Yooooo friendos,
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.