PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Gazz]

Survival doesn't mean necessarily killing zombies, survival means not dying. If you can survive by being underground or on a rooftop, or by wiping out the horde or any combination of the former then it's survival.

Exactly right.

There are multiple approaches on how you want to play this out but all of them require some kind of risk or there is no excitement in succeeding.

The old 3 block hole? I doubt anyone can keep a straight face and tell me that this was fun. =P

 

[Zombie_Jam]

Not a fan of wasted dev time on a digging option. Just turn blood moons off. What is the difference between setting up an underground base and completely avoiding zombies whether the blood moon horde is on or off?

Ah and there's that good old mentality again. Black and white fallacious reasoning.

Re: your question - do you want me to explain with pictures and some singy songs?

Simple. To fight the hordes whenever it pleases you, and avoiding those you don't want to fight - instead of having hordes every week or no hordes ever. Is this really so difficult for people to understand?

 

[Zombie_Jam]

Exactly right.There are multiple approaches on how you want to play this out but all of them require some kind of risk or there is no excitement in succeeding.

The old 3 block hole? I doubt anyone can keep a straight face and tell me that this was fun. =P

Risk of dehydration? Starvation? Slow progression due to mining only exp and stamina demands, which require food, which requires getting above ground etc etc etc.

I just cannot fathom why those who avoid underground building and don't do it are so spiteful as to want the option of that playstyle taken away from those that do. It really beggars belief.

Building underground isn't paradise, Gazz. It requires an enormous amount of effort.

The exp for perks and tools, the food for stamina, the huge land shifting once you're there, then the requirement to loot your food and materials for crafting, and all for one day a week. I would say thats pretty challenging in and of itself.

And for those myopic among us, in no way does having an underground base mean every player that has one would be avoiding hordes. You can have the one night in safety to prepare for the next one.

I'm honoured to have Gazz reply personally since he's more like a ghost on these forums so, Gazz, if I may ask - since the underground is no longer safe, what's to be done about rooftop building?

Surely that must need to go too, right?

I may sound like I'm being facetious, but I am in fact quite serious. It's little different to underground building.

 

[Menace312]

Exactly right.There are multiple approaches on how you want to play this out but all of them require some kind of risk or there is no excitement in succeeding.

The old 3 block hole? I doubt anyone can keep a straight face and tell me that this was fun. =P

True, so I never do that.

Solved!

Since this is not a dedicated multiplayer PvP game, who really cares?

I get the game has to be polished and all that. There just seems to be so many other areas that desperately needs attention, which is actually important to the game play... Time management and all that

 

[JaxTeller718]

I will concede the point to you re: where do the choices end and I will agree that the choices are what require discussion. But this isn't just random stuff, or microtweaks.
What I was referring to are features that have been/ may be added - big ones that really change how the game plays. Zombies digging was one of those huge changes. And it's divisive.

I think a large part of why digging was added was because of a certain bunch of people who cried because they couldn't find their enemies in multiplayer games who had built bunker bases, and wanted to force then out onto the surface.

Having the choice to build underground without having the landscape turned into swiss cheese was already there. Those who wanted brutal combat, raids, and hordes had it. Those who wanted all that and a safe deep underground retreat also had that. Those who wanted neither, or both also had their way.

But it all had to be removed because those who don't want underground building without the cheesemaker zombies complained enough to instigate bringing digging into the game.

I do have a question though, specifically for you, Roland. A genuine question too, re: toggling digging. If Faatal said the option may be added post gold then why didn't they wait until the option was viable before throwing it in?

Perhaps if it is made as an option it could go in with zombie types for the game instance (if ever they were added.)

By the way I wrote my previous comments with very little sleep

What if, and I know this sounds crazy, but what if digging zombies were in the plan all along, and since this is EA it just took a few years for the devs to GET to implementing them?

What if its NOT a big conspiracy to cripple the underground player, but the underground player was just playing with an incomplete feature?

