PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[JaxTeller718]

Doom and gloom much?
A positive outlook so you could interpret what I write as positive news could do you wonders.

Such as, we won't release lore.doc for people to pick apart and read. Rather the game itself will be the lore in all the dialogue, quest notes and what you take in with your eyes, ears. A picture or in this case, multimedia is worth 100,000 words.

Losing car harvest bugs is a shame? Breaking through a block to see another block with almost as many hit points and seeing it pop up and down is cool in what way? Look at what you gain, no more cars bobbing or frustrating doors that have hidden health pools and changed materials requiring you to change tools mid destruction. I didn't say we'd lose damage models for sure, I said we'd show the model when the hit points are X most likely. But if I had to choose, I'd pick the streamlined option with no bugs than downgrade models with bugs and blocks respawning with a new health bar.

If I misread your posts I apologize. No I dont want a lore.doc lol. I am looking forward to your story though. Like a LOT. Been playing for years and cant wait to experience the story of what I have enjoyed all this time. I thought there was a chance we wouldnt get to see that story and it shook me for a second.

Also if the downgrade block was just in reference to vehicles again I misread and apologize. Carry on good sir. Sorry my post was a gloom and doomer, I promise the next one you see from me will be a positive one.

 

[faatal]

@faatal, when you were talking about playing I flashed way back to a vid MM posted where he was playing w pocketninja and he kept getting distracted by visual things. (I think he was actually taking notes)

So I pictured you playing after you'd merged some AI tweaks (no worries, you were fully clothed and the lights were on. ha!),

Faatal sees a zed headed his way, watches to see if said zed is zig-zagging or pathing straight.

Sees a car in the path, where going one was will be shorter, waits to see if zed takes best path.

Zed jumps over car & bonks Faatal on the nose. :biggrin1:

"oh yeah, forgot I added that"

Kidding, but I can imagine that it must be a bit difficult to not find yourself distracted, watching how the game is behaving, and that it might bite you in the butt from time to time.

Actually, I tend to just play like a normal person and then get annoyed by stupid stuff like anyone else regardless if it was something I worked on or not.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

Actually, I tend to just play like a normal person and then get annoyed by stupid stuff like anyone else regardless if it was something I worked on or not.

I imagine some friendly jabs back and forth amongst the devs about their unsolved problems.

 

[faatal]

Making a wall around your base means you have an extra chance per block, that they will choose another block. But in the end, whenever a block takes 10% damage or has a bit less health than another. All of the zombies will focus on it, so yeah you can spam repair it, but that's not really the point of making fortress walls now is it?

It is not that simple. There are more rules than that. Distance matters and the lower the zombie intelligence, the less they care are about block heath, so distance matters even more to them. Zombie intelligence is also a random range that is set per zombie type. The dumber zombies don't even like long distances and will increasing bail on a path and destroy.

Don't take things out of context. He probably left out the fact that he had hordes every night or two so that may be why he had block damage reduced significantly. Devs don't need to be good at the game they need to be good at their job. There is a portion of the team myself included that does play the game a lot but an animator needs to be good at animating, not knowing every in and out of the game design or being awesome at playing the game. It helps to some degree some more than others but is only critical for a few people on the team such as system designers and people doing balance.

Oh, I did forget I was playing hordes every 3 days, but then switched to every 4 days when I upped the AI block damage from 50% to 67%.

 

[Phoenixshade35]

Ya know I gotta say, playing with 50% loot abundance almost feels right to me in the game, like i am getting the right about of loot out of certain containers that i would think i would get during an apocalypse, im so used to playing with 100%, to me this is offering me the challenge of actually having to try to survive now, i love it

 

[faatal]

Technically, dead bodies sink ... then they begin to float after they start to decompose. 

However, zombies are not technically completely dead, and since they don't leave a trail of rotting body parts behind them, one can assume that something in the zombification process stops the decomposition process at some point before their bodies completely rot. 

The real question is whether or not they breathe.  If they breathe ... or at least their diaphragms work and inhales and exhales air into their lungs, it would make sense that they would float ... and that the movement of their legs and arms would mimic swimming. 

Although it does bring up the question to my mind ... where are all the fish?  Wouldn't fish eat the zombies as they try to swim?  I'm picturing swarms of those little minnow fish that are always nibbling on your toes when you wade in the pond.  

How do zombies walk or attack or eat? Is it not muscle memory from their life?

How do zombies swim...

 

[Pegasus]

How do zombies walk or attack or eat? Is it not muscle memory from their life?

How do zombies swim...

No earthly idea.  Magic I'd think.  Black voodoo magic.    

I was actually on the side of the swimming zombies.  Although I do still think the fish should at least try to eat them.  But maybe they did and that's why there's no fish ... they got zombified and ate each other.  I imagine one really big fish swimming around somewhere out there .... maybe eating swimming zombies from time to time.  Like Moby @%$*#!.  Or Jaws.   

Edit:  Really?  It bleeped out Moby?  Although I guess it can be a bad word.  Sorry .. unintentional swearing.

