PC Another "direction of the game thread" and iam concerned...

I agree here. I think it is more the fact that MM himself was getting annoyed by wilderness street zombies coming after him when he was looting pois. He made mentions of this numerous times before a18 released, and I believe also mentioned he asked the team to reduce them due to the fact he was dying to them and it felt cheap.
Balancing a game round bad players is a recipe for absolute disaster. QED.

 
I agree here. I think it is more the fact that MM himself was getting annoyed by wilderness street zombies coming after him when he was looting pois. He made mentions of this numerous times before a18 released, and I believe also mentioned he asked the team to reduce them due to the fact he was dying to them and it felt cheap.
...
Getting mauled by a horde of zombies in the streets is cheap, but having zombies play hide and seek in cupboards closets and crawl spaces is not?

 
I really hope they do but according to the devdiary way back they would add smellsystem back a long time ago too, that never happened.We have to react on what IS rather than ISN´T and atm this game is in a very bad state regarding gameplay and feeling. When it comes to visuals and worlddesign (except for dungeonlooter ♥♥♥♥) its fine, and if visulas are going be the prize of good gameplay and zombies etc... i personally say RIP.
Well then show up in the dev diary and ask him about encounters like i did - if enough people do it this way then maybe we will see a change.

 
11Days.jpg

This is the "normal" version, its on day 11, no traders used, no bulletmaking...just from looting.

And regarding making my voice heard too in the devdiary, i sure hope they read their own forum :)

 
This thread ia as good as any for my purpose.

The game and it's direction has turned in to a complete pile of crap. Madmole is only thinking of how to maximize profit. What the rest of the crew is thinking is unclear, apart from Gazz who thinks all players are idiots..

Everquest seems like a better choice atm. Or ♥♥♥♥ Wars if you prefer that. In any case, enough is enough.

 
I just don't buy that more zombies would ruin performance. Somehow we can have horde nights with 24 alive on nightmare speed chewing up your base, but having 5-10 joggers in the streets would hurt performance so bad it's not doable ? No way. Also as stated, make it an option / a slider.
But go into a factory or skyscraper and wake up 30-40 of them and the lag becomes atrocious. I'm not sure why it's different but with zombies in the world the game chugs super hard but on horde night it doesn't. I'm guessing the reason is that there's AI processing the horde as a group and with the zombies during the day it's doing it singularly. Nothing else makes sense to me unless it's just some really awful programming during the regular days that needs to be cleaned up.

 
i ran a test today. 100 arlenes. In one spot. Draw your own conclusions

wmRPBdV.jpg


 
The game and it's direction has turned in to a complete pile of crap. Madmole is only thinking of how to maximize profit.
Not sure how he thinks he will make any profit with a zombie apocalypse game without any zombies.

 
i ran a test today. 100 arlenes. In one spot. Draw your own conclusions
wmRPBdV.jpg
I'd love to have these numbers on screen, but have you ever accidentally woken up too many sleeper volumes in the waterworks POI? Maybe it's a little better in A18, but in A17, performance would tank whenever more than a handful of zombies started pathing through complex POIs.

Dropping zombies on a flat surface with barely any obstacles doesn't really say much. If the devs want steady FPS, they'll have to develop and test for the most complicated situation in game, not the least.

With that said, in game options to crank up the zombie counts at the cost of performance would be welcome.

 
I too have played for many alphas, since Alpha 8 to be exact, and I enjoy Alpha 18 and think the game has evolved into something great, but I do believe and agree with one point the OP made, and that's roaming zombies. I like the sleepers, but I do miss roaming zombies. They seemed to be absent in A17 and most of A18.

 
We played another game for around 30 days before we done it all again. Ramped up zombies to 6 in all biomes. Ceratinly got better but still not what it used to be.

Simply no realism or challenge to it like there used to be. My complaints only comes down to me comparing this game to its former glory.

 
The direction of the game has certainly changed, even since A16. The game has, in two alphas, gone from a somewhat realistic zombie-survival type of game where the emphasis was on defense, protection, and sustainability in a world where resources were scarce and zombies were everywhere to a more action-oriented run-and-gun Fallout-style game where the emphasis is on offense, raiding, and questing in a world where resources are abundant and zombies appear in clearly-marked groups for your combat pleasure.

While A18 improved on a lot of the more frustrating elements of A17, it also cemented the game's pivot to a more action-oriented experience. Every stat now has combat associated with it. Building bases is unnecessary with so many pre-made dungeons waiting to be turned into a base with minimal effort and crafting is largely superfluous in the face of abundant dungeons, treasure, and quests, especially with random stat distribution, increased crafting time and cost, lower repair cost, and Tier 6 no longer being craftable, plus schematics being spread out all over the place. Zombies don't roam the land much anymore, instead appearing in easily-contained and easily-managed groups - Even Screamergeddon isn't anywhere what it was in A17. I can spend an hour digging an open pit mine with an auger and I might see one screamer who will summon two or three zombies, but if I go to a POI I'll get dozens of zombies. The superiority of guns over melee, the fact every tree has its own gun now (except Intellect), and the ready availability of ammunition means most players will swap to a gun in the first few days and never stop using it.

