PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[RCADICT]

Madmole please add the AR-15!!!!! Personal preference I guess, but it does make sense that you would find more of those in the US in an event played out in this game.

You could even add the AR-30 that uses 7.62 ammo so there would be no need to model a new ammo type..... :smile-new:

 

[Ayrton]

We're aiming for 3 versions of each weapon archtype unless a weapon doesn't make sense to start with, like a a rocket launcher. That said, 3 pistols, a blunderbuss, a double barrel and a pump shotgun for end game, probably the 9mm, then the magnum and maybe a 50 cal desert eagle. maybe a musket rifle, then hunting, and sniper, etc. smg, ak, heavy machine gun.

They are the best (applause) : whoo

 

[Thecolours]

We're aiming for 3 versions of each weapon archtype unless a weapon doesn't make sense to start with, like a a rocket launcher. That said, 3 pistols, a blunderbuss, a double barrel and a pump shotgun for end game, probably the 9mm, then the magnum and maybe a 50 cal desert eagle. maybe a musket rifle, then hunting, and sniper, etc. smg, ak, heavy machine gun.

Is this going to make it for A18 or is this a longer term goal?

Also, Have you guys started any work on the ability to shove/push zombies back?

 

[SxR]

I really have to ask though, are the people currently complaining about A17's difficulty playing 17.2? We fixed a bug that was causing harder zombies to spawn WAY too early.

.. huh, thought it was intended, looked kinda wack though visually to see so many irradiated, but I managed fine with a crossbow. ;x

We add options that make sense and provide replay value. But we're not fond of having so many settings its totally overwhelming to new players and think the defaults should be good, and non defaults would be for players who have logged some hours and know what they are doing.

.. then have an 'Advanced Options' button? :f

 

[Weazelsun]

Maybe you aren't optimizing your build for combat? Have you considered adjusting the speeds of the zombies with those options? I'd need more data to know if the game is too hard at level 50 or 100.

My main build as of this version is primarily optimized for resource gathering.

So right now it's:

• Strength: 4/10
  
• Sexual T-rex, Pack Mule, Miner 69, and Motherlode all at 3/5
  
• Fortitude 4/10
  
• Living off the land and Pain tolernace at 2/5
  
• Healing Factor and Slow Metabolism at 3/5
  
• Agility 4/10
  
• Ninja Movement and From the Shadows both at 2/5
  
• Hidden strike at 1/5
  
• Perception 4/10
  
• Archery, Gunslinger, and Boom Headshot at 1/5.
  

Now, I'm mainly an MP player and the server I'm on is @ 5 difficulty. Even with my current build, I'm able to handle zombies with a lot of deaths. It's just the gamestage, I feel is sometimes unfair. That's what my main and original post was about, the gamestage. It somewhat feels unnatural that for example I can do a tier 1 quest and within about six quests all tier 1 my character will have leveled and reached a gamestage that introduces him to encountering feral zombies. As of right now, my CHARACTER LEVEL is 54, but the GAMESTAGE is 216, which I'm now encountering at least one radiated with a few ferals when entering a house.

 

[madmole]

This. Many people will not have restarted with the A17.2 release and are continuing their A17.1 games. I wonder whether the fix would work on a save game from A17.1. It may be that even though there is no game breaking reason that people should restart with A17.2 if they want this issue to work they may need to restart.

I don't think the fix would need a restart. The other issue is the current design leans towards int because people are used to crafting everthing, and str because encumbrance and melee requirements. That said with the proposed changes every build will have a suitable melee and ranged weapon at their disposal in each attribute and level gates will be gone, so players can specialize early and strong if they want. This should reduce some of the difficulty as well since players perk points should not be spread so thin.

 

[Worgen30]

Add a shield! Make dual wielding a thing!

Also, let the pink dye be a strong color, not that soft watercolor :fat:

 

[madmole]

My main build as of this version is primarily optimized for resource gathering.
So right now it's:

• Strength: 4/10
  
• Sexual T-rex, Pack Mule, Miner 69, and Motherlode all at 3/5
  
• Fortitude 4/10
  
• Living off the land and Pain tolernace at 2/5
  
• Healing Factor and Slow Metabolism at 3/5
  
• Agility 4/10
  
• Ninja Movement and From the Shadows both at 2/5
  
• Hidden strike at 1/5
  
• Perception 4/10
  
• Archery, Gunslinger, and Boom Headshot at 1/5.
  

