PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[Cazmyr]

I think attributes are confirmed. So you've got strength, agility... and these will give you bonuses on your skills. I would call this very overhauly

Yes, it does seem that way. The skill progression is a large part of this game and I'd love to find out how it is going to work.

I am very excited about it and think the attribute system will add a lot.

 

[HIREDGUN]

Why would half the city reorganize their homes into cluttered mazes at the zombie outbreak?
I really like the high detail environments and I would like to get this kind of touch on some "empty rooms" as well. I think it would be very reasonable to assume there are big amount of houses in the world that got abandoned just as they were when the outbreak happened.

This adds to the realism it would be nice to see varied VERSIONS of each POI so when you roll up on a gas station it may be configured to be one of several "Dungeon" styles or "empty/ minimally stocked" area. Of course in Random Gen it would have to be generated by seed so you can respawn the region to fix or repair blocks and it would be as it started for consistancy.

 

[Guppycur]

Add a can pick up is true with a flashlight parameter to the weird static light blocks and problem solved.

 

[Ouch Quit It]

Here’s the thing about the dungeon POIs. If you are like me and typically loot an entire house of ALL of its loot containers and search out all the zombies to essentially “clear” the house then these POIs will feel orgasmically exploratory.
If you are like my mother who IN ADDITION must scrap every blinds, curtain, light fixture, railing, couch, bed, table,and duct to “finish a house”...well, then, welcome to your 50 Shades of Gray exploratory and harvesting experience. Take a week or two per house and enjoy yourself gutting it completely... (or would that be 9 1/2?)

Now if you typically bypass all the regular containers and go straight to the attic safe or bookcase then it probably will seem more linear to you—but then again you’re playing pretty linearly already.

9 1/2 weeks ..now you are really dating yourself....you do remind me of Mickey though...recent one...lol

MTFGA

 

[art1336]

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.

Hey Benito, welcome to the game and welcome to the forums. To get a dedicated server with a17, all you need do is send a bag of S.o.J's and your sisters hand in marriage (or cousin if the sister is homely) to my mailing address and I'll get right on it!

By the way, beware of the trolls in here. They get mean sometimes.

 

[art1336]

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

They are not in terms of the damage reduction that they add. I think you are likely referring to the visibility, which I would agree with, but I do not know if something like vision would be changeable at all.

But as far as reduced damage from sources, they are not as good as max level items, if that is what you were meaning.

 

[art1336]

*ahem*
“How dare you dictate how I should play. I thought this game was a sandbox!!! If you forcibly deny me anything I’ll hit uninstall!”

I'm sure that's the first time you posted that in those exact terms, but for some reason it reminds me so much of all of your snarky and witty ways of mimicking that that I feel as if I've read it a dozen times before.

But I bet it felt good, dinnit?

- - - Updated - - -

The candle solution is obvious: make candles not suck at what they're for and most players won't feel the need to use a zillion of them.

That looks fairly accurate of three candles of that size in an underground room. If I turn the lights off in a room with no windows and light three candles, that's about what I'll get. Torches put off more light though.

 

[art1336]

It’s not what the candles look like, it’s how well they light the surroundings. Yes I’ve lit candles in the dark, and even a single candle has always been enough to make out the walls in any normal room.
Even if we did accept that candles should be that dark, where does it leave the candle’s role in the game? They’re either not enough to be useful, or are so numerous as to hurt performance. Leaving the player to choose between ‘not useful’ and ‘poor performance’ is terrible. It’s absolutely an issue.

I know you’re in insurance, but... you would hope for disaster where you live?

Where does it leave them in the game? In my opinion, just a decoration. I use torches for light early game and electricity mid game. Candles are just for a spooky room.

 

[dhlmaster]

We really need to be able to pick up those lamps and electrical appliances at some point. (...and even ceiling lights with proper tools.) It makes sense to gather some things whole instead of trashing them and getting components.

I would like to see a harvesting action on the wiring tool that let's you take entire electrical blocks. Also, having a use for the stove, fridge, and air conditioner blocks that already exist in the game would be great.

