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Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!


madmole

Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!  

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  1. 1. Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

    • A18 Stable is Out!
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Bravo on the infection system. The first few days were always my favorite, but this is icing on the cake.

One of my first games in A17, I found something like 50 cooking pots on day 1. Some POI kept repeating and it almost always had one. This time, I got a little nervous about finding one. Great work on that too. This is the first time I have not been able to start a base on the first day. I usually have a small tower surrounded by spikes with a mine started inside to spend the night. This time I spent it in the snow biome crouched on a small chunk of what remains of a ceiling in a remnant.

 

Rage mode is awesome. Even when they don't rage, I feel like they still creep forward sometimes when they take their swings... although I could just be imagining that... or perhaps it's because of choosing a harder difficulty, I don't know. What I do know is it really changes things for the better. I already can't imagine playing without it.

 

The only thing I saw that bugs me so far (but only just a little bit) is that the prey animals are a little too easy to catch. I had tons of meat on day 1 just chasing deer with a bone shiv. I think the problem is that they forget that you are a threat to them. You can stab, let them run, and then wait. They usually stop running right before they get too far away. Then you just walk towards them until you get maybe about 7 or 8 meters away and run at them... they don't move until you get a couple stabs in. Repeat a few times and dinner. I also clubbed a couple rabbits to death... that was a little harder to do.

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Well, keep it up! Regarding the picture, I would dare not go near water like that! (Aquaphobia, honestly.) I just might begin hitting up the gym again sometime.

 

Oh, I certainly will! As a matter of fact, the first mailbox I hit up gave me the Spiked Knuckles schematic, and since I am going a mostly Fortitude (partially Strength) build, that find was absolutely perfect. In addition, the trader just rewarded me with the Iron Knuckles schematic, so I've just completed the set! Now, if only if the trader wasn't 50 blocks above sea level on top of a giant near-vertical plateau. Lol. Going to and fro from the trader is a royal pain to say the least.

 

Edit: Also, I've learned not to mess with the boars early on. My first death was to a boar within the first five minutes of me spawning in. Lol

 

Post a screenshot if you see weird stuff using "debugshot" in the console

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Madmole I was honestly worried about A18. I thought it would be solid, but not amazing. You spoke SO highly of A17, best ever amazeballs etc., but it was just solid, not really amazing. So knowing your hyperbolic style I tried not to get too worked up when you said books were amazeballs, looting was better than ever, best alpha since the big bang, etc.

 

BUT OMG IT'S AMAZEBALLS BOOKS ARE SO COOL LOOTING IS BETTER THAN EVER!!

 

Got REKT hard by a forest feral (?!) trying to sneak around on second night. Stealth plays well though so I distracted with rocks, got my bag back, then played cat & mouse for 5 minutes straight with my weak little crossbow, finally avenging myself quite satisfactorily.

 

One of the first books I found gives you chance to find acid in cars and med piles. OOOOH I could feel the subtle warmth spread down from my neck as a little dopamine hit me. Good lord. The perks are just so interesting with unique little boosts just strong and cool enough to make you feel like you just leveled a tiny bit.

 

The visuals have improved so much OMG! And SO MANY high quality new models: the first time I saw a soda fountain machine I felt myself grin. So many little additions and "ooh! that's new!" moments are just delightful :tickled_pink:

 

And I'm so glad I looked through options and turned on the dynamic music. YES! WOW. Absolutely perfect. Not too much, totally fits the theme, feels amazing to hike around to creepy/cool tunes.

 

I was very excited for the spear but it feels ridiculous. It's just way way way too slow when thrown. If you're going to huck a spear, even as a noob, that thing is going to fly, however inaccurately. But this little granny lob so slow someone could easily just snatch it out of the air if they had decent athleticism: sad. So sad. Even when their heads explode, they feel like they *shouldn't*. It's like when someone shoots a car a couple times in a movie and it explodes in a fireball. Nah. I want their head to explode because I MOTHER FLIPPIN' HURLED a spear through their skull at some impressive fraction of C. First iteration though, so I'm sure it'll only get more badass and feel as VIOLENT as it deserves to feel. That's the best way to put it actually: the throw does not feel violent at all.

 

But back to how amazing A18 is. My wife played for just an hour with me before having to reluctantly go to work, and she was geeking out hard. It's been very hard to get her to play this game more than casually with me - she'll play here and there for stints but bore of it. Graphics have always been one issue. Upgraded her CPU and got her an even better video card than I have (that's rare!) and she LOVES how it looks. Not only can she turn settings higher but the new textures, models, icons, ore nodes, etc. just blew her away and she was like "OMG OMG I can't believe I have to work! They added so much!"

