PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[meganoth]

The new food and stamina system that has you eating and drinking at 75% plus is poorly done. When I'm at 75% I shouldn't be getting messages that I'm hungry or thirsty if I'm only 25% down. With this new system, the message IMHO makes no sense let alone what will new players think? It goes against every game I have played using hunger and thirst.

It is the point where you get negative symptoms, so a warning at that time would be about right.

If we go by reality, you will get negative hunger effects after about a day (i.e. your performance to do stamina-draining work). Even earlier if you do hard work or sports. But you die after about 70 days (if I remember correctly).

 

[NukemDed]

And add some small batteries in loot that get low on charge with the time they are used. Rechargable maybe (using car battery/engine/charge device). Helmet/weapon lights can`t be infinite and yes it can become scary at some bad moments when they deplete. Would be fun.

bike light to run on one of those little generators that work off the wheel? light goes off when you stop moving.

 

[BayouMac]

Two suggestions for the bicycle would be:
A mounted flashlight.

A basket (same as the minibike).

The multi phased missile launcher and the auto firing turret can come latter.

Just kidding about the last two ideas.

Why do you want a basket? The bicycle already comes with storage.

 

[spacepiggio]

Just up the zombie run speed and you can easily create that scenario you described - fixed!

I am talking about scenarios in most Z movies where you get entrapped by Z's because you are wounded or otherwise & not adjusting the speed. The Z's are still way too easy to evade even when encumbered & tired, just a side step & shift. At some point you have to stand & fight by design & a faster sped up Z is not a fair fight early game. Z's don't tire so they should catch up to you when encumbered, wounded or tired.

 

[wildaxeman1]

Just sharing here from a different page: Sad news as we lost one of our own - the streamer named Wayde Jr Andazola also known as MsgtPorkins has passed away sometime early this morning. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. He was my favorite streamer.

really sad news. he was on my every saturday evening screen star

 

[Kalex]

@faatal: I just spent an entire day learning what I could to get a custom vehicle into the game; reading up on damping rate (true story... the definition of damping rate is "rate of dampening." Took me a while to find actual info on that), Extremum Slip values, Stiffness, and proper seating...
And I was successful, but only because of y'alls hard work allowing us access to these wonderful tools.

Thank you!

I want some enterprising modder to make Dead Reckoning for the game.

 

[sillls]

Why do you want a basket? The bicycle already comes with storage.

Because the basket it bigger.

It would hold the same amount as the minibike.

 

[hunluki]

Yay Im loving this game so far, here is some ideas Ive got.A way to make cable management? I mean, they'r so tedious.

Some more ideas:

Electricity:

An alternate switch and more than one input for electric stuff to make more complicated circuits.

Electric AC for hot days, electric heaters for cold (these should require a well insulated house) and electric Ovens to cook food, even electric furnaces if you have enough power.

Also a fridge to keep your food edible (simple stocked foods should rot based on type).

Electric Cars? I can imagine a long-long-long playtrough where I start as a simple man with some pants made of grass, but after a decent time invested in I can be the cool guy who travels home by his electric car, attach it to a solar charger, go in my well insulated house, drink an ice coffee from my fridge while turrets keep me safe from zeds.

Also charging batteries should be faster than 5W.

Maybe a high level electrician perk to create batteries, solar panels, and the above mentioned stuff.

Comfort level:

Maybe you heal faster or get XP faster for a few hours if you rest in a nice place. This can be achieved by building confy buildings with couches, well insulated walls, nice bright areas with lots of windows, TVs, etc. to encourage "nice" base building instead of practicality.

A little annoying thing for me:

You need a glass jar full of water to create stews, but if you eat it, glass jar is lost. Would be nice to have it back, I think nobody eats a jar with their soup

Also empty cans should be used to store food and prevent rotting.

I mean this game have so much potential, have about 300 hours in it (joined in A16), and I can't wait to finish work and team up with my friends to play today

 

[archergod]

A raft is gonna be ingame (possibly). Water physics must be fixed first.

I don't think water physics really need to be fixed for boat. Consider this if a vehicle is on block that is water and block underneath is water too (so we drive only on deep water), it will work same as motorcycle. so water physics is not needed to be fixed for it. just make a vechicle that need water block underneath.

