A20 Developer Diary Discussions

[AndrewT]

I wanna know if the pipe guns will replace the blunderbuss because the blunderbuss can be tier 1 (primitive guns) pipe guns tier 2 (19th century weapons) and then tier 3 (modern guns)

[Jost Amman]

10 minutes ago, AndrewT said:

I wanna know if the pipe guns will replace the blunderbuss because the blunderbuss can be tier 1 (primitive guns) pipe guns tier 2 (19th century weapons) and then tier 3 (modern guns)

Yes, AFAIK a "pipe blunderbuss" will replace the traditional one, also because now it'll use standard shells. 

[Jost Amman]

 

I just wanted to say that this thread has become almost useless, no reply/info from the devs in weeks (except the usual courtesy answer from the great faatal).

If this has to be a discussion among players a mod could as well lock it and move everything under "Developer Diary Discussions"... does anyone hear us?? 

[Roland]

52 minutes ago, AndrewT said:

I wanna know if the pipe guns will replace the blunderbuss because the blunderbuss can be tier 1 (primitive guns) pipe guns tier 2 (19th century weapons) and then tier 3 (modern guns)

Yes. All pipe gun versions will replace the single blunderbuss we have now. There is a lot more variety now during week 1 of the game.

9 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

 

I just wanted to say that this thread has become almost useless, no reply/info from the devs in weeks (except the usual courtesy answer from the great faatal).

If this has to be a discussion among players a mod could as well lock it and move everything under "Developer Diary Discussions"... does anyone hear us?? 

 

or you could simply refrain from answering questions directed to the devs and wait for them to answer. The thread is far from useless especially for new people who can read through it all as Q&A without all the extra discussions that get moved out. I get you are frustrated that the devs are not giving detailed info but they are saving a lot of info to show once they do their dev streams. They enjoyed that format last time and plan to do it again. If they spill the beans on everything here in writing then there is less for them to talk about and show in the stream. Whatever they feel like posting about on the diary, they do.

[ShellHead]

R.I.P Blunderbuss, the end of an era.

Looking forward to the pipe shotty and being able to use shells immediately though!

[Jost Amman]

1 hour ago, Roland said:

or you could simply refrain from answering questions directed to the devs and wait for them to answer.

With all due respect... this is bull crap. If I can answer a question that has already been answered before, I'm actually saving time for the devs who'd have to repeat themselves.

 

Where a dev answer would be much appreciated is on stuff that has never been answered before. Or to give some new snippet of news on A20 development. Isn't what this whole thread is supposed to be for after all? I'm not asking to "spoil" anything, but... I mean, we're not kids before Christmas! If we can have some info before A20 release it's a service to the loyal community, doesn't ruin anything especially if it's given in a "teaser" format, if you know what I mean.

 

Anyway I understand, it's our fault apparently, we write too much, we're too enthusiastic! So be as you ask, I'll refrain from posting here anymore: like if this changes anything... if the devs are too busy to do some simple PR with their community, well, I'm a busy man too. I don't need to be flapping my cheeks (keyboard) here for nothing. Jost out.

[Matt115]

2 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

 

I just wanted to say that this thread has become almost useless, no reply/info from the devs in weeks (except the usual courtesy answer from the great faatal).

If this has to be a discussion among players a mod could as well lock it and move everything under "Developer Diary Discussions"... does anyone hear us?? 

Maybe they are preparing to launch A20 this week XD

 

38 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

With all due respect... this is bull crap. If I can answer a question that has already been answered before, I'm actually saving time for the devs who'd have to repeat themselves.

 

Where a dev answer would be much appreciated is on stuff that has never been answered before. Or to give some new snippet of news on A20 development. Isn't what this whole thread is supposed to be for after all? I'm not asking to "spoil" anything, but... I mean, we're not kids before Christmas! If we can have some info before A20 release it's a service to the loyal community, doesn't ruin anything especially if it's given in a "teaser" format, if you know what I mean.

