PC Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[mstdv inc]

You can't get lost in a game that has an auto map, automatic markers for home base and bedroll, custom map markers...

Speaking of the map and markers.
On one of the streams, the viewer suggested initially hiding the map and adding the "Cartographer" upgrade branch in order to be able to use the map and leave marks on it.
In fact, a guy in underpants with a stone ax and access to GPS looks strange

 

[Matt115]

You can't get lost in a game that has an auto map, automatic markers for home base and bedroll, custom map markers...

Well you can- just go inside some bunker. You know were you are but.... this doesn't help unless you will dig. 

 

[Jost Amman]

In fact, a guy in underpants with a stone ax and access to GPS looks strange

Hmm, now that you mention it, there must be something going on with those underpants...  :confused2:

Spoiler

 

[Professor-Pip]

Speaking of the map and markers.
On one of the streams, the viewer suggested initially hiding the map and adding the "Cartographer" upgrade branch in order to be able to use the map and leave marks on it.

Yeah, if I were to make a mod, I would probably add two items that you could find easily in shops. A watch (in many different shops) and an area map (in gas stations, book stores and sporting goods/gun shops). Before you find them, you have no map and no clock on your hud. The compass can arguably be said to be sense of direction based off the sun’s position, but I might add a compass as well. 
 

in a lot of ways this might make the early game too difficult if the RNGods are @%$#y, but it would add another level of immersion. 

 

[beerfly]

you mean like this? View attachment 21435

Looks more plausible than my 45 degrees moronity

 

[faatal]

My son is scared of getting lost on a new map.  My wife is now fine with changing or staying.  

My son may just have to suck it up.  A 4k RWG sounds like a fun project   

6, 8 or 10 k are your size choices in A20.

 

[SittingDuck]

Coughs* Airport POI * Coughs

man that sounds awefull and it´s lasting for quite a while... you should cure that.

 

[beerfly]

man that sounds awefull and it´s lasting for quite a while... you should cure that.

We crash with our gyrocopters everywhere and at any time. Why not have a designated POI for that. Sounds fair 

 

[Blake_]

6, 8 or 10 k are your size choices in A20.

No 4k is going to hurt. 6k maps use less dedicated memory, but still bad for potatoes. 

Please, I insist to @Kinyajuu that the following 2 sizes are a must because of these reasons:

There are many use cases for 2048 x 2048 and 4096x4096 sizes:

1-Quick testing of a whole world with negligible generation times.

2-Short gameplay sessions. 

3-Long 1-4 players cooperative gameplay sessions with a small well-known world, as some players like to rotate around the same few cities most of the time.

4-Great for PvP. The smaller, the faster and more intense a session.

5-Small packages are cool and produce tingles in all the right places for players (Erick's words, mostly)

6-More size options is the right way to go in any situation, environment or videogame. I won't specify for Snowdog's sake.

7-Smaller sizes are Great for Potato pcs as they use so little memory that you can even stream with an overclocked pencil and a wooden keyboard.

Bigger than 10k? Also a YES. Everybody wants that. I wouldn't go further than 65k x 65k though, due to 7dtd Gold candidate's top GPUS of 2024 being just right for that size. 

Some of the pros of bigger are:

-Future proof and server proof. It can even support the allowed 16-player option that we can currently choose when creating a new game.

-Bigger means many hours for many players like a 10k for 2 players, as opposed to fewer hours for many players (current situation in 8-player maps).

-The bigger, the crazier destroying mayhem we can cause and then move on far away because of "reasons".

-For those who prefer slower, longer burning sessions.

-You can spend either a short time or 400 hours exploring, your choice, the world is huge.

Please consider the smaller ones for a20. Big comes later. 

 

[mstdv inc]

Yeah, if I were to make a mod, I would probably add two items that you could find easily in shops. A watch (in many different shops) and an area map (in gas stations, book stores and sporting goods/gun shops). Before you find them, you have no map and no clock on your hud. The compass can arguably be said to be sense of direction based off the sun’s position, but I might add a compass as well.
 

in a lot of ways this might make the early game too difficult if the RNGods are @%$#y, but it would add another level of immersion.

I would love to play such a mod!

 

[Lord Morphleyes]

You can't get lost in a game that has an auto map, automatic markers for home base and bedroll, custom map markers...

I agree but he is 9 and gets scared when he is alone.  Once we were clearing a POI at night and he died. Who knows what happened to his bedroll.  He respawned in the forest about a kilometer from us and lost his $#it.  There were tears. 

To his credit though he did redeem himself later when night caught us in the hospital and me and my wife died.  With no headlights or weapon flashlights we got stuck trying to fight in the dark and couldn't coordinate fast enough who was going to hold the flashlight while the others fought.  There were still tears, but he pushed through and fought his way out, beating zombies with his torch.  

 

[Burrfly]

6, 8 or 10 k are your size choices in A20.

I can't wait to start a20 and select 10km² map with alllllllllll the new features and terrain and world gen and much more!!!!!!! That's gonna be so epic  

Just for comparison...

