PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[hotpoon]

Hi Joel.
I want to ask for some changes in Alpha 18 as much as possible. It really interferes with a comfortable game, IMHO.

1. Automatically exit the aiming mode when the character starts to run (the SHIFT button is pressed)

2. Automatically exit the aiming mode when reloading a firearm or crossbow.

3. Automatically cancel the reloading of a firearm or crossbow when a player tries to escape (the SHIFT button is pressed) or add the ability to cancel reloading.

4. Automatically cancel stealth mode when a player tries to jump in this mode.

5. Cancel weapon reload when a player tries to switch to another weapon.

I think these changes will add comfort not only to me.

Thank you.

Agree with all this. I love the new sneak system, but a jump / shift run should immediately take you out of crouch, in my opinion.

 

[madmole]

Agree with all this. I love the new sneak system, but a jump / shift run should immediately take you out of crouch, in my opinion.

Someone hasn't played Skyrim, which IMO has amazing stealth.

 

[Drithyl]

I've pushed it to the front though. Everyone is complaining for no reason. Its stone axe, club, bow, pants, shirt, frame, campfire, trader now. 1 arrow, 1 frame.

The solution to this is simply that, when the bow part hits, if the player has a bow in the inventory or equipped, the quest gets completed automatically. I've always wondered why that wasn't the case. Same for all the other stages of the tutorial quest.

 

[The Gronk]

I've pushed it to the front though. Everyone is complaining for no reason. Its stone axe, club, bow, pants, shirt, frame, campfire, trader now. 1 arrow, 1 frame.

The trader should be last. It's the only one that cannot be done from wherever you happen to be standing.

That's also a hell of a lot of faith to be putting into the RWG.

 

[Trekkan]

Really? I mean... is it THAT DIFFICULT to make another bow? I dunno, just seems like... people are complaining to complain.

Sure, it'd be nice if it recognized you already had one, and that'd be the best solution, 100% agree. But i'd rather they worked on something else. If this was something that you had to deal with throughout your entire game, that'd be one thing. But something you have to do ONCE, at the very beginning of the game... just isn't much of an issue (IMO).

 

[Tete1805]

You think so because never played with "always running" zombies.

Looking at the video, I'd say the problem is that the zombie didn't target the bottom frame.

If he did, there would be no more exploit.

 

[Gnomaana]

So you can sprint backwards without constantly looking behind your back on uneven ground which is full of stones, logs etc, while swinging a club/drawing a bow/shooting at a target? Can you show us a video of that? Uncut preferably.

Nope. Sure can't. Couldn't in this game either. If you hit something while running backwards you were no longer running backwards. Just like in real life. The game doesn't have a trip mechanic so.....

I don't want to be able to sprint full speed backwards. But I do like the feel of being able to adjust my backpedaling speed at least somewhat. Same with stepping sideways. None of this is game breaking imo. I'm fine if it stays as is. Just the argument "You can't sprint backwards in real life." is plain wrong. Yes, you can.

 

[Thecolours]

What? I eat like once or twice a day without slow metabolism.

In A17? I have to eat every 15 minutes to top off max stamina. I'll check my hunger and thirst levels and both will be over 110 and about 20%of my staminia bar is blacked out. So, I have to keep force feeding my character to top everything off.

 

[Damocles]

I think the tutorial should just be an optional question at start.

The user can skip it after an initial question dialog, and receives the points right away (spawns in a map location-marker for the trader).

Or follows the tutorial to learn about basic mechanics.

In this case, the tutorial can even go more into detail about certain things (like crafting basic foods from supplied items or water out of a can).

 

[DarlingCows]

This isn't lush Skyrim (which also doesn't have heavy grass until you mod it), its AZ after bombs dropped.

Could you refresh me on the timeline of the story? How long has it been since the nuclear event did we wake up in 7 days to die?

Cause if it’s a long time I’m thinking Chernobyl where the wildlife returns.

 

[RipClaw]

In A17? I have to eat every 15 minutes to top off max stamina. I'll check my hunger and thirst levels and both will be over 110 and about 20%of my staminia bar is blacked out. So, I have to keep force feeding my character to top everything off.

You can eat and drink 50 more than the maximum indicates. So you have a certain cushion so you don't have to eat all the time to stay at maximum.

At the moment I am quite often in the snow biome. If you freeze, the food will be consumed faster. If you run or dig a lot, the food will also be consumed faster than normal. As soon as you have a means of transport that doesn't need stamina like a minibike, you don't have to eat that much anymore.

 

[khzmusik]

allow sprinting backwards with a high chance or tripping and falling on your ass. And being eaten alive. Cause immersion.

