Evolving Project Zomboid Modding with Deathstar, Project Sophie, & BisectHosting

Project Zomboid is a game full of evolving content with massive updates coming on a regular basis with each new build. But one community has taken Project Zomboid to new heights with modding, and continues to make great new experiences possible in the beloved zombie survival title. That community is united around a Project Zomboid modpack called Project Sophie, a collection headed by BisectHosting partner Deathstar. With that, let's dive into what Project Sophie has to offer for Project Zomboid, RimWorld, and their future modding scenes as we interview its founder!

What is Project Sophie?

"Project 'Sophie' started as a Steam mod collection for the game Project Zomboid and has since evolved into a community of people with a shared passion for modding. I used to spend countless hours playtesting and curating mods to create a setup that I liked, so eventually, I thought - Why not make the fruits of this labor available to the public? Thus, I shared the collection on the Steam Workshop and wrote guides to make installing everything as easy as possible for other players," said Deathstar. "The collection now ranks as the 3rd most popular Project Zomboid collection of all time, with over 100.000 impressions, and I am branching out into other games as well. What ultimately inspired me to keep going was the huge amount of feedback I got from the community." "In my research, I found very few collections that were maintained as well as ours, nor would their authors offer an actual place to ask questions or submit feedback outside of the very limited comment section. The “Sophie” collections are more than just a hodge-podge of mods; they’re a carefully curated all-in-one solution aimed at improving the games we feature while still giving the individual mod authors the credit they deserve by refraining from mod packing." "'Sophie' is now a community of over 3.000 players with an interest in modding, each with their own ideas of how to further improve the project as a whole. It’s not about fire-and-forget; it’s about cultivating a shared passion."

Partnering Up with BisectHosting

Here at BisectHosting, we aim to build up and support community modding and improve the play experience of the games we love at all levels. With that, we partnered with Project Sophie to help share its vision and support its progress in building new ways to enjoy Project Zomboid and RimWorld. "I first heard about BisectHosting from positive feedback given to me by some members of the community, stating that it is a solid choice for hosting modded servers, which some hosts struggle with due to the many charming imperfections of our main game Project Zomboid," said DeathStar. "Eventually, one member of the community reached out to me and suggested I present the project to the BisectHosting partner program. I didn’t even think about this possibility, as I’m not a major content creator on Youtube/Twitch or a similar platform, but the project was received very well. Since we already endorsed BisectHosting whilst being totally unaffiliated, the choice to then partner up was an easy one." "The ease of setting up a server by using my own preset files has made hosting a very streamlined experience. We’re now able to run an “official” dedicated server to showcase our mod collection to the community, who are able to simply join up with one click and enjoy smooth gameplay on a powerful machine." "It’s been a blast working on the project, and with BisectHosting’s help, we’ve managed to elevate it from just a hobby into something more professional. As a marketing professional, it’s been super interesting working on my own brand for a change, and I can only recommend that you also share your projects with your respective communities - The Internet’s made this easier than ever. Passion is infectious, and you may be able to offer a lot of value to other people simply by doing what you love!"

What's Next for Project Sophie?

With Project Sophie already making a major impact on the Project Zomboid modding community and with more in store for RimWorld and beyond, there are plenty of exciting things lined up for its future! "I’m currently working on growing the population of our dedicated game server and turning it into a legit contender to rival other large communities that have been around for years. I’m growing the “team” as well, thanks to some volunteers from the community acting as moderators for our Discord and game servers, which gives me more time to continue developing. I’ve already published a sister collection for Rimworld and am planning to eventually branch out into more games, all under the “Sophie” umbrella!" said DeathStar. And with many Project Zomboid fans looking forward to the eventual release of the next major update, Project Zomboid Build 42, Project Sophie will also see some updates of its own. "It also goes without saying that the Main collection will continue to receive updates and that a whole new project will be published when Build 42 for Project Zomboid finally releases."