Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Freshmint]

Guys I don't have time to reply to every post. If its my bug or a topic I am passionate about I might reply, but I'm not a producer so I'm not keeping track of every little bug. Testers go through all the bugs and try to repro them and send them off to the appropriate devs. I don't answer to things I don't know about and I don't read walls of text and I don't answer multiple questions in the same posts. Thanks for understanding. Most devs you will never hear a peep from, but I try to interact as best as I can here.

 

I appreciate your response to this and well said. I guess some players like myself are misinformed on how to relay feedback and where to go to do it and at the same time you get smashed on the dev diary about every little request. I guess it needs to be clear on players communicating more with testers and where to go to do it so it goes through the chain and relieves pressure on the devs.

 

Your hard work and communication doesn't go unnoticed

[Roland]

Any answer to this. Same issue on another perk. can't firgure it out. I have no status effects.

 

You’re not cold? I think cold can drop you an attribute level. Or it used to. That’s all I can think of— or you got the perk while wearing a special accessory and then removed it? That’s two things I thought of.

[MechanicalLens]

Get this man a paper towel.

 

Eh? What is that supposed to mean?

[archergod]

Legendary weapons will have a name.

 

Are they added, or will be added ? so excited..

[TSBX]

Eh? What is that supposed to mean?

 

For your chin. You have TFP all over it.

[JaxTeller718]

Some devs interact often with their players, and some do not. Some involve players feedback in their development and some do not. Some embrace their modding communities and some definitely do not.

 

I am glad to be part of a unique community such as this

[Odetta]

Guys I don't have time to reply to every post. If its my bug or a topic I am passionate about I might reply, but I'm not a producer so I'm not keeping track of every little bug. Testers go through all the bugs and try to repro them and send them off to the appropriate devs. I don't answer to things I don't know about and I don't read walls of text and I don't answer multiple questions in the same posts. Thanks for understanding. Most devs you will never hear a peep from, but I try to interact as best as I can here.

 

[ZombieSurvivor]

For your chin. You have TFP all over it.

 

LMAO thats just wrong hahahahahahahaaaaaa

[MechanicalLens]

For your chin. You have TFP all over it.

 

And I'm glad that you've come to that conclusion.

[MechanicalLens]

LMAO thats just wrong hahahahahahahaaaaaa

 

I really don't want to know how. XD

[Shusien]

I cant craft workbench. Says its disabled by status effect, but I don't have any status effects. What does that mean?

 

Nevermind it was gear. Thanks.

[SnowDog1942]

Translation: “ Finally!”

 

 

LOL

[Trunks_Budo]

Maaaaaan, please consider making a hardcore mode. Death is death; Single player only, you take 50% less damage from landmines and 75% less damage from all zombie/creature attacks. It's harder to die, but the moment you do die, your save is entirely deleted. Or just respawn your survivor and refresh the world back to default with all constructions/deconstructions undone. Falls can deal the same amount of damage as always. I just feel like dying is too beneficial in the current build... You can kill yourself to cure infection, stave off starvation and dehydration, even to fast travel back to your base. It just seems like the game should be called "7 days to exploit death", and I think a hardcore mode would really rock. Just make it a little harder to die, but make it so death is a final deal.

 

Also, have you guys at TFP noticed that sometimes, dropped zombie loot bags disappear when you try to loot them? Maybe it's because I have my loot abundance set to 25%, but it happens literally all the time. I love the game but it just feels like it's kinda between places right now, alas, I understand that's the point of it being in alpha stages still. You guys are working things out.

 

I think it would also help if there wasn't an aiming reticle for melee weapons, instead, the weapons could have an arc when swung that damaged anything within range, as long as they were within the arc. It just feels like I miss the head a lot of times when I really shouldn't, just because my reticle isn't directly on the head at the time the swing connects. The melee weapon makes contact, but the reticle being a centimeter to the right or left prevents it from registering as a hit. I just feel like a sledge hammer should be able to hit a couple zombies with one swing sometimes, it's just a peeve of mine.

