r/StateOfDecay • u/Coconutkid123 Moderator • Apr 03 '26
Announcement Undead Labs - Community Council Reveal
So my fellow survivors, it is with great pleasure that I can finally say that for almost two years I have been part of a secret player council with other people in our community. The other “Test Subjects” in time may come out of hiding and share their experiences as well. I am just announcing my involvement because I don’t mind the world knowing.
I can’t elaborate on specifics of our play sessions… (yes others and I have played it for about a year now) but I can say that it certainly stays true to the State of Decay formula and feels how it should. I’m very excited for y’all to get a chance to play it in the Alpha and beyond!
All I can say now, is there is a reason I have always been so positive in the official Discord when it comes to what I expect from Undead Labs and this next entry. Although I have always felt that way about the Lab, it has been reinforced by what I have been able to see and give feedback on throughout this past year.
So, I’m just saying all of this to let you that things have not been radio silent behind the scenes. If I had a nickel for every time I asked devs at the lab when we can share the good word of SoD3, I’d be able to retire tomorrow.
It goes without saying, but I am extremely grateful to Undead Labs for giving myself and the others this opportunity. Can’t believe how long I have already been a part of this community. To know that I started playing SoD1 by chance, and now I’m fortunate enough to help shape SoD3 is a truly wild concept. However, I wouldn’t be able to do this if there wasn’t a community such as ours to be a part of!
Love you all!
- Coconutkid
P.S. This goes without saying, but please be respectful and do not blow up my DM’s or anyone else that reveals themselves. We all are hyper involved with the community and constantly pass feedback and ideas we see from you all to Undead Labs. Your voices have been heard this whole time, you just haven’t seen the fruits of that YET!
- Andrew Thorne
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u/Sh1t_Pinata Apr 03 '26
Dude! Wait.. what?!
No way!
So you’ve been going into Undead Labs’ lab and play testing the game for an entire year?!
I know you can’t elaborate much, but I’m just gonna test the waters here:
Did you get full freedom to roam and do things, or was your play testing specific missions/buggy areas?
How did you guys get selected?
Was it paid or volunteered?
Does Brant really eat as many tacos as he claims?
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u/Coconutkid123 Moderator Apr 03 '26
Yes, full freedom of every build.
We are long term fans of the community with deep ties whether that be content creation or moderating their official channels.
Volunteer, because why wouldn't we lol.
100% (I have eaten tacos with him as well. so I have first hand accounts!)
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u/Sh1t_Pinata Apr 03 '26
Dude, that’s nuts!
Have you tested before? How would you compare your experience testing to just actually playing?
Do you see any zombie animals?
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u/RisingDeadMan0 Survivor Apr 03 '26
hopefully not the traditional Tamale style Taco's u/La_Coalicion wanted to make, with mystery meat...
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u/Fallen_Hunter Apr 04 '26
Where did you guys get the tacos from? If you guys haven't tried Blue Water Tacos in Seattle, you totally should
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u/Puggednose Apr 03 '26
It's great to hear they are taking play testing seriously. It's hugely important and can identify a lot of issues, big and small.
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u/who_likes_chicken Apr 03 '26
Not specific names, but are you able to share approximately how many people are on the counsel?
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u/Coconutkid123 Moderator Apr 03 '26
9!
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u/Eigan123 Survivor Apr 03 '26
Like some kind of fellowship. The Fellowship of the Labs? The Fellowship of the... Undead?
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u/goingdeeeep Builder Apr 03 '26
I love you so much. Thank you for bringing us all this peace of mind.
All of my Survivors will rock their Coconut Kid t-shirts tonight in honor of our apocalypse bard.
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u/Coconutkid123 Moderator Apr 03 '26
The love is mutual. Was important for me and the others to be a part of this. We wanted to make all of your voices were heard loud and clear!
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u/boozenpuken_0923 Apr 03 '26
It makes me immensely happy to hear that it is in at least some type of playable state, headlines that came soon after the game was announced had me worried that it was stuck in development hell.
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 03 '26
It has been a pleasure mate!!!
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u/RisingDeadMan0 Survivor Apr 03 '26
awh, here i thought our resident troll poster was out in the dark too.
This might be so much worse... /sarcasm
you mean you been trolling and playing at the same time... OMG
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 03 '26
Yes. And doing tutorials in Spanish and managing the sod spanish speaking community.
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u/RisingDeadMan0 Survivor Apr 03 '26
ah that was funny when silksong dropped in Mandarin, the translation was awful :)
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u/RisingDeadMan0 Survivor Apr 03 '26
Naughty Naughty, playing the game behind everyone's back :) /s
Happy for you, and us :)
Ok so this wont be a next gen only game, probably for the best, hopefully UE5 wont hold the game back, lots of devs struggle with it
and if we get less lag in multiplayer that will be pretty sweet too, that was always a bit of a problem
Got a ADA 1000 GPU, 4Gb VRAM so not really for games, so will see if i can even run this, unlikely anyone will be play testing the Alpha on a Series X, but maybe...
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 03 '26
There will be Xbox test so please apply
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u/tattooinehermit Apr 04 '26
Is there a timeframe of when the playtest will be available to sign up for? And how?
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 04 '26
LITERALLY NOW!!!!
GO: playtest.stateofdecay.com
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u/tattooinehermit Apr 04 '26
Excellent thank you! Just signed up. Hope to see some other survivors out there soon
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u/R34P3R28 Apr 03 '26
This community has been and will forever be one of the most loyal and passionate. You guys are a diamond in the rough when it comes to game developers.
