Something is brewing in Project Zomboid and it's one that a lot of players will love. The development team is working to overhaul the game's Farming system, specifically in making things more tactile and animation-led. For example, when a player wants to use a watering can, they can simply use a direct mouse click instead of going through a maze of different sub-menus.
Overall, they're not only trying to make the system more complex but also varied and interesting. Some of these have actually been coded already:
- Plants have growing seasons.
- For most crops, there are one or two optimal planting months.
- Players can read the best month to plant their crops on the back of seed packets.
- If they're planted at the wrong time of the year, they either get a reduced yield or run the risk of producing sickly plants.
- Appropriate plants, like potatoes, can be planted using the vegetable itself.
- Players can dry seed corn and peas and preserve them for planting the next year.
- Plants can accumulate slugs and snails that players need to deal with.
- Players can use looted pest control or maybe even a folksy remedy.
- There are also slug repellent plants nearby like rosemary that can help.
- Rosemary is one of several herbs that have been added.
- These tend to grow more quickly and when harvested, are knocked back a few growth stages but can be harvested again later.
- The herbs picked can be used to propagate new herb patches while they’re still fresh and be dried as well.
The development team also revealed that they're also working on the need to water houseplants. Players can find potted indoor vegetation in the world and they'll be similar, though not identical, to crops. These need to be watered otherwise they'll fall victim to disease and become visibly unwell then later die to become a dried husk.
There are also fixes implemented in the game and you can view them here.
Project Zomboid offers an open-ended zombie-infested sandbox experience which asks: how will you die? The game is set in the towns of Muldraugh and West Point where survivors need to loot houses and build defenses. They need to do everything they can to delay their inevitable death day by day. Since no help is coming, players must rely on their cunning, luck, and ability to evade the horde, to survive.
Project Zomboid is available on PC and currently on Steam Early Access. You can learn more about the game here.
