Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[mr.devolver]

1 hour ago, madmole said:

I'm pretty sure we can expect traditional BGS features. The thing that bothers me is that it compromised the standard cadence we were getting between elder scrolls games and will probably impact fallout 5 as well. They went from 2002, 2006,2011 what looks like a ten year or more wait between titles. If Starfield comes out 2021 that means 2 to 3 years later for ES6, putting it at 2024. So going from 4, to 5, to almost 15 years between sequels is really depressing. When Skyrim launched I was so happy I thought I will get another 5-10 elder scrolls before I kick off if I live to be 70 or 80, now it looks like 1-2 more at most.

I wonder if the slower pace of development has something to do with mr. Howard's "Sometimes it doesn't just work" perhaps it's Fallout 76 that's slowing them down? Not only it needed some polishing which costs them time and resources they could use elsewhere, but they also have to keep working on it continuously since it's a multiplayer game that evolves? I don't really know as I don't have Fallout 76 yet. I was thinking about getting it, but those negative reviews kinda drove me off.

 

I know you love Bethesda games, same here. That's why I also love 7 Days to Die, because I can see those similarities here and there between your game and their games and I guess 7 Days to Die would've never been what it is now, if it wasn't for you. I wish you to live long enough to enjoy many more games from Bethesda and I hope they will really pick up the pace again, for all of us lol

[Ti2xGr]

58 minutes ago, madmole said:

$24.99 is fine, but hey if your throwing money around... Oh you meant hours my bad

I was thinking we should just charge 25 cents an hour. Dirt cheap, but you 5000 hour guys would have coughed up $1250 to us by now.

...thinks to self - $1,725.25 if I calculate that correctly...Yep, I got a good deal.

[unholyjoe]

1 hour ago, madmole said:

$24.99 is fine, but hey if your throwing money around... Oh you meant hours my bad

I was thinking we should just charge 25 cents an hour. Dirt cheap, but you 5000 hour guys would have coughed up $1250 to us by now.

i got 12,346 hrs currently... i will be sending you the bill... internet, compy upgrades, electric, caffeine drinks, snacks and aggravation.. forum and wife hazard pay too.

[Toban]

1 hour ago, madmole said:

$24.99 is fine, but hey if your throwing money around... Oh you meant hours my bad

I was thinking we should just charge 25 cents an hour. Dirt cheap, but you 5000 hour guys would have coughed up $1250 to us by now.

I paid like £7.50 for the game on sale many many years ago. I bought it 8 times for family and friends and it's still cheaper than the dlc's I bought from Conan Exiles for just Laynie, not including myself. Btw, I have almost 3k hours in this game and only 400 in Conan lol. This game owes me nothing.

[Reckis]

@Toban No, kidding. I have bought so many copies of this game for others that I have lost track, and still think I have gotten more than my money's worth. (6477 hours, more than twice the next closest game.)

[Laz Man]

I have a paltry 2,102 hours into the game (low considering I started with A6).  Half of which is probably contributed to building prefabs and some modding... LOL...

[Toban]

6 minutes ago, Reckis said:

@Toban No, kidding. I have bought so many copies of this game for others that I have lost track, and still think I have gotten more than my money's worth. (6477 hours, more than twice the next closest game.)

yeah, it's crazy how little I have spent on this game for the amount of fun it has given me lol. I almost feel like a thief haha.

 

[Sirillion]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:14 PM, madmole said:

Nerd poling will not matter if you need a key from a zombie to unlock the loot chest. You'll have to go through the whole POI and hit a certain number of volumes before the special one spawns. We haven't done this yet, but it was talked about. Taking out nerd poling is a futile action because you can build ladders etc. Take out the incentive to nerd pole, problem solved.

I'm liking the idea. Could be cool to do something similar to RAGE2 where when you come into bounds of a POI you get certain tasks to do to check that location as completed. For instance, kill all <insertmobtypehere>, gather intel, loot all boxes. Converted to 7D it could be set up so that when entering the bounds of a dungeon POI with a loot room you get a few random tasks to fulfill and the contents of the loot room/boxes differs depending on the outcome...or something like that.

[Morloc]

3 hours ago, meganoth said:

Naturally that also depends on how much you loot.

