Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[madmole]

Please, I'm asking for boats since Alpha 15. I don't understand why you can't do this:

 

We made a raft. The problem is our water is destroyable and loads of weirdness with it. If we rewrite water then perhaps a boat can happen.

[madmole]

Briefly put, I don't care how long it will take, as long as those of us who want to, have the ability to play the game (through options or whatnot) like an intimidating zombie apocalypse simulator, with consequences which will send chills down your spine and make you earn every minute of being alive. As for spoilage I shall keep spamming your ass until you finally, someday, decide to get it into the game.

 

It works in ark because you can get 1000's of meat killing one bronto. I don't see it as a great fit for 7 days. Maybe an option for food abundance could work, the issue is feeding a large MP server compared to one guy.

[KingSlayerGM]

Hey MadMole,

are we going to have some UI that shows us which Books and Schematics we have read, and which we are still missing?

[Thecolours]

Yes the demolisher zombie is coming to A18. He's was like a huge explosives commando in his former life and he has a flashing red LED light if you hit he goes boom. If he gets clogged up on your base walls he goes boom. He probably will shred through spikes and barbed wire like butter.

 

What game stage does he show up at?

 

Do you have any artwork of him to show us?

[madmole]

Any chance we could get AI (Non-interactable) survivors in game ?

 

Simply use a pig AI =ie: just runs around unless attacked.

Be nice for immersion to see other humans out in the world sometimes.

 

We need to get the game running good before adding more npcs.

[meganoth]

Realizing that, I am self aware enough to not jump on TFPs case because I know they have always stated they have a certain vision for the game and single player is the focus.

 

You are aware that the focus is (AFAIK) on single player AND co-op multiplayer up to 8 players? I have the impression that when you talk about MP you seem to think it synonymous with PvP, which it isn't.

[madmole]

Good Point the underlying game engine dictates the limits of what you can do. like 200 players on RUST is a nothing but you can't dig or mine. ARK is similar if I recall, I can't dig a hole and keep tunneling all night like I could in 7DTD.

 

maybe raise the price of the game to $2500 and ship with an i7/GTX1060/32GRAM box

 

LOL I like your thinking.

[lord_ahriman]

Madmole, you said some stations will be more efficient, like the big forge. Will chemistry station get some love as well? I mean, crafting glue is a good example: campfire and current chem station same amount materials (1 bone and 1 murky water), so I'm thinking an advanced chem station in order to get a more efficient production (let's say 2/3 glues per bone, 2/3 gun powder per coal/nitrate etc).

[madmole]

You are the experts, but perhaps you could upgrade to 18+ just before you go gold, dump object monobehavior, refactor everything and use ECS for allegedly unreal amounts of performance increase for some crazy horde action.

 

We used 18.2 for 17 I think. We're on 2019 now. THE IC garbage collector should prove useful in reducing stutters.

[Trankitas]

No you didn't read a thing I wrote, Recent reviews are a SEA of blue and about the ONLY negatives are from 300+ hour players talking about the past. Like 90% or more of new customers are giving it a great review. When you say "The Reviews" you are being completely subjected to what you are looking to see. If you click into it, you will see the reviews are fantastic in the context of A16. Some sharp stick people are still disgruntled. Don't buy an alpha game if you are going to get married to placeholder systems.

 

Sales are the best metric. Good games sell well, bad ones don't. I don't care what the squeaky wheels say and neither should anyone. If a game sells millions of copies, there is something good there, period. Look at all the negative Ark reviews. That game is brown we're still blue at least (the best possible color of steam games). Ark is a good game but everyone ♥♥♥♥s on them. I had a friend with 2k hours who wrote a crappy review because they changed the fliers. A simple mod fixed it but he left his stain on their hard work that changed his life and gave him 2k hours of fun. That is just wrong, but whatever, people are entitled fickle ♥♥♥♥s these days who judge on one recent flaw vs 5000 good times they had.

 

My point is Ark is a good game, but people get mad at them and write a negative review. I don't agree with that. Like I stay at a 5 star hotel and the view is great, the service is fantastic. They confused me for my brother and charged me for his room, but I didn't ♥♥♥♥ on them, they fixed it and its fine, great place to stay.

 

A friend of mine doesn't like Rust. He has 4000 hours in it lol. They ruined it with the helicopters. Some people don't adapt to change.

 

I'll admit I'm very opposed to negativity. It pisses me off and I delete any negative people in my life. I thrive to prove them wrong though, so I use it as fuel for motivation. So I might react strongly when it comes to criticism, but at the end of the day we always do what we think is best for the game.

 

Dev cycles start when the other alpha is finished. I don't think you can complain about A18 when your getting patches for 17. Thats just me though, I don't like to complain, I like to fix things, that actually gets results.

