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Alpha 19 Dev Diary


madmole

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1 minute ago, Adam the Waster said:

im more like a Palaeolithic stage....

I actually heard your frontal lobe grow a bit from that response, keep it up, and let Darwin take the wheel (Jesus not born yet, oh, @%$*#!, Darwin neither, uh... maybe skip the wheel part.) @%$*#!, may have lost a few neurons on all this, getting old sucks.

4 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

One reason I like the Navezgane world because its handcrafted and POIs, streets and roads are placed in more immersive locations.

 

It's actually nice that then towns/cities are not super dense as it encourages further exploration of the map.

Yes, agree and I try to keep mentioning that I *personally* like and prefer Navezgane myself, for very similar reasons. I am more trying to figure out why so many others don't, especially after playing RWG by comparison, it can be VERY difficult talking those people into a Nav game ever again after that. I have tried on many occasions, works maybe half the time, and always takes a lot of convincing when it does.

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49 minutes ago, faatal said:

Common sense is not common. People vary greatly in what they want. 90% of TV and movies have darkness way too bright and it annoys me, but the people I watch with generally don't care.

 

I would like it darker at night too, but TFP is not the Borg. Others have different opinions. Indoors at night it gets pretty dark, so that part makes me happy. Linking the moon phase to the ambient would be cool to get some darker nights, when the moon is not full.

I also liked the dark nights and having to get some gear to stroll around at night. But I get TFP's decision.

 

What I don't like at all is the indoors brightness shift. This feels so unnatural. Some houses have some open parts to them and the brightness keeps jumping back and forth. Also if are near the entrance and step in and out frequently, it just feels so bad how I can't see something I just saw because the screen dims itself.

I would much rather have a fixed light level at night.

Does the moon actually shed light? Could it be darker inside because it shadows the moon? (I'm away for the weekend and I don't remember how it actually is)

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1 hour ago, Mechanimal said:

.. but damnit where the F did you teleport the dang Crack-A-Book... you know the one. Don't tell me, finding it is on my adventure list.

If you saw the A19 Developer streams you saw the Crack-a-Book...

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44 minutes ago, Mechanimal said:

I actually heard your frontal lobe grow a bit from that response, keep it up, and let Darwin take the wheel (Jesus not born yet, oh, @%$*#!, Darwin neither, uh... maybe skip the wheel part.) @%$*#!, may have lost a few neurons on all this, getting old sucks.

Yes, agree and I try to keep mentioning that I *personally* like and prefer Navezgane myself, for very similar reasons. I am more trying to figure out why so many others don't, especially after playing RWG by comparison, it can be VERY difficult talking those people into a Nav game ever again after that. I have tried on many occasions, works maybe half the time, and always takes a lot of convincing when it does.

I can think of a few reasons.

 

1) Navezgane is 6k and some players feel that is too small for a long term game, especially in MP.

 

2) Not enough POIs, same reason as above

 

3) Too familiar, all though this only applies to those who have played it recently.  The map has evolved quite a bit over the years.

 

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4 hours ago, faatal said:

Same here. Love agility. For BMs I just make murder holes and look them in the eye and stab zombies in the face. When I run out of stamina, blunderbuss or shotgun them a bit or pistol, then back to stabbing. Rotate though targets to maximize bleed damage.

 

Bow is also great now for stealth damage.

Hell yes, bleed stacking with the run speed debuff is a great way to evade harm in long-term battles, and the pistol/knife swapping makes me feel like an assassin every time. Epic. Also Faatal I remember a long time ago you said you enjoyed playing Outward, I tried it and loved it. The permadeath difficulty having a chance at deus ex machina is a really interesting mechanic for a survival game, you never know when you fall in battle if it's the last time you will. Extremely difficult game but it has charms and I enjoy it


So, I need to know guys, is the 44 magnum now a tier 2 pistol, with the desert vulture being tier 3? Or is it Pistol<SMG<Desert Vulture with 44 magnum being in its own category all together? I could really use some clarification, because my current quest reward is choosing between pipe bombs (20) or a desert vulture schematic, when I already have the SMG and 44 magnum schematics unlocked. Game's paused, save me lol. I think the Desert Vulture is better than the magnum since it costs way more materials to make, so I've gone ahead and selected the schematic, and I got 20 molotovs as recompense luckily for doing that 10th quest ^_^

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5 hours ago, madmole said:

No it doesn't fit the theme of the game at all.