 

Anyway I understand, it's our fault apparently, we write too much, we're too enthusiastic! So be as you ask, I'll refrain from posting here anymore: like if this changes anything... if the devs are too busy to do some simple PR with their community, well, I'm a busy man too. I don't need to be flapping my cheeks (keyboard) here for nothing. Jost out.

Even adam and snowdog are quiet... that's mean 1 thing. THIS FORUM IS DYING WE ARE DOOOOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEED    

[ShellHead]

Isn’t this thread meant more for us to talk about the dev diaries amongst ourselves and ask the devs things occasionally? Especially since TFP is deep into A20 at the moment. Just seems odd to be @%$#ed off that devs other than faatal haven’t posted in a bit.

[MechanicalLens]

10 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

@The Dev who's Working on the Drone:

someone posted these interesting questions on Steam... 

 

question 1. what can the drone do once you have built one?
question 2. can you build more than one drone?
question 3. can you have more than one drone follow you
question 4. what is its function?
question 5. how long does his battery last and how can you recharge it?
question 6. how do the zombies react to the drone when it is shooting zombies? or how they generally react when they see the drone?
question 7. does the drone have mods? if so how many and which mods
question 8. does the drone have built-in or mod cammera with which you can use the drone to explore the environment

 

Thanks

 

 

TFP have confirmed the drone won't have a weapon attachment.

[ShellHead]

That makes me very curious what the new turret progression is going to look like.

I think I remember roland saying that the drone was going to be more utility-focused and something about healing? But I can’t really remember.

[Roland]

6 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

If this has to be a discussion among players a mod could as well lock it

 

So...here it seems like you are griping that the players have to answer questions because the devs aren't answering.

 

5 hours ago, Roland said:

or you could simply refrain from answering questions directed to the devs and wait for them to answer.

 

So, I answered that concern to let you know that you don't have to answer questions at all. You can just let the devs do it.

 

4 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

With all due respect... this is bull crap. If I can answer a question that has already been answered before, I'm actually saving time for the devs who'd have to repeat themselves.

 

To which you reply, that if you know the answer to a question you should be able to answer it and save dev time.

 

What the heck are you talking about Jost? You're griping that the players are answering each other and then when I say its fine if you don't, you gripe that its your right to answer questions you know....

 

Go ahead and answer questions if you know them. Nobody is stopping you.

 

 

3 hours ago, ShellHead said:

Isn’t this thread meant more for us to talk about the dev diaries amongst ourselves and ask the devs things occasionally? Especially since TFP is deep into A20 at the moment. Just seems odd to be @%$#ed off that devs other than faatal haven’t posted in a bit.

 

Yes. These posts complaining about posting were moved out of the developer diary because they are off topic for there. So it is a bit confusing because when he is saying "this thread" he isn't talking abou this thread.

 

This actual thread is absolutely for carrying on conversations and debates and conjectures about A20 and beyond. The dev diary thread is for posting questions to the developers and waiting patiently for them to answer-- if they choose to answer at all. They don't always answer questions and many details that people are demanding, they are holding back until they can present them a la video presentation.

[Khalagar]

1 hour ago, MechanicalLens said:

 

TFP have confirmed the drone won't have a weapon attachment.

 

Devs need to do 1 attribute only focused playthroughs lol

 

I'm curious if any devs have actually done an Int build that tries to use only int weapons primarily. You basically couldn't even do it atm since you need 90% of the strength tree to even function because of the insanely high iron demands, but even if you do int + all the mining and utility strength perks, int is still in such a wonky place as always since it doesn't have a t3 weapon and requires way more investment to use than other weapon types

 

I'm just really hoping the devs have discarded the idea of the drone taking up a turret slot. If it does, dear goodness that's gonna be painful. I think a playthrough for each attribute where one of the devs just says "I'm using only perception for the first few weeks this time to see how it feels" would help a lot with the balance and QoL differences between the attributes

 

And yeah yeah yeah, yOU cAN mIX atTRiBUtEs. When playing with friends, you typically have people focus on different stuff to have some build variety and make it easier to allocate resources. So yes, there are many situations where you *don't* want every single build to just be yet another "Shotgun with a steel club and a pocket full of pipe bombs for hordes" build for the millionth time

[Roland]

3 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

And yeah yeah yeah, yOU cAN mIX atTRiBUtEs.

