All the #gates

[Roland]

Communities have history and the most interesting happenings in our forums are the various nerdrage-filled gates that would occur time and again during the last four years. Some seem ridiculous now and others are probably a bit "too soon" for anyone to feel comfortable mentioning. But suck it up because here is the comprehensive list as far as I can recall and I'd love for others to contribute if you remember....

 

Price Gate: This is the first gate I experienced when I joined the forum. The game had recently made the transition to Steam Early Access from the Kickstarter campaign and people were annoyed that it had gone on sale during the 2013 Winter Sale for $29.99. But in February the game reduced in regular price to $29.99 which incensed all the loyal kickstarters who had paid $34.99. It was a war of words that returned again when the game eventually lowered to $24.99 as the regular price. Interestingly nobody ever complained about the $10 price during Summer and Winter sales....

 

Diamond Block Terrain Gate: A portion of the community wanted terrain voxels to have the same blocky structure as the player made blocks because it was easier to mine. The devs went back and forth and finally settled on the diamond blocks and the rage was hot for a time.

 

Minimap Removal Gate: The game used to have a minimap with radar blips for the zombies ala Aliens that would turn green yellow or red. When TFP made it clear their decision was to permanently remove it there were predictions that the game would die since it would be impossible to know where the zombies were coming from.

 

Forged Ahead Gate: Before perks and skills were the way to learn certain recipes we had books that had to be randomly found. Even the forge couldn't be built until the book was found and sometimes the book couldn't be found for 2-3 weeks in game. This caused quite a bit of ire and lots of debate on the forums about whether random books were good for gating essential recipes.

 

Thong Gate: There used to only be a male and a female character. In a series of preview screenshots Madmole showed what the female would look like unclothed and our cheeks got a bit pink as we viewed both her cheeks swelling round a thong. The forums erupted in debate over that thong.

 

2-Block Jump Gate: For a short time a bug was left in the game that let players do a sort of double jump to be able to "climb" over a two block high wall. When TFP rectified the situation it sent a good portion of the community over the edge. Builders claimed they'd never be able to build as well without it. Hardcore players claimed it made the game too easy. The word "carebear" became outlawed....

 

Head Tilt Gate: One of the things that came at the same time as 1-block movement was a new movement feature that made it so that when you strafed while crouched or when you entered a 1-block opening the camera would automatically tilt the view. The movement caused anger from those who felt motion sickness but white hot rage soon exploded when many who liked the feature didn't seem to care that it made the game unplayable for others and wanted it kept in regardless. It was brother against brother on the forums but TFP ultimately snipped it.

 

1-Block Movement Gate: TFP claimed that a glitch allowed players to crouch and move through a single block opening and so they removed the ability and the howls of dismay were enough to make a Screamer take notice. The main complaint thread over the removal of 1-block movement is among the longest in forum history. But to no avail. TFP said it would cause too much work to redesign POIs with the ability in mind.

 

Broken Leg Gate: When Alpha 11 dropped it included a new debuff: The Broken Leg. No more could people just willy nilly jump off the roof of their 3-story base. Now they had to use ladders or aim for hay bales or descend stairs. The rage was intense and the game had officially lost its fun as people began for the first time hobbling around at reduced speed.

 

Leveled Loot Gate: The pimps announced that they would implement a system that would increase the probability of finding better quality loot as the player leveled up and got better. A portion of the community who had played other games using versions of leveled loot got up in arms and the debating began...and still hasn't ended for a few.

 

Nurse Gate: From Alpha 12 onwards the pimps have converted their old zombie models to new high def models. When the nurse model was created and shown for the first time the change from something that looked like an actual nurse to something that looked like a stripper nurse made a lot of people upset. They had no idea at the time that actual strippers would eventually be added.

 

Zombie Pain Gate: For a long time TFP touted their amazing sessions of Motion Captured Animation. Everyone was super excited for that future day when the animation would get hooked up to new zombie models. Finally, the result was shown and...people hated that zombies were showing pain by grabbing their arm or leg when shot. Several theses on acceptable zombie cannon were composed and submitted but the devs didn't care.

 

Lava Monster Gate: At around the same time the new burned zombies were shown and they looked like lava monsters from a fantasy game. Outrage swarmed around the forums and this time....TFP listened. They toned down the red glow and made the charred burnt zombies the way they are today.

