PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Cpt Krunch]

Farming is a large part of the game for me, even above building. Ive seen a few other games that uses box systems, conan, empyrion etc, and i always wish they would do it the 7D2D way. Its the end of the world and everyone is dead, i dont think fertile fields are at a real estate premium at that point. Grow boxes definitely feel like mailing it in to me. I mean sure, if you had both and then gave a harvest bonus for boxes or something like that, cool. I was hoping for more farming and animals in vanilla, not less. Im sure it'll get modded back in, so Im not all that worried, just dont understand removing one for the sake of another thats been done elsewhere when you got it right the first time around.

 

[madmole]

Farming isn't even hard now:
1) acquire hoe

2) till soil

3) plant seed

4) wait

5) harvest

If that's too hard for you and too hard to explain to people, then maybe it's best you stick to canned food.

How do I get a hoe?

 

[SnowDog1942]

How do I get a hoe?

Same way I do. Local strip joint.

 

[andrough]

You need to calm yourself son. The new player is starving to death so changing the drop rate is tough. About all I can think of is to be a jerk and make it lower chance to find food the higher your GS, but as I keep saying, in 18 there are bigger fish to fry and food shouldn't be a bottleneck once you get going. There is so much to do that you would not want to waste a bunch of time on food gathering. Its called player progression.

Yeah, this is where my Don't Starve playthroughs always get tedious and boring. Combat, weather and other challenges are gone and it's just a game of micro-managing my food as I harvest and collect and as it spoils. Maybe I just don't like survival games? Nah, I think I just hate tedious ♥♥♥♥ sold to me as "survival". I've been watching a Green Hell playthrough and I would have bought it if it wasn't for the damn leeches. That is cool MAYBE the first time. After that, it's just tedious crap that's trying to be real and immersive.

Edit: I am an avid gardener in real life and I really enjoy soil testing for PH and other nutrient levels, but I would NEVER play a game with that included. You think it's hard to plant near water and hoe and fertilize? Why not make a mod that actually makes it like real life and see how much time you have to loot and actually enjoy a video game.

 

[sillls]

We like one way to do things. Cans of water are gone too. Why leave in a clunky old way? Once someone feels the power of the new farm plots they would never in their right mind want to do it the old way. When a new player asks "How do you farm" there is a 14 paragraph complicated explanation. OR you can just make a farm plot. "Oh wtf didn't you just say so?" Now its simple and they get it. They can get on with playing the game instead of spending hours on the internet figuring out some over complicated janky system. So we deleted the legacy method because it felt so clunky compared to the new way that everyone agreed it was hurting us more than anything.
Sorry some of you guys were attached to it, but we like one way to do things, and it needs to be simple. Its kind of stupid saying you need a hoe anyway, I can dig a hole with my hands and plant a seed with no tools.

I wouldn't mind seeing a video in the new farming system.

Also how it deals with uneven terrain.

I don't mind who puts up the video, just at long as it's helpful.

 

[Tazio]

You need to calm yourself son. The new player is starving to death so changing the drop rate is tough. About all I can think of is to be a jerk and make it lower chance to find food the higher your GS, but as I keep saying, in 18 there are bigger fish to fry and food shouldn't be a bottleneck once you get going. There is so much to do that you would not want to waste a bunch of time on food gathering. Its called player progression.

The new player SHOULD be starving to death. That's the whole point. And that's why I'm getting more and more disappointed in the direction this game is going. You might as well take food and drink out of the game since it's apparently not an issue that you want players to deal with

- - - Updated - - -

How do I get a hoe?

I've never once crafted a hoe. Loot one. Should be easy for you since apparently all you like to do is ransack POIs.

 

[Slingblade2040]

I will wait and see what happens with alpha 18 since I haven't played it yet like most of you to see how good or bad the changes are.

I was never big into farming aside from basic stuff like aloe, red tea and potatoes. it wasn't some complicated thing. I mean who hasn't played stardew valley or harvest moon? get a hoe, till the soil, plant the seed, water it and harvest when ready. if some found that clunky or complicated then wow but I guess that says a lot about most gamers these days.

less zombies in the biomes is ok since half the time they are being avoided when going to a town to get into PoIs for looting. I wouldn't mind a slider for max alive zombies in the world in future alphas though so for those who want a crazy amount of zombies can set it that way but at the same time don't come here to complain if it bogs down your PC especially if it's a potato. cause god knows a lot of you complain enough about the fps while playing on potato PCs.

most of the stuff you guys have planned for alpha 18 looks cool while other stuff looks like I might not bother with. if leveling is way to slow I can adjust the exp gains, if zombies tear through a base to easily then adjust zombie block damage, if loot isn't as plentiful as I would like boost up the loot percentage. basically I can adjust the game to make it more enjoyable if the need arises. anyone who complains about things they can fix with game settings should for the most part be ignored since they can easily fix it but wont.

 

[Aurelius]

How do I get a hoe?

*tries to stifle a 14 yo Aurelius snigg er*

Ahem. Honestly, it's always been another early game quest item for me. One of the first things I'm on the lookout to add to my starter kit.

Having to find a hoe to start farming was another FUN mechanic for the early game. It forced me to loot one, or find a forge to make one, or end up going hungry because I couldn't get a farm going.

Decisions, decisions...

