Future of ZPS and Merchandise

[Tatsur0]

It's been awhile since our last update because there have been some big changes with the direction we're going with Zombie Panic: Source. Before the rumor mill gets to far ahead of the truth we want to clear some things up. After sitting down with the developers and going over years worth of community ideas, suggestions, and opinions we've decided to give the mod a bit of a reboot. It's time Zombie Panic got the attention it deserved and we addressed some well known issues. Rather than tell you about the new content planned to go in game, we are proud to announce that we've set a higher standard for all our content. We've been going over all our work and putting a list of assets together. We plan to cut, remake, polish, and when it's time, add. When next you see Zombie Panic: Source we expect to exceed expectations.

Zombie Panic: Source is now a part of Monochrome Games (http://www.monochrome-games.com) to protect our IP but also to further our reach to do much much more. Many of you have been incredibly generous and many have asked how they can help us. Rather than ask for donations we want to offer something in return. Today we launch our ZPS and Monochrome Games merchandise. It's been a long time coming and we hope to see many pics of people wearing our stuff. Depending on how well it goes over we may add more to our line up. We'd love to hear your thoughts and want everyone to know that we are taking your participation on the forums serious as you can see from our drastic change of direction. Quality > Quantity.

Official ZPS T-Shirts and our OST which includes remastered works from Erik Grant (KillahMo) with a bonus track-

http://www.monochrome-games.com/Interface/Images/merch_tshirt.jpg (http://monochrome-games.spreadshirt.com/) http://www.zombiepanic.org/site/interface/merch_spacer.jpg http://www.monochrome-games.com/Interface/Images/merch_ost.jpg (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ErikGrant)

If you want to show off in one of our shirts post -here-

Thank you all for your support and your efforts to reinvigorate the team. We see big things for ZPS! Because of some concern and rumors being spread I think it's important to remind everyone that any and all money made through purchasing Erik's Album which he put lots of time and effort into as well as T-shirts goes back into the development process and not into anyones pockets. Also like to stomp on the rumor that ZPS is being sold as a retail game, it's just not true.

-Monochrome (http://www.monochrome-games.com)

[SWB420]

whooop whooop ! lets go ZP !

[KillahMo]

ya total makeover! The atmosphere of ZP:S is going to be way spookier with updated content. I can tell you from the sound department, you are defiantly going to be able to tell the difference. =)

[LDM]

Just to clear things up.

I won't be continuing with ZPS.

There is a new level of commitment and time required that I can't meet due to real life commitments.

I have left them all my assets if they want to use them, and wish them all the luck in the world. Can't wait to play it.

[Daan]

I've retired as lead programmer and coordinator. Thanks to all the PTs and Devs I've spent the last few weeks with! I'll miss you guys.

[Wazanator]

WO didn't see this coming :O

Sounds good to me I don't see what could be bad about fixing up ZPS with better quality :)

So is Contagion going to be like a single player ZP:S? If so I hope we get to play with all our favorite characters :D (got to find out if Eugene made it back home in time for that party)

I like the whole "Don't ask what the Devs can do for you but ask what you can do for the Devs" idea I'll be sure to get cracking and finish up my maps faster while maintaining quality

It sure does sadden me that so many Devs and playtesters are leaving :( I wish you all the best of luck on further projects

[Tatsur0]

It sure does sadden me that so many Devs and playtesters are leaving :( I wish you all the best of luck on further projects

Yes I will miss the work those 3 devs put in. But I'm happy to mention that esJ (did all our weapons) has returned and we have more talent on the way :)

Tats...

[Wazanator]

Forgot to mention but will the winning T-shirts from the contest be available for purchase soon? :D

[Tatsur0]

Because of legal issues and costs we won't be using the designs from those who won the contest. However I have sent both winners an Email inquiring about which shirts they want or if they prefer a paypal deposit in the amount of said shirt.

Tats...

[SotaPoika]

Keep up the great work guys! :)

[TheDarkness]

Another Enjoyable Update. <3

[tbdk87]

I like the idea of ZPS! shirts. Nice.

[TheGreekDollmaker]

Just to clear things up.

I won't be continuing with ZPS.

There is a new level of commitment and time required that I can't meet due to real life commitments.

I have left them all my assets if they want to use them, and wish them all the luck in the world. Can't wait to play it.

WHAT!!!.
This is a suprise.
I...cant really say anything
Good luck and Bye Bye
But hey its not like Daan Is leaving.

I've retired as lead programmer and coordinator. Thanks to all the PTs and Devs I've spent the last few weeks with! I'll miss you guys.

