The Art of Warfare Blogs: TAW Blogs

The Information Security Office is primarily responsible for the management and maintenance of TAW's infrastructure. We perform various system administration tasks involving: Operating system and application updates and patching, security audits, system upgrades, security auditing, and responding to network threats. We do our best to ensure that TAW's critical services are up and running with little downtime.

2014 brings us a window of opportunity to make additional improvements.

Here are some of ISC's Goals this year:

-Expand our infrastructure to allow for high availability in our applications and services. Our goal is to reduce the risk of single points of failure in our environment.

-Implement various monitoring techniques and reporting metrics to allow our administrators to analyze system and network resources and utilization. Our ability to analyze and anticipate trends in our system/network activity will allow us to have a more proactive criteria in addressing threats to our security, and to future analyze growth

-Keep current with server and teamspeak updates

-Focus on keeping a 99% up time for our teamspeak and web services

-Keep active communication with our members regarding any planned downtime's, or unplanned outage events affecting connectivity or change of user experience

-Cleanup teamspeak's file browser and channels

-Assist with testing and back end development for TAW 3.0.

-Update our security awareness test and add an additional advanced security awareness test and badge

The Security Operations team is looking for individuals with experience in Systems Administration and/or Systems Security with knowledge of network topologies and protocols (basic switching/routing). Candidates should have good analytic skills and must be able to respond to and mitigate network threats, analyze network traffic and system utilization reports to identify any short term or long term problems. Knowledge of Windows and Linux operating systems is a must.

For anyone who is interested in joining this group, please feel free to reach out to myself or SuperTreky so we can gauge both interest and skill level.

Juvix

After hours of exhaustive research and testing, we have located some of the best gaming rigs your money can buy.  We have searched far and wide to find the best price, highest power PC's available.  Loading your current games onto these machines may prove to be a bit of a challenge but when you get them set up - you will rule your domain.  Rumor is that these will soon be available in the TAW Shop at remarkable member-only pricing.

No need to worry about over heating with this unit:

This unit comes with an independent cooling fan - Spiffy!:

We know that one must eat and stay hydrated during gaming:

Our most powerful home computer we could find:

For the first time in the history of TAW, the Star Wars division is proud to present the Star Wars TAW Olympics. A campaign like no other, for 15 weeks teams are going head to head in events focused on player vs player, player vs environment, and neutral events that don't require end game gearing. The opening ceremonies are being held on Sunday March 23, 2014 with the start of our first event, Race to Level Ten. This will be followed by Classic Four Player vs Four Player Single Elimination Tournament. Then we will have everyone's favorite Team Splat, where you get your team together and throw yourself off a really high bridge and try to land on the referee that is below; don't forget to take your armor off to avoid those repair bills. Next there will be a new event called All Your Base, of which the purpose is to take over an enemy base. Locations are currently classified to the point where I do not even know where it is. The raid will be a timed race to kill all of the non-player combatants in the base. This is just the first few weeks of the event. If you want to know more details contact Elperzon (elperzon@taw.net) or Emmilash (emmilash@taw.net). On June 29, 2014 we will be holding the closing ceremonies where we will be handing out prizes that range from cartel packs to in game money to cartel coins so you can buy your favorite mount off the in game store. If you wish to sign up for the Star Wars TAW Olympics in which you can sign up as a team https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MaONL8uLJSobK6ij4UFOIOexjW_NA4TsgjS0N_xeWq4/viewform or as an individual please use https://docs.google.com/forms/d/151Tl8WBvSuAwSiXTPzqCCbNzp5XUUuD07ZfQBMsBcEY/viewform . We hope to see you there and may the force be with all teams in the Olympics.

Contributions By:

Emmilash

Elperzon

SNnuke

In case the name of the division doesn’t give it away, Social Operations [SOCOP] deals strictly with the social media aspect of TAW. This division exists solely to manage social media within TAW, making sure it is kept updated and all content follows TAW’s guidelines. If you want exposure for your division’s events or your division’s specific social media sites you want to go to SOCOP!