:jaw:

 

[beHypE]

The people asking for zombie digging to be optional aren't wanting to turn it off to avoid horde night - if they want to do that they can simply turn blood moons off in the options. That's not a problem. The people asking for zombie digging to be optional are wanting to turn it off so they can have a maintenance-free base to retreat to on nights other than horde night. They still want to fight zombies from a surface "horde base" on horde night.

Lol give me a break, if you ever built an above-ground base capable of sustaining a decent horde night (as in: not day 7 or 14), you would know a little roaming horde or a screamer ain't nothing to be worried about at all and there is little to no maintenance.

Fwiw I couldn't care less whether there is a digging/no digging option, I'm all for making everyone happy and to each their own, it doesn't impact my games if you turn it off. But since it isn't implemented and seems to be harder than you think (hint : it's probably used in a lot of algorithms to calculate AI pathing and disabling it is harder than turning a boolean to false right now), you'll have to deal with it for now.

 

[Zombie_Jam]

What if, and I know this sounds crazy, but what if digging zombies were in the plan all along, and since this is EA it just took a few years for the devs to GET to implementing them?
What if its NOT a big conspiracy to cripple the underground player, but the underground player was just playing with an incomplete feature?

:jaw:

Sure, and what if, and I know this may sound crazy, but what if, players were given the option to turn it off

 

[Adam the Waster]

ahoy!

- - - Updated - - -

Sure, and what if, and I know this may sound crazy, but what if, players were given the option to turn it off

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU DUUU DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

 

[JaxTeller718]

Sure, and what if, and I know this may sound crazy, but what if, players were given the option to turn it off

Already agree with that idea. What i dont agree with is it was some big conspiracy to screw over underground dwellers. That theory is pretty ridiculous.

 

[The Gronk]

Already agree with that idea. What i dont agree with is it was some big conspiracy to screw over underground dwellers. That theory is pretty ridiculous.

With all of the -gates, debates, and rock puns we got through over the past few years while discussing digging zombies it most certainly wasn't a conspiracy.

A conspiracy implies deception or secrecy. I don't think there was a perspective or viewpoint that wasn't thoroughly explored and debated.

Behold my field of horses! See that they have been flogged beyond death!

 

[Zombie_Jam]

Already agree with that idea. What i dont agree with is it was some big conspiracy to screw over underground dwellers. That theory is pretty ridiculous.

Well it's not though. There are plenty of people vocal about the fact they want diggers in and underground to be constantly under threat even those who have zero interest in building there. That is no conspiracy. It just so happens to be a fact.

And why is it we heard a lot about underground threats and having digging put in to get the worms out the ground so the PVP birds could find them?

All the while very little conversation about rooftop building where the PVP'ers dont need to have hissy fits about not being able to find the bunker builders to raid.

Could it be that rooftop buildings are easier to spot than underground bases (despite the objection being supposedly 'Nowhere should be safe'?)

Or could it be that I am just a conspiracy theorist clinging to the comfort of my tinfoil hat?

The time spent putting diggers in could have been much better spent until either:

- Other, more pressing features were worked on to completion

- The inability for players to build on rooftops or underground without equal threat was resolved

- The option for having digging turned on or off was viable.

- - - Updated - - -

With all of the -gates, debates, and rock puns we got through over the past few years while discussing digging zombies it most certainly wasn't a conspiracy.
A conspiracy implies deception or secrecy. I don't think there was a perspective or viewpoint that wasn't thoroughly explored and debated.

Behold my field of horses! See that they have been flogged to death!

Lol you

At least it's still on topic re: the game and not talk about which MMA fighter has the hairiest nipples or who has the best motorbike IRL.

 

[Adam the Waster]

With all of the -gates, debates, and rock puns we got through over the past few years while discussing digging zombies it most certainly wasn't a conspiracy.
A conspiracy implies deception or secrecy. I don't think there was a perspective or viewpoint that wasn't thoroughly explored and debated.

Behold my field of horses! See that they have been flogged beyond death!

