Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Demonoid74]

They were going to add in a "Bump Stock" mod...but they were just made illegal!

 

Oh wait...you don't even need one of those to turn an "assault rifle" into full auto fire!

[meganoth]

You say it sucked from a realism standpoint, ok lets talk about realism

How realistic is it to find more Guns as everythign else all working not broken or only junk same for ammo?

 

In Arizona? That seems to be actually not that far from reality

 

Just checked, in a survey 33% of all adult men in the US said they own at least one gun. And 2/3rds of the gun owners own more than one gun, 29% even 5 or more. Now Arizona is surely one of the states above that average. Source: https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/

[TSBX]

I agree, all game design decisions should be based on census data.

[Trankitas]

I already stated that we're going to be looking at guns, quality, mods and random stats for A19. I don't like part, I was never on board with all mods increasing damage, it was just too much work to do guns, mods and a perk system. Hopefully A18 resolves perks. We're adding back reasons to loot with top tier weapons being find only or craft with a schematic like mods, and pinks are never craftable. It SHOULD be pretty kickass by A19.

 

Our original Pre Kickstarter elevator design was a survival game where fallout meets the walking dead in a minecraft tech voxel world, so deal with it. It doesn't mean fallout in the sense of power armor and future/retro vibe, it just means an open world RPG. We'll work the kinks out. I was doing art while we hired a guy for design, and sadly that turned out to be a mistake. I've retired from art 100%, so the game play is now all mine but its going to take time to correct everything. I think A18 will be huge improvements and 19 will be amazing.

 

So this alpha will be focused on optimizations?

[The Gronk]

I agree, all game design decisions should be based on census data.

 

When you're modelling a particular area of the planet? Yes, the relevant design choices should at least bear in mind the reality behind the simulation you're trying to create.

 

That being said... America having more guns per square foot than anywhere else on the planet is as much a cliche as measurable fact. If an American company wants to parody their own culture then I'm all for it :-)

[DaVegaNL]

I agree, all game design decisions should be based on census data.

 

Geological data*

[TSBX]

When you're modelling a particular area of the planet? Yes, the relevant design choices should at least bear in mind the reality behind the simulation you're trying to create.

 

That being said... America having more guns per square foot than anywhere else on the planet is as much a cliche as measurable fact. If an American company wants to parody their own culture then I'm all for it :-)

 

Real life data has a place in providing a guideline, but game play should and does supersede it. There is clearly a gap in understanding because you used the word, "simulation" in regards to a video game that is clearly not one.

 

Could you post more game design fan fiction? I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting with bated breath for your next bit of "insight" on how fataal can improve AI and the other TFP staff can develop their game.

 

 

Back on topic: Gun parts in and of themselves are good and I would love to see a system where your hunting rifle receiver is worn out so you have to venture over to the next town because you know there is a gun store that just might have a replacement. If you don't? Fine, but you risk the chance of misfires or jams.

 

 

Gun mods are also cool, and they deserve more than the current +1 damage fare which is apparently being addressed in the future.

 

@DavegaNL: Splat maps make your wildest dreams come true, and I'm not talking about honeymoon memories.

[madmole]

I acknowledge that performance is pretty bad, at times hellacious, but also I've not personally seen it tied to zombie count. Sure, yes, horde nights and such FPS dips - to be expected - but I've also seen a 100-count frame build in my queue go ting-ting-ting-pause-ting-tingting-pause as something else - with no zombies around - chokes the system every x-amount of seconds or so. And solar panels and pressure plates are HELLISH on performance.

 

That said, I installed a mod to add wandering hordes of 32 zombies and see NO performance drop from them (and it's a thing of beauty, btw to get stuck in a building with one of these hordes pouring inside: gadamn!)

 

My point being, I don't think zombie volume is as much as a hit as several other things that cause much greater lag.

 

Appreciate everything you are working on, and *looks at game counter* I now think 7dtd is my most played game in my game list

That would be the garbage collector causing the hitches. We're upgrading to Unity 2019 at some point, which will allow us to declare exactly WHEN to do garbage collection, like when there are no zombies near and you are in the menu, or AFK.

 

Its more complicated than you suggest. From what I'm told cpu and gpu interact a lot and being cpu bound can cause gpu to not perform well and vice versa. So ideally you get everything down so everything is reasonable then add stuff back in. And no big problem for you can be a hell of a problem for the next guy. And considering multiplayer and all those interactions on the whole server, we want players to get their sleepers when they go into a server, and if a wandering horde is taking up all the resources, well their experience won't be intended.

