Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Roland]

Wow. Sorry I said anything. My point was that despite there being many weapons the feeling of scarcity is still preserved in a way that gives you a good reason to get out there and scavenge and explore.

 

As I said, “garbage” was probably too extreme a term that I wouldn’t have used if I knew people would fixate in it. The brown and orange tier weapons are less powerful than the yellow, green, blue, and purple tier weapons. This what people seemed to want— damage tied to quality again instead of all weapons being the same and increased by mods?

 

So you find lots of weapons in the early game but they are most commonly brown tier which will not be as it was in A17. It will be how it was in A16– the least powerful version— good for parts, ammo already loaded into it, or emergencies.

 

Finding a purple tier weapon of any type whether you have perks in it or not will be a great find and that weapon would serve you well. They are very rare.

 

As for baseball bat parts— it is not a placeholder system. IF it’s a placeholder at all it would just be the name and icon that would be changed. That’s not the same thing as changing a system at all.

 

Not everyone is going to like all changes. I wasn’t bothered at all by baseball bat parts but being able to nerdpole does bother me. I made my bid for that change and lost and have modded it in. I doubt I’ll spend any time modding away baseball bat parts because it doesn’t bother me. Sounds like some of you will.

[RestInPieces]

Wow. Sorry I said anything.

 

Have you heard anything about a possible death penalty option in A18 or should I go grab my pitchfork?

[RipClaw]

As for baseball bat parts— it is not a placeholder system. IF it’s a placeholder at all it would just be the name and icon that would be changed. That’s not the same thing as changing a system at all.

 

The question for me is if you only find baseball bat parts or if you find complete baseball bats that you can scrap to get parts in order to craft a better baseball bat ?

[Viktoriusiii]

Wow. Sorry I said anything. My point was that despite there being many weapons the feeling of scarcity is still preserved in a way that gives you a good reason to get out there and scavenge and explore.

 

Dont! You are only the messanger We are thankful for every detail you give us, so that we might influence them enough to overthink bad design... (I mean looking at the history of this EA game thats not very likely... but possible )

 

So you find lots of weapons in the early game but they are most commonly brown tier which will not be as it was in A17. It will be how it was in A16– the least powerful version— good for parts, ammo already loaded into it, or emergencies.

 

Yeah thats the problem. Guns are endgame content. Pistols might be midgame content... maybe a shotgun if you are lucky.

But you shouldnt find "good" (AK, M60, Sniper...) weapons early. It robs the game of the feeling of progression that TFPs so desperatly strive for, which is why they made the early game such a crawl.

Weapons can wait! They aren't a fundamental part of this game. Mining is.

So if you slow down one thing to the point where it becomes unfun, while removing the sense of progression in exploration by showering people with endgame guns, your focus is off.

 

And yes I know that "purple" is the new AK, Sniper and so on. But it still devalues the bigger calibers. It is a small thing, but there are so many small things that ruin the immersion that one more small thing is just too much you know?

I can ignore the baseballbat needing parts, I can ignore beeing showered with weapons, I can ignore beeing gated by levels (well no I cant but thats besides the point ) I can ignore killing 100 zombies to finally learn how to mine more efficiently, I can ignore zombies having GPS' built into their brains, I can ignore Wood beeing so absolutely useless in building that it became a meme, I can ignore...

 

But all of those together completely ruin the immersion... step by step... that is why we are "fighting" those "small" changes. because they got numerous over time.

[beerfly]

Dont! You are only the messanger.

 

His full name is Rolandstein. You should never call him just a messenger. Never. Go in the corner.

[Tin]

Wow. Sorry I said anything.

My point was that despite there being many weapons the feeling of scarcity is still preserved in a way that gives you a good reason to get out there and scavenge and explore.

 

As I said, “garbage” was probably too extreme a term that I wouldn’t have used if I knew people would fixate in it. The brown and orange tier weapons are less powerful than the yellow, green, blue, and purple tier weapons. This what people seemed to want— damage tied to quality again instead of all weapons being the same and increased by mods?

 

So you find lots of weapons in the early game but they are most commonly brown tier which will not be as it was in A17. It will be how it was in A16– the least powerful version— good for parts, ammo already loaded into it, or emergencies.

 

Finding a purple tier weapon of any type whether you have perks in it or not will be a great find and that weapon would serve you well. They are very rare.

 

 

As for baseball bat parts— it is not a placeholder system. IF it’s a placeholder at all it would just be the name and icon that would be changed. That’s not the same thing as changing a system at all.

 

Not everyone is going to like all changes. I wasn’t bothered at all by baseball bat parts but being able to nerdpole does bother me. I made my bid for that change and lost and have modded it in. I doubt I’ll spend any time modding away baseball bat parts because it doesn’t bother me. Sounds like some of you will.

 

Why be sorry? You just said what you saw. Nothing to be sorry about.

Only thing I took issue with, is Gazz trying to say Mod's were not comparable to the parts system?! Why not just say it's a better, more robust parts system? which it is. But whatever, at least he confirmed bats will need parts, and it's not a placeholder..

 

I always play each version fully vanilla, and will be looking forward to doing the same with A18 and beyond.

Imo the game, and the mechanics in it, are overall improvements. Most of this stuff (though not all), that people gripe about, is just balance issue related.

[Noctoras]

Experience it first, then critique.

