Alpha 21 Dev Diary

[Riamus]

On 9/25/2022 at 7:38 AM, Cr0wst0rm said:

Hi,

While i'm not the type of person that would complain about others efforts and work, i still have some concerns regarding the ART for ART team of this game, simply because i care very much about this game in particular.

It is nice to see finally some effort to add some variety of different vehicles to the game. While this is not a top 100% priority, i still think that the art team has a lot more to offer than what we got in the twitter updates...

1) The vehicle surfaces look like concrete painted with shiny paint and rust mask on top. That is simply not how car paints work -> paints are designed to protect the metal sheets from rusting away.
TL:DR not convincing enough. Make paint shiny, then peel off, then add rust. Also, add rust to areas which would be the most affected in real life (wheel fenders, sharp corners) most vunerable areas, you get the idea.

2) Lack of detail. Even as a prop, the vehicles are lacking detail. Especially the interior missing is a big dissapointment, considering the previous vehicles always had some sort of interior. TIP: copy paste old interiors from the car we got not and place it accordingly in new cars. Should look convincing enough.

3) Manage your team. I know this is a little cheeky statement, but it feels like there is not enough motivation from artists. It is simple to throw some automated materials in Substance painter, but the real magic is to make them convincing. (Which is simply not the case here)


Best of wishes to this game, I pray for it every day.

Thank you FP

Personally, I'm with Roland on this one.  Yes, rust isn't in accurate places, though after the years the cards have been sitting, it could easily cover much of the car.  For me, that's accurate enough.  For interior, I never look closely enough.

 

If much rather that if they spend time on car props that they add more types of vehicles. I'd love to see one sedan (already have this), one coupe, one pickup, one SUV, one minivan.  It would add more variety and feel more real.

[Blake_]

@Roland do you know if at the upcoming Twitchcon we'll get an a21 stream EVERY day or is it just the one with just the Twitch integration stuff and none of the other things in depth? I'm actually curious about the speed at which the hype train should move.

[Roland]

16 minutes ago, Blake_ said:

@Roland do you know if at the upcoming Twitchcon we'll get an a21 stream EVERY day or is it just the one with just the Twitch integration stuff and none of the other things in depth? I'm actually curious about the speed at which the hype train should move.

 

Sadly I'm not involved and I don't know. The promos mention showing new A21 twitch features and that is probably what we should let live in our expectations and no more. Someone already mentioned that Lathan has been showing A21 twitch stuff in his A20 build he plays on Twitch so it is possible they may not even show actual A21 footage in order to show off the new twitch features. Let's expect that and then be surprised if it is more than that.

 

20 hours ago, night.owl said:

is animal husbandry and taming animals (wolves, chickens, boars, (bears :0)) ever gonna be a feature discussed in this game?

 

Only as a mod. Its a definite no for the vanilla game.

 

20 hours ago, night.owl said:

The drones are a new addition to the game that give me the vibe of a "companion" system and it almost seems to me like it's yall dipping your toes into the idea of having tamable dogs that can fight for you.

 

They already dipped their toe into the idea of having tamable dogs but it was acid so they recoiled and went with the drone instead. Sorry, but the drone is the fallback position and not the initial foray.

 

20 hours ago, night.owl said:

I think the idea of a vulture you can tame and give a backpack for extra storage or something is super cool.

 

The vultures are all zombies. They aren't represented as living actual vultures. I only say this because we get a lot of feedback from people complaining that the vultures don't really behave like real vultures. We know. They're Zombie Vultures. Going along with this notion they cannot be tamed because their overriding compulsion is to eat you. Not even THIS would work...

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Roland (see edit history)

[Cr0wst0rm]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:49 AM, Blake_ said:

They chose an easy path sometime ago (U M A) ... and then decided to do it the easy way (individual models) but repeated the process several times until it became waaaaAaay more time consuming, when a character creator with Zd stuff could've been made from scratch with lesser fuss in about the same time as those 3 tryouts.

 

That was a mistake and resulted in huge costs, mainly in gameplay for us. An in-house modular character creator system would've consumed a lot less texture space with more variety as a result and way less repetition. 

