Zombie Master Interview and Exclusive Screens

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Well, we're not taking part in a race to see who can release first. ZM will be done when it's done, and not before.
 
Thoose screens look pretty damn awesome.
Is that a zombie holding a chair I see?
Can't wait to play this, it looks awesome.
 
Solaris said:
Thoose screens look pretty damn awesome.
Is that a zombie holding a chair I see?
Can't wait to play this, it looks awesome.
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In the last screen?

No, that's a zombie hitting a chair towards the player. :p
 
I have to say, even in it's uncomplete form. It's one of the most awesome games to play.
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
Well, we're not taking part in a race to see who can release first. ZM will be done when it's done, and not before.
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no of course not, no point sacrificing quality for speed of release. as far as i know though NMRIH is supposed to be releasing a first version end on june (pretty sure its confirmed on their forums).

In my opinion NMRIH looks to be more polished and thats no dig at the ZM guys cos the work theyve done is excellent, i just get the impression from the ZM screens ive seen that a lot of it is reusing textures and models from HL2, whereas there seems to be more fresh stuff created for NMRIH.

ZM looks to be a totaly different kind of gameplay experience (and thats the most important bit, the experience) ill judge and play them both eventually, and im sure love them both equally but for different reasons
 
Almost all our content is direct from HL2. Our main focus is getting it working with as few bugs as possible. The fancy stuff comes afterwards :)
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
Almost all our content is direct from HL2. Our main focus is getting it working with as few bugs as possible. The fancy stuff comes afterwards :)
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yeah thats what i thought
 
Of course, you might consider controlling zombies through an RTS interface and dropping barrels on people like some kind of malelovant uber-Method-ist movie director fancy.

I don't think you can really cast the situation as a direct competition between NMRIH and ZM - they're two mods taking two rather different approaches. Co-Op vs RTFPSS doesn't need to be and shouldn't be a 'vs'.
 
Sulkdodds said:
Of course, you might consider controlling zombies through an RTS interface and dropping barrels on people like some kind of malelovant uber-Method-ist movie director fancy.

I don't think you can really cast the situation as a direct competition between NMRIH and ZM - they're two mods taking two rather different approaches. Co-Op vs RTFPSS doesn't need to be and shouldn't be a 'vs'.
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yeah i agree with that. im not suggesting the two are competing, its just that when i look around at the zombie mods, the only two im interested in are NMRIH and ZM, simply becasue theyre zombie games in their truest sense.

by that i mean that all enemies are just normal people who've turned, which is how i like my zombie games to be. i dont like games like resident evil simply because there are too many wierd, almost alien-like creatures that are basically monsters, it just doesnt interest me.

NMRIH and ZM are completely different game types, i know this, i was simply refering to them both in my original post because theyre are the two mods that im most interested in, and because in my opinion theyre the only two 'real' zombie games worth any note in development. and thats including retail games...for which there is only dead rising, and even that has the kind of boss characters and such which im going to find off-putting
 
One might also note that the NMRIH team consists of about 20 people, as counted on their team page. ZM consists of 6 :p
 
bodhi said:
yeah i agree with that. im not suggesting the two are competing, its just that when i look around at the zombie mods, the only two im interested in are NMRIH and ZM, simply becasue theyre zombie games in their truest sense.
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I was going to say you're missing out D.E.A.D, DotD and Overrun, but then I check and only Overrun's site is still up (http://hl2or.jconserv.net/portal.php). Quite sad.
 
These Exclusive screens didn't include any unskinned renders. I'm disappointed.
 
Yeah, and no concept art!

What gives!? don't you guys do anything!?
 
EXCLUSIVE: Unique Concept Render!

hotpants4uo.jpg


Nothing to sue see here. Move along!
 
drunkymonkey said:
I can't wait to be the Zombie Master.
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The insane cackling is the best part when you watch a bunch of fasties cause the survivors to run into a bunch of shamblies or some of our other tasty zombie types and they all die gruesomely.
 
Ennui said:
The insane cackling is the best part when you watch a bunch of fasties cause the survivors to run into a bunch of shamblies or some of our other tasty zombie types and they all die gruesomely.
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That's what I was thinking. I'll feel like the Dark Lord Sauron, except commanding zombies, and not goblins and orcs, which is a minor setback. But only a minor one.
 
