PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Blake_]

I actually rewrote most of the vulture logic (circling, following, attacking, going home), but picking a point near the player to move around is still using our standard helper functions to find an empty location, which is basically brute force block checking. We don't have sky pathing.

I wouldn't be surprised if you coin it and make that a thing in the future.

Zd AI is to Bandit AI as

Vulture next gen AI is to....

#Jetpackbandits

#Gyrocopterrocketlauncherraids

#Beeraiders

#Ziplinethieves

 

[Aldranon]

I'm going to predict that the bingo card's I-5 will be the hot item.

 

[archergod]

Yes its the best version ever IMO. I haven't been able to solve the riddle which is awesome. Like how they started working on my bars and pretty soon breached near my fort door as well. Towards the end they were trying to path through my dart traps, its a good thing I hung some doors on there, I thought they might try that crap

I think, to avoid predicatable behaviour we actually need more than one AI Pathing logic. Like, so zombie follow the available path, going through tunnel etc, like they do now. But 20% of them just see you and come straight line to you, if any obstacle they hit it mindlessly and break it, and then start coming again. If you are on top then they hit near by pillars or dig ground. 5%-10% of zombie use both in a mix, that if they are 20 blocks away they go through available path, but when on 5 or less block away they rush straight line. This mix will make things more interesting and reduce load of AI path calculation on CPU as all are not finding complex path.

 

[KLOWN]

just finished watching G4K vod on the patch notes and WOOOO HOOOO

thnx to all the devs for listening to the player base it really seemed the game took a path change the last couple alphas but from what i have seen it is BACK to the good ole 7DTD we all love

thnx to you all that are active on the forums and kinda advocate for us that are not

looking forward to watching some streams this weekend

i will be here early monday morning waiting for release so i can get into the game hope we dont crash the site like we usually do LOL

CHEERS Klown

 

[Laz Man]

Awesome horde vid MM. Was very exciting. Surprised you didnt use the junk turrets again to help with the vultures like last time.

 

[wolfbain5]

parody of monty python

I demand a game key. Not just any game key, but a 7dtd gamekey for friday. None of those other game keys will do. Not a bethesda one or one of the cheap ones from around the forest. but a nice 7dtd key.

Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni!

 

[Laz Man]

1, Yes.2, Gazz can answer but I think you are correct.

3, It would be really pointless IMO to take a club and a sledgehammer, and it would be a waste of inventory space to take a bow and a crossbow since they are so similar in function. Its all about what you perked into and learning the timing and feel of each weapon, and if it works for you. Sure you could switch to crossbows at any time, but I would only take one with me, and take a firearm for some short range quick stopping power.

When I did agility I didn't fire a single arrow. I used a pistol with a silencer and a knife. Later game I had a magnum and SMG if things got ugly but typically I could clear pois with my pistol. So I'm probably not the best guy to talk to about the bowmen. Its not that I don't like bows, its that 17 alphas I used bows and I was ready for something completely different and I wanted to be sure you could mine and collect enough brass to do a pure guns play through.

Hey MM, I appreciate the short a18 explanation in the release notes. I think it's great that you guys put alot of testing into build diversity. Aside from all the new bells and whistles added with a18, I think the time spent balancing all that out is what is really going to make this release shine. Bravo!!!

 

[Laz Man]

Yes its the best version ever IMO. I haven't been able to solve the riddle which is awesome. Like how they started working on my bars and pretty soon breached near my fort door as well. Towards the end they were trying to path through my dart traps, its a good thing I hung some doors on there, I thought they might try that crap

I bet faatal does a pretty good mr. Burns impression after he watches your horde video lol....

 

[DaVegaNL]

Me too, too bad it didn't last too much.

That's what my wife said yesterday as well

 

[wolfbain5]

That's what my wife said yesterday as well

well, if you are being honest, she said

"Was that it?"

 

[beerfly]

Made my day. You did and do great things guys, thanks a lot.

 

[-Holo-]

Hang on a bit?. "Locked FOV"? is that a actual thing for A18?

 

[beerfly]

well, if you are being honest, she said"Was that it?"

He might be improving his ninja skills.

 

[MechanicalLens]

Hang on a bit?. "Locked FOV"? is that a actual thing for A18?

It's been locked since A17

 

[-Holo-]

It's been locked since A17

It was possible to set correct FOV via consolecommand in A17 so it was playable, I'm worried if that function is removed cause that would make in unplayable for me

 

[ZombieHorde]

Ass to the ground is a great way to destroy your knees, depending on genetics. I go close to parallel, the squat machine I use has non moveable safety bars so I can't go any lower or it would bottom on on the safety part. I've tried ass to grass and had knee pain for two months after just one set.

Ah, that's a shame. You can get some impressive farts out with ass to grass squats. And you'd better not hold the fart in or hello hernia!

- - - Updated - - -

I want something like the demolisher throwing smaller zombies at you. =P

I suggested a muscle-machine zombie throwing zombie dogs at you.

 

[Roland]

+1
From your latest videos I think most will agree current AI has reached an important milestone.

I think the lesson learned here was that no single AI behavior will suffice, once learned it can be predicted and exploited.

while it will surly be enhanced and improved even more until gold, atm AI finally seems to give u a good random mix/balance of different flavors both for diff zombie types and even for each zombie.

I love this approach.

And here I thought the lesson learned was that a great deal of general dehydration could have been avoided if people would’ve trusted the Pimps when they said the 17.0 zombie AI wasn’t final— instead of spraying tears everywhere about how base design was dead forever and zombies shouldn’t be so smart....

 

[Gazz]

Crazy amount of changes and fixes. When put in a nice list like that, it really shows the amount of work put in. Plus, I'm sure there's a ton of stuff that didn't make it into that list. Or things that are just a line item that took a month, etc... Nice work all!

That's how this works.

A lot of these entries were deleted because they make no sense whatsoever without the context of the actual ticket.

I usually enjoy sniper builds in most games, yet was unsure as to how viable a solo sniper will be on late-game horde nights.
seeing this video makes me more confidant that with a decent base design and preparation it can go as well as any other build.

I still say that the long rifles are OP - but only if you specialise into them.

Some people prefer bullet hoses so anything that isn't feels too weak. =P

You can't just shoot a zombie behind another zombie. You can headshot a sleeper through light cover like the corner of a wooden wall or a wooden door...

And of course modders will change one number and turn this into the railgun from Eraser.

 

[Roland]

It was possible to set correct FOV via consolecommand in A17 so it was playable, I'm worried if that function is removed cause that would make in unplayable for me

FOV has not changed from how it is in A17. Locked as in can’t be changed via normal menu options but can still be edited via xml or changed via console command.

The locked FOV is the true reason for the new player barfing sounds....

 

[MechanicalLens]

That's how this works.A lot of these entries were deleted because they make no sense whatsoever without the context of the actual ticket.

I still say that the long rifles are OP - but only if you specialise into them.

Some people prefer bullet hoses so anything that isn't feels too weak. =P

You can't just shoot a zombie behind another zombie. You can headshot a sleeper through light cover like the corner of a wooden wall or a wooden door...

And of course modders will change one number and turn this into the railgun from Eraser.

Does this mean that hitboxes are improved in A18? Currently, if you try to shoot through the corner of the door, most of the time, the hitbox of the rim of the door blocks it. (And can lead to some oddities, such as arrows floating in mid-air. )