PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary
- Thread starter madmole
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Laz Man
Fun Pimps Staff
Not as much as you must be enjoying it. Lol
Lots of video game villains live in ominous places. Not everything in video games have to be 100% logical.
For the record. I dont dislike the plains biome. I just happen to disagree with your thoughts on the wasteland and burnt biomes. You dont have to agree with me. ?
Ranzera
New member
Do I appear to be enjoying it? smh
Most villains are in full control of the ominous aspect of their surroundings. Villains avoid risk too.
I'm happy to ignore those 2 biomes. I do think that removing the plains biome citing "useless" while those 2 biomes exist is hypocritical at best.
MechanicalLens
New member
Roland
Moderator
Biome talk should be related to the future of the game and not it's past. We have been told repeatedly the plains biome is not coming back except as a sub biome. If you want to discuss biomes then lets be constructive with what TFP has revealed about the future of biomes rather than waste time arguing about what the past was like. It's over.
If you have ideas about biomes talk about decorations, threats, and rewards that could pertain to the biomes we do have to make them better. Talk about what you would like to see in a plains sub-biome since that is still on the table? What are some reasons that could be developed to visit the specific biomes currently in the game?
If you have ideas about biomes talk about decorations, threats, and rewards that could pertain to the biomes we do have to make them better. Talk about what you would like to see in a plains sub-biome since that is still on the table? What are some reasons that could be developed to visit the specific biomes currently in the game?
Roland
Moderator
Plains are useless because they are cut from development. You can't get more useless than that. Thank you for your feedback about wanting the plains to come back. The developer has given you a definitive answer: They are not coming back. Continuing in this subject is not constructive.
Roland
Moderator
Kind of like this but more distant...I actually loved the plains biome waaaaay back when (A9 or A10?). Even now, i still miss that distant machine, horn sound. It was eerie and really counterbalanced the tranquil beauty of the biome. I really miss that biome.
As for the radiated zombies and such... Some kind soul uploaded a modlet to remove all that nonsense. Now, i can play a more pure zombie game with just regular ol' zombies (except the spider zombies are still there)I'd really like an in game menu with check boxes for the zombies we want/don't want.
MechanicalLens
New member
I personally believe one huge contributing factor to people favoring the forest and even the desert biome(s) is convenience. By logic, the forest biome should contain every ingredient that every survivor requires to sustain themselves, and by a huge extent, it does; all that it lacks is aloe, sand and yucca, which the desert biome provides in extremely plentiful amounts. (ie is exists everywhere on the surface.) Listed below are a list of cons that I see in the remaining three biomes, at least from my perspective:
CANADIAN BIOME (AKA THE SNOW BIOME)
Cons:
- Cold weather (manageable, makes sense)
- Lumberjacks everywhere, which happen to be one of the toughest base zombies in the game
- Lack of animals to hunt, besides cougars (and perhaps the very rare boar/deer? I am not sure on this one)
BURNT BIOME
Cons:
- Lack of animals to hunt
- It's ugly
- Lack of cotton
WASTELAND:
Cons:
- Landmines, bears, vultures, dogs, higher gamestage... All great features, except there is a lack of incentive to visit there at the moment
I'm sure I could add more but this list was semi-rushed. I'm not hating on any of these biomes, but one change I will suggest is greater variety of zombies in the snow biome other than the Canadians (er, I mean, lumberjacks). Other than the cold weather effects early on, one of the reasons I choose not to settle down in this challenging biome is because basically every zombie that spawns naturally are walking tanks. Traditionally in games however (example: The Forest), the snow biome has been the least hospitable location to visit, let alone settle down in, therefore the former should be tackled and not the latter, or at least as much.
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After a hiatus following alpha 17, I got a chance to put in a few hundred hours in 18. First thing, I think nearly everything is a massive improvement, so great job there.
I do think a few changes would be amazing, listed below.
1. Meat spoilage. I’m sure this has been tossed around before, but I can only see it as a positive thing:
a. Meat spoiling could happen over the course of 7 days into spoiled meat, which is still a useful item.
b. Meat in a cooler or refrigerator could last 14 days and give a reason to craft/buy such items, and in the case of the fridge, be one more reason to have electric.
c. Spoilage of both raw and cooked meat would promote canning options in game already. This would also allow for item management decisions, do I want more low return long term meals or high quality short term meals?
d. This would strongly support crafting and hunting, which would give more incentive to cooking and hunting skill trees.
2. Randomized zombie behavior and appearance
a. Randomized clothing will help be more immersive, but each zombie currently has a certain personality assigned to its model. If you’ve ever played scorched earth, they assigned different attitudes to AI opponents and maybe that could work here.
b. Instead of simply saying these zombies are slow, these are fast, you could categorize them by tactics. Some will shuffle at you, others might try to get behind you instead. Others might just start screaming while others make no noise at all. Some might wait around a corner, while others might try to get you to back up into another zombie. Some sleepers might just wait longer to wake up so you overlook them.