The best thing is being locked up in that one store stuffing the entrance with all the chairs and killing fasties
 
Dalamari said:
The best thing is being locked up in that one store stuffing the entrance with all the chairs and killing fasties
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Yeah that store used to be fun, until i realised something. I used to push that big white table in the way of the back door thinking it would barricade the zombies out, but a shamblie smacked it and it took all 100hp of my health in one hit and pinned me to the wall D: Tough map!
 
screenshots are meh, nothing really new, but thats what a mod is anyways. most peeps trying to make a whole damn game, and failing, this is just a mod, but with teh coolness zombie master gameplay. not much to look at but im sure it will be fun. prolly the most drab looking levels i ever did see get released to the pubic ;)
 
Drab looking levels? Pi Mu Rho is a fantastic mapper on par with the VALVe mappers out there, if not better than some of them. The maps he has made for ZM are nothing short of brilliant. The time and effort he's put in may not be entirely reflected in those shots, but i assure you, your observations are severely mis-guided. Yes the game isn't very shiny yet, but the maps are in later stages of progress (many finished) and it plays something new and extremely fun filled. Oh and using your technique of putting a winking smilie on the end after a damming comment, your english typing skills are the most basic i've ever seen ;)
 
I have to agree with polyguns on this. The interview consists mainly of information that has already been released to the HL2.net comunity in various threads or simply repeated statements. Such as:
Halflife2.net: just what is Zombie Master?
Angry Lawyer: Zombie Master is a strategy/shooter modification for Half-Life 2, where a team of humans must survive, and complete a number of objectives, while one player becomes the Zombie Master - an omnipresent being that can summon and control hordes of undead creatures.

...

Halflife2.net: What defines ZM and makes it stand out from the rest of the flock?
Pi Mu Rho: Zombie Master is pretty much defined by the strategy element. One player is the Zombie Master, and is in control of the zombie hordes. For everyone else, it’s purely survival.
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Pi Mu Rho: I’m glad you asked that question, Roger. I’d like to refer you to our PR department, except we don’t have one.
Click to expand...
This quote amused me. You don't have a PR department, yet you still (all three of you) took the time out to do an interview. What you said is true, you don't have a PR department, but that hasn't stopped you from reassigning your efforts, albeit momentarily, to the coverage a PR guy seeks.

I really like what you guys are doing, proving modding can still be done in a close-knit team with 100% of your focus on gameplay, but when you then do an interview before you've finished work on the mod, you surely can't argue that this is an attempt to get greater exposure and increase your community. As someone who's been watching this mod for a while, I've only learnt two things from this interview: the first is what AL said about manipulates, the second is what Pi said about different map objectives. Sadly, the rest of the text is filled up with comments like:
theGreenBunny said:
It’s hard to say, being used to all the features currently we have. However, I am looking forward to implementing a certain feature that could turn out very nice. Sadly, telling you about it goes against my personal policy of only talking about things we actually have rather than what could be
Click to expand...
TheGreenBunny said:
Fixing the problems that come up, adding features we didn’t have time for earlier, making things prettier. I think I just repeated Lawyer’s answer. Nyargh.
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It makes the need for an interview fairly negligable, unless you're doing it purely for PR, which I thought wasn't in your game plan at all. You mentioned that your mod will largely be judged on its gameplay rather than its visuals or originality (although I think it's an original enough concept), so why do an interview which barely mentions anything about the gameplay? Why bother with the 'hype' if it's not going to do you any good at this stage?

I just think that when another mod gets criticised for sending the HL2.net newsdesk an item about it getting mentioned in some magazines, it seems a bit rich that some of the main people making those criticisms then turn up to this thread to worship what is essentially a spurious interview from a dev team that supposedly shuns the very notion of PR. I'm looking forward to ZM, but sometimes I get a bit confused about which actual approach to modding the team actually has. Before this interview, I would have lauded you guys for being one of the very few mods doing their thing according to the old school of modding. This interview goes against that slightly.
 
drunkymonkey said:
Then my zombie hordes would have to crush you.
Click to expand...

Haha, you can't! Because Im an expert on zombie killers. And I can find more resources to shoot your zombies back as dead bodies!

Anyway, if this game releases, see you at multiplayer. And hey, create a server would be great and the tension would be high.

And my shotgun can kill your zombies. And well, we'll see who's the winner, you or me. It depends.
 
Zombie master is probably the only interesting/decent multiplayer mod going at the moment. I'm not really a multiplayer fellow, but I can say ZM has managed to sway my interest.