Navezgane is 6k (6144m²) = 6144×6144 = ~38 million blocks on X+Z axis

10k random gen (10240m² if I'm correct) = 10240×10240 = ~105 million blocks on just X+Z axis

105 million / 38 million = almost 3 times bigger map surface.........

I hope I did the math correctly

 

[mstdv inc]

No 4k is going to hurt. 6k maps use less dedicated memory, but still bad for potatoes.

Please, I insist to @Kinyajuu that the following 2 sizes are a must because of these reasons:

There are many use cases for 2048 x 2048 and 4096x4096 sizes:

1-Quick testing of a whole world with negligible generation times.

2-Short gameplay sessions.

3-Long 1-4 players cooperative gameplay sessions with a small well-known world, as some players like to rotate around the same few cities most of the time.

4-Great for PvP. The smaller, the faster and more intense a session.

5-Small packages are cool and produce tingles in all the right places for players (Erick's words, mostly)

6-More size options is the right way to go in any situation, environment or videogame. I won't specify for Snowdog's sake.

7-Smaller sizes are Great for Potato pcs as they use so little memory that you can even stream with an overclocked pencil and a wooden keyboard.

Bigger than 10k? Also a YES. Everybody wants that. I wouldn't go further than 65k x 65k though, due to 7dtd Gold candidate's top GPUS of 2024 being just right for that size.

Some of the pros of bigger are:

-Future proof and server proof. It can even support the allowed 16-player option that we can currently choose when creating a new game.

-Bigger means many hours for many players like a 10k for 2 players, as opposed to fewer hours for many players (current situation in 8-player maps).

-The bigger, the crazier destroying mayhem we can cause and then move on far away because of "reasons".

-For those who prefer slower, longer burning sessions.

-You can spend either a short time or 400 hours exploring, your choice, the world is huge.

Please consider the smaller ones for a20. Big comes later.

I would love to be able to create a 2048x2048 map entirely consisting of a city.

 

[Burrfly]

65k x 65k

Wait...

65k.....???  

Isn't that....... a little bit too much...........?????

that's more than 4 BILLION blocks PER LAYER on the X+Z axis

I think 16K is more than enough for a max, even in a large server with a lot of people

 

[JayzenFreeze]

reaching the end of November now... The sadness.

 

[Blake_]

Wait...

65k.....???  

Isn't that....... a little bit too much...........?????

that's more than 4 BILLION blocks PER LAYER on the X+Z axis

I think 16K is more than enough for a max, even in a large server with a lot of people

Hahaha I get you. But no. It's not that much even for 8 players. 100 hours of joint exploration and systematic nomad gameplay.

 

[Roland]

My son is scared of getting lost on a new map.  My wife is now fine with changing or staying.  

My son may just have to suck it up.  A 4k RWG sounds like a fun project   

I recommend using one of the Pregen maps. There are three and they will all be newly generated using all the A20 map generation features. Like Navezgane, they will be ready to play.

Navezgane has been updated some but it won't have every new POI added by A20. It is planned to get Navezgane updated with all the new POIs by A21. 

 

[POCKET951]

reaching the end of November now... The sadness.

one persons sadness is another persons joy.

even though thanksgiving was yesterday I am thankful for the fact that we will slowly keep getting more POI's untill Alpha20 is ready to go stable.

Is there anything else being worked on for A20 that isn't gated by content lock to be grateful for?

question though:
it has been wanted for over 5 years at this point, how come TFP won't add some kind of tool/vehicle for cutting /removing grass more efficiently or harvesting crops?

why not make it so molotovs can atleast start grass fires that will burn and destroy alot of it

 

[Blake_]

one persons sadness is another persons joy.

We have already surpassed 18 and 19 combined in number of POI to come in a20.

a20 is similar to a17 in amount of content vs the alpha that came before. Downside (for me) is that around 30% of the richness within this tangible gameplay content comes from Twitch integration features, while a17 had exclusively 7dtd standalone gameplay content in the form of new UI, encumbrance and weather system rework, perks, some weapons, items, all of the current quests, new Zds, etc.

1+ year dev cycle? I just love it. Really. The size of the feature list cannot compare. Sure, I'm not cool with us not getting much to do aside for more exploration, 1 more quest and the primitive weapons, but this alpha was absolutely necessary. I hope we get 3 more alphas like this one. Thumbs up on my part. 2025 for gold? Just in time for the next console!

 

[Khalagar]

I agree but he is 9 and gets scared when he is alone.

Time for a baptism by fire and teach him the cruelty of adults. Soooooorry son, that's sooooo weird, your bedroll was destroyed somehow right before the horde night, oh nooooo.

I feel like kids now days aren't pranked enough honestly, they shut down hard the second they encounter any situation less favorable than "Completely and totally tailored to them". Gone are the days when your parents could prank you by pretending to leave you at the grocery store for ten minutes, you'd probably go to jail for that now