 

...or what your loot is set at. At 25% I can assure you, there are many recipes I don't see that I'd like to in a 50 day playthrough. I tend to loot every container that comes into sight with the exception perhaps of roadside stuff once I'm in a vehicle. Even then, if there are 2 or 3 piles grouped, I tend to stop....just can't resist!

 

 

-Morloc

[meganoth]

7 minutes ago, Morloc said:

 

...or what your loot is set at. At 25% I can assure you, there are many recipes I don't see that I'd like to in a 50 day playthrough. I tend to loot every container that comes into sight with the exception perhaps of roadside stuff once I'm in a vehicle. Even then, if there are 2 or 3 piles grouped, I tend to stop....just can't resist!

 

 

-Morloc

Right. At 25% loot you practically multiplied the value of some INT perks by 4. I would do 25% runs always as pure INT or INT/something combo

 

[Feral_Noir]

1 hour ago, Laz Man said:

I have a paltry 2,102 hours into the game (low considering I started with A6).  Half of which is probably contributed to building prefabs and some modding... LOL...

Wow.
I've just clocked over 1000 (1004) and I only started with the tail end of Alpha 16 (Neebs Gaming got me into it).
The only other game i've sunk that many hours into is EVE Online.

[Phoenixshade35]

My hours are 2022, admittedly after i build my base, usually a basic and simple design that holds up for a long time, i tend to wander, mining and mining, i really don't do much else, mining is relaxing for me, pickax or auger, either or, i've never been big into building, but I have no issues gathering the materials to allow someone to build, i could do it all day as long as i got sufficiant food and water to keep me going. Gives me time to think of things that could be added into the game, like how i think the solar panals kinda suck being stuck at the highest rank of better barter, i like chances to randomly show up in the traders inventory without perking into it, or even rare chances to loot them myself.

[MechanicalLens]

My hours are about to cross the 3,000 threshold, and I suspect by the end of A19 that number will be close to, if not surpass, 4,000 hours.

 

Someone private message me in 8-10 years and check on me, see how I'm doing in terms of length of play.

[Jost Amman]

Guys, the good news is that we'll still be able to play 7D2D in 2040 on a Windows 10 Emulator on our portable arm-pads' OS.

We just have to stay alive until then... com'on guys... yes... we can do it!  

[pregnable]

Sometimes I like to farm resources at a quest poi, so I can start the quest later and get rid of all the ugly holes, and have the resources back if I want.

 

I had a mine at a tier 3 POI, but last time I played I said screw it and I am strip mining it to bedrock, and plan on collapsing the entire building...

 

Should be amusing when I finally start the quest. 

[MechanicalLens]

2 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Guys, the good news is that we'll still be able to play 7D2D in 2040 on a Windows 10 Emulator on our portable arm-pads' OS.

We just have to stay alive until then... com'on guys... yes... we can do it!  

Don't worry, I'll be there. I've got 80 years to kill until the 21st of March (which happens to be my birthday) is the Spring Equinox once more. Now to kick back until the year 2100.

[Jost Amman]

9 minutes ago, MechanicalLens said:

Don't worry, I'll be there. I've got 80 years to kill until the 21st of March (which happens to be my birthday) is the Spring Equinox once more. Now to kick back until the year 2100.

Guess you didn't hear about the asteroid headed towards Earth... 

They asked NASA an ETA but they just replied with a dry "We don't give dates."

[MechanicalLens]

2 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Guess you didn't hear about the asteroid headed towards Earth... 

You mean the giant marshmallow that will solve world hunger? 😉 Yeah, I've heard of it.

[madmole]

3 hours ago, mr.devolver said:

I wonder if the slower pace of development has something to do with mr. Howard's "Sometimes it doesn't just work" perhaps it's Fallout 76 that's slowing them down? Not only it needed some polishing which costs them time and resources they could use elsewhere, but they also have to keep working on it continuously since it's a multiplayer game that evolves? I don't really know as I don't have Fallout 76 yet. I was thinking about getting it, but those negative reviews kinda drove me off.

