Zombidle: Remonstered
State of the Zombidle
We’ve talked about it on Stream, but we realized that there isn’t a post on Steam that gives a definitive “State of the Zombidle” and wanted to fix that.
We get a lot of questions about updates, platforms, etc. so here’s an F.A.Q. that should clear it all up:
TL;DR: We made Zombidle to push Berzerk into consoles, thanks to it and to all of you, it happened. It's now time to say goodbye so we can focus on larger projects.
The Flash engine we’ve been using is no longer being supported by most platforms, which means we’re unable to keep it updated everywhere without sinking an astronomically irreasonable amount of time in it, so we really can’t keep going. We won’t be updating Zombidle any more, but we're also not planning to shut the servers that run the game down as long as the game can cover its own costs. Don’t worry tho, if we ever plan to pull the plug on the servers we’ll give you a much needed advanced warning.
So if this is as far as you’ll read (I get it, it’s pretty wordy and words bad) know that we are truly grateful to everyone that has played Zombidle over the past four years, from the OG 100 on the Flash Beta to whoever just signed up according to the analytics. You are all awesome, each and everyone of you. It was a hell of a ride and it wouldn’t be the same without you.
### F.A.Q. ###
Are you planning to update Zombidle again?
After 4 years of live support, we’ve had to move on to working on other projects and games, so Zombidle is officially done getting updated, and will remain in its current state.
Are you going to shut it down?
Not for the foreseeable future. While we may not be able to update it, we know a lot of people still enjoy playing Zombidle, and we want to make sure they can for as long as it’s possible. As of right now the game can still cover the cost of keeping the servers to run it, and as long as that’s the case we are happy to let it keep running.
In the event the game can’t support its own server costs in the future, we’d have to talk about winding it down, but we’ve all agreed to give a few months notice before making any choices like that. We’re already cutting costs to a minimum to make sure it runs for as long as possible, so we’re not taking it behind the shed just yet.
WHYYYYYY?!
The biggest one is that the engine it’s running on is quickly being phased out by all platforms, being unable to keep Steam, Web and mobile on the same build means updating any of them kills cross-platform support, and we don’t want to have a bunch of people straight up lose the ability to even play the game. As you may or may not know, Berzerk was a Flash games studio for many years, and Zombidle was built in Flash.
This last year put the nail in the coffin of Flash games on Browser, and the engine on mobile. Since they’re no longer supported, we’re no longer able to update any platform but Steam, and there’s no way around that.
What are you doing instead?
Well currently we’re still keeping Just Shapes & Beats going with updates and new content, and we’re excited to finally be getting close to launch on Infernax. One of the biggest things Zombidle was meant to do was to help us make the jump to consoles, and we like to think the success of JS&B and hopefully Infernax will be in no small part enabled by everyone who helped make Zombidle what it is too. <3
Why don’t you just change the Engine?
It would mean rebuilding the entire dang thing, and Zombidle has grown to be a HUGE game, there’s just no way to justify the amount of work that needs to be done just to get back to where we are right now. Yeah I know, it sucks, big ones. We love Zombidle, but we’re a small studio and we just can’t afford to.
What about bugs?
Part of “remain in its current state” does mean any current bugs as well. The game’s fully functional, but we’re not going to be digging into it to work on it more as, again, we can’t update it anywhere else or it would break e v e r y t h i n g.
Where’s the money spent in the store going to then?
To keep the Zombidle servers live mostly. As we said above, as long as we’re able to not have to pay money above and beyond what the servers cost, we’re happy to let Zombidle keep on rolling.
I used to play on Mobile too, why can’t I play there now?
All of the mobile platforms updated requirements for games on their store (both Apple and Google) and so we’re not able to update the game on there at all, for any reason. That means that the only long-term playable version is here on Steam.
What is the average air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Realistically, that’s going to depend on a lot of factors, but we’ve heard that the swallow’s country of origin may have something to do with it.
