Jump to content

Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!


madmole

Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!  

3 members have voted

  1. 1. Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

    • A18 Stable is Out!
      2
    • :)
      1


Recommended Posts

There are at least 11 new weapons shipping with Alpha 18, and probably more. Over 140 schematics to find and unlock. Over 100 books. Quality now influences damage. Hyperlinking to gates in the recipe menu. All new short perk names and long perk descriptions. Loads of new abandoned and ruins pois (which improve performance and are great for game play) so if you need a place to stay for the night and don't have 3 hours to clear a POI, or its early game and your just getting started, these are for you. All new terrain textures and ground shader. Improved performance and tons of optimizations. Complete perk rebalance. No level gates. Leveling gives you 1 HP and stamina, its no longer tied to fortitude and agility. Interesting gun crafting. Tons and tons of balance work. New and updated first person animations. All new icons. New Music system. These are just off the top of my head things that are really making the experience feel unique.

 

I've been here the whole way listening to player feedback and thinking about what could have been better, and addressing issues many players didn't like in 17. I'm super excited for A18. I feel like we've really addressed everything where A17 fell short.

 

Its not beta, but we're really hoping it feels more like a beta than ever before. A ton of polish is going into stuff and its really starting to come together. We're probably 6 or even 8 weeks out, but we want to ship something special this time, a17 was a rough launch and that isn't good for anyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good work!

 

Are there any plans to make turrets/weapons that need to be used as a stationary, but require the participation of the operator for firing?

 

No that would require a lot of work and that feels like it belongs in a war game, not a post apocalyptic zombie game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This one will probably take a while to test everything.

I'm wondering what kind of things we should be looking for regarding balance. Can you even say something is imbalanced with so many random combinations and possibilities? Perhaps thinking about it will be a thing of the past... which might be a good thing since balancing things has often been a hindrance in the availability of other features, a sponge of dev time, and a source of negative commentary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are at least 11 new weapons shipping with Alpha 18, and probably more. Over 140 schematics to find and unlock. Over 100 books. Quality now influences damage. Hyperlinking to gates in the recipe menu. All new short perk names and long perk descriptions. Loads of new abandoned and ruins pois (which improve performance and are great for game play) so if you need a place to stay for the night and don't have 3 hours to clear a POI, or its early game and your just getting started, these are for you. All new terrain textures and ground shader. Improved performance and tons of optimizations. Complete perk rebalance. No level gates. Leveling gives you 1 HP and stamina, its no longer tied to fortitude and agility. Interesting gun crafting. Tons and tons of balance work. New and updated first person animations. All new icons. New Music system. These are just off the top of my head things that are really making the experience feel unique.

 

I've been here the whole way listening to player feedback and thinking about what could have been better, and addressing issues many players didn't like in 17. I'm super excited for A18. I feel like we've really addressed everything where A17 fell short.

 

Its not beta, but we're really hoping it feels more like a beta than ever before. A ton of polish is going into stuff and its really starting to come together. We're probably 6 or even 8 weeks out, but we want to ship something special this time, a17 was a rough launch and that isn't good for anyone.

 

Looking forward to seeing what you guys have worked hard on producing :rockon:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This one will probably take a while to test everything.

I'm wondering what kind of things we should be looking for regarding balance. Can you even say something is imbalanced with so many random combinations and possibilities? Perhaps thinking about it will be a thing of the past... which might be a good thing since balancing things has often been a hindrance in the availability of other features, a sponge of dev time, and a source of negative commentary.

 

Well you do your best. You can't just ignore stuff. Eventually though it will feel how it should in our opinion, and we can only hope most players agree and enjoy that. If not they can install mods they like and its all good. We're selling the dream, but if someone likes chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla, they can have it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are at least 11 new weapons shipping with Alpha 18, and probably more. Over 140 schematics to find and unlock. Over 100 books. Quality now influences damage. Hyperlinking to gates in the recipe menu. All new short perk names and long perk descriptions. Loads of new abandoned and ruins pois (which improve performance and are great for game play) so if you need a place to stay for the night and don't have 3 hours to clear a POI, or its early game and your just getting started, these are for you. All new terrain textures and ground shader. Improved performance and tons of optimizations. Complete perk rebalance. No level gates. Leveling gives you 1 HP and stamina, its no longer tied to fortitude and agility. Interesting gun crafting. Tons and tons of balance work. New and updated first person animations. All new icons. New Music system. These are just off the top of my head things that are really making the experience feel unique.

 

I've been here the whole way listening to player feedback and thinking about what could have been better, and addressing issues many players didn't like in 17. I'm super excited for A18. I feel like we've really addressed everything where A17 fell short.

 

Its not beta, but we're really hoping it feels more like a beta than ever before. A ton of polish is going into stuff and its really starting to come together. We're probably 6 or even 8 weeks out, but we want to ship something special this time, a17 was a rough launch and that isn't good for anyone.

 

I dropped this in the Steam Discussion. This should help relay info to people who don't bother coming to the forums.

 

Looking awesome, still looking to drop videos? Show em' the spear, make them weep. (the one in game:apathy:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@MM: you've talked about revisions to the sleepers in poi's but can you say anything about outside zombies? Not so much wandering hordes but general zombies around town/countryside....specifically are there going to be more of them? It feels so desolate sometimes in cities where nearly all the zombies are inside. Or is this something that will need to wait for after optimizations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@MM: you've talked about revisions to the sleepers in poi's but can you say anything about outside zombies? Not so much wandering hordes but general zombies around town/countryside....specifically are there going to be more of them? It feels so desolate sometimes in cities where nearly all the zombies are inside. Or is this something that will need to wait for after optimizations?

 

Yes or a more specific approach. We have one knob to turn and it turns them up everywhere even in the wilderness. Ideally we could do something in cities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noo.... Joel gave a date estimate...

There was already one, but it might not be 100% realistic. We'll see its coming together really good now. I finished up all the new short names for all attribute ranks and perk rank names as well as their new long description today so now I can focus on the remaining book perks and once that is in, its mainly playable aside from some unfinished new weapons, but those should be closer. I can play a few attributes already, like Agility and Strength characters could be tested right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...