OH ~~~~ ME.
Why daan why...
;_;
Two devs have left us tonight
http://blog.plataformatec.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/funny-pictures-sad-cat-blackandwhit.jpg

[Lev]

It sure does sadden me that so many Devs and playtesters are leaving :( I wish you all the best of luck on further projects

I expect many of us will still be keeping an eye on the forums - I can't risk you spreading more stories about me Waz ;)

[[ZPV] Bob the Salesman]

I like where this is going. Nice.

I dont.
Two very good guys: Daan and Dr. Robot gone.
In my opinion, ZP:S has just been thrown back into the Stoneage. A real shame.

[Siggy Wiggy Woo]

Bye everyone who is leaving and thanks for all your amazing hard work. For all who stays keep up the good work!.

[ummmmm-tiki]

yay for the merchandise. And good luck for whatever you move on to everyone who is leaving

[toper997]

So you are planning a big change in ZP:S? Like new zombie walking animations? Or change to l4d engine? omg omg


http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d175/erotictophat/borat_nice.jpg

[Wazanator]

I expect many of us will still be keeping an eye on the forums - I can't risk you spreading more stories about me Waz ;)

What your leaving to lev! :ohmy:

[OkeiDo]

Some playtesters have decided to resign as well for various reasons. We still have a solid group and more incoming so no worries!

[TheGreekDollmaker]

Some playtesters have decided to resign as well for various reasons. We still have a solid group and more incoming so no worries!

Just dont let the mod end like Zombie Master did.

If that happens than...
Than...

*crys*

[OkeiDo]

We just announced that ZPS will be worked on a lot more. Let's get back to discussing the news!

[Mercury]

We just announced that ZPS will be worked on a lot more. Let's get back to discussing the news!

You guys should do little Eugene figurines with a keyboard and a glock, that would be friggin awesome and i would probably be more likely to buy that than a t-shirt.

So can we expect more content add-ons in the future is what im getting from this right?

Im so excited, this is a big step for ZPS imo

[[ZPV] Bob the Salesman]

I just really hope the Team decides to release more smaller updates, instead of waiting and waiting to put it all in one big patch.

Some small fixes and improvements as you see in other games, would be nice.

[Tatsur0]

Bob, we plan to do small fixes while working on the bigger patches as well. We hope to involve the community more in these decisions. We strongly believe some of the mistakes we made were caused by trying to give what WE believed was needed and lost touch with the community. We will be making a much larger effort to communicate with the community in regards to our work.

I hope to put together a group of community leaders who can best express the concerns and interests of the community at large and target the real issues that have cropped up. Having worked on the project for such a long time it's easy to pull away from the crowd and work in silence but I also see this as one of the issues that needs to be addressed. I spoke with Violent Crimes recently and he made some good points, I expect others have taken the time to really look over the project as a whole and have some good insight.

This move is to reassure the community that we're still here and our goal is to do better than our previous attempts. I will be relying on the community more since some of you have been with us since the beginning.

Tats...

[rwlnd1987]

you know killing floor was a mod on the unreal engine and they sold the game and made a good chuck of money and had alot more time and money to update it to be the great game it is now. but at this point going from a mod that wasnt on steam to on steam and mabye selling the game... selling the game would mabye be too late. i dont think that there are as many players on zps as it once had. zps seems to be on the boarder with the gamers.

[Some_weirdGuy]

so tell us, is contagion going to be single player zps, or something completely different?

cause i want a single player zps experience. Would be cool going on some adventure, maybe start as Eugine and going through a story mode fighting zombies and gathering the other members of the group, maybe even visiting single player versions of the multiplayer maps.

[Sgt Martin]

We strongly believe some of the mistakes we made were caused by trying to give what WE believed was needed and lost touch with the community.

I'm interested as to what you mean by that. Do you mind explaining what the "mistakes" are?

[dogbert]

Or change to l4d engine? omg omg


I may be in the minority here but I actually LOVE the way ZPS looks. I love the grungy, slightly dirty feel of it and it has infinitely more atmosphere than L4D2 - in fact I've always thought L4D2 looks like a cartoon, and if that's the way ZPS is gonna end up I think I might just vomit with disappointment... :dry:

To keep on topic, it's sad to see such talented guys stepping down from so many areas of the ZPS team. Not to take anything away from the people staying on, or indeed the new team members to come - but it kinda feels like the heart has just been ripped out of this awesome game, and that makes me feel sad :huh:

[Tatsur0]

I'm interested as to what you mean by that. Do you mind explaining what the "mistakes" are?

