Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[KingSlayerGM 71]

17 hours ago, faatal said:

Each pregen world adds 300 MB to the install size, so we would probably stick with shipping just 3 for now.

Perhaps you could remove the alpha channel from biomes.png and splat3.png to save space? Moreover you don't actually need RGB channels for each pixel, do you? I mean, you could encode the same information in just 1 byte per pixel, instead of 3 (or instead of 4 if you use the alpha channel)...

Also I've noticed that the RAW format that you use for the heightmap ('dtm.raw') uses a lot more space than a 16bit png... And png is lossless

What do you think?

[faatal 1,466]

2 hours ago, KingSlayerGM said:

Perhaps you could remove the alpha channel from biomes.png and splat3.png to save space? Moreover you don't actually need RGB channels for each pixel, do you? I mean, you could encode the same information in just 1 byte per pixel, instead of 3 (or instead of 4 if you use the alpha channel)...

Also I've noticed that the RAW format that you use for the heightmap ('dtm.raw') uses a lot more space than a 16bit png... And png is lossless

What do you think?

Sure, we could do a lot of things, but that is low priority.

[rngchiefbob 3]

Hopefully ya can find more programmers to help you out, keep up the good work man

 

[Blake_ 357]

6 hours ago, faatal said:

Sure, we could do a lot of things, but that is low priority.

I'm sure you don't hear this often, but I'm very thankful that you are part of TFP team. When you are around, features magically pop up . You should be called a "Programming Fairy Sasquatch", 'cause you grant wishes like vehicles, Zd AI and optimization while being a rare breed of methodic worker. I still remember A16 with all the pain it gave to my PC. 

 

Hell no to the 1 fps hordes. +1 for the future. 

[Adam the Waster 715]

On 2/23/2021 at 1:15 PM, faatal said:

The pregen maps will be regenerated using the newer RWG, so they should be totally different.

but will Navezgane get more buildings in the areas we could not go in A18.  but got extended during A19 

[roughgalaxy 5]

Got a pair of questions today,

 

1: Is Stealth going to get an update at some point?

• I know having poi triggers for ambushes are important for a good scare, but I also see people with really good stealth loadouts get totally boned by established abmush lines. I've also noticed these same people with a suppressed pistol wake up an entire POI taking one sneak shot. Is that a bug with suppressed pistols? I would think that good stealth skills/gear that you could roll through a POI with a suppressed pistol and wipe out everything Sam Fisher style.

 

2: Are traps going to be getting a rework/any plans for new traps?

• Blade traps take a lot resources to make and maintain, and currently break down really fast compared to the upkeep cost. I think a lot of people would like to see some addition trap options as well such as flamer traps or hammer traps (more to push zombies around than damage). I know many players who complain that they don't get xp from spikes (yes I know this is a problem with the ownership of the object because of its block type) but something like powered spike traps (think of the classic trap where the spikes jut out of the ground when walked on) could be a really fun higher tier to the spikes. Wood > Iron > powered could be an interesting track to follow.

That's all I got for today. Looking forward to seeing some more info on A20.

Edited Thursday at 04:56 PM by roughgalaxy
Spelling/grammar (see edit history)

[Weazelsun 4]

@madmole Question about a specific POI, the Settlement_01 and PiggyBank.

 

• What are the chances of us seeing more types of these in the future?
• Is there any plan of turning the Settlement_01 POI into a central trading hub or as the home-base for "The Duke"/ bandits?

 

 

[roughgalaxy 5]

Fresh couple of thoughts after watching some youtube vids and playing. I'd like to preface all my questions and suggestions with this: 7dtd is TFP's baby, I wish only to offer ideas that may strike inspiration within the team.

 

Pathing:

• We've all had experiences with zombies trying to run at you, but they seem to only be able to functionally move in north, south, east, and west directions smoothly. When moving outside of the cardinal directions they seems to zigzag unrealistically. Is path smoothing a priority for alpha, beta, later, or not at all?

Loot drops:

• Let's get real, we LOVE loot. I have seen some issues with horde night loot bags having abysmal contents (not nearly worth the effort and cost that goes into building the horde base to fight them off), and I was wondering if there was going to be some time spent on the loot bag loot table. I'm not saying every bag should have a T6 auto shotty in it, but at the same time, going through a horde night and getting 4 pieces of cloth and some blunderbuss ammo feels a bit underwhelming. Good loot, in my opinion, encourages people to fight the horde, instead of using cheese bases. Some solutions could be, as I said earlier, adjusting the loot table for dropped loot bags over all; decreasing drop rate but increasing loot quality; Boosting drop bag quality for bags dropped during the horde; A special air drop the day following the horde with extra supplies.

Planning:

• A white board/chalkboard where we could leave notes to ourselves/teammates in game for what we plan on doing I think would be a well received addition. Base builders and looters could use this equally. Leaving a grocery list of stuff needed for the base, or a plan for the next day. A small thing, but I think it could be really valuable.
• A search function in our inventories. I'm sure we've all lost that critical item in a sea of other items. Being able to search for the one thing we need in our storage spaces would be really helpful.
• Recipe plan. You see these in a lot of games these days. Basically, kinda like the starter quests, you select a recipe you want to create, and it puts all the materials on the side of your screen, as an easy to see reminder of what you need to grab. This leans into the previous point of the search function, however, there could be a button somewhere that just grabs items for the recipe from the container you're looking in (a handy option, but hardly needed if we have the plan).

