PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

  • A18 Stable is Out!

    Votes: 2 66.7%

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    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Total voters
    3
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@Madmole I just wanted to quote that because it gets across the idea just right. Among everything else I really, really value the fact you're out here A LOT these days. It ultimately reminds us that this is people we're talking with that make decisions, reflect and work on them and come back on the forums with even more, much needed, optimism - even if you'd probably rather smash in your screen at times. Regardless of what A18 will bring to the table, i'm actually enjoying reading your input day in day out. That alone payed the price tag of the game lol so a big thanks for the whole ride.

I hope you know there's no personal grief when you read some of the stuff in here. We tend to take things a little bit too much at heart, probably because this game has been for quite some years now a big part of our gaming library. Very few games I'll remember 20 years from now when I tell my kids, this one is very likely to make the list though. Even if honestly, describing it ain't the easiest at times, if you have a good line or two that works as a good sumup i'll take it :rapture:

Very hyped about 17.3 by the way !! A group of friends and I are awaiting the release to start a new longterm playthrough, it's a drop in the ocean but worth something ! Hope you'll nail it !
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We're all passionate about the game, thats why we argue about it.

 
But you like to play in the Dark MM,I remember watching a lot of your early Gameplay Vid's & screaming at the monitor when you entered a dark POI,

C'mon place a Torch or get a Mining Helmet so I can see dammitt...Arrrggghhh
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I'm truly stoked to play A18. Its not a monster like A17, but a lot of focus is going into addressing the shortcomings, and more game balance, and tons more polishing, bugs fixed and optimizations. So I'm really hoping to get immersed in it.

 
Maybe the AI of zombies in A17 is "not bad".... but it is absolutely inadequate.
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Maybe if you cheese known exploits. Build a normal base that doesn't have any crap that you would not build in a real life attempt to survive, and tell me how that plays. I can beat Skyrim easy with known exploits, instead I role play with limitations to the character and that makes it challenging and very interesting. Nope I refuse to take your weak magic or potions to heal. I'm a strong ass big bearded Nord, magic is for the weak. Makes a big difference if you can't spam healing potions and use magic. Oh wait I guess I'm not role playing, thats me IRL lol.

 
Quote Originally Posted by Guppycur View PostAny ai can be cheesed. Shrug.

What would be cool is if there were a few different ai packages and the Zed's chose from them randomly.

Some path, some block break, some climb over each other, etc...

That's all doable for regular hordes but I don't think the 7 days hordes follow those rules.
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You just described what is implemented.
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In your version A18? or is it going to be in the 17.3 version? because it's not really that noticible in the 17.2 version that we have. It's just a chance they'll switch to the "destroy task" instead of being more "path seeking".

There's really a lot you can do to change things up and make things a bit more diverse. Like:

*Just a couple off the top of my head to make the zombies a bit more diverse in actions*

Arlene and the more slighter built zombies are more focused on seeking a path, rather then the destroy task (80/20)

The cop and heavier build zombies are more focused on destroying, rather than seeking a path (20/80)

etc..

Even thats not really different AI packages, but more number tweaks of the current system being applied differently, for the different entities.

In A17.2 they are still reacting a bit samey, since every entity is just using the same ratio. It might just be nothing more than tweaking that ratio up a bit more, so it's a bit more pronounced.

.. but my preferred would be assign different ratios, to the different entities themselves.

"Oh crap! The Arlene and Nurse zombies are finding their way through the maze, but Moe and the Cop zombies are coming through the walls.."

Either way, I like this AI waaaayyyyyy better then what we did have.

 
Did you cry when Leanne Moremont bought it? Figuratively of course... Real men don't cry. :)
- - - Updated - - -

Turn YouTube comments on if you really want to punish yourself. :)
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God no, she was so annoying. She redeemed herself though with her final act of defiance.

 
I'm truly stoked to play A18. Its not a monster like A17, but a lot of focus is going into addressing the shortcomings, and more game balance, and tons more polishing, bugs fixed and optimizations. So I'm really hoping to get immersed in it.
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I'm pretty stoked to see 17.3 :-)

How's the big picture of RWG looking? I mean things like the placement of biomes and roads. Anything above reasonable and I'm climbing aboard the hype train tonight!

 
I think the complaints are from people wanting to defend their stilt bases on the hardest difficulty with a wooden bow before the horde brings the base down.
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Muh tree house base isn't viable any more, you guys ruined the game for me!

 
All the gloom and doom is taxing my positive nature.
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But why? Think about it like this. They love your game so much they don't want it to get hurt. Like an over protective mom who says, "bundle up!, slow down!, eat this!, don't hang around little timmy, don't do drugs! Your majoring in philosophy? What kind of job outlook does that have? You should date Sally, she's a nice girl".

Ok too many examples, but you get it.