See, there are far too many multiplayer mods going. And too few are doing something supremely different. I'm not claiming ZM is completely original, but it shows what can be done without a tip top polish PR departement, few team members and lack of a leader that gets site admins to remove criticism. :p
 
Crispy:

You know, if you were the arbiter of mod development, I'd be bothered about your comments. As it stands, I really don't care. That won't stop me from correcting you, however.

You don't have a PR department, yet you still (all three of you) took the time out to do an interview. What you said is true, you don't have a PR department, but that hasn't stopped you from reassigning your efforts, albeit momentarily, to the coverage a PR guy seeks.
Click to expand...

We don't actively seek PR - Ennui approached us about an interview and we accepted. It took about 10 minutes, all told. We don't seek coverage or publicity. If someone wants to publicise ZM, then more power to them. It doesn't affect us one way or the other.

It makes the need for an interview fairly negligable, unless you're doing it purely for PR, which I thought wasn't in your game plan at all.
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Again, there was no need for an interview. It was offered. Questions were asked, answers were given. There was no intent or agenda.

Why bother with the 'hype' if it's not going to do you any good at this stage?
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See above. We're not hyping anything.

I just think that when another mod gets criticised for sending the HL2.net newsdesk an item about it getting mentioned in some magazines, it seems a bit rich that some of the main people making those criticisms then turn up to this thread to worship what is essentially a spurious interview from a dev team that supposedly shuns the very notion of PR. I'm looking forward to ZM, but sometimes I get a bit confused about which actual approach to modding the team actually has. Before this interview, I would have lauded you guys for being one of the very few mods doing their thing according to the old school of modding. This interview goes against that slightly.
Click to expand...

If people want to "worship" (odd choice of word there) ZM, then they have done so entirely by themselves. We don't have a group of people lined up just for promoting our mod by pretending to be ordinary gamers.
Our approach is exactly as stated. I don't see why you're so confused about this. We have no PR person because we don't see the need for one. However, if there is interest in ZM, we aren't going to ignore it. It's really not very difficult to understand.
If this goes against your perception of how we work, then there is an issue with your perception. Believe it or not, but some people do things differently to the way that you do it. Your outright criticism of our methods is odd, to say the least. However, as I previously stated, it matters not one bit.
I suggest you level your criticisms elsewhere - we don't need advice on how to handle ZM, and your apparent confusion arises from your own misguided perception of our intentions.
 
So you're not defending the fact the interview was virtually devoid of any new information on Zombie Master? I spotted six new screenshots (3 of which were of an previously shown area), a bunch of comments about how you don't do PR (despite this you managed to respond to this thread a mere 12 minutes after I posted it) and the 2 new pieces of information I mentioned previously. You seem to be forgetting that I actually admire the essence of your approach to mod development, I was just confused about the whole (we don't do PR yet we take part in an interview that barely reveals any new information at all).

I don't mind taking this to PMs if you'd prefer, since I didn't come here to derail the thread, merely point out my opinion on the matter.
 
As I see in the screenshots. I loved the mod and I hoped it will release and the rotten faces of the dead bodies in HL2 comes back to life in this mod! Time for me to play as human to bring these rotting bags back to dead bodies.

Continue working on this mod. I have high hopes on this mod and the best multiplayer zombie survival mod I had ever seen!
 
-Crispy- said:
So you're not defending the fact the interview was virtually devoid of any new information on Zombie Master? I spotted six new screenshots (3 of which were of an previously shown area), a bunch of comments about how you don't do PR (despite this you managed to respond to this thread a mere 12 minutes after I posted it) and the 2 new pieces of information I mentioned previously.

I don't mind taking this to PMs if you'd prefer, since I didn't come here to derail the thread, merely point out my opinion on the matter.
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I have nothing to defend. Questions were asked, questions were answered. The screenshots were chosen from a recent playtest (I wasn't aware that they all had to be from completely previously unseen areas - obviously we're not following the PR "rules") and no, we don't do PR. My response time to your post was because I am a moderator for this site. You really do have a bee in your bonnet about this whole PR thing, don't you? If you feel the need to justify your existence by lambasting our lack of a PR person (although we consider it a gain, not a lack) then do it within the confines of your own head. You do not represent the epitome of mod development. Our development method is equally as valid as the one you represent. These attempts at tripping us up ("Look! You did PR!") are just...bemusing.

