The homebase of Project Zomboid developer The Indie Stone was broken into last night, and two computers containing much of the code for the latest update were stolen — this wouldn’t be as serious a problem had the code been backed up externally. Unfortunately it wasn’t, and The Indie Stone has been set back months. Many Project Zomboid fans, some of whom have invested personally in the game’s development, were miffed at The Indie Stone’s “unprofessional” approach to managing its code, and how it publicly handled the break-in.
“Homebase” is the apartment where Chris Simpson and Andy Hodgetts, two of The Indie Stone devs, live and work, making the burglary personal on a deep level. Intense emotional stress is not the time to turn to Twitter, but Simpson did, expressing his fears and sense of violation openly. It didn’t end well and Simpson has since removed his account from Twitter and has written a formal apology.
Writer Will Porter has explained the situation in full on the Project Zomboid blog, saying the game will “come back stronger.”
“During this time we will clearly be asking for the understanding and patience of our community,” Porter wrote. “We are gutted, we are despondent and — most of all — we are sorry that this has thrown yet another bump into the road towards PZ completion. We also REALLY want to wring the neck of the arsehole that did this to us.”
If you have any information that could help The Indie Stone wring some necks, contact the Northumbria Police. If you don’t, remember what mommy always said: If you don’t have anything nice to say….
[Thanks, @unff!]
The Indie Stone is burgled, loses code for latest Project Zomboid update originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
