PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[The Gronk]

I can't say I disagree with the changes to farming from a gameplay perspective, it certainly makes things more efficient. My concern is that an already simple system is being simplified even further, perhaps too far.

As has been mentioned before, the building and survival aspects of the game seem to be increasingly dwarfed into insignificance by the run-and-gun aspect.

Hopefully when water physics gets its long overdue overhaul irrigation will be brought back in. That was a great mechanic which added realism in a reasonably simple way. It also follows what is apparently the current idea of doing something once and then reaping the benefits over the course of time.

 

[dhlmaster]

Pretty sure you're right about being able to use a weapon or tool to harvest

 

[DaVegaNL]

Pretty sure you're right about being able to use a weapon or tool to harvest

Yeah that would be good. Like Gronkie said; I don't wanna keep an empty slot on my toolbar.

 

[A Nice Cup of Tea]

And on other hand i would say farming needs to be harder. If you have farm you have hunger-free gameplay so boring fo me.

From the sound of it, it's both simpler (in terms of user interface) and harder (in terms of making a viable farm). So it's a win-win situation.

 

[Strengthinside]

so Joel got RTX powered rig? I hope he will not forget about us potato-hardware owners and we will be able to play a17 too :/

 

[KingSlayerGM]

WRONG WRONG WRONG. This game is supposed to be a survival game, but with each alpha it becomes easier and more boring. And i blame comments like yours.

And it is a survival game.

Do you want realism instead? Go play Arma 3 or Farming Simulator.. this game is supposed to be fun, not realistic.

 

[open6l]

the one good thing about the nerf to farming is that you can protect a farm from players with a landclaim. If you have to punch it to harvest it will go 'ding' for anyone that isn't a friend. At least I'm assuming the landclaim mechanics are the same in 17.

 

[wolffblood]

Still, this alpha is focused around getting a lot of systems reworked and into place. With the buff system, I could see food spoilage being added easily, just takes time. Now they can work on that, but say push alpha out another 2 weeks. You want this, add another 2 weeks on top, you want that, add another 2 weeks. It can and will add up fast, so I'd be happy to forgo so many of these "wants" to have A17E released sooner then have stuff be added later.

As with seeds, I can see them being rare for fact of I'd rather find 10 then find 1000 and have 990 fail. That's just a lot of wasted time and frustrations of hoping. I can see that making more people mad and quitting then just making them rare. But, as was stated before, someone will mod it to be different, so be looking out for that.

And as with the idea of the game becoming easier, somethings have to become easier (with changing systems around), tested, and released before it can become harder by using it to the fullest. That then takes tweaking and refining. But as what was also stated before, you can heavily mod everything to become harder (which is TFP's plan since this game can be played in so many different ways). Make zombies have more health, dmg, etc. Make you have less health, dmg, etc. Make seeds more rare, put higher gates on perks, make requirements for weapons/armor beyond just perk level, make zombie run speed always faster than yours (makes you care to know where zombies are at all times), make weapons do less damage or break faster. There's plenty of ways to make the game harder, and with this new update, I have a feeling even more mods than usual will be released for the fact of how much more simple it will become to mod.

And I would be against the "E" interact for grass, I DO NOT want to have that always saying "E to interact" everywhere I ran. That would be so frustrating and more immersion breaking than anything else. Basically only way to make it not do that would almost to be looking at the sky while running. And yeah, punching makes sense for crops cause of the stamina usage, makes you hungry to do everything. Basically the short form of pick and replant.

My friends are excited for the update with what little I'm telling them about it (leaving certain things out as surprises for them) since they don't follow the forum. I'm excited for it. And if I can play my cards right, maybe once we do know a release date or the week after it's released, we'll all take a day off and just play it all day.

 

[Manchild]

I can't say I disagree with the changes to farming from a gameplay perspective, it certainly makes things more efficient. My concern is that an already simple system is being simplified even further, perhaps too far.
As has been mentioned before, the building and survival aspects of the game seem to be increasingly dwarfed into insignificance by the run-and-gun aspect.

Hopefully when water physics gets its long overdue overhaul irrigation will be brought back in. That was a great mechanic which added realism in a reasonably simple way. It also follows what is apparently the current idea of doing something once and then reaping the benefits over the course of time.

yeah water physics to troll mole rats hell yeah.

 

[Guppycur]

Empty hand is your "tool" for harvesting. Makes sense.

Agree that dumbing down for "fun" is bad... Chub nailed it.