 

Chimney Gate: When the new dilapidated abandoned house pois were shown the chimneys were uneven stacks of bricks and were seriously ugly. This so offended the aesthetic sensibilities of some that arguments broke out over the appearance of the chimneys and yet here they remain.

 

Streamline Gate: In Alpha 13 TFP junked its old grid based crafting system and went to list crafting. At the same time they streamlined and unified the GUI across all workstation, map, crafting, and other screens. They also removed some of the intermediate steps of crafting by trading in sticks, and planks, sharp rocks, for generic wood and stones and ending the ability to craft gun parts via clay molds. Several recipes got streamlined and those opposed to it raised the warcry of "They're Dumbing it Down!!!!"

 

Upgrade Gate: In Alpha 14 a new function for construction tools was revealed. Blocks could be upgraded all the way to steel as an alternative to building using frames of the appropriate type. Instead of having to destroy a wood block to replace it with concrete now the wood block could simply be upgraded to concrete. This magic wand effect of the construction tools caused a huge hullabaloo that still hasn't completely blown over.

[Roland]

All the #gates

 

Unsorted: Suggest where to insert these in the timeline cuz I'm not sure.

 

Bedrock/Perch Gate: This debate is one that never dies and never resolves and probably never will as there seem to be two firmly established factions. Those who believe threats should always exist everywhere and those who believe there should be safe havens. Whether the argument takes the form of bedrock bases or high perches on stilts or whether zombies should be able to break concrete at all-- it always boils down to safe zones vs no safe zones.

 

Killer Tree Gate: When the new trees were added after the Unity update the animation changed from a tree that went POOF to a tree that fell over. But the trees caused massive damage to anything they touched as they fell and players debated whether such a feature was worthwhile. People for the death trees accused their opponents of "standing too close" or of being "too unskilled to get out of the way" and bragged they'd never been killed by a tree ever. Opponents sited glitch after glitch for the reason they were killed unfairly. TFP removed the feature.

 

Limited World Gate: When random gen was first implemented it was infinite. Problems occurred though for a sizeable portion of the community as they got further away from (0,0). Shakes and impossible weapon aiming made the game unplayable past a certain distance out. The devs eventually limited the world to a 10000 block radius circle surrounded by impassable radiation. Those who felt that 314 square kilometers was too limiting made their voices heard...so far to no avail.

 

1-Shot Gate: When Alpha 15 released one of the changes was to limit craftable quality to 500 and the top end block damage of the best tools were nerfed slightly which resulted in the loss of the ability to be able to one-shot stone when mining. This put a serious crimp in the plans of people trying to build a 1:1 replica of the crashed Star Destroyer in the Force Awakens and similarly ambitious projects and the Dark Side of the forums came out.

 

Meat Gate: When TFP was dumb---ah---unifying everything one of the casualties that went was rabbit meat, venison, bear meat, and pork. It all just turned into generic "meat". Hilariously this all happened at the same time the chicken was added to the game and people were excited for a new meat to go with it and new recipes as well but instead...just "meat". TFP has promised diversification but the complaints that everything tastes like chicken continue...

 

Shadow Gate: Zombies used to run in the dark instead of just at night. So indoors they would run and as a side effect they also ran when in the shade of trees. Very suddenly and frighteningly they would start running when they hit any shade. TFP removed it and people were upset. Then TFP removed any kind of running during the day at all and that effectively ended the shadow gate definitively.

 

Horde Mode Gate: The game used to have a simple Arena mode for PvP and also Horde Mode. Horde Mode took the tower defense elements of the main game and purified them into an amazingly well designed little minigame. At some point during the development of smooth terrain and random gen TFP decided that horde mode could be replicated "well enough" by changing a few settings in the main game. The fans of Horde Mode punched the air and waved their torches but it was all useless. Horde Mode was gone and has not yet returned.

[Roland]

All the #gates

 

Console Gate: Few issues polarized the forum more than this one. Accusations of TFP selling out, abandoning the PC version, and betraying the kickstarters were rampant. Everyone who looked at leveled loot, streamlining, and upgrading features as dumbing down the game nodded wisely at each other and congratulated themselves on knowing that all those hated features were because of the console port. Although things have settled a bit the console release literally has split the forum....

