PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[Reddevil]

asking what sleep would add to the game is like asking what hunger or thirst added to the game-- its another way to add difficulty, increased realism, and another variable to take into account when exploring/raiding/building.
as for hitting esc, that doesnt work in MP games. im not suggesting to make it so u stop playing outright when sleeping- hence the reason i mentioned making the skill tree only accessible during sleep. i wouldnt lock out the map either, but ur char shouldnt be able to craft in his sleep (workstations not included since they work without u being present anyways).

again, just throwin ideas out there. glad to have all this feedback guys. constructive criticism does nothing but help improve the game for us all!

Hunger and food add a need to go out and scavenge. Sleep just adds the need to sit around and wait for a period of time while making it the only time you can lvl up would give you something to do(oblivion much) it limits when you can look at or improve you skills.

Also don't take my comments as an attack I am just trying to give my personal feed back.

 

[The Gronk]

Normally I'm all for extra realism but in the case of sleeping or resting as a game mechanic I don't think it would be a good idea without the ability to skip time.

Given how much coffee my characters tend to mainline staying awake for three months straight is not beyond the realm of possibility

 

[knivez1]

Also don't take my comments as an attack I am just trying to give my personal feed back.

lol nah.... im pretty thick skinned-- and theres a big difference between saying "no, ur an idiot" and "i disagree, heres why"

and im not saying to remove the skill tab entirely when not sleeping, just making it so you cant place skill points when ur awake. it gives ya something to do while ur toon sleeps (completely agree with ya on this). not saying sleep will ever be implemented, but maybe make it an option when creating the game? kinda like the zombie run/walk option. some people want runners, some want walkers, some like it mixed.

also, when u get far enough into the game, scavenging for food is nearly pointless if u can farm in/on ur base.

 

[sillls]

I'll bow to your experience on that one. If I started making bullet casings in Britain it's quite likely that I'd get a knock on the door from some heavily-armed and very angry policemen. They don't like us playing with anything more dangerous than blancmange, given how often we try to burn down London I can't really blame them.

My grandmother is from England and used to visit her homeland when she was younger.

She told me of how it was like then. That the bobbies police did not even carry guns, that hunters would leave there weapons locked up with them until hunting season.

So I want to ask you respectfully. What the hell is going on there? Why, how did it all change?

 

[knivez1]

you can carry 10k tons of concrete in your backpack, and you can stay awake 1000 dayssome mods had implemented sleep mechanics, but i found it annoiyng

very friggen true on the weight thing.... no idea how to deal with that without adding elder scrolls-like encumbrance. and sleep mechanics would eliminate the whole 1000 days awake thing. ur right.... game isnt exactly about realism i mean.... its a zombie game. it is, however, closer to being realistic than most others.

 

[Royal Deluxe]

very friggen true on the weight thing.... no idea how to deal with that without adding elder scrolls-like encumbrance. and sleep mechanics would eliminate the whole 1000 days awake thing. ur right.... game isnt exactly about realism i mean.... its a zombie game. it is, however, closer to being realistic than most others.

Make blocks (maybe except wood because early game) not carryable by the character, instead implement a huge vehicle (Truck) you can use the stored Blocks in a range of 50 meters (you can expand that area with a crane)

Point is that the ability to build a steel fortress by your own is not realistic. (But wished by most players)

To sleep all 24-48 hours is it.

 

[Menace312]

What would one do while sleeping?

I mean, it's going to be pretty boring, having to afk for "x" in game hours every day...

RPG:

Playing on a MP server.

The days that passed while you were offline, you got some sleep.

Now get out there and survive!

 

[sillls]

What would one do while sleeping?
I mean, it's going to be pretty boring, having to afk for "x" in game hours every day...

RPG:

Playing on a MP server.

The days that passed while you were offline, you got some sleep.

Now get out there and survive!

Sleep though the seven day hoard!!!

 

[Azmodeth]

It could be an interesting mechanic to heal, say healing at a rate of 1-5 HP an hour if your not hungry or thirsty, but then again it should also make your eyes close and not see or hear as much, and thus if zombies attack maybe a muffled and delay notification. Then they can assign a small buff if you slept enough, but make it this thing where everyone is going to NEED to sleep, for the sake of fun and such.

 

[Roland]

Sleep would be viable if once NPCs were in you could swap your consciousness between characters. That way if your character was tired you could have them sleep while you switched to a character that wasn't tired and keep playing. I believe State of Decay does this and it is a great way to put fatigue and sleep in a game without having to pause or be inactive as a player.

 

[archergod]

Just a Guessing game. how many pages we will have in this thread before a17 release, we are 994 pages already.

