Project Zomboid

In Project Zomboid, the player aims to survive for as long as possible in an apocalyptic and zombie-ridden part of Kentucky known as 'Knox Country', which has been quarantined by the government. g. a firefighter has a higher chance of spawning in a fire station if the chosen town has one). On top of avoiding zombies, the player has to manage their personal needs (such as hunger, stress, fatigue, and boredom) to stay alive through resting, scavenging for supplies, and using survivalist techniques.

The player can level skills through activities and reading skill books, reading magazines, and watching VHS tapes. The game uses the traditional Romero style slow-moving zombies, though certain zombies are faster than others, and sandbox mode includes a setting for "sprinter" zombies.

Project Zomboid centres around the "Knox Event", which is conveyed through in-game radio broadcasts and TV channels. The initial cause and origin of the "Knox Infection" is never specifically stated, with characters in the in-game radio station, KnoxTalk, speculating a variety of possibilities, including a prion disease, an act of God, or bio-terrorism. The infection is known to be spread through contact with saliva, blood, and eventually becomes airborne; however, the player is immune to the latter mode of transmission. After being infected, individuals first experience a high fever followed by increasing feelings of anxiety and nausea, which will progressively worsen until they succumb to the disease. There is no cure for the Knox Infection, and it is invariably fatal.

The game begins on July 9, 1993, approximately three days after the United States military establishes a blockade surrounding the infected areas of Muldraugh, Riverside, West Point, and Rosewood, dubbed the Knox Exclusion Zone. US Army General John McGrew, who oversees containment measures within the exclusion zone, issues a statement informing the public to remain calm, assuring that no fatalities have been reported.

According to developers at The Indie Stone, the game has been something they "always wanted to make" and a "dream game", although they felt that they would be unable to due to time commitments. This sentiment changed after the success of Minecraft, which showed them another way to develop a game that would produce a quicker result. The Indie Stone stated the main inspiration for the game were zombie movies as opposed to zombie video games. It is written in Java for its portability, using LWJGL.

The game was first released as an "Alpha Tech-Demo" on May 28, 2011. In June 2011, soon after the game's release as a paid pre-alpha tech demo, the game was leaked, and unauthorized copies spread to other websites. The unauthorized version of the game enabled downloading from the Project Zomboid servers with the press of an 'update now' button, regardless of whether the user already had the latest version. In order to avoid paying for these downloads, The Indie Stone took the customer-only paid version offline, and instead, released a free "public tech-demo" for download the next day.