Sandbox settings to recreate Call of Duty-style base defense during horde nights:
1. Max tier frame upgrade or craft
2. Block upgrade and repair cost
3. Toggle zombie block health discerning
(pre-existing settings such as enemy block damage would complement these)
Suggestions to answer "learning by doing" complaints:
Challenge menu can be remade to unlock recipes instead. Scrapping tool/weapon parts may be a more immersive way of unlocking recipes too. Both can be implemented: One unlocks tiers. The other unlocks the in betweens.
Also an option to disable crafting blocks of higher level than frames, to disable quick builds and increase costs and time of building even more.
Also a suggestion regarding zombie spawns in buildings: What if zombies hid in the midst of corpses instead of closets? Storywise every building had to defend against hordes at some point, so whereever in a building there is a blockade there should also be a pile of corpses at the front... now make corpses match skins of actual zombies and then you can hide living zombies in the midst of dead ones to stand up when player gets too close. This helps with realism and also explains why the building exploration is linear (because survivors blocked paths to funnel or stop zombies) and why the ends of routes lead to loot piles (because the deepest part is the safest for survivers to use as storage and home) and why there are more alive zombies at the end (where the survivors eventually lost to the zombies and couldn't kill them all)
Actually individual corpses may be difficult to implement. The game already has small corpses so why not add 2×2 or 3×3 or even rectangular piles of corpses of different textures per type of zombie that should rise out of them? This also helps with end rooms where zombies should spawn continually, previously from vents but then corpse piles could also work...
Currently per typical, special or biome specific zombies we have:
Normal / Feral / Radiated / Orange or Blue
However this system could be improved similar to how weapons/tools upgrade/progress across levels AND stars in parallel:
Say if two distinct tiers of zombies are kept:
Normal and Feral
But let them gradually level up as apparent by how much glowing green they have on their bodies. So gradually, more % of their bodies is covered in green color, and the color has increasingly higher % intensity and % glow or maybe also fume...
So normal zombies would gradually levelup alongside the player level and other progressions.
So while feral zombies level up by the same %, their base stats and AI makes them always stronger so they'd always be more threatening than other zombies should be.
Now I'd suggest making Cops, wights, spiders, biome specifics, dire wolves and zombie bears stronger to be the third tier, so the zombies with special AIs do more than annoy the player and become iconic zombies of 7 days to die.
I'd also suggest making feral zombies more conspicuous for this to work... maybe by more red and blood, or more aggressive sounds, or a restless and nonstop running AI, etc...
Also radiation greens on specific parts of the body could signal different stat boosts but that would be mostly ignored by the player if the zombie is not feral or a special zombie and maybe it makes the game run worse?
Also nightmare speed and animal running speed should be even faster to make up for how the player always maneuvers 22.5° angle and rugged terrain faster.
Also spider zombies should damage the player on impact after jumping.
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Or maybe feral zombies should adopt specific skins and normal zombies other skins. For example biker for feral and limping zombie for normal.
My personal request: Make wights the strongest zombies. Let them climb walls. Let them jump like monkeys at will. Let them throw rocks. Let them spit infectious blood. Let them scream to get other zombies' attention. Let them be 3 meters tall. Let them run on all fours like a wolf at will. Let them grab the player. Let them ragdoll the player. Let them roar like a bear. Let them track the player over long distances without being unloaded from the game. Let them find and chase off the player if they decide to drink a mega crush and run through the horde night. Let them dig the ground even when zombie digging is disabled. Let them be a terror. Let them put Dying Light's volatiles to shame.
Placing blocks while midair should be disabled and parkour skill should only add half a block of jump height at level 2 and another at the max level. An alternative system could be nice where holding the space button near block edges would help the player extend their jump height from a new default of half a block to full block.
This is to make zombies a threat without holding yourself back from easily out maneuvering them.
For same reason, zombies should be able to run at any angle when in wilderness or not near shaped blocks because currently all of them can be outrun at nightmare speed.
Regarding zombie appearances, they'd be more intimidating if they unpredictably switched between animations and walk speeds and circled around the player or at least took none straight paths while walking. Also for nightmare or sprinting zombies, it would be nice if they slowly sped up as if becoming more and more determined that the player is not a zombie and a meal instead.
Basically some unpredictability and some less efficiency in behavior would make zombies look like there is something ticking in their head even if beyond comprehension. It's important to make zombies a bit humanlike so the players can empathize to an extend and try to expect or predict certain human decision by the zombie even to tackle them before being caught off guard by horrible unhuman change of tendency and approach.
There is another problem that the zombies look very messy and detailed but the environment is also very colorful and flashy, which makes players only glance at the zombies' silhouette instead of appreciating the horrible human form. The grassy dirt voxels for example are a mix of brown, black, green and more which is too much in the eye.