The most obvious mistake would be quantity over quality. But rather than wasting time listing mistakes that could be taken as insults to developers who put a lot of hard work into the mod, I'd rather we focus on improving our relationship with the community and the quality of ZPS over all.

I may be in the minority here but I actually LOVE the way ZPS looks. I love the grungy, slightly dirty feel of it and it has infinitely more atmosphere than L4D2 - in fact I've always thought L4D2 looks like a cartoon, and if that's the way ZPS is gonna end up I think I might just vomit with disappointment... :dry:

To keep on topic, it's sad to see such talented guys stepping down from so many areas of the ZPS team. Not to take anything away from the people staying on, or indeed the new team members to come - but it kinda feels like the heart has just been ripped out of this awesome game, and that makes me feel sad :huh:

I don't plan to change the art direction just improve the quality. As for the heart of the team being ripped out. I very much appreciate the work Drrobot, LDM, and Dann put into the mod but calling that the "heart" of ZPS is a bit much with them being our newest members. They will definitely be missed but lets not go to any extremes. Our base team which has been around for years are still hard at work so there is nothing to be concerned about.

Tats...

[Comeback]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/rog7774/lolspy.jpg
Obviously I'd make a great community leader.

[Daan]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/rog7774/lolspy.jpg
Obviously I'd make a great community leader.

or lead programmer!

[KillahMo]

Contagion is on hold and we are unprepared to release any information on it until we're again actively working on it.

As of right now though, we want to improve ZPS, and by doing that we will need the community's support. It's important to us that we make ZPS into something better than a mod and I think the community wants the same. This means it will take time and we hope you can be patient and trust us to be productive. This is something I think we've proven time and time again.

We worked so hard on this game and we don't want it to fall behind. We want to extend the life of ZPS, but to do so, we need your support and understanding. We want to turn ZPS into something bigger than it already is.

We believe it can be more than what ppl have come to expect it to be, so we ask the community to support our decisions. We will always listen to what you have to say, but in the end, you must trust us since we gave you ZPS as it is... Trust us that we will make it even better than it is now.

[rwlnd1987]

i cant believe i really saw this. he said "We hope to involve the community more in these decisions. We strongly believe some of the mistakes we made were caused by trying to give what WE believed was needed and lost touch with the community. We will be making a much larger effort to communicate with the community in regards to our work."

wow finally. i have been trying to tell everyone this for a long time now. that is great news that you guys are going to listen to the people that have played this game for over 1000 hrs in steam. and hopefully an adult fan base too.


Q. though in the last what 2 months you have lost i think 4? great devs. and programmers at that. how are you going to fill the gap that has left a hole in zps?

Q. is zps going to be more open to a more goreish zombie gameplay, mabye arms that come off? something that is just creepy bloody greatness?

Q. are you going to be open to listen to everyone that has something to say about this game good or bad nomatter what it is?

Q. is the community going to be not left in the dark about things?

[Tatsur0]

Q. though in the last what 2 months you have lost i think 4? great devs. and programmers at that. how are you going to fill the gap that has left a hole in zps?

Frika is irreplaceable, Drrobot was one of my go to guys but esJ is returning to take his place, LDM will be missed but I respect his decision to focus on his personal life more, Daan being our newest member will still be missed as well but we still have a full team and no real gaps to fill. This is hardly unusual and actually quite common for devs to come and go. In other words there is no need to worry. In no way do I wish to devalue the blow we took but it's a blow we've taken on numerous occasions and have considerable experience bouncing back from.

Q. is zps going to be more open to a more goreish zombie gameplay, mabye arms that come off? something that is just creepy bloody greatness?

Actually we had removeable arms thanks to Watchmaker|'s efforts but we put them on hold. It's definitely a possibility that we will do more gore, but we don't want to be overly/comically gory.

Q. are you going to be open to listen to everyone that has something to say about this game good or bad nomatter what it is?

We will listen to all constructive criticism and by that I mean we still won't tolerate trolling and others who disrespect other members of the community or development team. Respect earns respect. I will be promoting communication between developers and the community.

Q. is the community going to be not left in the dark about things?

Of course we still want to surprise our community from time to time so we won't reveal everything in our bag of goodies but we will try to be more open with our plans as we set them in stone.

Tats...

[Sgt Martin]

I've been playing ZPS since the time the beta was released, and all I can say is.. I love this game!

