PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[beerfly]

That's good to hear. Just a little bit disappointed that i won't be playing a18 for my 30th birthday later this month.
Ps. Roland, will you take care of the pie?

My bigger brother is frustrated for same reason, it will be a late present for both of you. No matter that, have a good one.

 

[Blake_]

I don't understand the concern for people who cheat. Its their game, let them destroy the experience how they want, how does it affect you? I never cheat, well I have a few times if I got robbed by a bug, I might teleport to get my stuff back. Like I died because I got stuck on bad collider and couldn't move, so I would cheat to get my stuff back and not lose half a day walking to do so. But typically I play with cheats off when I test. Its like saying people can't use mods that make the game easier or something. WHo cares its their game. Console is useful for lots of reasons.

The usefulness of it is not in doubt for an alpha and also for dev reasons (bugs, testing etc). You just stated you use it now and then because the tool is there to do so. As do we all. That's a problem in itself. A simple setting like what I suggested would be cool. It's not a must have or anything . It's just that I firmly think once Gold, a game shouldn't have those kinds of game breaking tools openly available to the common player without them specifically wanting it (hence the setting admin only/everyone/no one).

Also I have little support here because Modders never have problems with that as in reality is a mundane an small issue scoped to vanilla purists.

But hell, why not someday?

 

[Rusrec00]

...We probably could have hit the date if we didn't improve so many little things that come up along the way... Those little QOL things were not planned but came up and that causes some delays. But in this case its worth the wait. A month or 6 weeks late with all these polish items and way more new weapons than we planned shipping will be worth the wait.

PLEASE don't ever lose this mindset. I mean there's a playable version of the game already out there, so no one should be pushing A18. Let it be everything you want it to be. Thank you Pimps, we really do appreciate it, even though some folks act like your building a game specifically for them, those of us in the real world know your making something you can be proud of and serves the most people possible.

 

[Shineblossom]

Not what he meant.As far as i understood ( and i agree) you can stealth all the way you want, the slightest drop from hight ( 1/2 Blocks or more) will alert all Zombies nearby, hence Woodframe ramps to avoid all "mini-falling" wich would sendt you all 50 Zombies of a Tier 5 Dungeon up your butt.

As it says, i was reffering to "spike damage" part

 

[Gazz]

The usefulness of it is not in doubt for an alpha and also for dev reasons (bugs, testing etc). You just stated you use it now and then because the tool is there to do so. As do we all. That's a problem in itself. A simple setting like what I suggested would be cool. It's not a must have or anything . It's just that I firmly think once Gold, a game shouldn't have those kinds of game breaking tools openly available to the common player without them specifically wanting it (hence the setting admin only/everyone/no one).

That is not a problem at all.

You do have the choice to enable cm/dm just like you would have the choice to enable the same setting with a different name.

Until we get to rewire your brain, no setting that you are allowed to change can protect you from your desire to do what you yourself consider cheating.

(and the brain-rewiring is always messy and comes with a truckload of paperwork - no, thanks!)

These tools are not "openly available to the common player" unless you decide to make it so.

Even in SP mode you have to press a button to specifically enable dev tools. And of course you should be allowed to do so!

In SP there is no way to cheat because you are the only player. Your game, your rules.

 

[SnowDog1942]

In SP there is no way to cheat because you are the only player. Your game, your rules.

What if I make a rule in a SP game, then break my rule, is that cheating?

 

[Crater Creator]

Do you play as a single player or on a multiplayer server?
I play as a single player and there you have more than enough meat. However, I have heard from players on multiplayer servers that there is a lack of meat because all players have to share the animals on the server.

Given that single players are faced with disadvantages in other areas (e.g. no division of labor/skills), a bonus of extra meat may not be a bad thing.

 

[GRizos]

Are there any plans for armor to lower the chnce of bleeding? I need to use a bandage every other hit I recieve regardless the fact that I use miltary/steel armor.

 

[Ayrton]

@Madmole, I would like to ask you a question and know how the route time of A18 is going, if you could give us estimates in% of how things are, as we know and things that are already published

- New weapons% =

-Books% =

-Receives new & =

-Animations% =

-Skills% =

-Pois new% =

-Random world% =

-New Zombie Demolisher -Explosive

-New user interfaces

* Quick questions

-Mantis religious will be a new enemy or will it replace the jumping zombie?

-We'll have new traders?

-We'll have new flying enemies?

 

[Menace312]

What? No its a balance issue. We have about 3000 scrappable things. How you do decide the 2nd ingredient it scraps to? Unless it was recipe driven and gave the most common 2 ingredients it would be a nightmare balancing and figuring out what the 2nd ingredient was. Its just not needed, scrapping is fine as is, its simple you get one raw resource back when scrapping. All it would do is give you more stuff which you can get by another means.

I didnt think of it that way. 7 days do infact have a bunch more scrap items, than the other...

Also, I agree that the system in this regard, is fine as is... I just found the topic interesting .

Behind the scene info/issues/code snippets is one of the reasons I'm here

 

[DaVegaNL]

My bigger brother is frustrated for same reason, it will be a late present for both of you. No matter that, have a good one.

Thanks mate! I'm starting to feel old..

 

[RestInPieces]

Looting, quality has damage, books, random stats, perks are reorganized into more class specific roles and playstyles and there are no "must haves". Zombies do less block damage and takes a group to shred walls. Balance, balance and more balance. Lots of choices.

Sounds good. Hopefully loot lists are a little less generous when it comes to high end things items such as guns - you already know that the more available something is...

