PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

  • A18 Stable is Out!

    Votes: 2 66.7%

  • <img alt=":)" data-src="" src="___base_url___/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Total voters
    3
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Late reply, but does that mean we will not see any NPCs before gold? Like the rangers and the runners that were mentioned in the A17 concept art video?
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It depends how good it is and soon it goes in I think.

 
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Now your talking! 3 inches of rolled homogenous steel around you while you sleep, no zombies will pound through that!

No need to silence the M4 Sherman! :)
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You forgot that zombies have anime-esque super-villain powers and can break through steel blocks in a few seconds.

Nowhere is safe... lol

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It depends how good it is and soon it goes in I think.
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that's what (he) said

 
What didn't you get that we promised?
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the best iteration so far?

Alpha 17 is not perfect by any means but a big step forward towards the vision we have had for the game for a long time.

We have heard some valid concerns of the community and will be making needed adjustments to the game in the coming weeks along with bug fixes, optimizations and balance.

We are gathering data on a case by case basis, balancing and addressing the true problem areas most of which so far center around optimizations, stamina, balancing XP for all play styles, land claims, increasing zombie loot drop chance, zombie block damage, skill/perk balance and gating and random world gen improvements.

zombies.jpg

 
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I can't promise, but I have a feeling you guys will see it in some regard for an A17 patch. It can occlude a lot of different things, some things occlude easily without any noticeable bugs, others take more effort to get it shippable. We're pretty optimistic though. Its death from a thousand paper cuts so it takes time going through everything and optimizing but we're picking up gains left and right as we go. Shawn has a new character controller that is significantly faster than unity's so zombies won't eat near as much CPU pretty soon.
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That's kinda sad that the base Unity Character Controller has such weak performance. If what you're talking about is the literal Unity Character Controller that comes up when googling it. Doesn't seem like that type carries a lot of bells and whistles. Though I wonder if it's more tailored and tuned for a non-destructable world. Huh. Hm.

 
the best iteration so far?
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Delivered in spades.

Alpha 17 is not perfect by any means but a big step forward towards the vision we have had for the game for a long time.
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True--for the developers. But they only ever promised to deliver their own vision and not someone else's vision or some faction's vision. A17 brought us closer to the gold version that the devs want to deliver than any version prior. That some don't like it doesn't deny the fact that it is true. It only means they don't like that huge giant step forward. But forward towards the developers goal it is. As promised.

We have heard some valid concerns of the community and will be making needed adjustments to the game in the coming weeks along with bug fixes, optimizations and balance.
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In progress and a little too much in some areas in my opinion...

We are gathering data on a case by case basis, balancing and addressing the true problem areas most of which so far center around optimizations, stamina, balancing XP for all play styles, land claims, increasing zombie loot drop chance, zombie block damage, skill/perk balance and gating and random world gen improvements.
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Optimizations: In progress

Stamina: Delivered

Balancing XP for all playstyles: Delivered

Land Claims: Delivered

Zombie Loot Drop Chance: In progress. Lots of team debate about this.

Skill/Perk Balance: In progress

Gating: In progress

RWG: In progress

Technically you haven't received the in progress stuff yet but at the same time you shouldn't act as though those promises were abandoned. "Coming Weeks" hasn't completed yet after all. Once the coming weeks are over then we can see which promises weren't delivered.

 
That's kinda sad that the base Unity Character Controller has such weak performance. If what you're talking about is the literal Unity Character Controller that comes up when googling it. Doesn't seem like that type carries a lot of bells and whistles. Though I wonder if it's more tailored and tuned for a non-destructable world. Huh. Hm.
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Its typical bloatware with too much crap most games wouldn't need and no source code to disable anything unwanted. It would surprise me if Rust didn't write their own.

 
the best iteration so far?
Alpha 17 is not perfect by any means but a big step forward towards the vision we have had for the game for a long time.

We have heard some valid concerns of the community and will be making needed adjustments to the game in the coming weeks along with bug fixes, optimizations and balance.

We are gathering data on a case by case basis, balancing and addressing the true problem areas most of which so far center around optimizations, stamina, balancing XP for all play styles, land claims, increasing zombie loot drop chance, zombie block damage, skill/perk balance and gating and random world gen improvements.

View attachment 28011
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Everything said there was delivered or a matter of opinion, or a wip.