Please, if you want to start listening to the community, then listen to this. People will ALWAYS have problems with everything you do. There will never be a 100 percent acceptance majority, because.. well.. that just doesn't happen. There will always be 1 or 2 guys who absolutely HATE what you're doing or how you're going about ZPS, no matter how good the quality of the game is.
People complained about not being able to bunny hop, but they got over it. People told how they disliked flashlights having power, but they got over it. People whined how weapons take up 2 slots, how you can't drop half clips , or how ZPH and ZPA are both terrible gamemodes. There will be things coming out in the near future that people will dislike at first, and just like everything that's made ZPS what it is, they WILL get over it. They'll get over it, because you know what? ZPS will still be here, thriving, long after they've gone. This is the most popular third-party modification for a reason, is it not?

I apologize for my rant, but I suprisingly feel very strongly towards some of the attitudes here.


In my eyes, ZPS has never had any mistakes.

[Tatsur0]

I've been playing ZPS since the time the beta was released, and all I can say is.. I love this game!

Please, if you want to start listening to the community, then listen to this. People will ALWAYS have problems with everything you do. There will never be a 100 percent acceptance majority, because.. well.. that just doesn't happen. There will always be 1 or 2 guys who absolutely HATE what you're doing or how you're going about ZPS, no matter how good the quality of the game is.
People complained about not being able to bunny hop, but they got over it. People told how they disliked flashlights having power, but they got over it. People whined how weapons take up 2 slots, how you can't drop half clips , or how ZPH and ZPA are both terrible gamemodes. There will be things coming out in the near future that people will dislike at first, and just like everything that's made ZPS what it is, they WILL get over it. They'll get over it, because you know what? ZPS will still be here, thriving, long after they've gone. This is the most popular third-party modification for a reason, is it not?

I apologize for my rant, but I suprisingly feel very strongly towards some of the attitudes here.


In my eyes, ZPS has never had any mistakes.

You hit on some very important points. Yes if you try and make everyone happy you will fail in all respects. You have to consider your options and try and make the best decisions. We've seen commercial titles and mods who tried to take everything their fans asked for and implement it into their games. The results were very ugly. When I say mistakes I point to obvious ones where we didn't give it our all. Also the community has been a vital resource in bug tracking as well as suggestions that could improve existing features or assets. I've been doing this for nearly 12 years and know where you're coming from and completely agree to some of what you say. Though I know ZPS has made some mistakes and most of them my own. I believe now I can resolve some of them.

Thank you for your support, appreciation, and trust in our work. It means a lot to hear it and it's quite rare.

Tats...

[[ZPV] Bob the Salesman]

I apologize for my rant, but I suprisingly feel very strongly towards some of the attitudes here.


In my eyes, ZPS has never had any mistakes.

Sorry, but you are going to fast here.
Of course, there will need to be found a balance in following critisism and in ignoring it. Some ideas are better than others, but nonetheless people who play this game a lot come across a lot of stuff, and therefor are valuable information sources.

It will always be up to the Team to decide whether a piece of infortmation is useful or not, but don't just throw away all critisism as bad Martin. The community can bring an awfull lot to this game.

And it's not so much about mistakes, then simply about making this game better. The platform is there, now: how can we make things better?

I'm full of ideas, the only question is if there are enough people in the Team to start working on it.

[Tatsur0]

Bob the Salesman;176579']
I'm full of ideas, the only question is if there are enough people in the Team to start working on it.

We have every position filled with active devs and more on the way to help support the improvements. Our team is still large and we have everything covered. I do look forward to hearing some of your ideas. I'm debating whether to do another IRC discussion with developers. Though I think I should first work on putting together a group of community leaders interested in seeing ZPS grow. A bridge between Developers and thousands of members of the community (so we can still communicate while also working on the mod).

Tats...

[LDM]

I agree with Tat's assesment.

I was only in the mod for a year, and for a large chunk of that I wasn't working on it.

I'm more of the mod's Love Handles than the heart :)


Who knows, maybe my real life might fall apart, magically gain more skill and join in again.

[[ZPV] Bob the Salesman]

We have every position filled with active devs and more on the way to help support the improvements. Our team is still large and we have everything covered.

I'm especially aiming at the maps. A map like subway can get a lot of improvements (while ago we in L2W posted a lot of nice ideas), but the question is if the owners of the maps are available. I sure hope some of the ideas we had for subway are going to be used.

[Comeback]

Tats, the only problem I see with saying you're going to open up to suggestions is you're just opening the flood gates for things that have been suggested a million times before. 92% of the things suggested are just plain not good for the game; they're always things that take the game away from its original gameplay concept, which is golden to me. I know everyone has their right to how they wanna see the game go about, but I just don't wanna see it go in a bad direction; unless these changes are going to affect the core gameplay. Then I'd rather save my opinion until I've had a chance to try it myself.

I've heard complaints about the dev team "ruling with an iron fist" when it came to suggestions, but that's what gave the game its charm. It was done in a direct fashion. It wasn't a handful of random forum members' suggestions wrapped in a game.

[Daan]

Tats, the only problem I see with saying you're going to open up to suggestions is you're just opening the flood gates for things that have been suggested a million times before. 92% of the things suggested are just plain not good for the game; they're always things that take the game away from its original gameplay concept, which is golden to me. I know everyone has their right to how they wanna see the game go about, but I just don't wanna see it go in a bad direction; unless these changes are going to affect the core gameplay. Then I'd rather save my opinion until I've had a chance to try it myself.

I've heard complaints about the dev team "ruling with an iron fist" when it came to suggestions, but that's what gave the game its charm. It was done in a direct fashion. It wasn't a handful of random forum members' suggestions wrapped in a game.

Ideas don't always need to be good to be valuable. For a game designer ideas can reveal underlying problems in game mechanics, or lead to better ideas.

More importantly, the community out there has a different perspective on the game. For example, A person like Violent Crimes hosts a lot of source based games, and can give insights a Dev usually isn't privy to, like crash issues in each source engine version, or often used hacks.

Plus, as a Dev, community feedback is the next best thing to playing your own game, especially when you have a job, two kids, ten wives and a mod to run.

[Sgt Martin]

Bob the Salesman;176579']Sorry, but you are going to fast here.
Of course, there will need to be found a balance in following critisism and in ignoring it. Some ideas are better than others, but nonetheless people who play this game a lot come across a lot of stuff, and therefor are valuable information sources.

It will always be up to the Team to decide whether a piece of infortmation is useful or not, but don't just throw away all critisism as bad Martin. The community can bring an awfull lot to this game.

And it's not so much about mistakes, then simply about making this game better. The platform is there, now: how can we make things better?

I'm full of ideas, the only question is if there are enough people in the Team to start working on it.

You seem to have misunderstood what I typed. All I basically said was that they shouldn't take criticism like it's the end of the world. Small critiques from a few choice members of the community shouldn't cause them to panic like it's everyones opinions, and that they MUST know they have gigantic fans of the game, like myself.

[Huntress Of Brains]

I will always back ZP:S up, no matter what.
It's my favorite mod and I have played it for a very long time (since the beta). Also, if all these changes improve the game, then go for it.
Of course people are always going to disagree, there are just some people who can never be satisfied.

I'm sad that some people are leaving, farewell and I wish you luck on the future ahead of you.

To note on the merchandise I would love to see some keyboards (like someone had mentioned earlier) or stickers even (to place on my laptop tehe), as merchandise too. But those are just ideas, shirts and the album are always good.

[Sgt. Lance]

I agree with Huntress here. ZP!S is definately one of my favorite games and 2nd favorite mod of all time (after a tie between Forgoten Hope 1 and Project Reality). I really want to see it success.

I'll work on a couple points I've thought about with ZP!S. A kind of essay from the outsider's perspective. Since school is done today.... I'll be missing writting essays... so this works ^_^.

But I digress with self-advertising (not my intent but I guess its the result). I've thought for a very long time that a quantity of 'bad' maps (unproffessional and counter intuitive with the basic gameplay elements <Cabin/Church/Lakes>) has watered down the effectiveness of the core developers. I'm glad to see a refocus on Quality and presentation. Thumbs Up! And best of luck!

[[ZPV] Bob the Salesman]

I've thought for a very long time that a quantity of 'bad' maps (unproffessional and counter intuitive with the basic gameplay elements <Cabin/Church/Lakes>) has watered down the effectiveness of the core developers. I'm glad to see a refocus on Quality and presentation. Thumbs Up! And best of luck!

Lol, I see no direct effect between these custom made maps and the Team, but ok.
What I do think is that it's normal for the Team to have been looking around, bring out new maps to satisfy the players. But now that is settled, they should indeed go back to the maps there are right now.
Maps such as: asylum, deadend, subway and deadblock need some big changes. So it's good there will be more focus on this. Although, it must be said that in 2.0 a lot of maps already got updated.

[Sgt. Lance]

Bob the Salesman;176601']Lol, I see no direct effect between these custom made maps and the Team, but ok.
What I do think is that it's normal for the Team to have been looking around, bring out new maps to satisfy the players. But now that is settled, they should indeed go back to the maps there are right now.
Maps such as: asylum, deadend, subway and deadblock need some big changes. So it's good there will be more focus on this. Although, it must be said that in 2.0 a lot of maps already got updated.