###
If you want to hear it from the horse’s mouth, we’ve been pretty open about it during our last podcast, which you can watch/listen to here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht34hfa7SFw&ab_channel=LachhhStreams
That’s pretty much all there is to it, we’d like to first and foremost thank everyone who’s played Zombidle, from our OGs back on Web to whoever just started playing a few minutes ago according to the analytics. It’s been a hell of a ride, thanks for being there with us.
I should probably edit this to put it right before or after the TLDR too, so if you’ve read this far you now understand why I'm repeating myself; I haven't lost my marbles, I swear.
V1.03.059 - It was that or turning tricks
It appears the Kings have fallen on hard time and are looking for some "freelance" jobs, you can now hire them to plunder their own country for 100% conquest; oh the delicious irony.
Sorry for the delay, turns out someone broke everything while trying to fix everything, woops! *cue canned sitcom laugh track*
See below for the full change log:
<*>Multi-World Farming Kings are now purchasable
<*>Pleasure Pack has replaced the Nipply Pack!
<*>Divine Protein Powder now has an effect!
-- "Multiply Total DPS per White Orb by 10,000% Stacks Multiplicatively." In-game it shows the incorrect tool-tip, this will be updated next patch!
<*>Beads of Power now benefit from Muon Ghost Amplifier bonus
<*>Fixed enormous draw call bug with monster items in small view
<*>Reduced decimal accuracy from thousandth to hundredth (2 decimal places)
<*>Black area on world map now consumes the click instead of pushing it to the world behind it
<*>Timer underneath 'To Hell' button now displays shortest craft timer
<*>Offline Progression calculations have been updated to hopefully be more accurate and faster.
Thanks gallons for all the support if for any reason you feel the need to contact us, you can follow @lachhh & @Kojak on twitter or join our Discord, and our subreddit. As always, all bug reports or lost things should be directed at feedback@zombidle.com because Larklen is a lot better at our jobs than we are.
V1.03.057 - Just Shapes & Beats HYPE
It's happening, it's finally happening, the game we've been working on for what seem like ages is coming out this week, everything is fine, nothing is on fire.
To celebrate that, we've made a small event in Zombidle that will last a couple weeks, on top of doing an AMA on /r/NintendoSwitch on the 31st, come at us!
Just Shapes & Beats Event!
- 'Just Shapes & Beats' event to celebrate the upcoming release of the game
- YOU* helped us make!
- The event has an internal start date of May 21st, so you have a weeks worth of currency to gather!
- - See how Event Currency works here! - Just Shapes & Beats will be available on Nintendo Switch and PC on May 31st 2018! Watch the trailer here!
- Lachhh scroll has been updated! (It may have an increased reward as well ;) )
- Several bug fixes
- - Including the bug where purchasing items in shop resulted in item not being added to inventory.
Social media stuff: follow @lachhh & @Kojak, on twitter. Join our Discord, and our reddit. As always, all bug reports or lost things should be directed at feedback@zombidle.com
Now more than ever go check out Just Shapes & Beats and wishlist it HERE and follow it on twitter if you want to check out the cool things we're doing and the dank meme posting. There's also some music thing happening on Spotify
V1.03.051 to V1.03.056 aka I'm about to get fired if I don't post something soon.
Sorry for the lack of patch notes around here in the past few months, long story short I am terrible at everything and locked myself out of the Steam page and got confused by technology like a dehydrated grandma trying to change the clock on her microwave, so I missed the Nightmare mode and event notes. Again, SORRY, MY B.
For those just joining us and wondering what got added since the year started, here's the tl;dr:
- Passive event system
- Nightmare mode
- Pleasure Island event
- About 4 googledoc pages worth of random bug fixes
In more recent news, we pushed a small update on Friday, we have all hands on deck for the last few miles for Just Shapes & Beats, so Shayne knocked off a few bugs on the side while Etienne whipped together some brush magic and made new levels for Hell buildings.
