Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[Dethar]

2 hours ago, Daruma said:

Lol. I don't think that means what you think it means. 😛

 

A zombie shouldn't walk through a corn maze  to attack a piece of wall with 2% less HP then the wall directly in front of them. Which the player is standing directly behind. 

 

A zombie also shouldn't be able to dig 50 feet below the ground with the speed of a formula 1 race car and crash through a double thick brick wall like it was made of drywall.. but hey, if we're giving them the ability to deduce structural integrity to a degree that would make a Civil Engineer jealous.. why not? 🙂

 

And yes. The fact that I paid for this game, just as you have, gives me every right to criticize core gameplay changes. It's easy to say you have no right to complain because a game is in alpha when it's been in alpha for 7 years. I mean how many alpha releases can you have before the baseball mercy rule kicks in and they just force you to move to beta? 😛

 

Complaining about not being able to have bedrock base because of digging zombies is just hogwash. When A19 first dropped I had bedrock base with 5 forges going nonstop for 6 days and no issues. Would have been more, but I got chunk error and proof my base was gone.

 

By then first overhaul was available, so quit that game. Which is what I usually do, as vanilla is boring as hell for me.

[faatal]

10 hours ago, Laz Man said:

Never knew that was a thing.  I wonder how challenging that be to program...sounds like a wonderful feature for not just players but the level designers as well.

Not easy. Chunks are many pieces of data distributed across different arrays in a type of compression and it is not simple. Then you have tons of code that says give me the block at xyz or set the block and now it is multiple blocks? Some hybrid? To be sane, it would need to remain a primary block at a location, but possibly a secondary block could be added for visuals, but I would not be doing separate heath and collision resolving for it or it just gets more complicated and slower.

[faatal]

9 hours ago, Pegasus said:

Faatal, I will send you cookies if you will fix the hatches and windows not letting in the rain and snow any more.  And you tell me where you are so I can send them. 

 

Or a bottle of rum.  Or both.

Inside vs outside is a very vague concept in a voxel world made out of all kinds of odd shapes. Not easy to determine and not fast.

[faatal]

1 hour ago, Gazz said:

Someone literally said they want to be in their bunker and sit out horde night and the beauty of that is: You absolutely can!

Turn off horde nights and you can even play the game during that time and feel all smug about having outsmarted all those zombie fools with your superior game option skills! =P

And then the screen fades to black as they suffocate....aha, oxygen tank to the rescue....land shark then swallows them whole.

[Matt 1977]

On 7/28/2020 at 4:49 AM, STyK_ said:

May RNGesus be with you!

Well waiting for stable lol. Day 12 , winter biome, heading to trader and ran into Dire wolf. Started running ...... right into cougar. What happened next is not fit for the internet lol. 1st time ived died in ages, not sure if early A18 or A17. 

[Laz Man]

2 hours ago, madmole said:

To look good next to the 30,000 polygon soda machine.

Exactly. Be thankful they arne't swiss cheesing under your fort like before.

I watch the kickstarter video and see Alpha 19+. The spirit of the game hasn't changed since its inception.

Great point MM, the Kickstarter video is a great example to the vision you guys started out with.  I had to direct someone to it not too long ago when they couldn't believe 7d2d was supposed to have tower defense elements.

 

Its like some people see the words building/crafting/zombie and it automatically means one specific type of game play (e.g. no digging zombies) and can't be anything else.

 

If you ask me its part of the curse of Early Access.  X number of people fall in love with a specific version and now all of a sudden your digging your own grave if you don't immediately back pedal.

 

You guys keep doing you as like you said, the game is doing better then ever.  I am glad you guys have telemetry now so you guys can make  decisions based on objective data.

 

 

[bloodmoth13]

4 hours ago, Pegasus said:

 

You're forgetting about multiplayer servers ... which can have more than one land claim, and allied land claims can overlap.

 

You presented a possible solution to an issue that doesn't exist. They are not adding the deco items into the game as recipes at this point. 

