pew pew
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Once it was dead, and now it is alive. If my name was Hannibal I would insert a bad joke or pun about Swamp being a zombie game but I refuse to stoop that low. The important thing is Swamp is seeing a major resurgence in the player base. The game actually has a active group of players and the server is back to being busy every day. There are a couple reasons for this, the free month and the fact that Aprone is actively developing the game is a major part in what has happened. The most important thing now is knowing what is coming and what can everyone expect to be added next? I reached out to Aprone and he was nice enough to reply with in depth answers which I can now share with everyone.
What is Swamp?
If you want to read the official description of swamp you can do so on “aprone’s website or you can read the BSG Swamp overview.
Simply put it is the best audio FPS available for blind gamers. Yes it is a zombie shooter, but that doesn’t take away from the game. I’m personally not a fan of that genre, but I still really enjoy Swamp. It is subscription based yes, but the price is only $24.00 a year to play, and no one can complain about paying $2.00 a month. If you can’t pay it then there are giveaways coming, if you are lucky you could win yourself a subscription. There will be more on this at the end of this post so make sure to read on to the bottom.
What Is Coming In Swamp?
At the bottom of this post there will be a link to view the questions I asked and the answers Aprone gave.
New use for diesel:
Inside the 3.8 patch there were some sounds which seemed to be for driving a truck. The current plan is to allow people to use diesel fuel to drive between maps instead of running the whole way. The specifics aren’t known yet but it will be more involved than just being transported there. This makes me think with the shifting and impact sounds you will have to control the driving and actually survive the journey. This is the new use for diesel Aprone has hinted at in the past. How involved it will be is yet to be seen, but I’m really hoping for an interactive driving experience. Who knows this might even open up the doors down the road for new missions in the future. Aprone said right now that isn’t the plan, but I’m still holding out hope that one day it might become a thing.
new things coming:
I’m going to put Aprone’s exact wording here.
When it comes to new things, new maps are high up on my list. I’ve read rumors the players share about new maps, new weapons, and new zombies. I think those players will be pleased.
Okay so yeah that’s vague, but also very exciting. Swamp has really needed some new maps, and this seems to say they are indeed coming. If this is the case all I can say is hell yes. With the truck driving addition this could also open the doors wide open for all sorts of new maps and places to go. We’ve already recently seen the addition of the Behemoth zombie type in offline mode after years and years of everyone wondering, now could it maybe be coming to online? There have also been unused zombie and weapon sounds in the sounds folder forever, maybe they will finally get a use. When all the above gets taken into account Swamp could really be seeing a major substantive update coming sooner than later.
Recently Kai has mentioned in game a couple more things he wanted to get player’s opinions on. Plans for bullet resistant zombies which are harder to kill with a gun and exploding zombies which can hurt you if you kill them with a melee weapon. I understand the reasoning behind a move like this, to make the game more difficult for higher level players, but personally it doesn’t mesh with the rest of the game for me. Kai has also mentioned bleeding injuries which would act like a sprained ankle or broken leg without the slow down. These would be a wound which bleeds overtime and causes you to lose health at X rate until it is healed. This sounds like a pain in the ass yes, but also makes perfect sense. Depending on how you get the injury it could really make something’s in game more difficult.
The thing I am most excited about is the addition of new maps. It really gets old running around on the same 8 maps, and something to mix this up would be greatly appreciated.
The New game engine:
Well the short of it is not quite yet. It turns out the bots in the Capture The Flag missions came from code from the new engine, so everyone has already experienced it at least a little bit. As for when it will be used for a new project, that still seems to be something we’ll all have to wait for. I’m not giving up hope, and I know I won’t ever forget about it. I might be the most excited about this new engine, but for good reason. Aprone has a good track record of doing something all out and I can’t wait to see it in action. I’m pessimistic about most things audio games related, but this I’m actually optimistic for.
Hardcore, will it be fixed and balanced:
If you don’t think hardcore is broken then you might need to make a doctors appointment and get a brain scan. Aprone does seem to be aware of this, and does want to fix it, but he is being very cautious on what steps he takes to fix the problems. Overall I see this as a good thing, a well thought out solution which will actually fix the problem is much better than a quick slap fix that breaks everything even more. Hardcore on Swamp has potential to be the best mode in any audio game because of Swamp’s game mechanics. If it is balanced in a way to make it competitive it could really make the game shine. How he plans on fixing it is unknown, but most people can agree something has to be done. When and how this happens are the two biggest questions for me. There is such a small group of people who want to do HC, and with the small number of players it is very easy for just a handful of players to control everything involving HC completely.
Zombie syncing:
Something a lot of new players seem to not like about Swamp is how the zombies don’t sync up for everyone at once. This is for a good reason however, and does make sense. If people are not aware, not everyone’s zombies are located in the same location on the maps. I might see a zombie at coordinates 25 30, someone else will have that same exact zombie at 40 100, and someone else might see it at 150 20. This is to combat the wildly varying computers and Internet connections people use. At the start of a mission all the zombies are all in the same locations, but each person’s zombies move and change depending on their PC and Internet speed. This ensures people can play even with older computers or with a slow connection. It does suck yes, but it is for a good reason. It doesn’t seem like there is really any way to fix this as the game stands now.
Summing It All Up
I really am feeling optimistic about what is coming to Swamp, and I think it will all actually happen sooner than later. I know not everyone will agree with that, but just me personally I am keeping my mind open. I really want to see the new maps, and a conformation of sorts that there will indeed be new ones is a really good sign. Throw in the hinting of new zombies, weapons, and the addition of the truck driving and there could really be some major changes coming. Swamp has needed a real update for way too long. Now that it is actually on the horizon is very encouraging and exciting.
View the questions and answers.
Swamp Giveaways
I’m sure many people reading this post know who Liam Erven is, but you might not be aware he is giving away some Swamp online subscriptions. On July 14th he will be doing one of his Patreon marathon live streams. For every $20 given on Patreon and YouTube super chats he will be streaming for one hour. During this Marathon he will be giving away three two month subscriptions to Swamp. If you are one of those who has never played or who cannot purchase your own account this may be the perfect opportunity for you to try the game online.
Liam’s Patreon Page.
Liam’s Youtube Channel.
@LiamErven on Twitter.
Additional Swamp Giveaway
We haven’t had much traction with any of the affiliate links on the site. I was planning on doing another Swamp giveaway, but it isn’t a sure thing right now. If you haven’t already start using the Amazon and Ebay links. The more people use these links the more giveaways the blog can do. The last one was a major success and I would really like to do another, but it cost money on top of normal server costs. I like doing them, but without something coming in it is a big drain to put more out.