Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[Blake_]

On 4/28/2021 at 3:40 AM, faatal said:

I prefer whichever one makes sense for the project I'm working on. 7dtd is on Unity for better or worse. Changing to any other engine would be a huge amount of work and I don't like doing things just because, so there would need to be some serious reasons for such a switch.

Honestly, Unreal is a bad choice, both for the company's economy (WAAAAAAAAY more expensive than Unity for devs ) and for the development of the game (the point of a successful title is porting to a second title, not starting from scratch in a new engine changing code more often than not) . Sure, it has pros too, like some fleshed out postprocessing, some amazing support and stability... ...and I like the environment ever since they made it just like Unity in level design (UI, libraries, etc).  At the end of the day, you are also sharing your soul with EPIC and they might go full Origin in the very close future. The best choice is either making your own engine or Unity. Even if it lags behind in some aspects, it's very competitive . It's just that 7dtd is too cutting edge to the point that you guys would be better off expending 8 sexy years making an engine .

[HeLLKnight]

On 4/26/2021 at 7:32 PM, Adam the Waster said:

 

Nice to see much improved street environment art!

 

Now that we have linear lighting and physically based rendering, I just wish devs could add better Ambient Occlusion. The shadowing in weapon, hand, behind the cars. .. look a bit flat. I've experimented adding better AO to a19 with Reshade, its a drastic improvement, and added a lot of immersion.

 

I think Unity Universal Render Pipeline added new modern AO modes, also there is a free plugin "Amplify Occlusion 2.0" based on Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion (GTAO) natively supported on HDRP which is far superior to older SSAO or HBAO, and they claim under 1ms to mid-range GPU at Full HD.

 

@faatal  If its not possible to add new techniques or they are for beffier computers, could be possible to upgrade from AO on/off like now, to AO off/low/medium/high?

[Adam the Waster]

whats the new in the news? NEWS BOXES THAT WHATS THE NEWS!

NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/7DaystoDie/status/1387533652104466434/photo/1

[TWORDY]

Nicely generated sidewalk. High res news-boxes and lamp posts with complex geometry. I hope more and more objects will ultimately get such attention to details. Any chance for Snow Doggs Inn in Snow biome in Alpha 20? 😄

[Telly G]

I hope we get to see more of the scrap iron weapons in action. speaking of action, that pipe pistol seems like some kind of single-action revolver

[faatal]

17 hours ago, HeLLKnight said:

Now that we have linear lighting and physically based rendering, I just wish devs could add better Ambient Occlusion. The shadowing in weapon, hand, behind the cars. .. look a bit flat. I've experimented adding better AO to a19 with Reshade, its a drastic improvement, and added a lot of immersion.

 

I think Unity Universal Render Pipeline added new modern AO modes, also there is a free plugin "Amplify Occlusion 2.0" based on Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion (GTAO) natively supported on HDRP which is far superior to older SSAO or HBAO, and they claim under 1ms to mid-range GPU at Full HD.

 

@faatal  If its not possible to add new techniques or they are for beffier computers, could be possible to upgrade from AO on/off like now, to AO off/low/medium/high?

We are not planning on updating the render pipeline for 7dtd. We may circle back round to our AO at some point and try to improve it.

[MechanicalLens]

Is there any chance of a Knuckle Rub Strip Club POI being added into the game?

[Gazz]

The Knuckle Rub sounds like a massage parlor anyway, not a strip club.

[Jora1337]

I would like to contact the developers, because as a player since 2014, I have a cry from my heart. Could you update the color scheme of the game? And then the current sunset and yellow colours does not create an atmosphere of post-apocalypse, as for example it was in Alpha 14-16. I ask you to. And may you return old creepy ambient sounds like in old versions?

[w0nder_AXEL]

 Having the sneak skill is crucial when fighting a horde. BTW, I never thought I would see SH2's Fat Eddie again LOL.

[faatal]

1 hour ago, Jora1337 said:

I would like to contact the developers, because as a player since 2014, I have a cry from my heart. Could you update the color scheme of the game? And then the current sunset and yellow colours does not create an atmosphere of post-apocalypse, as for example it was in Alpha 14-16. I ask you to. And may you return old creepy ambient sounds like in old versions?

You came to the right place.

 

This is not a nuclear winter, asteroid strike or super volcano scenario, so the sky would be normal/realistic, which is what we are going for. The blood moon being exaggerated normal. Not to say we would not do some creepy sky in the future, but I would not want to look at that for long periods of play.