 

I know you love Bethesda games, same here. That's why I also love 7 Days to Die, because I can see those similarities here and there between your game and their games and I guess 7 Days to Die would've never been what it is now, if it wasn't for you. I wish you to live long enough to enjoy many more games from Bethesda and I hope they will really pick up the pace again, for all of us lol

From what I hear they mostly subbed out Fallout 76 to other studios. That is why it was a POS IMO. They let them try some wild stuff, then when the world declared it was a big steaming pile of crap they reeled it back in by adding human NPC questgivers which is what it should have shipped with in the first place. They will probably massage it for a few more years into something reasonable, but it will never feel like Fallout 5 which is sort of what everyone wanted, not what we got.

I think its taking forever because they are making a brand new IP Starfield, doing some new stuff they have never done before, and after the fallout 76 fiasco I'm pretty damn sure they need to knock one out of the park.

2 hours ago, Laz Man said:

I have a paltry 2,102 hours into the game (low considering I started with A6).  Half of which is probably contributed to building prefabs and some modding... LOL...

I played the crap out of Oblivion, but I modded the crap out of it too,  that was a ton of fun just tinkering so I can relate Game dev is like crack.

9 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Guess you didn't hear about the asteroid headed towards Earth... 

They asked NASA an ETA but they just replied with a dry "We don't give dates."

We won't let you know when it's done because we'll all be ash lol.

[Pegasus]

11 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

Anyone else thinks that for SP the "Charismatic nature" skill is a wasted slot in the INT tree?

 

It's a shame they can't find a use for that skill that will also benefit solo players...

As a reminder ... just because you are playing by yourself doesn't make this a single player game. The game is strictly multiplayer ... you just happen to be playing a multiplayer game all by yourself.  

[unholyjoe]

2 minutes ago, Pegasus said:

As a reminder ... just because you are playing by yourself doesn't make this a single player game. The game is strictly multiplayer ... you just happen to be playing a multiplayer game all by yourself.  

so many people have missed that concept when the options were changed... now they are used to it and overlook it.

[Pegasus]

3 hours ago, unholyjoe said:

i got 12,346 hrs currently... i will be sending you the bill... internet, compy upgrades, electric, caffeine drinks, snacks and aggravation.. forum and wife hazard pay too.

You forgot ice cream.  And cookies.

[pregnable]

17 minutes ago, Pegasus said:

As a reminder ... just because you are playing by yourself doesn't make this a single player game. The game is strictly multiplayer ... you just happen to be playing a multiplayer game all by yourself.  

 

Yeah, but the skill will probably still get changed, because it will be useless for most people, and also extremely OP in large groups. 

 

The last rank will probably get changed to give a small buff or something to the person who takes it... some reason to use it. 

 

The last rank later game can be as much as 15 levels worth of skill points to every person getting the buff... probably should not exist lel. 

[Pegasus]

42 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Guess you didn't hear about the asteroid headed towards Earth... 

They asked NASA an ETA but they just replied with a dry "We don't give dates."

It will be here when it gets here.  LOL

9 minutes ago, pregnable said:

 

Yeah, but the skill will probably still get changed, because it will be useless for most people, and also extremely OP in large groups. 

 

The last rank will probably get changed to give a small buff or something to the person who takes it... some reason to use it. 

 

The last rank later game can be as much as 15 levels worth of skill points to every person getting the buff... probably should not exist lel. 

Well, I am sure they will balance it as time goes on. 

 

But the original request was for the skill to be changed for single player.  I was pointing out that there is no single player and the game likely will not be rebalanced for something that no longer exists.

 

 

**********

And, because i am me and cannot resist ... @madmole ...  A19 stable ...  Are we there yet?  Imma keep kicking the back of your seat til we get there ... drive faster!  

 

Hook up coffee IVs ... these people don't need sleep!

 

Hehehe.

 

Also, does anyone else think it's slightly mean that they keep giving us teasers about A20?  Now I'm looking forward to A20 and A19 hasn't even been officially released yet.  🤣

[mjimlay]

One suggestion I'd like to throw out there in case it hasn't already, but a "mini-map" on the HUD would be great (like GTA V for example). It would be EXTREMELY helpful when traveling so I don't have to keep pulling up the entire full map every turn to make sure I'm going the correct way. To add on to this, perhaps a craftable GPS for, say, the 4x4 truck? You could select a POI on the map and the GPS will give you directions there. I know this is the zombie zombie apocalypse but GPS satellites should still be working since they are solar powered and out in orbit. Perhaps make them unusable while it's snowing (blocks signal) or raining, or in the wastelands/burnt forest due to the fog/haze.