PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17
- Thread starter Roland
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You mean as casual as he announced any new feature that gets in? I don't know, I don't like drama queens as news source, so for me thats a feature not a bug.
TFP surely have an almost unlimited list of features that they would like to have in the game. Some of them turn out as bad ideas, some just move up or down that list. Some turn out to be too much work for the gain, detrimental to some playstyles or collide with other features.
So instead of a danger to your health they become a danger for you to have to farm some more. Doesn't really sound exciting. Generally you will hear a lot of people protesting base-crushing zombies just because they just translate to more boring base-fixing work. Generally I would prefer defense-circumventing zombies to defense-crushing zombies any day
Additionally it depends on how you fight zombies, i.e. whether you can translate the higher swing speed to DPS.
If I just stand in front of a zombie and hit him at highest speed and my weapon doesn't stun him I get hit. So like many others I either run through them or step forward, hit, step backward. In both cases I want a high damage per hit while the hitting frequency is relatively unimportant as I can't hit that fast anyway.
The things that I hope they fix is the lousy loot that is in the more dangerous zombies. Kill a Hawaii zombie and you will get nothing, same with some others. Big Momma gives tools, shovels and such and is worth fighting. Watched a lot of videos and there are lots of complaints of how TFPs must not play their game or they would know there is lousy loot so why fight the zombies, just hop on a bike and ride away, or run away from them and do something that gives better loot.
As for seeds, what a lot of players don't realize is that there is more than one spawn site. Spawn in the desert, or in a burnt forest near a burnt city, in the plains and have two or three days to walk to find a city, just a building here and there and get lucky they give food/water and find yucca in plains/desert. Corn in plains to have to eat; snow berries also to eat in forest and snow biome. Or a great spawn site with several cities close by, desert in one area for yucca and aloe and plenty of corn, potatoes and berries you can grow. That was in just one seed I was checking out. I'm not complaining about it, I expected that, but some don't (and should).
I don't think anything needs to be changed in the minibike, too many remarks, here and in comments on videos of how hard it is to find a decent engine and battery. Most are tan or yellow, and the higher quality are almost worn out. I had one where the deer outran me. And if a zombie had been feral, it would have been able to run me down. Remarks of how hard it is to find a bike and crossbow schematics.
These aren't from me, I get a lot of info from players who comment on youtube, but never post on the forums, which I think gives a good idea of what the casual players are dealing with. Most of those who watch youtube or twitch are of the younger generation, ages 15 to 20s. There are a lot of teenagers and adults in early 20s who play the game.
Ziplines, I was looking forward to, behemoth, not. It doesn't fit with the story of WWIII and virus due to _____ (whatever). Yes, I can see DNA research in trying to find a cure and the irradiated and feral zombies, but not a behemoth. And as for why, just like the smell had to be dropped and set aside for later on fixing, those could have caused problems in a more important area.
As for seeds, what a lot of players don't realize is that there is more than one spawn site. Spawn in the desert, or in a burnt forest near a burnt city, in the plains and have two or three days to walk to find a city, just a building here and there and get lucky they give food/water and find yucca in plains/desert. Corn in plains to have to eat; snow berries also to eat in forest and snow biome. Or a great spawn site with several cities close by, desert in one area for yucca and aloe and plenty of corn, potatoes and berries you can grow. That was in just one seed I was checking out. I'm not complaining about it, I expected that, but some don't (and should).
I don't think anything needs to be changed in the minibike, too many remarks, here and in comments on videos of how hard it is to find a decent engine and battery. Most are tan or yellow, and the higher quality are almost worn out. I had one where the deer outran me. And if a zombie had been feral, it would have been able to run me down. Remarks of how hard it is to find a bike and crossbow schematics.
These aren't from me, I get a lot of info from players who comment on youtube, but never post on the forums, which I think gives a good idea of what the casual players are dealing with. Most of those who watch youtube or twitch are of the younger generation, ages 15 to 20s. There are a lot of teenagers and adults in early 20s who play the game.