Here's the deets of what's been fixed:
- New levels of the Armory, Bank, and Resort
- Discounts to the Easter and Juicy Beast items from last year's events
- Fixed an issue with leaving/running out of time on a wizard fight
- Fixed a few issues with the diamond shop
- Fixed the annoying off by one error with level displays
- And a bunch of other smaller bug fixes that I can't remember right now
We'll have a pretty big update in the works as soon as Just Shapes & Beats is out, which is soon... oh so very soon... dear god what have we done... So yea, sit tight, it's gonna be raaaad.
Wouldn't be a proper patch note if I did not end by thanking you all for playing and supporting us, especially during these stressful times, you dudes are the best and make all of this worth it in the end. You can reach us on all the social medias if you wish to, and by us I mean @lachhh & @Kojak, you don't really want to reach me, trust me. You can also join our Discord, and our reddit. As always, all bug reports or lost things should be directed at feedback@zombidle.com
Extra note, please don't forget to wishlist wishlist Just Shapes & Beats and follow it on twitter if you want to check out the cool things we're doing and the dank meme posting.
V1.03.050 - Everyone is coming in on Saturday.
Late update again, fitting as we're unleashing the Corporate Corporative Corporation update today, so let's do the Middle Management thing and blame someone else for it being late. Passing the buck ftw~
Starting World 4 you can start your corporation and hire beaten monsters to do your job, now this is full throttle idling!
Other than that, Quick options got a nice revamp, should increase quality of life by at least two gallons.
Hope ya'll enjoy your newfound middle management position in hell!
[[Insert thankful phrase to players]] [[Insert witty phrase welcoming comments]]. [[Insert social media links]] @lachhh, @Kojak, Discord, reddit [[Insert support email that nobody every uses feedback@zombidle.com]]
V1.03.049 - Leaderboards and stuff!
This week we are wrapping up the Halloween storyline, spoiler: everyone got fat and has diabetes now.
This update, other than taking out the event, introduces the brand spanking new Leaderboards; you don't have to spank it per say, but we kindly ask that you don't kinkshame it for how it feels.
Leaderboard works with up to 4 friends, invite them from your selfphone!
We're also adding new packs to the shop, these packs are one time purchases and aimed to help newer players reach the midgame faster so they can also enjoy timed events the same way as everyone. They also happen to be the best bang for your buck in terms of currency, so I'd give em a look if you ever want to help us make rent!
Other than that, bunch of Quality of Life fixes, mostly Maurice and Chest Collector related. Fixed a lot of bugs related to sounds too, no more near-death experience when starting up the game because it decided that the sound was now louder than the cry of a thousand endangered species dying of a broken heart.
We'd also like to say we're super sorry for the delay of this update, review process took longer than expected, hopefully this won't happen again once we change the update schedule later this year/early next year.
To finish this edition of the patch note post, I'd like to thank each and everyone of you, yes even you, for playing. Your comments, suggestions and laments are always read and appreciated, for the most part. If you feel the need to do any of that, tweet at @lachhh & @Kojak on twitter, join our Discord, or go nuts on reddit; please remember that there's a place and a time for anything bug related, and none of the previous means of communication is it, please email us at feedback@zombidle.com for that.
HALLOWEEN
On top of the seasonal event, we added some new things, because that's what we do:
A NEW FRIEND YOU HAVEN'T MET YET
- Maurice the friendly fiend can be found somewhere in the world
- Maurice offers bounties for you to complete for rewarding rewards
- Once uncovered, Maurice will chill in Hell, find him there!
New selfphone
- Selfphone is now 33% prettier
Stuff
- Removed the hard cap on seasonal currency that was implemented last update
- Chest Collector can now collect the third chest in W2
- Bob will now wake to cast Sloth Form
That's it for this week, if you need to get ahold of us for some reason, get at @lachhh & @Kojak on twitter, join our Discord, or post your laments over on reddit, all bug reports or lost things should be directed at feedback@zombidle.com
Ya'll have a wonderful weekend filled with pumpkin spice themed things or something, I wouldn't know I don't touch any of that stuff.