 

For what it's worth we were both big fans already, especially me. Now we're just kind of in awe of how good this game continues to get. I have had very little Steam Alpha experience. Bought Starforge and the developers just released and ran while that game was still in Alpha Dog♥♥♥♥.3 if you know what I mean. Bad taste left in mouth, yeah? But The Fun Pimps have given me literally the exact opposite experience. I went from one extreme to the other. You guys are just so awesome and this excellent, very unique game just got a massive upgrade in the amazeballs factor. Bravo.

 

Love it. I think "Amazeballs" is the word of the week. 😅

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The stun baton is awesome, but the range on it is shorter than any standard club, so if you are going to use it, you're going to be hit. But with any other club you can stay just outside of the z's melee range and still hit them. I was going to focus on a build around the stun baton as a main weapon but soon changed my mind when I realized I was getting hit by every single Z I attacked with it.

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Post a screenshot if you see weird stuff using "debugshot" in the console

 

Will do! (And that's fine, I already use Windows Key+Alt+PRTSC :) ) If you mean bugs, then thrown spears sometimes clipping through the world is one of them.

 

Unless you mean funky 8k RWG issues?

 

Regardless, I'll keep my eyes peeled.

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Madmole I was honestly worried about A18. I thought it would be solid, but not amazing. You spoke SO highly of A17, best ever amazeballs etc., but it was just solid, not really amazing. So knowing your hyperbolic style I tried not to get too worked up when you said books were amazeballs, looting was better than ever, best alpha since the big bang, etc.

 

BUT OMG IT'S AMAZEBALLS BOOKS ARE SO COOL LOOTING IS BETTER THAN EVER!!

 

Got REKT hard by a forest feral (?!) trying to sneak around on second night. Stealth plays well though so I distracted with rocks, got my bag back, then played cat & mouse for 5 minutes straight with my weak little crossbow, finally avenging myself quite satisfactorily.

 

One of the first books I found gives you chance to find acid in cars and med piles. OOOOH I could feel the subtle warmth spread down from my neck as a little dopamine hit me. Good lord. The perks are just so interesting with unique little boosts just strong and cool enough to make you feel like you just leveled a tiny bit.

 

The visuals have improved so much OMG! And SO MANY high quality new models: the first time I saw a soda fountain machine I felt myself grin. So many little additions and "ooh! that's new!" moments are just delightful :tickled_pink:

 

And I'm so glad I looked through options and turned on the dynamic music. YES! WOW. Absolutely perfect. Not too much, totally fits the theme, feels amazing to hike around to creepy/cool tunes.

 

I was very excited for the spear but it feels ridiculous. It's just way way way too slow when thrown. If you're going to huck a spear, even as a noob, that thing is going to fly, however inaccurately. But this little granny lob so slow someone could easily just snatch it out of the air if they had decent athleticism: sad. So sad. Even when their heads explode, they feel like they *shouldn't*. It's like when someone shoots a car a couple times in a movie and it explodes in a fireball. Nah. I want their head to explode because I MOTHER FLIPPIN' HURLED a spear through their skull at some impressive fraction of C. First iteration though, so I'm sure it'll only get more badass and feel as VIOLENT as it deserves to feel. That's the best way to put it actually: the throw does not feel violent at all.

 

But back to how amazing A18 is. My wife played for just an hour with me before having to reluctantly go to work, and she was geeking out hard. It's been very hard to get her to play this game more than casually with me - she'll play here and there for stints but bore of it. Graphics have always been one issue. Upgraded her CPU and got her an even better video card than I have (that's rare!) and she LOVES how it looks. Not only can she turn settings higher but the new textures, models, icons, ore nodes, etc. just blew her away and she was like "OMG OMG I can't believe I have to work! They added so much!"

 

For what it's worth we were both big fans already, especially me. Now we're just kind of in awe of how good this game continues to get. I have had very little Steam Alpha experience. Bought Starforge and the developers just released and ran while that game was still in Alpha Dog♥♥♥♥.3 if you know what I mean. Bad taste left in mouth, yeah? But The Fun Pimps have given me literally the exact opposite experience. I went from one extreme to the other. You guys are just so awesome and this excellent, very unique game just got a massive upgrade in the amazeballs factor. Bravo.

