Project Zomboid on Xbox Series X

[DELETED]

Will PZ be released on the console when the game is released in a stable build? I would like to see PZ there as well.

[Death]

The devs have said that they won't do it, but if some other team wants to handle porting it, then it's possible. I wouldn't hold my breath though. Porting it would likely be a huge pain in the ass.

[DELETED]

Originally posted by Death:

The devs have said that they won't do it, but if some other team wants to handle porting it, then it's possible. I wouldn't hold my breath though. Porting it would likely be a huge pain in the ass.

I understand, thank you for the information :D
I hope this will be implemented in the near future, and so of course good luck to them at least to finish the PC version in the product they want to see it.

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by Death:

The devs have said that they won't do it, but if some other team wants to handle porting it, then it's possible. I wouldn't hold my breath though. Porting it would likely be a huge pain in the ass.

That's surprising to me considering the solid controller support. Xbox also has an early access program that doesn't seem to be too popular, but it's there.

Well, I also hope console ports come sometime in the future. I'm all for games being accessible, and they already went further than they had to by providing controller support on a PC-only game where other devs would've laughed and walked out the door.

[Goffik]

Originally posted by it's a gabe:

That's surprising to me considering the solid controller support.

It's not really that surprising, given that porting a game from PC to console involves a great deal more than simply adding support for controllers.

Personally, if that's the stance of the devs then I'm glad. Whenever a potential port of a game from PC to console is even a possibility, compromises start to be made in order to facilitate it. I don't want to see PZ being compromised. If someone wants to port the game in the future, then let them do it with the fully complete PC-based game.

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by Goffik:

Originally posted by it's a gabe:

That's surprising to me considering the solid controller support.

It's not really that surprising, given that porting a game from PC to console involves a great deal more than simply adding support for controllers.

Personally, if that's the stance of the devs then I'm glad. Whenever a potential port of a game from PC to console is even a possibility, compromises start to be made in order to facilitate it. I don't want to see PZ being compromised. If someone wants to port the game in the future, then let them do it with the fully complete PC-based game.

I mean, it's surprising because controller support is rarely considered unless console ports are happening at some point. And PZ's controller support is much better than stuff I've seen available on consoles, mind.

And that depends. We've all seen that happen to games that release on PC and consoles at the same time. PZ is in a different position, tho. If they were to do it, it'd be after 1.0, which is years away. I don't think this is the kind of game that would have to be compromised much for consoles and if any had to happen, the simplest solution would be for consoles to have their own build, instead of unifying development as many studios do nowadays. That would also mean no cross-play, but I'm not even thinking of that when I say I'm all for games being accessible on different platforms.

[CaptainBinky]

The problem is that PZ is a completely custom engine, written from scratch, in Java. All of those things make it far from straight-forward to port, and porting is generally not terribly straight-forward to begin with. So you're basically talking a full re-write from scratch, and this is not something we have the manpower to do and, even if we did, would be complicated by the main PC build still being in active development. So even with the most optimistic hat on, it would not be before the PC build hit 1.0, and would more than likely require out-sourcing to a different development team as we would still be working on updates post 1.0 anyway.

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by CaptainBinky:

The problem is that PZ is a completely custom engine, written from scratch, in Java. All of those things make it far from straight-forward to port, and porting is generally not terribly straight-forward to begin with. So you're basically talking a full re-write from scratch, and this is not something we have the manpower to do, and even if we did, would be complicated by the main PC build still being in active development. So even with the most optimistic hat on, it would still not be before the PC build hit 1.0, and would more than likely require out-sourcing to a different development team as we would still be working on updates post 1.0 anyway.

Radical Fish were able to outsource console ports of CrossCode (or maybe just the Switch port, I'm not sure) post 1.0, thanks to Deck13.

Maybe you guys find yourselves in a similar position in the future. It does make sense for this to be at all a possibility post-release, though. Even with Xbox's preview program, how far behind would that build be when porting is handled by a third party, right?

[CaptainBinky]

I don't know much about CrossCode, but it's Javascript as opposed to Java so it's not entirely comparable beyond it not being written in an engine like Unreal or Unity which simplify rather the porting process.

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by CaptainBinky:

I don't know much about CrossCode, but it's Javascript as opposed to Java so it's not entirely comparable beyond it not being written in an engine like Unreal or Unity which simplify rather the porting process.

Oh, I know very little about game development XD But my point is, perhaps after 1.0 y'all can find another studio to handle this. Radical Fish noted that they had trouble so much as figuring out how to make CrossCode launch on the Switch, for example. And then Deck13 made it happen.

We don't know what tomorrow brings, but maybe y'all will find your Deck13 in the future. You focus on developing the game on PC past 1.0 and they focus on porting.

[CaptainBinky]

Originally posted by it's a gabe:

We don't know what tomorrow brings, but maybe y'all will find your Deck13 in the future. You focus on developing the game on PC past 1.0 and they focus on porting.

Sure, never say never and all that :) If Zomboid does really well between now and 1.0 and we've got plenty of funds to hire a porting team then yeah maybe :D People should probably set their expectations to "not" though, in the meantime :D

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by CaptainBinky:

Originally posted by it's a gabe:

We don't know what tomorrow brings, but maybe y'all will find your Deck13 in the future. You focus on developing the game on PC past 1.0 and they focus on porting.

Sure, never say never and all that :) If Zomboid does really well between now and 1.0 and we've got plenty of funds to hire a porting team then yeah maybe :D People should probably set their expectations to "not" though, in the meantime :D

Understandable XD Just puh-liss, don't abandon controller support. It's pretty good, especially considering the game is only available on PC.

[CaptainBinky]

Oh we're absolutely committed to further improving controller support. It's required for split-screen play, after all :)