 

Plz fix thiz or I quit breezin'

 

This^, they would save much more time on z's with modular way, they instead chose easy way out. But it can still be fixed, they would just need to take them apart and shape them around the parts that would be modular for more flexibility to allow for more variation... It is never too late

[falloutcloud]

2 hours ago, Cr0wst0rm said:

This^, they would save much more time on z's with modular way, they instead chose easy way out. But it can still be fixed, they would just need to take them apart and shape them around the parts that would be modular for more flexibility to allow for more variation... It is never too late

This sounds like it would take a lot of work and time to change. I believe they're trying to finish up their current features and get the game to gold which is probably the best business decision as they can start hyping the fans up with their next projects. Like 7 Days to Die 2: Fortnight

[Jost Amman]

6 hours ago, Cr0wst0rm said:

This^, they would save much more time on z's with modular way, they instead chose easy way out. But it can still be fixed, they would just need to take them apart and shape them around the parts that would be modular for more flexibility to allow for more variation... It is never too late

I suppose switching to a new modular system for zombie models would entail a complete rework also of the animation system?

[Guppycur]

11 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

I suppose switching to a new modular system for zombie models would entail a complete rework also of the animation system?

Naw, you bake all of the variants into the animation then just turn the meshes on and off at spawn.

 

So I'd take a base zombie, give it a pink jacket.  Then I'd add a blue jacket.  I'd rig it with both on.

 

During spawn, I'd decide to show no jacket, the pink one, or the blue one.

 

...this is the method I use.

 

There's probably a *much* better method I'm simply not aware of. 

 

...but since I'm using the same mesh for the jackets, it's just the texture that gets added.

 

Can probably do some cool shader stuff in code on the jacket to achieve the same effect without the extra textures. 

[mstdv inc]

Zombies with different clothes, maybe accessories or even primitive melee weapons fit perfectly into the current game.But to all those who want a variety of zombies like in DL or L4D.Don't you think that zombies are a faceless mass there?Can you quickly remember what at least a dozen zombies from these games look like?In 7D2D, every zombie is unique, he is a personality, he is a zombie personality I don't know how for others, for me they have already become something more than a faceless mass.They have names, unique looks, and some have unique sounds and animations.Hello, Arlene, hold the bat on the head!Hey fatty, catch an arrow!Spider enough screaming and so my head hurts! Woof?Do I hear woof?It hurts Wolf.Mr. Ferral is a wolf! A damn bird that cosplays a headcrab and wants to jump on my head! I know you all.I'm glad to see you.Do I have something similar to zombies from other games?Very unlikely.

A variety of zombies will not hurt.But only within the framework of this game.Taking whole chunks of other games and trying to cram them in here is not right.

Edited September 30, 2022 by mstdv inc (see edit history)

[Evilracc0on]

 So I come with a very sincere request, this morning my friend passed away who was our group builder and I was hoping that there was a sneaky way you could add him as a Easter egg, we played this game all time. He passed away at the age of 55 in a car accident. His IGN was Saintwulf. if need a photo or something, I can provide something. 

[alexd]

So, why the change in the water "rebalance"?
Is it unrealistic to have water stored in jars? 

Where will we be able to store water for long term use?
As a beginner, I found it annoying to constantly rehydrate.
I don't drink that much water in real life why should I have to in a pretend world game. 😕
I like realism but if it gets to the point where I'm doing the same thing as in real life

then it defeats the purpose of escapism. Just saying. smh
 

Edited September 30, 2022 by alexd (see edit history)

[Syphon583]

26 minutes ago, alexd said:

So, why the change in the water "rebalance"?

To make survival in the game harder. The survival aspect is incredibly easy right now.

26 minutes ago, alexd said:

Is it unrealistic to have water stored in jars? 

No, but if you think about the multitude or other liquids, foods, chemicals that come in containers in the game, most of them already don't return an empty container. It's not only about making the game more challenging, but it's more consistent.

26 minutes ago, alexd said:

Where will we be able to store water for long term use?

Water is still represented as a unit of liquid in a jar. The removal of an empty jar doesn't change that. Water will still be stored the same way it always has (though there's talk that stack sizes might change). The only difference is that once you drink it, the "jar" is not returned.

26 minutes ago, alexd said:

As a beginner, I found it annoying to constantly rehydrate.
I don't drink that much water in real life why should I have to in a pretend world game. 😕
I like realism but if it gets to the point where I'm doing the same thing as in real life

then it defeats the purpose of escapism. Just saying. smh

I get a little lost here. You say that in real life, you don't drink water that much, but then you argue that this game is being too realistic by making you drink water too often? Regardless, I'm curious what you think is too much rehydration. Unless you're spending the majority of the day doing high-stamina activity like mining, you shouldn't have to drink more than 2-3 drinks a day in-game. Compare that to real life where you really should drink a lot more than that. This game is hardly realistic in that respect.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Syphon583 (see edit history)

[alexd]

@Syphon583 

In the beginning of the game, I was drinking about 8 drinks a day probably because I was chopping wood a lot, breaking rocks, and having to explore to make a camp.
A lot to do in the beginning to prepare to survive for the first night.
(Many are now saying that drinking 8 glasses of water is not needed in real life. Which if that's what the game is trying to get me to do, I don't realistically do that but that's

probably a whole different discussion.)