 

Lastly, I don't know how I feel about certain weapons being constrained to certain attributes. It would be nice if weapon specialization and perk specialization were two completely different things; For example, I'd like to have things such as Living off the Land and Animal Tracking, while also being specialized in the combat perks associated with bladed weapons. As it is now, you have to choose between the weapon you like and the survival-based perks you like, and that just feels kind of off. Just think of how cool it would be if you were granted 2 perk points per level up, and you could choose between several survival attributes, OR several combat attributes with how you spent your perks. Say you get 10 perk points for completing the introductory basics of survival quest, you could do one of three things: Amplify a weapon proficiency right off the bat, amplify your survival aspects right off the bat, or do a balance of both. As it is now it's like you have to sacrifice one to have the other; I feel like having 5 combat attribute lists and 5 survival attribute lists would not only allow for a longer immersion-investment time frame, but also would make players feel like they had more of a sense of personal specialization, rather than feeling like they were being locked into one specialization and locked out of others for the first 20 hours of their experience.

 

There, it's in paragraph format. You don't read walls of text but maybe you'll read that. We're all being systematically depopulated through cheap fake food and subjected to debt slavery so I don't know, I guess I figured whether or not I used paragraph format wasn't a concern lol. But your game is one of the few things that offers an escape to that drudgery for me day-to-day, so I'd love to help improve it, if my ideas can.

[Trunks_Budo]

PS: I really hope one day zombies can walk diagonally toward the player, rather than persistently zig-zagging toward us on a grid-like walking pattern. Don't know whether or not that change would be possible or how hard it would be to implement if it is possible, but I'm hoping for that.

[dhlmaster]

Pretty sure they took the blunderbuss out with A18

 

Nah, I crafted a blunderbuss today. New game, decided I was doing a strength build, and I had everything needed for a blunderbuss and 50+ ammo on day 1 just from looting trash. I put a point in Shotgun Messiah and I was one-shotting weaker zombies in the head. You just have to treat it like a really loud melee weapon, get in their face and time the shot just right.

 

By Day 3 I had a double barrel, and I scrapped the blunderbuss. Wasn't necessary to have it, but it was fun.

[chikorina]

A streamer friend of mine was playing on a server during horde night.

Soon after the horde started, one of the players fell into some spikes and died.

While he was respawning, the other players killed all of the 4 or 5 zombies that spawned before he died.

After that the horde stopped spawning and didn't start again until the player that died logged out.

Is there a way to fix this without having to log out every time the tagged person dies?

[MechanicalLens]

I don't get how that's a wall of text, I'm being elaborately concise in my descriptions of both my ideas and my reporting of bugs like the disappearing loot bags. I think you're confusing being concise for rambling on. It may be my favorite Led Zepplin song, but I don't ramble on. I shoot straight and get my point across with as much articulation as I can muster, covering every detail and leaving nothing out. But think what you like.

 

All I'm saying is that a wall of text is a large conglomeration of text. Madmole probably won't read all of that. Perhaps try shortening it, or spreading your ideas across several posts (but not all at once)? That way, any of your concerns may get addressed.

 

Edit: Nevermind then.

[OzHawkeye]

All I'm saying is that a wall of text is a large conglomeration of text. Madmole probably won't read all of that. Perhaps try shortening it, or spreading your ideas across several posts (but not all at once)? That way, any of your concerns may get addressed.

 

That's the better way of saying it I reckon.

 

Trunks - if you want Dev attention on a post, the shorter the better. Longer reviews are probably better off in the General Discussion room, and yes, formatting helps readability, which makes it more likely to be read.

 

Anyway, back to our regular programming....

[madmole]

Maaaaaan, please consider making a hardcore mode. Death is death; Single player only, you take 50% less damage from landmines and 75% less damage from all zombie/creature attacks. It's harder to die, but the moment you do die, your save is entirely deleted. Or just respawn your survivor and refresh the world back to default with all constructions/deconstructions undone. Falls can deal the same amount of damage as always. I just feel like dying is too beneficial in the current build... You can kill yourself to cure infection, stave off starvation and dehydration, even to fast travel back to your base. It just seems like the game should be called "7 days to exploit death", and I think a hardcore mode would really rock. Just make it a little harder to die, but make it so death is a final deal.

 

Also, have you guys at TFP noticed that sometimes, dropped zombie loot bags disappear when you try to loot them? Maybe it's because I have my loot abundance set to 25%, but it happens literally all the time. I love the game but it just feels like it's kinda between places right now, alas, I understand that's the point of it being in alpha stages still. You guys are working things out.

