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
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thats the point: it does not need to be great, just better than the basic version. People are lazy and would rather have a bit higher value in the output item. If the stock is overflowing anyhow, the higher resource cost does not matter much anymore. On the plus side, there is always a reason to use up your stockpile. Its decadent luxury people strive for.
Or in other words: the game should always offer a reasonable resource sink at any stage of the game.
Click to expand...
Mah.. I disagree.

I wouldn't want to waste my resources for nothing. Stockpiling stuff is fun. Also I look at my stacks proudly and I consider them my trophy.

 
Mah.. I disagree.I wouldn't want to waste my resources for nothing. Stockpiling stuff is fun. Also I look at my stacks proudly and I consider them my trophy.
Click to expand...
Thats why the basic version should be the most efficient on given the resources. It does not force the player to go for the “luxury” version.

But if people have enough stuff anyhow they can live a wasteful western live. (As everyone should strive for)

 
It doesn't make sense for zombies, they don't need to wear armor, or seeing armored Arlene would be jarring....

What we're doing is adding a variety of heads and armor pieces to one prefab, a few well designed uv'd textures (one for each head probably) and then in code, enable more pieces the higher the game stage, so one prefab could have quite a few variants and there is visual language that lets you think, oh this guy is armored to the teeth, no wonder he won't die versus the guy with no armor.
Click to expand...
Okay, I can appreciate that it's driven by gameplay needs, in the case of making a visual language for bandit armor. But I completely agree with Haidrgna. If you have a system for swapping parts and textures of a character, but you only use it on a small, less often encountered subset of the game's enemies, that would be a big waste of the tech!

Use your imagination here. If you have the tech to turn off a bandit's scrap iron chest plate and turn on his bandolier, you have the tech to turn off a farmer zombie's cowboy hat and turn on his trucker cap. Or turn off his prospector beard and turn on his lumberjack beard. Or turn off his fully intact left leg and turn on his gory left leg with exposed bones.

By simply mixing and matching these variants into many possible combinations, you get more variety, more bang for your buck than you could ever achieve by spending the same amount of art time creating whole zombie models that look the same each time. I'd compare it to the variety of randomly assembled worlds compared to the hand-made Navezgane. And again, since zombies are the 'bread and butter' that players see every day, if this variety is worth it for anything, it's worth it for zombies in my opinion.

I should point out you guys have been making some great strides in best utilizing the assets you have, though. Not long ago you changed the makeup of hordes, to avoid multiple instances of the same zombie type where possible. And in 17.3, you made RWG avoid putting copies of the same building next to each other where possible. Changes like these are HUGE for me, because they're smarter ways of utilizing the existing content.

 
Nope. We had them kind of working at one point but it was deemed this is a tower survival game, not a tower escape game.
Click to expand...
I was looking at them as another form of Entry not Escape, like a Draw Bridge, Zip-In/Zip-Out, but I get your point...Arrrggghhh

Maybe we limit them to a short distance so you can not leave their AI Senses & these could also let a group leave the Tower to battle the Z's outside & not run away.

That's why I have been pushing for a Stand & Fight Scenario where at some point you just can not run away.

Think of early Skyrim where you go into a Battle Scene & have the option to run away.

No battle scene, no run away option, there just has to be a point in the Game where Running is not an OPTION. To really play Homage to the Great Z Movies we need at some point be overwhelmed &,

Stand & Fight, running away should never be an option in this game, in my opinion...Arrrggghhh

Oh Yea, Why the Motel 8? Why? This Is 7 Day's (Fight Club Reference) We don't need no Stinkin Motel 8 (Blazing Saddles).

Maybe, I don't know, Maybe Motel 7 rings a bell, just sayin...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nope. We had them kind of working at one point but it was deemed this is a tower survival game, not a tower escape game.
Click to expand...
That's what I am waiting for more than anything, because atm there are still cheap, painless ways to escape the BM horde, like vehicles and skyscrapers (running too, but as you said that will be fixed with A18's root motion) and skip the whole tower defense part without any risk or cost (fuel cost is negligible).

 
Various mods in a16 had recipies for most of the canned stuff, and another use for some of the grown things. (taters in particular)

2 cans of chicken soup and a bowl of water, bowl of soup. (no food poisoning). Then heat in the campfire and you have hot soup,

which gave a bit of buff against the cold.

While some of the canned stuff is used in recipies now, (the dogfood one is hilarious), we could used more.

btw, lamb rations have no chance of food poisoning, but everything else has 5%. odd.

Hot soups, ability to can some of the stews etc. (and canning should prevent spoilage. it's the reason we do canning)

Take a bit of a hit in the benefits though.

for the meat, well, how long does jerky last? (and please, lets not get into all the recipies for various jerkies) :)

 
Adding ziplines wouldn't be a problem, if anything, ziplines would enable creative players to design more interesting forts. The builders would love it.
Click to expand...
I have to agree with that. I could imagine ziplines as quick connections between different positions in a larger base. If a position can't be held any longer, the player can fall back to an alternate position. That would be a reason to build huge bases again.

In addition, you could make the horde night much more dynamic. Except for those who fight the horde by foot, most of the player don't move a lot during the horde night.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have to agree with that. I could imagine ziplines as quick connections between different positions in a larger base. If a position can't be held any longer, the player can fall back to an alternate position. That would be a reason to build huge bases again.
Click to expand...
Ditto, I have left large bases for a smaller Roman Block Fort with Parapets, Walkways & Towers on the corners with my Main Defense being my Field Fortifications with stair stepping trenches radiating outwards from the Fort.

