PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

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well. whats wrong with it?
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I think it looks great as a sculpture. I have a cute little T-rex figure made out of random bits of metal junk that it reminds me of. As a club though it looks unusable, and unrealistic. The handle on it is a great way to end up breaking your hand in the heat of the moment. There is a reason clubs don't normally have handles. It's also top heavy. Very top heavy. Which means realistically it could easily go flying the moment you get a good swing with momentum. Not to mention what interesting things could happen if you smashed it into something and it gets stuck.

Clubs are supposed to be bashing weapons. Blunt force trauma, right? This thing isn't a club anymore. I don't use clubs so I don't really care what they look like. I just would hope the team would hopefully not give other weapons the same treatment by making them look like art pieces that look like they are meant to hang on a wall and never get used (kind of like half the stuff you see in sword and knife shops).

 
I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would think the new iron club is less creative than the old one. How could anyone honestly look at the new one and think "half-assed and rushed" after seeing the original one?
The fact that TFP is creating their own original assets rather than using ones you can buy in a store and can be seen in half a dozen other Unity games shows that they aren't trying to rush anything. Rushing and half-assing it would be to call it done by using canned art assets.

Also Joel just announced that gold wouldn't be coming in 2020. Seems they are taking their "rushing" at a pretty slow pace....

It's fine if you don't like the art style of the new club but saying that it is rushed or uncreative or half-assed especially compared to the original design is going too far in my opinion. It is surprising.
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The people are very crazy, it's incredible, it can't be that they don't like the new iron club, it's the coolest in terms of art, it's also something of their own! You must support this, for me it is a leaps and bounds! Thank you guys so much for this beautiful job! Do not listen to negative people, if you do not like to activate a mods of another iron club, thank you!

 
Imagine if they kept both the original as a simple iron club and this new one as a more advanced version and which one you would craft would depend on your skill. Basically the better you would get, the better iron club you would craft.
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That would work to my design suggestion. They could make the higher tier weapons already lvl6 but the weaker weapons look cooler as they climb to lvl6.

 
Agreed. Although it would make sense for the iron club to be a higher tier weapon than the bat but so long as it is equal to or greater than the bat. In the end though this is a game and I'm cool with whatever.
Personally I love the look of that bat and imo its the most badass looking melee weapon in the game. :)
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7 days to die is life. Lol joking I’m just really hyped for this game. I’m spit balling ideas hopefully they’re listening as always.

 
I think it looks great as a sculpture. I have a cute little T-rex figure made out of random bits of metal junk that it reminds me of. As a club though it looks unusable, and unrealistic. The handle on it is a great way to end up breaking your hand in the heat of the moment. There is a reason clubs don't normally have handles. It's also top heavy. Very top heavy. Which means realistically it could easily go flying the moment you get a good swing with momentum. Not to mention what interesting things could happen if you smashed it into something and it gets stuck.
Clubs are supposed to be bashing weapons. Blunt force trauma, right? This thing isn't a club anymore. I don't use clubs so I don't really care what they look like. I just would hope the team would hopefully not give other weapons the same treatment by making them look like art pieces that look like they are meant to hang on a wall and never get used (kind of like half the stuff you see in sword and knife shops).
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You explained it better then i. I agree it is very impractical as a weapon

 
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I'm not a professional in this area, but impractical in real life doesn't necessarily mean bad for a game. In games such as this one where you spend long hours, you want something cool to look at, not something that will bore you to death.

 
Sure....call it 20 weeks if you want. Faatal also said not to put too much stock any longer into labels like A19. It's just the next update. They could call it 18.4 or they could call it 19.0. The point is that their goal is to do smaller updates so because of that they won't take as long.
On the other hand, their stated goal has been smaller shorter updates since A13...

So let's keep it "allegedly shorter updates" until and if A19 actually drops this Spring.

