Infection Free Zone News

[h2]Greetings, Survivors! [/h2]

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the two most basic groups of needs for human beings are physiological needs and safety needs. Especially in the post-apocalyptic world, where the infection has taken over the world, the ability to protect your Infection Free Zone becomes crucial. Today we would like to shortly talk to you about the gates and walls for your settlement!

[h2]Gates[/h2]

While seemingly mad and reckless, the infected are smarter than one might think. Hordes are capable of identifying inhabited buildings and are willing to take them down with brute force. That's why focusing on defense - towers, walls, and gates - is important quite early into the game.

While building those structures, you will have the option to use different resources and make them more durable over the course of the game. Mind you, some of them might require investing in the technology tree first, but overall, you will be able to build wooden, metal, and brick defensive structures. If you are curious about how the gates will work in practice, watch the video below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]Walls[/h2]

In the very same way, walls are also using different resources. We have recently worked on their animations and how they should fall down when destroyed. As we are really happy with the current results, we want to share the second video with you too:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
What do you think about those two videos? Do you see anything that raises your attention? We are really interested in getting to know your feedback!

[h2]Delivery INC[/h2]
At the end of this update, we want to provide a quick shoutout to our friends from the DIGIFOX studio. Those guys are working hard on Delivery INC, which is another game based on real-world maps and we think that they do an incredible job. If you're really into the games that allow you to play on your hometown, Delivery INC might be right up your alley!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1793260/Delivery_INC/

Best regards,
Jutsu Games Team

[h2]Greetings, Survivors![/h2]

The demo is officially unavailable right now, including an additional round requested by Steam, and the whole team is working hard on the game in full development mode. Some of you have recently noticed that a new mysterious button has appeared on our Steam Page which has something to do with Playtests.

[h2]Playtests[/h2]

The Playtest feature allows inviting players to play the game on Steam, before the official launch. It's mainly used for beta tests, as it provides an opportunity to invite a bigger group of players to test the game. If you want to join the Infection Free Zone playtests in the future, you can click on the following button on the main Store Page to request access:



At the same time, it's important to know that:

• Playtests are going to be used somewhere during the beta phase of the game.
  
• Playtests invitations won't be sent in the nearest future. Requesting access won't result in instant access to Playtests.
  
• We cannot guarantee that every single person who requests access is going to be provided with a playable version of the game. There's a chance that the invitations are going to be sent in batches, depending on our needs.
  

We hope that this announcement is going to clarify the situation for you and answer the most common questions that we have seen appearing on social media. But if have any other questions regarding the playtests - let us know!

Best regards,
Jutsu Games Team

[h2]Greetings, Survivors![/h2]

Steam Next Fest is officially over. Infection Free Zone was super popular during the event and we want to thank you for playing the demo. We are currently analyzing over a thousand questionnaires to prioritize the areas that require improvements the most.

[h2]Demo availability[/h2]

The Infection Free Zone Demo was available only during the Steam Next Fest. Currently, it's deactivated and we are working hard on improving the game based on your feedback and bug reports. It's very likely that we will run some playtests in the future, especially somewhere around the beta phase, but it's not something that we can precisely schedule in time yet.

[h2]Steam Next Fest - Overview[/h2]

Infection Free Zone was the second most popular demo during the Steam Next Fest. During the event:

• It has reached 3,667 max concurrent players peak,
  
• 6,702 new players decided to follow the game,
  
• Over 200,000 players have added the Infection Free Zone demo to their library.
  

Are we happy with this data? Absolutely. But we also remain focused. We analyze all your feedback and plan to act on it, to deliver a game that will provide you with fun, satisfying gameplay on launch.

[h2]Most popular questions from Live Chat[/h2]

We have also decided to run an interview with the developer and two editions of the Live Chat event during the Steam Next Fest. Below you can see the video from the Live Stream and some answers to the most frequent questions, that were asked on chat:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Can you add multiplayer to the game?

At this point, it's not really possible. The game's architecture wasn't made with multiplayer in mind and adding co-op would require at least an additional full year of development. Instead, we want to focus on making the best single-player experience possible.

When is the game launching on Steam?

Right now, we are considering launching Infection Free Zone in Early Access somewhere around Q3 2023. But this decision will heavily depend on your feedback. If we are to receive feedback with the general consensus that the game isn't ready yet - we would rather postpone the launch a bit and fix all the important issues.

Is it going to be possible to play on a map of my city?

The answer in most cases is - yes! Infection Free Zone is based on the Open Street Map data and if your city is well-mapped in OSM, then you can also expect to be able to play there. But in case it is not - we are working on preparing some modding tools for the players, so they can correct the map on their own and add the missing buildings.

Do you plan on adding different human factions to the game?

Yes, we do! We don't want to spoil the story for you, but you can absolutely expect to encounter other groups of survivors in the game. And not all of them are going to be friendly.

Do you plan on adding a weapon swap option for squads?

Absolutely! The demo was based on the pre-alpha version of the game, but we certainly plan to add a lot of missing features, including equipment swapping, demolition, repair, gates, and adding reliable ways of acquiring new survivors. Several new things are to meant to be added!

Thank you once again for your incredible support during the Steam Next Fest. We are very proud to have such an active, dedicated community. Now, we will keep on working hard to ensure that Infection Free Zone is going to be even more popular on launch than it was during this event!

Best regards,
Jutsu Games Team

There will be one more chance to chat with the developers :)

Join us on Sunday 6:00 PM CET ( 9:00 AM PDT, 1AM in China)

If you cannot make it, you can always join our DISCORD server:
https://discord.gg/7dRkNDcBYv

Stay tuned!

[h2]Greetings, Survivor! [/h2]

We have the incredible pleasure to announce that the Infection Free Zone demo is coming to the upcoming Steam Next Fest! The event will take place February 6-13, 2023 @10AM Pacific. If you don't want to miss the Steam Next Event even by a minute, feel free to set a reminder HERE.

[h2]Infection Free Zone Demo[/h2]

Infection Free Zone comes to the Steam Next Fest with around an hour of content! If you always wanted to give this game a try, this is your best chance! In the demo version, you will have a chance to:

• Play on three different, recommended real-life maps:
  - Crofton, USA
  - Dijon, France
  - Cambridge, United Kingdom
  
• Go through the first 7 days of gameplay
  
• Solve several dilemmas and answer transmissions from unknown strangers
  
• Extend your Zone through building adaptation, place defensive towers and walls,
  
• Scavenge structures in the abandoned post-apocalyptic world
  
• Fight against the merciless hordes of infected
  

And what's most important - prove that you have what it takes to lead your own Infection Free Zone!

[h2]Live-Stream[/h2]

We plan to live-stream some Infection Free Zone on Friday, February 10 at 8:00 PM CET! Join us to talk a little bit about the Infection Free Zone development and ask us all the questions that you have always wanted to ask!

[h2]Other demos from Games Operators[/h2]

Games Operators, the publisher behind Infection Free Zone, plans to appear with a few other games on the upcoming Steam Demo Fest. Other than your beloved infected-filled city-builder, you will have a chance to play the demos for the following games:

• Delivery INC. - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1793260/Delivery_INC/
• King's Orders - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369690/Kings_Orders/
• Sorted! - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1999290/SORTED/

We truly hope that you're going to have a lot of fun with all those games! And remember - your feedback is super important to us. We extremely appreciate playing our demos and filling out the surveys at the end. Thanks to your remarks, we know which areas require improvements and where we have to put in some additional work. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Best regards,
Jutsu Games