Generation Zero® News

Good day, Survivors!

Apologies in advance if my pun-game isn’t as on point as it usually is, I definitely didn’t just start writing this report at 3:30pm on a Friday because I’ve been buried neck-deep in preparations for the 5th anniversary event. We have so many things going on this month, let me remind you of a few things and also give you a small outlook on what to expect in the time leading up to and during the anniversary event!

[h3]Help us playtest a future project[/h3]
We’ve started construction on a new game (no, it’s not GZ2) and we’re looking for people to help us test a super early concept so we can keep working on it with the Community right by our side.
That’s why we’re organizing several rounds of playtests taking place during the next few weeks. If you’re interested, are playing on Steam, and are over 18 years old (You’ll have to sign an NDA), please join this Discord server and read the instructions on how to sign up!

[h3]Steam Spring sale ongoing![/h3]
My boss told me to include this in the report so here we go: Something something get your friends in the game at 80% discount, yadda yadda both Story DLCs currently cost like 2$, go check out the Steam page to see the other amazing discounts. Here’s the link that you will please click because it will make my manager very happy:
Click here

[h3]5th anniversary event[/h3]
On March 26th, it will have been exactly 5 years since Generation Zero was released into the wild. It’s been a crazy journey with lots of ups and downs, a journey that I was fortunate enough to experience from the very beginning until now!
We have a lot planned to celebrate this important milestone. There will be lots of giveaways during the whole week, a special livestream on the day, and many little tributes to everyone who helped bring us this far (including you). I highly encourage you to follow our social media so you don’t miss out on any of the goodies.

[h3]The next Update[/h3]
The 31st patch for GZ is being finished as we speak. This means we’re ironing out the last issues and then we’ll submit it to the different platforms for certification before we can release it. Sadly I can’t yet say when exactly it’ll be released, but I can say that it’s called the Community Requests Update. As the name suggests, it will consist of several features and quality of life improvements that many of you have been asking for (some of them have been requested for a long time!) as well as many bug fixes.
I don’t want to spoil any of the features yet (if you read the last Resistance Report and have been following our different channels, you’ll have seen a couple of hints already), but here are some bug fixes I’d like to highlight:

• “Clicking” sounds heard when near machines that are fighting each other
  
• Companions teleporting in front of moving vehicles and crashing them
  
• Unlimited 4C AG4 drops from Harvesters after doing “An Invitation”
  
• Displayed inventory weight being inconsistent when looting
  
• Tons of “random” crash fixes (and some not so random ones)
  

All of these issues and more will be fixed in this update. If any of their symptoms still persist, please let us know ASAP so we can look into smiting them once and for all.

Thank you for reading! This edition’s Swiss German Word is:
Chätschä (kind of like the english word “catch” but try to stretch out the c sound and append another a). It means to chew! A variation of this is “choie” (same elongated c sound).

Talk to you soon!
Carni, Community Manager

Greetings, Survivors!

I am so happy to say this: The 60FPS patch on PS5 is FINALLY out. I’ve talked before about how difficult it is to optimize any game for any console, and that is amplified by trying to make it run at a specific frame rate consistently. Feedback to the update has been super positive, which is so good to hear! We are glad to finally put this behind us and move on to our other plans for the year. So what happens now?

[h3]Our plans[/h3]

The internal roadmap for 2024 is still under construction. This is mainly because we have a lot of things that we want to do and not enough time to do it all in this year, so we’re prioritizing and setting goals. Right now, our focus is on bringing you things that you (the players) have been asking for and that we haven’t been able to implement so far.

We’re already making great progress with the next update. It’ll be aptly titled “Community Requests Update” and we’re using it to introduce some much requested features and Quality of Life improvements. It’ll also come with another slew of crash fixes, stability improvements, and a fix for the new “clicking sounds” audio issue.

You may wonder “But Carni, what are those much requested features and improvements?” and for that, I got out my old poem writing skills (anyone remember the 3rd and 4th GZ anniversary on Discord?) to give you a hint towards one of the changes:

In every safehouse I can be found
In the corner, on the floor, or right there on the ground.
My goal is to help you and lighten your load,
In the past, though, often I just overflowed.
Now this update will have a good change inbound,
So you may run freer and longer around.

You may discuss the meaning of this with the class after the session.
We’ll talk more about what’s in the Community Requests Update all across social media soon, so be sure to follow them for some hints! I’ll be sure to make them extra cryptic.