 

I think it would also help if there wasn't an aiming reticle for melee weapons, instead, the weapons could have an arc when swung that damaged anything within range, as long as they were within the arc. It just feels like I miss the head a lot of times when I really shouldn't, just because my reticle isn't directly on the head at the time the swing connects. The melee weapon makes contact, but the reticle being a centimeter to the right or left prevents it from registering as a hit. I just feel like a sledge hammer should be able to hit a couple zombies with one swing sometimes, it's just a peeve of mine.

 

Lastly, I don't know how I feel about certain weapons being constrained to certain attributes. It would be nice if weapon specialization and perk specialization were two completely different things; For example, I'd like to have things such as Living off the Land and Animal Tracking, while also being specialized in the combat perks associated with bladed weapons. As it is now, you have to choose between the weapon you like and the survival-based perks you like, and that just feels kind of off. Just think of how cool it would be if you were granted 2 perk points per level up, and you could choose between several survival attributes, OR several combat attributes with how you spent your perks. Say you get 10 perk points for completing the introductory basics of survival quest, you could do one of three things: Amplify a weapon proficiency right off the bat, amplify your survival aspects right off the bat, or do a balance of both. As it is now it's like you have to sacrifice one to have the other; I feel like having 5 combat attribute lists and 5 survival attribute lists would not only allow for a longer immersion-investment time frame, but also would make players feel like they had more of a sense of personal specialization, rather than feeling like they were being locked into one specialization and locked out of others for the first 20 hours of their experience.

 

There, it's in paragraph format. You don't read walls of text but maybe you'll read that. We're all being systematically depopulated through cheap fake food and subjected to debt slavery so I don't know, I guess I figured whether or not I used paragraph format wasn't a concern lol. But your game is one of the few things that offers an escape to that drudgery for me day-to-day, so I'd love to help improve it, if my ideas can.

We're planning a dead is dead mode at some point, for now simply delete your save game.

 

25% loot probably has some bugs yet, or it probably doesn't but 25% of 1 is 0. Probably needs work done to the data.

 

We had combat all smashed under a few trees in A17 and it wasn't very good. Now there is choice and unique player builds. You don't need everything and you can get adequate for a few points. Allows for replayability. Its intentional to not let you max it all out easily.

 

Its easier to get a response if you just focus on one topic its difficult to read multiple points. I know you have a lot to get off your chest, but we get 50000 of these a day and its already been discussed for months or years in depth. I should probably start a f.a.q. or something but I'd assume the good community here could do it. Typically they answer but I think everyone is too engaged in A18 to bother right now.

[OzHawkeye]

I should probably start a f.a.q. or something but I'd assume the good community here could do it. Typically they answer but I think everyone is too engaged in A18 to bother right now.

 

A good sign that - A18 sets the bar I reckon. Knocked my previous favourite version outta the park.

[Slingblade2040]

at 12 noon in game time on day 42. now I'm just sitting at horde base waiting for either victory or total defeat. Game stage is 139.

[stallionsden]

I like how the current RWG gives us a large island like map, so if doing something @UnknownSoldier suggested with a bit more variance between biomes (which I agree with him on), then I'd like to also see them with the water around the island as this is a good indication of where the end of the map is..

 

Islands are horrid game play as in it makes the game just like every other nearly. Go back to how it was before I say or have options of diff type maps to make everyone happy

[SMiThaYe]

I should probably start a f.a.q. or something but I'd assume the good community here could do it. Typically they answer but I think everyone is too engaged in A18 to bother right now.

 

There's so much changing each alpha and new players coming in that a FAQ would be welcomed by the community. Some people play a new game with Steam Guides overlay open and is one of the first places people look for help - could add a manual (PDF on Steam Links) with lore and artwork.

[MechanicalLens]

Odd. The forecast did not call for a blood moon tonight. Hehheh.

 

Seriously though, I love myself a "watermelon sunset". ^^

 

[MechanicalLens]

A BRIEF TOUR OF MY A18 BASE:

 

 

Behold! The structure itself! Isn't she a beauty? Started off from just a humble tower, but she has evolved and will continue to do so over the course of many blood moons!

 

 

 

If the zombies somehow manage to penetrate the walls, they will have to contend with the Scissor Corridor - 6 blade traps turning in unison. Beforehand, I'll cut through them (pun not intended), pass through the twin vault doors (one behind the other), shut them tight, and then and only when will I call upon these vanguards to protect my inner sanctum.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, I'll be able to reign bullets and grenades down on them from above. Two hatches are located above the Scissor Corridor, allowing me to repair my blade traps.