-A

 

[madmole]

I for one have enjoyed farming in 7DtD a lot, and it's definately more than 0.00001% of the game for me. I don't mind a nice system for smooth ground, but I do mind simplifying farming even more. It really isn't rocket science, nor does it require a 50 page wiki. I explained it very quickly to my brother in law, who then proceeded to outdo my farming with his own, industrial scale fields on the same night.
A lot of us enjoy being the food providers, doing the whole chain from farming to cooking to serving it to our co-players. Just because it's 0.00001% to you, Madmole, please don't assume it's the same for all your players. Farming in 7DtD has been unique, and I hope it continues to be so. That is all.

Its 5 seconds every 3 days to harvest, which is .000001% of a normal game or some very small % of the time. We like one system, not two, and everyone chose the new system so the hoe was removed. All it did was upgrade your dirt to the new box, but you can do the same thing by digging a hole and placing the new box. Not sure what all the fuss is about.

 

[madmole]

Conventional ralston: removing a limb to leave as bait in order to escape a sticky situation. Or a grappling hook.
Jesus, Roland. What is going on inside your head. Conventional ralston has dominated so much of my mind's free time lately.

I don't even understand it and I know what the secret feature is.

 

[Rassilon]

Can we all calm down here?

Pro- and Contra-Players?

Test the change with the Plots when it comes out, and give your opinion after expirience.

Where is the sudden #gate comming from? I remember Madmole talking/showing Plant-Pots months ago.

I dont see the big impact.

It makes a tedious task a bit simpler. Less challenging? ok you dont need to spend 10 hours finding Hoe or farm traders for it. But else?

Still have to wait, still have to find the seeds.

What im more concerned about is the Problem with Overflow of Plants.

You place 1 plant. Make 2 seeds out of it. Place 2, get 4. Place 4, get 8 and so on. This is something that makes the whole system redudant after quiet fast time.

 

[Lonestarcanuck]

Plenty of pain here today, not sure why you would want more.

GRRR I should have read that again I mean "PAINT"

 

[Tazio]

Its 5 seconds every 3 days to harvest, which is .000001% of a normal game or some very small % of the time. We like one system, not two, and everyone chose the new system so the hoe was removed. All it did was upgrade your dirt to the new box, but you can do the same thing by digging a hole and placing the new box. Not sure what all the fuss is about.

"Everyone" doesn't include your players obviously

 

[madmole]

I never had to use the cans. I knew about it, but the need for it never came up once.Anyway, cans don't have lids. The most you should be able to carry is 2... and that would be sacrificing all melee and weapon use.

Its still a pain to boil water without a cooking pot, so IMO you still want one. I always find one on day 1, and only resorted to cans like 3 times in 12000 hours playing the game. An unused feature is kind of a waste. Now that we have variable crafting time we could do it right, cans were always a hack work around, not very elegant.

 

[Guppycur]

Imagine being early game for 35 hours now instead of 3.

So, grindier. Not harder. Biiiig difference.

What was the value add in removing a boiled in a can water recipe? Low on XML space? Some fps issue? Visual bug?

...seems you've put more effort in removing it than leaving it in.

Food is has *never* been an issue in this game. And what tsbx said is true... If you want a nice ocd box to plant it, you build it. It is a crafting game.

 

[Lonestarcanuck]

How do I get a hoe?

LOL Tazio I have 5000+ hours and I can tell you sometimes I never find a hoe till level 20 or when I can make iron tools.

I have had to plant seeds I find in an existing plot in a town.

PS: one of the things I loved most about A17.x was farming, I put 2 or 3 points in the perk and get 3 crops and get my 10x10 crop farm going and I am set on Veg stew for the game.

Hint the house that says JW on it (Marriott Pun?) has lots of mushrooms.

 

[Survager]

It was a hypothetical statement, there is no r & d going on at all right now towards static terrain. If we tried it and it yielded some gains we would make it an option for servers to choose.

Thank you, now my mind is clear as never =)

 

[madmole]

I'm not wading any further into this ♥♥♥♥show except to say that a lot of complaints keep referencing players with 1000s of hours or ones seeking a bigger challenge. Is this not why the game is so open to modding?

Yeah uncomment the hoe, problem solved if you think hoeing the ground is better than digging a hole and putting the box in.

 

[sillls]

I would take that bet in a heartbeat, and i would win. Remember this post.
No one has a hard time punching plants, not even sure where that came from. It feels like pandering to 12 year olds.

No one wants Conan or Ark farming, farming you yourself said sucked many months ago. I dont get this desire to take something unique and make it as boring as everything else out there.

Your stripping your game of its identity. And turning it into Rust without the PVP. Sorry if i sound bleak but Im extremely sad over this, and i seriously doubt im the only one despite what the testers may think.

Punching plants? That was me.

I was playing around and found out that (punching) corn was the best way to harvest all of the plants. Both for seed and corn.

 

[madmole]

Your solution to 20 jerks from the outside is to reduce them to 5 rather than toning down their superhuman hearing. That's the problem. This game has always been about resource management. Time is a resource too. If you're arriving at a POI a 5 and it take you 4 hours to clear the biome zombies, you're doing something wrong.

Our solution improves the FPS substantially. Once random encounters are in who cares? It will be way better all around.