They have been in a hybrid Alpha/Beta mode since A17 dropped. Their model isn't so much a classic alpha then beta format. So when Joel said Alpha/Beta through the end of 2020 he means more of what they are currently doing but there isn't a big rush to gold. Finally, there WILL be some things such as story that will not be added until after gold. Workshop integration and full modding support is another that has been mentioned that will come after gold.
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Lol yet none of the alphas since a13 has been short which i dont mind the long waits between alpha major releases more time = more goodies for us. All a sudden mm states we need to get this game to gold so suddenly the updates are shorter?????

The full modding support is only logical to be implemented after gold obviously.

How can you release a game that has no end game nothing in the game is end game either. Maybe possibly weapons but even then hardly any middle game either. Just rinse and repeat rinse and repeat stuff its fun for a bit. Yeh people have got to day 800 etc but still doing the same stuff as day 10 20 30 etc.

All in all i dont not trust tfp to not get to gold and inam thankful they made this game ofc. but releasing a (lack of better wording) half assed game isnt a good future proof plan. Why wait for after gold to add the much needed stuff. Way to get some new people to think what a waste of money i just spent on a game that is gold and that is adding the rest of it after gold (apart from workshop and full modding support).

Are they running out of money so need to release the game to get more to be able to finish it or wqnting tonjust get to next game asap or . Dont get me wrong i cant wait for gold cause that mean less times having to redo my prefabs or mods. But i think actually adding more content and things to do for middle game and adding the end game is very important prior to going gold giving us More less repetitive things to do more stuff to have to do rather then 5 things over and over again (5 is just a random value) . A working and great rwg.. hell use nitrogen that is brilliant. Rwg and Water that isnt bugged and actually gold release material.

Edit. You may see this as an attack or what ever i dont care just my thoughts been around a long time and just my curiosity also.

 
I'm not a professional in this area, but impractical in real life doesn't necessarily mean bad for a game. In games such as this one where you spend long hours, you want something cool to look at, not something that will bore you to death.
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You are right, it doesn't. Keep in mind it doesn't matter how many models they change to replace older ones so that they are unique to this game (and not copies of what exist in other games). It doesn't actually add anything meaningful in the way of game-play. It's not new pre-fabs, new enemies, new animals, or new things to grow. It's not a new mechanic that could add more depth to the game. If you are going to get bored of the game how the weapons look won't change anything.

EDIT: Please don't think I'm one of those people complaining that they are taking the time to make their own models. I'm not. I'm quite happy to see them make their own unique models i'd just like for them err on the side of realism a bit? Think about how it all might work out so you make something cool and practical looking.

 
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I'm not a professional in this area, but impractical in real life doesn't necessarily mean bad for a game. In games such as this one where you spend long hours, you want something cool to look at, not something that will bore you to death.
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But remember gazz stated somethings cant be realistic but in regards to these things they have to maintain a realistic base. So what is that now out the window again and we going back to everything unrealistic again or does that still hold true and in which case the practicality and realism of the club should come into question.

 
So many people who can't handle change or creativity
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Not here to play Fallout with fantasy weapons so count me out.

Just make a new game. This is all 7 Days to Die 2 feeling to me. Lock it up where we are, then make a new one set in the future. New engine etc, they can dev the way they want. Just feels like we keep going in circles. Game is never going to be finished.

I used to be on board this whole "Alpha should last forever" but this is starting to feel like its just an ongoing monthly sub game with new weapons and models every few months and it will never be its own finished game. A year from now that model wont be good enough, so we will make a new one in A21.

Then we need more books. NPC's. A22, it just keeps going on and on. Its becoming a totally different game then everyone initially bought into. Robot companions? Yeah ok. Im all for creativity and expanding the lore and world, but make a sequel. The game went from feeling like a western-ish post apocalyptic zombie world to a Fallout knock off set in the future complete with mods and robots and mutants and 100 perks and books.

Do that stuff, yeah. But do it in the sequel. Polish this one up, stop reinventing the wheel. Thats what sequels are for and Pimps will make triple the money selling it to us.

