Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Laz Man]

The only thing I hate about this game right now from the bottom of my heart is that quests don't have a warning for the player leaving the quest area and just pop failed.

 

It's a common mistake for players to do Fetch and Clear Multiplayer quests and forget the Fetch part and screw your 3 hours clearing it without fair warning.

 

NEGATIVE REVIEW INCOMING

 

It does have a warning, top right hand side of your screen lol.

 

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If you create the possibility to include soil types in the painting menu ( brush ) the problem would be solved.

 

Now theres a solution. Good thinking!

[TSBX]

You can't paint terrain blocks, and painting solid blocks next to terrain leads to the little trenches we all hate.

[SMiThaYe]

We're peaking sooner than anticipated for concurrent players, currently sitting at 35,166 and climbing.

 

All bets are off that we'll smash 36K easily. Taking note from Roland, now is the time for everyone to start up 7 Days To Die

[JaxTeller718]

That streamlining discussion again ? Come on, i'm the first to voice my criticism regarding various points (bladed weapons & stun batton being terrible, shotguns being terrible, etc...), but A18 is a masterpiece regardless. Asphalt got removed, it was probably an "oversight" or at least something that wasn't deemed important. That doesn't mean TFP just ♥♥♥♥s all over builders. I'm sure they will figure out a way to bring it back, but let's be fair, besides that dude who needs it, noone voiced the concern by now.

 

 

 

No it isn't fine. It serves absolutely no purpose when you know how to melee or unless you refuse to melee. Either there's 1 or 2 targets on you and it's an easy melee kill, or there are more targets and it's a terrible weapon choice because of its mag size and effective range. Even for the odd dog or wolf encounter it's subpar because it is totally unforgiving if you ever miss your bullets. It's just worse than an AK in every way unless we look at raw damage per bullet.

 

People are only mentioning it now because the masterpiece is indeed in the first 24 hours of play. But once you settle in and have your base is where the fun USED to begin for a lot of us. And that is when you start missing all the things you used to be able to time sink in. Painting, resurfacing, expanding etc. They have done a great job adding new decos and making this game fun again. No one here is criticizing the effort that went into steering the shipwreck that was 17. But even those new decos are mostly not available for crafting and were put in JUST for poi building, not player usage or with the idea that they will all be available to make your base your living quarters. MM himself called paint and dye junk that no one would care to lose if they scrapped it.

 

Its an ok opinion to have, but it should not be the only opinion. All of these new dumbed down negative reviews is exactly what I expected. You cater more to the casual gamer/broader audience you are now inviting a lot of sales to people who write stupid ♥♥♥♥ like "Hurr Durr this dev sucks he banned me cause i used racist slurs" or some other fortnite level infancy.

 

Which is why I was amused at his anger to people leaving negative reviews. The bubble that exists around this idea that bringing in tons more cash and gamers = positive word of mouth is laughable. All it does is invite toxicity. Mature gamers love 7 days. For 17 alphas we relished it. But mature gamers are no longer good enough. So you reap what you sow. Right or wrong (and trust me its wrong in most cases to see the trash these kids post) its a fact.

[Onarr]

Because some people like things that you now think are useless but were around for 17 alphas. Thats why its so important. Sometimes it appears like you just dont like something and no one else should either. World building was a heavy focus at one point in this game, I know that has shifted recently but that does not mean those who loved it just stop loving it. I know streamlining is a huge focus now but its important to remember some of the things that brought all of us to your table in the first place. We already lost maple and plains, couldnt the deco fans out there keep SOMETHING they like around?

 

You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.

 

You can catch even more flies with manure, whats your point?

 

Sorry I could not rezist I love building in game and would love some improvements in that regard. Painting your castle is pain. I think good system would be, if you could select texture in shape menu before placing the block. That would be pretty wizard. You know, decide how you stack stones or how you craft those planks.

[TSBX]

Shotguns do need the ability do hit multiple entities. It's been sorely lacking for a long long time and would go a long way to making shotguns in general more viable.

[katarynna]

Its pretty silly, its a zombie apocalypse you don't get time to landscape. Maybe we can overcome the limitation but I was told hey you get 3 blocks whats it going to be.. um ok dirt/adaptive and gravel. Maybe asphalt would be more desirable than gravel?