 

You may or may not remember the crafting menu lag from before they simplified the crafting menus, but I do ... and I don't see them willingly going back to that because the public outcry over the game crashes caused by too many recipes was waaaaay worse than this little discussion.

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion ... and I can even understand it.  (which is why i play on a modded server, so I can have my pretty stuff).  You, too, can play on a modded server and have your pretties.

 

But it's not going to happen in the vanilla game right now ... so why keep arguing about who is more right?

 

Girls, you're all pretty.  Can't we just move on now?

I feel like im getting scolded here for thinking of a solution to someones problem?

A certain amount in an area is fine, land claim sized should be big enough to make it fine, even with 4 corners overlapping and players trying their best to create lag its probably not going to be a big deal. Tie the vanity items to the player who placed it, if their land claim goes then their vanity item goes. I wasnt forgetting multiplayer, i had that in mind specifically, land claim zones should be big enough so that clusters wont be a problem, and thats really stretching to create a problem here.

 

'at this point' i never said they are adding them now and this is how they have to add them, its 'if they want to add them then this could be a solution', its not a problem so long as they NEVER intend to add them. fine, idc, but if they do, and it is a problem, then heres a solution! not sure why anyone feels the need to say the problem doesnt exist, its utterly pointless to say, its a possible problem to overcome at some potential point in the future, if not having a solution is why they dont bother then coming up with one might be a good idea.

[DaVegaNL]

11 hours ago, madmole said:

You lost me at mining stone. Who the @%$*#! mines stone? Why?

Some people just really, really, really love stone!
Don't know who, though.

[Toban]

5 hours ago, Daruma said:

Lol. I don't think that means what you think it means. 😛

 

A zombie shouldn't walk through a corn maze  to attack a piece of wall with 2% less HP then the wall directly in front of them. Which the player is standing directly behind. 

 

A zombie also shouldn't be able to dig 50 feet below the ground with the speed of a formula 1 race car and crash through a double thick brick wall like it was made of drywall.. but hey, if we're giving them the ability to deduce structural integrity to a degree that would make a Civil Engineer jealous.. why not? 🙂

 

And yes. The fact that I paid for this game, just as you have, gives me every right to criticize core gameplay changes. It's easy to say you have no right to complain because a game is in alpha when it's been in alpha for 7 years. I mean how many alpha releases can you have before the baseball mercy rule kicks in and they just force you to move to beta? 😛

 

Can I just say that Zombies can do whatever TFP want. Check out many zombie films and many of them mix it up, so why can't TFP?

I watched a film last week where the zombies talked to each other. Does that mean they aren't zombies? No. It just means that the film creator wanted to do something different. 

Alpha 16 zombies just ran in circles and the game was so easy it became boring. Shooting down on zombies that where easily manipulated wasn't fun. I like the new challenge and I've had the game for 6 years and don't miss any of the old alphas. The game today is far superior to any previous alphas in my opinion. Buy hey, that's just my opinion.

[MechanicalLens]

@madmole Can confirm that player-crafted items have random stats.

[MechanicalLens]

Also, I think I have just discovered my favorite new

extreme sport. 🤣 Now I just need a name for it...

[Gazz]

Banana rocket jumping. Just to keep people guessing where to find bananas.

 

1 hour ago, Toban said:

Can I just say that Zombies can do whatever TFP want. Check out many zombie films and many of them mix it up, so why can't TFP?

Even if you say "Romero zombies" then those zombies are clever enough to ride a horse or fire a gun. All seen in Romero movies...

[Gromit]

5 hours ago, madmole said:

To look good next to the 30,000 polygon soda machine.

Good, I was worried for a moment there you'd actually made a 15k tri coffee pot. It reminded me Final Fantasy XIV's flowerpots that were more detailed than the characters.

[Jay_ombie]

51 minutes ago, MechanicalLens said:

Also, I think I have just discovered my favorite new

extreme sport. 🤣 Now I just need a name for it...