 

Release Time Gate: This debate between shorter alpha cycles vs longer alpha cycles has been a part of the forums since the beginning but it really burned the brightest during the 8 month long Alpha 15 cycle as we waited for Alpha 16 to drop.

 

Madmole Video Gate: Madmole got fed up with complaints about his videos and took various actions which resulted in forum users debating with each other about the ethics of disabling youtube comments, the virtues of mechanical keyboards, the value of motion blur, and whether a developer should be l33t at his own game.

 

Streamer Gate: TFP formed the Stream Team in the final month before Alpha 16 dropped and announced that three streamers would get to showcase Alpha 16 gameplay early. The forums erupted into those against the venture and those for it and those who didn't care.

 

Earn It Gate: Madmole has at times been a bit brutally honest in his feelings when addressing fans. He had used the word "stupid" with a user which resulted in negative reaction. The worst reaction ever seen so far was when he posted that people who wanted to play the game earlier like the chosen streamers should earn it as the streamers did. The outrage to this comment spread all the way to Alpha Centauri and then even further to Reddit and the Steam forums....

 

Zombie Child Gate: This is a recurring argument that has waxed and waned throughout the timeline of this game. But the long development time of A16 created the perfect storm of crankiness and nothing better to do and unleashed several threads on the topic of why the game should or should not have children to kill.

 

Stripper Gate: Strippers had been in the game but they were enhanced for A16 and let loose all over the world instead of staying tucked safely behind the barred windows and doors of The Booby Trap. This led to more outrage about nudity in a game and lots of people questioning people's parenting choices and opining on how blood and guts have something in common with sexual themes.

 

Spamcrafting Gate: This issue had been discussed but when TFP took it away and in addition added some additional stringent progression slowing features the debate got hotter than ever before. This one is still pretty fresh. I think a new thread on it opened today in fact....

 

Gate Gate: Level gating was a new feature of A16 that did not set well with a good portion of the community. Calls for its removal and using it as poster child for overhauling the entire progression system have been loud.

 

Harvest Gate: This was short lived but very hot when A16 came out. Harvesting was changed in A16 to be dependent on the quality of the tool used. At first while most players were in their first week and using primitive tools the amount of wood and stone that could be harvested was severely nerfed from what it had been previously. As more and more players got to the mid and late game, however, the outrage dwindled in strength.

 

Stamina Gate: A16.1 brought an unwelcome change to stamina for many in the community. Stamina cost for using iron and steel tools was severely increased making using those tools a bad choice during the early game before perks and higher mining tool levels could be earned and coffee imbibed. Quite a few threads and posts debating the issue emerged. The jury is still out on whether stamina will remain as it is or change to more like it was.

[Pille]

Thanks Roland for making this summary. You seem to be ... underemployed.^^ What about broken legs in A10 or A11 (when you climbed down ladders). Wasn't there a broken leg gate?

[Roland]

Thanks Roland for making this summary. You seem to be ... underemployed.^^ What about broken legs in A10 or A11 (when you climbed down ladders). Wasn't there a broken leg gate?

 

Its late Saturday night and I got this idea and couldn't go to bed before I'd started it. Yes, I will add that one-- good memory. I still remember in A11 falling off a cliff in the plains (remember all those sheer cliffs and canyons?) and my friend's leg broke instead of mine. Awesome.

[Doctor3D]

There's a lot more but I don't know if half of them were just among my circle or in my own head

 

One of the more obscures one I can think of off the top of my head was the crouch animation that came in the same version the Bow was introduced. A11 I believe. Hard to remember it as it was short lived - but basically there was a wobbling effect on the camera whenever you crouched. Huge uproar. Lots of reports of motion sickness, dizziness, and vomiting. #CrouchCamGate

 

 

 

...And yeah cool thread Roland.

[Roland]

There's a lot more but I don't know if half of them were just among my circle or in my own head

 

One of the more obscures one I can think of off the top of my head was the crouch animation that came in the same version the Bow was introduced. A11 I believe. Hard to remember it as it was short lived - but basically there was a wobbling effect on the camera whenever you crouched. Huge uproar. Lots of reports of motion sickness, dizziness, and vomiting. #CrouchCamGate

 

 

 

...And yeah cool thread Roland.

 

 

lol...for sure I remember that. People wanted it removed because it made them sick and others wanted it to stay for....some reason. I was on the side of getting rid of it. Made me feel like I was flying a fighter jet rather than moving a person. A bit of it does still remains-- I think if you jump while crouched and bump your head the camera tilts sideways ever so briefly.