I'm neutral on the game's current state versus its old state, since they both have their advantages and disadvantages. I like A18 more than A17, but I also liked A16 too and I can't tell how much of that is rose-colored glasses after two years. However it's hard to deny the game has definitely changed its direction in the last two years and is now seeking to be a fundamentally different experience than what it used to be. It's less of a survival game now and more of an action game. Your mileage may vary if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what it is.

 
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The direction of the game has certainly changed, even since A16. The game has, in two alphas, gone from a somewhat realistic zombie-survival type of game where the emphasis was on defense, protection, and sustainability in a world where resources were scarce and zombies were everywhere to a more action-oriented run-and-gun Fallout-style game where the emphasis is on offense, raiding, and questing in a world where resources are abundant and zombies appear in clearly-marked groups for your combat pleasure.
While A18 improved on a lot of the more frustrating elements of A17, it also cemented the game's pivot to a more action-oriented experience. Every stat now has combat associated with it. Building bases is unnecessary with so many pre-made dungeons waiting to be turned into a base with minimal effort and crafting is largely superfluous in the face of abundant dungeons, treasure, and quests, especially with random stat distribution, increased crafting time and cost, lower repair cost, and Tier 6 no longer being craftable, plus schematics being spread out all over the place. Zombies don't roam the land much anymore, instead appearing in easily-contained and easily-managed groups - Even Screamergeddon isn't anywhere what it was in A17. I can spend an hour digging an open pit mine with an auger and I might see one screamer who will summon two or three zombies, but if I go to a POI I'll get dozens of zombies. The superiority of guns over melee, the fact every tree has its own gun now (except Intellect), and the ready availability of ammunition means most players will swap to a gun in the first few days and never stop using it.

I'm neutral on the game's current state versus its old state, since they both have their advantages and disadvantages. I like A18 more than A17, but I also liked A16 too and I can't tell how much of that is rose-colored glasses after two years. However it's hard to deny the game has definitely changed its direction in the last two years and is now seeking to be a fundamentally different experience than what it used to be. It's less of a survival game now and more of an action game. Your mileage may vary if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what it is.

Very well written and i do agree with you, you sum up pretty much me and my friends conversation during our games:)

 
Played the game instead. It looks like the game is thriving.
Haha, no the game is not dying, its a popular and good game but i think diff versions speaks to different minds and kinds of players.

We all want it to thrive! But as i read all kinds of posts i also realize how different our tastes are for a challenging and fun game..hmm.

Best idea would be to implement diff gamemodes. In the end FunPimps has made a product for the reason of making money and its their work. With different settings and gamemodes it will speak to us all perhaps.

 
I agree with pretty much everything.

The game has lost so much of it's core now it's a entirely differrent game from A15.

Been playing for a while now with a few friends and as you say. Cities are safe to roam now compared to a15 where there was tons of zombies walking around.

Yesterday we discussed that the game is not a survival-horrorish game anymore while we was outside in the middle of the night shooting zombies left and right. The player is the hunter and the zombies are the prey now.

The early stages of the game had been the most fun earlier, no guns or ammo and just forced to rely on bows or clubs and primitive weapons.

Now we get shotguns and plenty of ammo on the second day around :/ Forge was up on day three I think.

We regulary don't care about night and just go outside and do things, it's just not a threat anymore.

I played A15 a bit last week, with zombie density up to 150% and holy hell, we were scared, first night after I had killed over 40 z's with a ♥♥♥♥ty wooden club nightfall approached quickly and I had nothing to hide in, quickly dug a small hole in the side of the road before 22.00 and sat there hoping nothing would sence me.

Those situations are long gone now :(

 
I agree with pretty much everything.The game has lost so much of it's core now it's a entirely differrent game from A15.

Been playing for a while now with a few friends and as you say. Cities are safe to roam now compared to a15 where there was tons of zombies walking around.

Yesterday we discussed that the game is not a survival-horrorish game anymore while we was outside in the middle of the night shooting zombies left and right. The player is the hunter and the zombies are the prey now.

The early stages of the game had been the most fun earlier, no guns or ammo and just forced to rely on bows or clubs and primitive weapons.

Now we get shotguns and plenty of ammo on the second day around :/ Forge was up on day three I think.

We regulary don't care about night and just go outside and do things, it's just not a threat anymore.

I played A15 a bit last week, with zombie density up to 150% and holy hell, we were scared, first night after I had killed over 40 z's with a ♥♥♥♥ty wooden club nightfall approached quickly and I had nothing to hide in, quickly dug a small hole in the side of the road before 22.00 and sat there hoping nothing would sence me.

Those situations are long gone now :(
Another post i agree 100% with. Its is indeed a new version in play with little to no threath and to much bullets and guns.

And even them are not needed since the implementation of the junk turret.

Its just a dull and grey gamingexperience atm and the ppls who loves it i just cant understand.

 
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