 

While clearly he doesn't understand why the asphalt is so important to some people, It doesn't sound like he is dismissing their concerns out of hand. He asked here and another place whether asphalt would be preferred to gravel after stating he was told they get 3 blocks and he picked dirt, adaptive and gravel.

 

Someone who cares about the issue could at least answer him and let him know if switching gravel for asphalt would make them happy or if they hope the limitation can be overcome because both gravel and asphalt are important to them.

 

I personally could care less, but hope that little things like that which mean a lot to some people can be accommodated. But politely replying to his suggested compromise would be the smart and polite thing to do.

 

If losing gravel would also be an issue, let him know before he just swaps them out.

[Onarr]

Shotguns do need the ability do hit multiple entities. It's been sorely lacking for a long long time and would go a long way to making shotguns in general more viable.

 

I think its possible. I ocassionally get double headshots with duckbill mod

 

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While clearly he doesn't understand why the asphalt is so important to some people, It doesn't sound like he is dismissing their concerns out of hand. He asked here and another place whether asphalt would be preferred to gravel after stating he was told they get 3 blocks and he picked dirt, adaptive and gravel.

 

Someone who cares about the issue could at least answer him and let him know if switching gravel for asphalt would make them happy or if they hope the limitation can be overcome because both gravel and asphalt are important to them.

 

I personally could care less, but hope that little things like that which mean a lot to some people can be accommodated. But politely replying to his suggested compromise would be the smart and polite thing to do.

 

If losing gravel would also be an issue, let him know before he just swaps them out.

 

Problem is, nobody can talk on this issue for everybody. That is madmoles decision, all he needs to know that there is desire for asphalt. Also time for landscaping is when you dominate the world, its endgame gameplay, at least for me.

[madmole]

Yeah, I remember them doing that after those changes. I've heard it in action before and it was definitely helpful.

I'm not sure what happened. I may have lost focus, or maybe something else.

In one case it was raining, and as soon as it stopped, I could tell that a world spawn was triggered because suddenly there were zombies nearby. If a wolf spawns in an area you are already at, would it howl? If a wolf is going for a zombie and changes its mind and heads at you, will it still howl?

 

I think we covered the basic use case, beyond that, always proceed with caution in the apocalypse.

[wolfbain5]

double barrel shotgun early game

bad against multiple zeds, keep it anyway, perfect for those lone wolves early on

 

edit: also good in snow biome early on. lumberjacks are arrow sponges and slow. but 2 head shots from the shotty, and down they go.

[TSBX]

I mean, re: the 3 texture issue that was construction strictly to defend the splatmap debacle, what if I were to tell you it was possible to only see about a 10% decrease in quality in exchange for a much more modifiable world. It's been done, not a theory, not an idea. It's possible. They just sprung for that extra bit of "aesthetics" because that's what happens when you put an "artist in charge of design".

[katarynna]

I think its possible. I ocassionally get double headshots with duckbill mod

 

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Problem is, nobody can talk on this issue for everybody. That is madmoles decision, all he needs to know that there is desire for asphalt. Also time for landscaping is when you dominate the world, its endgame gameplay, at least for me.

 

Except, well, madmole ASKED if asphalt would be more desirable than gravel for the people who were complaining about the removal of asphalt.

 

And no one complaining even answered.

[skullpoker]

Any plans to release a stable version? Not really feeling a game that locks up my PC while building a map.

[Guppycur]

Any plans to release a stable version? Not really feeling a game that locks up my PC while building a map.

 

You won't likely like this answer, but try building a smaller map.

[wolfbain5]

Except, well, madmole ASKED if asphalt would be more desirable than gravel for the people who were complaining about the removal of asphalt.

 

And no one complaining even answered.

 

some did answer, since madmole is stating splat limitations, they countered with add terrain to the paint brush pallet. I too find the splat somewhat annoying. there is an adobe style house with what looks like a covered picnic area and a pile of sand in the desert. except it isnt sand, it stone...and that isnt the only example. that is annoying. go dig for stone in the desert. it all looks like sand, even down at stone. a little jarring to immersion.

 

game breaking, no.

annoying and jarring, yes.

 

edit: btw the desert is my favorite biome to live in, second is burned biome, except the smoke is an fps hit

[Guppycur]

Bigger issue is it destroys sub biomes and custom biomes.

