Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[FA_Q2]

Obviously he was not talking about the graphical quality of the new textures but about their style. The new concrete textures are designed to create old and dilapidated-looking prefabs. If you build a new base, it should look like freshly painted. Would be nice to have some additional concrete textures where the paint does not peel off.

 

[snipped for space]

 

 

 

We have (a few) more textures available in A17 than in A16 but a lot of them are unsuited for base building purposes.

 

We have less as far as I can tell. There are a few that I used to use that are no longer there.

 

No matter what though, we have FAR to few.

[Survager]

Q about electricity in A18

 

Joel, have a small question: are new electricity awaited in Alpha 18?

- remote control of doors, hatches and bridges

- remote start generator

- degradation of a generator, bank of batteries or solar panels with time or from bad weather

- random stop of the generator (if it has a small margin of safety)

- remote explosion of dynamite

- parallel connection of generators to increase power

- switch of the direction of current movement between two, three or more directions

- fuel sensors in the generator

- dependence of the power level of solar cells on the weather

- tasks related to the repair of generators or battery banks

- the effect of weather on the electrical network (lightning can disable the generator or solar panel, a strong wind can break the wires outside ...)

- may be something else... )))

 

Thank you)

[Pille]

We have less as far as I can tell. There are a few that I used to use that are no longer there.

 

No matter what though, we have FAR to few.

 

There are 171 available textures in A17 and only 166 in A16. I agree with you though. Afaik the maximal number of textures is limited to 255 (raising this number would probably require far reaching changes), so there still room for some new textures.

[AtomicUs5000]

Obviously he was not talking about the graphical quality of the new textures but about their style. The new concrete textures are designed to create old and dilapidated-looking prefabs. If you build a new base, it should look like freshly painted. Would be nice to have some additional concrete textures where the paint does not peel off.

 

The world is full of lead-based paint chips. No wonder everything is sick and in a bad mood.

[khzmusik]

Or change them to the maximum infrequency to lessen their impact in the game. A17 gave us this tool.

 

I do love that option, but "lessen their impact" is not a phrase I'd use to describe it.

 

AFAICT the blood moons still level with gamestage, not frequency, so it's more like "at some random day every month your entire base is guaranteed to get destroyed and you will almost certainly die no matter what."

[Dimpy]

Eliminating them completely is not the point. At least not for me.

 

I want to have a constant environmental threat of "something nasty" that I need to either confront or run and hide from.

 

Do I really need wood bad enough to go chop it at night knowing there are running irradiated feral wights out there, or can it wait til morning?

 

If I can defend my base, I will, but alternatively, if my base gets overrun, I should be able to take the secret tunnel out to safety or hide til dawn in a bolthole without having them magically find me 50 blocks underground.

 

Royal Deluxe made a mod a while ago that adds a completely zombie-proof block. Maybe that would help?

[Roland]

I do love that option, but "lessen their impact" is not a phrase I'd use to describe it.

 

AFAICT the blood moons still level with gamestage, not frequency, so it's more like "at some random day every month your entire base is guaranteed to get destroyed and you will almost certainly die no matter what."

 

I just meant lessen their impact on your whole game and not lessen their intensity when they do happen. If you set them to 30 day frequency with a 20 day range then you will have a random blood moon every 30 - 50 days. If you were to play for 100 days that would be 2-3 bloodmoons for that game as opposed to 14 guaranteed bloodmoons.

 

Much less whole game impact.

[mr.natural]

Only the 2000+ hour crowd. Simple and deep has always been our motto but we have strayed a few times. Things should be easy to learn, but difficult to master and have a lot of deep game play to it.

 

That's not true for me, I watched A14 on YouTube and was so fascinated by the mechanics that when A15 came out I bought the game. It was BECAUSE of the mining, crafting and building. The zombies are just a side event to add a challenge.

