How (Not) to Make a Video Game: The Story Behind Project Zomboid

Use my code GLENMOUTH for 5% off site-wide at Lost in Cult: https://bit.ly/TGGlenLIC Get 90% off your own .fun domain for your first year by using my code: TheGuyGlen at https://get.fun/ Buy my merch ► https://thatguyglen-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur Support me on Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/thatguyglen Become a YouTube member ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0e1271DHhRyiDIuX6B6aQ/join This Project Zomboid documentary details the development of indie survival zombie video game Project Zomboid and goes behind the scenes of its creation. Discover how two friends from the UK quit their jobs in the AAA game industry to pursue their dream of becoming independent video game creators. Along with Marina Siu-Chong, they founded The Indie Stone and after a couple of other projects, they started development on Project Zomboid. Unfortunately, their dream project quickly turned into a string of disasters. PayPal, without warning, froze their account containing all the money that was donated by fans. Burglars stole their laptops, along with months of work that hadn’t been backed up. And then, a bomb exploded in their apartment building. It was such a bizarre mix of bad luck and bad mistakes that the developers later gave a talk called “How (Not) to Make a Game. The documentary also explores all the design decisions the developers made and shows how early versions of Project Zomboid included NPC survivors, something that’s still missing from the game over a decade later. The team was inspired by The Sims, X-COM and zombie movies and books. George Romero’s Living Dead films were the blueprint and the books “World War Z” and “The Zombie Survival Guide” from writer Max Brooks included basically all the mechanics and features they wanted to include in the game. Lastly, the documentary looks towards the future and shows how The Indie Stone is far from done with Project Zomboid and how NPC’s will finally return to the game. References: https://www.thatguyglen.com/article/ClRSddW6_bE Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thatguyglen Website: https://www.thatguyglen.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlenCallaert Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thatguyglen.bsky.social Outro song: Thank You R.G.E. - Joe Bagale #ProjectZomboid #TheIndieStone #GameDevelopment