Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Hamburglar]

Hey just wanted to share a compilation of ideas of my own + some very appealing ones i've seen so far.

 

>>>Stationary weaponry => cannons(on vehicles(like tanks))/tripod mg's(good for manned defensePVPVE or suppressionPVP)/mortars (for siege battles, because the engine supports vehicles and rockets so why not combine the best both worlds);

 

>>>Catapults (idk why);

 

>>>Grappling hook (because Grappling hook);

 

>>>Ziplines;

 

>>>Integration of Firearms 2 mod (which adds a ton of awesome functioning models);

 

>>>Bulldozers for all your excavational/demolitionary;

 

>>>Perfurators for all your mining needs;

 

>>>Removal of Oil Shale, add in oil with water texture;

 

>>>Oil Pumps (for infinite oil but low production rate so the more u place the best);

 

>>>Gravitometer (For finding and detecting Oil and rare materials underground);

 

>>>Planes with a catch!(they have a ramp which allows u to pick up a vehicle (1 jeep or 2 bikes);

 

>>>Functioning Elevators;

 

>>>Caltrops (tier above iron traps, much higher durability);

 

>>>Zombie Moleman (which will try to dig into your base) but every time he scratches the walls, loses a bit of hp. Potentially making a hole which other zombies will then target as a weakness in ur defense;

 

>>>Blocks catching fire due to eg: burnt victim hitting wooden block. Fire spreading (perhaps creating a meta for players to move onto the burnt zone only after they get cement or alternatively just make stone/rebar structures to prevent against this);

 

>>>Reworked zombies (bc laggy in numbers and rigid+clunky);

 

>>>Reworked block/building collapse (bc lol wth);

 

>>>Boats (when larger watermasses become a thing);

 

>>>Custom map creation with mapping tools + custom factions;

 

>>>Zombies seek not only to damage wall but if wall is to stronk, try to climb it wwz style;

 

>>>Wolves become werewolves in bloodmoon;

 

>>>CCTV cameras (ik theres a mod for it but could do in vanilla);

 

>>>Guards for trader (ik they're in mods but theres also alot of other undesirable stuff in those mods);

 

>>>Placed stationary(or not) AI defenders/workers/attackers (This one I know is way to ambitious but just imagine how cool that'd be);

 

>>>NPC's scattered around the map (like roaming traders, quest givers, etc etc);

 

>>>Bandits;

 

>>>Flags;

 

>>>Varying sizes for drawbridges and gates;

 

>>>Screaming Child zombies (ouch that gimme spook factor);

 

>>>Blocks for connecting wires through walls, no more funny looking power chord crossing wall;

 

>>>Jetpack (idk why);

 

>>>Power chords cost resources;

 

>>>Power chords with more electricity flow must be bulkier and more expensive;

 

>>>Proper dynamite rigging (connected by wire) for mining/pvp siege sabotage/demolition;

 

>>>Bombs;

 

>>>Functional modifications for vehicles (with spikes for spiking zeds, retractable blades, weapons and shielding);

 

>>>Zombies target vehicles (must protect ur property);

 

>>>Shields for shield-bashing 1 on 1 mlee PVPVE, bullet protection on PVPVE (with bandits);

 

>>>One handed/Double handed weapon types;

 

>>>Pets (guard doggo, bear etc);

 

>>>UrMom (lvl 9999 boss)(has a very low chance of spawning in a kitchen once ur in endgame gear);

 

>>>Huge spiders able to climb walls (ew) so reinforce ur walls with defenses also;

 

>>>Oil cauldrons (Connected with trigger plates that drop boiling oil on zeds, reducing HP and speed and lowering resistance);

 

>>>Crocodiles;

 

>>>Horses (+ saddles = ?);

 

>>>Volcanoes (+ magma);

 

>>>Natural disasters (earthquake, flood, volcanoes);

 

>>>Repeater bow (the one from van-helsing looks really cool);

 

>>>Nazi zombies (arrive on horde night and shoot you up);

 

>>>Nazi zombie camps;

 

>>>Much higher reload speed cap for bows;

 

>>>Minigame for lockpicking;

 

>>>Lockpicking levels (doors, cars, all the way up to safe cracking) with different models of lockpicking minigames;

 

>>>Parachutes;

 

>>>Lasso;

 

>>>Placeable blocks that break on stepping (to make pitfall traps);

 

I have some others but less relevant...

[spacepiggio]

That game is so 2015. We're not catering weapons to anyone now, its an equal chance to drop insert weapon name here, so that each archtype can get his type of weapon he wants to use. Dropping one specific gun by a specific enemy would skew the balance in favor of those archtypes.

 

I know, I was only bringing up the ole weapons craftin days that was all, I really like the new system except all the damn readable buffs, just more clutter...bring on the books...

[Glipi]

Are you plannning to add any new crops in the future? It would be great to see if you could expand on farming, like adding more crops or fruit trees along with more food recipies to make.

[Phoenixshade35]

If we are thinking about new zombies in the future, how about some more basic ones? Like a skinny cop, female biker, cosplayer (shows up wearing random clothes from in game), junkie, more variety on burned zombies.

 

For advanced zombies what if we had ones that can turn feral if they feed on another zombie (boosting stats?)

Trader - A zombie resembling any of the traders, maybe higher chance for loot drops for this zombie alone?

 

just tossing ideas out for the future, i also kinda wish we had a regenerator that could cause a zombie to rise in a nearby spawn point with a cooldown or revive one that hasnt despawned yet

[Eliphas the Inheritor]

I disagree. I want to drive my vehicle all week long, but on horde night no, I shouldn't just be able to outrun everything and be safe. It really doesn't matter what we do, as long as it puts you at risk in a vehicle on horde night somehow. That is the real issue, how we solve it, is another topic and I posted one of 500 ideas we had.

 

Well, I also disagree with this, just like others did. We shouldn't be forced to deal with the blood moon horde, really. I mean, I got a nomad way of playing, or I should say, I am somewhere between nomad and builder styles.

 

I enter in a house, and barricade the windows and doors, build traps and repair whatever damage was done to the house and traps, and move quite a bit from location to location...but not build those super-mega forts or bunkers with those durable materials. This way of playing or others that do have a pure-nomad style of playing will be at disadvantage. I should say it again, we should not be forced to deal with the blood moon hordes, if you want to implement a thing that deals with this...like..making all vehicles be non-functional on horde nights, at least make it an option, not everyone will like it.

 

For players that like to build, yes, it's awesome, a new challenge, but for nomads it's a totally insane idea if you ask me, you encourage a builder style of playing a bit too much, again, it's my opinion....and until you implement the option of renting a trader room for the night it's gonna be a bit insane, but again, if you make it as a fully customisable option, I won't complain. This game really became 100x times better since we got so many menu options.

[Cro666ie]

When are you going to bring back smell?

[Hamburglar]

One quick idea,

It would be simply amazing to have either trains, carts or both. Just to move loot around, carry turrets on them for, idk, clearing border areas, or having a quick and safe way of getting to a trader. Would also be cool to have tunnels for these since, well, you can.

[Noisy Pants]

M60 machine gun is going to problematic to keep supplied with ammo with the restrictive amount of lead. I speak of one raw lead being smelted into one lead whereas something like one raw iron is smelted into five iron.

[ARRANOX]

I keep reading madmole saying that Mining is completly changed for Alpha 18.

Where can i read about these changes?

 

i was also wondering if they planned to do anything about the stone shovel.

it`s stupid and it belongs in Minecraft.

If i didn`t have a shovel and i needed to dig i would make a wood shovel. better yet if i had access to some scrap iron it would make an excellent shovel.

[madmole]

And the new players will be very thankful too..

 

Losing some xp is going to make new players upset? I don't think so. Its less punishing than any system we've had before but makes suicide to get rid of something much less appealing.

[RipClaw]

Losing some xp is going to make new players upset? I don't think so. Its less punishing than any system we've had before but makes suicide to get rid of something much less appealing.

 

A solution for this would be if you simply don't get rid of anything that doesn't kill you anyway. If you have a broken leg, it remains broken even after death. If you have food poisoning, it stays that way. If you have an infection in stage 1 or 2 then it stays the same.

[Trankitas]

Madmole what are you guys working on now? Balance and bug fixes?

[madmole]

When playing with friends in a party it kinda sucks that the person with the highest loot bonus ends up looting everything because you want the best chance to get the good loots. Is there any chance the "find better loot" bonus (not the faster loot time) from Lucky Looter could be shared among near by party members? I dont think it'd be that much different and would allow others to loot without guilt.

 

We'll probably switch it to an AOE buff that doesn't stack.

[madmole]

This is what i like to hear but do u have the nutz to follow thru and ignore the cryers that dont like challenge and love participation trophies?

 

There are always options for both extreme factions.

[meganoth]

Already did come up with something if you look up at my recent posts, some people may have already suggested the ideas that I wrote but I don't know. Instead of stopping the engine on horde nights, why not increase the requirements of the vehicles? Why not make oil insanely hard to find (if you want a challenge). Another idea would be to add a jamming mechanic to the game where the vehicles can have a random chance to jam depending on quality parts or because of too many zombies that were killed by driving over them (too much bones and flesh that pile up and jam the car?).

 

Yes, these ideas already came up. In short: Making oil more scarce is already done for A18 but not because of BM. Also nearly nobody wants driving on other days to be horribly expensive. Random chance to jam or similar ideas like random chance to be affected by an EMP storm were also discussed, they are relatively easy to implement but random disaster effects are not that popular, some like it, some don't. It might be easier to get most players behind a "driving-parcour" mini-game

 

So I doubt that driving during the BM with increased difficulty is a thing.

 

Probably needs more development to pull off, but also might get the best results.

[KingSlayerGM]

We'll probably switch it to an AOE buff that doesn't stack.

 

Sounds like a good idea to me !!