I just feel that spending a lot of time getting water plus food on top of that could be a turn off for some beginners.
At this point, of course I would adopt but let's not make it too difficult for the beginner.
I also I believe taking too much time seeking water and food can or may be time consuming and can takes the focus away from the other fun tasks of the game.
Some of us only have so much time per week to spend on the game. 
I do enjoy the game. My family and I play it every Friday night  but that's about it. Not much other time so it takes time to achieve other
objectives especially if we are worrying too much about water and food.

I just wanted to throw that out there. I hope everything works out.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate it.
 

[meganoth]

1 hour ago, alexd said:

@Syphon583 

In the beginning of the game, I was drinking about 8 drinks a day probably because I was chopping wood a lot, breaking rocks, and having to explore to make a camp.
A lot to do in the beginning to prepare to survive for the first night.
(Many are now saying that drinking 8 glasses of water is not needed in real life. Which if that's what the game is trying to get me to do, I don't realistically do that but that's

probably a whole different discussion.)

I just feel that spending a lot of time getting water plus food on top of that could be a turn off for some beginners.
At this point, of course I would adopt but let's not make it too difficult for the beginner.
I also I believe taking too much time seeking water and food can or may be time consuming and can takes the focus away from the other fun tasks of the game.
Some of us only have so much time per week to spend on the game. 
I do enjoy the game. My family and I play it every Friday night  but that's about it. Not much other time so it takes time to achieve other
objectives especially if we are worrying too much about water and food.

I just wanted to throw that out there. I hope everything works out.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate it.
 

 

8 per day is too much. Are you drinking only water jars?

Make tea and you will get 2,5 times as much water out of a jar. Later you can make pure mineral water that is 6 times better

 

[flukebreaker]

On 3/16/2022 at 1:02 PM, Roland said:

When you max out a skill, the probability bonus granted by perks for finding the corresponding magazine for that skill drops off.

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but has anyone pushed back on this? This seems senseless. What's the advantage to this? The books aren't taking the place of other loot, and still have value even once the skill is maxed (either selling, or sharing with co-ops), so why drop off the advantage we earned? This would also incentivize hovering at 99/100, for instance, which is a very odd incentive to give a player.

[Doomofman]

19 minutes ago, flukebreaker said:

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but has anyone pushed back on this? This seems senseless. What's the advantage to this? The books aren't taking the place of other loot, and still have value even once the skill is maxed (either selling, or sharing with co-ops), so why drop off the advantage we earned? This would also incentivize hovering at 99/100, for instance, which is a very odd incentive to give a player.

 

If you only needed 1 more magazine to finish Shotguns, why would you hold off just to keep collecting more Shotgun magazines over other kinds of magazines?

Edited September 30, 2022 by Doomofman (see edit history)

[jorbascrumps]

10 minutes ago, Doomofman said:

If you only needed 1 more magazine to finish Shotguns, why would you hold off just to keep collecting more Shotgun magazines over other kinds of magazines?

 

Presumably for the aforementioned selling/ sharing. Only really a concern for those looking for a meta game imo.

[Roland]

5 hours ago, flukebreaker said:

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but has anyone pushed back on this? This seems senseless. What's the advantage to this? The books aren't taking the place of other loot, and still have value even once the skill is maxed (either selling, or sharing with co-ops), so why drop off the advantage we earned? This would also incentivize hovering at 99/100, for instance, which is a very odd incentive to give a player.

The bonus doesn’t make it rain and pour down magazines of your chosen perk. It primarily ensures that you’ll never find yourself perked heavily into something and never not find the mags for that perk. If you want to hover at the penultimate magazine and forego the ability to craft the blue version of the highest tier item in that tree then go ahead. I can’t imagine myself feeling an incentive to not have the best weapon I can possibly craft in the game just so that I can continue to find a particular magazine I no longer need at an almost imperceptibly higher rate than all the other magazines. 
 

