PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

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madmole said:
Its part of iron gut which I bought because its pretty awesome now. Longer lasting buffs, less food poisoning and faster swimming made me buy it for the first time. I threw up at least 3 or 4 times the first week. Is food poisoning 4% in Alpha 18?
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This just made my day and now im even more excited for the A19 release, thank you.

 
madmole said:
There is no way a noob can reach tier 5 by day 7 lol. I level twice as fast as most the team and was level 14 on day 7 and I exclusively quested and I'm on tier 2 quests. If they do, good for them, they can learn by doing that you should be somewhere safe on day 7 at sundown.
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Yes, on default time it is impossible to reach T5 in 6.30-7 hours. I reached T4 a couple of times by doing around 15+ buried supplies quests of the 2 tiers day and night from various traders and 1 clear tier 1. Never got to actually do the tier 4 though. What if I do and I get stuck? My point is within my previous posts. It will not always be fun to interrupt an awesome campaign quest with nice storyline because the red night is coming and we have to brace ourselves.

On topic: how was your testing today? Any chance we can see a video? Or test ourselves lol. 

 
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JamesKirk said:
Convert the spider to a waterstrider when in water. That would by terrfying🥶
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or maybe they become frog zombies, they have Web hands and can leap on top of water. and they dive at you. AKA i would never be near water. (side note: why are they called spider zombies anymore? they don't climb anymore, they jump. i think maybe they could be called frog zombies Zrogs! but maybe they could keep the name spider zombie and still be able to leap! Suggestions

Thick Spit: up close they can spray a grey spit and its acts like a web!

Poison: if spider zombies or Snakes bite you! you get poisoned (gives you bury vision and lowers max Hp and Lowers HP!

higher leap: they could be base infiltrators! they could jump over and across 20 blocks!  






also i think it would be cool if there are zombies they spawn in water!

 
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Blake_ said:
Yes. But not in PC. This move WILL generate a bunch of bad reviews. You guys should explain first and foremost in capital colored letters IN the head of the a19 patch what exactly is that the telemetry does  and even then, expect a bit of backlash. If you ignore this, expect BIG backlash and devil memes. 

Also, as counterproductive as it might sound, giving the option to turn it off will also help. But better to do both. Your choice with all my Itoldyousos.
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Yes on PC. Why do you think all that analytics software exists? To be used. I would wager most of the major software on your PC is doing some sort of analytics if it can connect to the internet. Open Steam or any game launcher and it is logging info. Start any game and they are logging info, which is how they know hours played. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla, Blizzard, etc, all capturing info when you use any of their products. Most companies just don't mention it and have it buried in the fine print of some EULA. Generally anything that has a login is capturing analytics.

Unity even has their own analytics built right in and they make it simple to enable and send data.
https://unity3d.com/unity/features/analytics

For the most part they are not tracking personal info. No one should be looking at your docs, pictures or files on your computer unless that is a part of their service like you uploading stuff to them when you send an email through Google or post something on Facebook. Some of the big companies are probably abusing your data to make a buck off of marketing. Game companies tracking info on how many hours you played, what settings you chose and various game play info are not.

It simply helps game companies make better games. It is not fun hooking all that up, which is why it has taken this long, but to make the game better for the average player we need feedback on how the game is being played by all those people.

 
I was just thinking about Unity and how they make users have an account with them. Ironically that means every time I open Unity is it probably collecting analytics on me and all games made with Unity are probably sending info to them.

A search finds they are: https://unity3d.com/legal/privacy-policy

"I am a game developer that uses Unity software to build my game, what should I know?
 

...We use analytics services to understand how developers use our software in order to improve our software and services. We also include certain device data collection in the runtime of the software, which is incorporated into the applications you create with the software."

"I play a game built with Unity software, what should I know?
 

