PC Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[OzHawkeye]

Awesome me too.

Glad to hear it. A18 is the first version I think, where I really feel like I can see TFP's vision coming together.

A18 didn't just beat my previous favourite version on one aspect here or there, but all of 'em. There's some tuning to be done by the looks of it (loot is very abundant for example, ore veins perhaps too easy to find), but every major aspect of gameplay that draws me to the game - mining, combat, progression choices, base building, exploration, farming, looting - is better in A18 than it is in any prior version, singularly or all together.

It even knocked out A11 for mining-with-caves for me.

 

[Auger]

Just finished Day 21 BM what a blast ! I burnt through about 700 rounds of ammo and 10 grenades, finally running out of ammo and repairing my door of my bunker while making more grenades. I managed to live barely. Last 2 BM's I was toast.

This version is much fun , I've put in about 50 hours since it came out last week

 

[pregnable]

So god damn tired of having ferals spawning next to me on night 1 and 2 lol.

Then you have ninja feral wolves and mountain lions spawning during tier 1 and 2 fetch quests on day 2 and 3...

POS feral infects me hitting me from 4 blocks above them on my mini base on night 1...

 

[Quantum Blue]

Its easier to get a response if you just focus on one topic its difficult to read multiple points. I know you have a lot to get off your chest, but we get 50000 of these a day and its already been discussed for months or years in depth. I should probably start a f.a.q. or something but I'd assume the good community here could do it. Typically they answer but I think everyone is too engaged in A18 to bother right now.

ROFL?...

I had a conversation with unholyjoe a couple days ago about this very idea. He was very supportive. I've already got a couple plus pages going (meaning I stopped playing for about 4 or 5 hours to research things), need to 'dress it up' a little. I started it to cover FoodGate and the death 'penalty, and some game design vs reality/immersion topics, and added an intro for general guidance and links for things like Dev Diary, Bug Reports, Performance, Mods, etc. (It's definitely an effort to try and elaborate but keep brief.)

I have been waffeling on it because it seems like a lot of people would just post here anyways, and because it seem like some only want an answer from a dev. Could take some effort to maintain (and I didn't want to waste the effort as I would rather be playing...), but I always try to stay up on the forum anyways.

I am going to take your statement as kind of an approval and give it a shot.

Just need to figure out where to start it... (Sylen Thunder has an Information and Common Solutions in General Support, but General Discussions seems like it might be a better fit so I'll put it there.)

Thanks.

Quantum Blue

 

[Tetrameth]

Maaaaaan, please consider making a hardcore mode. Death is death

Yeah there was one in the pipeline (for I think A17) I was giddy with excitement in anticipation of it.

Sadly never saw it eventuate.

Yesterday I asked MM what happened to it, he said something to the effect of they aren't wasting resources implementing something to save us 2 mouseclicks (which is actually loads more than 2 clicks when you consider the savegame deletion, not to mention the abysmal wait time as you go through the respawn cutscene, rubbing your eyes etc..)

I'm cool with that I guess, as there are loads of other things I would prefer to see them spend time on, but it would be great to have, and I will continue to hold (some small) hope for it in the future.

 

[Tok]

It's an issue with reflection quality. Turn it off (or on, then apply, then off, then apply) and the world will be beautiful again.

I've to do that everytime I launch my game.

Thankyou! That fixed the issue . It looks great now.

Thanks to anyone else that replied as well.

 

[DaVegaNL]

What is this???

It better be not nude pics MM!

EDIT: Oh damn I like your pumpkins!

 

[DaVegaNL]

I got in a couple of fun pumps last night. Two minutes worth.

Sure, but you needed a mod to make it work, right?

 

[DaVegaNL]

I bring out the best in people lol

Do you also bring your best into people?