If you’re interested in getting something noticed for your specific area of TAW, contact anyone in SOCOP. They should be able to help you or they will send you to whoever can. We do recommend that you use our official pages to get noticed instead of your own to be sure you get the most exposure. If you choose to reach out to the social media world by yourself, please send SOCOP a link to your social media websites so they can keep the master list that they are currently forming updated.

Keep in touch with TAW using these social media websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theartofwarfare/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TAWgaming

Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/TAWgaming

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TAWgamingChannel

Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/TAWTV

Grim [SUL] -

As they say....PREPARE FOR TITANFALL!

As u already know ( and for those who dont...i feel really sorry for u ;) ), Titanfall is looking to be the biggest hit on mech/fps of all times, and those who played the beta, they can concur to this.

These is extracts from the site ...

Titanfall

Crafted by one of the co-creators of Call of Duty and other key developers behind the Call of Duty franchise, Titanfall is among the most highly anticipated games of 2014, having been shrouded in mystery for nearly three years. The visionaries at Respawn have drawn inspiration from their proven experience in first-person action gaming, and are building on that pedigree by taking a new approach to game design and creating an all-new universe with Titanfall.

THE FUTURE OF ONLINE MULTIPLAYER

Introducing the experience that combines fast-paced multiplayer action with the dramatically charged moments of a cinematic universe.

"A next-generation competitive multiplayer title that blurs the lines between traditional online shooters and single-player campaign." - Game Informer

And again, the Beta showed us the potential of what this game can become, most ppl had a problem with the 6 vs 6 line -up, but with everything in the game as u played showed this was not the case, with 12 mechs, 12 player, all the AI's running around, u truely needed to hide somewhere for a few seconds, catch ur breath...and then get ur neck snapped around ( which i will say is bit concerning, because looking in front and then all of a sudden looking at ur enemy's face....IS SOO COOL..mmm sorry bout that, lets move on) this is a fast paced game.

Meet the Titans

The Atlas -   http://www.titanfall.com/titans/atlas

As a multi-role Titan, the Atlas excels where all other models fall short. The Atlas represents the state-of-the-art in weapons platforms and provides good protection and increased mobility over the Ogre chassis. Whether the mission demands reconnaissance, rapid assault, fire support, tactical support, or a combination of all these, Atlas frontline elements are dependable, powerful and, importantly, get results.

The Orge - http://www.titanfall.com/titans/ogre

There are no two ways about it-the Ogre is engineered to be the ultimate battle tank, in Titan's clothing. As a consequence, the Ogre places a premium on its armor and offensive capabilities. When your mission demands maximum survivability, the Ogre is the only battle platform which consistently out-performs, out-shines, out-lasts and outlives everything else on the battlefield

The Stryder - http://www.titanfall.com/titans/stryder

Survivability through speed and agility is the key to the Stryder's considerable battlefield prowess. Faster than every other Titan chassis on the market today, the Stryder's mobility is the culmination of many years of award-winning R&D into linear and rotary actuator technology. Of course, even with this agility advantage, the Stryder does not sacrifice any of the superior features your mission has come to depend on in the Hammond Robotics line of Titan battle platforms

THE COMBATANTS -

Titans

Titans are descendants of present-day fledgling military exoskeletons. In addition to the obvious combat applications, unarmed forms of Titans are used in heavy industries like cargo transport and deep space ship salvage. They are also used in special applications such as deep space search and rescue, and are very effective in inhospitable environments. The use of Titans is widespread throughout the Frontier in both combat and civilian life.

Pilots

As with Titans, the Frontier contains Pilots of many different styles and experiences. Titan Pilots are rated by 'certifications', most of which apply to civilian applications, such as construction, shipping, and heavy salvage industries. The most prestigious of these is the Full Combat Certification - a widely published series of tests that grade a Titan Pilot's abilities. Because of the extreme physical and mental challenges of mastering both Titan combat & dismounted parkour movement, a fully combat certified Titan pilot is a rare find, and the combat skills of active Pilots in the field varies widely throughout the Frontier..................