 

Sounds are certainly not done, so they may get more creepy in the future or not. Like everything it depends on the time we have and where we want to spend it.

[Matt115]

@faatal there is a chance to be a zombie boss in A20 or we more propably waiting to A 21 for him?😅 🥺

 

[JCrook1028]

4 hours ago, Gazz said:

The Knuckle Rub sounds like a massage parlor anyway, not a strip club.

There's a difference?

[MechanicalLens]

4 hours ago, Gazz said:

The Knuckle Rub sounds like a massage parlor anyway, not a strip club.

 

Aww come on, it rolls off the tongue nicely, and it even rhymes!

1 minute ago, JCrook1028 said:

There's a difference?

 

The biggest culprit are hospitals. They drug you unconscious and probe you in unexpected places.

[Laz Man]

Love the new mailboxes and updated control panels shown a while back.  The color they bring to the world is much needed.

[MechanicalLens]

1 minute ago, Laz Man said:

Love the new mailboxes and updated control panels shown a while back.  The color they bring to the world is much needed.

 

Still no JaWoodle purple control panels or mailboxes though. 😛

[Laz Man]

1 minute ago, MechanicalLens said:

 

Still no JaWoodle purple control panels or mailboxes though. 😛

I heard he died in A19 so no further need....😅

[MechanicalLens]

Just now, Laz Man said:

I heard he died in A19 so no further need....😅

 

Here, have a cookie. Psst, it's not chocolate chip, it's oatmeal raisin. >:)

[Jora1337]

2 hours ago, faatal said:

You came to the right place.

 

This is not a nuclear winter, asteroid strike or super volcano scenario, so the sky would be normal/realistic, which is what we are going for. The blood moon being exaggerated normal. Not to say we would not do some creepy sky in the future, but I would not want to look at that for long periods of play.

 

Sounds are certainly not done, so they may get more creepy in the future or not. Like everything it depends on the time we have and where we want to spend it.

Thank you for your answer, but this is not the point, but the fact that the color scheme of the game is too bright, the plants are bright green, and the snow is like powdered sugar from old Disney cartoons. The color palette makes the game look sickly bright. But thank you for answer

And somebody tell me, is it possible to somehow return the old sounds of the environment by replacing the files? And is it possible to somehow increase the number of trees, otherwise the forests are empty in new versions. 

[SnowDog1942]

5 hours ago, Gazz said:

The Knuckle Rub sounds like a massage parlor anyway, not a strip club.

“Happy endings” would be a better name for a massage parlor tho.

[Blake_]

@faatal I know this is not exactly your department, yet I wanted to ask, do you know if road signs/paint, sidewalks, Street lights and stuff like that is going to be in RWG for a20 or is it just Navezgane at the moment?

 

Kynasdfjhkdjfhgju has been pretty quiet these past few months and we can only guess, and guesses are often wrong .

[spookydodge]

Hey dudes. sorry for my bad english, i hope you will understand it :D . I love this game so much, i played alredy 1800 Houres. What i dont like in alpha 18-19, that i dont have a fridge. hope it will Return. May in future its also planed to have a pet ( may a nice german dog ore another, but different to the wolf or zombidog) or also npc that life in my base and i can give them jobs like, eran my garden , or cut grass. 

 

best wishes from siwtzerland and have a nice weekend

[bachgaman]

@faatal please let me address you as a member of the team

 

I've long wanted to pay attention to the opening sound of the drawer (green box built-in wall), I really like using them as storage for my supplies, but they have very loud annoying repetitive sound. They look very cool, it's much better than boxes

Speaking of a little more about sound, I agree that disgusting noise from a drill/benzaw can be considered a fee for their use, but maybe is it possible to add headphones for the eyes slot, for example, to drown out this noise? Or just make it less disgusting

[faatal]

16 hours ago, Blake_ said:

@faatal I know this is not exactly your department, yet I wanted to ask, do you know if road signs/paint, sidewalks, Street lights and stuff like that is going to be in RWG for a20 or is it just Navezgane at the moment?

 

Kynasdfjhkdjfhgju has been pretty quiet these past few months and we can only guess, and guesses are often wrong .

Should be since they are testing all that in RWG and then having to adjust Nav for changes that move or resize things.

[Morloc]

On 4/29/2021 at 1:36 PM, faatal said:

This is not a nuclear winter,

 

But dad!...

 

 

 

-Morloc