Ziplines, I was looking forward to, behemoth, not. It doesn't fit with the story of WWIII and virus due to _____ (whatever). Yes, I can see DNA research in trying to find a cure and the irradiated and feral zombies, but not a behemoth. And as for why, just like the smell had to be dropped and set aside for later on fixing, those could have caused problems in a more important area.
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Royal Deluxe
New member
People who know what they do can allready use mods.
Offering them as "one klick" sollution would add many people with no clue to the moduser.
And i really expect many many "Rage Threads and Videos" because of clueless people that complain about Vanilla bugs they self caused with incompatible mods.
SittingDuck
New member
I like that ^^New vehicle system is coming along!
Shawn has been working hard on a new vehicle system! All new real physics, no falling through the world, feels so natural now!
Yes the old stuff is gone, RIP. New physics are great, feels like GTA.
Hopefully [bikes can be painted] at some point. Its very easy to mod in other colors.
bayaholic
New member
Just do not turn this game into a Call of Duty. What I mean is do not add nukes, helicoptors, jets, or anything that cannot be crafted by a survivor. I mean this is a survive the dead type of game. I am for NPCs for quests and trading, maybe even for a little battle but not to the extent of it becoming Fallout or GTA. I mean what do people want next a dump truck to carry all of your garbage with you on a loot run? Oh, how about a submarine.
SylenThunder
Community Moderator / IT Guru
I'm pretty positive this is not the direction TFP intends to go.
Gamida
Hood Ornament
At a later stage in game development I would like for there to be bandits and NPC's that give you quests or info you need. You won't see any of the NPC's because they won't come within a KM of your base (defined by your sleeping bag and/or land claim maybe?) so you would have to leave your base to ever talk to one. When you do run into them you can trade with them for hard to get items and there being a chance if they don't have what you want they could trade you a map to someone that does have the item. Also if you don't have something they need (for something they have you want) they could also trade you for a map to someone that has that item. It's like little mini adventures with a reward at the end.
C0NVULSI0N
New member
Some Bright Ideas!!!
As far as Alpha 17 or any updates in the near future, I think it would positively and significantly impact players if you guys could make us some canoes or motor boats! I'm currently in a world filled with water everywhere on the Xbox One and it is such a pain in the @$$ to get anywhere.
Also don't forget about us console players! Please Please Please keep us up to date on the game!!!
Other Suggestions:
When it comes to crafting items, it is SO frustrating that things move around in the list and it becomes extremely tedious to find something as simple as a wood frame! I think all items should have its spot and not move around. I understand how it works now, but it still is frustrating.
Things that would be cool to see added:
-zip lines
-MASSIVE WANDERING HORDES (like 50-100+ zombies!!!)
-more animals to kill for meat (on Xbox one I find it tough to find enough meat)
Thanks for Listening!!! xoxo
As far as Alpha 17 or any updates in the near future, I think it would positively and significantly impact players if you guys could make us some canoes or motor boats! I'm currently in a world filled with water everywhere on the Xbox One and it is such a pain in the @$$ to get anywhere.
Also don't forget about us console players! Please Please Please keep us up to date on the game!!!
Other Suggestions:
When it comes to crafting items, it is SO frustrating that things move around in the list and it becomes extremely tedious to find something as simple as a wood frame! I think all items should have its spot and not move around. I understand how it works now, but it still is frustrating.
Things that would be cool to see added:
-zip lines
-MASSIVE WANDERING HORDES (like 50-100+ zombies!!!)
-more animals to kill for meat (on Xbox one I find it tough to find enough meat)
Thanks for Listening!!! xoxo
Roland
Moderator
Scope Creep.
Neither of those things were ever mentioned in the kickstarter or any stretch goals. The devs experimented with them a bit and created a mock up of both. But as with anything as they started digging in to see what issues would have to be solved to make them a reality it was deemed too expensive in terms of time and money to fully pursue.
This wasn't a sudden decision as it seemed by Joel's sudden announcement. They have been looking for ways to cut the fat so that they can get the game they promised to gold. There are important features that were originally promised and those have to take priority. Why go down an uncertain road with the Behemoth when you still need to develop and implement the Duke of Navezgane and his bandits which were original promises. The ziplines were a whim and an experiment. Problems having to do with animation, collision, chunk loading and unloading, and more were not even begun when Joel showed that rudimentary video of the concept. Surmounting those problems would take a lot of time and money for a whimsical side project.