Okay complete noob here. How you do that ?

 

Also question about fall height in this game. Can I die from falling from a certain height or do I just keep breaking legs ?

 

I’ve never died by falling and we need that sense of danger when navigating high up on a POI and not just simply limb inconvenience as a consequence. 

[Xtrakicking]

8 hours ago, Roland said:

Except it wasn’t a sudden addition. Digging zombies was in the game from the start. It was gone for a few alphas and then returned.  Digging zombies have been in more alphas since Kickstarter than they haven’t been. 
 

Google it!

Ahh, the good ol times when every night was horde night and the zombies would make giant holes in the ground trying to get to you.

[Toban]

19 minutes ago, Gazz said:

Banana rocket jumping. Just to keep people guessing where to find bananas.

 

Even if you say "Romero zombies" then those zombies are clever enough to ride a horse or fire a gun. All seen in Romero movies...

Agreed. So sad he's gone

I don't get why people get so high rate over a mythical creature that doesn't really exist. I like to see a different take on stuff.  

[Laynie]

Just now, Toban said:

Agreed. So sad he's gone

I don't get why people get so high rate over a mythical creature that doesn't really exist. I like to see a different take on stuff.  

I point all the people that don't like smart zombies to the 2007 film Ahh Zombies/Wasting Away. Not only because one guy ends up being a head and a hand in a bowling ball bag, but also because it too has zombies that are smart!

[Tmodloader]

5 hours ago, madmole said:

I thought Gazz said it already is this way, player crafted items have random stats, at least once you get to iron.

I believe it was around plus or minus 15% stats on it. I was thinking of a larger range but I'm not entirely sure if a larger range would be anti-fun. Anyway just random brainstorming, you guys know how to make the game fun. Thanks for replying to posts on here! Looking forward to future ideas. 

[MechanicalLens]

10 minutes ago, Jay_ombie said:

Okay complete noob here. How you do that ?

 

Also question about fall height in this game. Can I die from falling from a certain height or do I just keep breaking legs ?

 

I’ve never died by falling and we need that sense of danger when navigating high up on a POI and not just simply limb inconvenience as a consequence. 

1. I had taken the Oh Shiz Drops candy, which prevents all fall damage for 5 minutes.

 

2. Dev Rocket Boots, available in the dev section in the creative menu.

 

Have fun.

[Tmodloader]

14 minutes ago, Jay_ombie said:

Okay complete noob here. How you do that ?

 

Also question about fall height in this game. Can I die from falling from a certain height or do I just keep breaking legs ?

 

I’ve never died by falling and we need that sense of danger when navigating high up on a POI and not just simply limb inconvenience as a consequence. 

"Limb inconvenience" has lead me to some adrenaline pumping situations but also some boredom. It is definitely a pretty tangible consequence still. How high up of falls are you surviving?

I'm pretty certain you die from a certain height yes.

[STyK_]

3 hours ago, Matt 1977 said:

Well waiting for stable lol. Day 12 , winter biome, heading to trader and ran into Dire wolf. Started running ...... right into cougar. What happened next is not fit for the internet lol. 1st time ived died in ages, not sure if early A18 or A17. 

What a coincidence. New video has the clip, mines worse, I had every chance not to get killed but I didn't think it was a dire wolf and I couldn't see the eyes till it was too late. Tried to test my new shotgun with choke on it too, did nothing, hate that damn dog! Thats twice that 'mystical creatures' pulled that on me. When am I going to get killed by zombies in the zombie game? 🤣 On my Bday the day before day 48 horde night.

So Permadeath Insane Nightmare, 1250ish Kills 1 Death 94 hours alive. I didn't clip the scoreboard and it was too late by the time I thought about it. I'll remember in the next playthough, noob content creator what can I say. Give me stable so I can get back to work! 😄

[Xtrakicking]

12 minutes ago, Laynie said:

I point all the people that don't like smart zombies to the 2007 film Ahh Zombies/Wasting Away. Not only because one guy ends up being a head and a hand in a bowling ball bag, but also because it too has zombies that are smart!

 

That movie is a comedy, though. There's a difference.

8 hours ago, Roland said:

Except it wasn’t a sudden addition. Digging zombies was in the game from the start. It was gone for a few alphas and then returned.  Digging zombies have been in more alphas since Kickstarter than they haven’t been. 
 

Google it!

Ahh, the good ol times when every night was horde night and the zombies would make giant holes in the ground trying to get to you.

[Laynie]

19 minutes ago, Xtrakicking said:

That movie is a comedy, though. There's a difference.

Ahh, the good ol times when every night was horde night and the zombies would make giant holes in the ground trying to get to you.

You're missing the point. Any creater can decide their own rules for a creature they create. Look at films and books with zombies, vampires and werewolves. Everyone has their own rules for the creature they are telling a story about. Some zombies crave brains, some vamps don't have fangs and some werewolves walk on two legs. My point is, in 7 days to die they can make their zombies keep pet ants if they like. It's their story to tell and they can tell it however they want. 

[Xtrakicking]

54 minutes ago, Laynie said:

You're missing the point. Any creater can decide their own rules for a creature they create. Look at films and books with zombies, vampires and werewolves. Everyone has their own rules for the creature they are telling a story about. Some zombies crave brains, some vamps don't have fangs and some werewolves walk on two legs. My point is, in 7 days to die they can make their zombies keep pet ants if they like. It's their story to tell and they can tell it however they want. 

 

Here's the thing. I'm not saying creators can't do whatever they want, I'm saying that they must have an understanding of their own product and genre, and build elements upon it that belong to the world they've constructed, otherwise it will collapse on itself. The consequences of adding elements to your creation that feel out of place, or feel like they belong to an entirely different world/genre, is that the consumers will be confused as to what exactly it is they're playing/watching/reading, and the experience will probably be overall less enjoyable. Let's take Twilight, as an example. Can you make it so the vampires in your novel sparkle in the sun? Of course you can. Will some people like that? Of course some will. Was it then positively received? Nope. Not at all. Because some of the decisions they took for their story just didn't work.

 

Tl;dr: Being able to do whatever you want doesn't mean everything you do will work.

 

That being said, this is just a general opinion. When it comes to zombies being able to dig, I've got no problem with that. It doesn't feel out of place, and it fixes issues like players hiding away from hordes inside a 2x1 hole in the ground.

[Laynie]

14 minutes ago, Xtrakicking said:

Here's the thing. I'm not saying creators can't do whatever they want, I'm saying that they must have an understanding of their own product and genre, and build elements upon it that belong to the world they've constructed, otherwise it will collapse on itself. The consequences of adding elements to your creation that feel out of place, or feel like they belong to an entirely different world/genre, is that the consumers will be confused as to what exactly it is they're playing/watching/reading, and the experience will probably be overall less enjoyable. Let's take Twilight, as an example. Can you make it so the vampires in your novel sparkle in the sun? Of course you can. Will some people like that? Of course some will. Was it then positively received? Nope. Not at all. Because some of the decisions they took for their story just didn't work.

 

Tl;dr: Being able to do whatever you want doesn't mean everything you do will work.

 

That being said, this is just a general opinion. When it comes to zombies being able to dig, I've got no problem with that. It doesn't feel out of place, and it fixes issues like players hiding away from hordes inside a 2x1 hole in the ground.

Every creator knows they cant please everyone. Side note, not important really, but Twilight movies made 3.3 billion worldwide and the novel sold over 100 million copies. Stephenie Meyer made a lot of people happy with her books and the movies that followed. Twilight, has sold over 100 million copies, with translations into 37 different languages. Meyer was the bestselling author of 2008 and 2009 in the U.S., having sold over 29 million books in 2008, and 26.5 million in 2009.