PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[graphite]

I see your point. I feel the problem isn't the zombies digging, but rather the logic they used the past. They dug everywhere, willy-nilly, causing the swiss-cheese effect on the landscape. If TFP can fix this, then I see them as a viable threat...
-A

If you cancel the AI targeting of player entity then you get the same sort of effect where they go crazy and randomly smash the world up.

I did think think about this when i was trying to get zombies target certain block types.

I tried to add the tag "door" to see if the follow ai task 1 but that didnt seem to work.

But if they could use the tag system and when you placed a playerblock on a terrian block and it basicly modified 2-3 terrian blocks vertically that they where glued to with a targeting tag then this might work.

The fact that the tag is already a property means maybe no extra overhead on the block properties.

 

[Jackelmyer]

I see your point. I feel the problem isn't the zombies digging, but rather the logic they used the past. They dug everywhere, willy-nilly, causing the swiss-cheese effect on the landscape. If TFP can fix this, then I see them as a viable threat...
-A

Diggers are absolutely a viable threat. SI is going to be an issue. I think SI may still be buggy too. So all of that is going to cause structural problems. Probably why perln caves were booted or delayed.

On top of SI, there's the immersion and gameplay annoyances.

Do you really want your bases exterior terrain to look like Swiss cheese and constantly be fixing terrain along with breaking your leg/neck falling in some random new hole? That's going to become rather annoying really fast. If TFP seems really does go the route of ramping up Zombies to wreck bases with updated AI and abilities, you'll now have more base to fix plus terrain to fix.

Needs to be a different way to make sub terrain dangerous or get rid of sub terrain and do something completely different with mining.

 

[Gazz]

As a geologist I have to ask. Will we see different rock-types in-game in the future? The general 'rock' makes me cringe a little every time I see it..

I could change "rock" to "stone"? =P

Games are horrible for those who know a bit about geology. You get underground lava and above-ground magma and other such shenanigans.

I think you can at least appreciate the current mineral distribution. Pockets of specific ores instead of the same mix of all ores everytime and everywhere.

It's not even remotely realistic but at least there are almost-veins of uhh... stuff.

 

[graphite]

Diggers are absolutely a viable threat. SI is going to be an issue. I think SI may still be buggy too. So all of that is going to cause structural problems. Probably why perln caves were booted or delayed.
On top of SI, there's the immersion and gameplay annoyances.

Do you really want your bases exterior terrain to look like Swiss cheese and constantly be fixing terrain along with breaking your leg/neck falling in some random new hole? That's going to become rather annoying really fast. If TFP seems really does go the route of ramping up Zombies to wreck bases with updated AI and abilities, you'll now have more base to fix plus terrain to fix.

Needs to be a different way to make sub terrain dangerous or get rid of sub terrain and do something completely different with mining.

If TFP can implement something like i suggested you wont have any walls to worry about repairing you will just have to build new ones.

Farming dirt will be required and mountains will be flattened.

I cant say that it is not possible SI doesnt have bugs but it seems pretty robust and only can see it going wrong in pathing when supporting by multi faces but has anyone been able to do repeatable tests to prove that and SI in general favors the player.

Get rid of terrain not sure about that to me that is a primary design choice and has been made long ago.

I am not a great player in fact i am not even a very good player so i should be asking for all the help i can get and i understand you giving player feedback for whats going to happen but it seems to me the message the TFP are giving are that Zeds are gonna wreck your stuff.

I made the tag idea sound simple but i am sure getting a block to modify surrounding blocks that are glued to them isnt simple but would be an intersting mechanic and maybe used for other things.

 

[dom]

• Every biome remastered for Unity 2017
  
• Game Engine update to Unity 2017
  

What are the future plans for the game regarding DirectX? Will you just upgrade to the next DirectX version or do you plan to use a more modern API like Vulkan or DirectX 12 for example?

It would be nice to have some official statement from the team and not just some speculation from the forum users.