[HubbaBubbaD]

Great list, lots of memories even though I've only been with the game since A9. I still miss crawling through 1 block spaces, though....

[Roland]

Great list, lots of memories even though I've only been with the game since A9. I still miss crawling through 1 block spaces, though....

 

yup. But all those changes both the bad and the good are what makes early access so amazing. I joined at the end of Alpha 5. Back then an alpha only lasted a few weeks to a month. The main complaint was that wipes were too common instead of the development cycle being so long....lol. In fact the last time I built anything major was Alpha 8 because the wipes were too devastating to me. I told myself I wouldn't do a big build again until the game went gold. That's taken a bit longer than I imagined..heheh

 

Here is what I did in Alpha 8 at the southern end of the Ghost town in Navezgane before there was random gen. I know its nothing compared to what some people can do but for me this was major.

 

[Crater Creator]

I don't like the linguistic practice of sticking -gate on every controversy. It's too hyperbolic to use for everything, like snowmegeddon. But this list is thorough, and it describes each one in an unbiased way, so . You might even sticky it, so users can realize when they're about to bring up a topic that's been talked to death. Not that they shouldn't be able to, but it's good to know.

 

You seem to have missed one of the biggest ongoing controversies, though: the debate over whether zombies should be able to reach players in all places, like underground and on stilts, or if there should be safe places where players can outright avoid engaging them.

 

It's going to be hard for us, collectively, to avoid talking about any of these in particular in this thread without re-igniting the fires.

[Aldranon]

I'd like two orders of stripper gate with a side order of nurse gate sauce. Hold the whine and cheese.

 

Oh, and a coke.

[7daysguy]

Broken Leg Gate: When Alpha 11 dropped it included a new debuff: The Broken Leg. No more could people just willy nilly jump off the roof of their 3-story base. Now they had to use ladders or aim for hay bales or descend stairs. The rage was intense and the game had officially lost its fun as people began for the first time hobbling around at reduced speed.

 

Ok, wait... No. Broken leg gate was a lot more than this. It dragged across 2 alphas I believe, and it was alpha 12 where our legs were transformed into match sticks. There was a time where you literally couldn't go for a walk without breaking your leg. I was never against the mechanic, but it was broken for a while.

 

There was a minor gate, "walking on sand" gate, where the first time movement speed slowed down on sand it was too drastically reduced. Madmole said it was because a programmer entered the value.

 

Oh, and I suppose you could say there was an EAC gate.

 

 

[edit] and don't forget killer trees.

 

[edit 2]

 

or infinite world gen gate

 

or 1-shot-mining gate

[Mephistopheles]

Well done, and appreciated for not being a dev whitewash. You forgot Trolland Gate though, aka Mine-wrenching Gate.

[grrmisfit]

What about underground gate.. where some think how others should play or not play

[A Nice Cup of Tea]

Thong Gate: There used to only be a male and a female character. In a series of preview screenshots Madmole showed what the female would look like unclothed and our cheeks got a bit pink as we viewed both her cheeks swelling round a thong. The forums erupted in debate over that thong.

 

Nurse Gate: From Alpha 12 onwards the pimps have converted their old zombie models to new high def models. When the nurse model was created and shown for the first time the change from something that looked like an actual nurse to something that looked like a stripper nurse made a lot of people upset. They had no idea at the time that actual strippers would eventually be added.

 

Stripper Gate: Strippers had been in the game but they were enhanced for A16 and let loose all over the world instead of staying tucked safely behind the barred windows and doors of The Booby Trap. This led to more outrage about nudity in a game and lots of people questioning people's parenting choices and opining on how blood and guts have something in common with sexual themes.

 

I'm seeing a common theme here!

 

Perhaps someone should stage an intervention, letting madmole only create the male game-models and giving the creation of female game-models to one of the women on staff.

[Crater Creator]

What about underground gate.. where some think how others should play or not play

 

That's what I said, but in a less loaded way.

[resemblelife]

Definitely killer trees mentioned by 7daysguy, and the various cave debates:

 

-- caves op, too much ore

-- large vs small caves

-- structural integrity issues caused by caves

 

I do miss the original caves, which were larger, complex and completely cool to explore when they first came out.

