Maps in popular post-apocalyptic survival game underwent small revolution. For this change Project Zomboid fans waited more than 11 years
The latest update to Project Zomboid introduced a very useful feature. The developers have explained the change.
This week, a popular and highly regarded post-apocalyptic survival game, Project Zomboid, which has over 266,000 reviews on Steam with 94% being positive, received a major update numbered 42.1.0. It introduced many useful features, but not all players may have been aware of the novelty concerning maps.
PCGamesN conducted a conversation with representatives of The Indie Stone studio, responsible for Project Zomboid, who explained how the map seed system works. If you pay attention to details, you probably noticed that the screen of the session now displays information about the "seed," which is a unique code for the map associated with the generation of the world.
In other games with random levels (e.g., in Minecraft), such a code can be useful when we want to share an interestingly generated map with friends. In Project Zomboid, it's the same: however, the content of the code and what gets transferred to another session have been clearly defined by the developers.
[The system] defines the generation outside the original map, including the location of trees, grass (in the future), and underground areas. When copying the seed from another game, that will copy over those elements, like the basement type that was generated.
So the "seed" of the map will store information about underground hideouts and the distribution of flora. What it won't transfer are random events that one can encounter while traversing the game world. This includes stories from apartments (known as "house story") and those from outside (known as "car story").
Understanding the map code can be quite helpful if you've discovered a great hiding spot in the basement that you want to use in another session. Perhaps in the future, the creators will further develop this feature, which has been missing since the release of Project Zomboid.