That might actually be kind of fun, but I doubt it would sit well with most players. Game mechanics vs. reality and all that.

 

[Perlin_Worm]

Shouldn’t arrow come directly after bow in tutorial?

 

[FA_Q2]

I've pushed it to the front though. Everyone is complaining for no reason. Its stone axe, club, bow, pants, shirt, frame, campfire, trader now. 1 arrow, 1 frame.

People are not complaining for no reason MM. That is rather dismissive. You are right - the intro quests really are not a big deal BUT we are not representative of the normal players. We are the players that have run through this game 100 times. I viscerally hate the opening quests. I mean really hate them. One of the fantastic things about Roland's MOD was that he removed the worst one - making cloths I do not need and never will.

Never commented on it here because I recognize why I hate them so much though - I have done them to many times and they are the first thing I do before having to go through getting past stone tools again (IOW they are a grind right before i have to really grind).

I think the tutorial should just be an optional question at start.
The user can skip it after an initial question dialog, and receives the points right away (spawns in a map location-marker for the trader).

Or follows the tutorial to learn about basic mechanics.

In this case, the tutorial can even go more into detail about certain things (like crafting basic foods from supplied items or water out of a can).

This would be awesome. Most games do this.

 

[Roland]

In A17? I have to eat every 15 minutes to top off max stamina. I'll check my hunger and thirst levels and both will be over 110 and about 20%of my staminia bar is blacked out. So, I have to keep force feeding my character to top everything off.

That is frankly impossible unless you've improved your max stamina to about 130. If your food is at 110 then it is impossible for your stamina max to be 20% depleted because it doesn't start depleting until you are below 100 on food. Food and stamina max are the same thing. They are 1:1. If your food is 110 then so is your stamina which would mean it would be maxed out as long as your max stamina amount was 110 or less. If your max stamina is 130 then you can eat until your food is 180 which means you shouldn't have to be working hard to keep it at max. It should stay there for a good while.

 

[FA_Q2]

Someone hasn't played Skyrim, which IMO has amazing stealth.

Really.... I mean REALLY????

Skyrim's stealth was terrible. There is barely a stealth system to begin with. Now, Styx did stealth right.

Not that I blame Skyrim for having a trash stealth system - it was not a stealth game. What makes you say it is amazing?

 

[FA_Q2]

You can eat and drink 50 more than the maximum indicates. So you have a certain cushion so you don't have to eat all the time to stay at maximum.
At the moment I am quite often in the snow biome. If you freeze, the food will be consumed faster. If you run or dig a lot, the food will also be consumed faster than normal. As soon as you have a means of transport that doesn't need stamina like a minibike, you don't have to eat that much anymore.

How do you know this though? What implies that this is a possibility?

Honestly, thinking about it made me realize that I know about this because MM stated it would be so here on the boards where almost none of the players are.

One thing that has been clearly left out of the alphas thus far is some sort of structure that actually introduces you to the game. The opening quests clearly do not though they look like another placeholder atm as they can help fill this role. Another thing that would go far in helping the new player would be to actually pause the damn game when reading the journal. It is rather silly that they do not do this.

 

[Shineblossom]

Why? Who doesn't need a club, bow, bedroll and plant fiber pants and campfire? The only non essential thing is crafting one frame and upgrading it.

Who needs those (except bow) when they start the game?

 

[Hek Harris]

Hi Joel.
I want to ask for some changes in Alpha 18 as much as possible. It really interferes with a comfortable game, IMHO.

1. Automatically exit the aiming mode when the character starts to run (the SHIFT button is pressed)

2. Automatically exit the aiming mode when reloading a firearm or crossbow.

3. Automatically cancel the reloading of a firearm or crossbow when a player tries to escape (the SHIFT button is pressed) or add the ability to cancel reloading.

4. Automatically cancel stealth mode when a player tries to jump in this mode.

5. Cancel weapon reload when a player tries to switch to another weapon.

I think these changes will add comfort not only to me.

Thank you.

Please, yes.

 

[FA_Q2]

It does prevent nerdpoling to safety when chased by zombies.

No, it does not - not really. I play with a mod that does this - because Roland made it part of his - and it really does not effect nerdpolling in any meaningful manner. Sides of buildings are the best way to build yourself to safety - something that this change would do nothing to address and ladders are better for that anyway - and nerdpolling away from active zeds in the open is not viable in the first place.

Originally I was going to take the anti-pole change in the mod out but I discovered that the annoyance it represents while building was the only thing that it caused. It had so little effect on gameplay there was no reason to even spend 5 seconds to remove it.

You think so because never played with "always running" zombies.

I have and it still does not change anything. Not that nerd polling from walking zeds was ever a thing.