PC Alpha 20 Dev Diary

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I finally got a chance to play A20, and damn there was a lot of work put into this. The new city prefabs look like actual city architecture, and everything fits together nicely. Clearing an entire town solo used to be easy, but I'll probably never be able to do that again with the size and complexity they offer now, which is cool.

With how much content the game has, I think the trader missions could have a lot more variety, like destroying a radio tower, repairing a structure, refueling some generators, planting some food, or building and installing some turrets at the trader post. Maybe there could be some items which could only be obtained through trader missions.

The one trope I'm not thrilled with are all of the surprise attacks behind every closet door, or trying to avoid the trigger which causes everything to wake up and fall from the ceiling at once, or other beginner traps. I would like to come across a regular building that seems empty, but is home to just one very nasty creature- so nasty that you would consider coming back later, or maybe using your construction skills to cordon off its paths with blocks and bars to give you an actual chance at killing it. Difficulty shouldn't be confined to turning every POI into a labyrinth.

 
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There definitely feels like some sort of tension mission from the game. The A20 update is a huge step in the right direction as POIs now provide some pretty good scares, even still however I feel rarely truly threatened (without very gimmicky settings). I hope bandits fill that void (seen from a moderator or something that tier 6 may be bandit camps as the final and hardest tier?) and that their raiding is interesting. I have strong worries about the bandits however as that seems near impossible to code, no game has ever done that. Some have "raids" on your areas, but no heavy construction survival game like this. I wonder if fun pimps will be able to achieve it. I definitely worry the bandits will end up being dropped because of how no game even remotely in this genre has ever successfully simulated pvp-like enemies. 

 
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Tmodloader said:
There definitely feels like some sort of tension mission from the game. The A20 update is a huge step in the right direction as POIs now provide some pretty good scares, even still however I feel rarely truly threatened (without very gimmicky settings). I hope bandits fill that void (seen from a moderator or something that tier 6 may be bandit camps as the final and hardest tier?) and that their raiding is interesting. I have strong worries about the bandits however as that seems near impossible to code, no game has ever done that. Some have "raids" on your areas, but no heavy construction survival game like this. I wonder if fun pimps will be able to achieve it. I definitely worry the bandits will end up being dropped because of how no game even remotely in this genre has ever successfully simulated pvp-like enemies. 
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Bandits will (Should) be the ultimate threat.

Early on, you should see 1-2 that only use melee weapons, but eventually, groups of 8-12 fully armed and armored bandits with extensive combat experience will be encountered. 

Maybe some visual que that shows they are high leveled bandits would be good.   (All the same uniform?)

For a SP the only good option will be (should be) to run/drive away quickly from a large group of heavily armed bandits.

If a SP can take on the very worst the game can throw at them, some people will stop playing as its "boring". 

 
MechanicalLens said:
Have any of you ever played for 10 hours straight, to the point where you were too exhausted to continue and had to log off to retain your sanity?
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Just about every single day.  ~14 hour 7D2d days are very common.  I have even had a couple of 48+ hour sessions.  (Eating at desk - but paused for quick BR breaks.)  And while I have done that with a few other games as well, I have 10x as much time invested in 7DTD as any of those other games.  (Ok, Civ 3/4 only 5x as much...)

My problem is I can't usually quit until after a horde night.  (Which is why I usually have ~14 hour 7D2D days.) I won't be able to sleep because of the 'tension' that keeps building until I know I have passed it.  It's a reason I find it hard to play on extended time cycle settings.  At least 120 min cycles allow me to do a week in 14 hours.  The 90 min setting means I either quit after 10.5 and go nuts trying to do something else or I do 21 hours.  While I can get by on 4 hours sleep, 2 or 3 a few days of 3 or less in a row aren't 'fun'.

Like stupid's message a couple above, I also find the new cities absolutely amazing.  btw - one of my normal playstyle 'things' is - I salvage just about everything.  Except structure.  And when a version gets long and there's some time before a new version pops, I start fixing POI's.  I learn a lot about them, the POI editor, and all kinds of useful little tricks to fix things.  You know, like invisible blocks...  (I also have a little OCD and like shiny/new things.)

I should also mention I am super blessed with a wonderful wife, who just retired herself, and is not a gamer (DANG!) who allows me the freedom to play as much as I want.

 
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Ok fun pimps alpha 20 on the 6th and alpha 20 stable less than a month later for Christmas BEST PRESENT EVER yall did a fantastic job putting all the work into it to make it happen

 
stupid said:
I finally got a chance to play A20, and damn there was a lot of work put into this. The new city prefabs look like actual city architecture, and everything fits together nicely. Clearing an entire town solo used to be easy, but I'll probably never be able to do that again with the size and complexity they offer now, which is cool.

With how much content the game has, I think the trader missions could have a lot more variety, like destroying a radio tower, repairing a structure, refueling some generators, planting some food, or building and installing some turrets at the trader post. Maybe there could be some items which could only be obtained through trader missions.

The one trope I'm not thrilled with are all of the surprise attacks behind every closet door, or trying to avoid the trigger which causes everything to wake up and fall from the ceiling at once, or other beginner traps. I would like to come across a regular building that seems empty, but is home to just one very nasty creature- so nasty that you would consider coming back later, or maybe using your construction skills to cordon off its paths with blocks and bars to give you an actual chance at killing it. Difficulty shouldn't be confined to turning every POI into a labyrinth.
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As fun as the dungeon POIs can be, we definitely want to add more remnants as well since those offer a different gameplay experience.

The new restore power quest will most likely undergo some more gameplay improvements as well.

 
Laz Man said:
As fun as the dungeon POIs can be, we definitely want to add more remnants as well since those offer a different gameplay experience.

The new restore power quest will most likely undergo some more gameplay improvements as well.
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What are remnants?

 
Have a Happy New Year everyone.

And let`s make it be better and sane. It is Us that will make it so. 

Anyway.

*double click on 7dtd icon*

 
Survior said:
 That's a horrible idea, you kill an animal and you can't even fill your gut as it is. If you kill a bear you shouldn't have to worry about food for a couple of weeks.
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Sure, but then you also will see a bear once in 5 years.

Food is supposed to be a struggle in the game. If one bear could generate food for weeks your food problems would be over by day 3.

If you have problems with immersion, just assume most of the bear meat is unusable and you can only use the liver for cooking

 
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meganoth said:
If you have problems with immersion, just assume most of the bear meat is unusable and you can only use the liver for cooking
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Only a person who has never field dressed and butchered a bear with a shard of bone in the wilderness with no refrigeration, all by themselves and with frequent wandering packs of coyotes and dire wolves would think that only getting a few meals out of it is not immersive

 
Laz Man said:
As fun as the dungeon POIs can be, we definitely want to add more remnants as well since those offer a different gameplay experience.

The new restore power quest will most likely undergo some more gameplay improvements as well.
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Something like boss zombie? 🙏

 
Currently the mutated zombie feels... slightly weak? To help rectify this I offer these two suggestions: 1. Buff its health a bit, perhaps similar to a feral cop, for instance. 2. Perhaps it should explode upon dying, dealing massive entity damage. Just one player's feedback. :)

 
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