What I meant to say, and was ineffective in saying it, was that poor custom content hurt the ability of the devs to have a defined game. It created a community that didn't understand what the intent of the game was or watered down the importance of what the devs tried to do to reign in the gameplay.

Rethinking this I might be placing too much of an emphasis on the ability of custom content to affect the devs so I could be dead wrong... however, I think when people play certain maps like Red Queen and Lake maps they think ZPS is something else and ask for game fixes and tweaks accordingly.

------

On subject... one things that would greatly help all stock maps (and custom) would be greater dynamics. People have learned these maps inside out and it really hurts all of them. That... and a more realistic scale :) pretty please! I love shredding field but the doors are ENORMOUS for us supposedly 6ft tall people.

[Robert Neville]

I like where this is going...

Great new sound effects? Awesome. A little polish for older content? Great.

My only suggestion is to fit more previews and such in with your community ideas.

Keep up the great work....

[Some_weirdGuy]

with the limbs coming off:

I still want to see a zombies arm fall off, then watch as it slowly crawls around on the ground.

[Wazanator]

Tats, the only problem I see with saying you're going to open up to suggestions is you're just opening the flood gates for things that have been suggested a million times before.

Thats when you nicely tell them that there threads closed and as polite as you can tell them to check the "List of already suggested ideas" (http://www.zombiepanic.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13513) (which I really need to update)

[Rellik_pt]

Bob, we plan to do small fixes while working on the bigger patches as well. We hope to involve the community more in these decisions. We strongly believe some of the mistakes we made were caused by trying to give what WE believed was needed and lost touch with the community. We will be making a much larger effort to communicate with the community in regards to our work.

I hope to put together a group of community leaders who can best express the concerns and interests of the community at large and target the real issues that have cropped up. Having worked on the project for such a long time it's easy to pull away from the crowd and work in silence but I also see this as one of the issues that needs to be addressed. I spoke with Violent Crimes recently and he made some good points, I expect others have taken the time to really look over the project as a whole and have some good insight.

This move is to reassure the community that we're still here and our goal is to do better than our previous attempts. I will be relying on the community more since some of you have been with us since the beginning.

Tats...


is about time :D.

[davidian]

A possible chance for a zps single player? If you add a single player it creates it more into a game, if this is the case you would have to put in some AI which could lead to us also having bots on a server or offline games? :O now that would be nice! bots bots bots! oh and of course a single player! like Zomg epicness2009ltd!

[Zombie Casey Kasem]

Merchandise? Carrier plushies?

"My wittle carrier wants to eat muh face off, mum!"

[Kaith]

It's good to hear that ZPS is still very much alive and kicking. I don't have much to say that hasn't been said already, so I'll just say this:

I have faith that the development team will continue...

to perform at the high standard they have up to today,
to learn from the experience along the way,
to make tough decisions, weighing the costs,
to fill empty positions, to honour those lost.

It's sad to see old talent leave, but such is the reality of running any long-term project. I, like many others, will be watching intently to see what the team is up to in the coming days. Good luck guys!

[Wazanator]

A possible chance for a zps single player? If you add a single player it creates it more into a game, if this is the case you would have to put in some AI which could lead to us also having bots on a server or offline games? :O now that would be nice! bots bots bots! oh and of course a single player! like Zomg epicness2009ltd!

You misunderstand the single player zps there talking about is a separate game/mod

[jb60145]

Game is great. I have hundreds of hours logged. It is a great social game. Only issue I have is the realism: zombo: a lot of times i'm playing, and the person who is firing is not looking at me while they get a headshot. That and more graphics and physics. The game is also great when there is custom servers with plugins and custom material. It is getting better and it always will. You guys have come this far and you will go farther. Too bad about the other devs having priorities, but that's life. You will find others to keep the zombo train rolling. Keep up the good work!!!

[SeNoR DoLaR]

Wow, I've been gone since 2.0 was released for a few weeks and I was actually right what was going to happen! Well at least now you guys came to your senses, I am eagerly excited for any new renditions to the mod.

[BloodLegion]

I'm happy about the part where they say they will raise the quality and involve the community in the process.

I've been looking forward to something like this.Came back to ZPS after reading these news.
I was focused on L4D,and i still play it with the hope that it will get the deserved content and support by Valve.But,it's a funny arcade game,not a survival zombie game.
NMRiH is going to deliver a great COOP zombie survival experience.
What is missed now is a great zombie survival versus game.ZPS is here to fill this place.But,to be honest,even if the work is amazing,the quality is lower than L4D (obviously,since L4D has a full SH behind) and looks lower than NMRiH.I talk about graphic,models,animations.ZPS is less polished.Increasing the quality of the content will surely bring back the attention on this mod.