 

[DaVegaNL]

Just sharing here from a different page: Sad news as we lost one of our own - the streamer named Wayde Jr Andazola also known as MsgtPorkins has passed away sometime early this morning. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. He was my favorite streamer.

Oh damn, that's bad to hear. I knew he was critical of the game, but I always like how he did things.

RIP.

 

[Jay_ombie]

I don't think water physics really need to be fixed for boat. Consider this if a vehicle is on block that is water and block underneath is water too (so we drive only on deep water), it will work same as motorcycle. so water physics is not needed to be fixed for it. just make a vechicle that need water block underneath.

Been wanting water to be applied better physics since A15. It's the only thing visually and such that lets the game down.

 

[Alphado-Jaki]

If boat comes in now, what is good for us?

No threat, no reward on water.

Boat helps to make us across, and that's all. Then we can just turn ocean off. (A17 did this)

For nice journey on water, dev need to improve not only physics, but also threat and reward of it. Otherwise, journey with boat become boring.

Kraken, pirate, or zombie shark for threat?

Oil rig, cargo ship, landed aircraft or higan-jima for reward?

Not sure for me.

Anyway, dev need much time for these reasons, not just because boat is difficult to make.

 

[MrVecetti]

Over half off the issues that people complained about and got rush "rebalance" updates i feel would have been fixed by working on progression on this game.
The entire run on A17 has been focussed on balancing early game while lategame has been completely neglected..

Some examples of the top of my head would be:

- Removed level gating -> Personally the main issue i saw ppl having with the level gating was due to workstations. Mainly the forge and cement mixer so they could start their base without spending 20x more materials and unreachable blocks. -> Possible solution: making tiered workbenches that gate items and progress in speed with different fuel types.. wood/coal (or even add charcoal)/electricity for example. Making these far more expensive and resource demanding.

Stamina updates -> You already have Tiered tools.. Why not USE them... Just by looking at the tools you can tell steel tools are heavier then iron and iron is heavier then stone.. Scale stamina by these tool tiers.. instead of reworking stamina where its an issue early game and ez mode lategame.. Lategame you should have access to better food and they stamina drain wouldnt have been such an issue, but instead you made stamina an issue early game while trying to address the lategame stamina.. which in my experience still didnt work.. Lategame food/water is absolutely no issue, while early game.. it does work.

- Electricity -> Personally never used it except for blade traps. Doors and gates arent compatible.. Electricity has a lot of potention but nearly no features other then lighting and traps.. As previously suggested, fast workstations would be a great feature

- Boosted mining exp -> in b240 you could outlevel POIers easily if you had steel tools and motherload 5.. With the 17.1 update the experience gain has roughly been increased by 120%. Even with iron tools I was getting 20-30k per 5 minutes, which adds up to 240k exp per hour. i usually spend 3-4 days of a 7 days cycle mining. My gamestage absolutely skyrocketted to the point where I had no supplies for day 14 hordenight.

POI loot -> POI's have tiers in difficulty and time it takes to run through one, yet the loot isn't tiered. Resulting in a lot of tier 3-4 POI's giving 2-3x more/better loot then tier 6 poi's. Also lower tier POI's will have 2500 durability safes just like high tier POI's.. Reworking by tiering the zombie spawns (so higher tiers get more ferals/irrads while low tiers get just regular zombies. no matter your GS).. and reworking safes so there are actual "tiered" safes with their own durability and loot tables would improve POI's to the point they are actually TIERED.. Currently high tier POI's will actually cost you more ammo on high gamestages then they give you. which makes a absolutely great and fun POI im sure developers worked days on making. Just useless content you are better of ignoring because they aren't profitable.

Zombie xp -> Regular zombies give 550, ferals 700, bigger zombies 800 and irrads 1050.. If you write down the xp per hit on these zombies you'll actually be tempted to ignore and walk away from ferals and irrads because they arent even worth the ammo... Also again, dropped loot bags arent tiered..

Lategame content -> I think I am not to only one who feels capped out at lvl ~100-150 due to the limited content lategame. Usually having obtained enough materials by level 50-75 to craft everything I need while waiting for my levels to unlock the perks. Making certain parts for high tier workstations/vehicles for example would add content to lategame. Even if the last tier workstation would only increase craft speed, it would be worth getting in my opinion.

