PC Alpha 20 Dev Diary

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Will the Wasteland biome be as barren and empty as shown in the most recent dev stream?

Also, are biome gamestage/lootstage multipliers still coming to A20? :)

 
I got this.

Wasteland will be the last biome to be worked on, since it's the one with the bandits and the Duke.  I wouldn't expect any significant changes to it until bandits. 

The tile system does a nice job immersing you to want to just keep exploring every nook and cranny of a city.
I liked how he kept wanting to show your poi, and even when he was *in the fk'n editor*, kept rolling the dice to make it come up instead of just loading it. 

Something something 05. 

 
I got this.

Wasteland will be the last biome to be worked on, since it's the one with the bandits and the Duke.  I wouldn't expect any significant changes to it until bandits. 

I liked how he kept wanting to show your poi, and even when he was *in the fk'n editor*, kept rolling the dice to make it come up instead of just loading it. 

Something something 05. 


I am glad he didn't go any further into that POI, as it has quite a few surprises in it. T4. 😆

 
So i see that we have devs working on A21 stuff...why are their resources there and not on polishing up/getting bugs fixed on A20? are their skills not worth while there or can they just not help in anyway way? AKA they dont know how to fix bugs and are only designers/artists? just wondering....cause if they can fix bugs why not...would be a shame if A20 was delayed a month or so just cause you did not pool your resources in the right places at the right times

then i see this lol so maybe i am right..?
 

Welcome to the Alpha 20 Dev Diary. Here we will discuss upcoming features for Alpha 20.

RELEASE TARGET: October/November
As Roland said, people have specific roles. Programmers are not interchangeable. Over time two can be if they both learn a system well, but that rarely happens, since there is plenty of work to spread around. New programmers can be a time drain, since they often have to ask other programmers how stuff works and sometimes you could of just spent that time fixing it yourself. Then you get new bugs while fixing bugs, which just happened recently when a consultant tried to fix a bug where they don't understand all the game features, then I spend time looking at their bugs and trying to help, blah, blah, blah.

 
As Roland said, people have specific roles. Programmers are not interchangeable. Over time two can be if they both learn a system well, but that rarely happens, since there is plenty of work to spread around. New programmers can be a time drain, since they often have to ask other programmers how stuff works and sometimes you could of just spent that time fixing it yourself. Then you get new bugs while fixing bugs, which just happened recently when a consultant tried to fix a bug where they don't understand all the game features, then I spend time looking at their bugs and trying to help, blah, blah, blah.


I'm failing to see how TFP hiring new programmers is beneficial then.

 
I'm failing to see how TFP hiring new programmers is beneficial then.


The long game.

Building a larger team that will work on A21 and future projects is fine because they will have time to get up to speed. However, hiring new programmers or re-tasking people to try and shrink a 6-8 week timeline down to a 3 week timeline just to achieve an estimated release date mentioned off the cuff in a video is not beneficial. That's why some team members have begun some A21 tasks rather than being tasked to fix some of the bugs that faatal or Prime is assigned to handle.

 
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Really loved the Random gen stream. The tile system is fantastic and I'm really looking forward to seeing just how expandable it is. I know it's by no means finished and that more is always better for making a random world feel less 'empty' and more alive.

What I'm most excited for is the part system. The ability to have 'parts' fill in and flesh out the all of the little unused spaces in the world will add considerable variation, immersion, and replayability -- not to mention great opportunities for emergent story telling; showing the player just how quickly society deteriorated as people abandoned everything to try and escape with their lives. 

I think the most jarring to me from the stream was how roads and parking lots just felt way too empty in the current build. Though I do recognize that cars need to be a finite resource and there's a limit to how many wrecks should be allowed. However, with all the bus stops I guess I was expecting to see some busses (I think I only saw them in the editor). With the addition of warehouse / package hub POIs, I was also looking to see some branded 53' trailers on the streets and especially in the commercial districts putting those loading docks on the stores to use. 

The part system sounds like it will let roads and parking lots have some great things to explore: survivor last stands, traffic jams, jackknifed 53'ers, military check points, abandoned construction/utility job sites, medical triage tents, power crews that never dispatched, rows of shipping containers/trailers, and all manner of human tragedy that the player gets to witness before inevitably scavenging from (or hopefully, questing to).

 
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The long game.

Building a larger team that will work on A21 and future projects is fine because they will have time to get up to speed. However, hiring new programmers or re-tasking people to try and shrink a 6-8 week timeline down to a 3 week timeline just to achieve an estimated release date mentioned off the cuff in a video is not beneficial. That's why some team members have begun some A21 tasks rather than being tasked to fix some of the bugs that faatal or Prime is assigned to handle.
I dont know how u do this, honestly.  God Bless.  So direct, articulate, and non combative.  Dealing with this same BS every missed release date.  

Guys, TFP always take longer than they think they will.  A few keyboard warriors on the forums arent gonna change release dates.   Cry all you want, it means nothing to people making decisions and does nothing to make them work faster.  
 

