In this article, a brief opinion on the challenges faced by a game in active development and why it’s necessary to reconsider the speed at which content is delivered nowadays.
What is Project Zomboid?
Project Zomboid is a survival open-world game set in Kentucky in 1993. It features construction mechanics and can broadly be understood as a zombie apocalypse simulator.
At first glance, the low-poly graphics and isometric camera of Project Zomboid may give the impression that the game is old-fashioned or hastily made. However, this initial impression can be deceptive. In terms of gameplay, the project pays meticulous attention to detail, especially regarding various aspects of everyday life. Whether you’re a carpenter or an unemployed person leading a sedentary life, your different traits and skills play a crucial role in your sole mission: delaying your death.
Entering this world involves accepting a simple fact: imminent death.
Why Is It a Controversial Game?
To understand why this game has generated so many opinions, it’s important to consider a key element: the game is not new. It was released as an early access game on Steam since 2013, and despite having a large and consistent number of updates, these updates are taking increasingly longer.
A major criticism has been that despite numerous fixes and added elements, the game and its general features have remained essentially the same; nothing truly significant has been added since the initial introduction of Build 41. While it has evolved considerably from its early versions, currently there don’t seem to be significant differences between one update and another.
Another relevant point is that its developers have generated much excitement since the announcement of animal husbandry systems or the famous NPCs, which still do not have a specific implementation date. In short, the planned content ideas make this game a world full of endless possibilities.
According to Michael Fontanini in his article on the game’s future updates, we can expect a huge amount of content that will keep us glued to the monitor. But therein lies the problem: the ambition of the project.
So far, the developers have projected up to Build 48, so we’ll have to wait quite a while to see a finished product.
After a post on platform “X” by The Indie Stone mentioning that the next game update would come out before the end of 2024, social media groups and forums are taking every minute the new version is not released very seriously.
Some fans are considering the possibility of selling the video game to a larger developer as a viable option to satisfy the craving for new content they eagerly await. It’s worth questioning the voracious demand for content that we, as consumers, place on independent developers. Furthermore, it’s important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of slow-cooking a game.
Announcement from The Indie Stone
Jack of All Trades, Master of None
From one perspective, the anger and impatience of players are justified when considering the enormity of the game they intend to deliver. Wouldn’t it be better to focus efforts and deliver a polished product with well-defined scopes and limits, and above all, optimized?
Despite seeming like a game from several generations ago, it still suffers from freezes and FPS drops even on mid-range computers. It’s important to understand that it’s the little details that make a game, but it seems like the developers could be missing the forest for the trees.
Certainly, this is a downside of advancing slowly along a path where more fundamental issues aren’t being addressed: development progresses, yes, but basic issues that could be polished are being overlooked before moving forward.
Currently, the game seems to rely heavily on its community.
The situation worsens when we realize that, without the fans, the game would lack many elements. Playing a vanilla game versus a modified one shows us that currently, the bulk of items, maps, outfits, weapons, and more are provided by players themselves with programming and modeling skills. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good that the game allows player inputs, but it’s noticeable that the game’s creators use this feature to work in a much more relaxed manner.
Despite the above, it seems that the developers have hired some programmers from this community. Why not hire more? This leads us to the next point.
On the Other Hand
The reality is: the requirements to be hired as a programmer at The Indie Stone are not for someone with a short resume. But it begs the question: Do we understand what it means to program a video game for an independent studio with limited funding? After all, the game is quite affordable. Are we too accustomed to the content delivery pace of AAA games and demanding something impossible for the scope of this developer? As mentioned in the earlier tweet, the developers have a philosophy of not working under pressure from expectations but rather doing things with love, dedication, and in their own time.
The gameplay experience with mods complements the lack of vanilla content.
As players, we sometimes forget that behind a game are people with lives, friends, hobbies, responsibilities outside of game development, and sometimes even other jobs. It’s easy to become obsessed with the idea that a game has to be perfect in every way, impeccable in design and gameplay, and infinite in possibilities, but we don’t consider how difficult it is to deliver that entire experience to the user.
However, there is no reason to stick with a game that progresses slowly but steadily. There are countless experiences, whether from indie studios or AAA, waiting to be discovered. Certainly, I feel more at ease playing a game that improves not through the exploitation of its staff, but through an authentic technical and creative process; my happiness as a player should not come at the expense of the physical and mental health of its developers.
The idea of active development in a video game means constant improvement rather than a classic finished product.
And that’s the positive aspect of exercising patience in this case: not only does it make us more human by detaching from a logic of immediate consumption, but it also means knowing that we are interacting with a group of people with a strong work ethic through a video game that both parties can enjoy.
Perhaps, in a world where the pace of life and delivery of services has become so fast and voracious, where users are constantly stimulated with new content, microtransactions, and rewards, it becomes increasingly necessary to slow down, put love and time into things so that the result reflects the passion and dedication of those who work so hard to provide us with an unforgettable experience.