3. Mobile traders. While it’s nice to have a set trading post, it might be interesting to have a caravan that moves around on the map that you could run into for trade options. This would help increase exploration, and could be a semi-safe area to trade after dark. Perhaps it could use similar scripting as the bandits in the future, but an automated turret would work fine for now so that any player spotting their campfire could have relative safety and trade at night. Being mobile would keep people from overusing it. Offering rare or hard to craft items, or a buyers premium of some kind could also be a huge incentive to go out at night for some players who usually stay put.
4. Zombie density. Over time, if you keep clearing out zombies, there should be less of them in an area and their spawn rates, as well as item spawn rates should drop. Conversely, areas that aren’t seeing much traffic should increase zombie frequency, difficulty, and have better loot. A system like this would prevent people camping out high reward POIs and would force more interest in other typically low stakes locations.
I do think a few changes would be amazing, listed below.
1. Meat spoilage. I’m sure this has been tossed around before, but I can only see it as a positive thing:
a. Meat spoiling could happen over the course of 7 days into spoiled meat, which is still a useful item.
b. Meat in a cooler or refrigerator could last 14 days and give a reason to craft/buy such items, and in the case of the fridge, be one more reason to have electric.
c. Spoilage of both raw and cooked meat would promote canning options in game already. This would also allow for item management decisions, do I want more low return long term meals or high quality short term meals?
d. This would strongly support crafting and hunting, which would give more incentive to cooking and hunting skill trees.
2. Randomized zombie behavior and appearance
a. Randomized clothing will help be more immersive, but each zombie currently has a certain personality assigned to its model. If you’ve ever played scorched earth, they assigned different attitudes to AI opponents and maybe that could work here.
b. Instead of simply saying these zombies are slow, these are fast, you could categorize them by tactics. Some will shuffle at you, others might try to get behind you instead. Others might just start screaming while others make no noise at all. Some might wait around a corner, while others might try to get you to back up into another zombie. Some sleepers might just wait longer to wake up so you overlook them.
3. Mobile traders. While it’s nice to have a set trading post, it might be interesting to have a caravan that moves around on the map that you could run into for trade options. This would help increase exploration, and could be a semi-safe area to trade after dark. Perhaps it could use similar scripting as the bandits in the future, but an automated turret would work fine for now so that any player spotting their campfire could have relative safety and trade at night. Being mobile would keep people from overusing it. Offering rare or hard to craft items, or a buyers premium of some kind could also be a huge incentive to go out at night for some players who usually stay put.
4. Zombie density. Over time, if you keep clearing out zombies, there should be less of them in an area and their spawn rates, as well as item spawn rates should drop. Conversely, areas that aren’t seeing much traffic should increase zombie frequency, difficulty, and have better loot. A system like this would prevent people camping out high reward POIs and would force more interest in other typically low stakes locations.
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FranticDan
Well-known member
Oh how I'd absolutely LOVE for zombies to face plant when falling 3+ meters, for that added immersion!
Roland
Moderator
For wasteland, I'd like to see the components for making mines and other explosives being more common as well as the books having to do with explosives and their recipes. I also like that one highway overpass section. I'd like to see a few more varieties of these like maybe an onramp that ends suddenly. I'd also like to see subterranean POI's buried in the rubble like a subways station with maybe 30 meters of tunnel ending in cave in or a mall that you have to lower yourself down into like in The Day After Tomorrow or that one buried mall in the Maze Runner second movie I believe. it would be cool if there were quite a few POI's underneath a few layers of destroyed stone and you'd have to excavate them a bit before getting inside and descending into them.
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Laz Man
Fun Pimps Staff
One idea is to move all Tier 5 Quest POIs into the more difficult biomes (e.g. wasteland, burnt, radiation, etc.) and balance quest rewards accordingly. Maybe have a unique loot container that has better loot for the harder biomes (e.g. radiated reinforced chest)
Edit: These can all be accomplished by modding. Maybe I will look into this at some point lol...
Edit: These can all be accomplished by modding. Maybe I will look into this at some point lol...
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MechanicalLens
New member
Or as a simpler solution, greater and unique loot. Perhaps bandit camps that could be raided for highly coveted, maybe unique forms of loot (ie Legendary weapons), but doing so could increase the hostility between you and the bandits even further, putting you on the map. It would be a trade-off essentially.
stallionsden
Tester
If you sneak in to a bandit camp without being detected or killing anyone you should get away with what you steal and not increase or decrease any hostility meter. if you get detected or kill a bandit then they will track you down and yes the hostility between you and the bandit fraction would increase.
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