Project A-Life [ALIFE NPCS]

A living world for Project Zomboid, inspired by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Survivors here don't spawn out of thin air next to you or vanish the moment you look away. Their squads exist across the whole map, even three towns over: they travel the roads, fight each other, die and come back. You can talk to them, and tune into the radio to hear what's happening around you.

Factions

The world is home to 148 factions: families, sheriff's deputies, National Guard remnants, hunters, firefighters, fugitives and many more. Fewer than half of them are hostile. Many give a warning before they open fire, some are neutral, some can become friends, and the Station 14 faction actually helps players.

Robbers

Running into robbers doesn't always end in a firefight. They'll order you to put your hands up, search you and take your valuables. Reaching for a weapon at that point rarely ends well.

Squads and tactics

NPCs fight as a team, not a mob: - leaders give the orders; - breachers stack up at doors and clear houses; - machine gunners fire at the last place you were seen; - medics treat the wounded; without help, an NPC can bleed out.

At night, groups take over a house, barricade it from the inside and sleep there.

Life off-screen

When you're not around, squads don't freeze. They walk the roads at foot speed, get into fights and take losses. If you wipe out a group but someone survives, they may come back a few days later with reinforcements. Server admins can see every squad on the map.

Bases and radio

Factions hold nine types of bases at different tiers, from an ordinary house to a full fortification.

Radio matters a lot. A base without radio contact can't send out squads, but if it suddenly goes quiet, someone may come to check on it. You can call a faction over the radio yourself, though doing that with enemies is asking for trouble. Reinforcements arrive by car, and sometimes by helicopter.

Random encounters

Out on the roads and in town you may run into: - scavengers and patrols; - ambushes and checkpoints; - crash sites and occupied buildings; - snipers and hit squads; - raids on player bases.

Creator editor

The built-in editor lets you design your own NPCs and factions: appearance, clothing, weapons and attachments, behavior, relations with other factions and encounter types. Sharing a faction is easy: COPY CODE and LOAD CODE turn it into a code and back. If someone else's faction needs clothing mods you don't have, the editor tells you which ones.

Settings

Over a hundred options: population, encounter and raid frequency and much more.

FAQ

Can I add it to an ongoing save? Yes.

Can I remove it later? Also yes. The mod only uses base items and objects, so your save will load without it. Any NPCs left in the world will turn into zombies.

Can I combine it with other NPC mods? Not recommended: they fight over control of zombie bodies. Running a single NPC mod is safer.

Can I recruit NPCs? Not yet. Full survivors, allies and companions are coming in the Friendly Update.

What about weapon mods? NPCs carry base-game weapons by default. Modded weapons and clothing can be assigned through Creator. Guns of Marz and gaels guns are compatible and replace the base weapons.

Is there voice acting? Not yet; shouts and warnings appear as text. The team is looking for voice actors!

Why are weapons on corpses broken? It's a balance choice, so players don't end up hoarding piles of military rifles. You can change it in the sandbox settings.

For modders

If your mod loops over zombies, skip the bodies that A-Life controls:

zombie:getModData().ProjectALifeOwned == true

If the conflict persists after that, get in touch with the team.

Roadmap

Bug fixing comes first right now.

• 1.4 — Safehouse Update: safehouse interactions, reputation, balance work and more realistic behavior.
• Friendly Update: companions, allies, base and faction management. The goal is to lead a group without micromanaging every NPC, and to have bases that defend themselves while you're away.

Credits

MrLOL707, for the trailer artwork and permission to use it.

Slayer: the early version of A-Life (V1; V2 is current) included and reproduced code from his Bandits NPC mod. That code was later removed, and the related systems were substantially rewritten. The team acknowledges that the Bandits-based implementation shaped how some systems developed further, and credits Slayer and Bandits as an early source of those ideas and approaches. The material was added by two contributors during early V1 development, and the team openly acknowledges this history.

According to the team, Project A-Life contains no code files, assets or architecture copied from other mod authors.

Made by Vice and the A-Life team. Not affiliated with The Indie Stone.