We will be removing support for DirectX 9 on the Windows platforms [1]

[1] https://blogs.unity3d.com/2017/07/10/deprecating-directx-9

 

[DaVegaNL]

Zombies don't have to dig to get into tunnels. Simply a rise from the dead mechanic can suffice.
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No offense, but you realize as a geologist, you specifically are the less than 1% right? ;-p

I swear. You geologists always stare at every pixel of every natural rock or mineral texture and then drive yourselves bat poop crazy cause you there after can see nothing else. lol

Twisted lot you are.

Can't deny that We are the free-thinkers of our age!

Also I've heard that geologists make the bedrock...

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I could change "rock" to "stone"? =P
Games are horrible for those who know a bit about geology. You get underground lava and above-ground magma and other such shenanigans.

I think you can at least appreciate the current mineral distribution. Pockets of specific ores instead of the same mix of all ores everytime and everywhere.

It's not even remotely realistic but at least there are almost-veins of uhh... stuff.

Hehe true that! Would be nice to make the walls of your base out of granite or basalt or something of the sort

 

[graphite]

@Jackelmyer

I reread what i wrote and i was quite blunt i didnt mean it to be and it is just my opinion so please dont take it to heart.

At the momment zombies bundling up jigging up and down on a steel wall does nothing for gameplay it just slows things down.

If its the case materials cannot be resourced fast enough then they can be adjusted to make them more available.

Resource gathering is not static and it makes sense to me that destruction goes up and other parameters are adjusted to balance things out if and when required.

 

[graphite]

What are the future plans for the game regarding DirectX? Will you just upgrade to the next DirectX version or do you plan to use a more modern API like Vulkan or DirectX 12 for example?It would be nice to have some official statement from the team and not just some speculation from the forum users.

[1] https://blogs.unity3d.com/2017/07/10/deprecating-directx-9

Sorry i am a forum user but the min requirements on the 7dtd website support page say dx10.

I know you waiting for an offiical response and it doesnt answer your question about the future but i thought i would let you know that.

 

[Survager]

Response 1: I knew I should have set my Steam settings to not viewable...
Response 2: Your Mamma got killed by a snake while chasing a chicken!

Response 3: Snakes...Why'd it have to be snakes...I hate snakes...

Response 4: True Story!

Response 5: That never happened!!!!

Response 6: Well....you got a hold of your snake to choke your chicken!

Response 7: So many Snake - Chicken - Roland triangle deaths....

The style of your answer, Roland... Is it means, you seen and use dialog system of new NPCs in 7 Days To Die?

 

[The Batman]

If they'll add diggers, everyone will simple base at Bedrock. SI is still an icky thing for mega basers. We collapsed a giant hill 10 blocks away from our base , and half my base collapsed due to the general SI of the area failing.

For endgame bases , the only real safe option is to excavate an area of x by x blocks. Then build in the middle, you'll have 0 SI issues, nor will you have zombies wrecking up the terrain. My guess is most basers already do this, simply to void any random ♥♥♥♥ from happening to your base.

 

[Aurelius]

If they'll add diggers, everyone will simple base at Bedrock. SI is still an icky thing for mega basers. We collapsed a giant hill 10 blocks away from our base , and half my base collapsed due to the general SI of the area failing.
For endgame bases , the only real safe option is to excavate an area of x by x blocks. Then build in the middle, you'll have 0 SI issues, nor will you have zombies wrecking up the terrain. My guess is most basers already do this, simply to void any random ♥♥♥♥ from happening to your base.

From what you've described (which is similar to my experience), it sounds like the issue is more with SI than with zombies digging. The other issue was zombies making swiss cheese out of the terrain.

So if TFP can address those two problems, I think we'd have a viable challenge with zombies digging.

-A

 

[The Batman]

From what you've described (which is similar to my experience), it sounds like the issue is more with SI than with zombies digging. The other issue was zombies making swiss cheese out of the terrain.
So if TFP can address those two problems, I think we'd have a viable challenge with zombies digging.