[Gazz]

Shotguns do need the ability do hit multiple entities. It's been sorely lacking for a long long time and would go a long way to making shotguns in general more viable.

Shotgun shells fire 8 pellets.

 

The "problem" is that our shotguns are somewhat realistic in that they don't have a 45° spread like in many video games.

(still much higher spread than would actually be realistic but not comically wide)

 

Try a pumpgun with a sawn off barrel mod to see a more "normal computer game" shotgun.

[0ldman]

Except, well, madmole ASKED if asphalt would be more desirable than gravel for the people who were complaining about the removal of asphalt.

 

And no one complaining even answered.

 

I have been talking with a suggestion

[Laz Man]

You can't paint terrain blocks, and painting solid blocks next to terrain leads to the little trenches we all hate.

 

Not yet but maybe it could be done in the future. At least it's an idea instead of complaining. 😎👍

[Guest Piratenking]

It takes 1 to 2 real time hours to clear shamway or shotgun messiah factories with fists, unless you have a team of guys and have done it 10 times and have it memorized. I have never cleared a full town, I'd rather walk down the road and explore than systematically grind a town out hitting POIs that visually have no interest to me or look too risky for where I am at in the game.

 

Anyhow, town size is fine I played with towns half this size and felt like it was borderline too much when we made them as big as they are now so no way are we making them bigger. It won't kill you to sprint down the road for a few minutes to find another town I do it on day one with crap stamina and no gear if I spawn in a non forest biome because of the dangers.

 

That said I'm sure a modder or even us might expose some sliders at some point like "town size", frequency, etc.

 

oh you meant the huge bussines, yeah that take longer ofc, at the moment of writing the town i was refering to didnt have any of those. well it was early game so i just grabbed up the closest town and cleaned it but this one happened to be the small type (30 buildings), i started a new game today and this time i settled in a 60 buildings town, with a big military base and a hospital, feels much better, by the time i clear it the initally cleaned houses would have the loot respawned probably, so it can keep me busy until i move to a city.

Btw i have tested the stun baton and the junk turrets and i have to say they are great additions, i have had lots of fun with them, and the lockpicks are super usefull.

[Laz Man]

Shotgun shells fire 8 pellets.

 

The "problem" is that our shotguns are somewhat realistic in that they don't have a 45° spread like in many video games.

(still much higher spread than would actually be realistic but not comically wide)

 

Try a pumpgun with a sawn off barrel mod to see a more "normal computer game" shotgun.

 

Hi gaz, I think it's a simple xml edit? but could the stat display for shotguns show the dmg x 8 next to it? I know it's a minor thing but would be a nice touch.

 

OR

 

Perhaps add number of pellets a separate stat that is impacted by mods or special shotgun ammo types. 😎👍

[Guppys Fur]

So sit idle and let a few jackasses hurt our business? Less money = less guys kicking ass = lower quality final product.

 

Mr. Mole.

Just admit, you just want the Gold-Plated Weights for your Platinum-plated Benchpress!!!!1111.

 

Jokes aside, contributed 50 thumb ups or more

 

With A18 the game deserves all the love it possibly can get.

[Guest Piratenking]

Yes, because in loads of 18 hours I've yet to find a set.

 

would you consider adding a "landing spot highlight" for when you throw molotovs and granades as to make sure were they will land before latting the mouse button go?? or a "path line" to make sure there is no collision in the way when you throw them between blocks?

 

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34,200 In-Game! All time smashing record for us!

 

wow congrats, thats more than some so called "AAA" games, keep up the good work!

[madmole]

The only thing I hate about this game right now from the bottom of my heart is that quests don't have a warning for the player leaving the quest area and just pop failed.

 

It's a common mistake for players to do Fetch and Clear Multiplayer quests and forget the Fetch part and screw your 3 hours clearing it without fair warning.

 

NEGATIVE REVIEW INCOMING

 

Yes there is. Your "stay within" starts flashing and changes colors.

[madmole]

Does armor not protect any damage against mines? Just did a quick test up to full steel armor and it's still one hit kill stepping on hub cap and tin mine.

 

It does, but I think hub cap mines do a ton of damage. I've survived one later game with some decent steel armor, perhaps I had some pain tolerance. I'm not sure of the magic formula yet to survive it.