[madmole]

There seemed to be several employees you where unhappy about... not actually showing enough performance, or just different visions?

We've lost 3 staff and fired 3 in 6 years, so that is pretty good. Working remotely takes a special talent. You have to be very self motivated and a good problem solver and communicator. Some guys can't function or thrive in that environment. I think its clear what a motivated guy can do, in less than a year Faatal redid the minibike 10x better with actual physics and added 4 other vehicles, AND redid all the AI and pathing and a bunch of other stuff.

 

I think you guys will be amazed at what we achieve moving forward, fixing the framework to all those old broken systems that held us back has us in a great spot. We're able to add new content now much easier. It was just too much stuff for one build and had some bad timing on the perk system, but I'll get it sorted out. I'm really excited to test A18.

[n2n1]

I'm assuming your talking about spikes that do more damage, and not the ugly aesthetics of the log spikes?

unfortunately, i'm talking about their aesthetics ...

conclude;)

(I think you understand that, in some cases, it may be more important.

And do not say about the habit and so on. - You have already clearly defined the Truth)

 

...it's psychology, these spikes look are BRUTAL.

[madmole]

I don't think it's so much of missing the memo of what you want to establish. It's more of, not seeing the need in having tiers for stone tools and weapons. Unless you are adding different types of stone/wood you can use in the game craft with? That would make sense in having tiers for them then, or you all, are actually going to set things up in such a way that you will be stuck with stone items for a longer period of time in the game.

 

It just seems counter intuitive, to want to hold onto them, when any poi you visit, has a chance to give you something better well within the first day of the game.

 

As it is, stone tools/weapons, just seems to relegate themselves as being a last resort, or starting items, but nothing you would want to stick with for any length of time. Basically, they are throw away items that you get rid of as soon as possible, for the more useful items.

What if you want to be a sledgehammer guy and can't find one? Craft a stone one, problem solved. We want all weapons to have three tiers and the first tier is craftable with no perks or blueprints. I shouldn't be forced to use a club if I'm a spear guy, or use a sledgehammer if I'm a knife guy. I should at least be able to craft a crappy primitive (insert weapon class name here).

[madmole]

Hell yeah to all the design choices since a17, as Kage848 once said about 18's books : " that's straight up thinkin' out of the box". It seems to be a snowball of rainbows from now on. Nevertheless I wonder if the half year mark is a bit too early of a deadline for stable a18? Don't mind me, I enjoy dying once or twice a day on insane because of stupid choices . Might beat the death achievement in no time.

 

I wonder....

[madmole]

Just a thought on things quality would make sense to affect (not that you haven't thought of some of these but just tossing out stuff):

 

1) Random stat ranges. So maybe a particular stat will have a base range of 1-10 and you could throw in there maybe something like making the range 1+2*quality to 10+2*quality. Adjust the math of course based on how much overlap you would want in random ranges for various quality levels.

 

2) Durability, like always

 

3) Reliability. What if instead of a steady wear and knowing exactly when it will cease functioning you had a chance of failure range. (like a misfire or gun jamming) where say lowest quality might start with a 1 or 2% chance of failure at max durability up to say 95% chance of failure at 0 durability. Pink level could start with 0% chance of failure for a beginning range of durability (say no chance of failure at 100%-75% durability) with a 50% chance of failure at 0 durability. I could see this being implemented with all tools and not just weapons for that matter. (Hey my axe head is loose, it will come off at some point but not sure which wack). Granted, I have no idea if this would be difficult to implement into your current code.

Yes something along these lines. 3 sounds ok but some players might rage and I think its a bit overdesign, its not really needed. I mean most games don't even HAVE durability.

[canadianbluebeer]

I'm assuming your talking about spikes that do more damage, and not the ugly aesthetics of the log spikes?

 

I kinda did like the look. (and of course the damage)

 

Yes, upside down flat cirlcles look and was weird, but did chop legs nicely.

 

However. Studding the walls, pillars with them, did look kinda nice. (once upgraded) Add in the mods to make them flaming.. well...

 

So nice sharp pointy ouchie hurty things for the walls would be nice. (alternate orange and white, and you have halloween candy too)

[madmole]

This makes me very sad. With the limited numbers of outside zombies and the fact that when you clear a region of zombies they never return to the same population as before clearing them, the only real zombie risk is in poi’s. If I can alter a Christopher Walken quote “We need more zombies”. Don’t listen to the whining.....zombie numbers inside are just fine, heck I wouldn’t mind even more. Or maybe make poi zombie count configurable?? This is the best zombie game ever, keep the focus on them. Thanks for all you do.

