PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[ZombieSurvivor]

Thanks, mate.

You had previously mentioned about having to scroll the toolbelt.

Here is how I lay mine out for what its worth while I'm exploring or clearing a POI. I arrange it in such a way that best optimizes the interaction flow for my playstyle.

Note that I have a mouse that has 2 additional buttons on the left side I can click with my right thumb within 1/4 second.

my fallback weapon (shotgun) I bind to thumb mouse button 1

my stealth weapon I bind to thumb mouse button 2

also forgot to edit in but i always carry a melee weapon in that slot.

When I'm looting a poi I'll add something that heals me in the free slot for quick access.

The way I arrange the slots and bind those 2 keys help reduce the overall total number of times i scroll in order to reach the desired slot on the toolbelt in a given hour.

 

[madmole]

Where do we mail our esc key to to receive the $100 you're giving out for them?
- - - Updated - - -

Lol you guys are funny.

Do y'all remember who it was that had that "um, um, er, um" tribute to MM? That was hysterical.

Also, on topic, are all of the book videos done? If so, what's the next showcase?

That video was stupid, but I did get a few laughs.

But seriously, I suppose that is what I get for recording my vids in one take and no editing and no script. I think I'm getting a little better about it now but I don't know, I don't listen to my videos either. I will probably upload the wrong one sometime lol.

 

[Blake_]

You had previously mentioned about having to scroll the toolbelt. Here is how I lay mine out for what its worth. I arrange it in such a way that best optimizes the interaction flow for my playstyle.

Note that I have a mouse that has 2 additional buttons on the left side I can click with my right thumb within 1/4 second.

my fallback weapon (shotgun) I bind to thumb mouse button 1

my stealth weapon I bind to thumb mouse button 2

also forgot to edit in but i always carry a melee weapon in that slot.

The way I arrange the slots and bind those 2 keys help reduce the overall total number of times i use scholl button in a given hour.

I can see you are lefthanded just by seing that. Interesting thing the human brain.

 

[madmole]

Madmole
I just looked at the block shape video again and wanted to know. Since you now removed the limitation for block count, and, provided the ability to add more blocks. I am mainly referring to stone, brick, and metal.

In the future releases is there a plan for semi destroyed blocks. I see this as having two uses. The first is like the POI;s that are rendered with blown out walls, these add to the theme of aftermath.

We could build more thematic poi's.

The second is when being attacked they could down grade progressively into destroyed visuals. Sort of like the progressive mask of the cracks now, except with a greater visual representation.

I know its purely visual, but imagine zombies all around, pounding on the walls

and crumbling holes begin to appear all around. As a reference, look at the shored up wood over metal doors.

We would like to do a new destruction system but will probably save it for a future game.

 

[ZombieSurvivor]

I can see you are lefthanded just by seing that. Interesting thing the human brain.

I'm right handed.

 

[madmole]

Could one of you (Joe, calling all Joe's) stand in the exact spot in Nav at a specific time, and list your FPS comparing A17 to A18 using identical video settings?

I tried, but barfed all over my screen when I loaded A17, sorry.

 

[JCrook1028]

I confirm that natural regeneration is effective by default. Our avatar recovers at least one point per minute

Not at default it doesn't unless you perk into it. Which imo is fine btw, one of the first perks I buy is for healing max health.

 

[madmole]

Hopefully one of the balances in A18 is a slower progression towards those scary poop-yourself day running female zombies. She seems to run even faster than at night, and it's so hard to hit her. And then one knock from her and I'm stunned and got no chance.
Unless I'm armed with a 9mm to lay them down before she gets to me, then I'm dead. :-( But since those gals got introduced around level 27, my 9mm ammo has depleted, too.

I like a challenge, but want a way to avoid death, too. Maybe a jog speed, instead of run until ammo and armor can be built up?

Unless you have a broken leg and 20% food from starving for days, there isn't a single zed that you cannot outrun.

Armor reduces stun and bleed a lot, I don't see any issues now.

 

[jorbascrumps]

That's a bug that's been around since God's dog was a puppy. It's caused by the distant terrain tiles not destroying properly. It only ever happens if you travel far from your base and you can fix it quite easily by reloading the game.

Even easier solution: place a block. Whenever I see this happen I place a wooden frame in the void and it fixes itself.

 

[Callum123456789]

deleted

 

[RestInPieces]

To what end? Why gimp building when it will still be possible to put ladders on POIS to get inside?

