On October 17 2011 22:32 PassiveAce wrote: You guys are so negative. You cant just turn your back on indie developers when shit happens to them or when they screw up bad (or both at the same time). these are a handful of guys pouring their hearts, minds, and bank accounts into a project that has the potential to be a great game.
Don't give up hope yet folks, we could still see a great game if they can get through the hard times.
What transpired above is so easily avoidable that it almost sounds really suspicious. And I just really dislike that cheesy ass business model of paying for a beta and hoping that some amateur outfit of programmers comes through on their end.
On October 17 2011 22:32 PassiveAce wrote: You guys are so negative. You cant just turn your back on indie developers when shit happens to them or when they screw up bad (or both at the same time). these are a handful of guys pouring their hearts, minds, and bank accounts into a project that has the potential to be a great game.
Don't give up hope yet folks, we could still see a great game if they can get through the hard times.
I think that the people that are complaining are the ones that paid for it, so they feel like they've been "robed". Even tho they are being too bitchy, they have the right to complain.
The problem is those people from Reddit that haven't paid a dime and decide to spam the guy's email and twitter with negative stuff.
We should ignore them and motivate the devs to keep on working on those awesome indie projects. That's how awesome programmers rise from nowhere. :D
On October 17 2011 22:32 PassiveAce wrote: You guys are so negative. You cant just turn your back on indie developers when shit happens to them or when they screw up bad (or both at the same time). these are a handful of guys pouring their hearts, minds, and bank accounts into a project that has the potential to be a great game.
Don't give up hope yet folks, we could still see a great game if they can get through the hard times.
What transpired above is so easily avoidable that it almost sounds really suspicious. And I just really dislike that cheesy ass business model of paying for a beta and hoping that some amateur outfit of programmers comes through on their end.
Natural selection 2 is using the same model and im very happy with the beta I have access to. The professionalism of the developers of Zomboid is something i dont know anything about, and clearly this is a massively foolish mistake, so if your not comfortable giving them your money I totally understand. I just dont think its all over for them, they may still release a great game. I don't think this is a scam though if thats what your implying. Edit- if you havn't yet, check out NS2 here Its an amazing incomplete game that has a full time staff working on it with constant updates. Its a great example of that business model working. Link to TL NS2 thread cuz I love it so much http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=170163
it's a business model that definitely has worked before (see: minecraft) but at the same time, it's so open to this kind of amateur shit that it needs to go away. It's a stupid trend that I hope dies off. Find investors like everyone did for ages so they have to deal with an angry investor if they fuck up and can't just be like 'oh sorry' if they don't finish. It's insane to think that this is the only time that some shit like this will happen if this kind of business model becomes more common place.
On October 17 2011 23:01 Hawk wrote: it's a business model that definitely has worked before (see: minecraft) but at the same time, it's so open to this kind of amateur shit that it needs to go away. It's a stupid trend that I hope dies off. Find investors like everyone did for ages so they have to deal with an angry investor if they fuck up and can't just be like 'oh sorry' if they don't finish. It's insane to think that this is the only time that some shit like this will happen if this kind of business model becomes more common place.
I can't argue that trying to sell a product that may or may not ever exist is a shitty business model, but if the development team is competent enough (I dont know if the Zomboid guys are or not), I think that it can allow small dev teams to get their game off the ground and into the hands of gamers without having to beg traditional investors to fund their wild ideas. I absolutely see your problem with the model though, it can make it easier for developers to back out of a project and screw the people who paid for it since they dont have single large investors to be held responsible to. But I still think the model has merit. (good for the consumer if the dev team is responsible and professional.)
I haven't given up on the developers and I really hope they haven't given up on the game, but I'm going to wait a few months and see where they go before I buy their game.
On October 19 2011 11:52 PaqMan wrote: I haven't given up on the developers and I really hope they haven't given up on the game, but I'm going to wait a few months and see where they go before I buy their game.
Judging from Lemmy's tone it sounds like he has given up on it. Drunk or not saying what amounts to fuck games, I'm going back to corporate programming, I'm really only staying on as consulting/helping the other two guys - Not for the people that invested - That's pretty fucked up.
