1 hour ago, FramFramson said:I don't really hold this against the devs very much because they do allow us the thing single most important thing a game dev can do these days: Allow us to mod the game.
It really is impossible to please all players. Some complaints will be silly or small, and some will be big or legitimate, but may involve a different philosophy about how the game "should" be played. Modding the game allows us to tailor our experiences to what we want more precisely, instead of desperately hoping some random employee will do what we, a random individual customer, wants. Any game that leaves you mostly at the mercy of a corporation has a very high chance of disappointing and frustrating players, often to the point where the game is intolerable.
The freedom and agency to fix our own problems seems like "lazy" development, but no, it's one of the the most important things a game's developers can give to players. It also requires work for the game to accommodate it - the true "lazy" option is not putting in code to enable mods in the first place.
I will say that of all the games I've played. Only 7DTD made my ass burn.
- I've played Minecraft for countless hours, I was happy with everything there BEFORE 1.16.5
- I played Raft when it was in alpha. And I played the full release. The game has really been finalized and it has enough content. The game from 2016 to release in 2022 was able to overhaul the visuals, gameplay. And on release had a story. This is the best example to show how the developers made a WORKABLE survival game that hasn't required development since 2013.
- I played The Forest when it was also in development. And it too made it to release and works adequately. With the full spectrum of visual achievement.
- Don't Strave is a great example as well It has a unique setting and style that makes it feel fresh to this day. And it has everything from survival, it didn't need to add RPG component to destroy the core gameplay
- The Long Dark is a great representation of the winter apocalypse. And it was in active development too, but had more goals and mechanics, and better than the current 7DTD
- Unturned has a wonderful foundation that has been polished over the years and now has an active following from players because it can be run on a toaster, and there are an infinite number of curated maps. And open modding. With the Steam Workshop that was there in the first place
- Project Zomboid is a zombie survivalist APOGUE with a unique setting and total immersion in ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. What's more, it has Steam Workshop. Which is naturally not in 7DTD for 10 years.
- Palworld also has a lot of similarity with the survival genre. And it works almost perfectly. Although the game is also created from a random indie studio. And has an elaborate RPG element that is technically stretched too. But it doesn't evoke the same kind of revulsion as 7 days to Die. The game didn't need to go into early access to gather feedback from players. They knew what they were doing in the first place. And nurtured the idea to the very end, and even if it has a few flaws. It's three heads higher than a lot of AAA projects in terms of thoughtfulness. I really enjoyed playing it all the way through to the end, and I want more.
If I compare all these games to it. 7DTD can't beat any of these games in terms of gameplay. Because it's stuck in 2013 when it's still looking for a direction to go. And the developers wrote on the roadmap that plans can change. So they still haven't figured out what to improve or add. Because of that a lot of things are made on a quarter, or half working.
Of all the games I've listed, NONE of them have caused me such a wildly negative reaction as 7 days to die. But because of the concept is successful it draws me in, but apart from the concept there is nothing @%$#ing in the game. That's why I'm writing that it @%$#es me off, but I love this game.
Seriously I have no idea how TFP's work, do they even have an original intent? Did they even get together with all the developers in one group to discuss what their game was about? Because as a player I don't understand why it has so much, but the quality of the implementation of it all is at alpha testing level. I could give the example of Yandere Simulator which might fit the example of 7DTD, but let's be honest that there is one weaboo from 4chan and he is far from the best character to develop games through if; else. What we have here is a TEAM that consists of several YandereDevs who have no idea what they are doing.
I have explained it logically and I may be far wrong, but I as a player see the situation from this point of view. Maybe the developers have a plan, but it's so vague that I don't see it at all.
I'd be very happy to discuss what I'm wrong about personally, because I have so many questions I haven't asked in any game I've sat through so much.