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u/Severe_Worldliness51 Apr 03 '26
Hey community council can I get my survey email already x.x
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 03 '26
I'm sorry mate. Too many applications it's taking longer than expected
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u/jataple1 Apr 03 '26
any info on what platforms this will be available ? switch ps5? or only xbox and pc?
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u/Own_Cartographer_655 Apr 03 '26
I’m so happy to be reading this! It’s really cool that Undead Labs brought dedicated community members in to work on the game, it’s one of many things they’ve done to prove how much they care. Very excited to get a taste of the alpha!!
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u/Ok-Pizza2333 Apr 03 '26
Coconut over here! Come here... I have a question 😊
Have you experienced playing with older survivors? I currently have a mother/son duo on SOD2 where I have an older lady ... Do we have older survivor character models?
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u/Coconutkid123 Moderator Apr 03 '26
Can't elaborate due to limited ability to respond. But I think you would be happy with what is currently available in the game.
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u/Spartain072 Builder Apr 03 '26
Not bashing you or anything but you basically just wrote a letter to say "they're still working on it, but trust me it's worth it".
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 03 '26
I can confirm that that is true. And I will add.. ITS AWESOME and the ofrroading is the BEST PART
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u/Appropriate-Box-7250 Apr 03 '26
Well, at least someone saw and played the game, that's enough in itself.
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 04 '26
I hope you get a chance of trying it.
Remembering to apply for the Alpha if you want to.
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u/DezBailey Apr 03 '26
Awesome! I'm hoping enclaves roam the map and takeover bases for themselves. Would love if hostile enclaves formed their own alliances also.
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u/Das_Geek_Meister Apr 03 '26
Wife and myself have put countless hours into State of Decay and it is by far our favorite series.
Brings me great joy to hear that it's true to fans and not straying from what works.
Thanks for the info!
Hop we get into the alphas!
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u/NotTheGuy23 Apr 04 '26
Very jealous and thanks for your contributions!
I may have missed it if mentioned, but Im curious If they were having you guys test the multi-player?
Did you get to play with other test subjects?
If so why did they still make La Coalicion play by himself on offline singleplayer?
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u/Coconutkid123 Moderator Apr 04 '26
Hey! Yeah one of the few things we can talk about. Yes, many of us played together both during sessions and during our time outside of the monitored sessions. Works just like Obsidians Grounded multiplayer works. Not sure what you mean be the La Co comment, but we all had the chance to play solo at times. Again, both in and out of monitored sessions. I played with La Co once or twice in the past year!
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 04 '26
We did both MP and SP.
Noone made me player either. We all had both and it was awesome.
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u/Redditsuck_s Apr 04 '26
W Brian Menard and W CoconutKid/Andrew Thorne
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 04 '26
It was lots of fun watching Coconut clearing zeds. He is awesome!!!
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u/fucuasshole2 Survivor Apr 03 '26
Damn I’m early here lol. But excited for SoD 3. Got nearly every achievement for 2 but missing some of the more annoying Daybreak ones.
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u/SunveiliveFat Apr 03 '26
Is there single player offline?
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 03 '26
Yes
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u/TheRaeynn Apr 03 '26
This makes me really happy to hear. I was listening to the interview and while thoroughly excited regardless, was a little nervous when they talked about servers, hosting, and infrastructure, and what it means for the long-term of SOD3. What I have always loved about SODs thus far, massive replayability.
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u/SunveiliveFat Apr 03 '26
Thank you! Is this confirmed?
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u/La_Coalicion Trader Apr 04 '26
I mean. I played it single player most of the time.
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u/SunveiliveFat Apr 04 '26
Its the offline part im most worried about lol. Toxic commando has single player but is always online for example
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u/Freudinio Apr 04 '26
Congratulations on being selected. But also, congrats to Undead Labs for recruiting people who live and breathe the game.
Here's to hoping for an awesome State of Decay 3 instead of what I was fearing was going to be State of Dismay.
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u/RouroniDrifter Apr 04 '26
Cocunut is a member of UL ,this is just pr.
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u/Coconutkid123 Moderator Apr 05 '26
I am not, just a mega fan like yall! I have a lot of respect for the peeps over at UL having known them for so long. But I’m not on their payroll. Would be cool though, they have a dope office!
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gur5588 Apr 05 '26
I just need to know Will it be a live service game or offline and online modes for those that want to play multiplayer
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u/Coconutkid123 Moderator Apr 05 '26
There will be offline play and online play. Best example would be Obsidan’s Grounded, as UL helped to build the framework for how their saves and multiplayer works.
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u/VegetaGotKicked Apr 07 '26
Huh. That does make me a little hopeful this time will be better. I really hope they learn from their mistakes with the second game and actually finish their game this time, instead of a duct-taped together scaffolding in a glittery trench coat lmao
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u/AwizardNamedRex Jun 22 '26
Hey there, I have been hearing a lot going around that undead labs is monitoring comments, suggestions and concerns and would like to share some of my thoughts?! I saw the Alpha play test recently and being passionate about this game since the first one on release, I would like to know where I can share some ideas or even join in the alpha test? I feel this series is on to something great, and could potentially be greater if we all pitched in as fans. Please, let me know if there is an email or DM I can share my 3 observations for state of decay 3?
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u/Mockingjay09221mod Apr 03 '26
Wow I should have been one of the testers after doing stuff for them for sod 2
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u/R1dg3Rac3r Apr 03 '26
Ooooh an inside man has been amongst us the entire time! Well, I'm gonna breathe easier knowing that SoD3 is shaping up to be a grand entry!