V1.03.046 Patch - heads up, boring info inside
We just pushed a small fix patch for those who were having server issues, if you were having database error messages, please let us know if it's fixed~
While we were pushing stuff, we figured we'd add some quality of life in instead of waiting till next content update:
- Chest Collector: new feature that will let you open all the chests in a map if you cleared at least equivalent level map. This will be unlocked to you buds after you complete the new World 4 challenge.
- New hell building levels: pretty self explanatory, now you're playing with super power!
Also this patch will serve as a transition to our new update schedule, next content update will be in 2 weeks so it doesn't conflict with TwitchCon. While we may not be the smartest tools in the shed, we're at least somewhat smart enough to realize that, launching an update when there's nobody at the studio to fix whatever garbage fire might spontaneously materialize, MIGHT be a bad idea.
Speaking of TwitchCon, most of the team will be there, so if you want to talk at length on how you love birds and bird related activities, come tackle Kojak!
That's pretty much it for this week, if there's a fire some something, hollar at @lachhh & @Kojak on twitter, we're on Discord and reddit too, if you wanna hang with other cool peeps playing Zombidle, or just call us names, whatever you need we're there to help; and as always, the best way to reach out for broken stuff is feedback@zombidle.com. I should really start copy pasting this contact section, I'm gonna run out of ways to segue into it soon.
Thanks for all the love you guys have been showing us and our bud Gonzo from the last update, means the world to us!
The nipplest update of all the updates
Welcome to this wonderous update full of things and stuff, turtle things and stuff. Stuff that was drawn by the most awesome sir GonzoSSM the 1rst of his name, who you may or may not know him from that Toss the Turtle game of yore. And if you do, remember that it was nearly 10 years ago and now you are old and have responsibilities like needing to pay rent, bills, probably having high cholesterol due to your sedentary lifestyle, and deer god what am I doing with my life.
Where was I, oh, right, update content! This event has gallons of new stuff, Mister Gonzo did some really rad stuff with the new map/environment/enemies/my new pony tramp-stamp tattoo, but wait, there's more!
- New World for a limited time only
- New Unique Items also for a limited time only
- New Scalable difficulty boss forever, until the event ends
- Bulleted list for a limited time only forever
- Quality of life change: By popular demand, you can now press 0 to enable all skills
- Quality of life change: Surrender button should appear on each phases now, you quitters
- UI Changes, stuff should no longer get on two lines
- Moar UI changes: stuff should also flash red when failing to activate
- Item dump timer is gone, BAI
- Hopefully fixed more bugs than we just introduced
Also had some important changes to event currency mechanics:
- Drop chance can now reach 0% upon hitting cap.
- Cap is still calculated every 4 hours
- Items that increment currency drops increment cap by the same amount (i.e. +drop items won't push you to cap faster).
We're super excited to have Gonzo contribute his kind of crazy to the project, I really hope ya'll enjoy it all as much as we had fun doing it. If there's anything, please reach out to @lachhh & @Kojak on the tweet box, or join our community Discord channel thing. If none of that tickles your fancy, you can always yell at us on our official reddit sub or straight up email us at feedback@zombidle.com, hot dang that's a lot of ways to connect, we're just a linkedin profile short of being true millennials.
Thanks to each and everyone of you for all the awesome support you've shown us since we've launched, you guys make it all worth it!
100k players wuuuut
Seems that a lot of ya'll took our previous advice about staying inside quite literally, sometime last week we reached the 100k player milestone and we couldn't be happier! Well technically a couple of new luxury sports car, a mansion by the lake and an infinite supply of beef jerky would make us even happier, but I mean, it's a figure of speech alright.
So yeah where was I, right. Thanks a gallon to all you buds that have been along for this ride so far, we can't wait to push out the summer update, there's a lot of rad stuff coming soon, stay tuned!
But seriously, don't go outside, I was there today it's hot, damp and it smells weird, IGN 0/5, would not recommend.