PC Horde Night is DEAD

Players who fight the zombies on foot with a club and beer ... unsolved
There is always some way of playing that would be killed by a change. The question is always if the change is necessary and if the game will be better.
True. I suppose it would have to be a blood rain option. Same thing with trying to be truly nomadic. Better off not opting in such a thing. Or otherwise build yourself a roofed arena off of a base.

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What about players that can't play 24/24, 7/7 on a server :p What about bugs that inactivate beds, LCB's and what have you.
They should choose a server with less frequent blood moons, or play a team where at least someone will be present. How can anybody plan a game for the people who aren't playing?

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+1 i like the idea of the behemoth end horde reward , but this type of zombies would be super hard for late game ppl , what does control him to show up? . will he show up 1st horde?

its a must question too ....... and this is why i dislike the game.. will he have some sort of strategy to fight? some different builds to fight with? some creativity maybe ? or the usual hit and run way for the past 2 years??

also i see representing the behemoth needs some work , they will not throw it right in game without other special types of zombies , we need like 10 more special zombies that do special stuff other than puking .
I agree, it's problematic. You need a little more to work worth than just a single behemoth.

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I think I'm maybe alone with this thought, but I would rather ditch BM completely and instead have stronger, gruesomer zombies, as well as special types, with increased zombie spawn rate everywhere, with maybe higher detection(not homing ones).Concept of BM never made sense to me: you encounter zombies everywhere for 6 days and on 7th they decide to pay you a visit as you stole their candy? Dunno..

If you're looting on day 7-you would be scared to hell to encounter those gruesomer/stronger/new zombies in closed area, if you're on bike-just seeing bloodthirstier dog running next to you would pump up the adrenaline, and if you're in the base.. Better ditch machinery and lights or they'll knock on your doors..Would be bad if fog falls down and you notice some big silhouette not far from your doorsteps..

I know there are limitations in Unity for this scenario, and that whole tower defense is in the description, but one can only hope..
I believe we have this option now.

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Consider me a fan of this idea. Not much of a fan of "bosses" or the behemoth though (TFP did consider it but scrapped it, probably wasn't worth the effort).
The blood rain on its own seems like something reasonable to mod right now. There's not enough for XML-pure mod right now though.

 
True. I suppose it would have to be a blood rain option. Same thing with trying to be truly nomadic. Better off not opting in such a thing. Or otherwise build yourself a roofed arena off of a base.
I'm more of a base builder who designs his bases so that the traps kill most zombies.

I only gave this example because I know at least one player who plays that way. Everything else is too boring for him. Building a roofed area would certainly not be a bad idea. In A16 he built a large concrete running surface to avoid unevenness.

Generally I think that much more should be adjustable in the game to cover as much as possible. Some players I know are already using the new options added in 17.1 and 17.2.

 
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I'm more of a base builder who designs his bases so that the traps kill most zombies.
I only gave this example because I know at least one player who plays that way. Everything else is too boring for him. Building a roofed area would certainly not be a bad idea. In A16 he built a large concrete running surface to avoid unevenness.

Generally I think that much more should be adjustable in the game to cover as much as possible. Some players I know are already using the new options added in 17.1 and 17.2.
Yeah, I like to play like that too sometimes. Sometimes you just want to take matters into your own hands. I would probably just make a spot to do it. Then again, this could be expanded into other things... perhaps some special clothes or buff that gives you more time in the blood rain.

 
How many Gamasutra articles do you want me to link you with devs saying the word realism for their games? Sorry for being annoying, but we have made this discussion countless times before and realism when used for video games is used to describe the consistency of the game's own universe, not compare the game with our real life world. And thematic consistency is a pretty important thing.
Well, now we're just differing in our terminology then.

Thematic consistency as you've defined it, absolutely! I'm all for it. It's why I didn't like the earlier idea of an EMP knocking out vehicles (even the bicycle...lol), but I can get behind the later idea of "radiated rain" (or blood rain now?) making vehicle travel hazardous, if not downright lethal during the BM Horde.

I meant realism, literally. I've seen lots of games go awry on some quest for realism, sacrificing game play in the process.

So, yes, the game staying consistent within its own established law, would definitely be on my list, and pretty high up that list to. It's just I trigger a little when I hear someone talk about "realism" in a game about a Zombie apocalypse, so if it's not what meganoth meant (in its literal meaning anyway, then we're all golden.

 
How many Gamasutra articles do you want me to link you with devs saying the word realism for their games? Sorry for being annoying, but we have made this discussion countless times before and realism when used for video games is used to describe the consistency of the game's own universe, not compare the game with our real life world. And thematic consistency is a pretty important thing.
Oh thank god. I can not tell how much I hate reading this bs about realism beeing unimportant in games.

But since english is not my native tongue I always struggled to explain it in a simplistic manner.

Realism is one of the most important things in games. Skyrim and dragons are not realistic.

But wings make flying realistic. A flying mammoth would NOT be realistic or be in line with the world.