They barley make it to my walls anymore & when they do I can get them from above.

I also build 1 tall Tower in the Center after I have 3 levels or floors for observation of my Realm. I also Stairstep my levels or floors inwards so my Walkways are not above each other so I can jump down to another Walkway...

Might also resemble a Pagoda...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have to agree with that. I could imagine ziplines as quick connections between different positions in a larger base. If a position can't be held any longer, the player can fall back to an alternate position. That would be a reason to build huge bases again.
Click to expand...
You mean that would be a reason to make a few towers to zip-line from one to the other without the zombies ever being able to get to you? I really don't get what's the fuss with the zip-lines, except them taking the first place for the most pointless feature one could conceive for the game.

 
But a gyrocopter is useful...no avoidance of zombies there. Much rather have ziplines to get to places faster ...or just have fun with them. Gyrocopter doesnt even have an airport to find one ...they just appear from a build. Realistic or otherwise...ziplines are more practical and realistic.

Imo

Ouch

 
You mean that would be a reason to make a few towers to zip-line from one to the other without the zombies ever being able to get to you?
Click to expand...
You don't need ziplines for that. You can also connect the towers with walkways. It's just much slower and more boring than just jumping on a zipline and being on the next position in a few seconds.

I really don't get what's the fuss with the zip-lines, except them taking the first place for the most pointless feature one could conceive for the game.
Click to expand...
You might also ask why the fuss over all the new vehicles. In the eyes of some they are pointless. You could have just stayed with the minibike. The ziplines would just be a feature that might even be fun in the end.

 
You don't need ziplines for that. You can also connect the towers with walkways. It's just much slower and more boring than just jumping on a zipline and being on the next position in a few seconds.
You might also ask why the fuss over all the new vehicles. In the eyes of some they are pointless. You could have just stayed with the minibike. The ziplines would just be a feature that might even be fun in the end.
Click to expand...
Even if I am not the biggest fan of vehicles and literally facepalm every time TFP add a new one, beyond the 2-3 count, they do act as a means of progression making exploring easier/safer. Of course the more vehicles there are, the more redundant they become, but the upgrades can still offer a mobile storage space and more player capacity in the future. Ziplines would just help in traversing a large base faster (which is not really needed imo) and would be problematic when it comes to zombies reaching you.

I greatly dislike that vehicles are a way to completely avoid BM hordes (like I posted in the first post of this page) and believe this must change, but ziplines would just become another way to create the same problem and with barely any gameplay benefits. And I don't get what's the exciting part in going a little faster that will make walking from point A to B of your base less boring.

 
I can think of a couple of simple balances that would help to limit the OP of ziplines.

Make them very susceptible to zombie attack. The last thing you want is the line snapping as you're dangling between two buildings.

Make the rate of ascent painfully slow. Climbing along or up a rope is a difficult and exhausting endevour. Combine that with the weakness to zombie attacks and the only way you're escaping with haste is downward... likely towards the zombie threat.

Ziplines hae been a meme of 7dtd for many years now and it would be a great thing to add, even as endgame content.

 
If vehicles were done right (i.e. we didn't all have tens of thousands of gallons of gas sitting around because we can make it in a beaker, if we couldn't just forge whatever part we needed, etc) then the balance would be fine.

Plentiful vehicles also allows for travel for EVERYONE so world resources actually dry up much more quickly. It's all just a balancing act that I don't believe TFP is done with yet.

 
If vehicles were done right (i.e. we didn't all have tens of thousands of gallons of gas sitting around because we can make it in a beaker, if we couldn't just forge whatever part we needed, etc) then the balance would be fine.
Plentiful vehicles also allows for travel for EVERYONE so world resources actually dry up much more quickly. It's all just a balancing act that I don't believe TFP is done with yet.
Click to expand...
This!

Raise of hands those of you that know how to make gas without checking the internet first?

 
I there should be no ascending at all, just descending..
Click to expand...
It will be stamina all over again: "Why can't we ascend/ascend so slowly on ziplines? Is our player an obese sloth who has never worked out a single day in his life? I could even do it hands-free, this is ridiculous."

 
We had that in the first Ark game someone hosted, then one of our friends dedicated a machine to hosting servers.
Private servers are the way to go, no tethering and no jerks, (except the ones we allow!)

I'm conflicted over the Conan vs 7D2D encumbrance system. Conan is more "realistic" but 7D allows for more control as you can easily see what is causing your encumbrance rather then guessing how much of a stack you need to drop or store. And ofc 7D allows for scrapping to condense stuff in your inventory.

I haven't played Conan in a while but I know our server got updated recently. I do like the sandstorms in Conan, and am glad that for the blizzards in 7D getting indoors mitigates the cold. I just wish the rain and light would stop leaking through our buildings.

Other then that, I am enjoying 7D again.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, purge and PVP damage (friendly fire that is) if you are with friends is a server setting.
Click to expand...
I'm not really sure the sandstorms add much. It takes the player out of the game for no good reason. You can stand by a cliff wal l that spawns the shelter popout and go afk until its over. Its tolerable, but I generally dislike things that take the player out of the game.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top