Believe me, I was disappointed when I found out but I also understand that they need to be focused and not spending weeks trying to solve problems associated with two ideas that were born late in the development cycle.
The good news is that they DO have these concepts and the beginnings of these features in rough form and who knows but they might fit in well with their next game and be stated as one of the goals from the beginning.
I also think there needs to be a way to clear the loot people leave behind cause in my case nothing is trash and I'm basically getting twice the loot and only half the scavenging xp when stuff is left behind. just about everything in this game has a use and I take it all. so either have the loot container reset when new loot spawns or make it so no new loot will spawn until it has been empty for the full loot respawn time.
Moldy Bread
New member
Sorry to double post but...
To be quite frank that sounds like bull... There is no reason not to add the Behemoth and Zip lines to the game, you talk about money, but just how much have the Fun Pimps made? This is no longer a lowly project, they have the team and funds, I fail to see how modelling a new enemy and adding it to the game is so expensive, if modders can do that for free then why can't the Fun Pimps? This game has been in Alpha for over 4 years, why are we suddenly worried about time?
You say "whimsical side project" I say "content"
There is no reason to not add content at a later date.
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Menace312
New member
So your one of TFP staff then?
How else could you possibly know what it takes to implement ANYTHING in this game...
You mention modders... Well they also use a very long time on their mods, and they dont have to worry about adding new stuff or changing physics. They just take the game as-is, and work with it...
You mention money that they made... How do you know anything about this? Do you have access to their bank accounts?
It's not even that interesting... What if the dev's made 10million each... What would that change???
All I see here, is another bitching post... Sorry...
Moldy Bread
New member
How frighting...
So pointing out that there is no reason not to add content at a later date is bitching, though any criticism is bitching I guess.
First off, how much money they have made. According to SteamSpy around 2,520,587 copies have been sold at around $24.00 so that's around $60,494,088. Of course this is without taxes or Steam fee's but I imagine the actual number is still quite high.
Yea, I get it, things cost money and time. But just saying, "well we don't want to prolong things" after the game has been in Alpha for 4 years + is kind of silly. Unless they plan to add it as DLC which I am sure will irritate a lot of people.
As I said, what reason is there not to add more content at a later date once everything has been fleshed out?
Doombringer101
New member
Its scope creep, there are kickstarter goals yet to be implemented, logically these take precedence over 'additional content'.
The time the project has been running up to this point is not relevant, I assume they are firming up the end date and working towards this.
If things like the behemoth and zip lines become part of future DLC then players have the choice to purchase them or not, I don't see a problem here.
Moldy Bread
New member
I understand all that, but going from "We are thinking of adding these things anyway" to "well now you gotta pay for them because... You do" isn't the best thing ever.
Thanks Roland for expanding and reiterirating the focus of the game it has been helpful in a clearer understanding the direction it is taking.
I have never heard the term scope creep but i understand it now.
I have read a few replys and it seems that some people believe that the TFP on not focusing 99.9% on the game.
Well this is more than likely true as there is a bigger picture of there development company which involves the future's of real people (humans).
There has to be some planning for what happens after the alpha cycle ends if TFP want to continue as a group and pooling everything into 1 game and starting again from nothing doesnt make sense.
Balanced people who play the game wouldnt act so recklessly with there lifes.
Saying that i beleive TFP are putting in 98.1000000000000066600000000000001% effort in making this game as they set out to do in the first place.
I have never heard the term scope creep but i understand it now.
I have read a few replys and it seems that some people believe that the TFP on not focusing 99.9% on the game.
Well this is more than likely true as there is a bigger picture of there development company which involves the future's of real people (humans).
There has to be some planning for what happens after the alpha cycle ends if TFP want to continue as a group and pooling everything into 1 game and starting again from nothing doesnt make sense.
Balanced people who play the game wouldnt act so recklessly with there lifes.
Saying that i beleive TFP are putting in 98.1000000000000066600000000000001% effort in making this game as they set out to do in the first place.
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