Books will create more exploration incentives and randomize playthroughs a little, but definitely not to the degree of the old major recipe books. Might consider some more RNG fluctuations, when it comes to tech, while having a very expensive alternative way to get essential things (much like you kind of did with vehicles).

As for me, I anticipate the fixes to the root motion more than anything. Not being able to always avoid zombies will return that urgency which will really create the need to use core parts of the game, such as the "tower defense". It's a shame when core parts of the game don't have strong incentives behind them and are essentially optional. Sometimes the freedom of choice, eliminates more content/replayability/options than it creates.

 

[madmole]

In regards to animals, did you balance meat per animal and/or spawnrates, and are they any harder to hunt down ? I've always felt the hunting could be much more fun if it was a bit harder early on, right now you can crouch very close to any animal and just one tap it with a brown wooden bow on day 1, which seems a bit too good to be true. I wish they would smell you from a far enough distance that you actually need to be an amazing shot or use something else than a basic wooden bow, like a hunting rifle.
I also feel it would probably be better if there were a bit less of them, maybe countebalanced by the fact that each gives more meat or something. I'd like it to feel along the lines of "oh boy an animal, I gotta seize that opportunity and we'll feast tonight !" instead of "hold my beer for a second, I just walked across yet another stag, brb"

That is tricky because of multiplayer and we don't have a system to increase spawns with more players on the server, and the way biome spawning is set up its at the minimum number already and that spawns like 1 per 5 chunk area or something like that. I can slow how often they respawn so you have to travel further and further to unvisited areas to find animals to hunt.

Faatal did something to the stag and I buffed their hit points. Boars and wolves are more lethal now and boars have more hit points.

The wooden bow is now "primitive bow" and it sucks pretty bad. With the feather nerf hunting is more challenging but you can one shot with a hunting rifle for sure to the head. I buffed stag health too and they drop more meat than the deer.

 

[madmole]

Yeah, for what they cost early game, the wood ones are next to useless.

Then you aren't using enough. Stone axe got a decent buff. I usually put 4 rows around my entire base 7x7 the first horde and that takes care of quite a few zeds. My fort I play with 16 zombies alive on horde nights. I'll add a 2 high row on day 14.

 

[madmole]

What if I make a rule in a SP game, then break my rule, is that cheating?

Yes, but that is on you. You are the one who will not feel true victory or satisfaction from surviving the game at the rules you established in your mind.

 

[madmole]

Are there any plans for armor to lower the chnce of bleeding? I need to use a bandage every other hit I recieve regardless the fact that I use miltary/steel armor.

Yes it reduces chance for bleed, stun and infection.

 

[madmole]

@Madmole, I would like to ask you a question and know how the route time of A18 is going, if you could give us estimates in% of how things are, as we know and things that are already published
- New weapons% =

-Books% =

-Receives new & =

-Animations% =

-Skills% =

-Pois new% =

-Random world% =

-New Zombie Demolisher -Explosive

-New user interfaces

* Quick questions

-Mantis religious will be a new enemy or will it replace the jumping zombie?

-We'll have new traders?

-We'll have new flying enemies?

TFP is a privately held company and does not report to stock holders or EA members who feel they should be privy to certain information. That said, we're trucking right along, I'm not wasting dev time pulling some percentages out of my ass

 

[beHypE]

That is tricky because of multiplayer and we don't have a system to increase spawns with more players on the server, and the way biome spawning is set up its at the minimum number already and that spawns like 1 per 5 chunk area or something like that. I can slow how often they respawn so you have to travel further and further to unvisited areas to find animals to hunt.
Faatal did something to the stag and I buffed their hit points. Boars and wolves are more lethal now and boars have more hit points.

The wooden bow is now "primitive bow" and it sucks pretty bad. With the feather nerf hunting is more challenging but you can one shot with a hunting rifle for sure to the head. I buffed stag health too and they drop more meat than the deer.

As masochistic as it may sound, i'm super thrilled about the wooden bow nerf ! :tickled_pink:

Regarding the amount of animals, "oh well", but is there anything that can be done (maybe it's moddable already, I have no clue) regarding the "detection distance" ? My biggest concern overall is how easy it is to sneak up very close to the animals before they run for their life, making day 1 hunting a very easy task whereas I wish it needed either a robin-hood-style shot or simply better gear (like a hunting rifle).

But in a way, if the wooden bow is nerfed to the ground, day 1 hunting is already nerfed as a side effect, so I guess i'm happy already

 

[sillls]

Unarmed combat, a great start.

You know it seems that the best weapon to use at the start of the game is your fist. Punching seems faster and more effective than things like the stone ax. Plus it feels more like combat than most melee weapons do. You also don't have to worry about suddenly not being able to swing if your weapon breaks during combat. Your fist never do.

Just keep in mind that your left is faster while the right hits harder but uses more stamina. Not counting the power punches.

I find it best to fight opening up with fast punches and then hitting them with the right when they are down. But other combinations work well to.

Another thing that I noticed is the amount of detail that goes into the punch. If you look closely you will notice that the arm and hand seem to twist as you punch. This detail most likely goes unnoticed by most but is really cool to see.

The next time you start a new game, you should try punching and see if it works for you.

 

[madmole]

Thanks mate! I'm starting to feel old..

I have a time machine, but the rewind button is broke, it only goes forward. I was 30 about 5 years ago now I'm 52. Game dev makes time fly lol, but I guess the old saying is true: Time files when you are having fun.