 
I can't promise, but I have a feeling you guys will see it in some regard for an A17 patch. It can occlude a lot of different things, some things occlude easily without any noticeable bugs, others take more effort to get it shippable. We're pretty optimistic though. Its death from a thousand paper cuts so it takes time going through everything and optimizing but we're picking up gains left and right as we go. Shawn has a new character controller that is significantly faster than unity's so zombies won't eat near as much CPU pretty soon.
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Music to my ears. Nice work!

 
Its typical bloatware with too much crap most games wouldn't need and no source code to disable anything unwanted. It would surprise me if Rust didn't write their own.
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What? Analytics and logging or something? Some crazy reflection stuff? Was looking at Unity to dabble in some simple 2D game development. :-/

 
the best iteration so far?
Alpha 17 is not perfect by any means but a big step forward towards the vision we have had for the game for a long time.

We have heard some valid concerns of the community and will be making needed adjustments to the game in the coming weeks along with bug fixes, optimizations and balance.

We are gathering data on a case by case basis, balancing and addressing the true problem areas most of which so far center around optimizations, stamina, balancing XP for all play styles, land claims, increasing zombie loot drop chance, zombie block damage, skill/perk balance and gating and random world gen improvements.

View attachment 28011
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https://7daystodie.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=28011&d=1552592617

Zombie teacher: Explains!!

 
What? Analytics and logging or something? Some crazy reflection stuff? Was looking at Unity to dabble in some simple 2D game development. :-/
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Its probably fine for casual game development but when you start trying to push the boundaries your performance can fall through the floor. Shawn could explain it more in detail, the bottom line is we have a new one that is much faster and when you add it up through all zombies and animals the savings is pretty substantial.

 
Its probably fine for casual game development but when you start trying to push the boundaries your performance can fall through the floor. Shawn could explain it more in detail, the bottom line is we have a new one that is much faster and when you add it up through all zombies and animals the savings is pretty substantial.
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PC

New minimum specs: vintage rotary phone

Recommended: VCR with rapid rewind

 
Are there any plans to make changes to the XP display system for zombie kills come A18 or even A17.3?

As it is now the XP gained icon and value and also the shared XP popup for zombie kills has started to take away a little from the fear for the zombies as it gives away instantly if a zombie has died and has also become a "tool" when clearing a POI. In the modding community this has also been requested removed and I've seen people play with the entire HUDRightStatBars modded out to counter it.

Could there maybe be added a toggle for the feature in the game options if you want XP gains displayed or not or maybe do a system where it gets a delayed delivery? For instance if you have not received or caused damage in the last 5s it displays?

 
Its probably fine for casual game development but when you start trying to push the boundaries your performance can fall through the floor. Shawn could explain it more in detail, the bottom line is we have a new one that is much faster and when you add it up through all zombies and animals the savings is pretty substantial.
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Do you have plans to add more zombies to the world when you hit a certain benchmark for performance?

 
Are there any plans to make changes to the XP display system for zombie kills come A18 or even A17.3?
As it is now the XP gained icon and value and also the shared XP popup for zombie kills has started to take away a little from the fear for the zombies as it gives away instantly if a zombie has died and has also become a "tool" when clearing a POI. In the modding community this has also been requested removed and I've seen people play with the entire HUDRightStatBars modded out to counter it.

Could there maybe be added a toggle for the feature in the game options if you want XP gains displayed or not or maybe do a system where it gets a delayed delivery? For instance if you have not received or caused damage in the last 5s it displays?
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I say in for an inch in for a mile. Lets lose all the displays and play 100% cinematic!

 
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Are there any plans to make changes to the XP display system for zombie kills come A18 or even A17.3?
As it is now the XP gained icon and value and also the shared XP popup for zombie kills has started to take away a little from the fear for the zombies as it gives away instantly if a zombie has died and has also become a "tool" when clearing a POI. In the modding community this has also been requested removed and I've seen people play with the entire HUDRightStatBars modded out to counter it.

Could there maybe be added a toggle for the feature in the game options if you want XP gains displayed or not or maybe do a system where it gets a delayed delivery? For instance if you have not received or caused damage in the last 5s it displays?
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If the death animations and death sounds and the fact that they aren't moving any more isn't enough, then I'd say we failed at creating a satisfying death sequence of the zombie for players to experience. So removing the XP wouldn't do anything, as I think its clearly obvious when a zombie dies. I mean if you stop looking at the XP popout, its actually 100% clear if a zombie is dead or not dead IMO. So your asking us to do work that would benefit noone.

 
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