Nothing but dirt and sawdust from construction... but no nothing to see yet, I don't even have back walls yet in some sections. Eric pointed me in the right direction of some trim and roof pieces that made it look so much better. It took some playing with things but I managed to find the right woods to go together because some woods run sideways and some run up and down and we don't have any uv tools yet so getting it to look right has been challenging. I'm taking mental notes for some improvements we can do to the tools and player building work flow though.

Can we avoid broad stroke false statements? Please clarify.

Madmole, in your free time, join me in the mod forums and lets begin design on a 7d2d medieval overhaul mod LOL...  I have a guard tower to add to your tavern...but it was built in A16 and needs a fresh coat of paint hehe...

 

hK2Vhef.jpg&key=5314f3a70c33eabf543c9d28

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12 minutes ago, hiemfire said:

If you saw the A19 Developer streams you saw the Crack-a-Book...

... Well there is, was anyway, the "big" one there. Not sure if either of you are referring to this one or not. If so I mean another one entirely... however, I do remember one of the POIs shown not far from there in one of the dev streams... I really hope that is not it, because that is super crazy far away but also really near the already large Crack-A-Book headquarters, one of the smaller skycrapers. Did they remove that? Cause having both so close together, and nowhere else, would suck. I hope there is at least one other in some other part of the map. I've found none yet, but also not explored much yet either. Hopefully I find one before having to go all the way to that one area.

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1 minute ago, Mechanimal said:

... Well there is, was anyway, the "big" one there. Not sure if either of you are referring to this one or not. If so I mean another one entirely... however, I do remember one of the POIs shown not far from there in one of the dev streams... I really hope that is not it, because that is super crazy far away but also really near the already large Crack-A-Book headquarters, one of the smaller skycrapers. Did they remove that? Cause having both so close together, and nowhere else, would suck. I hope there is at least one other in some other part of the map. I've found none yet, but also not explored much yet either. Hopefully I find one before having to go all the way to that one area.

... Explore and find out. :D 

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10 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

Madmole, in your free time, join me in the mod forums and lets begin design on a 7d2d medieval overhaul mod LOL...  I have a guard tower to add to your tavern...but it was built in A16 and needs a fresh coat of paint hehe...

 

hK2Vhef.jpg&key=5314f3a70c33eabf543c9d28

Squire what do i see in the distance?, a Horde of zombies me lord... Taste Steel!

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2 hours ago, Mechanimal said:

You had me at "door overhaul". Can't wait, one question though... WHY did you guys not do this early in the POI overhaul schedule. I honestly expected it to be in this Alpha because of all the new commercial POIs, frankly shocked it isn't, if ever there were a ripe opportunity you done missed it and are going to have to replace even more doors and overhaul all these awesome new POIs yet again. So, oops on long-term planning, the longer you wait the more it is going to bite you later.

Sure I want new doors, have for forever, but omg get on this for your own good. The longer you put this one off the harder it's going to get, and will result in more time/money, not less, in the long run. 

And when you fix the "can't shoot through holes in door" problem pleas fix the "can't shoot through empty clothing rack" problem that should not have made it into the game since these are brand new assets. Like, how did that even get through approval let alone testing? I'm knucklerubbin these points cause I think you can and should avoid them in the first place, not postpone and snowball them into bigger headaches later on.

There is a search and replace block in the editor, and also we'd just overwrite the old prefab with the new and be done with it. It isn't really biting us in the @%$*#!, it is just another low priority thing that could be done better is all. We'll get to it though. A20 might not be anything snazzy at all, it very well could be more new zombies, new/improved pois/art, and lots of bug fixes and QOL stuff, Christmas will be here before we know it so we're already thinking of mainly optimizing, bugs,polish. Like I think we need a store all and store similar function, little things that make organizing easier.