Well for those of u who had the guts to read this far.....WELL DONE! U might have a place in the Titanfall Division after all :)

So with that i leave u to the site, or for those of u that is real lazy, just go to Titanfall in TS, i have already done all the work for u..just click on the details.

Hope to see u on the Frontier

Grim

PS - For those special people who want to know more about the game, or just need some info, let me or one of my command know, and we will be glad to help you in anyway we can.

Oath to IT

It's time to make games even more UNREAL

Many of us "old people in the barn" remember the days when you sat up until 3 o'clock playing that fast phased awesome game called Quake. It lived long in our hearts until  1999-2000 when Quake 3 Arena was out, but got hard competition by no other game than Unreal Tournament.

Why am I walking through memory lane with you guys, stirring up that nostalgia you ask?

Well because now, 16 year after the initial release of the Unreal Engine 1, and almost 14 years after the first stable release with UT99 comes Unreal Engine 4.

March 19th was the big date, the day that we have longed for a long time. Epic Games have teased us with a demo and awesome pictures for almost 2 years now since they publicly showed it in May 2012.

In todays consol generator the ability to make even better games with greater looking atmospheres with dynamic lightning is a piece of cake, but to do it they need new and updated engines. This is why the Unreal Engine 4 is such a great asset for developers.

If you guys remember the development cost that Sony announced together with the release of Playstation 4, you could see that the cost had drastically dropped since Playstation 2 and 3. This together with the new Unreal Engine 4 that will be a lot cheaper and user friendly than it's predecessors. What this means for the game industry is that there will be many more games from smaller game developers with better quality. They are given every chance to succeed.

This is not only good news for Consoles, far from it. The PC-front will gain greatly from this new engine, but not only from Unreal Engine 4. Crytek (amongst others) have acknowledged that their Cryengine will support the AMD Mantle and also be available for Linux.

Epic Games will release Unreal Engine 4 to both small developers and the giants in the industry, and all will be able to use it. This is thanks to it's new license model that makes it possible for smaller companies to use the engine for only $19/month + 5% of revenues from the game. With this they also get Github and Unreal Editor. Crytek has announced that they will release a similar model with their CryEngine that will cost only $9,99/month and no royalty fees.

All and all with the new engine we can see much more details, greater realism with lights, particles and gravity. It comes with support for HDR-effects, support for thousands of light sources, the particles will also be able to absorb and reflect light. The surroundings will be adaptable with details that support tessellation and also physic accelerating particles that uses the calculation power within the GPU.

All in all, I think we will be seeing an explosion of great looking games when people start to get a hang of the new engine. I for one cannot wait!

3 Fast Short news!

1. Microsoft Uncovers DirectX 12

2. Android Wear will be supported by the majority of the Android Phone developers

3. SSD prices are at an alltime low due to the fight over market share

We just can't seem to get rid of him, can we?

If he's not relaxing from stepping out of Central command, he's already looking to start the next game for TAW, and this one, isn't what you might be expecting!
Approved by CIC Bravhardt only hours before the publication of this newsletter, our former Support Lieutenant Commander and First Corps Commander, Eifer, is breaking his lifetime retirement to become the spin up leader for Goat Simulator! Yes, Goat Simulator!

When asked about his decision, and why he chose goat Simulator he had this to say:
Hey Eifer, Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, first, what made you want to spin up goat simulator? How do you think it fits into TAW?
Well, since I first laid eyes upon this beauty of a game I just knew that I had to bring it to TAW. First off, who doesn't like goats? Who haven't dreamed about ramming those annoying pesky hindrances on your path?
Goats are TAWesome. I think it will fit neatly in to TAW, although we would need to restrict some of the activities you are allowed to do in-game of course due to the ethical and moral aspects and most of all the Geneva Convention. I mean, you are basically a one man army, or one goat army I should say.

