A20 Developer Diary Discussions

[jorbascrumps]

4 hours ago, GoldsharkROU said:

I hope you don't hate me, but the amount of what you carry could be solved with larger manufacturable or affordable backpacks

 

Limited storage isn't a problem for the devs to solve. Inventory management is a core part of gameplay.

[sillls]

11 hours ago, Vrallox said:

Aw. I was hoping for vehicle horn mods. I want one that plays La Cucaracha.

Better yet, a horn mod that will attract and distract zambie's and baddies.  

[JCrook1028]

3 hours ago, jdifran said:

I think any loot item that has no use in any recipe and exists only to be scrapped should be removed and the scrap brass, lead, etc., should be found instead.

I'd say exactly the opposite. The only way we should get brass/lead etc is either from ore or from scrapping. No one has piles of raw ore in their cabinets. They would however have things made of brass that could be smelted down. Same for lead.

[sillls]

Wow. I did not know you added new zombies. That new blond headed one almost makes me want to get bit. lol 

 

I just could not bring myself to kill it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2325415519

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by sillls (see edit history)

[Adam the Waster]

2 minutes ago, sillls said:

Wow. I did not know you added new zombies. That new blond headed one almost makes me want to get bit. lol 

I just could not bring myself to kill it. 

well her jaw is broken so good luck with that

[sillls]

This is still a great game. Even though graphics are much better in other games. I can leave this game and pick it up after a few months and it will still scare the crap out of me. 

I walked up to a tool  shed head and one of those things popped out at me growling. I jumped.    lol 

I really don't know how TFP's are going to top this one.  

[jdifran]

1 hour ago, JCrook1028 said:

I'd say exactly the opposite. The only way we should get brass/lead etc is either from ore or from scrapping. No one has piles of raw ore in their cabinets. They would however have things made of brass that could be smelted down. Same for lead.

 

Brass doesn't exist in nature, so they'd have to add copper and zinc ore (which they've already said they don't want to do).  And by mid levels I'm swimming in brass and often have so many dukes I can afford to just smelt them.

 

From a gameplay standpoint, these useless items are just extra clicks that add nothing of interest to the game other that cluttering your inventory.

 

And what's the point in wasting developer resources creating models, icons, and xml for objects like this that serve no gameplay purpose other than to be smelted or scrapped?  Sure, you can install a harvested brass faucet on your sink, so maybe keep that.   Radiators should probably stay but also be required in vehicle recipes, imo. 

 

At least, all of those items could be replaced with a single "brass junk" item or a "lead junk" item with an icon that looks like a small pile of miscellaneous items.  They'd be different from "brass" or "lead" and would scrap to these (at a loss) like the other items.

[4sheetzngeegles]

5 hours ago, sillls said:

Better yet, a horn mod that will attract and distract zambie's and baddies.  

I rarely if ever build a vehicle.  I use rocks then a pipebomb.

[sillls]

4 minutes ago, 4sheetzngeegles said:

I rarely if ever build a vehicle.  I use rocks then a pipebomb.

What to travel?  

[sillls]

Meet my new ghoulfriend!  😉 

[sillls]

I just did a fetch mission and it was the easiest that I've ever done. I went to a cabin. The door was unlocked and there it was sitting on the floor to my right. I was thinking that the floor was going to collapse or something but that did not happen. lol. I think I would have just ran back if I didn't need a pot. Only then did I run into zombies.  😀

[MechanicalLens]

Speaking of items that really shouldn't be in loot: feathers. Specifically within garbages, trash bins, trash cans, dumpsters, cars... Following the first few in-game days I just toss them out of said loot containers and don't think twice about it. I'm sure removing feathers from the loot tables of the containers I mentioned above (among others I may have missed, excluding nests) wouldn't negatively impact the player experience. Like tree seeds of old, there's no reason for feathers to spawn outside of nests.

[bdubyah]

17 hours ago, jdifran said:

I think any loot item that has no use in any recipe and exists only to be scrapped should be removed and the scrap brass, lead, etc., should be found instead.

Oh god. I guess you missed when they got rid of raw iron and just used scrap iron instead. If they changed that for all materials at once, these forums would never recover...

[sillls]

What you think that birds only lose feathers in there nest?  Ever see what's left of a bird after it's killed by a cat? It's messy and I find most feathers that way in real life. 

Why not sell them or even burn them rather than throw them out? 

They make decent arrows when you get a good bow. 

[meganoth]

On 12/18/2020 at 3:20 AM, TSBX said:

That's why you want to make a workbench. It allows you to offload crafting and scrapping to a secondary source so you can focus on your here and now in your inventory.

 

Scrapping is sacrificing when compared to melting  things into the forge. It's a meaningful choice, and we like those, right?

 

As I understand it the suggestion was to remove the scrapping timer, not the scrapping itself. You still would have the inventory to manage, i.e. decide whether to take all items home, scrap them instead for some loss or even dump them.

 

 

16 hours ago, jdifran said:

 

Brass doesn't exist in nature, so they'd have to add copper and zinc ore (which they've already said they don't want to do).  And by mid levels I'm swimming in brass and often have so many dukes I can afford to just smelt them.