Mainly I just feel the game's content is currently completely wrapped around early game with a few progressive improvements unlocked by levelgating. I miss progression and lategame content. After 2-3 playthroughs you know what you're gonna need and if you play it right you will have what you need for the entire playthrough by lvl 50-75. Leaving you with unlocking the level gated perks and nothing else to do. Other then grinding ammo for the next hordenight.

 

[Genosis]

Mainly I just feel the game's content is currently completely wrapped around early game with a few progressive improvements unlocked by levelgating. I miss progression and lategame content. After 2-3 playthroughs you know what you're gonna need and if you play it right you will have what you need for the entire playthrough by lvl 50-75. Leaving you with unlocking the level gated perks and nothing else to do. Other then grinding ammo for the next hordenight.

I agree, the game kinda falls flat after you unlock steel. Then its just unlocking stuff, making perfect guns, quick succession of end game creations. Then, go out for brass, mine, make bullets, do rounds at the trader, re run some POI's for exp, repeat. The it's all just sandbox, up to your imagination.

Bearing in mind we are playing an alpha, this is to be expected. Things are missing, otherwise it would be a beta.

Looking forward, we have to deal with bandit factions. Getting swept up in a conflict between rival survivors, and the looming threat of each horde in between. Imagine modifying base design to incorporate incoming bullets, taking cover. I'm unsure if it's going that way, but maybe some kind of territorial system where bandits continue to expand their fortifications if left unchecked? Not to mention zombie-control modes where you can stalk fellow players as a zombie. (if the kickstarter goals are to be honored)

The game has massive potential; all we can do is toss around ideas and wait while they make it all a reality.

 

[CplCritter]

I am talking about scenarios in most Z movies where you get entrapped by Z's because you are wounded or otherwise & not adjusting the speed. The Z's are still way too easy to evade even when encumbered & tired, just a side step & shift. At some point you have to stand & fight by design & a faster sped up Z is not a fair fight early game. Z's don't tire so they should catch up to you when encumbered, wounded or tired.

I get what you are saying. I've also seen plenty of zombie scenes where the injured person gets away and lives. It can go both ways, but good point. I plan on upping zombie speed as I near mid/end game to keep the challenge up a little.

Maybe TFP will add more balance, maybe they won't. The more customization options they add though, the more each player can tweak the game to their liking so TFP are making leaps and bounds in the right direction IMHO.

 

[SittingDuck]

Been wanting water to be applied better physics since A15. It's the only thing visually and such that lets the game down.

i would not care if it´s would look like the yellow stuff i don´t want to name, I want it to work right, no falling waterblocks, no holes in the water, being able to build in water and that the water interacts right with the building blocks...

 

[Jamie87]

really sad news. he was on my every saturday evening screen star

He loved the game man really sad news gutted

 

[sillls]

Please bring back the shotgun effect back to shotguns.

I think that the last time I saw the shotgun effect was in Alpha 10.

Were I could take a shotgun and knock back several closely packed zombies with one blast.

Now it's like I am throwing slugs rather than shot.

The effect was like a cone shape blast that was getting bigger and weaker the farther it got from the weapon. Hitting several targets at once.

Please bring it back.

Thanks.

 

[Kalex]

In the first build of A17 experimental, if you had crafting projects queued up and you needed to repair a tool, it would interrupt the crafting project, repair the tool, then restart the crafting project. Later builds just add the repair task to the queue. Is this a bug or was this change intended? Honestly, I liked the interrupt. It was/is a pain in the ass to have to either cancel all the projects then repair the tool then restart the projects manually OR wait out some really long-ass crafting timers just to be able to continue on with what I am doing.

 

[spacepiggio]

I get what you are saying. I've also seen plenty of zombie scenes where the injured person gets away and lives. It can go both ways, but good point. I plan on upping zombie speed as I near mid/end game to keep the challenge up a little.
Maybe TFP will add more balance, maybe they won't. The more customization options they add though, the more each player can tweak the game to their liking so TFP are making leaps and bounds in the right direction IMHO.

Yea, I up the difficulty as I level up & it just seems you can still run circles around Z's even when tired. Like some of the early W/D where he sacrificed the guy to the horde to get away & save himself. At some point the Z attack has to be overwhelming where you can't run, we need a fight or die scenario in the game.