 

[danielspoa]

I know we arent supposed to face ferals right as we start in the world but what about spiders?

just generated a world, started playing and the first zombie I find on the road is that

 

[JCrook1028]

Are you sure it's not lowering your perception because you THINK they they want you to bring it? ; - )
(You know I jest. I love pumpkin pie and I love cheesecake, just never had pumpkin cheesecake. You know that if you make it available in Amazon I would pick up at least a couple...)

pumpkin cheesecake is amazing.

 

[JCrook1028]

Yes exactly.
- - - Updated - - -

Torches HeatMapStrength in XML seems a bit high compared to the others.

campfire

"HeatMapStrength" value="1.5"/>

forge

"HeatMapStrength" value="1.5"/>

Torch

"HeatMapStrength" value="4.05"/> <---- :miserable:

Torches have always been super high heat higher than forges. I think their tick is slower tho? Something like that. Anyway those numbers are the same as they were in 17 iirc.

 

[JCrook1028]

I wish murky water and goldenrod tea was different colors. Being colorblind I cannot see any color difference between the two. I've done gone and already drank a few murky waters by accident thinking it was goldenrod tea lol.

Yep, all the new tea colors are godawful imo. Like you said this two are almost identical. Honey and beer are too close to them also. Then you have the red tea that's orange and looks more like spagetti sauce.

 

[MechanicalLens]

Yep, all the new tea colors are godawful imo. Like you said this two are almost identical. Honey and beer are too close to them also. Then you have the red tea that's orange and looks more like spagetti sauce.

My only criticism in terms of drink icons is the red tea. It looks like tomato juice - my arch enemy.

 

[JCrook1028]

Yes, yes please. This is why I never craft iron hatches.

Iron hatch is easy to align. With the square piece of tin in the lower right it opens away from you.

 

[MechanicalLens]

Iron hatch is easy to align. With the square piece of tin in the lower right it opens away from you.

Good luck trying to remember that. Lucky you.

 

[JCrook1028]

So, I have a question on the random weapon stats. I could have sworn I heard Gazz say that a top end level 1 could have better stats than a bottom end level 6. I was talking with someone else about it tho and he said that's not possible due to the following explanation of the xml values:

"So +10% at tier 2, +20% at tier 3, +30% at tier 4, +40% at tier 5 and +50% at tier 6, in this case.

If it specifies tier, level or anything of the sort, then it can go three ways. If you have one value, it's fixed for that tier/level. If you have two values, then it's going to be a range from min to max. If you have more than three values, then it's a one-to-one mapping."

So, my question is, is it true or not that a lvl 1 can be better than a lvl 6 at the extreme ends of good and bad stats? Gazz? Faatal? Help please??

 

[sinkler]

You'll have to make new ones. You get some resources back for shoveling it.

oh no, I hate this change.

a player should be able to pick up his own farm blocks.

common usage:

- make a roof garden, later add a new floor to the tower and move the farm blocks to the new roof.

- moving farm blocks that are used as decoration outside is common while expending.

they cost too much to be salvaged for few materials, having to make them again will be a huge pain.

please reconsider this, there got to be a way to prevent players from harvesting farm plots in the world, and still allow them to pick up their self-made ones.

 

[Gazz]

So, my question is, is it true or not that a lvl 1 can be better than a lvl 6 at the extreme ends of good and bad stats? Gazz? Faatal? Help please??

Not true. That would be silly.

 

[Laz Man]

Yeah there was one in the pipeline (for I think A17) I was giddy with excitement in anticipation of it.
Sadly never saw it eventuate.

Yesterday I asked MM what happened to it, he said something to the effect of they aren't wasting resources implementing something to save us 2 mouseclicks (which is actually loads more than 2 clicks when you consider the savegame deletion, not to mention the abysmal wait time as you go through the respawn cutscene, rubbing your eyes etc..)

I'm cool with that I guess, as there are loads of other things I would prefer to see them spend time on, but it would be great to have, and I will continue to hold (some small) hope for it in the future.

It should be relatively easy to implement later tbh. I can see why it's a lower priority right now.