 

From a gameplay standpoint, these useless items are just extra clicks that add nothing of interest to the game other that cluttering your inventory.

 

And what's the point in wasting developer resources creating models, icons, and xml for objects like this that serve no gameplay purpose other than to be smelted or scrapped?  Sure, you can install a harvested brass faucet on your sink, so maybe keep that.   Radiators should probably stay but also be required in vehicle recipes, imo. 

 

At least, all of those items could be replaced with a single "brass junk" item or a "lead junk" item with an icon that looks like a small pile of miscellaneous items.  They'd be different from "brass" or "lead" and would scrap to these (at a loss) like the other items.

 

I agree they are flavor items. Now SOME flavor should be kept or added to. Especially since it doesn't seem that graphics artists are the most limited developer resource of TFP

 

 

 

[unholyjoe]

1 hour ago, Lonestarcanuck said:

my wife wants to know why the female zombies are stereotyped and why there are no construction female zombies or mechanics etc. 
PS: the Stripper zombie was a great overhaul,  the nurse and others need some love.  

 

see what happens when wife catches you staring at the stripper or have 50 spawned.

 

and for those of us who have or do work in construction... the men wont work when women are around.

Edited December 19, 2020 by unholyjoe (see edit history)

[sillls]

Guys! I just found away that TFP's could improve on the game but it would require a sequel   Unreal engine V  

 

[JCrook1028]

5 hours ago, bdubyah said:

Oh god. I guess you missed when they got rid of raw iron and just used scrap iron instead. If they changed that for all materials at once, these forums would never recover...

Nope, didn't miss that at all, I do disagree with it tho.

2 hours ago, Lonestarcanuck said:

my wife wants to know why the female zombies are stereotyped and why there are no construction female zombies or mechanics etc. 
PS: the Stripper zombie was a great overhaul,  the nurse and others need some love.  

 

Nurse already had her overhaul, just not released yet.

[sillls]

2 hours ago, unholyjoe said:

see what happens when wife catches you staring at the stripper or have 50 spawned.

 

and for those of us who have or do work in construction... the men wont work when women are around.

I have been on a site that they really do have female construction workers and you can tell they stand out but not for there work in construction. 

I found them very distracting. 

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by sillls (see edit history)

[sillls]

Shoot! I forgot TFP's have gone with Unity. Never mind. I'm sure that Unity is coming out it a better version so never mind. 

[MechanicalLens]

1 hour ago, Xeen said:

All you have to do is add a upgrade slot in the workbench for a Mod that will speed up processing time just like you have for the forge with the Advanced Bellows, easy peasy.

I would love one of those for the Chemical Station, and for that matter the Table Saw too.

The benefits are self explanatory.

This may not resolve the players 'on person' ability to scrap or craft faster but it seems to me that is part of why workbenches and other workstations are vitally important to have in your base.

Another idea is to add the Scrap-o-matic machine that will scrap items super fast, but then the Workbench and Chemistry station wouldn't get any speed upgrade love which would make me sad.

I am currently getting around the slow Workbenches and Chemistry stations by having 10 of them, so you could save me some space in my base by adding the speed Mod.

 

The table saw has been a decorative item for two alphas now. (Or has it just been Alpha 19? Can't remember.)

1 hour ago, Xeen said:

I thought I should follow up.
I am on Warrior difficulty, and roughly on game stage 440 and still no zombies at night for 99.9% of it, on two consecutive nights I had one curious scout and the other night i had one wandering horde and that's it, I had 6 generators, spinning blade traps, tons of lights, 4 forges, and 4 chemistry stations all running, and on top of that 8 burning barrels, and the zombies are just no where to be found.

 

Keep in mind I don't want to be constantly harassed but I don't want it to be so peaceful that I can have a moonlight luau in my backyard and have no fear that I will be attacked.

 

I honestly wish that as an alternative to hordes you could enable a system that would occasionally send very, very large wandering hordes to the player, forcing them to constantly check their base and determine if it can stand another attack. Probably best suited for a mod though.

[Xeen]

39 minutes ago, MechanicalLens said:

 

The table saw has been a decorative item for two alphas now. (Or has it just been Alpha 19? Can't remember.)

I never use the Table Saw so I didn't notice. 

[MechanicalLens]

Just now, Xeen said:

I never use the Table Saw so I didn't notice. 

 

Hence why it's a decorative item only now. No one used the thing.

[Xeen]

On another note using a vehicle during a Blood moon on Warrior difficulty is a harrowing experience, the Buzzards are nutty, yeesh.

It makes it virtually impossible to go and pick up a respawned buddy if their sleeping bag was destroyed.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Xeen (see edit history)

[MechanicalLens]

Edit: Just remembered. The table saw became a decorative item in A19. In A18 it was still in use, but it had few recipes attached to it, so nothing to justify its existence really.

Just now, Xeen said:

On another note being out on a vehicle during a Blood moon on Warrior difficulty is a harrowing experience, the Buzzards are nutty, yeesh.

 

Being without a crucible and expecting a day 28 horde of 24 max alive zombies to stay behind a fully upgraded iron door on Warrior difficulty is also pretty nutty. 😨 I had to repair it almost constantly. And those darn buzzards gave me every debuff under the sun.