ZM in the Top 100! news

Fans!

Let me first say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support of this mod. Since the mod's inception 5 years ago, we've been so lucky to have fans who have been genuinely supportive of our efforts and are very much as excited as we are about this project. The most recent example of this is being voted into the top 100 upcoming mods in the 2013 MOTY competition, where out of the literally thousands of work in progress mods, you chose to support ZombieMod.

As a sign of gratitude, I would like to give you a few words on the status of ZombieMod, my goals, what I am working on currently, and a few estimates to tide you over to the next update!

1. As of right now, I have completed all but one of my final exams, with the last one, my hardest, being on this Monday coming up. I'll be heading home for a 6 week winter break immediately after the test, but because it is the holidays and such, I don't expect to do much work on ZombieMod until after Christmas, December 25th. However, I do plan on doing minor things here and there so as to maximize my time, so it is safe to say that there will be an update sometime before or shortly after January 1st.

2. My current focus, from a coding perspective, is the doctrines for all 3 factions. At the moment, my thoughts are:
Survivors:
(1) Protectors of the Homeland is too strong
(2) International Crisis and Civil Empowerment are lacking in comparison, with Civil Empowerment being the weakest

Zombies:
(1) All 3 doctrines are weak and provide minimal bonuses at the moment

Bandits:
(1) Doctrines have not been implemented yet, but they do have a layout.

I am also focused on reworking the survivors a bit so that they have a few more unit options without being saturated with redundant units. I estimate this will only take a few hours of coding.

3. My goals are as follows:
(1) Complete the Zombie and Bandit factions as soon as possible
(2) Create a playable version of the mod with missing art assets so that balance can be tested while the visuals are implemented
(3) Finish missing art assets and revamp vCoH maps to fit the mod.
(4) Create a few SCAR scripted missions for launch
(5) Create a closed beta test involving some competitive players from the community as well as accepting applications from a certain amount of community members.
(6) Package, release, prepare for post-release.

I refuse to give a release date, as I believe that this could bring up your hopes only for me to have to change it, which is something I would rather not have happen.

So, here's a really, really brief recap:
1. Things are changing, some a lot, all of it for the better. Expect the zombies and the survivors to change a lot.
2. Things are coming, hopefully soon, but don't get your hopes too high. As a rule of thumb, just remember that I won't be able to release anything during a semester, so if anything is to be released, it'll be during winter or summer break.
3. School is almost over for now, meaning work is coming soon

Again, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your support, and I look forwards to some great news in the future,

BDNY on behalf of the ZM Team