 
I think you are confusing textures with paint ... or paintable textures. Several paintable textures were removed ... and the ones that remain have been "improved" to the point they make me cry. You have also removed the ability mod in textures. If we could mod them in it'd be a non-issue.
I'm going to try to figure out how to do this ... I'm trying to show the difference between a16 and a17.

I was going to post the pictures, but then figured it'd make the post huge and unwieldy and mean to those not interested in this subject. So I'll post the links to imgur ... let me know if I didn't do this right please?

A16 paint menu page 1 ...vs... A17 paint menu page 1

evy2jAS.jpg
v3W7Fsq.jpg

A16 paint menu page 2 ...vs... A17 paint menu page 2

C5UywHK.jpg
l5tGUgR.jpg

A16 paint menu page 3 ...vs... A17 paint menu page 3

h5c1gse.jpg
lc7wau9.jpg

Okay ... now for the nitty gritty:

Bookshelves have been removed. The tree paintings have been removed. Stainless steel refrigerator sections have been removed. The solid paint textures now look like they have mange. The red wood is now dull brown. There are others, but those are my biggest pain points right now.

A16 blue paint, a pretty sky blue:

https://imgur.com/5f8cu4I

A17 blue paint, a nasty greyish blueish mange pit:

https://imgur.com/lSy3klt

A16 green paint, a lovely green:

https://imgur.com/oCMMUwq

A17 "green" paint ... a nasty greyish green that looks like a dead orc with mange:

https://imgur.com/oDA9wWc

A16 red wood ... suitable for floors and walls and looking pretty:

https://imgur.com/t4RP1NA

A17 red wood ... a lovely brown, suitable for a barn floor, not to be confused with, or the same color as, barn wood, which is actually a prettier red than the "red" wood:

https://imgur.com/ZneKAN1

So yes, you did add in more paint textures ... most of which no one wants to use because they are (and I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings) butt ugly.

You "improved" existing textures, making them JUST as butt ugly, so i guess it's a theme.

I can post more pics if needed, can go paint texture by paint texture ... but i don't want to make this post longer than it needs to be.

Thank you.

Edit: Thank you Roland!!! You made it better!
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Its a gritty post apocalypse, not minecraft. We will add ability to ruin it with mod support. See I can be catty and disrespectful too. Its a two way street.
Anyhow it was more about making a nice set of themed textures that looked good in the ways that we use them. All those old concretes were simple placeholders I put in until we could finish them, and some may be a WIP. We can probably make some more not so crusty textures for players to use, and will probably make it easier to add more new textures.

 
The AI was worse in some regards in A16, like how zombies would just spin in circles below you.
The main difference between A16 and A17 now though is that in A16, you could build a base surrounded by spikes and kite the zombies around though the spikes. Now if they make a hole in the spike defenses they just all flow into it bypassing the rest of the spikes.

Also, if you had some kind of box or cage set up, the zombies would spread out pretty evenly around your base, giving you more time to defend yourself. Now it seems they all just focus on one block.

Not judging if A17 is better or worse than A16 just explaining what I think is in the minds of many of those complaining.
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I'm pretty sure if the walking dead directed a scene like that, that the zombies would behave like that. They are smart enough to use a door lol.

 
Madmole, you sure have a thick skin and a damn good sense of humor. Love it!
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It's been trying. I've leveled up a bit. Old Joel would have placed land mines in the wasteland. And he did.

 
Another thing, that can be done easily in the new system: Is just switch up the walk types based on damage you apply to a zed.

I just made a few tweaks to one of my modlets so the the zeds go from their initial walk type to the spider walk type when they hit the 50% damage mark, and then they go to the crawl walk type at the 75% damage mark.

I think you'd be surprised how something as little as that, really changes the feel of things.

BTW TY Kinyajuu and the rest of the devs who put this new system together and TFP owners for allowing it to happen!

 
Hi MM

still here, waiting patiently, checking in at least daily to catch up, really looking forward to the next instalment/s.

any chance of a video showcasing some of the improvements? perhaps that will appease some of the nay-sayers...

im also getting a bit sick of the bi polar "the game sucks but I love it" crowd.

 
It also doesn't describe A17.2. But it does describe Alpha 17.0 and 17.1 before faatal committed some of his fixes and adjustments. I've come to discover that some of the complainers have actually never played 17.2 but either quit or reverted back to A16 after deciding they didn't like Alpha 17. When they come on here to push their agenda for change it is all from their memory of giving 17.0 a try-- not realizing that changes were made in 17.2.
In A17.2 you do get zombies giving up on long pathways and randomly going into destroy mode. I know this is true from my own observations and I know it is true because I've read posts from players who actually have played 17.2 complaining &lt;shocker&gt; that the zombies aren't as predictable as they used to be and are making dumb choices and they don't like that....
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Yes I figured as much. I keep seeing neg steam reviews that are clearly copy and pasted from 4 months ago issues. I think the haters are making us rich, they are buying extra steam keys just to post another copy paste neg review. Its fine, sales are doing great lol.

 
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