PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[Crater Creator]

Sorry, I am not english and I was correcting my writing. And sorry If I spammed without noticying that I did not knew I was spamming. Rarely I go here....

It’s great whenever someone takes the time to correct their writing. I encourage it. Just remember, you don’t have to make a new post. You can edit the post you already made.

Forum users are a subset of the total population of players of this game.However there is no reason to believe that such sample of players does not represent fairly correctly the preferences of the whole group.

People have many online communities to choose from, so something has to make the difference in choosing one over another. Each of them has the potential to act as an echo chamber, amplifying shared views and diverging from the average in the process.

 

[Prisma501]

Honestly I was hoping A17 would be out by this summer so I could play it with my son while he was on summer break from school so I'm disappointed for a different reason than most I think but we all have our reasons.

#emotionalblackmailFTW

Cheers

 

[JaxTeller718]

Forum users are a subset of the total population of players of this game.However there is no reason to believe that such sample of players does not represent fairly correctly the preferences of the whole group.

I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that this forum does NOT represent the feelings of the general 7 Days player. Not by a long shot. While our presence here does in fact mean we are MORE informed than the casual player, it doesn't mean we speak for them. Just have a look at the Facebook for the game, or the Twitter responses. Most people know nothing of xml, or how optimisations are happening. They just load vanilla and have at it. There are more than a few who do not even KNOW mods exist, likewise since I run my mod from Discord now there are players coming in from streams who got the launcher from a link in a stream who do not even know this place exists.

That may seem incredible, but I kid you not. I have had to direct more than a few new players to my mod to the forum. To say that just because we are here, our opinions are more important is placing an inflated value on this community, which is not fair to the general public. I would go so far as to say that they have realized this which is why we only get to see "under the hood" discussions with devs here, while other places get the fancy previews. The general public by and large aren't typically interested in discussions on how reworking the rwg is increasing performances, or test videos on cone damage etc. They just want to see the cool stuff. How many times has MM or someone else got caught up in a heated discussion here that influenced a game decision in a negative way? Perhaps they just decided to refocus that energy on ACTUALLY making the game they set out to make without the distractions, which is their right to do.

I used to think that this was THE only place devs should be interacting. And I over reacted several times not because the devs placed this burden on me to cause me to believe I was entitled to anything more than the outside world, but because I unfairly placed that burden on MYSELF and expected Pimps to live up to that burden.

Everyone who plays loves. Why confine that common bond to JUST here? Sometimes the best way to get something done is to DISENGAGE and just get done what you want to get done.

 

[Teal]

Woohoo new news! With all the stuff going on with stealth, I hope they didn't forget about meat in bags attracting zombies. It's such a small thing but added more risk to hunting and what not.

 

[benito82]

a17 multiplayer

I see all this cool stuff. and i'm wondering when I can get a steam supported dedicated server updated with a17 launch? can we get someone to comment on the updated support for the multiplayer? sorry if its been asked, I just paid for this and am curious if that is something that can or will be updated.

 

[Torezu]

Most people know nothing of xml, or how optimisations are happening. They just load vanilla and have at it. There are more than a few who do not even KNOW mods exist, likewise since I run my mod from Discord now there are players coming in from streams who got the launcher from a link in a stream who do not even know this place exists.

Then there are those like me, who experienced what the transition from vanilla to modded Minecraft did for the game (totally spoiled vanilla for me - I can't play it any more), and wants to save that experience until a little while after full release, just to play it uncorrupted for a bit.

 

[The Gronk]

Hey everyone! Just to let you guys know the main reasons for the Madmole silence:
There was a family vacation,

Then there was really bad post vacation sickness involving lots of puke and sleep,

Then lots of piled up work due to those first two events,

And now graduation ceremonies for a Madmole family member.

There is a new video on the horizon. If not in the next couple days a very good chance by this weekend.

There are still things not on the first page lists that are hopefully coming to A17 but might slip to A18 (which is why they aren't on the list).

Send him our commiserations and congratulations.

 

[TheSurvivor]

Wow. That was only an 11 day separation between the road tool and tree tweet? Felt WAY longer.

 

[TheSurvivor]

Hey everyone! Just to let you guys know the main reasons for the Madmole silence:
There was a family vacation,

Then there was really bad post vacation sickness involving lots of puke and sleep,

Then lots of piled up work due to those first two events,

And now graduation ceremonies for a Madmole family member.

There is a new video on the horizon. If not in the next couple days a very good chance by this weekend.

There are still things not on the first page lists that are hopefully coming to A17 but might slip to A18 (which is why they aren't on the list).

Send my prayers to him, will ya? No wonder he was gone.

 

[Kaiser502]

Very Well said my friend

From JaxTeller718

I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that this forum does NOT represent the feelings of the general 7 Days player. Not by a long shot. While our presence here does in fact mean we are MORE informed than the casual player, it doesn't mean we speak for them. Just have a look at the Facebook for the game, or the Twitter responses. Most people know nothing of xml, or how optimisations are happening. They just load vanilla and have at it. There are more than a few who do not even KNOW mods exist, likewise since I run my mod from Discord now there are players coming in from streams who got the launcher from a link in a stream who do not even know this place exists.