-A

- A reduction in attack speed vs neutral blocks could work.

- Quicker despawning of underground far away zombies.

- No more sensed through 20 layers of dirt so they won't cheese their way to you.


Imo, vastly underground bases should still be 100% safe from zombies. But maybe air vents are needed or other technological stuff.

They could add zombie spawning underground though, and only negatable through something highly scientific.

But both wouldn't really make sense story wise.

EDIT: Above ground could be zombie threat.

Underground could be environmental threats.

So in the end you can still choose, to be 100% safe against one or the other. But you would have to take several steps towards that goal. Or just build a ramp towards bedrock and own both like a badass.

 

[Obuthan]

Soooo....

If there are digging zombies or critters coming soon to a base near you. I'll be looking for the (loooong) before mentioned boat/raft base. Not as big as some uber bases being built. But mobile and off the land. A few of my games in the past had a very large continuous water mass.

If the Hawaiian shirt zombie ends up being a sapper. Plus there being a digging type being added. Will there be new criteria referring to biomes and zombie (or critter) spawning?

As an example: the winter biome will be more dangerous to build/scavenge in, but the digger is not found as prevalent in the cold biome.

Just spitballing....

~Obuthan

 

[Lonestarcanuck]

Ooh...with Ocelots!!!!
D'oh!!!

Jungle sounds like it would be an awesome addition, and you know what is in the Jungle? Snakes! BIG ones at that!

 

[The Batman]

Jungle sounds like it would be an awesome addition, and you know what is in the Jungle? Snakes! BIG ones at that!

My anaconda don't...

 

[spud42]

sorry no buns in this game...lol

 

[Lord Nathanael]

The style of your answer, Roland... Is it means, you seen and use dialog system of new NPCs in 7 Days To Die?

way to many responses.

following the trend nowadays it should be 3 or 4 options max

1. god boy response aka the standart hero

2. bad boy response (that somehow gets ignored and just leads to everyone doing "evil" things for no reason)

3. asking for more information

4. sarkastic/joker douchebag response (that gets completely ignored most of the time and dialog just continues while the player laughs at his avatars jokes)

 

[Bubo]

With all this talk of the Kraken, that reminds me that I watched the original Clash of the Titans while waiting for my car to be repaired today. It's a pretty decent film.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Yes!

 

[Jackelmyer]

@Jackelmyer
If its the case materials cannot be resourced fast enough then they can be adjusted to make them more available.

Resource gathering is not static and it makes sense to me that destruction goes up and other parameters are adjusted to balance things out if and when required.

If you're referring to block durability, that doesn't exactly help as zombies, if memory serves, are affected by block durability. So if it's easier for you to bust a block, it's easier for them too. So the scaling by block durability is counter productive.

As far as destruction scaling with speed of resource gathering, that doesn't really fit well either. If you were to do a 1 to 1 scaling keeping pace with a players ability to gather resources, you'd be stuck gathering base resources and never be out exploring, questing, scavenging.

I like that at the start, you try to get yourself a durable base so you can afford yourself time to enjoy the rest of the game too. I don't like the idea of having to spend 6 days regathering resources and rebuilding a base. Which is where I keep seeing you guys aim towards.

Which is why I hope a GameStage multiplier setting is added. To allow players to pace the game more to their play style. Seems like an easy win win.

 

[Ouch Quit It]

??
I'm scared to ask what it means lol

MM did say some more plants could be on the way... Could it be fruit.. or maybe herbs to buff the buffest of meat stews.

Maybe different herbs could give different subtle buffs for X duration for example: curry powder increases walking speed at the increased chance you trouser cough and alert nearby zombies.

MTFGA= Make the Forums Great Again

Ouch

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Jungle sounds like it would be an awesome addition, and you know what is in the Jungle? Snakes! BIG ones at that!

Ahh no...because the jungles of Arizona just aren't that scary!!