Feature creep is a helluva thing. And optimizations mean very little if you are just using that optimization to dump more high res models and textures on top of it. Polish up whats there, make it run great and you have a solid game. Keep going and changing things you run the risk of another 16-17 transition phase where you burn your bridges with some players.

 
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When it comes to artwork, the art needs to fit the game.

in this game, we are given the what if scenario. what if a zombie apocalypse did happen, what would you do? could you survive? How would you do it?

since the beginning we were given real world items to use. the art work reflected this. for reason not withstanding, it was what we were given. now reality aside, the weight, actual walking dead, etc aside. our equipment and environment has bean based upon reality thus far. personally, that club makes a wonderful art project. but who in their right mind would take the time to make such an item. modify existing bats, yes. getting a steel rod and spiking it and such yes. but no matter how much of a marvel it looks like, does the look fit this game, or does it fit fallout? I like the new tool looks, some of them. opinions vary. But please do remember the genre and "gaming reality" that has been created here. does the art fit?

edit: this is neither for nor against. just food for thought when you consider artwork. as players and devs or modder

 
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I just......I just want to do a test and see the results.

Handle, no handle..... *strokes beard* hmmm.... think of this as sorta a blot test...kinda..sorta..not really...

mmmm.jpg

or

handle.jpg


*sits back*

 
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Not here to play Fallout with fantasy weapons so count me out.
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I'm not getting what weapons that have been added/are being developed are remotely fallout/fantasy.

Personally, seeing these weapons being re-designed is helpful in the sense that these models have been in the game since alpha, and artistically, they look quite basic. Something like this new club (which I assume is like a pipe with different tool parts placed on it) has a unique, scrapped together look.

 
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Lol yet none of the alphas since a13 has been short which i dont mind the long waits between alpha major releases more time = more goodies for us. All a sudden mm states we need to get this game to gold so suddenly the updates are shorter????? ...
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We (the comunity) did vote for longer cycles between builds.

It's getting shorter because they are finally getting done with the primary core mechanics and are getting closer to where all that is left is balance, bug fixing, and optimization/polish.

 
We (the comunity) did vote for longer cycles between builds.
It's getting shorter because they are finally getting done with the primary core mechanics and are getting closer to where all that is left is balance, bug fixing, and optimization/polish.
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wait, our votes actually counted this time? <*faints*>

 
wait, our votes actually counted this time? <*faints*>
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*catches wolfbain5* SylenThunder what in the world did you tell him...*listens to response*....for real?...

*faints and drops wolfbain5 at the same time* :-P

 
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*catches wolfbain5* SylenThunder what in the world did you tell him...*listens to response*....no way*faints and drops wolfbain5 at the same time* :-P
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awakens with a whack, ties up zombie survivor, leaves a note for snow dog (note reads Have fun)

 
Any idea how Unity assets are holding up to the changing to Linear Color Space? Are a lot of changes required to make it all work or do a lot of things work after just changing the project settings?
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The game still works, but various graphics issues happened from the change to linear, like hard edges on some particles or point lights being too bright across their light range or things just being too dark or light in different situdations.

An artist and I have been working on it the last few weeks. Changed so far are water shaders, biome/weather spectrum images, fog, atmosphere/cloud shaders, snow particle/shader. There is a lot of legacy stuff that is being simplified or stripped and new features added like horizon height fogging, full fogging out of the sky, moonlit clouds and spectrum blending between colors.

 
The game still works, but various graphics issues happened from the change to linear, like hard edges on some particles or point lights being too bright across their light range or things just being too dark or light in different situdations.
An artist and I have been working on it the last few weeks. Changed so far are water shaders, biome/weather spectrum images, fog, atmosphere/cloud shaders, snow particle/shader. There is a lot of legacy stuff that is being simplified or stripped and new features added like horizon height fogging, full fogging out of the sky, moonlit clouds and spectrum blending between colors.
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Can we get some screenshots soon?

 
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