Now, I'm mainly an MP player and the server I'm on is @ 5 difficulty. Even with my current build, I'm able to handle zombies with a lot of deaths. It's just the gamestage, I feel is sometimes unfair. That's what my main and original post was about, the gamestage. It somewhat feels unnatural that for example I can do a tier 1 quest and within about six quests all tier 1 my character will have leveled and reached a gamestage that introduces him to encountering feral zombies. As of right now, my CHARACTER LEVEL is 54, but the GAMESTAGE is 216, which I'm now encountering at least one radiated with a few ferals when entering a house.

A couple of things:

Your character is a jack of all trades, you should pick one attribute and go to the top with it to maximize at least one perk tree and damage.

Your game stage seems really high for level 54. Are you in a party?

 

[madmole]

Add a shield! Make dual wielding a thing!
Also, let the pink dye be a strong color, not that soft watercolor :fat:

It is very strong, but try dying black pink sometime IRL. Its basically the same thing. If something isn't white to begin with pink can have very little impact.

 

[Gazz]

So they should just remove the easiest difficultys because people are too stupid and pridefull to use them anyway?

Naah.

All we have to do is rename the difficulty levels.

Scavenger -> Nomad

Adventurer -> Savage

Nomad -> Warrior

Warrior -> Slayer

Survivalist -> Warlord

Insane -> Insane

Something like that. Instant fix.

I can't see how the game being too hard would be a problem. It's more one of players not feeling awesome enough when playing difficulties lower than default.

 

[Roland]

Now, I'm mainly an MP player and the server I'm on is @ 5 difficulty.

This is part of your problem right here. 5 difficulty is not default and the main change of 5 difficulty is a multiplier that raises gamestage faster and higher than normal. You are playing on a server that is specifically set up for early Ferals and Radiated zombies. Play on a server with 3 difficulty and your gamestage will increase at a normal rate. Play on a server with 1 difficulty and your gamestage will stay lower longer and you won’t see the tougher zombies until later.

 

[Roland]

Naah.All we have to do is rename the difficulty levels.

Scavenger -> Nomad

Adventurer -> Savage

Nomad -> Warrior

Warrior -> Slayer

Survivalist -> Warlord

Insane -> Insane

Something like that. Instant fix.

Which I...er...suggested quite some time back btw...

 

[Weazelsun]

This is part of your problem right here. 5 difficulty is not default and the main change of 5 difficulty is a multiplier that raises gamestage faster and higher than normal. You are playing on a server that is specifically set up for early Ferals and Radiated zombies. Play on a server with 3 difficulty and your gamestage will increase at a normal rate. Play on a server with 1 difficulty and your gamestage will stay lower longer and you won’t see the tougher zombies until later.

I could try that, it's just sometimes I get frustrated. I do in fact actually do have fun on that server, I play on. Ultimately, this thread at least has given me some ideas on how to improve my gameplay, such as madmole's suggestion of actually focusing my build in a specific thing rather than be a jack of all trades.

Edit: Then again, it feels leveling can be fast at times, I don't know. Maybe, I'm just getting old and I can't adjust easy to it. Since I started on that server in A15 and the diffulculty of it was still the same.

 

[HerrKingsley]

No plans as its not needed to go gold. We're not making the game to extend 4000 hours to 5000 hours of fun, but targeting 20-30 hour customers who the hair looks just fine to. You guys are crazy with the stuff you ask for. Its fabulous you play this long but old is old. Changing the hair isn't going to add any value to the average consumer and you could care less 10 minutes after its in and its the new "old".

I think you misunderstood me. Im not saying zombies need a haircut. Come on that's crazy!

What im saying is will there be randomized colors on clothes and possibly hair to make the zombies feel more diverse like in like in Mumpfy's NEW ZOMBIE TEXTURES mod.

Fight the same 20 zombies for 20-30 hours is pretty boring!

 

[Weazelsun]

A couple of things:Your character is a jack of all trades, you should pick one attribute and go to the top with it to maximize at least one perk tree and damage.