Additional edit:  And as for the eating, I've read some pretty disgusting stories about that ... definitely NSFW 

 

[pregnable]

No earthly idea.  Magic I'd think.  Black voodoo magic.   

 

[faatal]

I think @Demandred1957 is forgetting that dead bodies don't really get up at all. If they cant think outside of "Realistic" then they really shouldn't be playing Horror fiction games, reading horror fiction books or watching horror fiction movies  But some people just can't see outside their tiny box they find so comfy  

I'm currently reading Chris Cox's Magitech Chronicles. I've read some of his other sci-fi books, but Magitech has spaceships/tech combined with mages doing magic and space dragons/gods. Works for me. His lore.

Minecraft has a very satisfying underwater swim mechanic. It feels really good and I hope that players will be able to do something that feels like actual swimming. I like what you say about better swimming with faster stamina drain. It opens the way for swimming perks and even new items like snorkles and fins....

Player swimming feels like mud. I'd like to fix that someday.

 

[faatal]

I'll never understand the zipline thing. It seems like there's an entire subset of gamers that REALLY like Ziplines and want them in all games. I'm personally terrified of them because basically every game that has them, they are a glitchy death trap I fall off of half way across and fall to my death. That, or it glitches when you try to mount it and you just walk right through it and fall off the cliff

I do still want my elevator / late game teleporter though. Teleporter would give so much more base location variety instead of just "Within walking distance of the trader located in the best city". Would need a lot of balance thought though, like limited placements and stuff. If it didn't work on horde nights, and could only be placed in your land claim, and could only teleport to traders and back, would at least go a long way to eliminating it's cheese uses

Catapult. We will happily send you to your destination. How you land is up to you.

 

[Phoenixshade35]

Catapult. We will happily send you to your destination. How you land is up to you.

do mot mention something you know we would have way to much fun with, catapult stones into a building, us into the breach in the wall, soon a parachute will be a thing for gyro mishaps lol

 

[faatal]

If I misread your posts I apologize. No I dont want a lore.doc lol. I am looking forward to your story though. Like a LOT. Been playing for years and cant wait to experience the story of what I have enjoyed all this time. I thought there was a chance we wouldnt get to see that story and it shook me for a second.

Also if the downgrade block was just in reference to vehicles again I misread and apologize. Carry on good sir. Sorry my post was a gloom and doomer, I promise the next one you see from me will be a positive one.

Technically that was a positive post! Yay!

 

[Phoenixshade35]

oh and i found a small exploit, its nothing big, i just had a zombie attacking my base cause he could not climb my ladder, my ladder has a gap that i can climb perfectly but they cannot, unsure if it can be fixed cause he sure didnt path to it

 

[MechanicalLens]

Catapult. We will happily send you to your destination. How you land is up to you.

So unimaginative. Why not a massive slingshot instead?

 

[Roland]

but nothing about "zombie survival game" screams "underwater exploration" to me.

If there were half-submerged POI's with the loot room well below the surface would you hear the screaming then?

 

[Phoenixshade35]

If there were half-submerged POI's with the loot room well below the surface would you hear the screaming then?

I would love some partially submerged pois, would make taking skills to help with swimming even more worth while, i could even see people living in those slightly submerged pois thinking its awesome, imagine the builds using waterbound pois

 

[Pegasus]

I would love some partially submerged pois, would make taking skills to help with swimming even more worth while, i could even see people living in those slightly submerged pois thinking its awesome, imagine the builds using waterbound pois

One of my fondest dreams.  Maybe one day. 

 

[madmole]

Out of curiosity, should it be done so its just one solid object and not staged objects together, do u think it will improve peoples performance with less to go in places?

And for the others forum question (though im pretty sure it doesn't)  Does changing from the wrench, to ratchet to impact actually give you more per tier or is it only you gathering faster?  im certain its the latter but im curious myself none the less

Patch notes when it is done will reveal all, we don't have a 100% design yet.

 

[EggsAisle]

I'm done with A19 unless there is a bug I can help with. I'm working with concept artists on special infected and pipe weapon visual design. That stuff will all be really cool.

I'm looking forward to the special infected in particular. Pipe weapons are cool too, but 7D really needs some new baddies.

Could you tell us a little about some of your inspirations/influences for the specials? I realize the concept art phase is pretty early in the whole scheme so there's probably not a lot you want to share just yet, but I'm curious and it wouldn't hurt to ask. To be more speccific, are you aiming for a similar look we have to the infected right now, or do you have other aesthetics in mind? Like really leaning on the grotesque/body horror (Resident Evil or The Last of Us style) or maybe something more fantasy/SF (like System Shock, Dead Space, The Witcher...) I'm just intrigued because some of the current designs like the crawler and the wight are more than just "dead humans, but animate and hungry" and I'm wondering if you're aiming for more of that or less.

 

[Jay_ombie]

Love vultures but would love other flying atrocities as well.

Maybe bring back the wasps for certain biomes that would be wicked.