And while it was very fun drinking 200 skooma and flying through the world, it was a good choice to limit this for skyrim.

There are games where unrealistic and funky surreal design can be something great.

But even those games need to follow their ingame logic. If the lore tells me that ppl can fly, than this is "realistic" in this world.

If I say "this is a paralell world where zombies are possible because it is a virus" then this does not mean that aliens are "realistic".

 
Well, now we're just differing in our terminology then.
Thematic consistency as you've defined it, absolutely! I'm all for it. It's why I didn't like the earlier idea of an EMP knocking out vehicles (even the bicycle...lol), but I can get behind the later idea of "radiated rain" (or blood rain now?) making vehicle travel hazardous, if not downright lethal during the BM Horde.

I meant realism, literally. I've seen lots of games go awry on some quest for realism, sacrificing game play in the process.

So, yes, the game staying consistent within its own established law, would definitely be on my list, and pretty high up that list to. It's just I trigger a little when I hear someone talk about "realism" in a game about a Zombie apocalypse, so if it's not what meganoth meant (in its literal meaning anyway, then we're all golden.
Forgive me for being annoyingly pedantic, it's just that, like you said yourself, using it in a literal real world sense would be meaningless since the game is based on a fantastical universe that is very similar to the real one, with the only difference being the fantastical features (zombies etc).

A realistic weight system for example is simlar to the real world's only coincidentally (because 7DTD world/physics try to simulate the real world's), but since the 1st of the list is always gameplay, as you said, we have something in-between.

I agree that EMPs would be a stretching it and I would prefer the rain idea too. I've been rooting for random radioactive rain events since A1 so I would be extremely thrilled to have this in the game.

 
Realism is one of the most important things in games. Skyrim and dragons are not realistic.

But wings make flying realistic. A flying mammoth would NOT be realistic or be in line with the world.

And while it was very fun drinking 200 skooma and flying through the world, it was a good choice to limit this for skyrim.

There are games where unrealistic and funky surreal design can be something great.

But even those games need to follow their ingame logic. If the lore tells me that ppl can fly, than this is "realistic" in this world.

If I say "this is a paralell world where zombies are possible because it is a virus" then this does not mean that aliens are "realistic".
Exactly. In the absolute literal sense, realism and believability/consistency are two different things. But when people talk about realism when it comes to a fictional universe it can only mean consistency/believability, unless they are directly contending the fictional universe itself, it's all about context.

 
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adding realism the way it refers to " real life " is not a good thing to ask for a zombie survival game that only one man can build skyscrapers

the way the screamer was represented in game as a special zombie that shows up when the player run too much heat sources " this was amazing " the players couldnt argue much about being unable to farm like they used too also ME i was so excited to see what dangers this special type of zombies offer ,

what iam saying is whenever devs change something that was already in game ( not including bugs of course) players go like it should be this and it should be that " WHY? , WHAT? " and all kind of stuff like that, the right way to do it should be like the screamers new stuff added that improves the experience and the immersion of the player , new challenges new designs and so on .

the AI was a must to change but it went very far IMO zombies shouldnt " calculate " but special zombie leader is a good idea , super intelligent and zombies follow , if you kill him you solve this problem , but if you leave him you can cheese zombies into a maze of traps .

who agrees?

 
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Tower defense and horde base building is part of the game and there are probably many players who like that part. Options to turn it off are absolutely ok, but throwing it out? Naah.

I proposed special type zombies a few times a year ago and neither TFP nor many "realism++" players were all too keen on this idea. So, you have my support for that part of your idea but it is only slightly more likely than TFP throwing out the horde night.
Hm, maybe I haven't explained my idea pretty well then.

I haven't said to completely throw out horde base building, I said I'm opposed to having timer ticking in the background which will send zombies your address so they can visit you for a cup of tea.

Basically, I would rather have really badass, completely silent(all atmospheric music/effects cuts off 1-2h after sunrise) atmosphere on day 7, and then from noon all hell breaks loose. You would have scarier atmosphere, no matter where you are, you wouldn't be able to skip it as it would affect all zombies ingame. If you're unlucky, you would see some really rare zombie(I thought Behemoth would fill this in but alas) running toward you etc etc. It's not that it would completely get rid of the horde/tower defense, it would just mean that you don't get to choose where you fight or when as there would be constant threat for that day, not just from dusk till dawn on day 7. If you're good in stealth and don't want to fight, with or without stealth skills you could try to avoid those scarier zombies, but with them having better detection.. If I goof in trying to lose them while running to my base, and they follow.. Eh, you get the picture what I'm trying to say.

For me, atmosphere is something that decides if the game is good or not(not trying to insult TFP here even though I have different opinion of some mechanics). If you can make that atmosphere scarier, especially in game with zombies, that's a win in my book. Add to that weather and biome effects, thick fog where you can't see if it's a zombie or a bandit or maybe some friendly player/NPC, food/hunger mechanic, and it's something that could easily be called the best zombie survival game.