Unity has collected some or all of the following information about your device: unique device identifiers (e.g., IDFV for iOS devices and Android ID for Android devices); IP address; country of install (mapped from IP address); device manufacturer and model platform type (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, etc.) and the operating system and version running on your system or device; language; CPU information such as model, the number of CPUs present, frequency, and instruction set support flags; the graphics card type and vendor name; graphics card driver name and version (e.g., “nv4disp.dll 6.10.93.71”); which graphics API is in use (e.g., “OpenGL 2.1” or “Direct3D 9.0c”); amount of system and video RAM present; current screen resolution; version of the Unity Editor used to create the game; sensor flags (e.g., device support for gyroscope, touch pressure or accelerometer); application or bundle identification (“app ID”) of the game installed; unique advertising identifiers provided for iOS and Android devices (e.g., IDFA or Android Ad ID); and a checksum of all the data that gets sent to verify that it transmitted correctly."

 
As long as its transparent what data is being captured, I really couldn't care less.

There are much bigger things to worry about than whether you drink more goldenrod or red tea.

 
Easily settled.

Are you collecting user names.  No?  Fine then, analyze away. 

...that's all anyone cares about. 

 
faatal said:
Why do you think all that analytics software exists?
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Ultimately to make money.

Can be from improving a product, like TFPs want to do for 7dtd & future games, or can be selling info to marketing companies.

faatal said:
Unity has collected some or all of the following information about your device: unique device identifiers (e.g., IDFV for iOS devices and Android ID for Android devices); IP address
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Thanks for sharing this. Collecting broad-use unique identifiers is not ok with me. I'll double check that I have them fully blocked.

Creating & using a unique, to the product, id can be okay. Best practice would be that the id is created by a non-reversible hash (since theres generally need for unique input to ensure a unique end result; can be something like ip + pc name + date&time) then id should have most restrictive file permissions possible applied.

Some may not recall when Intel decided to make CPU Serial Numbers available for software to scan. That didn't turn out well for them.

Again to be clear, I don't think TFPs have any interest in capturing any data other than what they can directly use to improve their game.

While that means, in effect, that they are "making money off of me", in this narrow circumstance that's ok w me.

But we all need to be really clear that giant companies like Google & Facebook make billions of dollars by selling/leveraging their users data.

Why haven't we ever seen a check from them?

 
Blake_ said:
Yes, on default time it is impossible to reach T5 in 6.30-7 hours. I reached T4 a couple of times by doing around 15+ buried supplies quests of the 2 tiers day and night from various traders and 1 clear tier 1. Never got to actually do the tier 4 though. What if I do and I get stuck? My point is within my previous posts. It will not always be fun to interrupt an awesome campaign quest with nice storyline because the red night is coming and we have to brace ourselves.

On topic: how was your testing today? Any chance we can see a video? Or test ourselves lol. 
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Testing is going really well. It feels solid like 18 but looks pretty. I like the new ISS. Eating and drinking feel good you don't get any penalties until 50% so you don't really feel the need to over eat anymore. Health and water bars are immersive. Combat is cool, the stumbling zombies never gets old. I survived day 7 no problem with a meager 7x7 but I did have two rows of concrete but they didn't get past my traps or grenades. I haven't died yet so the GS was about 30, so there were a fair amount of zombies. I'm doing an INT build. The baton is fine. I used a junk sledge quite a bit the first week but now I have a Q5 AK so I don't bother with it so much. INT is pretty easy. Str is my secondary attribute so I can mine and need some sex rex for melee.

The new cheaper auxiliary perks are nice and I've been dabbling in more than I normally would. I crafted a bicycle but then my stamina was so lame I ended up getting a rank of cardio. Food is a struggle the first week and when your t1 dig quests are gone you end up eating everything you can find, but the meat stockpiles up. I caved in and bought master chef so I could make teas and boil meat. I found a spaghetti recipe I can't wait to craft, 0% chance for food poisoning.

 
madmole said:
I guess that isn't an easy fix. A20 we will allow players to back track to do the easier ones.

Except we do have gamesparks on consoles its PC that never got it until now, and we've got a lot more information. Performance is fine so far for me, it seems identical to A18.

Of course.