 

I'm not really sure what makes you sad. There are too many zombies in POIS, they need to be thinned a bit. We're doing about a 20% reduction, so instead of 10 there are 8. Instead of 100 there are 80. If optimizations go well, then we'll add more outdoors. Whats not to like? There were only 14 billion complaints about too many zombies in pois, and we agreed with them.

[madmole]

When it comes to the topic of gun parts and the A17 system, I don't miss the gun parts but I'm not a big fan of the schematics either. I would like the see the ability to make guns and mods a perk that you can use anytime as long as you have the parts and perk. But make some new parts that are needed that can work in a few guns/mods, like the vehicles are now with engines and batteries. Like a gun barrel will be needed to make any of the guns but be hard to find. Or you need a battery to make lights, lasers, and sights but they are scavenged from lamps and small electronics and found as often as car batteries. Lock these rare parts behinds Lucky Looter and lock the mods behind individual categories instead of tears. So one perk could be the ability to craft all scopes another to craft all armor storage mods.

 

Maybe this was mentioned before and I didn't see it but I feel like this would be a realistic and less chaotic was to build guns and mods.

 

Also add a semi-auto shotgun like a Spas-12 or AA-12 please.

 

The difference between a schematic and a barrel is the icon.

[Odetta]

What if you want to be a sledgehammer guy and can't find one? Craft a stone one, problem solved. We want all weapons to have three tiers and the first tier is craftable with no perks or blueprints. I shouldn't be forced to use a club if I'm a spear guy, or use a sledgehammer if I'm a knife guy. I should at least be able to craft a crappy primitive (insert weapon class name here).

 

Question: Are you a fan of throwing axes?

[madmole]

unfortunately, i'm talking about their aesthetics ...

conclude;)

(I think you understand that, in some cases, it may be more important.

And do not say about the habit and so on. - You have already clearly defined the Truth)

 

...it's psychology, these spikes look are BRUTAL.

 

We're not bringing back log spikes. Mod them in, its about 3 lines of code.

[madmole]

Question: Are you a fan of throwing axes?

 

Hah, I see where this is going. When we do the spear, a thrown axe will be possible.

[n2n1]

We're not bringing back log spikes. Mod them in, its about 3 lines of code.

Yeah, it's not a problem for me.

That really want You ever saw what I did with all the stuff that You removed

[ParaSyt]

The difference between a schematic and a barrel is the icon.

 

One barrel or part could be used for several different guns or mods. One schematic can only be used once to build one particular item. I'm just noticing I am getting another storage crate full of schematics where in A16 that crate would have been full of gun parts. You solved one issue to only replace it with a similar one.

[ParaSyt]

Dub Post

[Demonoid74]

Hah, I see where this is going. When we do the spear, a thrown axe will be possible.

 

and Tomahawks do throw VERY well

 

[Tin]

We've lost 3 staff and fired 3 in 6 years, so that is pretty good. Working remotely takes a special talent. You have to be very self motivated and a good problem solver and communicator. Some guys can't function or thrive in that environment. I think its clear what a motivated guy can do, in less than a year Faatal redid the minibike 10x better with actual physics and added 4 other vehicles, AND redid all the AI and pathing and a bunch of other stuff.

 

I think you guys will be amazed at what we achieve moving forward, fixing the framework to all those old broken systems that held us back has us in a great spot. We're able to add new content now much easier. It was just too much stuff for one build and had some bad timing on the perk system, but I'll get it sorted out. I'm really excited to test A18.

 

I'm over all really happy with how far you all have grown, and look forward to the next product you all release. I just float ideas, suggestions, and just rely how I see it. I will always want more, more, more, but even I know at some point you need to move on to the next big thing.

 

What if you want to be a sledgehammer guy and can't find one? Craft a stone one, problem solved. We want all weapons to have three tiers and the first tier is craftable with no perks or blueprints. I shouldn't be forced to use a club if I'm a spear guy, or use a sledgehammer if I'm a knife guy. I should at least be able to craft a crappy primitive (insert weapon class name here).

 

Just from my perspective.. In the beginning I will use anything to get me going, I don't really focus on a preferred style. It's not till after the first day7 event that I really try to RP and spec a role for the game I'm playing.

[SrslyGTFO]

The difference between a schematic and a barrel is the icon.

 

The difference between a schematic and a barrel is immersion. FTFY

 

So, are we seeing the emergence of a new throwing weapon class? Spears? Throwing knives and axes? Loving that idea. How about a slingshot as a low tier projectile weapon? Lots of rocks around for ammo.

 

Thanks for all the teasers.