 

[Tin]

Just wondering.. Why did they implement the 'empty-hands-punch-instead-off-E' change? If one uses the same argument, do we need empty hands for looting any container?

I can think of one.

The punch uses stamina, In turn food and water.

While just using the 'E' button didn't.

 

[OldManBrian]

Farming would be way more useful when there is a food spoilage timer.Then the only ways to secure a good supply of (good) food is to either keep perpetually looting/hunting for it, or farming it.

Currently food is becoming a non issue after a while, as the player will stockpile found food.

With food spoilage stockpiling is not possible. Its needs to be gathered/farmed and prepared regularly.

(only for canned food, wich should give less bonuses)

The player can then choose: do I stockpile "low grade" non perishable foods like water and canned food.

Or do I want a secure supply of high grade food (cooked foods and prepared drinks) wich give bonuses but will perish after a while.

Absolutely this. We really need a food spoilage timer.

Similarly, snow needs to melt so if you take it to a warm biome it just goes away instead of allowing you to stockpile water.

 

[pavichokche]

Absolutely this. We really need a food spoilage timer.
Similarly, snow needs to melt so if you take it to a warm biome it just goes away instead of allowing you to stockpile water.

This kind of stuff feels more appropriate in some hyper realism mod. Also, games which DO natively have food spoilage (Starbound and The Forest come to mind) also have mechanics to allow you to store food without spoiling (fridges and drying meat, respectively). So if you're in such a good position that food isn't an issue without food spoilage, you'll most likely also be fine with food spoilage.

 

[Liesel Weppen]

Absolutely this. We really need a food spoilage timer.

Additionally i like to have a decay of consumed food, which forces you to eat different meals. People tend to produce the most ressource-effective food only and then always eat the same. A decay for each kind of food could reduce effectivness of the food, eg. eating grilled pork the 15th time will only restore 50% of the base value, or consuming the same kind of food over and over will give other negative status effects to the char.

Or something similar to "Green Hell" where you need to eat protein, carbs and fat. So grilled pork gives you protein and fat, but almost no carbs. Canned vegetables give you carbs, but low protein and fat, and so on.

 

[Guppycur]

This kind of stuff feels more appropriate in some hyper realism mod. Also, games which DO natively have food spoilage (Starbound and The Forest come to mind) also have mechanics to allow you to store food without spoiling (fridges and drying meat, respectively). So if you're in such a good position that food isn't an issue without food spoilage, you'll most likely also be fine with food spoilage.

Until zeds knock your generator out and you lose everything in the fridge.

 

[Manchild]

And on other hand i would say farming needs to be harder. If you have farm you have hunger-free gameplay so boring fo me.

Zombies should be able to blight farms if they come in contact with them.also season just change but thats asking for 2 much.

 

[Rusrec00]

glad to see pause for single player

 

[sillls]

The last video that I saw, posted by Pocket Ninja on Halloween was great. In fact one of his better videos because it showed a lot of content. But next time it would be better not to have it done on the phone.

Thanks PocketNinja for the video

 

[wolffblood]

Additionally i like to have a decay of consumed food, which forces you to eat different meals. People tend to produce the most ressource-effective food only and then always eat the same. A decay for each kind of food could reduce effectivness of the food, eg. eating grilled pork the 15th time will only restore 50% of the base value, or consuming the same kind of food over and over will give other negative status effects to the char.
Or something similar to "Green Hell" where you need to eat protein, carbs and fat. So grilled pork gives you protein and fat, but almost no carbs. Canned vegetables give you carbs, but low protein and fat, and so on.

I could see eating repeated foods and spoilage could be good to implement. But even though this is a survival game, this isn't a micromanagement survival game. Leave out the fat/protein/carbs/etc. That just gets to be a bit much in my opinion. With the new systems, I'm sure someone will mod that in, but as for the game itself, I'd just leave it out. Most people I know hates too much micromanagement short of city building games, takes out a lot of fun of most everything else. I've seen it in other games and it's an instant no to playing it.

 

[Manchild]

I could see eating repeated foods and spoilage could be good to implement. But even though this is a survival game, this isn't a micromanagement survival game. Leave out the fat/protein/carbs/etc. That just gets to be a bit much in my opinion. With the new systems, I'm sure someone will mod that in, but as for the game itself, I'd just leave it out. Most people I know hates too much micromanagement short of city building games, takes out a lot of fun of most everything else. I've seen it in other games and it's an instant no to playing it.

Good example of overdoing it is scum.