Another problem is zombies don't get close and personal before hitting the player. Another problem is the player doesn't need to risk getting close to the zombie's bloody face to land a hit. Another thing is, I wish zombies that worked their legs fast also swung their arms much faster, maybe they already do but I don't see the speed matching.
Another issue is the new gore not matching the type of weapons so it's not as satisfying. I wish limbs went limp and hung after blunt hits. I wish knives made obvious holes in the bodies, just like when some hits cut off the zombie's face off. I wish limb damage was more involved in the health system and in tackling enemies. You should shoot a running big mama in the leg and see her tumbling down.
Another issue is fat and armored zombies. I wish armor was more locational. When shot in the face, I wish I would see the impact. I wish the threat of the zombies and using the lucky weapon I found was less about numbers and stats. I wish there was an emotional and aggressive aspect to the more arcady sides.
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Regarding a previous section: Tiering zombies by model types into three tiers of normal, feral, and special would work very well the more i think about it. Increasing radiation greens serves better for infinite zombie leveling than adding orange and blue colors.
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Also, the official difficulty setting presets should be improved. I'll prepare some neat lists later to explain how each preset could be improved where and why.
I know the youtubers have been nagging about some stupid issues lately and swaying public opinion for the wrong reasons. I know how some modders teamed up with them to direct public expectations away from the devs' visions for the game. I'm sure it's the reason some features are delayed and some orange colored features are added to hurt my eyes. I still think mods are fun for a run or two despite their low quality.
But there is another side to this. Ignoring or tackling these public opinions is not enough. Something they can do is cover up other players' voiced or unvoiced opinions and feelings about the game. I think improvements in ways that no one popularizes might interest new players better.
Regarding the modders weaponized by naggers to beat your quality by quantity, I could suggest game events (for random features that don't fit in the game long term or if mixed with too many of the same kind or when their quality isn't good enough to keep) and I could suggest choosing select grounded youtubers for stream events instead of all big ones.
And I think some players just feel like they're missing something so they'd find something complain about whether you keep glass jars or not or in between. Youtubers just repeat what this side of the playerbase wants to hear so sometimes the complaint doesn't start with the youtubers.
Bumping your thread by adding new information and suggestions is fair game. We just don’t want zero information “bump” posts. Keep the suggestions coming and don’t feel like you need to simply edit existing posts.
Bumping your thread by adding new information and suggestions is fair game. We just don’t want zero information “bump” posts. Keep the suggestions coming and don’t feel like you need to simply edit existing posts.
I understand the rule against empty bump posts. My concern is that the current sandbox implementation still has bugs and unfinished behavior. Adding more setting suggestions before the existing sandbox code is stabilized risks burying the actual defects. I would rather keep the thread focused on reproducing and fixing the current issues first, then discuss additional settings afterward.
I understand the rule against empty bump posts. My concern is that the current sandbox implementation still has bugs and unfinished behavior. Adding more setting suggestions before the existing sandbox code is stabilized risks burying the actual defects. I would rather keep the thread focused on reproducing and fixing the current issues first, then discuss additional settings afterward.
Too bad it’s not your thread. What you want is what we call “going off-topic” If you’ll take the time to read the title and OP of the thread, you’ll see that it was initiated as a suggestion thread and we should keep the thread focused on that.
Start your own thread for the topic you want and don’t derail this one. Suggestions are perfectly fine and in no way endanger bugs from being fixed.
I understand the rule against empty bump posts. My concern is that the current sandbox implementation still has bugs and unfinished behavior. Adding more setting suggestions before the existing sandbox code is stabilized risks burying the actual defects. I would rather keep the thread focused on reproducing and fixing the current issues first, then discuss additional settings afterward.
The topic of the thread is about new sandbox options. That is what the thread should focus on because that is the topic of the thread. Your preference for other things instead of new sandbox options has nothing to do with what the thread should focus on. You can create your own thread if you want to push that. You can also comment on your preference for fixing things here if you want, but you can't expect the OP (or anyone else) to not give their suggestions just because you don't want new options right now considering that's the topic of this thread.
And if you have bugs you want fixed, report them with full details in the proper location. If they are already reported, then you just have to wait. They aren't going to stop development of new features or options or anything else just because there are bugs. They'll work on fixing bugs while working on new things at the same time. That's just how development works.
You can also comment on your preference for fixing things here if you want, but you can't expect the OP (or anyone else) to not give their suggestions just because you don't want new options right now considering that's the topic of this thread.
Especially since that boat has sailed. They’ve already started developing new options based on the feedback and suggestions they’ve collected. I don’t know when they will release them but they aren’t waiting to do so.
honestly I'd rather have this thread deleted because I rewrote my suggestions more neatly and cleaner in another one. Too much rambling and poor ideas in this one.