This might not be the best example, but take Mel Gibson, who said all those horrible things out of alcohol and rage about jews, drunk or not that's in his mind somewhere. That's sort of the way I feel about what Lemmy said.
The minecraft pay model works reasonably well when the product gets delivered. It does not work when they try to sell you crappy vaporware so paypal is satisfied the buyer got an actual product. The key difference is the follow through, not continuous excuse of setback after setback, even one as tragic as them getting robbed.
I've probably said quite enough on this already, so I'll leave it be since I wasn't an active investor. Just someone looking from the outside at such a promising game (and what it might become - persistent open world zombie killing and backstabbing all in the name of survival) end in such disappointment. A plague o' Indie development.
**Had to bump this thread seeing as the entire topic has changed with mega updates since last post** They didn't give up! Huge update came out recently which I decided I had to bring this thread back to life.
This is now IMO the best zombie apocalypse game out there at the moment - now there is NPCs with interaction, saving, multiple areas, limited zombie migration and new weapons being brought in such as this one! with aiming which makes this game even more exciting.
Barricading is now properly possible and with skills that can be developed there is actually a lot of fun to be had from the game now. Developing skills like blunt weaponry means more effective damage with baseball bats etc.
I just tried the demo and after getting used to the controls, it was quite fun! I ran out of the house and left the wife to die after the house was overrun with zombies, but circled back after about two in-game days and she was still there . Anyway, the new features they're adding really seem great- I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this.
On March 29 2012 11:49 Sigrun wrote: I just tried the demo and after getting used to the controls, it was quite fun! I ran out of the house and left the wife to die after the house was overrun with zombies, but circled back after about two in-game days and she was still there . Anyway, the new features they're adding really seem great- I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this.
Yeah the story they're going for hasn't been focused on in a long time,so the wife doesn't do anything yet but its later planned that she will recover and work together with you to survice the zom-pocalypse which should be fun! (the devs have been focusing on the gameplay mechanics and save feature for a couple of months)
Oh man, I bought this a long time ago and played it for a day or two, and intentionally forgot about it so I could one day return to the finished product. I was unaware of the robbery that happened but I'm glad to see they persisted, and the aim system looks pretty cool. I can't remember, but can you shoot while moving? If not, you should be able to, just with severely reduced aim.
this game is getting some really big updates recently. The potential of this game really excites me. Hopefully the release is this month but the developers haven't said much.
Anyone still playing this? I decided to download it on steam since I had bought the alpha ages ago. They're pretty much completely overhauled the game since that whole theft thing happened. Still got some work to do, still some silly bugs but it's really really addicting and a fun concept. Some stuff is disabled atm--i know no NPCs/survivors for now, and some other random stuff. But it's been progressing along, and I know they're doing a price bump... maybe even tonight? It's somewhere on the site.
e: you probably should download the tech demo to see if it will run on your machine. despite being the old school isometric game engine, it does hog quite a bit of resources atm. The next patch is supposed to address that a bit, and there's a compatibility mode that disables zooming and camera rotation, but it will drag on some machines. There's some fixes you can try, but it's worth knowing before buying.
I read through a bit of the thread and don't know much other than I think I want to buy this game but the trustworthiness of the devs to deliver what they promised has been called into question. How are they looking now?
Honestly, I don't think it ever WAS in question. I distinctly remember buying this game about 2 years ago, when the game was in alpha. The site said, in red letters, something along the lines of: "You're paying for this game in it's current state. We intend to continue to support Project Zomboid and actively develop for many years, but we can't promise anything."
I agreed to this and bought the game regardless. I'm not sure why so many people seem to think they're robbed if the game isn't developed when the site distinctly said you were paying for the product in the state it was at then, not what it could become in the future.
with all that shit regarding the theft of laptops and stuff, id say it was questionable at the time. now it looks quite legit. lots of regular updates and all that jazz. if they contunue to head in the direct theyve been going, they will have a nice game when it is done.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lrPH0.jpg)
. Anyway, the new features they're adding really seem great- I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this. 