 

A17 is too much of killing and shooting. I got to level 40 and was as good as invulnerable and bored, nothing left to do, too much dukes I didn't need anymore, nothing to loot as it is not relevant what you find. I also loved the gunparts and so on. If I want a shooting game I look for a FPS game, that's not why I bought 7d2d.

 

Just my experience and opinion.

 

edit: And yes the graphics have improved, the mod slots, improved vultures and quests are a nice addition. Hope to see game mechanics back in future updates.

[DaVegaNL]

Not to single anyone out but why do people moan and moan for weeks and months and longer about not being interested and moving on, but never actually move on?

 

I moved on from world of warcraft years ago. I havent posted complaints or ideas in their forums in years, ever since I truly moved on. You just stop playing, stop posting, stop thinking about it, play a different game... its that easy.

 

I can only talk from a personal perspective; I am still interested in the game, just not interested enough to actually play it. I keep checking the forum daily, sometimes posting, but I haven't actually played the game since early January.

 

It's like a zombie; not completely dead, but not really alive either..

[Roland]

That's not true for me, I watched A14 on YouTube and was so fascinated by the mechanics that when A15 came out I bought the game. It was BECAUSE of the mining, crafting and building. The zombies are just a side event to add a challenge.

 

A17 is too much of killing and shooting. I got to level 40 and was as good as invulnerable and bored, nothing left to do, too much dukes I didn't need anymore, nothing to loot as it is not relevant what you find. I also loved the gunparts and so on. If I want a shooting game I look for a FPS game, that's not why I bought 7d2d.

 

Just my experience and opinion.

 

edit: And yes the graphics have improved, the mod slots, improved vultures and quests are a nice addition. Hope to see game mechanics back in future updates.

 

So you were attracted to the game because of mining, crafting, and building but are now bored that you feel invulnerable? Seems to me that you are at the level now where you can mine with ease, craft the interesting recipes, and build with plenty of resources at your fingertips. If those three things are what you like to do then what’s stopping you? Not zombies. If one wanders down into your mine or your building area you can dispatch them with your invulnerability. There is nothing to stop you from doing what you say attracted you to the game.

[mr.natural]

So you were attracted to the game because of mining, crafting, and building but are now bored that you feel invulnerable? Seems to me that you are at the level now where you can mine with ease, craft the interesting recipes, and build with plenty of resources at your fingertips. If those three things are what you like to do then what’s stopping you? Not zombies. If one wanders down into your mine or your building area you can dispatch them with your invulnerability. There is nothing to stop you from doing what you say attracted you to the game.

 

It is the danger that zombies give that adds the thrill and give purpose to the building. No thrill, no kick

 

It's that combination that made 7d2d stand out.

 

But I understand that there is a lot of rebalancing coming up so I'm hopefull.

[Oort]

I'm also one that would like to see the paint textures fixed up. I've seen someone post on this at least one other time and MM misunderstood them to be talking about game textures instead of the paint brush textures. I'd like to see the book cases and refrigerator textures back in the paint brush menu. Also a few other textures like a wheel texture, or the control panel textures. While there are several brick textures, one of them is labeled 'deleted' and is non usable. There used to be a mirror texture, and I'm sure there were more that I'm not recalling.

 

I'd like to see a wide variety of more textures to help with decorating bases or player made POIs. I don't know what limits are imposed on how many textures can be added, but if possible I'd really like to see a lot more. Especially 'clean' versions of textures that are done up to look like they are faded, peeling, burnt, chipped, scratched, etc.

 

Also, the single click (as mentioned) is a bit of a chore. Being able to hold the button and paint is badly missed. I would also suggest no longer using the left button to wipe the paint - just add a "wipe" texture that can be selected to clean up paint because more often than not wiping isn't required with a mispaint - just repaint the block. Then the left mouse button could instead be used as a 'Select Area' feature in which you click once to start a selection and then click/drag an area that will be filled by the current paint selected. One could paint out long lines or specific areas much more easily.