 

I am of course taking about A17 here, why and how should I critisise an unreleased build?

[Guppycur]

So uh, what exactly are the "parts" that make up a baseball bat?

 

...the answer will either assuage concerns or fire them up.

[Callum123456789]

hey I think the parts should be 5 duct tape 10-20 wood 1-2 animal hide for a sturdy grip aand 5-10 forged iron for a hard hitting end

 

 

just letting everyone know this is a guess this isn't the actual parts

[Tin]

hey I think the parts should be 5 duct tape 10-20 wood 1-2 animal hide for a sturdy grip aand 5-10 forged iron for a hard hitting end

 

 

just letting everyone know this is a guess this isn't the actual parts

 

Why the forged iron for a hard hitting end? Wouldn't a [mod part] make more sense?

I like Wood/ Polymers/ and Leather personally.

[Trankitas]

Guys calm down, look at this Zombie Puppy.

 

You're better now?

[Gazz]

Have you heard anything about a possible death penalty option in A18 or should I go grab my pitchfork?

Well, I would *like* a more serious death penalty, even if it's optional. The current one had been nerfed into the ground.

[Callum123456789]

its a decent idea though and I agree the hard hitting end could be a mod

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

gazz is there any chance in a18 when you die of starvation will it restore your hunger to default because when I cannot find any food on online servers I get stuck in a dying loop of starvation will this be changed because your water is restored but for some reason not any food at all it would be appereicated if you read this if so thank you

[Tin]

its a decent idea though and I agree the hard hitting end could be a mod

agreed, it is a decent idea for it

[canadianbluebeer]

So uh, what exactly are the "parts" that make up a baseball bat?

 

...the answer will either assuage concerns or fire them up.

 

Toothpicks!

 

[RestInPieces]

Well, I would *like* a more serious death penalty, even if it's optional. The current one had been nerfed into the ground.

 

One of the things I enjoyed most in 17.0 was the fact that I, at last, had to fear death, which automatically made survival much more rewarding. Sneak it back into the game Gazz plx!

[Callum123456789]

a more serious death penlty? maybe like since you have near death trauma as the game says maybe just maybe you could be like overall lowered in stats but not only stats but your overall ability to fight the zombies maybe like slower attack speed and maybe your character could lose stamina faster since this would also add to a more punishing way of death penalties but never the less fun pimps you decide whats best im sure you all could think of something

[RestInPieces]

a more serious death penlty? maybe like since you have near death trauma as the game says maybe just maybe you could be like overall lowered in stats but not only stats but your overall ability to fight the zombies maybe like slower attack speed and maybe your character could lose stamina faster since this would also add to a more punishing way of death penalties but never the less fun pimps you decide whats best im sure you all could think of something

 

Agree that an even better, more "immersive" death penalty would be great for the future, perhaps with various extra effects. But hopefully we will get to play A18 with a DP option, even if it's just a placeholder DP, since it should be a piece of cake for them to add what we previously had.

[RipClaw]

Agree that an even better, more "immersive" death penalty would be great for the future, perhaps with various extra effects.

 

The only true immersive death penalty would be if you weren't allowed to play with that character at all because you're dead. Dead is dead players would certainly be thrilled but other players probably not.

[Grue]

I think you will like it. We're modeling really nice surface ore models which make it easy to find the underground ore mines. Underneath it is voxel ore (marching cubes). So even if someone mines the surface ore boulder the terrain voxel ore is visible (just harder to see). The in ground ore gives more than the fancy surface rock, so hopefully most players will dig it down and not just cob all the surface ore.

 

The old generic stones will probably just drop stone and a bit of iron. There will be ample deposits to find now. I'll show it once its ready, we just pulled the trigger on getting the surface ore today, the ore piles were still too hard to find. This will solve it once and for all.

 

Bedrock at +3 (or whatever) is too shallow, can we have a deeper world to dig around in again?

[RestInPieces]

The only true immersive death penalty would be if you weren't allowed to play with that character at all because you're dead. Dead is dead players would certainly be thrilled but other players probably not.

 

The sole point of a death penalty is to give value to surviving. That can be achieved with in-between solutions as well. Don't have to just choose between the extremes of death being meaningless and death being the end. I would welcome a perma-death option for my single player playthroughs though.

[Callum123456789]

wait like a hardcore mode like you have 5 lives and once you have died that many times your saved game is deleted or maybe a one life only option so you die and also cannot play that save now that's a brutally punishing death penalty option if they ever add that into the game

[TSBX]

So uh, what exactly are the "parts" that make up a baseball bat?

 

...the answer will either assuage concerns or fire them up.

 

 

+

 

[RipClaw]

The sole point of a death penalty is to give value to surviving. That can be achieved with in-between solutions as well. Don't have to just choose between the extremes of death being meaningless and death being the end. I would welcome a perma-death option for my single player playthroughs though.

 

For me, death in the game should give you the opportunity to learn something from it. I don't see a hard death penalty as useful. Especially not to artificially give survival a higher value.

 

Even if there were no death penalty at all, I would never take death lightly. There are certainly players who only fool around, but they would not be deterred by a hard death penalty.

[Slingblade2040]

wait so why would a baseball bat have parts but a club doesn't? I can understand some Melle weapons having parts like swords or Spears but not baseball bats. heck you might as well make the club have parts also.