[h3]Lunar New Year Event[/h3]

In case you haven’t seen, the Lunar New Year event is still in full swing in Generation Zero!
You can get this amazing jacket (that’s not marketing speech, I just genuinely love the design) and a beautiful companion skin from Tanks, Harvesters, Firebirds, and Wolves. Also, you can get a new type of fireworks from containers like backpacks and suitcases.

[h3]Semla Event[/h3]

On top of that, our annual Semla event is also currently active. You can loot the tasty treat in kitchens all over Östertörn and if you find 4 of them, you get a special hat.

Both of these events end on February 24th, so until then: Happy looting!

Thank you for reading this Resistance Report and I’ll talk to you again soon. In the meantime, please join the Discord server! It’s a cool place.
The Swiss German word of the day is “äuä” [ah-waah].
It’s mainly used in the canton of Bern, where our capital is, and is a way to express emotions like disbelief, discontent, surprise, or disappointment. The meaning depends on the intonation. Much like “huh”!

Toodeloo!
-Carni, Community Manager

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Greetings, Survivors!
The Lunar New Year is upon us. The rabbit gives way to the dragon and to us, that's cause to celebrate.
If you play between now and February 24th, machines you kill will offer you special loot.

[h2]Lunar New Year Jacket[/h2]

This red and gold jacket drops from Tanks, Harvesters, Wolves, and Firebirds. Gather your allies, increase your threat level and defeat this mighty foe for some new apparel!

[h2]Lunar New Year Companion Skin[/h2]

Inspired by the Lion Dance, the Resistance decided to give your metal friend a makeover. They now look 100% more festive!

[h2]Lunar New Year Fireworks[/h2]

You can find these new fireworks in all suitable loot containers. They explode in beautiful red, green, and gold bursts and provide some much-needed distraction in precarious situations.

Now, go forth and loot in the name of Lunar New Year!
We wish you happiness and prosperity.

The Generation Zero Dev Team

Greetings, Survivors!

We've just released the third Hotfix for the Three-Wheeled Update on Steam.
PlayStation and Microsoft will receive this version of the game along with the 60FPS patch very soon, we're just verifying it with the respective platforms.

* Fixed a crash that was accidentally introduced in the last Hotfix
* Fixed a crash that occurred when fast travelling to a field radio

Please let us know about any remaining (or new) stability and crash issues.
If you'd like to read more on how we're handling these fixes internally, please read this Resistance Report from last Friday.

With gratitude,
The Generation Zero Dev Team

Good day, Survivors!
Welcome back to the Resistance Report! I’m so glad to be back writing these in 2024.
Let’s get into the latest and (not so) greatest of what’s happening.

[h3]Crashes and how to find them[/h3]
Many of you know that Generation Zero has always had difficulties with stability and performance. When you make an open world game with tons of machines roaming around, loot containers maintaining their contents, and explosions happening fairly often, it’s hard to make sure that game always runs smoothly. We missed that mark when Generation Zero was released back in 2019 and have been wrestling with the consequences of that ever since.

However, we are determined to get our game up to speed and we’ve been implementing tons of performance improvements as I’m sure you’ve noticed, especially on old gen consoles.
Crashes have also been reduced significantly (by about half) in the last couple of patches and there is less lag during combat and traversal.

This is where it gets tricky, though: Because we’ve been going deep into the code base and changing code that was written 6 years ago, other underlying issues are coming to the surface that have been “dormant” for most of that time.
That’s why after we released the initial hotfix, a specific subset of our Steam community playing on older CPUs started crashing before they even got into the game. We took that feedback and released another hotfix on January 23rd, but now many people on Steam are crashing randomly during gameplay whereas they never had any issues before.

Now, I know this is super frustrating to you. Even if you’re not directly affected by the crashes, reading about a new issue appearing so many times in such a short time span leaves a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who likes to enjoy their games in peace. I am asking you, though, to see this for what it is: a symptom of the fact that we are no longer putting band aids on our issues, but going deep and fixing them so they don’t break again in the future. In the long run, this will do wonders for the way the game plays as well as how easy it’ll be for us to identify any future problems. In the meantime, we will do everything we can to fix any new problems as fast as possible while also working on the 60FPS on PS5 patch.

I am super looking forward to getting our beloved game in a stable state so we can focus on working on new things for you to play. Follow the dev letters we release during the upcoming months as they will talk about some of what we’re working on!

The Swiss German word of the day is “cheib” (ch as in [x], or the noise your cat makes when coughing up a fur ball, and eib like the “ibe” in “tribe”). It’s a slang term for “guy” that does not exist in standard German!

Until next time, I’ve been
Carni, Community Manager