Ha-ha, I mean who doesn't love the idea of a goat breaking the Geneva Convention? Anyway... Do you see any challenges while spinning up the game apart from the lack of multilayer?
Not at all. The lack of multiplayer should not be a hindrance to us as a Division, quite the contrary. In our events, I envision that we will all start from the same area, and imagine the other players being there with us. We are gamers after all, so it shouldn't be too much to ask of people to have a bit of imagination. I can't wait to set up a proper Goat Squad so we can annihilate resistance as a proper team...

Sorry to interrupt you Eifer, but News Just In! The Goat Simulator developers have just informed us that they are making a Multiplayer version! Do you know anything more about this and what is your response?
Oh wow, that's a shocker! I'm not sure I would be too happy about that in all honesty. As previously mentioned, I think the use of imagination will be a suitable replacement for us in our events. It will help us to think outside the box, which is a huge advantage if you climb up the ranks here in TAW. As a bonus, it will sharpen your creative skills.

Well after that shocking development, let's continue shall we? As a former CC Member with experience of suggesting ideas to Vanguard, how does it feel to finally have an idea confirmed and coming to life?
I am absolutely thrilled. Vanguard was a bit sceptical at first, but after a good conversation with Wardy and NavyChief, I managed to turn them around. It looks like they are just as excited as I am now! This is a big up for VG and TAW across the community!

Now Eifer, Let's be honest here, How do you think everyone reading this will feel once they find out this was all a joke?
What do you mean? What joke?

Hehe, joking aside. I hope people will have a good laugh and have a great April 1st. hopefully this will inspire them to pull off some of their own pranks or jokes. I for one enjoyed this. I still fondly remember last year. For Pony!

Well that's all folks; Sadly, Goat Simulator won't be coming to TAW and Eifer is still retired (for now). I'd like to thank Eifer especially for taking part in this and for all the guys up in NEWS I've had the pleasure of working with to put all this together!
Happy Pranking All!
~Monohell [MC], Guest Editor

What's your callsign?

Cherry

What is your OS Team/Division

Newsletter

Who are the members of this Team/Division?

Division Commander COL.Cherry
Staff Officer 2LT.Neseroth
MAJ.ShadowMage
1LT.Freeoath
LCP.Jonacool
LCP.Smypm
PFC.RAndom

What does your Team/Division do in OS?

The newsletter division is tasked with creating and publishing the monthly newsletter for TAW.

Tell us your History in TAW

I started in GRAW2 back in the day. I was playing GRAW2 with them and saw the tags, inquired and the rest is history. Soon a position opened in TAW that caught my eye, Public Information Officer [PIO]. I applied and got the 'job'. Working with Hook, we started the newsletter as a Publisher document published as a pdf. Soon we went to the blog format and then to what you see today. During that time we spun up the Operation Support Division that I was the DC and DeadXOn was the DO. Many of the elements you see today were formed at that time. Real Life took a grasp on my life and I had to take a short break from TAW to tend to things. I returned into the Black Ops Spin up team moving into the DI position. That dissolved and I requested transfer back to my home, in OS.

What made you decide to volunteer to work in this team/division

I have been involved volunteering in many capacities and I like online gaming so it was a no brainer for me. Servant Leadership is what I do and I enjoy it.

Anything else/extra you'd like to add?

Don't think you're not a good enough writer to be a part of the newsletter team nor think you can't still play the game you enjoy. This is TAW....we aim to serve and make sure our members find the community within them.

For their time, effort and dedication, this member will be awarded our In-The-Scope member tab for completing the interview.

Here is our April Caption Contest image.  In this a screenshot of TS during the First Ever TAW Board Meeting.

You can also see where those infamous OS Channels are located.  Drop in sometime for tea and crumpets.

What's your callsign?

Acidchicken

Let's get to know you – can you describe yourself in five words?

A fun, and sarcastic person!