 

Even if said features were admin/creative mode only they would be invaluable to those of us making things.

 

Rotating the texture would also be a welcome addition.

[Menace312]

That's not true for me, I watched A14 on YouTube and was so fascinated by the mechanics that when A15 came out I bought the game. It was BECAUSE of the mining, crafting and building. The zombies are just a side event to add a challenge.

 

A17 is too much of killing and shooting. I got to level 40 and was as good as invulnerable and bored, nothing left to do, too much dukes I didn't need anymore, nothing to loot as it is not relevant what you find. I also loved the gunparts and so on. If I want a shooting game I look for a FPS game, that's not why I bought 7d2d.

 

Just my experience and opinion.

 

edit: And yes the graphics have improved, the mod slots, improved vultures and quests are a nice addition. Hope to see game mechanics back in future updates.

 

So you were attracted to the game because of mining, crafting, and building but are now bored that you feel invulnerable? Seems to me that you are at the level now where you can mine with ease, craft the interesting recipes, and build with plenty of resources at your fingertips. If those three things are what you like to do then what’s stopping you? Not zombies. If one wanders down into your mine or your building area you can dispatch them with your invulnerability. There is nothing to stop you from doing what you say attracted you to the game.

 

Well... It's not the same anymore...

I have to agree with mr.natural here.

Mining, crafting, building and character progression, are what attracted me to the game initially.

Only the character prograssion has improved in this regard. The rest have suffered in my opinion (the game has been dumbed down some).

 

It's not easy to explain, since it's a "feeling" really.

When you sit down and start a new game. The way the early game makes you feel now, is way different than before.

 

Perhaps I just need to give it time... A18 may help me to see TFP's new vision.

But removing things like the repair kit... How does that make any sense? Unless you are dumbing down the game...

[spacepiggio]

Eliminating The Repair Kits Makes Sense

 

Lets use the Freakin Work Bench to Clean & Repair Weapons & Tools,

it's a WORKBENCH, that's what they are for,

Let Tools Handles Break & Weapons misfire after so many rounds fired, very simple fix...

We don't need them when we have all these Work Stations...

The Mod's we add to Weapons could Break also & need replaced or fixed...

[Inmyh3ad]

Well... It's not the same anymore...

I have to agree with mr.natural here.

Mining, crafting, building and character progression, are what attracted me to the game initially.

Only the character prograssion has improved in this regard. The rest have suffered in my opinion (the game has been dumbed down some).

 

It's not easy to explain, since it's a "feeling" really.

When you sit down and start a new game. The way the early game makes you feel now, is way different than before.

 

Perhaps I just need to give it time... A18 may help me to see TFP's new vision.

But removing things like the repair kit... How does that make any sense? Unless you are dumbing down the game...

 

That's the reason why I play A16 right now. Don't get me wrong, A17 is better at many many fronts but not in the way I like to play 7D2D.

[Ezed]

Small request on the 'Party' system. Is there any way to make our Party persistent from one session to the next? Maybe if you choose persistent profile in the menu, and when you use the Party feature, it would 'stick' until you manually leave Party? I play with mostly one other person and we often forget to Party-up each time. It's a small thing but would be nice for QoL.

 

Also, and I can't stress enough, please give us an auto-walk / cruise control feature. Please! Like, really please?

 

As an aside to the above, but more importantly, I need to say I was feeling a bit negative on A17...mostly (and I sheepishly admit) because I read others opinions on it before trying it myself. Now, after getting back in and shaking off the things I remember from previous alphas, A17 is pretty GD solid. So, apologies to MM and the team. Loving 7D again, so thank you all

[Genosis]

Small request on the 'Party' system. Is there any way to make our Party persistent from one session to the next? Maybe if you choose persistent profile in the menu, and when you use the Party feature, it would 'stick' until you manually leave Party? I play with mostly one other person and we often forget to Party-up each time. It's a small thing but would be nice for QoL.

