PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[Grolbu]

Tomorrow where ? It's already close on a quarter of the way through tomorrow here

 

[Dethar]

@madmole Some of the items stack sizes in the game are quite insufferable (atleast in my opinion) but that aside, are there any plans to revisit this or increase the stack sizes of some items? 

Realism aside and bringing quality of life up front in mind

Thats what xml's are for, or the bad word M%@*.

 

[Kosmic Kerman]

Those pathing issues don't look too good, hopefully they are just some random slip-up and will be fixed easily.

What stroke me the most was the fact he had an AK47 with close to 900 bullets on day 7, I hope he turned up loot abundance, but even with 200% that seems far too much.

He had a quality 1 AK that he purchased from the trader. As to the bullets, no guns. other than the blunderbuss, dropped in the loot containers. If you don't have a gun, which he didn't have for most of the first week, you won't be using the bullets you loot. I'm pretty sure there was more ammo in the loot containers because guns don't drop. Based on what I saw from his stream the loot progression seemed fairly well-balanced for vanilla. TFP is not, and should not, balance the game for players with hundreds to thousands of hours of play time. Those players can change the default settings (loot abundance, etc.) or modify the xml files to their liking. 

 

[Kalex]

Wish it would release today since I actually have to today off and could play.

 

[mr.devolver]

Tomorrow where ? It's already close on a quarter of the way through tomorrow here

Theoretically, for some people tomorrow could mean couple of hours from now. If you're one of them, realistically, you could consider yourself lucky if they release it couple of hours before the day after tomorrow.

 

[STyK_]

Valid opinion. This game is a blend of genres. There are many people who don't care for some specific genre in the game. And you don't care for the tower defense part. (Before you protest, look at a pure tower defense game and notice that the enemy always follows a path to you in those games instead of simply coming from all directions. Putting traps at chokepoints is a central aspect of such games)

Maybe you get your wish and the game gets a zombie AI slider in the end or an option in xml. But I'm hopeful A16 AI will never be the standard again, because in A16 the tower defense was  a snore fest. With that I don't mean necessarily the night itself, but there was no incentive to build anything but a square block.

You maybe shoveled your own grave by the way. If you watch streamers and copy their bases and ideas (with or without exploits) and then complain your tower is too good you practically have cut short your progress in the building meta game. 

I'm not denying tower defence is present, I won't argue that type of gameplay is maybe why some people play now. I heard Rick talk about it on stream and honestly it hurt when he said this is more tower defence then walking dead type game. It is and can be more then that.

I watch streamers play this cause its out but we can't have it. I honestly have not seen any base designs I would do. Anyone I've seen playing abuses pathing or finds anyway they can to spoof the game cause that's the 'thing' to do right now and because they can. Its easier, more time efficient, 'fun' without challenge followed by boring. Takes away from those actually doing the endurance.

 

[GoldenFox]

The only reason you would be hated is because you are trying to tell people how to play. Why do you care how other people play. If you don't want to play that way, good for you. Don't try to shove your play style down other people's throat.

boy don't waste your time with this person, he wont understand. some people just cant understand that the point of a game is that it has to be fun to play, and that it can have more than one way to be played. no wonder why his posts always get ignored by the developer.

 

[beHypE]

He had a quality 1 AK that he purchased from the trader. As to the bullets, no guns. other than the blunderbuss, dropped in the loot containers. If you don't have a gun, which he didn't have for most of the first week, you won't be using the bullets you loot. I'm pretty sure there was more ammo in the loot containers because guns don't drop. Based on what I saw from his stream the loot progression seemed fairly well-balanced for vanilla. TFP is not, and should not, balance the game for players with hundreds to thousands of hours of play time. Those players can change the default settings (loot abundance, etc.) or modify the xml files to their liking. 

Regardless of him having found a gun in loot or not... I don't think being able to hoard 900 bullets in a single week is good, especially during the first week which by definition is the one that is the "hardest" AND the one during which you should find the most crappy loot.

Then again he might just be nerdpoling to the end-of-dungeon crates, didn't watch his gameplay; I guess i'll know soon enough if it's unbalanced...

 

[STyK_]

Exactly, so again my question was "why do you care how others play"?

ok if it wasn't clear because it effects how I will have to play the game when its released. You wanting zombies that path in a straight line and cause no destruction is a nerf to the difficulty, there is no challenge.

 

[Broneigh]

Theoretically, for some people tomorrow could mean couple of hours from now. If you're one of them, realistically, you could consider yourself lucky if they release it couple of hours before the day after tomorrow.

I think he wants to know if it's based on timezone, or if it is a rolling release. is it midnght GMT? 6am EST? 11pm PST? Who knows? Roll your dice, you move your mice, nobody gets hurt

 

[Mechanimal]

Currently you have to lure the zombies to the front for them to get hit, if it had full 360 you could just stand near it on a nerdpole and win.

Hmm, yeah I can see how that could be a bit OP, it just seems like it has a hard time with that little window, maybe going to a broader sweep. Honestly I need to try it out in-game to really gauge it, as with most tools there is a right way and a wrong way to use it. I'll experiment and find the best use with it as-is, see how that goes.

 

[Khalagar]

So I'm currently 1 and like 8 on getting streamers to even test the Junk Sledge or use it at all and have yet to get a single one do a Junk build =(

Cuda at least did craft one for me and use it for 5 minutes before selling it and cursing about it every time it was mentioned after. The other streamers all immediately say lolno when you ask (usually with more synonyms for feces thrown in) and auto scrap them or don't even pick them up.

