Rhys Davis Games Portfolio
Project Zomboid: First Aid VHS Tapes
27/01/2024 | Mod
Lua / Personal Project
This mod can be found on the Steam Workshop here.
This mod can be found on Nexus mods here.
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Workshop statistics: As of 04/04/25,
169,628 current subscribers.
865 ratings, 99.0% approval rating - 5 stars.
Reached the "most popular mods in the last week" status. (Frontpage)
Reached the frontpage of the "most popular mods in the last 3 months" status.
Reached the frontpage of the "most popular mods in the last 6 months" status.
Translated into Spanish, Polish, Portuguese-Brazilian, Korean, Russian, Japanese, Italian, French, Turkish.
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A small mod for the game ‘Project Zomboid’ which adds findable VHS tapes that teach the player how to treat various injuries that they may obtain in-game. The First Aid skill is infamously difficult to increase as the player will struggle to treat enough injuries before inevitably becoming zombie food.
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The VHS series is called “KY (Kentucky) Medical Frontline” – A hospital documentary series that follows the working days of Dr. Monroe and staff, which allows viewers to see the challenges they endure on a day-to-day basis. Viewers can observe how the staff deal with various situations and medical procedures of everyday injuries.
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Background
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Within the game, the player may come across VHS tapes when looting neighbourhood houses or VHS stores. These tapes contain in-universe TV shows and recordings which the player can watch if they insert them into a compatible TV. While most of the recordings are for the purpose of world building, some provide the player with experience points towards their survivor skills and teach the player recipes that they can craft. For example:
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Woodcraft – Woodworking skill
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Carzone – Vehicle Mechanics skill
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Exposure Survival – Fishing, Farming, Foraging, Trapping skills
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The Cook Show – Cooking skill
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Development
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The VHS tapes are of pre-apocalypse TV shows, so coming up with a lore-friendly way of teaching players how to treat survival-based injuries would prove tricky. The idea for a medical documentary series akin to real shows like “24h in A&E” would allow me to create stories which presented scenarios where serious injuries get treated by medical professionals, all while being recorded for TV broadcast. Certain episodes required some creative thinking to teach the players specific medical game mechanics, for example - the “Fractures” episode. In-game you can craft splints using a straight piece of wood and some ripped sheets but trying to come up with a pre-apocalypse scenario that meant medical professionals would create a handmade splint was difficult. However, in the end, I chose a scenario where a paramedic team out in the field would run out of splints, and therefore required them to create a makeshift one to help move the patient. To fit in with the other shows, the script needed some light-hearted accents to accompany the main story. From the comedic “dink” sound effects, to referencing the notorious in-game trait “speed demon”, these flourishes help ground the show into the Zomboid universe.
Drafting out the episode scripts, colour coded speech to easily identify who is talking.
Adding to the challenge, these episodes had to be short and concise. To help fit in with the other VHS shows, the length of the episode couldn’t surpass more than 2 minutes. Additionally, the number of individual lines for each show typically ranged from 14 lines up to 27 lines long. It is also not recommended to overfill one line, as the text onscreen would be far too wide, so shorter, punchier sentences were needed. The script for each show went through numerous drafts, with pacing being the major factor that needed adjustments. Additionally, an external proofreader helped provide a second opinion, and identify parts of the script that were not clear enough for someone who wasn’t part of the creative process.
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Each episode features the introduction line, which lets the viewer know what they are watching, followed by 3 lines that set the scene. This gives the viewer a rough picture in their mind on where the characters are located. An additional 4 to 5 lines are used to introduce the characters that are present in the scene, and what the situation is. The main body of text refers to the medical procedure listed on the PZ Wiki, written out in a step-by-step fashion. To conclude each episode, a positive ending is added to let the viewers know that the procedures helped the patients.
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Lua script file, the "text" is a key for the real text that is stored as a separate file
Originally, the mod’s text entries were written purely in English, but after analysing the game files, I discovered that there was a way to make it translatable into different languages. Instead of adding the text directly into the string field, a unique key was added instead. This identifier would be paired with a separate text file which held the actual text. Depending on the language the player has selected in-game, it would direct it to the correct translation file. This increases accessibility of the mod as native speakers of other languages can understand the content of the VHS shows.
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Poor Shaun doesn't understand Korean, but Korean players will!
A special thanks to the generous community members that helped translate this mod into other languages. After uploading the mod to the steam workshop, these members translated the script, and sent their version back for me to add to the mod officially. Translating the mod into other languages increases accessibility of the mod, allowing non-English speakers to enjoy the content. After double checking the translations, ensuring that the file is encoded correctly, and testing the mod in-game, these changes were added to the official release.