Also,listening to the community will be good.But i've one question:i don't want you to reveal anything,but MAY BE this will mean that you will also listen to the suggestions about iron sights and that ZPS will become more simulative and less arcady?ZPS has always been between L4D and KF (talking about gameplay).Not arcady,not simulative,a mix of both.Listening to the community,and the "reboot" you talk about,could mean that ZPS will become more simulative?

I mean,if you look at the zombie games you see that while on the arcade side there's already L4D(and it would be hard to beat),on the "simulation/hardcore" side KF was a huge success.So it seems that the hardcore part of the community likes these kind of features,and would probably ask for these kind of things.

However,i think that just increasing the quality of the content you already have on this mod,would already be a huge huge progress.

[5t4lkr]

I'm happy about the part where they say they will raise the quality and involve the community in the process.

I've been looking forward to something like this.Came back to ZPS after reading these news.
I was focused on L4D,and i still play it with the hope that it will get the deserved content and support by Valve.But,it's a funny arcade game,not a survival zombie game.
NMRiH is going to deliver a great COOP zombie survival experience.
What is missed now is a great zombie survival versus game.ZPS is here to fill this place.But,to be honest,even if the work is amazing,the quality is lower than L4D (obviously,since L4D has a full SH behind) and looks lower than NMRiH.I talk about graphic,models,animations.ZPS is less polished.Increasing the quality of the content will surely bring back the attention on this mod.

Also,listening to the community will be good.But i've one question:i don't want you to reveal anything,but MAY BE this will mean that you will also listen to the suggestions about iron sights and that ZPS will become more simulative and less arcady?ZPS has always been between L4D and KF (talking about gameplay).Not arcady,not simulative,a mix of both.Listening to the community,and the "reboot" you talk about,could mean that ZPS will become more simulative?

I mean,if you look at the zombie games you see that while on the arcade side there's already L4D(and it would be hard to beat),on the "simulation/hardcore" side KF was a huge success.So it seems that the hardcore part of the community likes these kind of features,and would probably ask for these kind of things.

However,i think that just increasing the quality of the content you already have on this mod,would already be a huge huge progress.

For me, I think the attraction this game has is in the objectives. I think the whole feeling of immersion while you are utilizing teamplay to complete objectives on interactive maps is very unique. L4D gets boring extremely fast because of how repetitive it is and after a quick look at KF, it seems that it is not much different from L4D.

I would love to see ZPS increase in quality while continuing to utilize the unique experience you get from completing an objective map as a team.

[mamock116]

i just want multicore support

[SotaPoika]

I think ZP!S is so far only REAL zombie mod/game. It has zombies. That's it! No stereoid junkie dudes that can flip the cars, no 20 meter long tongues coming from weird dude, no 10 meter jumping sweatshirt wearing coward or any else weird stuff seen in L4D.

Killingfloor isn't zombie game for me. Why? Well, when did zombies start screaming so loud you take damage? When did zombies use chainsaws or other hand-mounted killing tools like minigun or gauntlets? Never..

[TheGreekDollmaker]

I think ZP!S is so far only REAL zombie mod/game. It has zombies. That's it! No stereoid junkie dudes that can flip the cars, no 20 meter long tongues coming from weird dude, no 10 meter jumping sweatshirt wearing coward or any else weird stuff seen in L4D.

Killingfloor isn't zombie game for me. Why? Well, when did zombies start screaming so loud you take damage? When did zombies use chainsaws or other hand-mounted killing tools like minigun or gauntlets? Never..

I strongly disagree with your little rant there.

First lets try to identify on what a Zombie is.

A zombie is a Mindless creature (mostly human) which has been stripped of all knowlage,sanity and everything else.
In little words a man without a mind whose only actions are to kill (most of the time).

Almost all of the time the zombie will be reanimated from the dead thus that explains it's loss of memory thus leading to loss of feeling.

So in little words a zombie has to have one of the following symptons to be classified as a zombie

1:Has been reanimated from the dead
2:Has lost all of its memory,thus all of its feelings,humanity and purely runs on animal instict.
3:Has the tencesy to kill other non infected indevituals.

If a creature shows one of the following,even if its one of it than it qualifies as a zombie.The origins of the zombie will Always be a virus of some short.

The origin of the virus is not necessery so im skipping that part.

Other activities may be common among the many types of zombies.
The Goerge Romero type of zombie seeks desire to feed upon humans (either flesh or brains),ussually move in groups and are incapable of common tasks.

