Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[sillls 117]

Any chance we can use the torch to drive back wild animals like wolves be added?

[MechanicalLens 1,020]

Any chance that when wolves/coyotes retreat from the player after x amount of hits (random chance, of course), that when they returned to finish the kill they do just that? It's irritating hitting the same animal with over a dozen arrows and after each shot it runs off into the distance again.

[4sheetzngeegles 77]

This is going to seem like I'm trying to be funny, but I'm not. I would like to know

would it be possible to add an if\then parameter to the general xml files.

 

Abstract Example: If player vector3 property name="lightsource" >20 then wake entity Sightrange=Sightrange+20.

So if you have a flashlight on it instantly increases the sight awareness of zombies farther away.

 

It is very simliar to Cvar and passive_effect but would possibly extend the range of customization, it can be used with

an absolute value, a <=>, or a min max to adjust anything from AI response under certain conditions, to weather shifts,

depending on vector3 location.

[sillls 117]

Are you planning to hire some more actor and actress's for voices for zombies?  I would love that because all of them seem to sound the same. 

[Blake_ 413]

@madmole I'm not really a PvP guy, but with the new RWG changes, have you guys talked about some game mode favourable to PvP ?  like, for example:

 

 Small 2k RWG map deathmatch with build capabilities intact , and with invulnerable terrain but destroyable buildings, plus yellow bags that give plenty of ores at player/entity death to account for the lack of them  (due to invulnerable terrain) or even lots of ore for sale at traders.

 

I mean, tweaking that out into a solid game mode is very straightforward once the new RWG is online, and on the plus side it will bring A LOT of players to this game, given that the top long-term  holders on the Steam charts are indeed PvPs.

 

As I said, not really my jam, but hey, it's a couple of weeks work in exchange for tens of thousands of players. Who doesn't want thousands of Jawoodles playing their game ?

 

[Lemmers 39]

@madmole What if you added a multiplier for "scrap time" to each tier of the Salvage Operations perk? It would fit there, and make scrapping a stack of radiators not as rough.

[Blake_ 413]

5 hours ago, Lemmers said:

@madmole What if you added a multiplier for "scrap time" to each tier of the Salvage Operations perk? It would fit there, and make scrapping a stack of radiators not as rough.

As @madmole said quite a while ago, they are meant to be smelted in a forge, not scrapped (you can, but it's hella ineficient and you lose materials) . Speaking of which, I would like for radiators to stack in higher quantities in order to be able to leave the base and not be monitoring the smelting so often to refill another 5 radiators, lol.

[sillls 117]

Yesterday I did enough missions for Trader Joe that he gave me a mission to see another trader for level II missions. I thought that was great. 

I wanted to know if TFP's plan to add delivery missions to the list. One trader sending items to another one through the player. That would be nice to see as it would look like the traders were interacting with each other. 

[madmole 3,700]

On 12/17/2020 at 1:09 PM, The Gronk said:

I've got to agree with Captain Obvious on this one.  You're going to be making a buttload of heads to get any sense of variation. 

 

You could add the code for simple bone/vertex manipulation but then aren't you reinventing the wheel?  Would it not be better to modify UMA to your own needs instead of trying replicate large parts of the functionality from scratch?

Console sold great with ugly UMA presets and zero customization. If we have a similar amount of heads it should be just fine. The CPU savings deleting all those bones/morphs/bloat data wouldn't hurt either. Anyhow this is months out as we've pushed new characters to A21 so even I don't have an answer as to what we're actually doing.

On 12/17/2020 at 2:44 PM, petruherro said:

When will we get more info about the water overhaul?

I haven't heard anything but the rwg new rivers look promising. I wouldn't expect much from water only that it won't be buggy af anymore and will be optimized. There won't be awesome waterfalls or anything too fancy.

On 12/19/2020 at 3:23 AM, JamesKirk said:

What about making this an option? Like Loot respawn timer or abundance? Carry twice, normal, half.

No because it's fine how it is and this is some weird idea better handled with a mod.

[madmole 3,700]

16 hours ago, sillls said:

Yesterday I did enough missions for Trader Joe that he gave me a mission to see another trader for level II missions. I thought that was great. 

I wanted to know if TFP's plan to add delivery missions to the list. One trader sending items to another one through the player. That would be nice to see as it would look like the traders were interacting with each other. 

I'd like to once we get bandits in, so that somewhere along the way they try to intercept the package.

[Guppycur 1,018]

6 hours ago, madmole said:

Console sold great with ugly UMA presets and zero customization. If we have a similar amount of heads it should be just fine. The CPU savings deleting all those bones/morphs/bloat data wouldn't hurt either. Anyhow this is months out as we've pushed new characters to A21 so even I don't have an answer as to what we're actually doing.

Fair enough, but I'd like to state the obvious... console gamers have MUCH lower expectations than PC gamers, as they are an inferior species. 😃

[Adam the Waster 743]

New pipe rifle looking nice!

[Guppycur 1,018]

On 12/22/2020 at 12:36 PM, madmole said:

I'd like to once we get bandits in, so that somewhere along the way they try to intercept the package.

You once told this story about bandits riding up in their gun-mounted jeep harassing player bases... I know that was an idea in your head, but how close to reality is that?

[SheeleMara 11]

On 12/22/2020 at 1:36 PM, madmole said:

I'd like to once we get bandits in, so that somewhere along the way they try to intercept the package.