Tell us about your history in TAW.

I first join TAW under the Neverwinter Division. From their I moved into DI and TS position. The TS position was first time I really sat down and made char builds and training programs. It was demanding but I enjoyed the work, it was fun learning about the different char and to talk to people about why they think certain builds were good or bad. From their I was asked by shindig if I wanted to help do a spin-up team for ESO. I became the SO for NA division. This is hard but fun work, getting new members into TAW when you only have the beta for 3 days at the end of the month becomes a challenge but with good DI's and some preparation we ended up getting some good members.

What was your initial impression of TAW?

I like the order of TAW, every one has a roll and you know who to go to or what you need to do because of this.

Tell us about your division, and what you do there.

I am the SO for NA Division, I help with recruiting and with the setting up schedule for the TAW twitch feed for are division.

What would you like someone considering joining TAW to know?

That its not what game you play that makes TAW but the people in it.

Do you have any special hobbies or activities outside of TAW?

Right now being SO is my hobby lol

If you could change one thing about TAW, what would it be?

Would like to see TAW twitch feed grow, the recruits and feed back we have gotten from the twitch feed has been great.

Tell us about some of the people you've met during your time in TAW.

I have met allot of good people in TAW, but only a few stand out. Liz is one of those people, I first met her in Neverwinter, where she was learning how to be a FS. She was very quiet 16 yr old girl who would always say sorry for every thing, we quickly broke her of that habit. She also started growing more into a leader and becoming more confident in herself. I believe her time in TAW has helped her and the skills she learned here will help her in life. Ditherous and Able. These two guys are young but they have became a great help in are division. They started out as DI's but quickly became Platoon leaders, they go out of their way to learn new things about the game and share that knowledge with are division. They have also have helped us in the TAW twitch feed by becoming commentators for us and they also have 30 min pod cast that they bot

What's your favourite thing about TAW?

The people, we have a great community.

How does TAW affect your offline life?

I end up meeting new people in places i would never have traveled to, and end up making some good friends.

What might our readers be surprised to know about you?

That i hate chocolate? but for some reason like brownies. What can i say brownies just complete me.

What's your favourite retro videogame? Why?

Mario. Me and my friends played that game way to much and you could never save it so we started racing to see how fast we could finish the game. Fun times.

If you could choose any TAW member to be stranded on a desert island with, who would it be and why?

CreepyOne. because he is creepyOne and that is enough.

Save, but don't Publish

Do you admire any celebrities? Why or why not?

spungebob because he is just a very happy ignorant cartoon char.

Who do you believe is going to be the most influential figure in gaming in the next three years?

Von tugboat, and if you don't know him then you just aren't a gamer. :P

For their time, effort and dedication, this member will be awarded our In-The-Scope member tab for completing the interview.

In our next edition, we will be focusing on the different teams/divisions within OS.  We always have the need for members who are interested in working with the Newsletter, Graphics, Website, Streaming, Video etc.  On our social media end, we have over 200 Twitter followers, 1400 members on our Facebook page, over 600 subscribers to our Newsletter...and it continued to grow --- thanks to you.

Tell us about your history in TAW.

I joined TAW, August 30th 2011 to the Bad Company 2 Division. I had expressed my interest in helping out with Battlefield 3, as it was just around the corner, when I first joined. My first position was Drill Instructor for Battlefield 3 in its Horizon stage. I was promoted to Executive Officer of the Battlefield 3 NA Battalion on October 31st of 2011. On March 11th, 2012 I was asked to move up to the Division Officer position for Battlefield 3, where I served under COL LargeFormat. A month later LargeFormat needed to leave TAW for real life reasons and I took over as Division Commander of Battlefield 3 on April 13th, 2012. September 30th 2012 I was promoted to Corps Lt Commander of the New 5th Corps working with Corps Commander Doc. Joining 5th Corps, I took a break from Battlefield and focused on learning my new position as Corps Lt Commander. Myself and Doc had gotten some new games fresh out of Vanguard, and had a few games that had been around a while. I had the chance to experience game styles that I was not used to, as I only play FPS games. In February of 2013, I moved over to 2nd Corps as the CLC under Corps Commander Dogstar. I was assigned the Corps Commanders position of 2nd Corps in March of 2013. I took on the Spin up Leader role for Battlefield 4 September of 2013 and completed that task at the end of November of 2013. I come to my current position as the Army Lt Commander as of just recently.