That's all I got today Survivors. Cheers 🍻

[Jost Amman 318]

43 minutes ago, roughgalaxy said:

A white board/chalkboard where we could leave notes to ourselves/teammates in game for what we plan on doing I think would be a well received addition. Base builders and looters could use this equally. Leaving a grocery list of stuff needed for the base, or a plan for the next day. A small thing, but I think it could be really valuable.

This can already easily be done.

Craft some signs and put them on a wall: you and your mates can edit the text at will... enjoy! 

[Betruger_asdasd 0]

On 10/29/2020 at 4:49 AM, madmole said:

Welcome to the Alpha 20 Dev Diary. Here we will discuss upcoming features for Alpha 20.

 

Alpha 20 Dev Stream Videos

1) Alpha 20 First Look with Prime and Madmole October 28th, 2020

2) Alpha 20 Developer Live Stream November 25th, 2020

 

Alpha 20/21 Roadmap

1) Unity Update

• TFP will be working with Unity devs directly 

 

2) Random Generation Update

• New stamp tech that will allow artist created features such as mountains, hills, rivers, etc. to be placed in biomes. There will be a stable of different land features for the game to choose from.
• Additional controls in the map generation interface to give players more options for terrain generation such sliders to determine mountainous vs flat (for example).
• Biome selectors and city selectors to allow users to control the density of these map features.
• 6k, 8k, and 10k map sizes planned

 

3) Vehicle Mods

• Tinting mask will allow vehicles to have color details added to differentiate vehicle owners better

 

4) Shape Menu and Building Update

• Details Coming

 

5) Dynamic Imposters

• Changes to the world and player built forts will be represented in distant terrain

 

6) Micro Splat Improvements

• Details Coming

 

7) Feral Sense Game Option

• Set zombies to different states of awareness from dumb to feral

 

8.) Biome Difficulty

• Snow and Desert will have gamestage boost creating tougher enemies and better loot
• Wasteland will have a greater gamestage boost creating even tougher enemies and even better loot

 

9) Pipe Weapons for Primitive Tier

• Pipe Rifle
• Pipe Pistol
• Pipe Baton
• Pipe Shotgun

 

10) Trader to Trader progression

• Details Coming

 

11) Water Overhaul

• Details Coming

 

12) Loot Progression and Gamestaging Improvements

• Details Coming

 

13) Character Overhaul - WIP will not ship in A20.

• Replace UMA system with in-house custom system
• Thematic outfits will work like books. Wear the complete outfit and get a completion perk
• Current 10 armor/clothing slots reduced to 4 slots for outfits that will merge both clothing and armor values. No more clipping issues of wearing clothing under armor. Better balance on number of mod slots available to use with outfits.
• Foundation for Bandits

 

14) New POI's and Environment Art

• New Gas Station

 

15) AI and Sleeper Improvements Most likely not shipping in A20.

• Zombies can crawl through 1-meter holes
• Wandering Sleepers

 

16) Dynamic Music and Ambient Audio Improvements

• Details Coming

 

17) Animation Improvements

• Details Coming

 

18) Digging Quest Improvements

• Details Coming

 

19) Restore Power Quest

• Lights go out when rally marker is activated
• Find the generators and repair them

 

20) New Zombies/ Entities

• Nurse
• Drone
• Screamer
• Fat Cop

Hello, 7dtd is an amazing game with a lot of in-game content and things to do. especially after so many updates. As I see it games try to be more realistic regarding survival (Even thought your character never sleeps lol) 

 

Nontheless I've found few things which make game a bit boring for example in order to craft you require only about 5 mechanism: campfire, workbench, smelter, labstation and concrete mixer. Why not to make more mechanisms and recipes associated with them? In the midgame when you've already made all of those mechanisms you have nothing to create exept maybe transport and some weapon and ammo. Wtf it is possible to build just a cube house with a few levels and on each of them  put either camp fires, or workbenches, or concrete mixers, or smelters and be okay  with utilizing your base this way and you can survive because you can produce a lot of items like bullets, food, arrows. So it would be better if different furniture and mechanisms were usefull, for example ovens could be used to cook pies, bread, pastry etc (Even if you cook like grandma it is impossible to bake a cake on campfire). If you introduce a mechanic to the game that food can get spoiled then fridges could be utilize as well. It is also possible to return a carpenter in the game etc. I think a lot of players would agree that it is better to decorate your base with usfull furniture so that the base looks nice and you can utilize it. 

 

And the last point is that in each house there is one place with very good loot  but common! it looks like former occupiers of those buildings left this stuff just for you. In reality loot would be scatterd around the house most of the time with some exeptions when people managed to survive and save some suplies in a storage room.

[roughgalaxy 5]

1 hour ago, Jost Amman said:

This can already easily be done.

Craft some signs and put them on a wall: you and your mates can edit the text at will... enjoy! 

I know people can do this, but it's messy if you need to use multiple signs to keep a list of personal objectives. A chalk board also has a certain... doomsday planner vibe to it.

[Darthjake 50]

2 hours ago, roughgalaxy said:

I know people can do this, but it's messy if you need to use multiple signs to keep a list of personal objectives. A chalk board also has a certain... doomsday planner vibe to it.

 

We just talk about it, or look around the base.  I tend to be the looter, so I've got 3 dedicated dump boxes that I'll sort through every other day.   The exception to what goes in the gun box ofc, is what is "critical"  Food, Ammo and any books or needed crafting supplies.