LOL I don't know what dream state you live in, but around here visibility is 6" or less. I've only been to a few lakes that have sand bottoms that have decent visibility and that is maybe 4 to 6 feet at max is what I consider a nice clear lake.
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Hes comparing to the ocean which is a different animal.  In hawaii, you can actually see pretty far when snorkeling. :)

Blake_ said:
Yes, on default time it is impossible to reach T5 in 6.30-7 hours. I reached T4 a couple of times by doing around 15+ buried supplies quests of the 2 tiers day and night from various traders and 1 clear tier 1. Never got to actually do the tier 4 though. What if I do and I get stuck? My point is within my previous posts. It will not always be fun to interrupt an awesome campaign quest with nice storyline because the red night is coming and we have to brace ourselves.

On topic: how was your testing today? Any chance we can see a video? Or test ourselves lol. 
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Not disagreeing, but that is an extreme edge case imo and not a high priority compared to other things.  

 
Just out of curiosity @madmole do you think we might get more electrical melee weapons in the game?  Like a cattleprod for tier 2 and maybe, i dunno, electric knuckles for tier 3 or something like that, i love the stun baton and would mind a new weapon to go along with it, of course down the road.

On another note, have your world builders thought about doing some pois that could be underwater for random gen?  Like sunken ships, houses that fell into random sinkholes, just as ideas to bring out the swimming a little more?

 
Phoenixshade35 said:
On another note, have your world builders thought about doing some pois that could be underwater for random gen?  Like sunken ships, houses that fell into random sinkholes, just as ideas to bring out the swimming a little more?
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I don't know about the rest, but I think water should be reworked before adding any other things to it. It's really buggy as of now...

 
@madmole

now sense i have a few questions but i know you don't like answering multiple questions (and i don't want to mass spam you) ill ask one per day (only 2) 

will there be any new weapon books for Hammers and Knifes in A19 or the future because we have everything else (spears, knuckles, clubs, guns. bows, etc)

 
madmole said:
Testing is going really well. It feels solid like 18 but looks pretty. I like the new ISS. Eating and drinking feel good you don't get any penalties until 50% so you don't really feel the need to over eat anymore. Health and water bars are immersive. Combat is cool, the stumbling zombies never gets old. I survived day 7 no problem with a meager 7x7 but I did have two rows of concrete but they didn't get past my traps or grenades. I haven't died yet so the GS was about 30, so there were a fair amount of zombies. I'm doing an INT build. The baton is fine. I used a junk sledge quite a bit the first week but now I have a Q5 AK so I don't bother with it so much. INT is pretty easy. Str is my secondary attribute so I can mine and need some sex rex for melee.

The new cheaper auxiliary perks are nice and I've been dabbling in more than I normally would. I crafted a bicycle but then my stamina was so lame I ended up getting a rank of cardio. Food is a struggle the first week and when your t1 dig quests are gone you end up eating everything you can find, but the meat stockpiles up. I caved in and bought master chef so I could make teas and boil meat. I found a spaghetti recipe I can't wait to craft, 0% chance for food poisoning.
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If you have some free time while testing can you try to get some upskirt shots of Trader Jen?

 
I wrap all sorts of weapons with funky coloured paracord...usually just for the looks and nothing functional...sometimes it works for both though...

 
Xtrakicking said:
I don't know about the rest, but I think water should be reworked before adding any other things to it. It's really buggy as of now...
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That's fair, but for down the road i think it would be interesting to see, flooded areas could be a thing to start seeing too, some pois are flooded already and i think they are neat lol, i just hope for more in the future, i can't wait to find the new books in a19 to see what we get haha.

 
madmole said:
LOL I don't know what dream state you live in, but around here visibility is 6" or less. I've only been to a few lakes that have sand bottoms that have decent visibility and that is maybe 4 to 6 feet at max is what I consider a nice clear lake.
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Im talking about game design here, not realistic visibility in muddy water.

Having 6 feet would be as good as not seeing underwater at all.

The player needs to have the chance to see the threat at one meaningful point.

 
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