Also if i get a warning for this post, i honestly dont care - it was worth the vent :)

I predict alot of people might do a couple quests here and there but will get sucked in just roaming around the map now nomadic style.

The tile system does a nice job immersing you to want to just keep exploring every nook and cranny of a city.

Some of the POIs markers in downtown tiles are close enough together which leads some pretty cool emergent gameplay opportunities if players are willing to take a "leap" of faith.

That and turn on feral sense as well for even more intense fun.
Hey Laz,  are the POIs u built as a modder going to become official POIs in the future?

 
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I dont know how u do this, honestly.  God Bless.  So direct, articulate, and non combative.  Dealing with this same BS every missed release date.  

Guys, TFP always take longer than they think they will.  A few keyboard warriors on the forums arent gonna change release dates.   Cry all you want, it means nothing to people making decisions and does nothing to make them work faster.  
 

Also if i get a warning for this post, i honestly dont care - it was worth the vent :)

Hey Laz,  are the POIs u built as a modder going to become official POIs in the future?


Spiritually perhaps but not in their original forms.  It depends where the  needs are (e.g. districts, sizes, etc.).

 
cleanNOcamera.gif


Credits to Mumpfy

 
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OMG! THIS NEWSSTAND IS SO GOOD AND IN POLISH STYLE ( SEE RUCH KIOSK IN GOOGLE IF YOU WANT)

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

IDK WHO MAKE THIS BUT THX SO MUCH ! OMG OMG OMG OMG

DAMMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND THIS!!!!

[a bunch of @'s im not sure will also count in my reply]  i'm so happy guys! omg

BTW TO DEVS! : CAN ANYONE SAY WHO MAKE THIS BECAUSE I WANT TO SAY THANKS TO THIS PERSON???

I'M IN PARADISE

JUST ADD SKELETON TOO AND IT will be perfect! 


Can I just say that your happiness and excitement over a newsstand makes me also very happy? I'm sure whoever made it will be very happy that you're excited about it 😁

And to those that answered me (faatal, @Blake_, @meganoth) thank you guys so much for answering my question. I kind of figured it worked that way (regular armor rating + individual pieces have small bonuses, full set has a big one/ a perk), but I wanted to make sure that it was at least partially true before I got my hopes up. If the new system is going to be like that, or something very similar, I'm absolutely fine with it! Mostly because (hopefully) one can mix and match pieces to suit their play styles / different aspects of their play styles. 

[not @ing faatal either since I'm sure he receives many of them daily and I don't want to clutter his notifications!]

*Another question for mostly the POI builders to answer, if maybe they haven't (I can't watch the streams because my internet is garbage): how difficult of a learning curve is it, would you say, to build using the new shapes? Is it more or less the same that it is now in a19, just with more shapes, or does it take some getting used to? And have you had your moment of "hey, I know a piece that would fit perfectly here", and be able to find that piece easily?

 
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Can I just say that your happiness and excitement over a newsstand makes me also very happy? I'm sure whoever made it will be very happy that you're excited about it 😁

And to those that answered me (faatal, @Blake_, @meganoth) thank you guys so much for answering my question. I kind of figured it worked that way (regular armor rating + individual pieces have small bonuses, full set has a big one/ a perk), but I wanted to make sure that it was at least partially true before I got my hopes up. If the new system is going to be like that, or something very similar, I'm absolutely fine with it! Mostly because (hopefully) one can mix and match pieces to suit their play styles / different aspects of their play styles. 
Also, I forgot to tell you that each piece of the new 4-piece armour will have heat and cold resistance/isulation to various degrees. That was one of the reasons of deleting clothing in the first place, no clutter and meaningful pieces that can always become many sets . If those resistances will be a fixed value per piece/across pieces or a varied one, we don't know yet.

 
I'm failing to see how TFP hiring new programmers is beneficial then.
Because once new programmers come up to speed they can be a net positive to the team, you just don't want to be doing that while you are trying to get an alpha out and fix a hundred programming bugs. That is why one of our new programmers is working on player outfits for a21 and not a20 tasks.

 
Because once new programmers come up to speed they can be a net positive to the team, you just don't want to be doing that while you are trying to get an alpha out and fix a hundred programming bugs. That is why one of our new programmers is working on player outfits for a21 and not a20 tasks.
Sweet. Sweeeet. Please make sure to explain the concept of "MF" before hiring them, or else they could get offended out of the blue.

- Previous job?

- EA Sports ball programmer.

-I see, do you know what MF means?

 


Should be quick to pick up because of all of the new filters to choose from within the shape / creative menus.  What will mostly take alot of time to learn is what you can do with all of the shapes.  Especially all of the new trim blocks.

I suspect players will come up with new and creative uses for them apart what the level design team uses them for.

I am mostly excited to see what kind of castles people make now.  I'd try making one myself but just don't have any free time.  😅

 
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Hi huys,

Long time no see! I've just checked the latest dev streams and I'm excited for the new random gen!

Question; are there any dedicated tunnel poi's, or are they part of the surface poi's?

 
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