It looks like Rick Grimes has a fancy new hat! Is that a new sheriff in town? Darn straight it is! The Indie Stone’s Project Zomboid has officially launched their new build 34 update, and has given us a sneak peek at things to come.

For those of you that follow the updates, you may already know what the new build 34 update is all about, or possibly you are part of their build beta test program. However, for those of you that aren’t hardcore Zomboid fans, you may be missing out on some of the new stuff heading towards Project Zomboid. First off, the new build 34 update contains the graphics overhaul that the Indie Stone has been working hard on releasing for the past several months. The new graphics update contains the x2 textures that were all completely redrawn to add a smooth and super high quality HD texture quality to the game world.

new server options menu.

Build 34 will also feature a few other updates, such as the easy co-op server options that you can setup to jump right in and play with a friend without all the fuss and hassle. As you can see from the provided screenshot, there are dozens of options to choose from to set your server up, including customizing your zombies and their stats to create some pretty unique game server conditions.

Players can also now choose to activate sleeping on multiplayer servers, something that wasn’t possible before in previous versions, or if it was there, it was a bit difficult to implement to personal servers. I tested the new multiplayer settings out and I must say, I absolutely love how easy it is to setup. For the complete list of changes for the new build 34 update, you can follow the provided link to read more.

In other news, the Indie Stone is preparing for some other really big content updates for the future. Backpacks that actually show up on your back, clothing, and a whole lot of new animations. Check out the new backpack animations and item management system that they are currently working on for future updates in the below teaser videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ-3773oSm4&feature=youtu.be

Players will now have to take the backpack off before using items in their inventory, so item management is a bit more realistic, and could possibly be deadly if you don’t clear the area. The new animation trailer video released back in March, also showcases jumping over fences, tripping and falling, new weapon models and combat animations, as well as some fancy new clothing and hats. One thing to note about the weapon combat animations is that it looks like players will be able to perform combos, as well as new zombie finisher moves to end them rightly. Take a look at the sneak peek trailer for what is to come soon.

Did you see that awesome spear poke? About time, the old spear was pretty useless. When will these features officially launch? I’m not sure yet, and based on the description for the YouTube video, they aren’t too sure either.

The new nutrition system is in the public build 34 update that released, however, it can only be accessed either through the multiplayer server settings options or through the Sandbox single player options to activate it. You can view the future plans for the clothing and the new bag options by following this link here. Or visit the Indie Stone forums page for additional details and updates.