[Agarthan]

I still think the game should have a prone/roll/crawl/hang/vault for the player and it wouldn't take too much to fix the POI's just stick and extra wood barricade on all the doors

[Druga Runda]

Price Gate: Was not here, but obvious is obvious - keep the price a little longer or give something extra to the original kickstarters, etc... regular sales do not incense people, it is about public relations and giving customers the feeling that they got something for their money other than ability to play a few weeks earlier.

Diamond Block Terrain Gate: Have to say, if there was an option for regular blocky terrain, I would use it, but that ship has sailed

Minimap Removal Gate: Same here - wish there was a minimap

Forged Ahead Gate: I am glad random books are not the only way to acquire essential tools/skills anymore

Thong Gate: That was silly to be upset about

2-Block Jump Gate: We should be able to jump 2 blocks and so should zombies

 

Head Tilt Gate: It would be a great to have the option, but removal due to motion sickness was the correct call

 

1-Block Movement Gate: That one would be REALLLY great to have back, but yes, redesign etc... too high a hurdle.

 

Broken Leg Gate: That was a good introduction, broken legs are good in my book.

 

Leveled Loot Gate: Including me, leveled loot sucks, even if I started playing to move my scavenging skill up to 70 points first, before anything else, which gives a bit too much good stuff early, but hey

 

Nurse Gate: People and boobs

 

Zombie Pain Gate: I don't care either

 

Lava Monster Gate: Yeah.. I am not too high on looks, at least not this one

 

Chimney Gate: That was interesting (what's important to some is quite amazing)

 

Streamline Gate: Dumb it down it did, game would have been better with the old model, and especially some features of the old interface

 

Upgrade Gate:Magic effect is actually "dumbing down". I will still play off course, and the course has been set, however it was the wrong one.

Console Gate: We cannot blame devs for wanting to make more money, and ultimately (luckily I feel) the game has been dumbed down less than I expected

 

Release Time Gate: I am all for not releasing until 2037, talk about value for money.

 

 

Madmole Video Gate: I am in the majority who like MM videos

 

Streamer Gate: Didin't care (that much )

 

Earn It Gate: I fully support MM here

 

Zombie Child Gate: I can live just fine without children to kill

 

Stripper Gate: I'd rather have stippers, and I bet children would rather have strippers too.

 

Spamcrafting Gate: Gates are not the best mechanism *insert 5000 word essay here* to address this problem

 

Gate Gate: Gates should be removed :revolution:

 

Harvest Gate: Fine with this change

 

Stamina Gate: I like stamina like it is, pls leave

 

And there you have it, the game made some moves for the worse and some for the better, but overall it has not been ruined, on the contrary, the sum of current parts is probably the best there was (even though it could have been better, if some turns were not taken :cough: cough: )

 

Tx for the trip down the memory lane!

[FileMachete]

Nice idea and nicely done Roland! I think you should consider adding an eyepatch to your profile pic...

 

Like the guy in 300 who kept the history and lost an eye.

 

Dilios: "Hardly, my lord, it's just an eye. The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare."

[Bubo]

LOL I remember all of these. Thanks for the memories.

[Jedo]

Good thinking to help give perspective like this, especially to us newer people. Each new "-gate" is not the end of the world!

[Kuldiin]

Deathbytree Gate?

[Vedui]

I really think this thread should be stick'ied and added on by Roland as we uncover more gates! Yaay!

 

Maybe even label and number them properly. Then we can stop arguing and simply go "Gate 4 - go read (link)", everyone will stop arguing and we will all be friends!

 

Yeah ... ok, maybe that's asking too much

 

Still nice to read, especially having come in midway of the gates

 

/Vedui -

[Laz Man]

yup. But all those changes both the bad and the good are what makes early access so amazing. I joined at the end of Alpha 5. Back then an alpha only lasted a few weeks to a month. The main complaint was that wipes were too common instead of the development cycle being so long....lol. In fact the last time I built anything major was Alpha 8 because the wipes were too devastating to me. I told myself I wouldn't do a big build again until the game went gold. That's taken a bit longer than I imagined..heheh

 

Here is what I did in Alpha 8 at the southern end of the Ghost town in Navezgane before there was random gen. I know its nothing compared to what some people can do but for me this was major.

 

 

Ronaldgate, that needs to be a wilderness POI or a set piece in Nav. Make it so!!!