PC v1.x Developer Diary

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For veteran players the normal game has become too predictable and quests are repetitive. PVP servers add the extra risk and challenge of competing against other players while trying to succeed. Having to design your defenses to counter human attacks to protect your hard fought loot while simultaneously searching for flaws in your opponents design make the game so much better.
Hi Grandpa Minion

 
Bottles of water - were logical and correct mechanics that needed to be improved for modernity.
But it's easier to remove than to think about and repair. That's what lazy developers do (or creative impotence). And the players who speak like you - are the same. You deserve each other.
Things can be logical in terms of realism and still not be good for the game.  I'm not going to get into a debate of them yet again.  If you want my views, I've responded to many topics on the issue and you can look them up.  In short, they were just taking up space unnecessarily.  No one complained about all the other things that disappeared without leaving empty containers.  And the vast majority of people who complain are upset because they want to easily get unlimited water within the first couple of days.  You can see that in all the many topics about it.  And in the end, you could allow getting all that water without ever needing empty jars, though they chose not to.

And just because someone has a different opinion than you doesn't make their opinion invalid.  Your opinion isn't in any way more valid than anyone else's. 

its no secret that a CEO or OWNER would have the final decisions on whats being done in their company. So yeah i would say the pimp brothers is that authority for this game.

The Fun Pimps we’re founded in late 2012 by Richard Huenink, Joel Huenink and Christian Lang who had only their day jobs, the dream of making a game independently and a short Google Design Doc based on an idea Richard and Joel cooked up over Thanksgiving Dinner in 2012.
And that is true for any developer with an owner.  Your point?  You are saying that no one else has any say in development because there is an owner?  That's pretty ridiculous.  They work as a team and decide things as a team.  Yes, the owners have things they want the game to be like, but that doesn't mean they aren't open to anything the other devs suggest.  Sure, they might overrule something if it goes completely against their goals for the game, but that is normal.  Whoever is in charge over the development of any game will always have the option to overrule things that they feel are not good for the game.  In fact, this is true in any business.

 
also, on pvp servers players used traders mainly for selling there was no going there to level through questing.

around this time a16 the other pimp brother really started to change the game for the worse in my opinion and so many others

that is why you hear people always say a16 or earlier alphas where their favorite to play
This is just a personal interpretation. Others (like me) said at that time: "This game has potential but not for me yet".
So you don't hear people "always" say earlier was better.

If there was an obvious high demand for PvP then I would imagine resources would be reallocated.
For some that works, for some it doesn't. Personaly, if someone asked me to do something that was not realy my cup of tea, I would tell them to seek it elsewere. I would even help them to find where to go, hoping they would return to me for projects that are more suitable for me. I realy hope TFP just keeps doing what has their own interest and only divert to new directions if they feel good about it for themselves.

 
Can someone catch me up on a few things? I tried 1.0 when it came out and a couple of the patches that followed but I tried 1.2 and had weird things happening that ruined a few runs and I'm not sure if something changed or if it was consistent bad luck.

First thing I noticed was that the zombies weren't consistently making noises that could be heard. I would be focused on a quest and out of nowhere a zombie that had broken two blocks without sounds was hitting me and there wasn't much I could do.

Second was that sneaking at my low level was basically useless now? Every time I got within bow distance at night they already knew where I was. 

Third, a lot more ferals. Tbf on this one - I've been trying Nomad instead of default and even night one has ferals everywhere. Where's the ramp up to more difficult zombies?

Fourth, it seemed like zombies are now just spawning out of thin air as soon as my sight is turned and sometimes on the edge of my screen, what's with that? 

Thanks all for the insights.

 
Can someone catch me up on a few things? I tried 1.0 when it came out and a couple of the patches that followed but I tried 1.2 and had weird things happening that ruined a few runs and I'm not sure if something changed or if it was consistent bad luck.

First thing I noticed was that the zombies weren't consistently making noises that could be heard. I would be focused on a quest and out of nowhere a zombie that had broken two blocks without sounds was hitting me and there wasn't much I could do.

Second was that sneaking at my low level was basically useless now? Every time I got within bow distance at night they already knew where I was. 

Third, a lot more ferals. Tbf on this one - I've been trying Nomad instead of default and even night one has ferals everywhere. Where's the ramp up to more difficult zombies?

Fourth, it seemed like zombies are now just spawning out of thin air as soon as my sight is turned and sometimes on the edge of my screen, what's with that? 

Thanks all for the insights.
Some Zombies like to stealth up on you.  You just have to keep you head on a swivel when raiding pois.

What are you wearing when trying to stealth?  You should be able to stealth shoot from stealth easily if you are wearing light or primitive armor.