 

 A potential stand-in for the time being would be a fetch quest that you turn in to a different trader. 

[SheeleMara 11]

On 12/17/2020 at 1:51 PM, madmole said:

Could just find/harvest scrap brass and ditch the trophies, knobs, etc.

 

 Well if you want to go a step farther you could introduce copper, tin, and zinc deposits into the game and then have the ability to create bronze and brass through smelting. That way if you wanted to expand the early game even farther you could have "Copper" and "Bronze" Ages bridging the gap between the "Stone" and "Iron" Ages. 

[Spuder 11]

Had this alpha 16 preview video come up in my YouTube feed. Any chance we get this flamethrower trap added to the game? Looks like a model was made at one point in time.

[dgneo 0]

Hi,

 

first i will say thank you to all the devs!

 

So pls i have a Question. For me it will we massive more interresting when the Zombies are harder, so can you add "Big Boss" Zombies? I mean Boss Monters who can only killed by more than one player, like world boss?

 

Thank you.

[jasonsaffle13 0]

 Was looking and did not see any mention but I was wondering about weather. I miss the daytime/night time weather swings and early game not wanting to go out when it rains. The thunderstorms would scare the hell out of my wife.

 

 Sometimes we also go back and play old Alphas just to get the gore blocks. I know they were either loved or hated but we liked the way horde bodies could pile up until they could get over a wall but I understand they were a big performance hit.

[Empyreal_Eagle 2]

Are there plans to make the damage shown on zombies more realistic? For example like Left 4 Dead 2 you can make bullet holes in zombies and cuts with axes and swords. I would love to see the addition of visible damage on zombies from the various weapon types. Bullet holes based on the weapon used. Smaller holes for smaller caliber weapons and larger for shotguns and high power rifles. It would also be great to see more realistic animations/reactions from the zombies being shot or hit. I would also like to see more blood from the zombies when damaging them especially from high powered weapons.

[faatal 1,601]

1 hour ago, jasonsaffle13 said:

 Was looking and did not see any mention but I was wondering about weather. I miss the daytime/night time weather swings and early game not wanting to go out when it rains. The thunderstorms would scare the hell out of my wife.

 

 Sometimes we also go back and play old Alphas just to get the gore blocks. I know they were either loved or hated but we liked the way horde bodies could pile up until they could get over a wall but I understand they were a big performance hit.

Weather changes were not planned for a20, but after noticing the state of the code, that it was not gold quality, I ended up spending a lot of December overhauling it. The overhaul is basically done, but the simulation parameters are still being tweaked and needs testing/feedback. Now the players reaction to the weather is completely separate, so this does not change what happens to the player being hot/cold/wet/etc.

On 12/20/2020 at 5:27 PM, 4sheetzngeegles said:

This is going to seem like I'm trying to be funny, but I'm not. I would like to know

would it be possible to add an if\then parameter to the general xml files.

 

Abstract Example: If player vector3 property name="lightsource" >20 then wake entity Sightrange=Sightrange+20.

So if you have a flashlight on it instantly increases the sight awareness of zombies farther away.

 

It is very simliar to Cvar and passive_effect but would possibly extend the range of customization, it can be used with

an absolute value, a <=>, or a min max to adjust anything from AI response under certain conditions, to weather shifts,

depending on vector3 location.

The amount of logic we already run from xml adds a good amount of overhead to the game. It could be added, but it would be slow, so not likely.

[n2n1 125]

fatal, please pay attention to the random number generator algorithms.

Because of its "stuck", it often happens that events that depend on randomness are repeated.

(or a set of loot in the same types containers, if they are robbed in a row - is repeated).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by n2n1 (see edit history)

[meganoth 1,119]

51 minutes ago, n2n1 said:

fatal, please pay attention to the random number generator algorithms.

Because of its "stuck", it often happens that events that depend on randomness are repeated.

(or a set of loot in the same types containers, if they are robbed in a row - is repeated).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best way to reproduce it might be to look at quest rewards in a co-op scenario. In our game we often got offered the same rewards. I just didn't realize until now that that looks like it could be a bug.

 

[Nekrolysis 1]

Made an account because I just had to ask after noticing this in a recent play session: Will vehicle handling and the way they interact with the environment get a look over? Right now it's real easy to get stuck on slopes that very much look like they should be able to be traversed. Something I'd like to see for them would be a toggle for them to go max speed, and have a speed boost for using the roads. Maybe in the future we can get highways? :pog: Or weapons for my car so I can play twisted metal while I'm playing 7days. 

[Spuder 11]

With the new random gen how will the traders work with the new districts? It was mentioned in the last stream there might be 2 traders in the forest, and then 1 per the other biomes.

I guess the question I have is will the traders still be in the cities or will they move back out in the “country” so to speak like A17?

 

I defiantly think them moving out of the city would help make the trader quest more valuable as it would be harder to find them.

[faatal 1,601]

23 hours ago, n2n1 said:

fatal, please pay attention to the random number generator algorithms.

Because of its "stuck", it often happens that events that depend on randomness are repeated.

(or a set of loot in the same types containers, if they are robbed in a row - is repeated).

 

 

 

 

 

 

A correct random number generator gives you random numbers. We use an industry standard random number generator, so it does work. Truly random does mean you could get the same thing many times in a row, which people often don't like and want something less random.

Now the seed used for the random generator could cause issues if not varied enough or reused/repeated.