PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[madmole]

What is this talk about missions for settlements? Will 7D2D be adding friendly NPC's settlers?

Just like Rust "I'm friendly don't shoot" BOOM lol. In otherwords maybe they will be friendly, it might depend on your reputation/faction. Too hard to say but yes, we want to do some settlement quests.

 

[FA_Q2]

I'm thinking more like stuff that effects the players abilities and attributes with alchemy. Extra health/stam regen for x seconds, boosts str for x seconds, run faster for x seconds etc., resistant to fire for x, etc.

I would love to see this applied to the food system where food gives you a small but pretty persistent boost for a game day or until you eat another food. It would give us more reason to make more food types rather than mass producing B&E. Something like stamina gain +1, melee damage + 5 or something along those lines.

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Not sure yet, I have no problem getting brass. It kind of devalues the traders.

Is that not a good thing though?

The traders are already rather central to the game. I do not know if this changed in 18 but in 17 you can basically live entirely off the trader if you want to. They are REALLY important.

 

[Ouch Quit It]

Cough* RELEASE THE KRAKEN *Cough

 

[beerfly]

Updated the first post to hopefully reduce the chance of this conversation returning

In "Things People Wonder and Worry About" section you can add:

No chance of 7dtd going in the wrong way.

Just saying.

 

[Odetta]

Thinking ahead here. When you get faction reputation in you could have it tie into Bloodmoons. The player would craft a flag representing their faction and fly it. Then during horde night they get +rep depending on how many zombies were killed (doesn't matter how they were killed) at the end and -rep if they died.

This will not be the only way to gain + or - rep in game though. So people who do not participate in a Bloodmoon(s) can still earn or lose it. You just gain a lot if you do participate.

 

[sillls]

Not for A18 but hopefully in the future.



No. Just some speculative talk.

Just like Rust "I'm friendly don't shoot" BOOM lol. In otherwords maybe they will be friendly, it might depend on your reputation/faction. Too hard to say but yes, we want to do some settlement quests.

Thanks guys.

I'm hoping to see more friendly NPC's in the game. Other than the traders (that seem more like talking vending machines than NPC's). I feel like a LMOE Last Man On Earth.

Glad to see some friendly faces. Got to wonder what's going to happen to them the settlers and there base on a Blood moon? 00

 

[Odetta]

I was mostly kidding. I have thick skin, but I applaud you for actually reading youtube comments lol. I don't read those at all, or well I might skim 50% of the videos if its a topic I want to hear feedback on and haven't gotten enough here or on reddit. Working out is a great way to relieve stress.

Not all youtube sections are bad, this one had me dying lol

 

[legolas141]

+100 to game staged loot on horde night would do it IMO. Lucky looter on steroids during the blood moon, and increase chance to drop.

I would love something like this. A small change such as this would make the horde nights much more worth it for me.

 

[Roland]

The new zombie rage feature has been the toughest adaptation I've had to go through from one alpha to another. I'm very curious to read all of your reactions to it. There is always a slight change that must be made to melee each Alpha it seems but this time melee has been turned on its head. I have had to change almost everything about how I engage the zombies because of it.

The other tough thing to adapt to is the new icons because after 5 1/2 years of associating pictures to what they represent and then having those pictures completely change makes it feel like you are playing a different game. My brain is slowly making the transition but the new icons definitely take some getting used to.

I expect that there will be some negative feedback given for these changes because they both are such dramatic departures from what has always been and people don't often like such things until they make the adjustments but I think they are positive changes on the whole and people will end up being happy with them.

 

[Odetta]

The new zombie rage feature has been the toughest adaptation I've had to go through from one alpha to another. I'm very curious to read all of your reactions to it. There is always a slight change that must be made to melee each Alpha it seems but this time melee has been turned on its head. I have had to change almost everything about how I engage the zombies head to head because of it.
The other tough thing to adapt to is the new icons because after 5 1/2 years of associating pictures to what they represent and then having those pictures completely change makes it feel like you are playing a different game. My brain is slowly making the transition but the new icons definitely take some getting used to.

I expect that there will be some negative feedback given for these changes because they both are such dramatic departures from what has always been and people don't often like such things until they make the adjustments but I think they are positive changes on the whole and people will end up being happy with them.

Is this with the old melee or the new Glancing Blow melee?

Yes, they best get ready for tons and tons of Knee Jerky (hey! this should be a food item in game lol)

 

[Roland]

Thinking ahead here. When you get faction reputation in you could have it tie into Bloodmoons. The player would craft a flag representing their faction and fly it. Then during horde night they get +rep depending on how many zombies were killed (doesn't matter how they were killed) at the end and -rep if they died.
This will not be the only way to gain + or - rep in game though. So people who do not participate in a Bloodmoon(s) can still earn or lose it. You just gain a lot if you do participate.

I think that once reputation is in there will be quite a few things that can be infused with a reward or penalty that will make the world more interesting without gimping or supercharging our avatars directly. Increasing or decreasing gamestage, reputation, heatmap, spawn masks, horde sizes -- all of these affect the external world. I like the possibilities.

 

[madmole]

I would love to see this applied to the food system where food gives you a small but pretty persistent boost for a game day or until you eat another food. It would give us more reason to make more food types rather than mass producing B&E. Something like stamina gain +1, melee damage + 5 or something along those lines.
- - - Updated - - -

Is that not a good thing though?

