Development Update : New Trader UI, Multiplayer Fixes, Infestations & More

Hey survivors!

Over the last few days, I’ve been focusing heavily on bug fixing, multiplayer reliability, UI improvements, and general polish.

One of the biggest changes in this update is a complete overhaul of the trader interface, but there have also been improvements to zombies, infestations, healing items, multiplayer player names, collisions, factions, and more.

Here’s what changed.Before here so community videos:

🛒 New Trader Interface

The old trader interface has now been replaced with a completely new system.

The previous trader had several issues, especially in multiplayer where remote clients could sometimes not properly sell items. On top of that, the old interface was not as intuitive or user-friendly as I wanted.

The new trader interface now separates everything more clearly:

• Trader inventory on the left

• Your inventory on the right

• Items you want to buy or sell displayed in the center

• Persistent item selection when clicking an item

• Quantity controls

• Improved Buy/Sell workflow

• Clearer item information and prices

• Player Cash displayed directly in the interface

• Improved multiplayer transaction handling

• Easier cancellation and management of pending trades

The goal was to make trading much easier to understand while also rebuilding the transaction system to behave correctly for both the host and remote clients.

This is a fairly significant improvement to one of the game's core progression systems.

🧟 Zombie Improvements

Several changes were made to zombies.

• Fixed zombie damage

• Adjusted zombie running speed

• Fixed zombie health values

• Fixed zombie spawning during Infestation events

I also fixed an audio replication issue.

Previously, when a zombie detected a player, the aggro/detection sound could incorrectly be heard by other players across the multiplayer session.

That sound now behaves correctly instead of being globally replicated to everyone.

☣️ Infestation Improvements

Infestation events received some additional adjustments.

You now need to actually enter the Infestation area before the event starts.

This prevents events from starting too early simply because they exist somewhere in the world.

Zombie spawning inside Infestations has also been corrected to make the events more reliable.

❤️ Healing Item Fixes

Healing items received another repair pass.

• Fixed issues with healing items

• Removed the healing cooldown temporarily

For now, healing items can once again be used without the previous cooldown while I continue evaluating the best way to handle healing balance.

🌐 Multiplayer Improvements

Multiplayer continues to receive a lot of attention.

Player names above characters have been improved so teammates can now be identified from much farther away.

This should make it considerably easier to keep track of other survivors when exploring together.

The new trader system was also designed with multiplayer authority in mind so buying and selling works correctly for remote clients instead of only working reliably for the host.

🏭 Furnace Returns

The Furnace has been added back into the game.

Players will once again be able to encounter and use the furnace as part of the survival and processing systems.

🛡️ Animation Fix

Fixed an issue with the block animation.

Blocking should now behave more consistently.

⚾ Item & Equipment Fixes

Several smaller item corrections were also made:

• Fixed the displayed weapon name for the Baseball Bat

• Updated the Red Shirt description to clearly indicate that it provides +10 inventory slots

Small changes like these help make item bonuses and equipment behavior much easier to understand.

🏚️ World & Collision Fixes

Fixed collision problems around the Prison.

This should reduce situations where players could encounter incorrect collision while exploring the area.

🏴 Faction Safe Zones

New markers have been added for Faction Safe Zones.

These markers should make faction-controlled safe locations easier to identify while exploring the world.

Full Update Summary

• Fixed block animation

• Fixed healing items

• Temporarily removed healing cooldown

• Improved multiplayer player-name visibility distance

• Added the Furnace back into the game

• Infestations now begin after entering the event area

• Fixed zombie spawning during Infestations

• Fixed Baseball Bat weapon name

• Fixed zombie damage

• Fixed zombie running speed

• Fixed zombie HP

• Fixed zombie aggro/detection sound replication

• Updated Red Shirt description to mention its +10 inventory slots

• Removed the old trader UI

• Added a completely new trader interface

• Improved multiplayer trader buying/selling behavior

• Fixed Prison collision

• Added Faction Safe Zone markers

What’s Next?

Development is currently heavily focused on polishing existing systems, fixing multiplayer issues, improving usability, and making everything as stable as possible.

There are still plenty of smaller fixes and improvements being worked on, and I’ll continue sharing progress as we get closer to the next major milestone.

Thank you to everyone following the development of Not Quite Dead, reporting issues, wishlisting the game, and supporting the project.

More soon! 🧟‍♂️