Game: "Project Zomboid"
The point of gaming is to eventually win, right? What if you couldn't win? What if, no matter what you did, what path you took, every time you fired that game up, you knew you were going to die? All roads lead to failure? Well isn't THAT the story of my god damn life?!
This is one of the twists from Indie Stone Studios in their development of Project Zomboid, an independent game set during a zombie Apocalypse. Really - there's a million zombie games out there; what could possibly make this game stand out?
Well, for starters, even though it's possible to play in a browser, it has a LOT of depth. The world is a total sandbox - you are free to go where you please. And it's not just about blasting zombies over and over...in fact, indiscriminately blasting zombies is the quickest way to get yourself killed. And zombies aren't your only threat: starvation, illness, drug addiction, alcoholism, insanity...all are prevalent and a constant threat. You may even become infected yourself, and have to decide: Do you go out in a blaze of glory...or wait to turn and munch on your buddy's face?
In order to increase your odds of surviving longer, you can craft weapons, and traps, team up with other players to trade and tackle missions. Learn to create barricades and safe houses - the longer you survive, the more your character progresses and learns new skills.
The world is dynamic as well.... the longer you survive, the more of the world shuts down. Power plants fail, food and water become scarce. The army that clears out the town disintegrates....oh yes, the world is going to hell, and you're in the handbasket.
You can check out their official site here, which has links to all 3 developers blogs - they provide a fascinating insight in the life of indie developer and what goes into creating this game. It's a pretty ambitious project for just 3 developers, and they continue to plug away this. However, they're looking for donations to finance the game's completion... and maybe to buy some real food. Any donations over $8 essential buy you a copy of the finished game, and a lifetime subscription to all future updates. Like indie movies, indie games can have a lot of potential but rely on people like us for support! So toss them a few bucks or spread the word. If they can pull this off, we'll be rewarded with the best way to waste time at work EVER.