The traders are already rather central to the game. I do not know if this changed in 18 but in 17 you can basically live entirely off the trader if you want to. They are REALLY important.

Yes I was considering adding some more benefits to the advanced rank foods to make them more enticing, as I can survive on charred meat if I play a nomad, with zero other perks.

 

[Tin]

The new zombie rage feature has been the toughest adaptation I've had to go through from one alpha to another. I'm very curious to read all of your reactions to it. There is always a slight change that must be made to melee each Alpha it seems but this time melee has been turned on its head. I have had to change almost everything about how I engage the zombies because of it.
The other tough thing to adapt to is the new icons because after 5 1/2 years of associating pictures to what they represent and then having those pictures completely change makes it feel like you are playing a different game. My brain is slowly making the transition but the new icons definitely take some getting used to.

I expect that there will be some negative feedback given for these changes because they both are such dramatic departures from what has always been and people don't often like such things until they make the adjustments but I think they are positive changes on the whole and people will end up being happy with them.

Don't need to wonder about it. I've been playing with a 'similar' less refined feature of it for awhile now. Looking forward to playing TFP version. Will be a great addition imo.

 

[Roland]

Is this with the old melee or the new Glancing Blow melee?
Yes, they best get ready for tons and tons of Knee Jerky (hey! this should be a food item in game lol)

The new glancing blow is in so it is included. The issue is that only head shots really have a chance to stun or knockdown an enemy. So if you miss the head but glance the shoulder for some damage thanks to the new feature, yes-- its not a total miss like it would have been so some damage gets done but in terms of dealing with the zombie and trying to avoid getting hit yourself it does nothing. That is the biggest change. I take more hits than ever before which uses up bandages and food etc. When you get a knockdown or a stun you are so happy as it delays the possible speed up and gives you a moment to get ready.

That is one of the big differences between A18 and all the previous alphas for me. After some slight adaptation for new ranges or timing I always got back to the point where I almost never took a hit in combat. Now I take hits. It doesn't happen in every engagement but it happens daily and that is a drain on medical resources including food AND a big dinner bell to all nearby vultures I might add.

In my last game I was offered a SMG or 10 medicated bandages and it was a no brainer: 10 medicated bandages thank you.

 

[Viktoriusiii]

+ Game tracks the arc of your melee swing and will register glancing blows rather than outright misses.

Oh thank goodness This was the most mindnumbing change in A17 xD

That you had to be right on the zombie with the cursor or else it would phase right through it.

Can someone explain what is meant by "glancing blows" is it still considered a full hit or is the damage reduced when not exactly lined up?

I'm fine with both honestly, just wondering.

 

[Blake_]

They looked ok standing there and then we got some performance and saw the crappy anims and AI and thought it would do more harm than good to release them in that state. Since then we stopped using UMA for NPCs.
I'm a slow learner. My enthusiasm gets us into trouble. They will come when they are ready.

Yeah. Sometimes devs forget that they are the ultimate absolute spotlight of 6 million+ people and say something and those words get set in melted steel over porous carved granite. I don't care though. It is a blast every alpha. Even a14 with its standing zds and spamcrafting hell spiced with dissapearing chunks of water was fun for a good while.

 

[Odetta]

The new glancing blow is in so it is included. The issue is that only head shots really have a chance to stun or knockdown an enemy. So if you miss the head but glance the shoulder for some damage thanks to the new feature, yes-- its not a total miss like it would have been so some damage gets done but in terms of dealing with the zombie and trying to avoid getting hit yourself it does nothing. That is the biggest change. I take more hits than ever before which uses up bandages and food etc. When you get a knockdown or a stun you are so happy as it delays the possible speed up and gives you a moment to get ready.
That is one of the big differences between A18 and all the previous alphas for me. After some slight adaptation for new ranges or timing I always got back to the point where I almost never took a hit in combat. Now I take hits. It doesn't happen in every engagement but it happens daily and that is a drain on medical resources including food AND a big dinner bell to all nearby vultures I might add.

In my last game I was offered a SMG or 10 medicated bandages and it was a no brainer: 10 medicated bandages thank you.

I mean that sound awesome to me, but I can see some people not liking it. Have any melee perks been changed as to help with this? Like extra knockdown chance? etc...

 

[SnowDog1942]

With regards to melee, from A16 to A17 it feels like clients of direct connect games notice much more lag, as in magical zombie arms that hit u when u are actually to far away to be hit from if u were the server side of the direct connect game. Anyone else notice this?

 

[Roland]

I mean that sound awesome to me, but I can see some people not liking it. Have any melee perks been changed as to help with this? Like extra knockdown chance? etc...

I think Madmole covered all the regular perks in his latest video. I can't say off the top of my head but if you watch that with melee perks in mind you might notice whether there are more. Madmole knows them inside and out so maybe he will comment.

 

[Roland]

With regards to melee, from A16 to A17 it feels like clients of direct connect games notice much more lag, as in magical zombie arms that hit u when u are actually to far away to be hit from if u were the server side of the direct connect game. Anyone else notice this?

Definitely. The rage feature is sure to result in some rage quitting when coupled with network lag...lol.

At least until (and if) people adapt.

I know that I always get hit more at first going to a server game after having played SP for awhile. There is definitely a learning curve to compensating for network lag.