 

Also, and I can't stress enough, please give us an auto-walk / cruise control feature. Please! Like, really please?

 

As an aside to the above, but more importantly, I need to say I was feeling a bit negative on A17...mostly (and I sheepishly admit) because I read others opinions on it before trying it myself. Now, after getting back in and shaking off the things I remember from previous alphas, A17 is pretty GD solid. So, apologies to MM and the team. Loving 7D again, so thank you all

 

I would definitely like a feature similar to this; I play/record/stream with my wife, and it's very easy to forget to party back up after yet another session or someone loses connection to the server for a moment and remember to party back up to share exp yet again.

 

Either a persistent party system, an auto join checkbox on the player list, or a faded party list on the side with a quick "Add" button for online allies to party up. Whichever makes the most sense/least obtrusive to the existing systems.

[Syrex]

Mining is not minimal for some (i know 10% was the value said, but i'm sure that was just a number thrown out there), especially if playing with low group size of people and/or solo. I love mining and usually have more than one mining setup (of course due to the biome specific resources) but I'm okay with that. Only thing I liked & disliked at the same time with A17 was the zombies sought me out when using the auger, ALOT. I definitely felt more penalized using the auger than the pickaxe. But I understand the concept of risk/reward. However, if i'm at bedrock and am mining it felt unnatural to be attacked so much while using auger -- but thats a balancing issue and opens more cans of worms (namely, people having untouchable/undetectable bases at bedrock type thing).

 

I'm worried with the new repair techniques that the gun/tool parts are going to take up more inventory space as a whole. If you carry these parts to help repair what you take with you to survive/mine/fight/explore - where's the loot going to go (so-to-speak)? So instead of just carrying just the metal you need (forged iron/steel) and repair kits while you go out to explore (2 to 3 inventory slots), now you've got to carry (possibly, based on what i've read): Forged iron/steel, tool parts (multiple types possibly for the different tools you have - if TFP goes that route), then specific gun parts - which with limited ammo, especially at the start (yes i know you're not going to have/need repair kits/weapons of that caliber on day 1 but once you get to the point of needing repair kits it's still pretty early in the game), usually means multiple guns. So it seems on paper, would have to carry more to be efficient with exploring (4+ inventory slots).

 

On the side of durability loss on items, the old system 1-600 had a great method to it, when you repaired the item the durability would go down, and would only return to it's former 600 glory if you went to a workbench to build the durability back up. Not to say the current 1-6 tiers cant do the same. I would like to see a durability loss take effect (especially if field repairing it), to the point of having to make a new item(s) or implement a way to bring the durability back up to full, or something along those lines.

 

Painting/textures did feel like it was lacking A17. I know someone mentioned there was more versus a16, but it seems like it's missing some. Can't be sure as to which. The colors of paint could vary a bit - light/normal/dark of each color. Or allow a menu to come up and choose the RGB or the hue/saturation type thing?

 

As far as textures go, Empyrion does pretty close to what i'm about to describe. I personally always equate "textures" to the feel of material. For example(s): -1- if i wanted cherrywood flooring, I would put the "texture" of wood on a block and "paint" it a deep red.

-2- If I want my storage box to "look" like a medicine chest, I would "paint" the storage chest.

-3- If I wanted my walls to looked like chipped paint, I would apply the "chipped texture" to the block and "paint" the color I wanted over it. Not sure if this could be a thing in 7d2d as well since I'm unsure of the work it would take to implement this style versus coming up with alot more "predefined" paint/textures.

 

For the perks/books, I'm hoping they are a little more in depth with their descriptions or at least a little more clear. Example: Letting players know this "effect" works with tools. But like a previous post stated, fireaxe is a tool and a weapon.. will this "effect" work with fireaxe since it "can" be used as tool or is it just x/y/z tools.

[KingSlayerGM]

Joel, have a small question: are new electricity awaited in Alpha 18?

