Hey survivors, bit of a general update-y Mondoid today – running simultaneously to Build 29 being pushed beyond the cosy confines of our IWBUMS test branch and out into the big wide world. So…

Build 29! Woo!

The latest version of PZ is now official! If you’ve been keeping clear of our test branch than now is the time to dive back into the Knox Event – new sounds, scavenging, melee revamp, bug fixes, translations. All that jazz, which can be looked at in greater depth right here. Once we’re sure there are no unexpected bumps in the build roll-out we’ll get in touch with Desura and get PZ updated over there as well.

Multiplayer Improvement

Since the inception of Zomboid online play, we’ve all seen increased lag as the number of players on a server begins to tot up. With the released version of Build 29, however, we think that Kirrus, RJ, BryBry and EasyP have made some significant improvements. It should be noted here, that we all deeply love BryBry. And so should you.

Servers were pausing for the briefest of moments when new players joined/left, which clearly became something of an exponential issue the busier the map became. We think we’ve nixed this, and internally have had a 29.3 server with 10 players and absolutely no lag. We need to get you guys and girls trying it out in the wild to make sure, but we’re certainly hoping that your online experience will be somewhat improved.

Radio: What’s New?

As discussed in a previous Mondoid, Will has been busy concocting radio and TV channels for you to listen into while you forage, fight and fend off the undead. There’ll two broadcasts from every radio station and TV channel to tune into every 24 hours, and a fixed narrative timeline for them all to follow.

At the moment portable radios have a news channel, a talk radio channel, a public broadcast station and (although Will is regretting it) a wavelength devoted to Country Music. Those watching TV, meanwhile, will have the option of tuning into News, News Commentary, a shopping channel, a kids channel, a ‘Life and Living’ survival channel and (of course) a cookery show.

We’ve also now had the feedback on our (forever secret!) outbreak lore from a top specialist in infectious diseases at a London university – who’s presumably a bit busy right now what with world events. As such the next step will be to feed his tweaks and suggestions into the body of the radio and TV broadcasts, as well as write a few extra news channels to give you a true feeling of ‘channel hopping’ as you flick through coverage of the disaster.

When all that’s done, after a final polish, the spreadsheet will be passed over for integration into the game – hopefully to appear en masse in either the next build or the one after.

Future Builds

The basic plan is that Build 30 will feature the Medical revamp, while Build 31 will herald the start of ‘Operation: Fix Late Game By Killing You Before You Get There’. As a taster, here’s the WIP health screen with multiple wounds inflicted.

It’s also worth noting at this point that since we now have full time animator we’ll be looking to adding limps and assisted walking that will play heavily into the medical system – as well as putting an increasingly mobile Kate back into the game. In the background, meanwhile, work has begun on an extremely cool new map location (still some way off, so we won’t start hinting yet) while background work continues on all the other major systems required for 1.0.

Thanks for Mondoiding everyone!

Today’s Header Image from Steam User Fix’t Fastah! Be sure to check the upcoming version post and subscribe to our newsletter to be sure you won’t miss anything! That’s it for now. Thanks so much for living and dying in our game! Love y’all.