PC Balancing issues.
- Thread starter Viktoriusiii
- Start date
ricp
Refugee
Can anyone name a game on the market that offers the same level of granular control that is being asked for here?
I have no issue, and like you I can't see why anyone would either, if there was a massive configuration page that listed everything from the location and difficulty of ferals, to the quality and distribution of loot, to amending the level gating system.
There is the XML, of course, and while I would argue it's more a happy accident (an easily readable data file that exposes some of the variables within the game, spotted by users and now the panacea for all sorts of perceived ills) it does allow a lot of amendment - it only covers a small part of the actual game world though.
What I would say is that there aren't games out there that offer that sort of flexibility and it's for one main reason. That being time/money resources. I would suggest no in-game variable exists in isolation, and that events or actions in the world are based on a long chain of interconnected systems, in order to provide these sorts of options they would need to investigate just how altering one affects the rest of the game, repeat for all other settings. Ultimately this is going to take people away from the more important tasks such as bug fixing, optimising and feature implementing.
*cough* crafting and loot timers *cough*
Hell.. log spikes, the harvest system, the skill system...
There are a lot of options the developers dont want to give us (going to yet again state i would never have started playing 7days had i know craft/loot timers would be forced, or had i know crafting would be dummed down to stupid levels...)
Id say at least one or two people on the development team dont want to give us options... gazz decided he hates log spikes so now nobody get to have them in thier game... madmole decides he dosent like that people are playing without craft or loot timers so they are recoded to be forced...
ricp
Refugee
I'll be honest, it's been years since I have played Minecraft (there is just no challenge to it) but what sort of options does it offer these days? Previously it was pretty limited.
I was sort of looking for a similar game; DF isn't, MC is (sort of). DayZ, Miscreated, Rust, Conan Exiles, The Long Dark, The Forest, etc. Similar indie developed titles that you don't find pages and pages of configuration settings exposed for even the most non technical user to mess about with.
The one caveat I'd add here is I am talking SP. I don't play MP and have never set up a 7DtD/MP server so have no experience with the available settings that offers.
Aerial
Refugee
The Long Dark now has about 2 pages of difficulty sliders that adjust everything from wolf aggressiveness to frequency of weather changes to the ability to sprain your ankle. It's a pretty good example, IMO, of how to offer choices in (nearly*) everything an ordinary player might want to adjust.
* I'm sure there are players out there who want options that aren't included in the list, but I doubt there are very many.
Odin_the_Mad
Refugee
So one game that is very much like this one and has a stupid amount of options is project zomboid. There are like 6 pages of small-print setting options that allow you to change everything about the zombies, everything about the world, and then save those settings. So if you created a romero walk-only scenario where all zombies are focused around urban areas and respawn at a certain rate and are sensitive to sound but practically blind will follow you x amount of distance you can save that and name it "Romero lore scenario" and then next time you play you can just select that tab and it will automatically fill in everything. You can export settings as well so in a forum like this I could find your settings and use them.
As for it costing time and money, I would say that this is actually one of the easiest things to code because it's just giving an in-game way of altering XML. Say you check the box to disable digging zombies that action simply removes the "can dig" tag from all entities that have it. Of course only things that could easily be modified would be changeable. You couldn't change complex game mechanics but anything that has a variable or a tag in XML can basically be changed on the fly. Like the percentages of loot tables, zombie health, stuff like that
As for it costing time and money, I would say that this is actually one of the easiest things to code because it's just giving an in-game way of altering XML. Say you check the box to disable digging zombies that action simply removes the "can dig" tag from all entities that have it. Of course only things that could easily be modified would be changeable. You couldn't change complex game mechanics but anything that has a variable or a tag in XML can basically be changed on the fly. Like the percentages of loot tables, zombie health, stuff like that
HungryZombie
Refugee
The rumor I heard was the original project name for 7dtd was "Hello Kitty Adventure Zombie Island" But they could not secure the Hello Kitty license. So everyone isn't too far off. - I'm Kidding!
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