 

Put this post in a frame and hang it in your house

[RestInPieces]

It works in ark because you can get 1000's of meat killing one bronto. I don't see it as a great fit for 7 days. Maybe an option for food abundance could work, the issue is feeding a large MP server compared to one guy.

 

Meh, I know you can find ways if you want to. And we already have farming, trader rewards and loot respawns for unlimited long-term food anyway. You don't even have to increase animal spawns or meat yield - meat can be more of a rarer high tier/benefit material. Players will be ok without that extra protein.

[chikorina]

Good Point the underlying game engine dictates the limits of what you can do. like 200 players on RUST is a nothing but you can't dig or mine. ARK is similar if I recall, I can't dig a hole and keep tunneling all night like I could in 7DTD.

 

maybe raise the price of the game to $2500 and ship with an i7/GTX1060/32GRAM box

 

This post made me respect 7 Days to Die all over again:shocked: I don't know anything about engines or limits, but I can't think of any other game with graphics this good, that lets me dig this much:clap2:

[Jay_ombie]

I am very intrigued if any plans are on the road map (or already in) for any new graphical effects or GPU enhancements ?

 

 

 

Thanks.

[Lonestarcanuck]

We used 18.2 for 17 I think. We're on 2019 now. THE IC garbage collector should prove useful in reducing stutters.

 

So the game stutter I see for xx MS as I play is the current garbage collection?

[madmole]

Hey MadMole,

are we going to have some UI that shows us which Books and Schematics we have read, and which we are still missing?

 

The books have a page that show all the books and if they are read or not. For items you want to craft that need a schematic they will appear as locked and you can click on it and it will show you what you need to unlock it. At least that is the plan for that.

[madmole]

What game stage does he show up at?

 

Do you have any artwork of him to show us?

 

He's done but I'm too busy to bother You guys will have something else to occupy your day with.

[madmole]

You are aware that the focus is (AFAIK) on single player AND co-op multiplayer up to 8 players? I have the impression that when you talk about MP you seem to think it synonymous with PvP, which it isn't.

 

Being a fan of rust and maker/balancer of Gore and many other MP games you can count on decent pvp at some point I'd say.

[madmole]

Madmole, you said some stations will be more efficient, like the big forge. Will chemistry station get some love as well? I mean, crafting glue is a good example: campfire and current chem station same amount materials (1 bone and 1 murky water), so I'm thinking an advanced chem station in order to get a more efficient production (let's say 2/3 glues per bone, 2/3 gun powder per coal/nitrate etc).

 

We're designing mods for each workstation.

[PurgatoryWolf]

We made a raft. The problem is our water is destroyable and loads of weirdness with it. If we rewrite water then perhaps a boat can happen.

 

If it can be done in a mod, then why can't it be done for the base game?

 

--

 

ps the Dev Clean Diary could use some updating!

[madmole]

Meh, I know you can find ways if you want to. And we already have farming, trader rewards and loot respawns for unlimited long-term food anyway. You don't even have to increase animal spawns or meat yield - meat can be more of a rarer high tier/benefit material. Players will be ok without that extra protein.

 

I'm not saying no, but it adds extra work processing decay. Our game is potatoes right now so I want to avoid anything that slows it down further that isn't absolutely necessary.

[madmole]

This post made me respect 7 Days to Die all over again:shocked: I don't know anything about engines or limits, but I can't think of any other game with graphics this good, that lets me dig this much:clap2:

 

If we switched to static terrain and isolated voxels we'd pretty much solve water, fps woes and slow vehicles all in one fairly easy to do move.

[madmole]

I am very intrigued if any plans are on the road map (or already in) for any new graphical effects or GPU enhancements ?

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

We'd like to switch to linear color space lighting and use HDRP and shadergraph, optimize/change the probe and cull shadows for a start.

[spacepiggio]

I can do both. I like SP for that omega man experience, doing it all on my own has a certain level of satisfaction. But playing with others can be fun too, watching them get rekt never gets old.

 

Me 3, I have gone back to SP Nav to see what I have missed while playing RWG & waiting for the POI placement to get fixed.

I am really impressed on the changes in NAV & A 18 is shaping up nicely & going in the right direction.

I do not like the New Texture on the Bedrock, I like the old 1 much better, it kind of blinds you with a Torch or Mining Helmet on, Too Blue & Blurry...

[madmole]

So the game stutter I see for xx MS as I play is the current garbage collection?

 

Yes Unity formerly gave zero control over garbage collection, now it at least performs incrementally. IF that still stutters we'll do it outside of combat when in menus or something where we can determine some lag is more acceptable. If you play subnautica I'm convinced they do it when you climb a ladder shute, its a canned animation the player is not in control of and it ALWAYS LAGS there. Better then, then trying to evade a reaper.

[madmole]

If it can be done in a mod, then why can't it be done for the base game?

 

--

 

ps the Dev Clean Diary could use some updating!

 

Mods can be of poor quality, buggy and have performance problems. Our game cannot.