PC Start, Restart and Respawning scenario configuration support.

[Listening]

I've over 3,000 hrs in the game and are finding two key areas an increasing barrier to continuing. They are starting a new game and getting killed in game. The following are my current thoughts on how to improve things. 

1. New game. You have to start from scratch, no matter how often you have played. I find these days that I just jump into creative mode and setting up a scenario. While this is a feature most games don't have, thus very good, it could be improved. Suggestion: Build an option to create and save a starting configuration. This should include player config, starting loadout as well as skills profile (inc: game stage). A "scenarios" menu could show saved profiles. Bonus points for making these config's sharable. This could also be an approach to allow players to take an existing character from map to map by allowing the scenario to be updated each time you logout (long term wandering survivor scenario).

2. Player death. I find the current reincarnation system unsatisfying. It works but has no connection with reality or the game. Similar to my above suggestion, configurable scenarios would add more depth to the game. Perhaps the user could configure a default of "permadeath" or "rescue" scenarios. Rescues would involve being saved at the last minute by a stranger who could:

-- keep you alive (configurable level of health, possible decrease in skill points)

-- deliver you to a new location (such as "random", a POI (hospital?), POI type, or your last spawn point)

-- take from you certain items (such as cash on hand, armour, clothes, stuff you're carrying), how much they take of each category could be defined by a high and low boundary range

-- FP's could add some pithy dialogue boxes to round it out.

Of course all of this should be designed to work with team play. I can imagine these options built around XML files like the rest of the game which would in turn support tinkering and sharing.

Would this improve your long term game play? Is this too much for FP's to handle? Are there mod's that already provide this functionality? What are your thoughts?

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[Khyron]

Permadeath is often a feature a lot of survival games are hesitant about, but I think it's a good option for those who want the added challenge of doing a 'perfect' run. That said, I think there's 2 good ways it could be implemented in the game.

1) Complete permadeath. When you're done with a run, you're done. finito. The save deletes and you start over, either on the same map or a different one.

2) Character permadeath. When you die, your character's done. You can spawn in a new character (Heck, maybe even force it to use a different character you've created?) and have to level up again but your old character's stuff is still out there in the world, if you can find it. Of course, depending on the gamestage your old character was at, their stuff might have degraded a bit and/or zombies might have infested their base, making reclaiming it anything other than a walk in the park.....

Personally I like the idea of my survivor dying, his stuff getting scattered around, and stumbling across it as I survive the area he died in. Or travelling to my former base only to find it overrun with cobwebs and zombies - lots of useful loot, equipment, and amenities if I can deal with the ferals inside. That sort of thing. Would make for a fun system where death simply means passing the torch to someone new, that kind of thing.

 

[Listening]

Khyron,

I agree with your thoughts on permadeath. Sometimes, in fact increasingly, I play that way. I very much like your Character Permadeath option. I think that adds a lot to the game. The infested base part is great, I can imagine trying to retake a strongly fortified base while not wanting to create too much damage. Perhaps everything in your land claim area could be optionally degraded.

===

 

[Matt115]

Okay @Khyron you are new here so i will try to explain as best i can: 

1. "world" is connected with your character because - gamestage i will put fragment from wiki

• [Player Level] = just what it says on the tin - your level, unadjusted
  
• [Adjusted Days Alive] = the total number of in-game days elapsed, adjusted by subtracting the value of 'daysAliveChangeWhenKilled' (in gamestages.xml) for each death the character has suffered, and then capped at [Player Level] if necessary.
  
• [Difficulty Factor] = as of Alpha 19, this is set to 1.2, with no change based on game Difficulty setting. Previously, higher difficulty settings had higher factors and therefore more rapidly-increasing Gamestages.
  
• Fractional values are dropped (not rounded up)
  

Example 1


Player level 10, game day 8 (7 days survived), no deaths.

([Player Level] 10 + [Adjusted Days Alive] 7) * 1.2 = Gamestage 20


Example 2


Player level 10, game day 17 (16 days survived), 2 deaths. Using the default death adjustment of -2 days.

[Adjusted Days Alive] = [Raw Days Alive] 16 - [Death Adjustment] (2 * 2) = 12, capped at [Player Level] = 10

([Player Level] 10 + [Adjusted Days Alive] 10) * 1.2 = Gamestage 24

So as you see - you characters cannot be "transfered" because of that - let's say you character is 30 level and you create new world - that mean - you would have ferals in first day . Sound strange? Well that's would work if this would be implemented. So this permadeath idea too can't work because of that

2. about this "rescue" - it's too complicated to be implemented. I mean - by this - it could be done but it would take too much time and resources. TFP want to finish making game soon

 

[Maharin]

A simple version of "permadeath" this game could implement would be:

• Delete everything on you
  
• Reset your character to level one
  
• Reset all of your skills
  
• Reset all extra books you have found
  
• Unlink you to beds, claim blocks, and anything else tied to your former self
  
• Stuff within your old claim block becomes "neutral" and you must gain access like any other player would have to in multiplayer.
  

No need to delete the save and it works in single player and multiplayer.

 

[Listening]

Matt115, two responses...

1. Your key point seems to be that the world and player are linked by game stage. This is awkward but the way the game is built, understood. There is always a solution though. Perhaps the new character, or resurrected character, is forced to the existing game stage as part of the reconnecting process. Wouldn't be hard, the game loads the map data, would simply tell that your game stage is now "x".  

2. How is this handled in multiplayer mode? Are all characters levelled up at the same rate? Don't play multi so I'm not familiar with it. I guess my original suggestion would, in some way, work the way multiplayer does.

3. On the FP's workload, agreed it needs to be finished. Maybe this is post release content, or maybe not that hard to do. They do seem to be still talking about significant changes though. 

It's all just feedback and discussion.,

 

[Sal]

1. New game. You have to start from scratch, no matter how often you have played. I find these days that I just jump into creative mode and setting up a scenario. While this is a feature most games don't have, thus very good, it could be improved. Suggestion: Build an option to create and save a starting configuration. This should include player config, starting loadout as well as skills profile (inc: game stage). A "scenarios" menu could show saved profiles. Bonus points for making these config's sharable. This could also be an approach to allow players to take an existing character from map to map by allowing the scenario to be updated each time you logout (long term wandering survivor scenario).

I agree with your suggestion on having more starting options.  However, I could be wrong here, but I don't think this would be feasibly possible at the moment since all major changes they make to the core game are basically universal, and having this feature in MP would be terrible IMO.  So until they find a way to separate SP and MP settings from one another (which I hope they do at some point) then I wouldn't expect this any time soon.

2. Player death. I find the current reincarnation system unsatisfying. It works but has no connection with reality or the game. Similar to my above suggestion, configurable scenarios would add more depth to the game. Perhaps the user could configure a default of "permadeath" or "rescue" scenarios. Rescues would involve being saved at the last minute by a stranger who could:

-- keep you alive (configurable level of health, possible decrease in skill points)

-- deliver you to a new location (such as "random", a POI (hospital?), POI type, or your last spawn point)

-- take from you certain items (such as cash on hand, armour, clothes, stuff you're carrying), how much they take of each category could be defined by a high and low boundary range

-- FP's could add some pithy dialogue boxes to round it out.

Similar to above.  I agree that a permadeath option should be included.  This is what I play on every run but I obviously have to personally limit myself to this option since it's not included. But I also understand it since, again, the core game is universal. I hope some day they are able to separate SP and MP.