I need my tin foil hat!

 

[Zombie_Jam]

I need my tin foil hat!

Don't worry, I always keep a spare

 

[Adam the Waster]

Don't worry, I always keep a spare

GREAT!CUZ thee voices are Screaming Now

 

[JaxTeller718]

Well it's not though. There are plenty of people vocal about the fact they want diggers in and underground to be constantly under threat even those who have zero interest in building there. That is no conspiracy. It just so happens to be a fact.
And why is it we heard a lot about underground threats and having digging put in to get the worms out the ground so the PVP birds could find them?

All the while very little conversation about rooftop building where the PVP'ers dont need to have hissy fits about not being able to find the bunker builders to raid.

Could it be that rooftop buildings are easier to spot than underground bases (despite the objection being supposedly 'Nowhere should be safe'?)

Or could it be that I am just a conspiracy theorist clinging to the comfort of my tinfoil hat?

The time spent putting diggers in could have been much better spent until either:

- Other, more pressing features were worked on to completion

- The inability for players to build on rooftops or underground without equal threat was resolved

- The option for having digging turned on or off was viable.

- - - Updated - - -

Lol you ��

At least it's still on topic re: the game and not talk about which MMA fighter has the hairiest nipples or who has the best motorbike IRL.

What? Im strictly AGAINST PVP in this game. So you wont see me campaigning for anything to make it better.

And its pretty funny you think this is some push to get PVP viable when even the most hardcore PVP player agrees Pimps could care LESS about PVP in this game. The very last thing they would do is favor a PVP mechanic over a PVE one. They're not going to give PVP players reasons to pick off PVE ones.

Your theory has literally fallen to pieces.

 

[andrough]

Meh, you can only repeat the same arguments so many times. He's already retreated to his underground bunker of arguments: "player choice". Where is that impressively effective Guppycur "Stop." when you need it. Still blows my mind from yesterday.

So, @TFP, these cosmetic mods... do they have the same chance to appear in loot as utility mods? Is there a separate item for each cosmetic appearance, or are they crafted with the item having the appearance you'd like?(this sounds ideal to me.) Finally, I can't remember or find a response to this: your feelings on adding some logic gates to electricity?

 

[Laz Man]

What? Im strictly AGAINST PVP in this game. So you wont see me campaigning for anything to make it better.
And its pretty funny you think this is some push to get PVP viable when even the most hardcore PVP player agrees Pimps could care LESS about PVP in this game. The very last thing they would do is favor a PVP mechanic over a PVE one. They're not going to give PVP players reasons to pick off PVE ones.

Your theory has literally fallen to pieces.

Dont feed the trolls. Both gazz and roland answered his questions. It's up to him to accept it. Not worth your time and energy to respond to someone who is not open to anyone else's opinion except their own.

 

[The Gronk]

So... does anyone have an opinion on farming?

 

[Gamida]

Thanks, if I could put a bar on an angle (maybe you can) I'd replace that block next to the door too so I could get even closer.

Maybe an L shaped iron bar could be added for corners. If you had your door on inside of the block then with it you would have clear access to the zombies at your door.

 

[RestInPieces]

Sure, and what if, and I know this may sound crazy, but what if, players were given the option to turn it off

I haven't even read the discussion, but can you point ONE person who objects to having a menu option to disable/enable digging or whatever?

Having the choice to build underground without having the landscape turned into swiss cheese was already there. Those who wanted brutal combat, raids, and hordes had it. Those who wanted all that and a safe deep underground retreat also had that. Those who wanted neither, or both also had their way.

What about those who wanted to build underground but didn't want to be safe? And what about those who wanted to build wherever and also wanted a complete survival game, in which you will have to TRY to survive (because that's what a survival game is) and doesn't have an on-demand god mode right under their feet? It's completely asinine to suggest that they have to actively try to put themselves in danger in order to get that survival experience.

You have to understand that it's a completely different thing to add menu options for various player preferences VS catering to those preferences within the game itself.