As for giving extra copies to others…why? You can already craft the best. They don’t need the recipes unlocked since they have you. Just craft them one of whatever you can do that they can’t. There isn’t really a need for multiple people to be able to craft the same best things. Mags don’t give any skill benefits.  They are purely unlocks for crafting recipes. 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Roland (see edit history)

[Blake_]

19 hours ago, Cr0wst0rm said:

This^, they would save much more time on z's with modular way, they instead chose easy way out. But it can still be fixed, they would just need to take them apart and shape them around the parts that would be modular for more flexibility to allow for more variation... It is never too late

It does take time to pull appart and 'rerig' a 3d model .Nevertheless I'm with you on this. They can afford  delays in order to do it right. This game can benefit immensely from that choice. Yes, doing it now could take from 10 to 18 months from start to finish, but what of it? It can even be a DLC and not count as a core system. Human npcs though  will be awful with repetition, so will player models. 

[Kalnazzar]

The one thing I want is a base hub station to upgrade my base blocks. If you start off building low tier like wood' then you always have a few hard-to-reach block's that you have to find your way back to if you want to fully upgrade everything. Have it so you stick the mats into a hub and it upgrades your base block's. 

[Damolann]

9 hours ago, Roland said:

As for giving extra copies to others…why? You can already craft the best. They don’t need the recipes unlocked since they have you. Just craft them one of whatever you can do that they can’t. There isn’t really a need for multiple people to be able to craft the same best things. Mags don’t give any skill benefits.  They are purely unlocks for crafting recipes. 

Probably because in every game there are those who consider themselves completionists and MUST have all the recipes, skills, etc. themselves.  It's also nice not having to wait until someone in your group logs on to make something if you die and lose it  or to make it for you in the first place.  People have lives that don't revolve around games so the one person who can make that best item might not be on for a couple days.

[Gamida]

10 hours ago, Roland said:

As for giving extra copies to others…why? You can already craft the best. They don’t need the recipes unlocked since they have you. Just craft them one of whatever you can do that they can’t. There isn’t really a need for multiple people to be able to craft the same best things. Mags don’t give any skill benefits.  They are purely unlocks for crafting recipes. 

 

1 hour ago, Damolann said:

Probably because in every game there are those who consider themselves completionists and MUST have all the recipes, skills, etc. themselves.  It's also nice not having to wait until someone in your group logs on to make something if you die and lose it  or to make it for you in the first place.  People have lives that don't revolve around games so the one person who can make that best item might not be on for a couple days.

 

Also I was wondering if the mags have changed in A21 or if I am interpreting the info wrong in A20 mags. From what I understood you not only got a better tool as you leveled up Miner 69'er but your tool and block damage increased as well.  Does that mean in A21 that if I can make a level 5 tool and I give it to someone who only can make a level 1 that the extra tool and block damage is transferred with the tool I made. In image below it looks like level one is highlighted in both pics but I am hovering over level 1 and level 5 as you can see by reading the info.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Gamida (see edit history)

[Keyller76]

Hello,

 

Do you plan to improve the Electricity system?

 

For example, on a battery bank I don't understand why I can't connect both a Solar Station and a Gas Generator at same time.

I could use the Solar Station most of the time, and when needed recharge the batteries with gas.

If the system would be too efficient, you could add a risk of overvoltage that would damage the batteries, for example. Or add a new transformator block to allow connect multiple energy source...

 

And for aesthetic reasons, allow to put electric wires directly in the block, maybe with another tool. But if the block is destroyed, then the wire is cut.

 

Thank you

[Survager]

I have always been confused by one moment in the game when creating weapons or tools. I'm leveling up a perk and I want to create, for example, a pistol, but it turns out that I don't have enough parts to create a pistol. At the same time, I would have had enough detail if I didn't level up. The player never knows how many parts it will take to create an item before leveling up.
In Alpha 21, with the new quality enhancement system, players will likely automatically read the journals they find without even thinking about what they have read and what it will affect.
How do you feel about allowing the player to choose the quality of the crafted item?

[Roland]

8 hours ago, Gamida said:

Also I was wondering if the mags have changed in A21 or if I am interpreting the info wrong in A20 mags.

There is nothing like the A21 mags in A20. Skill in using a weapon is attached to the perk bought by the player and not infused into the tool itself. If I can make a level 5 tool and give it to a player it will be just like as if they found a level 5 tool in loot. Their skill with that tool will depend on their own perk level and not mine. 

[NukemDed]

hey @madmole

a long time ago i raised with you the concept of overspeccing in an attribute and getting a big bonus as a result. eg if you are lvl 10 str and then gob up a cigar so you are effectively level 11, you could get a juicy bonus to some or all strength stuff. moria (waaaay back in the day) and diablo 1 had that sort of uber buff. (in diablo, fire ball at lvl 5 above natural max skill level was devastating 🙂  )

your reply at the time was very encouraging. are you still thinking about that at all?