To the end of not letting the player escape danger instantly. It's not just about entering POIs. Zombies can follow you on ladders and they are much slower than nerdpoling, both when going down/up and when placed. As for building, planning and scaffolding is already better for larger builds - nerdpoling is not essential, it's a convenience.

However, I think that you can achieve the same result in other ways without removing nerdpoling. Perhaps you can make nerdpoling/frame placement/pickup or walking on frames produce some noise and make recently placed frames or frames that are below the player, more attractive to zombies and breakable in one hit by any enemy.

 

[madmole]

joel what you just said with the 20% discount of ammo are there any books that increase ammo on sale at the trader? this is just a curiosity

Nope.

 

[madmole]

So what you are saying is that you need a slaver to whack you every time you get sleepy?
I'm sorry I'm a stupid pacifist All I could do was give you slight loveslaps to please continue working on 18

All my MF's are fixed, I'm dusting cobwebs off of old non mf's now.

 

[madmole]

To the end of not letting the player escape danger instantly. It's not just about entering POIs. Zombies can follow you on ladders and they are much slower than nerdpoling, both when going down/up and when placed. As for building, planning and scaffolding is already better for larger builds - nerdpoling is not essential, it's a convenience.
However, I think that you can achieve the same result in other ways without removing nerdpoling. Perhaps you can make nerdpoling/frame placement/pickup or walking on frames produce some noise and make recently placed frames or frames that are below the player, more attractive to zombies and breakable in one hit by any enemy.

They already break with one hit. I want to make them climbable at some point.

 

[Mechanimal]

I'm right handed.

Me too, and I organize my tool belt similarly, the "left to right" tendency is far more due to our learned method of reading than it is which hand is dominant, Blake, the human brain is indeed an interesting thing, even it's mistakes have explanations...

 

[Mechanimal]

They already break with one hit. I want to make them climbable at some point.

Climbable nerdpoles? I mean, they do look climbable as-is. I know is a dif game but they added an interesting new block to the latest Minecraft, the scaffolding, and it would give you a great preview on how such a system could work. I for one am fine with frames, nerdpoling, ladders, as they are now. Any major change could ripple like a mofo in how it changes the dynamic/movement within existing POIs, seems risky AF. Not shooting the idea down, just pondering it's net effects within what we have now.

 

[Gnomaana]

Most players want to do stuff, not read tutorials and feel stuck. A survival game simply means you might need to eat and drink, and somehow survive, otherwise bad things happen. Like you don't load a save game, you respawn with loss, etc. It doesn't mean "expect some poorly designed game mechanics because mostly indy devs are developing this genre".
At the end of the day players want to have fun without wikis or struggling to understand things. You don't need to reinvent the wheel to stand out, just making a great product will do that on its own, as long as you have something no other game has or a combination of existing features laid out in a new way works quite well too.

Yeah, "might need to eat and drink..." is not what I expect in a survival game. Again, I don't think I'm alone in that.

The last couple alphas have slowly chipped away at every feature that drew me to this game. Instead of those features being refined and expanded on they are being stripped out/dumbed down. I didn't pick this game looking for a "shooter looter with a thirst bar."

Don't want to sound like im raving about the end of the world. I've gotten hundreds of hours of fun for my $20 so more than a fair deal. But, at this point, I am starting to doubt I will even play the gold version. But even if I don't, I'll eagerly await your next game and buy into early access for it too. This has been the best EA experience I've ever been involved in.

 

[Callum123456789]

damn I meant not hesitate to buy any game you guys make sorry I forgot to add the not because at first I said I would hesitate but then I noticed I didn't put in not to hesitate to buy the sewuel

 

[Roland]

They already break with one hit. I want to make them climbable at some point.

This would be fantastic. It increases their utility for building but because zombies can also climb them it limits the exploitive nature of using them as magical escapes. I know you've referenced the Minecraft scaffolding in the past and since then I've played with them and if frame blocks can become like that it would be perfect.

 

[Mechanimal]

Also who has played with, I mean really played with, the new "trellis" blocks(panels really) that were added in A17? A quick/easy way to find out what I mean is to go the the bakery POI, next to the Bear Den in Nav. Go upstairs, gently walk/hop across the beams to the upper wall covered in them... jump on it and POOF you are spiderman. I spent a BM up there strafing along that wall poppin Z under me. Cover any wall with those things and you can do some serious wall crawling in any direction. Is weird and fun.