 
Tell us about some of the people you've met during your time in TAW and how they've influenced you.

Doc, the 5th Corps Commander, has been a great mentor and friend. He has the calm collective way of handling situations that some may find as stressful, or confrontational, and I think he has helped me to face any problem head on. He is an upstanding guy, and really a lot of fun to work with him when I was in 5th Corps. P.S. Doc - Sorry I can't write your emails anymore, or get you coffee LOL! Another individual I have had the pleasure of getting to know is GundamMKII, he was one of my first contacts when joining TAW, and I wound up getting to work closely with him as a DI in BF3. Gundam inspired me to be the best recruiter I could be. This guy has TAW written all over him, he knew policy, he knew history, he was helpful and friendly to everyone he came in contact with. Vermguy is another guy that comes to mind. He was in my tank fireteam when I first joined Bad Company, and hearing this guy talk and go on and on about how great TAW was just stuck with me. When ever Verm entered the TS channel he would cheer everyone up, and liven the place up. When someone did something great, Verm has this thing he says, "A Golden Hat for you", or "Hats up to You."  Vermguy has always intrigued me with his upbeat attitude to have "FUN" and love the brothers and sisters of TAW.

What has been your favorite position in TAW so far?

My favorite position so far has been the Drill Instructor position. I think it is one of the most important positions we have in TAW, this is where the new applicants get their first look at the community, and we have the best chance at making a great influence on them.


What is your initial impression of your new job as ALC?

I am honored to have been asked to step up to this position. I think the ALC position is a position where you are looking at the big picture of the community, where it has been, and where do we want it to go in the future. I think in this position I will have lots of contact with the Corps Commanders and Corps Lt Commanders.


What is the main reason you decided to accept the position?

I choose to accept the position knowing that I have the confidence in being a leader for this amazing organization, and hope to share my knowledge with others.


What is the main goal you wish to accomplish while you hold this position?

One of my main goals is to improve TAW's presence out in the social media world, it is a great recruiting tool, and lets people know we exist and who we are.

What's your favorite thing about TAW?

My favorite thing about TAW is the fundamentals we teach, and the great amount of servant leadership we have in this organization.


If you could change one thing about TAW, what would it be?

I think a more personal approach to contacting applicants, rather than having them wait for the automated steps they have to go through with the website. I think this could be achieved by making sure the DI's in each division are able to handle the workload, and have about 30 minutes or so to go over the fundamental information that new members need to know when first joining.

Do you have any special hobbies or activities outside of TAW?

Well I am from Texas and one thing I really enjoy doing is BBQing, and grilling steaks. I also enjoy fishing, and hunting.


What might our readers be surprised to know about you?

I have worked in a 911 call center as a Supervisor for the last 11 years. As part of my job, I am on the board of directors for the Brazos Valley Amber Alert Network, and a member the Brazos Valley Child Abduction Response Team; this is an organization of public safety professionals that come together in aid to recover kidnapped children. I also serve on a Type III incident management team as the Chief of Communications; this is an organization of public safety professionals that come together to help manage emergency crew efforts areas affected by disasters, catastrophic events, or incidents that are bigger than the local jurisdictions can handle.  I was a Volunteer Firefighter for 10 years, reaching the ranks of Captain, and Vice President before I retired.

Winter: The harshest of the four seasons.  We stay locked inside, venturing out as little as possible, huddled close to each other for warmth.  The bright, colorful world of the other seasons is reduced to a dead grey-scale wasteland almost entirely devoid of resources and people.  Most only venture out from the safety and warmth of their houses for the most basic of necessities such as food or an occupation.  You could almost think of winter as your personal zombie apocalypse trainer.

