Alpha 21 Dev Diary

[forgetful genius]

I have the sexy t-rex part.  Haven't worked out everything though.

 

Song is "After an Afternoon" by Jason Mraz

Edited December 10, 2022 by forgetful genius
Added song and artist (see edit history)

[sillls]

And the best weapon of all time goes to... The Hoe? 

 

Yep the Hoe, no I am not talking about your girlfriends again but really man, you can do better. 😉 

No I am talking about a garden Hoe that was in the game.  

 

While not powerful, it had a stun like effect that allowed the player to keep hitting the zombie while it was unable to respond. This was partly due to the rapped attack effect that the tool had. 

Sadly, the Anti Fun league found out and did away with it. 

AFL:  (Look! They are having too much fun. NOOOO!)

I miss that tool. I also miss farming on the ground and not using these boxes to put plants in, but I digress. 

Anyways, have fun.   

[forgetful genius]

I should slightly change my response.  The album is called "From the Cutting Room Floor".  Doesn't mean the answer is in the one song.

[Gronal]

sex pistols - pistols is easy enough... + log.

kim jong un + beached + rapper called russ

all of that points towards guitarist Jason Mraz


I absolutely nailed it folks

Edited December 10, 2022 by Gronal (see edit history)

[Jugom]

Sex Pistols  + Yule + Tyrant + Ashore + Russ  >> You and I Both....

Sexual Tyrannosaurus >> UI? 
da fuk? 

 

EDIT: wait, that picture is from "From the cutting room floor" album... you are not removing Sexy T, are you? ARE YOU???????

Edited December 10, 2022 by Jugom (see edit history)

[Gronal]

Damn lol you guys are smart, I suspect this might be yet again solved too quickly for Roland's liking 😛

Remember this is likely to complete the C bullet point. What could sexy trex -> UI (?) mean that could start with C?

• Player HUD changes
  • Danger Meter added to show danger level of biomes and POIs
  • C

Edited December 10, 2022 by Gronal (see edit history)

[Morloc]

31 minutes ago, Jugom said:

EDIT: wait, that picture is from "From the cutting room floor" album... you are not removing Sexy T, are you? ARE YOU???????

 

Well, the album is FROM the cutting room floor. If RiddleMaster Roland wished to imply that SexRex was going to be removed, he'd have used this album:

 

 

Perhaps it's that this particular Mraz album was not for sale...it was a bonus.

 

SexRex Bonus sounds much more appealing (though likely not correct) 

 

 

-Arch Necromancer Morloc 💀

[forgetful genius]

One last comment.  We know it starts with a "C".  My final guess is that instead of Sexy Rex being it's own perk it has been merged into the other perks.  This way if you are spec'd into blades your stamina cost is lowered in blades.  If you are spec'd into batons, your stamina cost is reduced when using a baton.  This would make tons of opportunity to actually focus on the skills a player wants instead of being forced into putting 2 points into strength and SR right away just to minimize the stamina cost of everything. 

 

"Combine sexy rex into the other skill bonuses".

 

Wishful thinking maybe, but if true I love love LOVE the sound of it.

Edited December 10, 2022 by forgetful genius
grammar (see edit history)

[GRITTY]

if sexy rex is removed i don't think i'll bother playing a21

[Doomofman]

I think the answer of 'sex rex is getting cut' is probably the right one. But with Roland's Great Dane clue, it might not quite be that obvious.

 

Jason Mraz is a solo artist so maybe solo? the cover is for an EP so maybe EP? Neither of those make much more sense.

 

Most likely Roland google 'cutting room floor', took an image from a few rows down and that's what he ended up with

[Callum123456789]

I have to agree sexual tyrannosaurus is sort of a crutch perk for melee it's almost mandatory to have if you want to stay in the fight with enough stamina maybe stamina use is now integrated with the perks?

 

An example being javelin master you get the usual bonuses however you could also get a -5% stamina cost perk rank or -7% etc.

[Gronal]

34 minutes ago, GRITTY said:

if sexy rex is removed i don't think i'll bother playing a21

that's a bit of a kneejerk reaction, no? even if it's well balanced you won't even give it a chance?

but anyway we could still be barking up the wrong tree entirely. I do like the idea of sexual tyrannosaurus being cut as a perk and distributed across all relevant other weapon perks. Because it always makes strength somewhat necessary imo

edit: but I don't really think that would be relevant under the heading Player HUD Changes

Edited December 10, 2022 by Gronal (see edit history)

[Doomofman]

5 minutes ago, Gronal said:

edit: but I don't really think that would be relevant under the heading Player HUD Changes

 

Maybe this clue isn't for the "C" part at all

[Riamus]

3 hours ago, meganoth said:

 

Sure, but would the players notice that it is some special block that costs him performance? Without FPS display they might only notice this at the next horde night when suddenly FPS starts to drop to unplayable levels. And then making the connection to having placed a lot fo those blocks in the week before? We here might have a good chance making the connection since we have heard of high polygon blocks being a problem. The typical player has almost no chance.

 

 

Is there an automatic way to count block polygons? If not, they need to make a list of all say >1000 blocks with their polygon count. And a performant routine evaluating a chunk that needs to be called every time a block is placed. Just saying this isn't work done in a day. But sure, possible and a win for everyone.

 

 

With the barrels I could imagine it isn't for their poly count but for there effectiveness as bombs. Or just an oversight. But I don't think they are containers, at the moment you would not be able to store gas in them

 

I think this issue of having too many of a specific block is not a significant problem.  How many of the blocks that are high poly would be used in excess?  Most missing blocks/items are things people might place a few of and that is all.

