Alpha 21 Dev Diary

[unifrau]

Hi —

 

Although it’s simple, it would be a really nice quality of life update if you let us automatically re-party after joining a game again.

 

Another big impact for me would be an update to wire tool/electrical systems. Can you let us use light switches to open drawbridges? Can you make pressure plates be activated by vehicles? It would also be excellent if you could add relays that could make binary “AND” or “OR” decisions. Like an electrical event occurs if: Switch A OR (Switch B AND Switch C). I know its possible to wire like this currently, but it can be really tricky, especially if you need relays in between certain items.

 

Thanks

Edited July 2, 2022 by unifrau (see edit history)

[RCboy34]

I haven’t read the entire thread, so sorry if some of this repeats.  I’m very excited to see some of the mentioned updates.  Especially, the water feature mentioned how water will no longer waterfall in its own blocks and flow into indicated boxes.  I hope that doesn’t limit their flow.  My friend wanted to build a moat, and when he released the flood gates, it just flowed into a few boxes.  He hasn’t played since…I’d love to be able to guide the water around if I wanted.

 

Also, other short ideas:

 

Create map option for NPC raiders (drive in shoot stuff up, etc., possible bases)

 

Flamethrowers!!!  (Also, possibly spreading fires to burnables, and a way to put them out?)

 

A way to clear grass, lawnmower or even a crappy riding lawnmower would be fun to drive around

 

A way to place dirt blocks and to fill in dirt gaps next to built blocks, because dirt always has that unfinished block slope after you’ve dug it out or a zombie explodes.

 

More character creation features, hair styles, etc.

[Jost Amman]

4 hours ago, RCboy34 said:

Flamethrowers!!!  (Also, possibly spreading fires to burnables, and a way to put them out?)

Years ago, I asked @madmole about the possibility of a flamethrower turret... it was the alpha when they first introduced turrets, I think.

I don't understand what the problem is with adding that type of turret to the game. It would be great!

The ammo could be the gas tanks we use for vehicles, and the burning effect would be so cool to watch during a Blood Moon night! 

[Blake_]

4 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

Years ago, I asked @madmole about the possibility of a flamethrower turret... it was the alpha when they first introduced turrets, I think.

I don't understand what the problem is with adding that type of turret to the game. It would be great!

The ammo could be the gas tanks we use for vehicles, and the burning effect would be so cool to watch during a Blood Moon night! 

Well, they do have the model done I think. Or was it the concept art ? I don't remember. Anyway, the main concern was performance, with flames and flames on top of flames upon flames from many turrets and zds. And also, where to put it in the intelligence tree.

 

Now, those concerns are laughable, as it can be just another turret made from anywhere from a book to a "yet again 'squishing' of the intelligence weapon tree", and the performance we have now with dozens of campfires with burning entities and electric fences is bearable, so a tiny little turret or two (actual limit) will not impact performance at all.

[unholyjoe]

and all of that flaming of everything WILL bring down a server when its multiplied by so many players torching everything. i can see it now,

 

[RipClaw]

2 hours ago, unholyjoe said:

and all of that flaming of everything WILL bring down a server when its multiplied by so many players torching everything. i can see it now,

I don't see the difference between the large-scale use of Molotov cocktails on a server and flamethrower traps.
 

[Blake_]

2 hours ago, unholyjoe said:

and all of that flaming of everything WILL bring down a server when its multiplied by so many players torching everything. i can see it now,

 

32 turrets making zds catching fire would indeed be a bit heavier than 32 campfires doing the same, but my potato can handle the latter, so that means it's bearable (64 campfires with 64 zds on fire are ok too, but already in the 15 fps mark) .

 

My potato, should you need to be reminded of, runs on coal and animal traction with a Cpu below the current steam requirements and a GPU from before Edison was even born. All of that in an algae case with compost fans and a puch card for audio purposes.

[unholyjoe]

just to be clear... i DID NOT say "no" to the idea (i actually like it too), but i just see ANOTHER hit on performance on busy servers because some people will abuse it and some will just try to see if they can bog down servers.

 

i would like the pressure plate triggering effect so trap doesnt continually burn. be cool if it fried an animal and a bag drops from that kill with charred meat.

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by unholyjoe (see edit history)

[RipClaw]

1 hour ago, unholyjoe said:

just to be clear... i DID NOT say "no" to the idea (i actually like it too), but i just see ANOTHER hit on performance on busy servers because some people will abuse it and some will just try to see if they can bog down servers.

One way to limit abuse would be that you can't craft the trap, you have to buy it from the trader and they have a limited supply. Another possibility would be that the trap fires in intervals. If a burst of fire only happens every 5 or 10 seconds, it should have the same effect as a player throwing Molotov cocktails.

[Blake_]

11 hours ago, RipClaw said:

One way to limit abuse would be that you can't craft the trap, you have to buy it from the trader and they have a limited supply. Another possibility would be that the trap fires in intervals. If a burst of fire only happens every 5 or 10 seconds, it should have the same effect as a player throwing Molotov cocktails.

Yes. I completely agree that intervals would do. It's a Tower Defense after all, and that specific turret is perfect for the role. I find the idea hot.

[meganoth]

7 hours ago, Blake_ said:

Yes. I completely agree that intervals would do. It's a Tower Defense after all, and that specific turret is perfect for the role. I find the idea hot.

 

Well, there are still some burning questions nobody answered. We need fireproof solutions, otherwise there will be lots of players flaming TFP for this.

Edited July 4, 2022 by meganoth (see edit history)

[canadianbluebeer]

While flamethrowers would be cool (yes, I want one),  turns out we already have the junior version.

(put the burning mod into a robotic sledge, and ayup, it does set zeds on fire, with hilarious results)

(found that out last night.  BM zeds kinda go nuts when punched off the steps and set on fire.)

 

all this time using the punchy bot as a backup for when I'm reloading, who knew about the comedy gold

it could produce with just that one mod. 

 

 

(y'all gotta expand on that) 

[Alloy1]

That new Military Commando torso looks ripped straight out of Fallout 4, from the Combat Armour set.

[Burrfly]

Hi everyone I've read some other forums and most people agree:

 

Bring back rebar frames and (re)add more block material (upgrades). Please. Thank you for reading. 

[beerfly]

4 hours ago, Alloy1 said:

That new Military Commando torso looks ripped straight out of Fallout 4, from the Combat Armour set.

It is apocalypse out there and these are the toughest things you can mend an armor of.

 

Looks more than neat. 

[KhaineGB]

On 7/3/2022 at 12:09 AM, Jost Amman said:

Years ago, I asked @madmole about the possibility of a flamethrower turret... it was the alpha when they first introduced turrets, I think.

I don't understand what the problem is with adding that type of turret to the game. It would be great!

The ammo could be the gas tanks we use for vehicles, and the burning effect would be so cool to watch during a Blood Moon night! 

There's been one in the asset files since A16. It's just not rigged up.

So I HOPE it will be a reality one day.

[Morloc]

On 7/2/2022 at 2:41 PM, RCboy34 said:

Flamethrowers!!!

 

Would likely need to be magic fantasy flame throwers as the real thing only carried enough fuel for 10 seconds of use.

 

Mind you, those 10 seconds would be pretty nifty.

 

 

 

-Arch Necromancer Morloc

[Brunik Rokbyter]

Been playing off and on constantly since A7.  I wanted to say a thanks to the team at TFP for the thousands of hours of joy you have brought myself, and my friends/family/community!

 

I am a little worried about the magazine concept so I wanted to ask a few questions......

 

So, I remember RNG hell of one of the early teen alphas (12?) where you HAD to find a forge blueprint.  Like, surviving until day 3 without a forge was difficult.  There was a very very difficult "survive" play cycle, and then a very obvious thrive play cycle after, and the forge blueprint was complete and total RNG.  

 

The reason this was actual RNG hell was because it was gating your capacity to make basic food/water.  Some of that was cleaned up with tin can's for boiling water before a pot, and charred meat as something you could do.  

 

So... for the questions!  My family typically plays as a 4-5 unit.  Typically each person picks an attribute to play with primarily, then branches slightly as we get further into the game.  This gives us each a feeling of specialization.  My concerns are around "RNG duplication" in a multiple player environment.  6 copies of a magazine no one needs anymore where we have 1 we just can't find that's gating our capacity to get to something we NEED.

 

I was thinking a trade-in system?  3-1?  I have 3 magazines I don't need, so you give me 1 I don't have?  

 

I'm not sure if this has application, because I noticed there were levels to each skill, and I can think of a few ways to "tier" things to make it work out right.... but i'm just trying to think through what has been issues in the past and different ways to avoid similar issues with new systems.

 

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day, and I look forward to any information you might can provide on the "skill" system specifically, as well as any systems that might can be used to help players playing alone that need all skills, as well as players who are playing in a large group and want to "feel specialized"!

[Victor.19]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

 

Gotcha! The forge is one of the early workstations so it doesn't take very many magazines to unlock it. I think most teams will easily have it the first day or two if they funnel every Forge Ahead mag they find to one person.

 

A single player should have it in any case within the first week.

In the question of armor, will there be any changes in damage calculation, damage rate and status or will it be just new HD models of the armor on the A21? Thank you.

[Roland]

2 hours ago, Victor.19 said:

In the question of armor, will there be any changes in damage calculation, damage rate and status or will it be just new HD models of the armor on the A21? Thank you.

 

As of now the changes to armor are just visual. How the properties might change depends on the new outfit feature which has not yet been implemented. I'm not sure where it will end up.

[Roland]

Some Development highlights from the last few days from a quick glance at the workflow log:

 

* Work on player animations

* Several new shapes added to the shape menu

* Updates to Trader Joel compound

* Work on Bandit AI and animations

* Improvements to various POIs

* Work on one of the new Quest types

* Lots of bug fixing

Edited July 10, 2022 by Roland (see edit history)

[beerfly]

29 minutes ago, Roland said:

* Work on one of the new Quest types

You know that we want to know a bit more of that, do you. Don`t smile like that 🎈

 

#RolandForPresident 

[Blake_]

3 hours ago, Roland said:

Some Development highlights from the last few days from a quick glance at the workflow log:

 

* Work on player animations

* Several new shapes added to the shape menu

* Updates to Trader Joel compound

* Work on Bandit AI and animations

* Improvements to various POIs

* Work on one of the new Quest types

* Lots of bug fixing

Clear bandit POI is still clear, right?

Can you confirm that by "quests" you meant singular, original and different standalone quests that add to the actual pool of quests or are we talking about other types of Clear,Fetch, Restore Power, Buried, or any combination in between? (Like how a "clear bandits and retrieve satchel" would be a basic new quest that is actually not new, as we are getting the same quest with different entities).

 

 

[Laz Man]

I'd like to add that level design is still chugging away adding new POIs in addition to updating existing ones.

 

Personally, I am currently working on a new POI that is related to one of the new deco vehicles that was added recently....😁

[Roland]

1 hour ago, Blake_ said:

Clear bandit POI is still clear, right?

Can you confirm that by "quests" you meant singular, original and different standalone quests that add to the actual pool of quests or are we talking about other types of Clear,Fetch, Restore Power, Buried, or any combination in between? (Like how a "clear bandits and retrieve satchel" would be a basic new quest that is actually not new, as we are getting the same quest with different entities).

 

 

 

Other than tantalizing you with the existence of two new quests, I need to wait to add any details or experiences of my own until a developer decides to spill the beans. I will say that they are distinct and not just variations of existing quests although they do involve mixing it up with zombies so in that regard they are similar to what we have. Speculate away and I'll poke Prime to see if after the weekend he'll come on and dish a bit or perhaps do a tell-all in his next stream. I'll bet he'll like that and then we can update the thread here and talk more about it.