- remote control of doors, hatches and bridges

- remote start generator

- degradation of a generator, bank of batteries or solar panels with time or from bad weather

- random stop of the generator (if it has a small margin of safety)

- remote explosion of dynamite

- parallel connection of generators to increase power

- switch of the direction of current movement between two, three or more directions

- fuel sensors in the generator

- dependence of the power level of solar cells on the weather

- tasks related to the repair of generators or battery banks

- the effect of weather on the electrical network (lightning can disable the generator or solar panel, a strong wind can break the wires outside ...)

- may be something else... )))

 

Thank you)

 

Yeah!! Builders like me want to know more about the future of electricity!!

[meganoth]

Well... It's not the same anymore...

I have to agree with mr.natural here.

Mining, crafting, building and character progression, are what attracted me to the game initially.

Only the character prograssion has improved in this regard. The rest have suffered in my opinion (the game has been dumbed down some).

 

It's not easy to explain, since it's a "feeling" really.

When you sit down and start a new game. The way the early game makes you feel now, is way different than before.

 

Perhaps I just need to give it time... A18 may help me to see TFP's new vision.

 

IMHO this feeling is just the normal way with any game you get to know. I remember how I felt when I played the game for the first time, sitting in a hut in my first night and a single zombie "knocking" at the door. I needed 2 hours to dispatch him. I never will experience that again because in the same situation I would dispatch this single zombie much faster and with A LOT LESS fear and indecision.

 

Maybe mining and building is somehow different now. But maybe it is you that is different. You already built a bungalow, a tower, a subway street..., there are just a lot of ideas you already tried out and it isn't the same to do it again. In four words: "Been there, done that"

[RipClaw]

Lets use the Freakin Work Bench to Clean & Repair Weapons & Tools

 

If a field repair costs more than one in the workbench it's ok for me but only repairing in the workbench would cause a lot of problems.

I have to repair my weapons at least once per bloodmoon horde. During the horde I don't have the time or the possibility to go to the workbench and repair the weapons.

[AtomicUs5000]

Eliminating The Repair Kits Makes Sense

 

Lets use the Freakin Work Bench to Clean & Repair Weapons & Tools,

it's a WORKBENCH, that's what they are for,

Let Tools Handles Break & Weapons misfire after so many rounds fired, very simple fix...

We don't need them when we have all these Work Stations...

The Mod's we add to Weapons could Break also & need replaced or fixed...

 

I don't see why everything has to always be so black and white. This is why people get angry about the changes. If repair needs simplification, then just make them non-craftable. Keeping them in game as a repair-all, no-hassle, high-end loot that is a prize sought after solves the problem of wanting reasons to loot and leaves simple repair through some other system available to a multitude of possibilities across every stage of gameplay.

[Genosis]

I'm also one that would like to see the paint textures fixed up. I've seen someone post on this at least one other time and MM misunderstood them to be talking about game textures instead of the paint brush textures. I'd like to see the book cases and refrigerator textures back in the paint brush menu. Also a few other textures like a wheel texture, or the control panel textures. While there are several brick textures, one of them is labeled 'deleted' and is non usable. There used to be a mirror texture, and I'm sure there were more that I'm not recalling.

 

I'd like to see a wide variety of more textures to help with decorating bases or player made POIs. I don't know what limits are imposed on how many textures can be added, but if possible I'd really like to see a lot more. Especially 'clean' versions of textures that are done up to look like they are faded, peeling, burnt, chipped, scratched, etc.

 

Also, the single click (as mentioned) is a bit of a chore. Being able to hold the button and paint is badly missed. I would also suggest no longer using the left button to wipe the paint - just add a "wipe" texture that can be selected to clean up paint because more often than not wiping isn't required with a mispaint - just repaint the block. Then the left mouse button could instead be used as a 'Select Area' feature in which you click once to start a selection and then click/drag an area that will be filled by the current paint selected. One could paint out long lines or specific areas much more easily.