 

[Crater Creator]

@Roland
The little lights you couldn't pick up on the crates you couldn't interact with that told you exactly where to go weren't a bit hokey?

These lights would be a great candidate for the helper block feature. Lighting is a great way to make the same environment look different without changing the contents. So, if there are "forks in the road" like Roland says, they could place a light for every path, but when the chunk is generated some of them spawn in the off state. Or if that's not possible, some of them spawn on and the rest spawn as air blocks.

For that matter, this could be done for all lights, not just those designed to guide the player's attention. Randomness for the win!

 

[Jackelmyer]

Roland.

Dude. Can you do me a favor and confirm or deny whether or not the progress bars in this form thread are a joke? The XP bar has had what seems like action. But the main health bar? That thing hasn't budged in months. At least not in any noticeable way. So... health bar just kidding? Or did someone actually doing any estimation on progress just give up on estimating?

Thanks man. Hope this doesn't come across as a flame.

 

[The Gronk]

Where does it leave them in the game? In my opinion, just a decoration. I use torches for light early game and electricity mid game. Candles are just for a spooky room.

Torches are animated, candles are not. Candles are much faster if you use a lot of them and you're playing on a potato.

 

[Demonoid74]

I still always use candles for lighting...even late game...I find the electric light to bright and sterile...then again I am weird and am a night person in real life and prefer low lighting...

 

[Crater Creator]

If you are like my mother who IN ADDITION must scrap every blinds, curtain, light fixture, railing, couch, bed, table,and duct to “finish a house”...well, then, welcome to your 50 Shades of Gray exploratory and harvesting experience. Take a week or two per house and enjoy yourself gutting it completely... (or would that be 9 1/2?)

If you ask me, bringing up your mother's "50 Shades of Gray" experience on an open internet forum is really playing with fire.

 

[beerfly]

I still always use candles for lighting...even late game...I find the electric light to bright and sterile...then again I am weird and am a night person in real life and prefer low lighting...

Brightness setting would be usefull for the lights in future. They are still a WIP , as part of electricity system. When the moment is right we will give them a proper discussion , I can bet.

 

[sillls]

Damm! All Madmole has to do is fart in the general direction of this forum and everyone gets excited.

 

[Rust Buddy]

Jax old buddy its good to see you. We are keeping our heads down working hard, no time to chat.
I don't always post here because you guys beat me to it most the time anyway. I actually logged in to post the news but by the time I got to it, someone did beat me to it.

I will get a video out soon

Glad your still alive Madmole. if you get more time and want to play some Rust let me know. you could do a side by side video of playing Rust and 7 Days to Die! That would be sweet.

 

[Rust Buddy]

Ok lets add all those details so that we can only render 1 chunk at a time and 2 enemies at once. Sorry but those details are not even noticed in the heat of combat and would significantly slow the game down, so they go to the recycle bin of "cannot afford it cool ideas". Maybe next game, but I'd rather get more zombies on screen then too, so until I see 1000 zombies on screen my vote is no to expensive subtle features like that.

what about making all terrain indestructible? some of the biggest games out there (rust, dayz, ark) dont worry about tunneling underground and they do really well. you should listen to your rust buddy on this and make the world more like rust so we can get even more zombies on the screen.

 

[dhlmaster]

I still always use candles for lighting...even late game...I find the electric light to bright and sterile...then again I am weird and am a night person in real life and prefer low lighting...

I find the electric lights are bright, but only cover a very small area. I wish they would simply have a better spread. In real life, I have some large rooms that are fully lit with just a single light fixture that has 2 or 3 bulbs. Not brightly lit, but fully lit. No pitch dark corner 3 feet away from a brightly lit area.

 

[SnowDog1942]

what about making all terrain indestructible? some of the biggest games out there (rust, dayz, ark) dont worry about tunneling underground and they do really well. you should listen to your rust buddy on this and make the world more like rust so we can get even more zombies on the screen.

How about you leave our terrain alone and go play rust & Day Z and ark instead :smile-new: