Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[AtomicUs5000]

Doesn't the game already adjust and sends the horde to individual players, and their gamestage, already? well, as long as you are not close enough together that is.

Yes, but when it’s over it’s over. Someone under the proposed system could have a horde night that lasts all week.

[JCrook1028]

If a game mechanic is so unattractive to players wanting to experience it, especially the game machanic the game is named after, they are skipping it I see that as a major issue with the game.

 

I personally love the horde nights. I cant believe anyone skips them. I wish we had hard data on the % of players that actually skip them.

 

Love ya Kage but that isn't what the game was named after. There wasn't a horde night at the beginning. It was named after the 7 days the infection took to kill you. Just to be accurate.

[madmole]

Omfg, BFME 2 is an amazing game. I still play online with friends on an unofficial server that works great!

 

Why? Because it presents a very interesting challenge and leverages movie sound source to add to the "feeling" that you are part of middle earth and designing this crazy attack plan, working against time. Its 7 days top down with little armies instead of fps, I mean it is tower defense/offense. Now if there were a super easy way to win, then it would suck. Its solving that curve that is interesting and rewarding. Then turn up the difficulty and do it all over again

[RestInPieces]

can go a long ways in adding new value to the game and see it in a new light.

 

Btw, when it comes to replayability, what I would like to see in this game is some emergent gameplay. Some random chance events/quests, like getting a recorded signal on a radio of a nearby stranded person (that will have conveniently become a zombie since we don't have npcs) while strolling through a town, getting an SOS and spawning a mini-POI at runtime (if that is possible) of a crashed helicopter/whatever, players triggering BM-like hordes by setting off a POIs alarm system, reduced trader supplies if players don't kill enough horde zombies, a random chance for an air supply if the player kills many zombies within an area, extreme local weather effects that the player has to run from or take cover on the fly (acid rain, blizzards, rad sandstorms) etc etc.

[madmole]

Hello Madmole, how are you? I have a query the bandits / NPCs are very far from the A19?

since Saturday I was playing Minecraft the last time, I know that 7 days does not compare to the minecraf and that they are different graphic engines and many more things, I only mention the game because it is very interesting the NPC in the minecraf added a lot of intelligence very well, hopefully one day we can have NPC to protect and trade with them, it is very nice and satisfying, you have to play it and you will understand me

 

We will be working towards that, but probably won't be in A19.

[Tin]

Yes, but when it’s over it’s over. Someone under the proposed system could have a horde night that lasts all week.

 

Oh yeah. right. about needing to kill a certain amount, before its over. Obviously needs a timer they can set, for how long it can last.

[Aldranon]

Yeah I came up with this idea a while back, like allow bases underground, but when you come up for air the horde is there, waiting. Ride all night, but your horde is relentless and doesn't give up until you kill it. The problem is limited resources. People who did their horde want to get out into the world and do stuff, but feral running zeds from a blood moon are still running about chasing someone... what if they see you? Then you are caught dealing with running zeds after you already cleared your horde because someone ran to your front door or the poi you were in, etc. It has some design flaws is all I'm saying.

 

 

I let the zombies do their thing to my fortress at night while I work and then kill them in the morning. Repairs start taking about a full day after awhile but it saves on critical ammo supplies. I suppose the "Mantis" will make me go back to something else...

 

Not sure what I will do yet, not much on wasting gas at night, so I'll have to take a look at what "it" does (probably smash reinforced concrete like carboard?) Last game I raised block strength by 200% and damage done to 25%! Too easy for A17 but maybe not A18.

[hiigaran]

There will be, just not your own personal group of farmable slaves. You can join a faction, hang out in their base, take quests from them, etc.

 

This factions can take pois or your base?.. Maybe grow in power? invade other factions to simulate territory control ? This Will add a infinite amount of Gameplay.

[Phoenixshade35]

What I can't wait for are the new weapons and the new junk turret, i can see it working really well, im also looking forward to more cosmetic stuff with the game, such as more lights to use around base, not just the simple ones, more doors to get, i dont want vault doors everywhere in my base when building something nice, the game poses a good enough challenge for now, at least for me, i would love to have a good old flintlock pistol, a desert eagle, maybe a new bow that comes between the compound bow and the wooden bow for balance and preference, when the mods for vehicles drop that will be fun to mess around with.

 

Honestly I like the way the game is heading, admittedly i miss the whole grind of using a skill to level it up for more damage or faster crafting speed, would be neat if down the road we got an option in the menu to set it as skill point gameplay, or grind gameplay, but as of right now, no real complaints from me, would love to see more zombie varients, like we got nurses, why not doctors and candy strippers for it as well lol.

[madmole]

Because it's all artificial. Besides, I don't need any extra excitement in my life. In my daily work I get more than enough adrenaline.

 

I play mostly to relax. For me, building is the most interesting part of 7 Days to die. I accept the other aspects because they are part of the game. Every now and then I get a taste for adventure and do a few quests but most of the time I prefer a calm game.

 

7 Days is the opposite of relaxing for me, its a pure adrenaline rush. Maybe once I'm established and have a nice base its fine, but the first 20 hours or so are pretty intense.

[madmole]

Hello there madmole, been in the shadow following you work for a very long time probably back to 2014 or something, right now i was just wondering about the experimental version of A18, do you have any idea as accurate as it could be about the realease date ?

With my respects sir.

Fura

If you've been following that long, you know the answer. When its done.

[madmole]

Remove the DM command on survival please. It's too tempting and breaks the game a bit for me. It's like being in a pinch in unprepared bm and having in front of u a button that solves all ur problems and ruins the entire game for you.

 

Have some self control? If you know it ruins it, why do you press it? Hmmm lets press the ruin button, yes, lets ruin it. OH NO WTF did I do that? Its ruined now!!!!

[madmole]

Btw, when it comes to replayability, what I would like to see in this game is some emergent gameplay. Some random chance events/quests, like getting a recorded signal on a radio of a nearby stranded person (that will have conveniently become a zombie since we don't have npcs) while strolling through a town, getting an SOS and spawning a mini-POI at runtime (if that is possible) of a crashed helicopter/whatever, players triggering BM-like hordes by setting off a POIs alarm system, reduced trader supplies if players don't kill enough horde zombies, a random chance for an air supply if the player kills many zombies within an area, extreme local weather effects that the player has to run from or take cover on the fly (acid rain, blizzards, rad sandstorms) etc etc.

 

Yes dynamic events are amazing. In Skyrim they predict your travel direction on the roads and spawn a road event. These vary quite a bit but make traveling interesting. They also have a few npcs seek you out, say a quick line or two and then run off, those are great as well. Once we get some NPC framework in we can start doing things like that if we wanted.

 

Random heli crashes could be cool. Once we get traveling bandits in that will be interesting too. Maybe traveling merchants. If you kill them that faction will attack you for a long time and shoot on sight, making you regret it, unless you like killing them for their loot instead of having a trader available.

[RipClaw]

7 Days is the opposite of relaxing for me, its a pure adrenaline rush. Maybe once I'm established and have a nice base its fine, but the first 20 hours or so are pretty intense.

 

The nice thing about this game is that it serves both playstyles.

[Odetta]

Remove the DM command on survival please. It's too tempting and breaks the game a bit for me. It's like being in a pinch in unprepared bm and having in front of u a button that solves all ur problems and ruins the entire game for you.

 

Please don't ever try drugs. For a person like you they will ruin your life. True talk.

[SnowDog1942]

Why? Because it presents a very interesting challenge and leverages movie sound source to add to the "feeling" that you are part of middle earth and designing this crazy attack plan, working against time. Its 7 days top down with little armies instead of fps, I mean it is tower defense/offense. Now if there were a super easy way to win, then it would suck. Its solving that curve that is interesting and rewarding. Then turn up the difficulty and do it all over again

 

I 100 percent agree. Its cool you liked that game.

[Eliphas the Inheritor]

Yes dynamic events are amazing. In Skyrim they predict your travel direction on the roads and spawn a road event. These vary quite a bit but make traveling interesting. They also have a few npcs seek you out, say a quick line or two and then run off, those are great as well. Once we get some NPC framework in we can start doing things like that if we wanted.

 

Random heli crashes could be cool. Once we get traveling bandits in that will be interesting too. Maybe traveling merchants. If you kill them that faction will attack you for a long time and shoot on sight, making you regret it, unless you like killing them for their loot instead of having a trader available.

 

Shouldn't a bandit/npc be able to survive from that whole group and if you don't kill him then get a bounty? I mean, it makes sense, if you kill the whole group, why would you have a bounty on your head, why would their faction attack you if they don't know who killed their folks? It's the same in Skyrim, if you kill every witness, then you get a message like "All witnesses have been killed, 2000 bounty from Whiterun removed" or something.

[Odetta]

Maybe, the toxicity here has dampened my spirits to where I might not sound enthusiastic enough to make a compelling video.

 

Na, some of use were trying to brainstorm and offer up creative ideas. They just got drowned out by the arguments. To be frank, this forum is by far the least toxic in all the gaming forums I've frequented. Can't speak of steam or youtube but the this forum is usually great. You got great moderators and passionate player base that wants whats best for the game. I'd thank my lucky stars to have a forum like this. Even the modding people are crazy with their alpha overhauls.

 

I used to hang around Diablofans and my god even the mods were caustic trolls. The posters were a paragon for mental illness and ideas were shot down and killed with brutality. The D3 official forums were no different. I'm just saying focus on the good you got going on and you'll see it.

[Exxodous]

Finally, another outside of the box idea.

The one problem I see with this, as it seems to be always the case, is how it would behave in a MP setting.

 

I think the only way to make this work would be if the horde kept coming for one player and not another who completed it. That might be weird. It might also cause problems where a single person is holding out on purpose to mess with everyone else who can no longer get zombie spawns in POIs because the server has its max zeds due to that person.

 

Hmm good point. I hadn't thought of that as my MP games are always with friends and we fight the horde together.

 

Back to the drawing board....

[madmole]

Shouldn't a bandit/npc be able to survive from that whole group and if you don't kill him then get a bounty? I mean, it makes sense, if you kill the whole group, why would you have a bounty on your head, why would their faction attack you if they don't know who killed their folks? It's the same in Skyrim, if you kill every witness, then you get a message like "All witnesses have been killed, 2000 bounty from Whiterun removed" or something.

 

I don't think the apocalypse is as structured as Skyrim. There are no guards, no colonies, only budding factions in a kill or be killed wild west. If you open fire on a trader there has to be consequences. The guy could have a go pro and his affiliates saw your face as you gunned his guy down. He might have had his partner trailing him in case something happened they know who did it. It doesn't need any clear reason why you got fingered for assassinating a trader, it just needs to happen. This is to say if we even add wandering merchants. Of course if we make them very hard to kill, and dangerous, players might think twice about attacking them.

[madmole]

Na, some of use were trying to brainstorm and offer up creative ideas. They just got drowned out by the arguments. To be frank, this forum is by far the least toxic in all the gaming forums I've frequented. Can't speak of steam or youtube but the this forum is usually great. You got great moderators and passionate player base that wants whats best for the game. I'd thank my lucky stars to have a forum like this. Even the modding people are crazy with their alpha overhauls.

 

I used to hang around Diablofans and my god even the mods were caustic trolls. The posters were a paragon for mental illness and ideas were shot down and killed with brutality. The D3 official forums were no different. I'm just saying focus on the good you got going on and you'll see it.

 

I was teasing mostly. It took a lot longer than planned to get caught up. I'll be doing videos soon.

[Exxodous]

Yeah I came up with this idea a while back, like allow bases underground, but when you come up for air the horde is there, waiting. Ride all night, but your horde is relentless and doesn't give up until you kill it. The problem is limited resources. People who did their horde want to get out into the world and do stuff, but feral running zeds from a blood moon are still running about chasing someone... what if they see you? Then you are caught dealing with running zeds after you already cleared your horde because someone ran to your front door or the poi you were in, etc. It has some design flaws is all I'm saying.

 

Someone else mentioned some flaws too. I'm used to playing MP in groups that always fight horde night together and hadn't considered this. Works well in SP game though

[Odetta]

I was teasing mostly. It took a lot longer than planned to get caught up. I'll be doing videos soon.

 

Now that's what I like to hear:fat: extra points for an Arnold intro.

[Exxodous]

Oh yeah. right. about needing to kill a certain amount, before its over. Obviously needs a timer they can set, for how long it can last.

 

Unfortunately that is the mechanic we have now. The timer is when morning comes and the feral horde stops the GPS thing. Kill a % of Z's doesn't work very well in MP for those fighting in different locations I guess. I was just spitballing.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I let the zombies do their thing to my fortress at night while I work and then kill them in the morning. Repairs start taking about a full day after awhile but it saves on critical ammo supplies. I suppose the "Mantis" will make me go back to something else...

 

Not sure what I will do yet, not much on wasting gas at night, so I'll have to take a look at what "it" does (probably smash reinforced concrete like carboard?) Last game I raised block strength by 200% and damage done to 25%! Too easy for A17 but maybe not A18.

 

I'm curious, if you do not enjoy engaging the horde why not turn of horde night instead of suffering all the repair work in the morning. Unless it's purely the challenge of passive defenses preventing a breach?

[madmole]

Now that's what I like to hear:fat: extra points for an Arnold intro.

 

Was watching season 3 of stranger things and that big Russian guy looks a LOT like Arnold, like he could do his stunts for him, even sounds like Arnold a bit. I was cracking Arnold imitations of him while we watched him chase them "I'm ova here, kill me, come one" lol. I always wanted to do a lets play 7 days with arnold where I pretend I'm Arnold play 7 days and mod in special abilities, it would be hilarious. One punch doors and zeds, and crack one liners.