 

Thanks man. I was genuinely hyped about 17 because I'm a "game engine nerd" and I saw so much potential of what we could do with the new frame work, and I saw Faatal doing amazing things with vehicles and zombie pathing, the first of the new art coming in, etc. So I was star struck and seeing the future (now) then but the game wasn't actually that great yet, we had just unlocked a ton of potential. Then we got a lot of review bombs and I got back in the lead design and balance seat and put my work boots on and dedicated my soul to making things right. I feel like the good intent of 17 is now realized after much polish and hard work, and listening to feedback in 18. I really just wanted to redeem ourselves and see the potential of this great game.

 

Anyhow, thanks again, reading things like this make getting out of shape and working all those hours worth it. I think the best thing was us playing the crap out of the game again. The books serve as a replacement for LBD (along with perk overhaul) and help complete a character build in subtle ways, and the collection perks are so rewarding to get.

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Anyone have any help they can offer?

 

I am starting a new game, but when I do, the game console is open when the World loads and I can't close it.

 

Try wiping everything and reset to default settings. Try nav or a pregen map first.

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Quick feedback

 

Win 10 64

I7 8700 16 gb ram

Gtx 1070 8mb

 

Running a few frames less then A17 , avg about 120 fps on medium settings

Took RWG 13:30 mins to to build world compared to 5:30 mins in A17.

 

Spawned in burnt forest. Ugh I liked the new streamlined tutorial, and how it highlighted the things in your inventory that you need.

Trader was 1.8 km in burnt woods also. Got busted up a bit clearing a POI and jumped by 6 vultures otw to traders.

 

Vultures need a bit of fine tuning since as soon as I would spot one far off in the distance it bee lined straight at me. Only good thing is they are now kind of wimpy, cause I beat them all with a wooden club not even taking a bit of damage. In A17 they seemed to auto hit, bleed me.

 

Only tried Spear a bit but it seems like a really nice addition.

Graphics look nice but all I've seen is the burnt forest so far :)

 

Died once when I enraged a zombie, and wasnt prepared for it.

 

This is by far the best start to an alpha that I can remember, and I've been here since A6. Good work Pimps loving it so far.

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Thanks! I don't feel it most days, but others.. lol!

 

Same here as well.. I was high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and on 7 meds for them. Lost weight, ate right, and now I onoly take supplements because of the age thing.

 

On a bright note, I found with medium textures I could bump my res from 1080p to 2k and only loose 4 or 5 fps. That extra res makes up for the texture quality loose, so things look much better.

 

(for reference again, i7 6700, 15 gb ram, 1060 3gb)

 

I'll be investing in 2060s though at least, because its about that time to upgrade anyway, and having a better 7 days experience is worth it to us. (two systems, so like $600-$700).

 

Awesome you no longer need meds. They are a band aid, proper food is the cure.

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Bravo on the infection system. The first few days were always my favorite, but this is icing on the cake.

One of my first games in A17, I found something like 50 cooking pots on day 1. Some POI kept repeating and it almost always had one. This time, I got a little nervous about finding one. Great work on that too. This is the first time I have not been able to start a base on the first day. I usually have a small tower surrounded by spikes with a mine started inside to spend the night. This time I spent it in the snow biome crouched on a small chunk of what remains of a ceiling in a remnant.

 

Rage mode is awesome. Even when they don't rage, I feel like they still creep forward sometimes when they take their swings... although I could just be imagining that... or perhaps it's because of choosing a harder difficulty, I don't know. What I do know is it really changes things for the better. I already can't imagine playing without it.

 

The only thing I saw that bugs me so far (but only just a little bit) is that the prey animals are a little too easy to catch. I had tons of meat on day 1 just chasing deer with a bone shiv. I think the problem is that they forget that you are a threat to them. You can stab, let them run, and then wait. They usually stop running right before they get too far away. Then you just walk towards them until you get maybe about 7 or 8 meters away and run at them... they don't more until you get a couple stabs in. Repeat a few times and dinner. I also clubbed a couple rabbits to death... that was a little harder to do.

 

I'm glad you like it. Everyone worries for nothing :)

 

I think the hunting is ok, you have to follow them a long ways and invest some time so its not bad. One stag is only enough food for a day or less I'd say.

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Punching zombies in the face with the leather wraps is the most satisfying melee combat I've experienced in this game yet. Throwing combos and not letting them fight back is awesome.

 

Just wait until you get full steel armor with mods and some pink spiked knuckles with mods, some sex rex and flurry, and then drink a beer. GET REKT ZEDS! lol.