 

Even if said features were admin/creative mode only they would be invaluable to those of us making things.

 

Rotating the texture would also be a welcome addition.

 

Agreed, MOAR PAINT!

 

That being said, I am sure there are times when a paint should be a block (book cases, coolers, mirrors, etc) and times when paint makes more sense. Also, painting should be thought of it two veins of thought:

 

Prefab editor: All access to paints, old textures (aged/weathered), etc. The editor should be able to tell a story effectively with a wide array of textures.

In-Game Paint: Old/weathered paint should not be available, but new/fresh paint should be. It breaks immersion to have a palette of antiquing textures when slapping on a fresh coat of recently crafted paint. Also, the paint application should be dynamic to the material it is painted on. (IE. painting your wood shack with chipped/peeling concrete blue should not be possible).

 

I know, I know.. from a gameplay perspective, who gives a F about paint, right? I'm infected and low on bullets for the love of god! Granted. However, many builders-at-heart will fight harder to protect their homes, not to get cracks in that new accent wall, or the curtains you finally found at the trader. (or later to obtain from a POI if they still plan on implementing decor salvaging in the future)

 

And, of course, the real reason. To get my wife to stop b*tching about the paint selection. The rest of the reasons is just validation.

 

One last point to make: to ease some of the art asset work, make textures additions super easy to do? Make a drop folder of player-added textures that can be indexed into the paint palette after a quick validation process.

 

Anyhoo, things to put on the drawing board perhaps after core gameplay has had it's fair shake

[RestInPieces]

Well... It's not the same anymore...

I have to agree with mr.natural here.

Mining, crafting, building and character progression, are what attracted me to the game initially.

Only the character prograssion has improved in this regard. The rest have suffered in my opinion (the game has been dumbed down some).

 

It's not easy to explain, since it's a "feeling" really.

When you sit down and start a new game. The way the early game makes you feel now, is way different than before.

 

Perhaps I just need to give it time... A18 may help me to see TFP's new vision.

But removing things like the repair kit... How does that make any sense? Unless you are dumbing down the game...

 

As I see it, A17 had both positive and negative changes but with many flaws just carrying over from previous versions. I agree with mr.natural too but only because of the lack of consequences in/reasons to do certain fundamental things. It's discouraging to hear people, whom I introduced the game to, say things like (not their exact words, but more or less):

 

-Why should I really put any effort into avoiding death since it's barely consequential?

-Why should I really mine/gather to make a base and defend it? I can easily outrun anything forever at nightmare speed without any perks.

-This game is just a zombie POI grind and after a while there is not much of a reason to even do that, due to weapons and other resources growing on trees (it's perfectly natural for people to view the game as "zombie grinding" in its current state, even more so than in A16 with LBG + zombie exp, for extremely obvious reasons I could get into but I don't want this to become a huge wall of text).

-Basic needs are annoying. Why? Because they just become "regular interval clicking" beyond early game, due to the abundance of resources (with minimum loot settings to boot). Food doesn't spoil and unavoidably gets piled up. Believe it or not, that makes a lot of people view them as a click-to-use "chore", rather than an engaging gameplay mechanic. The disease system atm barely acts as a medical supplies sink, good thing it will be re-designed (max health being increased with medicine did help a lot on that front though).

 

Yes, TFP have been met with resistance any time they tried to do this and that, but they can't achieve a balance between inconsequential and consequential, it will either be one or the other. So either add options to accommodate both or completely stick to your vision. Also the most negative feedback is the absence of feedback. Most people who ask these questions won't give any feedback, they will just be disinterested.

TLDR: Just make sure players will always have incentives to do an activity and balance those incentives because as mentioned above, the game currently is all over the place on that regard.

[Slingblade2040]

So how is alpha 17.3 or 18 going? Anything that might possibly delay it so far? I'm hoping for a july update but that's just me and my own thinking.