Have you ever wanted to live out The Walking Dead but in a video game? I know I have! But few games allow for the level of freedom and authenticity required to actually build a town in the zombie apocalypse. But there’s one. Building a town in Project Zomboid, thanks to the recent multiplayer update, is now a genuine possibility, and an absolute hoot to boot!
How to Build a Town in Project Zomboid
Choosing a Base Location
First and foremost, you need the ideal base location capable of holding an entire town full of players. A few questions to keep in mind when selecting your starting town in Project Zomboid, as well as a starting base location, are:
- How many players will live in your town?
- How many houses/businesses will you fortify?
- Do you require easy access to any specific locations/towns?
A little firsthand map knowledge will help when selecting the right neighborhood for a town in Project Zomboid.
If you don’t have that map knowledge, gather your group of survivors and roam the world until you find a street that feels right.
Picking the Right Residents
Your buddy, iPwn420, is excellent at slaying zombies, but he’s not a people person and is prone to starting arguments or walking off with high-tier loot for his own purposes. Would he make an ideal town resident?
As the town founder, you’ll want to consider the long-term. Do you want to keep playing Project Zomboid for weeks or months on end? Or, do you want a one-off experience over a single weekend?
If the former is your goal, then carefully consider who joins your town and who gets exiled to the wastes of zombie-ridden Kentucky.
You want folks who share the same goal, who bring unique skills to the table, to help build a bustling township.
Diversifying Roles
Speaking of unique skills, not everyone should become a farmer, guard, or even a scavenger. Everyone in the town should specialize in their role. You’ll want a doctor, a farmer, a defense force to protect the homestead and clear nearby undead, and a few other key roles.
A few ideal occupations you’ll want to bring to the table include:
- Construction Worker
- Carpenter
- Chef
- Farmer
- Doctor
- Electrician
- Engineer
- Metalworker
- Mechanic
- Lumberjack
These occupations in Project Zomboid provide useful boons to various skills, like cooking or chopping trees, that will directly benefit your community.
Stocking the Pantry
To feed an entire town, you need a lot of food. This isn’t a one-man show any longer, so no cans of dog food or single ears of corn will suffice. You need a steady supply of foodstuffs, and for that, you need to set up farmland.
For this, you’ll want a player who started in the Farmer occupation. Their unique benefits to sowing and harvesting crops cannot be understated.
But in the meantime, before you can sow fields of crops, you’ll need to rely on scavenging. Again, every player involved will need to work towards the common end goal. Everyone should bring their food supplies to a central location, then share it all.
Along with a recurring food supply, you’ll want to learn how to collect water for long-term survival, too.
Why Build a Town in Project Zomboid
Constructing and running an entire township in Project Zomboid can prove quite the challenge for players of any skill level.
So, think long and hard about undertaking the endeavor. But not too hard, because this is, after all, still a video game.
Roleplay
Many players, myself included, enjoy the roleplay aspect of modern video games. Project Zomboid is rife with opportunities for roleplayers, too. As I said previously, you could reenact your favorite season of The Walking Dead by rebuilding Alexandria or Hilltop.
Or hey, why not play the bad guy? Form a band of raiders in a secluded industrial district, then rampage through the server, robbing and fighting as you go.
Cooperation
With the introduction of official multiplayer in Project Zomboid, the ability to cooperate with another play, or a group of players, to better survive the zombie apocalypse has opened so many doors.
Now, you and your best friend can strategically loot and clear an entire block with relative ease. Why? Because someone always has your back.
It’s a lot of fun knowing that someone else is trapped under the same horrific circumstances as yourself at the end of the world!
Entertainment!
Whether you’re a content creator or actively seeking a few gaming memories, you can never understate the value of entertainment that stems from building something momentous in Project Zomboid.
The sheer thrill of moving house-to-house, clearing each room of undead. Then hastily barricading a single residential dwelling as a safe haven for the night. The long-term plans of blocking off streets to stem the tide of undead. As everything comes to fruition and you witness your hard work pay off, it’s a truly memorable experience.
How does building a township sound? Do you want to live a high life at the end of the world? I’d love to see screenshots of your work!