I'm pretty sure that this stems from your PR position. You can't comprehend the idea of an interview in which we just answer the questions without following some neatly bulletpointed list, or providing media that's been through some overanalysing selection process. I suggest that you get your head round the concept.
 
Dear Mr. -Crispy-,-STOP-

I for one am getting fed up with your bullshit. -STOP-
This continuous struggle of you against the world is pretty useless -STOP-
Before accusing other mod teams of 'hype' one should look into the mirror and admit they are hyping themselves -STOP-
You didnt write the book on PR. Yet you do write a article on moddb.-STOP-
This whoever does not entitle you to comment on any other mod, or the way it practises it's dev-community relationship. -STOP-
Let me allow you to write a one sentence, creative, play on your actions:-STOP-
"I do PR, every mod should do PR. You say you don't do PR but really you do. PR! PR! PR!" -STOP-
Thank you. -STOP-
Give DaveL my regards. -STOP-
Love and kisses, -STOP-
Pax. -STOP-
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
I'm pretty sure that this stems from your PR position. You can't comprehend the idea of an interview in which we just answer the questions without following some neatly bulletpointed list, or providing media that's been through some overanalysing selection process. I suggest that you get your head round the concept.
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Or maybe my comments are from a fan's position. Don't forget I've been a part of this community for over a year now, how much of a part only others could say (and I'm sure you no doubt have your own opinion on that). Anyway, my point is that anyone who regulars in the mods and modding forum will no doubt have heard of ZM, and for us fans it's been a long time before any word. Up until now I've been fine with that, if you're working on the mod then that's cool that you don't get us all excited over nothing, but as someone who's been following this mod since I knew who was involved in it, when I saw this interview I was like: "Pfft. Got my hopes up for no reason."

And grow up Pax. You're only serving to derail this thread and divert the topic from ZM to something else. I do not wish to do that because it's a punishable offence according to the HL2.net code of conduct, so anything else I say will be via PM.
 
-Crispy- said:
Or maybe my comments are from a fan's position. Don't forget I've been a part of this community for over a year now, how much of a part only others could say (and I'm sure you no doubt have your own opinion on that). Anyway, my point is that anyone who regulars in the mods and modding forum will no doubt have heard of ZM, and for us fans it's been a long time before any word. Up until now I've been fine with that, if you're working on the mod then that's cool that you don't get us all excited over nothing, but as someone who's been following this mod since I knew who was involved in it, when I saw this interview I was like: "Pfft. Got my hopes up for no reason."

And grow up Pax. You're only serving to derail this thread and divert the topic from ZM to something else. I do not wish to do that because it's a punishable offence according to the HL2.net code of conduct, so anything else I say will be via PM.
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Pardon? If you want to throw with mud I will throw with mud.

I state my own opinion, and that is the above. If you don't feel like respecting that, or if you feel like my opinion 'rattles' your ivory tower please email to pax@I-dont-give-a-****.com

Basically posting the latter ("grow up Pax. You're only serving to derail this thread and divert the topic from ZM to something else. I do not wish to do that because it's a punishable offence according to the HL2.net code of conduct, so anything else I say will be via PM."), shows me, and others, how far you will go with cheap shots.

For this my dear sir, is cheap.

- Pax
 
Interesting. Because, after rereading the interview I can see:

An overview of what ZM is

An overview of our development methodology

New information about the features in ZM (specifically the manipulates and map objectives)

Information about post-beta plans.

Six new screenshots

Given the context of the questions asked, we provided as much information (and new information) as was possible. In fact, there is very little information about ZM that we haven't given out over the course of its development.
If you don't like the interview, then there's not much I can do about that. As the majority of the feedback we've had has been overwhelmingly positive, we can live with the occasional negative one.

As for your comments being "from a fan's position", it's very hard to credit that with your bizarre ranting about our position on PR.
 
I had to agree with Pax.

Sad to see that there is always someone who will ruin good things. Hey, Crispy, if you know so much about modding, why don't you offer professional help for them instead of criticizing and spitting on people's work.

Don't care about negative reviews, just continue working on the mod! I have high hopes on it!
 
The thing is, -Crispy- hasn't actually said anything negative about the mod at all. His issue is with the way it's been presented. Which, as I'm sure that I've amply pointed out by now, is utterly irrelevant to us :)
 
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