Where is Zandronum Going? (Follow-up to the Mapping Standards Thread)

[Catastrophe]

I’m making this thread as a follow-up to the conversation that started here: the “On the topic of newer mapping/modding standards” thread. That discussion covered a lot of ground: licensing, visibility, modding barriers, lack of infrastructure, and the engine’s long-term viability. If you missed it, I highly recommend reading it. A lot of people, not just the usual names, showed up with strong perspectives and serious concerns.

And then… nothing.

Weeks of input, multiple pages of thoughtful posts, and we got zero dev or staff response. Not even a “we’re reading this” or “we’ll get back to you.” Just total silence. And in the two weeks that followed? The only visible “development” was an attempt to update the site logo, which crashed the forums. That’s not a joke. That actually happened. No rollback, no communication, just the entire forums completely broken until someone quietly patched it. That would be funny if it weren’t so bleak. A rainbow logo broke the forums and it stayed that way, while the team couldn’t spare a single message to acknowledge a thread full of people raising serious concerns about the port’s future. If that doesn’t scream neglect, I don’t know what does.

Meanwhile, we’ve got people pointing out that Sgt. Mark IV, whether you like him or not, has a game with potentially over 50,000 wishlists on Steam. He has a proven track record, a massive following, and wanted to ship Zandronum with his game. But because of the licensing mess, he couldn’t. That’s a huge missed opportunity. One that could’ve brought attention, contributors, and momentum to Zandronum, without anyone even having to lift a finger. All it had to do was not be a legal minefield. So not only is there no modernization, no vision, no roadmap, we’re also failing to maintain the most basic level of trust or stability.

That became painfully obvious when a few users made heated (yes, inflammatory) posts, and instead of being moved to the Trash like this forum has always done for transparency, they were quietly deleted. No archive, no context, no explanation. Just gone. That’s not how you handle moderation in a project that’s supposed to be open and community-driven. If you want people to speak up, you have to make it safe to do so. Even if someone crosses a line, there should be process, not a silent purge. When posts vanish without trace, it doesn’t “clean things up.” It creates fear. It erodes trust. And when people no longer feel safe contributing, they stop showing up at all.

This isn’t drama. It’s about basic communication and leadership, and right now, neither is happening.

People gave their time to write feedback, propose solutions, and show that they still care about this port. What did we get in return? Silence. A forum-crashing logo. Deleted posts. That’s the message being sent from the top. Zandronum has survived this long thanks to a few people doing their best, and that deserves praise. But at some point, “keeping the lights on” becomes indistinguishable from just letting it rot. And right now, we’re losing even the last active projects that kept Zandronum relevant. Mods like Death and Decay are moving to GZDoom, not because of features, but because there's no confidence left in this port’s direction. Ivan, one of the most dedicated contributors this ports had, is ready to walk away. That should upset anyone who still thinks this engine has a future. This isn’t just about losing future potential, we’re actively bleeding out the last remaining reasons to care. And at this point, it’s hard not to feel like something deeper is wrong.

I’m not saying there’s active sabotage going on… but if someone were trying to sabotage the project, what exactly would they be doing differently? They’d ignore the biggest thread of the year. Avoid every serious question raised. Push a tone-deaf site update that breaks everything. Refuse to fix the licensing issues driving creators away. Quietly delete posts to bury symptoms instead of facing problems.

That’s what this looks like.

And I say that not to start drama, but because perception matters. When everything looks like it’s being mismanaged, and the people in charge say nothing, people will start assuming the worst. Whether or not it’s true doesn’t matter. The result is the same: creators leave, players check out, and what’s left is a skeleton with no direction. That’s the fire we’re sitting in. And until someone at the top acknowledges it, people are going to keep assuming the worst, because right now, that’s all we’re being shown.

[Ivan]

I'm just going to say a few quick things before I stop caring about this port altogether, as it no longer is worth my time and effort as demonstrated by the inept mods/admins.

1. Completely shadow deleting posts on a dead forum criticizing YOUR lack of effort and ambition speaks ill of you. Not even a warning so I can't know which of the moronic mods deleted it. (I already know anyway, it's a small town here, nothing but tumbleweeds and like 1 guy) Besides, most of us took screenshots of it anyway so you can't hide it :) You really think saving face in a situation like this is what's going to help you? You know who else tried that? Nax. Look where he is now. Nowhere, doing nothing. Where are his grand plans to save the port? He's keeping it on life support and for what? It's sad when Odamex has a better future than your port.

2. It is true I'm jumping ship. This port has caused enough headaches to me with it's incomprehensible crash reports and quiet crashes to desktop with no logs or information whatsoever despite my years of asking for help on better error messages and helping the modders. I'm tired of important requests being slipped aside and useless shit getting added in. Hence, I no longer care. I recommend people who want to have a more enjoyable time making mods to do the same. This port has nothing going on for you, the sooner you realize it the better.

[Ænima]

I've had a few things on my mind since the original thread but I've refrained from posting until now because I assumed that topic was dead. But since we're talking about it again, here I go...

• Outreach/"marketing"

  We have a dead Youtube channel

  Last week, I took the liberty of converting my entire YouTube channel into the "official" showcase for Zandro mods. (since that's basically all I ever use my YT channel for nowadays anyway)

  
  

  It only has 500 subscribers at the moment but it's been steadily gaining at least 4 or 5 a day since rebranding. I deleted most of my non-Doom-related videos also. If anyone has a trailer or gameplay video for their mod, feel free to send it to me and I'll post it on this channel, that way everything can be in one place and players can see the wide variety of mods Zan has on offer.
• Improvements to the auth system and/or integration with DoomSeeker. Players should be able to create auth accounts immediately after installing Zandronum, ideally upon DoomSeeker's first launch, and have their credentials saved by DoomSeeker so that they're automatically logged in upon joining any server that's running a database. The current approach of having an ingame message instructing players to "go to Zandronum.com/register" when they're already ingame is a bit annoying, especially with how precarious alt-tabbing can be. I know Sean mentioned to me in Discord that a player has to currently be connected to a server in order to send their credentials, but there has to be SOME way for DoomSeeker to store that and then simply send it once the game launches.
  
  The auth system and the ability for players to have their data saved between play sessions could be a total game-changer in terms of player retention. But for modders like me, implementing database functionality in my mods just seems like a waste of time because the auth system's current state is so user-unfriendly that nobody will actually use it. This is a tragedy. The system has existed for years. By now, we COULD have had dozens of mods that feature MMO-style user progression like XP saving, rare items, "cosmetics", stat buffs, etc etc. Things that would keep players engaged and give them a reason to play Zan online for more than just one session. There ARE a few mods using the auth system like RGA2 and DnD (iirc), but again, only a tiny fraction of the people playing those mods are actually using the system.
• Ingame server browser improvements -- I'm not sure exactly what changes to make but I feel like scrolling through 10 pages of empty servers that I can't tell apart because all I can see is the first 10 characters of the server name, 90% of which start with "[TSPG-PK]", isn't really conducive to finding something interesting to play. Yes I know the filters exist. It doesn't change the fact that it's still a giant list that I have to navigate with the arrow keys. Maybe something more visual or something with a "lobby" format would be better. Again, I can't really think of any specific improvements to make but I'm not sure it even matters anyways since the ingame browser is already basically an afterthought in the presence of Doomseeker.