 

You admit this mockingly but you should know that this really is how the devs intend for players to play. YOU want to be able to play a pure int build without using anything that belongs to another attribute and have it be viable according to your criteria of viability. But that isn't necessarily the goal of the developers for the intelligence attribute-- that it be played as a pure build without crossing into anything else. And if they have zero intention of making intelligence be a build that you can play pure, why would they ever take the time to try playing it pure?

[MechanicalLens]

@Jost Amman Any member of TFP staff, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in any of this, but I'm pretty confident this is what you guys laid out.

 

The robotic drone will not be an offensive unit. There will be no weapon or stun attachment; it won't interact with the zombies at all. You will not be able to have more than 1 drone active per player. There will be 3 mod types for the drone. The first is the teddy bear that increases stamina regeneration by x amount. The second is a mod that passively increases health regeneration by x amount, but by no means will it be overpowered. It won't be a replacement for a player healing themselves. There will also be pack mule slots, although my guess is the inventory space in the drone, even at max item quality, will be minimal as to not offset balance. Don't expect more than a full row (or 9 slots) of inventory space.

[Dimpy]

If you give the drone first aid items it will use them to heal you.

[Leviwulf]

Any intentions to fix the electrocutioner perk in A20? It's been broken since A19 in that when you level it up the stun duration just.. doesn't increase.

[MechanicalLens]

1 hour ago, Dimpy said:

If you give the drone first aid items it will use them to heal you.

 

Sounds a bit too OP if you ask me.

[hiemfire]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

 

You admit this mockingly but you should know that this really is how the devs intend for players to play. YOU want to be able to play a pure int build without using anything that belongs to another attribute and have it be viable according to your criteria of viability. But that isn't necessarily the goal of the developers for the intelligence attribute-- that it be played as a pure build without crossing into anything else. And if they have zero intention of making intelligence be a build that you can play pure, why would they ever take the time to try playing it pure?

It might help better sell how they intend it to be used if the UI for the Attributes and Perks was not tabbed in the same manner as a MMORPG's class specialization system.

Edited June 15, 2021 by hiemfire (see edit history)

[Jost Amman]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

10 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

If this has to be a discussion among players a mod could as well lock it

 

So...here it seems like you are griping that the players have to answer questions because the devs aren't answering.

You read too much into it, I was just saying that the Dev Diary should have devs poking in more frequently, but in weeks we haven't seen anyone from the dev team answering, giving any news snippets, or even just reacting to posts (excluding faatal).

 

I wish more devs could be involved in that thread, even just to let us know they're sometimes reading (or have been personally forwarded) the questions.

 

4 hours ago, Roland said:

10 hours ago, Roland said:

or you could simply refrain from answering questions directed to the devs and wait for them to answer.

 

So, I answered that concern to let you know that you don't have to answer questions at all. You can just let the devs do it.

As I said, you made a wrong assumption, and because of that you created the problem.

At least now I know why you replied like that... I know you're not a rude or dismissive person, so sorry for misinterpreting on my part.

 

But in the end, my point stands: lately the devs have been lacking a more frequent contact with the community. Peace.