[madmole]

Lol personally I couldn't care less about xp.

If I had it my way there wouldn't be any XP just perks by book in sweet old RNG style. That's how I mod my game.

So I'm perfectly fine with no hand outs.

 

But since you always talk about risk and reward it seems logical to address it.

 

I get the feeling that a lot of ppl here feels that other players are "getting away" easier by not playing the "intended" way.

And therfor draw the conclusion that penalties should be handed out.

My suggestion is to make the "intended" way more profitable.

That doesn't always mean adding penalties to other options.

 

By the way just to check your opinion on surviving.

Is combat the only way of survival in your book or are you balancing for stealth non combat builds also in SP?

Stealth just means you get to drop sneak damage on them, and the intended method is to murder them all in their sleep. However if you just do quests you can still get decent xp by not killing them. We'd like to do some stealth specific quests though where you cannot be seen or kill anyone or the quest is failed so that might be a great quest for stealth players.

[sillls]

Hey Madmole. I hope you address this issue with the (vehicle not starting during a blood moon) thing soon.

 

I know that you only said that it was one of many options but it seems like some people think it's a done deal.

[madmole]

Why bother?

 

Who cares if someone runs, swims, digs or otherwise avoids horde night?

 

Let's stop trying to micromanage other people's play style and let them do WTF ever they want to do with their game.

 

Let them play however they want.

 

Tower defense is the core of this game. When there are certain methods that feel too cheap then I feel like we need to find solutions.

[madmole]

I gotta say, I like the idea of running over zombies giving trouble to the vehicle, maybe even have it so the fat zombies possibly explode on impact dealing more damage to the car than traction loss?

 

As far as balancing goes, I think a lot of things in the game are fairly balanced right now but i could toss out a few things i have been thinking about.

1. Scrapping Batteries - I know they are lead batteries and we get lead but what if there was a chance upon scrapping them we gained acid as well since that stuff is a pain to find?

2. Acid - Like my above question what about crafting it? Like take 10 Polymer, 10 Lead, Plant Fiber and 1 Bottle of Water in the Chem station, that could work.

3. What about a different bullet tip - Kinda like how we have the steel casings for the bullets now (Which is awesome by the way) why not something similar for the bullet tips?

4. Mining - I know the mining is pretty perfect right now, but what if you guys added that there is a very small percentage that hitting normal rock, not boulders can give some added resources like say maybe 5% chance or something.

 

Those are my thoughts anyways, i hope some of them sound good for the future of the game.

Some materials need to remain loot only so players can't get rich or have unlimited x. All advanced recipes have an advanced loot only ingredient now.

[madmole]

So many hours with my wife and family playing this game. I'd encourage peeps to grab some of those early alphas from steam and keep them just in case you can't get them next year or two.

 

Not the same game for me. I loved where it was going..hate where it went. Appreciate all the effort and dedication...just not for me. Got a gazillion times my money's worth..best value for a game ever. Thank you so much TFP..from the bottom of my heart..you made one of the most addictive and hopeful games I've ever played.

 

Uh ok. See you for A18.

[madmole]

 

Gas is very easy to scrounge but as MM said that is easier to balance, decrease the amount found, increase fuel usage is vehicles.

 

 

Na, I don't want to have to get out and refuel constantly, I've already balanced how long a tank lasts (roughly) so we just need to decrease the amount of fuel you can scavenge.

[madmole]

You can add more minerals and metals for the mining.

Copper to make the cables and some materials for mechanics and electronics.

Sulfur.

Platinum for some electronic materials and as a precious metal.

Tungsten for some necessary materials of electronics and advanced weapons.

Titanium as the strongest metal, the next level of steel to improve the blocks and to make some materials for vehicles, electronics, advanced weapons.

 

For larger hordes of zombies and more powerful zombies, something harder than steel is required. The only thing that exceeds steel and is found in mines is titanium.

 

Apart from that, titanium is necessary for electronics, vehicles and as a last level of weapons. Example: stone ax, iron ax, steel ax and titanium ax. Titanium as the most advanced, last levels of the character and very rare the loot.

 

Why complicate it to 1000 minerals? Thats just more icons taking space in your backpack.

[Exxodous]

In regards to all the discussions surrounding driving away on BM to avoid it, I'm surprised nobody has suggested the following:

 

Blood Moon can not end until a % of the total Z's are killed.

 

Drive for days if you want but they will still be coming - or - turn off blood moon via the settings - or - defend like the game is intended.

 

All are fine options and everyone gets to play horde night like they want.

[madmole]

Sometimes you want to play but just don't feel like doing a blood moon. (Shrug). Who cares?

 

So rent a room from a trader, or build a quick vulture shack on a roof. Try to out run them. Its like plants vs zombies, if you don't feel like clicking guess what, your doing to die lol. If you don't feel like it... I mean come on this is a survival game. Nobody feels like surviving, its just instinctive. You can always just strip down and offer yourself to the zombies and wait til morning to respawn too, an offering to the zombie gods.