Either way, not trying to beat the dead horse here, nor to push my idea further if BM is to stay. I remember when BM wasn't a thing and was introduced in A8 iirc, and with higher spawn numbers + roaming hoardes around, it was awesome, to me that is. Others may disagree, and that's their right.

Nowadays it's only UMA models(if they're still around that is) to have some different models for zombies, and just option to offset the BM time, maybe few more options to achieve this but that's it. It's very limited as far as I'm aware(excuse me if I'm wrong as I may be out of the loop in what's been said in dev thread).

So my point is that maybe instead of focusing purely on how to stop players avoiding BM horde, or having a headache to balance reward/punishment system in regards to what BM actually should be for players, maybe expand that a bit in some other ways. Even those demanding loot bags or some rare drops per finished BM horde would then feel the satisfaction of just surviving the 7th*n day when all hell breaks loose globally, not only locally in certain time of day.

I believe we have this option now.
Ok, I'm intrigued, how/when/where? Mod I presume or some other option like BM offset?

 
Imo, all they gotta do is allow you to farm brass (via mining?) Boom i don't care how much ammo I go through when exploring pois or horde night.

 
Nowadays it's only UMA models(if they're still around that is) to have some different models for zombies
thats the core point of my deep thoughts, zombies are no threat anymore they are bunch of XP bags moving around with different looks and zombie with more HP means more XP .

 
Imo, all they gotta do is allow you to farm brass (via mining?) Boom i don't care how much ammo I go through when exploring pois or horde night.
And you just gave the reason why brassmining will never be a thing in 7d2d :D

 
If anything, you would make a brass alloy in the forge. I can’t remember what it’s made of off the top of my head. I want to say copper and zinc. They would have to add those deposits for mining. This seems like another good mod idea.

Would need balancing and or assurance that these deposits were not huge

 
Basically, I would rather have really badass, completely silent(all atmospheric music/effects cuts off 1-2h after sunrise) atmosphere on day 7, and then from noon all hell breaks loose. You would have scarier atmosphere, no matter where you are, you wouldn't be able to skip it as it would affect all zombies ingame. If you're unlucky, you would see some really rare zombie(I thought Behemoth would fill this in but alas) running toward you etc etc. It's not that it would completely get rid of the horde/tower defense, it would just mean that you don't get to choose where you fight or when as there would be constant threat for that day, not just from dusk till dawn on day 7. If you're good in stealth and don't want to fight, with or without stealth skills you could try to avoid those scarier zombies, but with them having better detection.. If I goof in trying to lose them while running to my base, and they follow.. Eh, you get the picture what I'm trying to say.
Ok, a little clearer now what you meant.

I assume that "no matter where you are" and "affect all zombies" already is how the game is intended to work (not exactly sure how much it does in the actual game, there may be bugs and problems).

The game simulates anything that happens on a global scale by showing you only what happens around you. Wandering hordes are implied to be all around the world, but naturally you see only the wandering horde that is 100m away from you. Sure, you have the meta information that in reality that wandering horde is the only one occuring, but from your in-game viewpoint you should not be able to see any difference to a global phenomenon occuring.

The same goes for horde night. I'm sure it is supposed to happen everwhere in the world, any survivor will get attacked by hordes and if you ask other people on a MP server, yes, it happens to everyone. And if you change the location while the horde night lasts, new zombies should attack you from all sides.

Whether that exactly happens in-game respective gives the impression of a global phenomenon is a question of bug fixing or balancing of spawn rules.

 
I'm not fully against the EMP ideas. I do like the idea of some rare zombie, like an evolved screamer, having this effect when it screams... like the banshee in that video referenced earlier. It couldn't stand on its own though, for the same reason why the Behemoth doesn't. You would need to introduce at least a few "evolved" zombies for the sake of maintaining a cohesive game world.

 
Either way, not trying to beat the dead horse here, nor to push my idea further if BM is to stay. I remember when BM wasn't a thing and was introduced in A8 iirc, and with higher spawn numbers + roaming hoardes around, it was awesome, to me that is. Others may disagree, and that's their right.
Can I set the rule as thread creator that you may feel free to beat dead horses?

I agree with zombie numbers. Would love more. It's unfair to link their thinning numbers to blood moon horde though.

Ok, I'm intrigued, how/when/where? Mod I presume or some other option like BM offset?
nobm.jpg

 
I'm not fully against the EMP ideas. I do like the idea of some rare zombie, like an evolved screamer, having this effect when it screams... like the banshee in that video referenced earlier. It couldn't stand on its own though, for the same reason why the Behemoth doesn't. You would need to introduce at least a few "evolved" zombies for the sake of maintaining a cohesive game world.
Agree and to be honest I don't like the idea of "evolved" zombies with arcade-y abilities. Hopefully these green glowing bullet sponges will be gone someday too. Plus electricity failures for that extra horror effect can happen in other ways. Prefer your "acid rain" concept - would make the BM a much more overwhelming event.

 
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