Fort Zombie Why You Shouldnt Waste Your Money

[Daredemon]

!!!!

Fort Zombie recently got an update, so you guys should reinstall it and try out the better and much more improved version! Here's a list of the fixes/changes taken from Mecron from the Kerberos forums.

"Fort Zombie 1.0.3

Fixes:

1) Fixed all known text typos.
2) Fixed incorrect reputation change report.
3) Fixed issue where weapon collision hindered npc and player movement.
4) Various property aspects that hindered movement.
5) Fixed inventory drag and drop bugs.
6) Fixed known inventory icon glitches.
7) Fixed issue where some traps weren't being triggered.
8 M1 Garand skill fixed.
9) Various avatar issues.
10) Fixed known physics crashes.
11) Sound issues including, non-installation of some sound files and audio Master Volume slider
12) Various food values changed to correct levels.
13) Duplicate barricades and traps issue.
14) Some targeting issues.
15) Enfield rifle now shoots correctly.
16) Generators and power tools function correctly



Changes

1) Specific weapon skills have been removed from the character generation option. Only Umbrella Skills can be chosen initially.
2) Pass through to remove some property items to improve performance on lower end machines.
3) Partial consumption of food, medical and fuel supplies
4) Render System changes to combat anomalous slowdowns on some machines
5) Damage from legs is now passed onto torso when applicable.
6) Physics now runs single-threaded to eliminate mystery crashes and improve performance due to latency on some burdened systems.
7) The 'Very High' render quality in options has been removed as it was causing an increase in the number of OutOfVideoMemory exception incidents.
8 Skill improvements per day capped.
9) In mission first aid healing
10) Supplies, food and fuel now consumed incrementally instead of on an item by item basis
11) Zombie parts now dissappear over time to aid lower end machines.
12) Player avatar is now included in mission roster.
13) Alterations to make zombie attacks more consistent.



Additions

1) Added stow weapon key (U).
2) Added additional graphical feedback to inventory drag and drop.
3) 10+ new standard/mission properties
4) Disable sound option
5) Inverted Mouse control option
6) Various base inventory controls
7) Added incremental weapon reloading.
8 2 new automatic pistols"

EDIT: To the people who have the GamersGate version and are reinstalling the game but it still says the version is Fort Zombie 1.0.2...
1. Uninstall the game.
2. If you have a folder called "GamersGate Temporary Files" delete that or else the game won't update to version 1.0.3
3. Reinstall, yay.

[Foxx]

I'll wait for another update or two before retrying the game. Hopefully this patch will be one from many.

[Trin]

That's a rather large number of updates for a game that has barely been released a month. It begs the question - how did they release such a bug ridden game and all of sudden become so fast at fixing stuff?

[Fluffy]

It seems to me that they had always invisioned releasing FZ on October 31st regardless of what bugs and issues it shipped with. I'd guess that most of these fixes were either in the works when they shipped the game, or at the very least they were fully aware of the problems and knew which fixes needed to be be squeezed out first.

An asshole's guide to making money...
Step 1. Plan and build a game for release on a certain date.
Step 2. Stick to the original release date no matter what, even if product doesn't work.
Step 3. Knowingly release a broken product on said date.
step 4. Sell broken product and annoy all your customers.
Step 5. Laugh all the way to the bank.
Step 6. Fix broken product (Optional).

This method work well for the larger software companies so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised when smaller companies try it.

[Trin]

My suspicion is actually more dismal. Maybe the fix is no better quality than the game and half the things on that list are either not fixed at all or even worse than the original.

I find it extremely unlikely that they could turn out a game with such obvious bugs and then all of a sudden become competent game programmers and testers a month later. I don't buy that they were in bug-fix mode prior to releasing the original because given what they released I'd wager they were slamming in code till the last second.

It's all just very fishy to me.

[loktar]

Originally Posted by Trin

My suspicion is actually more dismal. Maybe the fix is no better quality than the game and half the things on that list are either not fixed at all or even worse than the original.