That may seem incredible, but I kid you not. I have had to direct more than a few new players to my mod to the forum. To say that just because we are here, our opinions are more important is placing an inflated value on this community, which is not fair to the general public. I would go so far as to say that they have realized this which is why we only get to see "under the hood" discussions with devs here, while other places get the fancy previews. The general public by and large aren't typically interested in discussions on how reworking the rwg is increasing performances, or test videos on cone damage etc. They just want to see the cool stuff. How many times has MM or someone else got caught up in a heated discussion here that influenced a game decision in a negative way? Perhaps they just decided to refocus that energy on ACTUALLY making the game they set out to make without the distractions, which is their right to do.

I used to think that this was THE only place devs should be interacting. And I over reacted several times not because the devs placed this burden on me to cause me to believe I was entitled to anything more than the outside world, but because I unfairly placed that burden on MYSELF and expected Pimps to live up to that burden.

Everyone who plays loves. Why confine that common bond to JUST here? Sometimes the best way to get something done is to DISENGAGE and just get done what you want to get done.

 

[Roland]

I would go so far as to say that they have realized this which is why we only get to see "under the hood" discussions with devs here, while other places get the fancy previews.

Joel posted five pictures (maybe 7 or 8 if you count a few earlier ones) on a different news outlet rather than here. Everything else has been posted here first or at least concurrently. He rarely responds to comments in his twitter feed or on the facebook page but he often answers a few follow up questions here.

I disagree that other places are getting the fancy stuff while we get the technical stuff. We still get mostly all of it.

I agree with your other points about other communities and large percentages of the community not even knowing this place exists and that we should be tolerant and accepting of all these communities from twitch and youtube channel viewers, to facebook and twitter casual players, to the myriad foreign language communities that can't interact here and often have one or two representatives here who take news back to them, to discord, to steam, to reddit, to friggin PC Gamer & Game Informer subscribers, and, yes, even to the console gamers who are an alpha and a half behind us....

There is no way we represent all of them and they deserve to get some "breaking news" in the format that they know. So along with Jax I also say lets not demand that all news should always hit here first. If we end up being the last to know about (up to 8) screenshots regarding A17 I think we can cope.

EDIT: OMG....speak of the devil....

 

[The Gronk]

You are reaching. I like VR in concept but in application I've yet to play a game with it and feel like its a must have instead of just a gimmick.

Dammit! You've got to change that profile picture, I refreshed the page and nearly messed my pants

 

[The Gronk]

Why is that?

I dunno, probably the great big hairy person staring at me with only half a face. Reminds me of my mother

 

[Lonestarcanuck]

Will Quality of items be the same in A17? or be fixed? for example a quality 17 Night Vision Goggles (NVG) or mining helmet should not be nearly as good as 300 or 600

 

[uowaep]

A collider is simply a bounding box linked to the physics, you're exchanging one system for exactly the same one but with extra work unless you're ignoring the built-in unity physics altogether. The only time you'd save a significant amount of system resources is if there are a lot of them and you've micro-optimized your system which is again extra work. The idea of using planes instead of boxes is an interesting one but that would be a different system entirely.
You might save some system resources by implementing a simpler and cruder physics engine but that's a separate idea from colliders. The two are often used together but by no means is one required by the other.

I was under the impression that to remove them from the game loop you would have to remove them from memory, and respawn them when needed, thus creating the issue of frame lag. The main idea I am trying to convey here is that if you just leave everything in memory, and simply ignore the object instead of deleting it, then you could get a smoother transition. If having hundreds of rectangular bbox colliders doesn't add much overhead, and you are able to pick and choose which ones to ignore, it can go a long way. The way the object is ignored is the most important thing here. If you leave it in the loop and set a flag you still have to look at it every frame, but if you take it out of the actual list of objects or out of its linked list, however they have it organized, then it can exist without taking that extra cpu to iterate through it. Long iteration loops can a lot of overhead loss, even if they are only performing a single check per object.

 

[JayBiggS]

You are reaching. I like VR in concept but in application I've yet to play a game with it and feel like its a must have instead of just a gimmick.

That sucks. Do you think people will be able to mod VR support into 7Days themselves?

What games have you played in VR?

 

[The Gronk]

<snipped for space>

You don't get much option with the built-in unity stuff, that's all taken care of behind the scenes. What makes unity so popular is the automation of the grindy parts of programming but it does have some disadvantages. A lot of colliders which aren't moving is reasonably quick but you've got to work under the assumption that a player will find a way to make them all move at once. Some player somewhere will always find a loophole in your setup and then complain that it's slow.

Case in point: A few years ago, before candles were introduced if memory serves, a player complained that placing a squillion torches in a small room made all of the textures look bleached and weird. MadMole simply replied "but why would you even do that?".

 

[The Gronk]

That sucks. Do you think people will be able to mod VR support into 7Days themselves?

Short answer? No.

I've played with the unity vr stuff. It requires a special extension with two cameras and a complete rewrite of the control system.

 

[JayBiggS]

Short answer? No.
I've played with the unity vr stuff. It requires a special extension with two cameras and a complete rewrite of the control system.

Yeah it is the kind of thing the developer needs to add or leave the code open enough for ambitious peeps to hack in. It was even a stretch goal too. Oh well.

Looking forward to A17!

 

[SnowDog1942]

You are reaching. I like VR in concept but in application I've yet to play a game with it and feel like its a must have instead of just a gimmick.

"The Climb" is the game that pushed VR past a gimmick for me.