Feral show up at night very early on.  Carry stones and toss them where you want them to go.

Stay in the forest biome early on, until you can kill the spawning zombies quickly.  I think the cities in the other biomes have quickly spawning zombies.

 
Some Zombies like to stealth up on you.  You just have to keep you head on a swivel when raiding pois.

What are you wearing when trying to stealth?  You should be able to stealth shoot from stealth easily if you are wearing light or primitive armor.

Feral show up at night very early on.  Carry stones and toss them where you want them to go.

Stay in the forest biome early on, until you can kill the spawning zombies quickly.  I think the cities in the other biomes have quickly spawning zombies.
I appreciate the response but a lot of these read as just tips on playing the game, I know how to play it. I'm saying that these things are all new and different from all my prior playthroughs. I'm more asking have there been changes that anyone remembers that actually affect these things.

 
But you left off the part, Why did he stop? That's important because even 7 years ago, he discerned a direction being taken, and they still seem to be following it.

This is how i understand the back and forth as a parallel.

A group of people love baseball, so they build a baseball field. The average square
feet is between 105k and 120k. They decide to push the limits, but not to the breaking
point so they build a 116k sq ft field leaving room to grow.

Then a group of football fans comes along and realizes that space wise the 57.6k square
requirement for their field is met. Sort of, if they play from home plate toward center
field. But there are a few problems, like the infield is made of dirt and fine pebbles,
the shape near home plate isn't wide enough for a regulation football field. And there are
four bases and a pitchers mound in the way.

So they go to the owners, and tell them that they "need" to astroturf the infield, because
they get scuffed up when they get tackled, and while they are at it they "need" to remove the
bases and the pitcher's mound because it trips them up while playing football on this field.

But the owners built this field to play baseball and softball on it. Do you think that they would
have a more positive or negative response. Considering that the second group came along after
construction and decided that they wanted to play on the field the way they want to. Would the
owners be more apt to redo the field or say, well this is what they wanted, and you are free to
play as long as it doesn't conflict with their play schedule?

Basically they built a big field to play baseball in because that's what they wanted, and they don't want to

add too many changes because they don't want to build a park.

these things are all new and different
I think there are a few things that may be causing the effect you see. First yes Faatal, fixed a spawning issue.
Selecting Nomad was adjusted, and the calculation for the spawn scale may be accelerating with your
progress. I turned mine to nomad from default and it runs differently compared to past selection changes.

so can't find the breakdown between the platforms.
Steam DB shows an estimate of 9.26m to 12.51. About as accurate as looking up Net Worth on Google.
~9.26 M by Gamalytic    ~11.54 M by PlayTracker    ~11.94 M by SteamSpy    ~12.51 M by VG Insights

Steamspy made it an authorized logon, I think it was considered an invasion of privacy.

 
What would be awesome:  That when a player enters their land claim, they become invincible so they can roam on their land and not half to worry about getting killed; along with their blocks. So there is a absolute peace of mind.

 
I appreciate the response but a lot of these read as just tips on playing the game, I know how to play it. I'm saying that these things are all new and different from all my prior playthroughs. I'm more asking have there been changes that anyone remembers that actually affect these things.
There are always a lot of changes between alphas and within the alpha itself.  Not every change to balance is listed.  This has been the case between each version.  

You( it think it was you) had issues in another thread about the stealth, and zombie spawning.  And i answered more specifically in that thread as well.  I also wouldn't expect the developers to answer questions in threads.  I think Fatal does the most responding, when he has time though.  so maybe direct your questions directly to him?

But yeah, i don't think there is a developer who actually tells you what and how the balance changes in each version of the game.  I would call it industry standard to not tell the players each and every change.  Although Dwarf Fortress has pretty extensive patch notes.

 
I think there are a few things that may be causing the effect you see. First yes Faatal, fixed a spawning issue.
Selecting Nomad was adjusted, and the calculation for the spawn scale may be accelerating with your
progress. I turned mine to nomad from default and it runs differently compared to past selection changes.
Thanks for that info. I guess I'll try default settings more like I used to use and see if that helps. Whatever those changes were, I'm not a fan of them 'cause having to fend off feral big bois with a q1 club ain't it.

 
You forgot about Restore Power, Burried Supplies and Trade Routes quests.
I just noted the ones that are repetitive in nature.  Clear, Fetch and Infestations are all basically the same mission with a couple extra steps. Buried Supplies quests are great and unique, they're a decent change of pace. The Restore Power quest is a much better version of the Fetch/Clear but they are night only which is too risky and pointless, from what i've seen almost nobody do them because of this. Trader Routes aren't real quests be honest with yourself lol

I think there should be more objective based quest especially out of pois, even if its just simple kill a boss like 'activate quest, spawn demolisher, kill demolisher'  'protect a supply drop from dogs" or something like that. I've always said that the airdrop is such a wasted mechanic, I hope some day the make it be part of a quest or something.