We need rules that streamers have to use builds based around the new weapons (that aren't the auto shottie because EVERYONE uses only that now because it's so op). I don't know how you would enforce or encourage that, but find a way!

Justice for Junk Builds!!

Currently you have to lure the zombies to the front for them to get hit, if it had full 360 you could just stand near it on a nerdpole and win.

Well, I mean you can just nerdpole and drop a pipe bomb and do the same thing if you are worried about that, and pipe bombs are essentially free to craft

I think 180 degree cone of fire would be fair though, basically just hit the block right in front of it and the two diagonal ones to it. Currently it's cone of fire is so small it basically doesn't even get time to attack before the zed is past it

Wish it would release today since I actually have to today off and could play.

Yep, the downfall of the streamer weekend. I've even seen a few streamers say it should have been released for streamers on like Wed and then Friday for everyone else so people could play over the weekend

 

[Space4Ace]

Tomorrow where ? It's already close on a quarter of the way through tomorrow here

It will be tomorrow, Arizona, USA time zone, so for you, it could be late in the day, depending on your time zone.

For example: Here, it's 2:30pm (14:30), their time would be one hour earlier (so 1:30pm).

But, since we have no idea at what time they will release it, then it could very late in the day, so early the day after (guessing) for you. Still the same moment for all in real life... Just not the same hour on the clock... I suddenly got so tired... need to rest! Until tomorrow that is!

 

[Mechanimal]

We are planning on some kind of storage overhaul that gets the player some better storage/labeling/sorting. Maybe an industrial forge. We'll see. I've been playing a lot of minecraft lately and I'll make sure we have enough stuff to hodge podge a lot more things. I'd like to get roof and fence wrap like their stairs and fences have, so making a wedged roof is fun instead of a chore.

I like the sound of this, and overall I do maintain a strong feeling there is a good bit more polish yet to come. With all the new stuff in A19 it feels like you've overhauled roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of stuff, from new Z's and weapons, to new POIs and art assets. I'm eager to see you overhaul the grass and other plants, some of the details on the ground still look old, trash and blood puddles, etc. But overall you guys really have upgraded a ton from A17 to A19. I am so ready for Monday

I too have gotten back into Minecraft, really digging the Nether Update.

 

[mr.devolver]

Hmm, yeah I can see how that could be a bit OP, it just seems like it has a hard time with that little window, maybe going to a broader sweep. Honestly I need to try it out in-game to really gauge it, as with most tools there is a right way and a wrong way to use it. I'll experiment and find the best use with it as-is, see how that goes.

I can't see how this could be OP in the slightest. OP means that you don't need to do anything and this feature alone can save your @%$*#!. If you by any miracle get this to work in 360 mode, try it with a regular horde with your arms crossed and see if it's really OP or not. I think you would be a little bit more than just frustrated...

 

[Jarod_Silverstar]

@madmole

Been watching a lot of stream this weekend and looking forward to playing.

One thing that has caught my eye is zombies looking directly at you. Too directly. The body is ragdolling all over the place but the face remains pointed right at you. Is that intended or just something that has not been completed yet?

 

[Khalagar]

We are planning on some kind of storage overhaul that gets the player some better storage/labeling/sorting.

Yes! One thing that must be fairly easy to do and would make a HUUUUUGE QoL difference is have your storage boxes link to your crafting benches so you don't have to dig through boxes every 4 seconds to get mats for crafting.

I say it must be easy to do, because like every other survival game either does that natively or has a mod that does it, even stuff like Skyrim has mods where fans figured out how to do it.

That + the ability for more than one person to use a box at a time and more sorting options and "reserved inventory spaces" for specific items would be amazing. Like, you could literally make A20 nothing but storage box QoL changes and I'd be squealing in glee tbh, but I'm an excel nerd that likes organizing data, so I probably spend a few hundred hours more in my storage boxes than a normal human

 

[Mechanimal]

I can't see how this could be OP in the slightest. OP means that you don't need to do anything and this feature alone can save your @%$*#!. If you by any miracle get this to work in 360 mode, try it with a regular horde with your arms crossed and see if it's really OP or not. I think you would be a little bit more than just frustrated...

I'm at that point where I just have to play around with it in-game before I can rly form a strong opinion on it. Sweeping a full 180 could be potentially kind of OP, or it could be a good way to make it more reasonably useful, and thus get used more often. Honestly dunno, yet. If I can manage to use it in a useful way, after a good bit of experimenting, then I will likely continue to make use of it. I do however predict it taking a backseat to a regular Junk Turret once I get one. Heck even if it just acts as a semi-permanent front door knocker, I'd be down with that, and then carry my reg junky with me.
 

But yeah calling it OP does seem a bit much, even with a full 180. I am predicting a title more along the lines of "Useful" not "OP", but again I feel like I am talkin out my @%$*#! until I get a good bit of hands-on play with it first.

 

[The Gronk]

Tomorrow where ? It's already close on a quarter of the way through tomorrow here

They usually release a new alpha around 1am BST if memory serves, you'll have to adjust for your local time zone.  Maybe a few hours earlier, maybe a little later.

It _should_ land around 01:00 - 30/06/2020 according to the UK calender system.

 

[Space4Ace]

FROM ROLAND (in Streamers weekend thread): It won’t be before noon CST. They will likely cook a new build with some additional fixes and then test it to make sure nothing broke and then release.