3 hours ago, MechanicalLens said:

7_Days_To_Die_2020-07-04_12_27_13_PM.thumb.png.02981e4f776e967056eb8feaeccd7052.png

 

A small progress update on Fort Sage. Loving the new nighttime lighting. :applouse:

Nice tower :)

16 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

Madmole, in your free time, join me in the mod forums and lets begin design on a 7d2d medieval overhaul mod LOL...  I have a guard tower to add to your tavern...but it was built in A16 and needs a fresh coat of paint hehe...

 

hK2Vhef.jpg&key=5314f3a70c33eabf543c9d28

That is not too shabby for A16. We've got so many better shapes now you can trim every window and wall now instead of having gaps.

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2 hours ago, toores said:

I also liked the dark nights and having to get some gear to stroll around at night. But I get TFP's decision.

 

What I don't like at all is the indoors brightness shift. This feels so unnatural. Some houses have some open parts to them and the brightness keeps jumping back and forth. Also if are near the entrance and step in and out frequently, it just feels so bad how I can't see something I just saw because the screen dims itself.

I would much rather have a fixed light level at night.

Does the moon actually shed light? Could it be darker inside because it shadows the moon? (I'm away for the weekend and I don't remember how it actually is)

Indoor lighting decreases ambient at all times of day, not just night. Indoor vs outdoor is a vague concept and the calculated percent is not perfect. The old block ambient occlusion tried to light inside/outside, but was buggy and we disabled. The new system simply adjusts ambient, but since it is a global value, you get the transitioning that we have now.

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Re doors. I heard you, likely not till a20. Do you think the Jailcell door be returning? And on my wishlist: any chance for a shoot-thru bar/grate hatch?

 

---

 

Was playing around with exploding bolts/arrows in 18.4 last night and noticed each shot raised the heat map by 5%.

 

I'd previously assumed that there wasn't a explody bolt/arrow turret as it'd be too OP, but seeing the heat map rise so quickly, now I'm thinking a turret like that could be kind of self limiting. Use 'em too much and now your horde night also has screamer hordes.

 

Seems like a possible win-win; new, fun!_go-boom! and could maybe crank horde night difficulty up even more for those wanting to...?

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44 minutes ago, Trunks_Budo said:

Also Faatal I remember a long time ago you said you enjoyed playing Outward, I tried it and loved it. The permadeath difficulty having a chance at deus ex machina is a really interesting mechanic for a survival game, you never know when you fall in battle if it's the last time you will. Extremely difficult game but it has charms and I enjoy it

I liked it, but stopped playing around 20 hours in. Will probably go back to it eventually, but most likely will start a new game, since the beginning of games is generally the most fun for me and I tend not to remember where I was at anyway.

 

I won't play permadeath. The journey ends when I want it to, which is usually when I get bored.

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50 minutes ago, Trunks_Budo said:

Hell yes, bleed stacking with the run speed debuff is a great way to evade harm in long-term battles, and the pistol/knife swapping makes me feel like an assassin every time. Epic. Also Faatal I remember a long time ago you said you enjoyed playing Outward, I tried it and loved it. The permadeath difficulty having a chance at deus ex machina is a really interesting mechanic for a survival game, you never know when you fall in battle if it's the last time you will. Extremely difficult game but it has charms and I enjoy it


So, I need to know guys, is the 44 magnum now a tier 2 pistol, with the desert vulture being tier 3? Or is it Pistol<SMG<Desert Vulture with 44 magnum being in its own category all together? I could really use some clarification, because my current quest reward is choosing between pipe bombs (20) or a desert vulture schematic, when I already have the SMG and 44 magnum schematics unlocked. Game's paused, save me lol. I think the Desert Vulture is better than the magnum since it costs way more materials to make, so I've gone ahead and selected the schematic, and I got 20 molotovs as recompense luckily for doing that 10th quest ^_^

I'm glad to hear people are enjoying the stealth build!