A similar zombie apocalypse trainer is Project Zomboid on Steam.  One of the many, innumerable Green Light games on Steam now-a-days, Project Zomboid started out as a small project on a humble site.  The developers, with the help of their community, managed to push the project through Green Light and onto the Steam distribution platform.  While far from completed, the game receives semi-frequent updates which remove bugs, add content, and polish the overall game.  (The newest version boasting an online mode for the, up to this point, single-player experience.)

In Project Zomboid, you navigate your survivor through one of the two fictional cities set in the game.  You are given no goal other that simply surviving and tossed out onto your feet with hardly a hint on how to do so (the tutorial is on the 'Coming Soon...' feature list).  The most obvious solution is to pick up the nearest blunt object, and go from door to door smashing through houses, taking out zombies one or two at a time, and dragging fists full of food back to your home base to eat later.  This becomes complicated as the needs of your survivor (ranging from hunger, thirst, boredom, fatigue, and even happiness to name a few), start to wear down.  Soon you'll be grabbing nearly anything that could potentially be useful, pulling it back to your base, storing it away for safe keeping.

In the middle of the night, your survivor wakes up to the sounds of gunshots.  Zombies have swarmed towards the sounds and you can hear dozens of them clawing past your house.  The next day the power system fails and the food in your fridge begins to spoil.  Days after that, the water stops running, leaving you without that source of nigh-unlimited thirst-quenching water that you used to take for granted nearly every day.  As time progresses in game, the world begins to collapse around your survivor; gunshots and helicopters attract herds of zombies that could break through your meager defenses, the simplest of life's amenities disappear, and food and water become more and more scarce as you struggle to feed yourself.

While the game is still being developed, my initial run-in with the game impressed me greatly.  Long ago, during a much more primitive build of the game, my survivor was held up in a house with his wife, hiding from the hoard of zombies on the streets outside.  Sneaking out of the house, he ran down to the dinner to pick up supplies, slinking back into house undetected.  Using a can opener on a can of stew and using the basic crafting system to empty the can into a cooking pot, I set the supper on the stove to cook and went up-stairs when the wife called.  A radio we had salvaged was talking about evacuation attempts and we discussed the situation.  A few minutes later, smoke started pouring from the lower level and a smoke alarm was blaring in the dead of the night.

I directed the survivor downstairs, realizing I'd forgotten about the supper on the stove.  The house had caught fire due to my neglect of sense.  Worse yet, the zombies, attracted by the smoke alarm screaming in the otherwise quiet night, began bashing at any window or door they could reach.  The house on fire, surrounded by zombies, and unable to handle the situation I had to evacuate the building into the raining night, leaving my survivor's wife behind to either be burned or eaten alive.  I was astonished as I closed the game; the events that had occurred weren't directly scripted.  Had I turned the stove off, or attended to the pot more carefully, the fire certainly wouldn't have started, causing things to spiral out of control.  I was astonished at the level of detail the game had in its mechanics.

While the game has a great deal to go before it's "finished", there's a great deal of potential for Project Zomboid.  The game already feels excellent with row upon row of empty houses lending a terrible sense of loneliness and hopelessness to the moody and tense soundtrack.  A robust crafting system even lets you cut down trees and forests to assemble a hand-crafted fortresses against the zombie threat.  In the current state, Project Zomboid is pretty unpolished, but there is a sense of constant discovery as you work your way through each day.  Every door you open is simultaneously exciting and terrifying as you can never quite guess how things will go.  While the game may not be for everyone, there is a free demo for the game that couldn't hurt to try.  After all, on these long winter days, you might as well prepare for the coming zombie apocalypse anyways.

Write a caption to this photo in the "Leave a Comment" area below.  The winner will be celebrated by a special feature in the April Edition!