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Will do! (And that's fine, I already use Windows Key+Alt+PRTSC :) ) If you mean bugs, then thrown spears sometimes clipping through the world is one of them.

 

Unless you mean funky 8k RWG issues?

 

Regardless, I'll keep my eyes peeled.

 

Yes the trader on a huge pillar of dirt

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Noice bois I have seen the update at some streams... But I hate that they only give pc some fancy updates or some answers I like fun pimps and I don't want to fight against the power of some of your PCs but... Give us some answers some small answers about console.... I am disappointed and sad... I only want an answer and not an angry from an pc player because you have the same problems with console only games and want answers :c

 

 

PS. Thank you for make an so good game

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Recent reviews on Steam are going into the 'mixed' range.. Hmm.. Here's to hoping there's a quick hotfix to the FPS problems. Else the soft landing will not be soft.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

 

 

Not enough rocks in the game! I miss those big surface boulders!

 

00 What are you talking about? Those are still in the game.

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Yes the trader on a huge pillar of dirt

 

EDITED: Okay, as a disclaimer, my character's FPV bugged out for whatever reason when I pressed the specific command to snap the image (same thing happened in 17.4), so ignore that (such as the shovel's odd position). But this is what I'm having to deal with. :p

 

olHlCyu.jpg

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Are there supposed to be ferals spawning in the wild from Day 1?? Twice now I've gotten owned because some random feral bazooka'd in from nowhere and obliterated me in 2 hits. It's the middle of the day, even! They're real ferals with the glowing eyes and everything, too.

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Few things i've noticed so far from playing...

 

The sound on this update is a huge improvement!

 

The new dynamic music is really great. I love the atmosphere it provides. There are some great sounds..Some of them sound like something you'd hear from an 80's zombie flick like Day of the Dead. Love them. The zombie walking sounds are much improved for me. I can hear them whistling through the grass, I can pin point where they are and what surface types they are standing on. I like the impact sounds when you hit with melee, though I think they could be a bit more 'meaty'. The discard\throw sound is improved. The echos are better..Just all around huge sound improvements.

 

I know I've talked about outdoor performance suffering compared to before, but the performance indoors is just amazing compared to any Alpha before it. Even with all the reflections and all other effects maxed out - and throwing torches everywhere trying to stress it - the game is just buttery, silky smooth in the POIs - which makes for satisfying combat. The occlusion is doing a great job here. This will also potentially help when base building where you can build more complicated scenes without worrying about frame drops. Overall, just a huge improvement.

 

Not enough zombies outdoors. I went outside to the wasteland at night and stood under a lamp post with its light on and made all kinds of noise and barely attracted any zombies at all. It's not dangerous enough. I don't know if the detect range is too low or what..but I was making all kinds of noise and standing in bright light and you'd think I'd have all kinds of zombies after me since I was in the wasteland..but, nah..it was disappointingly easy to just stay outside all night. I had two zombies come after me and that was it.

 

The textures are a massive improvement all around aside from the cars and occasionally the sky. Something looks off on the textures with the cars and sometimes the sky. Depending on the time of day, the sky has an almost compressed, dithered look - kinda like what a game would look like if it was running 16-bit colors instead of 24-z. But, everything else i've seen looks amazingly crisp and detailed.

 

I did not find the initial start either too tedious or too superman - it was about right. But, I don't like that you can't boil water out of a tin-can and can just easily boil it out of a glass jar. It takes away from that early survival state where you're looking for a cooking pot ASAP. To me some of the best and most thrilling experiences in this game has always been in the early game. I like feeling like there's a rush to get some essentials, but it's relatively easy to get going faster now than before.

 

I am getting lots of 'junk turrets' from zombie loot. Fat zombies give a lot of them. Could just be random luck, but sure seems like I'm accumulating an excessive amount really quickly.

 

Rage mode was a great idea I think. It definitely adds another layer to everything. I like it.

 

Melee combat has more depth and options than ever before. It's massively improved compared to where we started from. Hits and swings have more weight to them now..there's more options for different melee types, and again the sound helps tremendous with the whole thing to make it all feel a lot more realistic.

 

Anyway, I've barely had enough playtime to really give a lot of feedback - but those are some of my first impressions.

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Are there supposed to be ferals spawning in the wild from Day 1?? Twice now I've gotten owned because some random feral bazooka'd in from nowhere and obliterated me in 2 hits. It's the middle of the day, even! They're real ferals with the glowing eyes and everything, too.

 

Yes, that's a new feature. Spider zombies can also spawn during the night as well.

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