 

Are there any specific high poly blocks you think would be used in excess?  Windows and walls are your main blocks and those aren't what we are taking about here.  Other things just aren't used in excess unless someone is doing something really unusual and I don't think the game needs to limit things because of the edge cases.

 

I don't think it would be necessary to count polygons when placing blocks.  Just take any specific blocks that may be troublesome and count the number of those.  Yes, this is a generalization rather than exact number, but I think that is fine for suffering like this.  It is also less confusing as a setting as you can just say to allow 50 high poly blocks within a chunk, for example.  You can even place an icon on those high poly blocks so it is clear which ones are affected by the setting.  And if a player tries to place a block that would be too many, the toast message can say that there are too many high poly blocks per game settings to make it clear to the player.

 

Are plain barrels different from barrels on fire in terms of bombs?  I've never tried to blow either up, so I don't know.  I would have thought they'd react the same, but maybe not.  In any case, the non-fire barrels do have inventory (you loot gas from them in the game).

[DanLW]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

That's correct. It simply conveys the information that stepping into the desert or snow or wasteland carries more threat and danger. It has nothing to do with warning player on dynamically whether there is sudden danger threatening them. Same with POIs. At a glance you will know whether a POI is T1 - T5 when you get close to it. It will not actively reveal danger as  you explore POIs.

 

So now when I come across an outhouse in theiddle of the desert and see the T5 rating, I'll know there is a not-so-secret secret base!

[GRITTY]

29 minutes ago, Gronal said:

that's a bit of a kneejerk reaction, no? even if it's well balanced you won't even give it a chance?

but anyway we could still be barking up the wrong tree entirely. I do like the idea of sexual tyrannosaurus being cut as a perk and distributed across all relevant other weapon perks. Because it always makes strength somewhat necessary imo

edit: but I don't really think that would be relevant under the heading Player HUD Changes

yeah

 

my hopes would be the devs would just tell us what they're doing instead of giving us riddles to solve.  just lay out what changes will or won't be.

[DanLW]

4 hours ago, Roland said:

 

Double post

Edited December 11, 2022 by DanLW
Double post (see edit history)

[Old Crow]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

My last puzzle got solved so quickly and even with me trying to distract you guys with Scooby Doo instead of a real Great Dane. I hope this one is tougher and bit more ambiguous.

 

 

EDIT: Wait, I got it. Something to do with Sexual Tyranosaurus. Jason Mraz from Cutting Room Floor.. If I'm geussing right, Sexual Tyrannosaurus is being removed.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Old Crow (see edit history)

[meganoth]

31 minutes ago, Riamus said:

I think this issue of having too many of a specific block is not a significant problem.  How many of the blocks that are high poly would be used in excess?  Most missing blocks/items are things people might place a few of and that is all.

 

Are there any specific high poly blocks you think would be used in excess?  Windows and walls are your main blocks and those aren't what we are taking about here.  Other things just aren't used in excess unless someone is doing something really unusual and I don't think the game needs to limit things because of the edge cases.

 

There are players who build fancy palaces, they would have to be asked. I don't, I build functional.

 

31 minutes ago, Riamus said:

 

I don't think it would be necessary to count polygons when placing blocks.  Just take any specific blocks that may be troublesome and count the number of those.  Yes, this is a generalization rather than exact number, but I think that is fine for suffering like this.  It is also less confusing as a setting as you can just say to allow 50 high poly blocks within a chunk, for example.  You can even place an icon on those high poly blocks so it is clear which ones are affected by the setting.  And if a player tries to place a block that would be too many, the toast message can say that there are too many high poly blocks per game settings to make it clear to the player.

 

I was talking about what a developer has to do. Whether he assigns accurate "weights" or just puts them into classes he has to look at each. Though if there are very few blocks with high polygons and you already know them or know how to recognize them, then yes, that task would be done in an hour.

 

31 minutes ago, Riamus said:

Are plain barrels different from barrels on fire in terms of bombs?  I've never tried to blow either up, so I don't know.  I would have thought they'd react the same, but maybe not.  In any case, the non-fire barrels do have inventory (you loot gas from them in the game).

 

Barrels on fire do not blow up.

 

I somehow thought you looted gas barrels without seeing an inventory, but probably I always hit R so fast that I don't see any inventory anymore and got the wrong idea.

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Old Crow]

5 minutes ago, meganoth said:

 

There are players who build fancy palaces, they would have to be asked. I don't, I build functional.

 

 

 

"palaces" can be functional.

[zztong]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

I hope this one is tougher and bit more ambiguous.

 

I think it might be X rated.

[Old Crow]

Just now, zztong said:

 

I think it might be X rated.

 

See my guess above.

[BFT2020]

4 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

Although, I can understand the appeal of adventuring into the unknown, it can be frustrating exploring somewhere and getting completely wrecked.

 Though people tend to forget retreating and running away is always an option if you bit off more than you can chew.

 

I did that when I went exploring the new mansion POI on day 2 to turn it into my base. 🤔

[GRITTY]

19 minutes ago, Old Crow said:

 

See my guess above.

the log is a yule log

sex + yule = sexual

 

the only skill in the game with sexual in the title...sexual tyrannosaurus

 

nothing xrated 

[Games'n'Grumble]

4 hours ago, Roland said:

My last puzzle got solved so quickly and even with me trying to distract you guys with Scooby Doo instead of a real Great Dane. I hope this one is tougher and bit more ambiguous.

 

This may be nonsense, but I'll try. Everyone has already realized that we are talking about the "sexy Tyrannosaurus" perk. And it has something to do with the album "From the Cutting Room Floor". And with a user interface. I very much doubt that the developers decided to "cut" this perk, I think they decided to "cut" it from the general stamina scale. Maybe there will be two scales now? One is responsible for endurance when running, the other is endurance when using tools, melee weapon, aiming?