After the Classic Goerge romero there is the John Russo type of zombie which
retains many traces of he's/she's past life aswell as being able to communicate
through language,are quick and can run and even the ability to strategise with other zombies to achieve a goal.

Another characaristic of the Russo zombie is that,unlike the Romero zombie which can be eliminated by a well placed shot on the head,the russo zombie cannot be killed by normal means.

Even when decapitated the body will still continue to faction as it did with the head.

Those are the classic stereotypes of zombies found in the first zombie films.
Their influances are still present to this day since many different mediums have put similar types of zombies in their creative works.

Some,though,attempted a more original type of zombie like Danny Boyle's 28 weeks later which had running zombies that,instead of killing their victims to consume their brain or flesh,simply killed their victims due to a virus that causes Raging-like symptoms.

That leads to the disadvanage of the Boyle zombies passing of 1-2 months due to the lack of food.

There have been other types of zombies but i will only stick to an analysis of the Left 4 dead zombie.

The left for dead virus:

The left 4 dead virus or as it is called ''The infection'' is a rabbies like virus whose symptons are to cause the carrier to loss all of his humanity and to spread the virus in one way or another.

In that instance,that qualifies the Left 4 dead common infected as Zombies.

Their prime goal is to spread the infection,showing no humanity,remorse and running on animal instict.

But what about the special infected?
Well it is implied that in the game,the virus is mutating.
That has the unfortunate effect on the hose,who cahnges at the same time period as the virus does.

This leads to the special infected.

Almost all of the infected,special or not, show the tetency to try to kill everything that they suspect isnt infected by the virus,without showing humanity or remorse.
It isnt entirely clear if the infected needs to die first and than becomes a zombie
or is generally alive but with a virus that makes him lose all of his memory.

In little words:Yes they are zombies techninally.

But there is an aversion on all of this.

Among the Special infected is the Witch,a female passive zombie that shows the symptons of only one zombie trace,unlike many of the othe zombies which have 2 or 3.

She doesnt kill on sight (although she will attack if distrurbed).
She shows signs of emotion (she cries which may indicate that she has memory of her past life but has fallen under major depressive disorder,this explaining the cries).
And she may have not been reanimated (as i said it isnt entirily clear if the infected have to be reanimated or are still alive with the virus).

But its undouptable that she is a zombie because she shows signs of loss of memory and humanity to a certain degree.

There you have it,they are zombies after all.
Im not gona talk about Killing floor because i think you get the idea.

[Tatsur0]

1:Has been reanimated from the dead
2:Has lost all of its memory,thus all of its feelings,humanity and purely runs on animal instict.
3:Has the tencesy to kill other non infected indevituals.

If a creature shows one of the following,even if its one of it than it qualifies as a zombie.The origins of the zombie will Always be a virus of some short.


1. Plenty of people have come back from being dead for a matter of seconds and minutes.

2. It's been done before.

3. A serial killer with a cold.

TGD yours was a "rant"

SotaPoika I strongly agree with you in what 'I' consider a Zombie game. But there are games with Zombie Like moments for example Resident Evil is mostly zombie until it turns mutated monster. A great game I still recommend. Now that I've had my "little rant" maybe lets get back on topic? :D

Tats...

[Lev]

1. Plenty of people have come back from being dead for a matter of seconds and minutes.

depends on your definition of 'dead' O_O

[Pebbler]

so whats the future of zps?

[TheGreekDollmaker]

1. Plenty of people have come back from being dead for a matter of seconds and minutes.

2. It's been done before.

3. A serial killer with a cold.

TGD yours was a "rant"

SotaPoika I strongly agree with you in what 'I' consider a Zombie game. But there are games with Zombie Like moments for example Resident Evil is mostly zombie until it turns mutated monster. A great game I still recommend. Now that I've had my "little rant" maybe lets get back on topic? :D

Tats...

The point that i wanted to get across is that the left 4 dead infected are zombies.

But i know many people will not accept the idea of them being zombies and that is understandable because there isnt a universal rule that says how a zombie should be,act and behave.

Everyone has his own idea for how a zombie is and what it can do.

But we can all agree with one thing

Zombies + Shotgun : Lots and lots of blood (and fun)

[frikazoyd]

depends on your definition of 'dead' O_O

What, are you a necro now too?

[OkeiDo]

The definition of a zombie is a walking dead, meaning they actually have to die. So from that, L4D infected are simply infected. Other than that, there are really no rules regarding zombies IMO. I don't mind infected either, it's the modern zombie :).