 
I just noted the ones that are repetitive in nature.  Clear, Fetch and Infestations are all basically the same mission with a couple extra steps. Buried Supplies quests are great and unique, they're a decent change of pace. The Restore Power quest is a much better version of the Fetch/Clear but they are night only which is too risky and pointless, from what i've seen almost nobody do them because of this. Trader Routes aren't real quests be honest with yourself lol

I think there should be more objective based quest especially out of pois, even if its just simple kill a boss like 'activate quest, spawn demolisher, kill demolisher'  'protect a supply drop from dogs" or something like that. I've always said that the airdrop is such a wasted mechanic, I hope some day the make it be part of a quest or something.


Technically, each of the new trophy achievement chains are quests. You even get a reward from the trader when you complete them. They are all completely objective based as well. I believe there will be new ones coming in 2.0.

 
Technically, each of the new trophy achievement chains are quests.
(note: this rant is not against you specifically of course)​

Why does everybody keep calling them quests?

We're not playing in some medieval fantasy setting where we have to kill the dragon, save the damsel in distress or find the Holy Grail ffs!  :fencing:

Those are JOBS! They even PAY us with money!   :lol:

 
(note: this rant is not against you specifically of course)​

Why does everybody keep calling them quests?

We're not playing in some medieval fantasy setting where we have to kill the dragon, save the damsel in distress or find the Holy Grail ffs!  :fencing:

Those are JOBS! They even PAY us with money!   :lol:
Yeah, the word "quest" should be removed from the game. 

 
Technically, each of the new trophy achievement chains are quests. You even get a reward from the trader when you complete them. They are all completely objective based as well. I believe there will be new ones coming in 2.0.
No those are challenges. Might as well call getting steam achievements quests.  Not to mention they are ridiculous with some of the requirements like the killing of 50 animals. Yeah that sure sounds like fun having to find 50 snakes.

Let's not forget the amazing rng based challenge of collecting 50 gold,silver and diamonds from mining.

Almost no reason for resource gathering, food gathering, crafting weapon, craft medical, crafting armor or crafting building materials to not be thrown in as quests. Along with the trader being open 24/7. Kinda silly to give us night quests but can't turn them in till the next day. Atleast add in a drive through window for quest turn in. 

Really hope the new quests they eventually add aren't kill X number of bandits or loot bag from bandit base. Bad enough story is going to be a separate mode. 

 
I just noted the ones that are repetitive in nature.  Clear, Fetch and Infestations are all basically the same mission with a couple extra steps. Buried Supplies quests are great and unique, they're a decent change of pace. The Restore Power quest is a much better version of the Fetch/Clear but they are night only which is too risky and pointless, from what i've seen almost nobody do them because of this. Trader Routes aren't real quests be honest with yourself lol

I think there should be more objective based quest especially out of pois, even if its just simple kill a boss like 'activate quest, spawn demolisher, kill demolisher'  'protect a supply drop from dogs" or something like that. I've always said that the airdrop is such a wasted mechanic, I hope some day the make it be part of a quest or something.


"even if its just simple kill a boss like 'activate quest, spawn demolisher, kill demolisher' ". You propose to add a quest that is even less "questy" than anything we have now. We had such quests already, as quests found in loot. I don't remember those quests as really adding to the game, but that is just my personal observation. Did others like them? They are also basically a kill quest just like the clear quests, just outside a poi instead of inside.

'protect a supply drop from dogs". By the same token you put restore power in with fetch/clear you should categorize that quest as a variant of the dig quest, where you are protecting your dig site.

A basic quest patterns that is not yet in 7d2d is the escort quest, but in a voxel based game this is especially difficult to implement, even non-voxel games have lots of problems with those. This is why TFP already said it it not likely they will add one.

Does anyone see another truly different quest pattern not yet implemented? (Please don't say "repair trader compound", this is just another collect 100 things-quest we have as achievements already). If not, even the new quests they will implement will look just like variants (or combinations) of existing quests to you.

By the way, as I often play a stealth AGI character I like the Restore Power quests and do them regularily.

 
Yeah, the word "quest" should be removed from the game. 
couldn't agree with you more

a17 is when quest system was introduced and every since than players have done nothing but exploit the system for loot and to power level....

definately a pve feature

 
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