 

[courgi]

Coming from console and playing PC ever since A16 dropped, I have noticed the cave systems generated on console are MUCH more substantial in occurrence and size. I really miss building my fort near an amazing cave structure I have discovered. They are so rare and insignificant on PC. Perhaps a dev can "tweak" the map generator algorithm in A17 to give us a better cave experience?

 

[Royal Deluxe]

Sleep would be viable if once NPCs were in you could swap your consciousness between characters. That way if your character was tired you could have them sleep while you switched to a character that wasn't tired and keep playing. I believe State of Decay does this and it is a great way to put fatigue and sleep in a game without having to pause or be inactive as a player.

That would be nice too. (even if State of Decay is the only game i ever refunded, buyed a PC game and it had 100% console fittet controls, not with me)

 

[Reddevil]

state of decay is a great game, but there is important differences why I don't think that would work in this game.

one investment. you invest a lot more into your character in this game. lvls, skills and the feeling that this is the you in the game. once you start swapping its not as personal.

Two in State of decay you are the community, as you play every character in your group, where in 7 days you are just one in what will hopefully be one day a community.

Though I will say I really like state of decay and hope the upcoming one will be as great as the last.

 

[qprophet]

Sleep would be viable if once NPCs were in you could swap your consciousness between characters. That way if your character was tired you could have them sleep while you switched to a character that wasn't tired and keep playing. I believe State of Decay does this and it is a great way to put fatigue and sleep in a game without having to pause or be inactive as a player.

It would add to the feel of having a community. It also helps with the "immersion" factor as it is easier to believe a group of people accomplished what would normally have been just a single person before.

 

[Menace312]

Sleep would be viable if once NPCs were in you could swap your consciousness between characters. That way if your character was tired you could have them sleep while you switched to a character that wasn't tired and keep playing. I believe State of Decay does this and it is a great way to put fatigue and sleep in a game without having to pause or be inactive as a player.

That would be awesome!

Could that be done with the tools they got, I wonder?

Seems like a tall order to code from scratch...

 

[beerfly]

If when we use NPCs while our bud is asleep and regenerating who knows what, it could be good to have limited options in gameplay while playing with npc, such as not be able to craft , but only farm, or just repairman, or a postman who knows how to use a sledgehammer.

Still, playing with your own bud/girl all time sounds better. Progression is not supposed to be crippled because of a sleeping option.

 

[naive1000]

It would add to the feel of having a community. It also helps with the "immersion" factor as it is easier to believe a group of people accomplished what would normally have been just a single person before.

I've always found the idea of "immersion" in a video game or book a little off. I don't need things like sleeping or eating to be immersed in a game unless it furthers the plot, just like with a book. If you need those things to feel into the game then there's something wrong with the game, because it's not keeping you interested enough. If they want to add something like sleep it better have a purpose or use in game or it'll just take away from the experience not enhance it in my opinion.

 

[Faded]

Escape doesn't work in single player now either, does it?

It does, as of A13 or so. Previously it was necessary to use debug mode to be able to pause, which was ridiculous.

asking what sleep would add to the game is like asking what hunger or thirst added to the game-- its another way to add difficulty, increased realism, and another variable to take into account when exploring/raiding/building.

Hunger and thirst require activity to keep full. Sleep requires the opposite. Any mechanic that requires the player to avoid playing is a bad one. That's where the "too much realism to be fun" line is crossed.

as for hitting esc, that doesnt work in MP games. im not suggesting to make it so u stop playing outright when sleeping- hence the reason i mentioned making the skill tree only accessible during sleep. i wouldnt lock out the map either, but ur char shouldnt be able to craft in his sleep (workstations not included since they work without u being present anyways).

I don't play multiplayer, and judging from the active player numbers I'd say that I'm in the majority there. Surely with close to 3 million copies sold, there are more than 10k people playing 7DTD at peak hours.

- - - Updated - - -

Sleep would be viable if once NPCs were in you could swap your consciousness between characters. That way if your character was tired you could have them sleep while you switched to a character that wasn't tired and keep playing. I believe State of Decay does this and it is a great way to put fatigue and sleep in a game without having to pause or be inactive as a player.

Maybe. But State of Decay had a number of features 7DTD doesn't. I'm not sure it's realistic for 7DTD to get there. I'm sure TFP would like to start their next project at some point.

 

[Guppycur]

...and I say this with as much respect as humanly possible...

Sleeping in a game? Really? Why. Just... why. I'm not even going to punctuate that question properly because it falls so far out of the realm of reasoning...

I sleep at home; in a game, I want to play. Sleep adds ZERO value add, and would be even MORE boring (if it's possible) than those first few nights when you're hunkered in an attic with nothing to do at night (thanks to leveled everything!).

Kill sleep. Kill the idea. Kill the essence. Purge whatever part of your brain thinks that it would be a cool thing to add... because it would not.

...now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap.