PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

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Good-Boi 1 point 9 hours ago

Is steam workshop support coming for A17 or on full releasetm ?

[–]JoelHuenink 3 points an hour ago

If it comes it will be after the full release.

 
*Smell is gone it was an abstract that was too hard to communicate in a game.

- I have no issues with this, to my knowledge it was not in anyway. As someone that does some programming (PDM) I can totally understand that if the logistics of laying out and implementing the system are not worth the benefit of the system then it goes.

*All npcs have new AI and pathing.

- Love everything about this. I hope they can fit into the mechanic driven bases like Toothy and Pillar. Those need to become a trend of the past. They are not built to defend against Zombies honestly. They are built to take advantage of pathing issues.

*No audio occlusion.

- (Looks up what this is) I am fine with that. Audio adds a lot to a game, but I am not a 'Sound Person'.

*Hordes are a serious threat now.

- Fantastic! This will be awesome and terrifying like Faatals wolf and dog update.

*Brand new vehicle code with real physics.

- Really looking forward to this. No more minibike falling through the world!

*All new sleeper code.

- This will be awesome as well. I hope it gets rid of the 'broken' sleepers that just lay there and never wake up and let you one shot them.

 
Yeah, the new dog/wolf code. I'm not telling my friends and they fear the zombie dogs. Going to be fun watching that carnage go down.

The only time I ever dealt with the 'smell' was for console (since updates are so far behind) and it annoyed me, seemed like hunting was always the worst way to get food because it'd attract zombies from so far away. Once I went to PC, and 'smell' was gone, I hallelujah'd.

As for audio occlusion, I'm sure they will add it in time. I like the way it is now because even in a house, things sound right next to you, so you are never sure if you are alone. Granted, I understand the downsides of that, but I like the aspect of actually being surprised when something is there because I've just so long assume that the zombie is further away since 99% of the time, it is. So it's a good jump scare when I'm wrong, especially at night. It can get annoying if it then causes you to get an infection, etc. early on when no antibiotics or the like are on me, so now mad dash to look for some. I almost feel like audio occlusion could get rid of a lot of scariness aspect in the game. Especially, if you can tell exactly where zombies are, at all times.

With sleeper code, I just hope they stop having them sleeping standing up x.x... If they are against a wall, I can understand it, but in the middle of a room is a bit much, lol.

- - - Updated - - -

There is sound occlusion code, but it is disabled. Why? I would guess it is either slow or buggy.
Oh? That's cool. I'm hoping just the slow part, because with all the changes in A17E, I'm guessing it wouldn't be as slow now? Or it may need to be rewritten after all the changes. Hmmmm.

 
Oh ♥♥♥♥ so weather got some work done to it??
Don't get too excited. It was more like things changed. Weather broke. Fixes are being made and since the whole system seems too complicated and hard to maintain, it is being improved by simplifying and changing how it works.

 
There is sound occlusion code, but it is disabled. Why? I would guess it is either slow or buggy.
Noob question here: Does audio occlusion refer to the dampening of noise through objects? Example, a zombie in front of you sounds crisp, loud, and clear, but a zombie on the floor above you is more muffled/distant sounding?

 
Noob question here: Does audio occlusion refer to the dampening of noise through objects? Example, a zombie in front of you sounds crisp, loud, and clear, but a zombie on the floor above you is more muffled/distant sounding?
Yes, that is correct, that is the simplified version of it.

 
*Brand new vehicle code with real physics. - Really looking forward to this. No more minibike falling through the world!
Hopefully. There is a vehicle manager that tries to stop that by tracking and saving them. It was added before my time and is still in the game.

It has not been an issue for me since I started work on vehicles, but vehicles interact with the world very differently now, so only time will tell if disappearing can still happen.

 
Oh? That's cool. I'm hoping just the slow part, because with all the changes in A17E, I'm guessing it wouldn't be as slow now? Or it may need to be rewritten after all the changes. Hmmmm.
A17 changes should not have effected the existing occlusion, since it is basically just raycasts and looking at types of blocks hit. Doing that for lots of sounds is just inherently slow.

 
Hopefully. There is a vehicle manager that tries to stop that by tracking and saving them. It was added before my time and is still in the game.
It has not been an issue for me since I started work on vehicles, but vehicles interact with the world very differently now, so only time will tell if disappearing can still happen.
Thank you for the clarification @Faatal!

To be safe, until we know for sure, I will continue to remove the wheels whenever I park a vehicle.

 
If smell is gone, will heat vision also be leaving for something more plausible like light & sound detection? I know it will require light occlusion to fully work, but if smell was too abstract, reptilian heat detection is far less expected.

Any news on the indoor AO getting fixed, or will it still disabled for A17?

I cannot wait for sound occlusion to work. It will make a world of difference in regards to atmosphere.

To be safe, until we know for sure, I will continue to remove the wheels whenever I park a vehicle.
Just park on a player made block. That is the safest.

 
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A17 changes should not have effected the existing occlusion, since it is basically just raycasts and looking at types of blocks hit. Doing that for lots of sounds is just inherently slow.
Ah. I for sure could see an issue with that with hordes. What about having it say if less than 10 zombies around you, it's on, but greater it's off? I know then it'd be a 'warning' to let you know if it's a large group or not near you, and people wouldn't like that either. There's really no easy way for it with this type of game, is there....

 
NPCs don't path yet. I'm sure he meant zombies and animals. The entities that actually move.
Okay. I kinda thought/hoped he meant bandits/other human characters. It's a bit.. confusing.. if he's talking about NPC's but actually means zombies.

 
If smell is gone, will heat vision also be leaving for something more plausible like light & sound detection? I know it will require light occlusion to fully work, but if smell was too abstract, reptilian heat detection is far less expected.
Any news on the indoor AO getting fixed, or will it still disabled for A17?

I cannot wait for sound occlusion to work. It will make a world of difference in regards to atmosphere.
Well, there is sound detection being included into A17, which is the stealth meter. So there's that. And light detection is a thing in a way, because night time you can crouch walk right up to a zombie from the front without being noticed, but doing that during the day and you are detected quite easily. Now the light could be more refine, to say non-ambient light (which it may be, but I just haven't noticed). And the sound (stealth) detection is new. So more than likely can be refined after initial release. As for the heat detection, I would like it to be in, otherwise, the game would become waaaayyy too easy on blood moon nights, or really anything.

 
Ah. I for sure could see an issue with that with hordes.
They would just limit the number of "voices", not disable it completely.

The sound and light you discuss is player based, not general detection AFAIK. It may be the foundation for a full detection system however for the zombies.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay. I kinda thought/hoped he meant bandits/other human characters. It's a bit.. confusing.. if he's talking about NPC's but actually means zombies.
It may be laying down the foundation for true NPCs, but only applies to zombies and animals currently.

 
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Okay. I kinda thought/hoped he meant bandits/other human characters. It's a bit.. confusing.. if he's talking about NPC's but actually means zombies.
It might have something to do with the local naming convention used here. NPC means Non-Player Character, in its broadest sense that encompasses every "living" entity other than a player. That includes everything from rabbits to bandits.

 
Thank you for the clarification @Faatal!
To be safe, until we know for sure, I will continue to remove the wheels whenever I park a vehicle.
You can't remove parts from vehicles anymore. You will be able to take (pickup) some vehicles like the bicycle.

 
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