Yes the 44 is now tier 2, desert vulture is the best handgun.

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1 minute ago, FileMachete said:

Re doors. I heard you, likely not till a20. Do you think the Jailcell door be returning? And on my wishlist: any chance for a shoot-thru bar/grate hatch?

 

---

 

Was playing around with exploding bolts/arrows in 18.4 last night and noticed each shot raised the heat map by 5%.

 

I'd previously assumed that there wasn't a explody bolt/arrow turret as it'd be too OP, but seeing the heat map rise so quickly, now I'm thinking a turret like that could be kind of self limiting. Use 'em too much and now your horde night also has screamer hordes.

 

Seems like a possible win-win; new, fun!_go-boom! and could maybe crank horde night difficulty up even more for those wanting to...?

That is more of a faatal pathing thing not a designer thing. If he could get it pathing right I'd be ok with it. Maybe we can work around it with a different design if I knew what the issue was. Maybe just make a barred regular door, I can't see that being a problem, it was the sliding one that was the issue.

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1 minute ago, madmole said:

That is more of a faatal pathing thing not a designer thing. If he could get it pathing right I'd be ok with it. Maybe we can work around it with a different design if I knew what the issue was. Maybe just make a barred regular door, I can't see that being a problem, it was the sliding one that was the issue.

a sliding one had issues, but a hinged one like a security door on the house should work. just a regular iron door made of bars instead of being solid. I like the idea of a barred hatch. useful on mineshafts when there are zombies circling your door and you need to shoot em to get out

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2 minutes ago, madmole said:

That is more of a faatal pathing thing not a designer thing. If he could get it pathing right I'd be ok with it. Maybe we can work around it with a different design if I knew what the issue was. Maybe just make a barred regular door, I can't see that being a problem, it was the sliding one that was the issue.

Ok, good to hear. @faatal , get to it! Kidding!! :) honestly while the sliding bit was nice, it was mostly the cool looks and ability to shoot through it that I miss. It's HPs were good but not great so it was a nice trade off between going for the shoot-thru vs. more HPs of Vault doors.

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19 minutes ago, wolfbain5 said:

I like the idea of a barred hatch. useful on mineshafts when there are zombies circling your door and you need to shoot em to get out

True fer sure. Though that wouldn't be my main useage. (I usually have Wood/Iron bars next to the hatch to shoot zeds thru if that's needed)

There's a few things I'd use them for. 2) I like to protect switches and put hatches over them, being able to see thru to see if switch is On would be nice and 3) I normally build a fall back position for larger bases, which tends to be above where zeds would be, so usually a couple hatches for murder-holes. Would be nice to also be able to shoot down thru the closed hatches.

 

Primary desire is for when you're using Traps like darts or turrets, out where they'll get hit, that you'd put Iron Bars in front of for protection. But as you can't wire (or repair or reload/interact) thru iron bars you wind up building things oddly to allow access. Using a Bar-Hatch there instead would be really nice. :)

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Is there any plans on updating the AK reload animation?

 

With the reload speed nerf, it's comical to watch the "lazy sunday afternoon" animation play. It's doubly so if you have it on your belt next to a blunderbuss with its also comical "I'm reloading like a crack addict" animation.

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1 hour ago, madmole said:

I'm glad to hear people are enjoying the stealth build!

Yes the 44 is now tier 2, desert vulture is the best handgun.

Yeah agility is pretty epic now, I focused on getting Parkour to level 3 right away so I could avoid broken legs. My favorite POI for a base in Navezgane is that abandoned mine in the desert near Trader Bob, I like to build a massive bridge as a shortcut across the canyon or valley or whatever it's called, and sometimes... Construction accidents happen lol, and that's why it's awesome to have parkour right away for me. But I noticed there are floating rocks above that valley, I tried mining them in flying mode and started getting Nitrate. Have you guys seen those floating rocks? Frankly they don't interfere with the game one bit, but they're there lol. And thanks for the information, I'm eager to build the desert vulture and feel like an even more badass machete wielding assassin \m/

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