I find it extremely unlikely that they could turn out a game with such obvious bugs and then all of a sudden become competent game programmers and testers a month later. I don't buy that they were in bug-fix mode prior to releasing the original because given what they released I'd wager they were slamming in code till the last second.

It's all just very fishy to me.

I agree. They were really pushing the PR on this game, and I imagine they were trying to capitalize on the current popularity of zombies (with zombie land being released, and Halloween) for all itensive purposes this game is still being developed, but I dont imagine they will fix most things. Their mentality seems to be, the game is only $10 so why should we care... although games like Braid, World of Goo, Defcon, are MUCH better and have been sold for $5 at times. So the $10 argument doesn't hold up. Also being able to track and fix so many bugs in such a short amount of time is odd, and I do imagine other things will be broken because of this given their current track record. Hell I just got Mass Effect for $10 last week. I will never buy another game developed by Kerberos.

[Aganazer]

The devs don't baby their customers like many devs do. I'm sure it can be annoying if you're on the receiving end of it, but in a way I kind of like their open honest reactions to people. Treat them with some respect and its no problem.

Dev comments aside, bugs aside, FZ is probably one of the best zombie games ever produced.

Its one of the first real zombie games. What I mean by that is that most zombie games are just a rehashed game concept with zombie art thrown in. You could take a game like L4D and swap out the zombies with aliens or any other fantasy creature and it would suit the gameplay just fine. Not so with Fort Zombie.

The big difference is that FZ is much more focused on the RPG and survival aspects of the zombie armageddon rather than simply shooting moar zombies.

I think a lot of people that start FZ (once they get past the technical issues) sort of expect it to play like a traditional shooter game. Its not. Its a RPG. Your character is going to be horrible starting out. Later in the game, after you've developed your character, then you can really kick some zombie but.

[Trin]

Originally Posted by Aganazer

The devs don't baby their customers like many devs do. I'm sure it can be annoying if you're on the receiving end of it, but in a way I kind of like their open honest reactions to people. Treat them with some respect and its no problem.

"Grow up enough to read the manual and figure out that items are not picked up as if it were an FPS."

This may be their open honest reactions - but it's also being a douche.

Originally Posted by Aganazer

Dev comments aside, bugs aside, FZ is probably one of the best zombie games ever produced.

That all sounds great but it doesn't make a hill of beans difference if the technical aspects of the game are shoddy and the customer support is full of attitude. LOTD:RTFG suffered from technical problems and lack of customer support. It never achieved its full potential because of that. What these guys are doing with Fort Zombie is ten times worse. They're in the process of torpedo'ing their potential.

[Aganazer]

Originally Posted by Trin

This may be their open honest reactions - but it's also being a douche.

Were they being a bit of a douche, sure. What were they responding to? Its only half of the story. Maybe their reaction was justified. I don't have any problems being a douche to someone that is being a jackass. Why should I expect something different from them just because they are a game developer?

They've been cool to me. I just started posting on their forum a few days ago and they are VERY active and chat about whatever. I even got some good zombie book recommendations from them.

After playing Zombie Shooter 2 tonight I was reminded about what makes Fort Zombie a good game. Zombie Shooter 2 was mindless and half assed compared to FZ.

So the crashes are a bit annoying right now. I'll agree with that for sure, but the game is perfectly playable. Its also something I know the devs will fix soon. Their other game Sword of the Stars was in the same boat at release and now its the best 4X space game available.

So have some patience and don't expect them to be saints. This is a site dedicated to undead games, not the kind of place I would expect to find sensitive people. I mean that in the best possible way of course. :twisted:

[Fluffy]

If you buy something from a store that doesn't work as advertised and you make a complaint about it to the store that sold it to you and the guy behind the counter essentially tells you to piss off and stop complaining then that is being a douch. More precisely it's bad customer service. That probably annoyed more people than the bad game they were complaining about to begin with and it's not the way a company should react to complaint. It's not likely to put them in the customers 'good books' now is it?

Listening to your customers = good. Telling your customers to GFYS (as I understand it that means go fuck yourself) = douche/bad customer service.