Your game stage seems really high for level 54. Are you in a party?

Indeed, I'm currently grouped up with other players. I do most things solo though, and as I found out it's the server diffulculty that was the cause of my frustration. I do still have fun though. I'll have to figure out what I want to specialize in, as I've mostly been a jack of trades in this version and previous alphas.

 

[khzmusik]

Consider that if TFP simply changed the wording on the menu so that the currently easiest setting was presented as default and people could increase the difficulty up to Nomad then there probably wouldn’t be anything disheartening to talk about.

I was about to suggest the same thing, even though I do agree with those people who say "normal" should be do-able for someone who just picked up the game.

From what I've seen in most video games, the expectation for "normal" is "balanced play for someone who has experience with similar games but not this one." The expectation for "easy" is "this is the first video game like this that I've played."

And no criticism either: not all gamers play first-person shooter, survival, and crafting games. That's true even of gamers who are not "casuals," a term which I loathe.

So, if the expectation of TFP or the community, is that "normal" is more difficult, then don't call it "normal," and have the default setting be one below it. Everyone's happy.

EDIT: ...and of course it's not even called "normal" so just change the descriptions slightly, make the default be "Adventurer," and Bob's your uncle.

 

[JamesKirk]

Please give us a switch to skip the entire tutorial and begin with the skill points to distribute and then schedule the trader quest.

I'm quite tired of doing the same things over and over that I will do anyway, but not necessarily in that order.

Everyone who started the game at least two times knows what and how to do...

 

[Jay_ombie]

With how a player sculpts and recreates the scenery as the game goes on, LOD changes quite radically.

If it possible in the coming future to have say on first load up that the game would regenerate the LOD so to take into account and reflect the changes with map POI and the player's own base building ?

 

[khzmusik]

If it possible in the coming future to have say on first load up that the game would regenerate the LOD so to take into account and reflect the changes with map POI and the player's own base building ?

I'm assuming by LOD you mean something like the "impostor POI" models you see in the distance? When a player renovates a POI its "impostor" doesn't change, causing a kind of "pop in" effect when the imposter is swapped for the actual POI.

Not speaking for TFP but I can see at least a couple problems with that.

1. They would have to generate LOD "impostors" for areas that don't have POIs in the first place, e.g. when you build a base in the woods from scratch.

2. From what I understand, "impostor" POIs are models, and generating models on the fly is, to put it mildly, difficult. Even if possible in Unity, it would increase loading times dramatically, especially for folks with mid-to-low-end hardware.

3. It would be a problem on MP servers, since those generally don't restart very often.

The "impostor POI pop-in" issue is one I've noticed myself, but it's one of those things that I don't think can be easily fixed, so I didn't even bother filing bug reports about it.

Of course, if I'm totally wrong about all of this... then TFP, feel free to fix it.

 

[Jackelmyer]

I really have to ask though, are the people currently complaining about A17's difficulty playing 17.2? We fixed a bug that was causing harder zombies to spawn WAY too early.
We add options that make sense and provide replay value. But we're not fond of having so many settings its totally overwhelming to new players and think the defaults should be good, and non defaults would be for players who have logged some hours and know what they are doing.

Fair question. And it's the main reason I suggested the template Difficulty settings approach. Where there is a Difficulty Option, but one that simply tweaks the other available setting options. Similar to how video settings work. Where you can choose the main suggested settings for video, but you can tweak the rest of the settings and it switches to custom.

I think you guys are always going to have a wide variety of players. Are some people having a hard time with A17.2? I'd say yes. Take digging for example. There's still a lot that find that a struggle or uncomfortable feature. The OP who I responded to, where things get to tough to fast for him.

I've a friend who loves the jump scares but is just God awful at combat.

Some people try to build invulnerable bases by location or by gaming the AI largely to avoid screamers. Being able to Nerf or disable screamers is probably right up some players alley.

Madmole. lol. Dude. This game appeals to Minecraft players, Walking dead lovers, Resident Evil lovers, Dark Soul lovers, and a ton of other game play desires and preferences.

There's absolutely no way to appeal to them all... Unless... The game had a notable variety of settings that affect how the game plays.

At least that's just my two cents. Again, because I see a Minecraft level game in the making in sheer audience size.