[Laz Man]

Kinyajuu was browsing the dev diary just last week so its not just faatal visiting.  Hopefully the dev streams continue sooner than later so the hype train can start reving its engine once again. 😎

[meganoth]

I remember previous alphas where in the later months of alpha development news from the devs became very scarce. For probably two reasons:

The small features were finished first and reported at the start of alpha development, but the larger features needed a long time to finish creating large spells of crickets chirping. And I assume they simply forgot to check in more frequently because there was just nothing to talk about. What can madmole say if he has no new feature he wants to reveal and most questions are for exactly the stuff he wants to keep for a big revelation show with marching band and trumpets aka a dev stream.

Also remember that he is designing on a totally new secret project so his mind is fully occupied with something he can't even tell us the color of the pen he is using to write down the expose 😉. Well, we can guess the pen has 105 keys

 

Fataal could be posting about bugs he corrected but I assume most or all of his time is used for feature programming instead of bug fixing at the moment.

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by meganoth (see edit history)

[meganoth]

5 hours ago, MechanicalLens said:

 

Sounds a bit too OP if you ask me.

Which seems appropriate for a tier3 "weapon"

 

 

7 hours ago, MechanicalLens said:

@Jost Amman Any member of TFP staff, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in any of this, but I'm pretty confident this is what you guys laid out.

 

The robotic drone will not be an offensive unit. There will be no weapon or stun attachment; it won't interact with the zombies at all. You will not be able to have more than 1 drone active per player. There will be 3 mod types for the drone. The first is the teddy bear that increases stamina regeneration by x amount. The second is a mod that passively increases health regeneration by x amount, but by no means will it be overpowered. It won't be a replacement for a player healing themselves. There will also be pack mule slots, although my guess is the inventory space in the drone, even at max item quality, will be minimal as to not offset balance. Don't expect more than a full row (or 9 slots) of inventory space.

 

Not a staff member. But I doubt 9 slots would be enough for an item you supposedly get in the late game when you should have access to the huge inventory of a 4x4 or a motorbike at least.

 

 

[MechanicalLens]

10 minutes ago, sillls said:

• Wandering Sleepers?  How do you have a Wandering sleeper? Is it sleepwalking? 

 

You hear faint footsteps behind you. You get goosebumps. You hear and feel someone or something breathing down the back of your neck. You swing around with your club and... nothing's there. Must have been the wind, right? Suddenly, you realize your pistol is gone from its holster. You turn to your right and you see the grotesque remains of a person, somehow remaining bipedal, aiming right down the iron sights of your stolen firearm.

 

They are learning.  

[Matt115]

1 hour ago, meganoth said:

I remember previous alphas where in the later months of alpha development news from the devs became very scarce. For probably two reasons:

The small features were finished first and reported at the start of alpha development, but the larger features needed a long time to finish creating large spells of crickets chirping. And I assume they simply forgot to check in more frequently because there was just nothing to talk about. What can madmole say if he has no new feature he wants to reveal and most questions are for exactly the stuff he wants to keep for a big revelation show with marching band and trumpets aka a dev stream.

Also remember that he is designing on a totally new secret project so his mind is fully occupied with something he can't even tell us the color of the pen he is using to write down the expose 😉. Well, we can guess the pen has 105 keys

 

Fataal could be posting about bugs he corrected but I assume most or all of his time is used for feature programming instead of bug fixing at the moment.

 

Well maybe now they are focused to fixing bugs , optimalisation , balance etc. this can be sometimes the worst part because so stuff doesn't work and nobody know why XD

Edited June 15, 2021 by Matt115 (see edit history)

[Fanatical_Meat]

Regarding wandering hordes, I encounter two last night. One was really big other was a pack of dogs.

I think the reason why they appear to be gone is they can be easy to mistake for biom zombies and they see to disperse faster than before.

What I mean is in A20 I drove thru a large pack heading to our base, I lured them to go in a different direction. Drove off a for a minute or two then returned with backup. The horde had dispersed over a large area. I am sure this is a performance optimization.

 

Older Alphas the horde felt like it reformed and continued moving, felt like the hordes were in a tighter cluster and traveled farther than the current wandering hordes.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Fanatical_Meat (see edit history)