Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[beerfly]

 

Realism was gone since the game was out in alpha 1, the fact you can mould iron with your barehands killed any realism it had already.

 

You should try playin with kitchen mittens, or accept it. Developing is a process. It takes time...

[Xtrakicking]

After a few years Minecraft hit a point where the sheer number of mods available started to degrade the overall quality of the game mainly because everyone had a different vision on what Minecraft should be, eventually though a few really good mods surfaced that were so good that they just ruled mainstream modding.

Mojang is one of the worst gaming companies in the history of gaming, worse than Activision, worse than EA, worse than anyone you can possibly think of, they were lazy, complacent, lacked vision and ultimately completely failed their loyal customers when they refused to replace their game engine when community modding evolved and threatened to outgrow it, in fact it was careening towards a cliff of self destruction and would have died a horrible death if Microsoft wouldn't have swooped in and saved it.

 

The Fun Pimps are NOT Mojang, they wont fail us like Mojang did.

 

You're forgetting that Minecraft is one of the most sold and successful games of all time, so I'm pretty sure TFP wouldn't mind being like them.

[crazywildfire]

Dear Survivors,

 

you do know what alpha means right? The more they add the longer it is going to take and let's not forget that the engine they build the game on had a update that made it where things will look and run better so this means they had to take everything and pretty much redo it. I guess they didn't have to but doing so is for the best. This takes time when the game isn't finished yet and still in development.

[fragtzack]

A17 response to the non-believing vermin.

 

[Xeen]

You're forgetting that Minecraft is one of the most sold and successful games of all time, so I'm pretty sure TFP wouldn't mind being like them.

 

You missed the point entirely, how did you do that?

[meganoth]

Don't get me wrong, but I think waiting for about a year for one update is quite long. ...

Buildinig a Base for so many hours just to get an update where you completely change RWG...Thats not funny.

 

Just accept the fact that any meaningful update (that doesn't just change the color of the trees but gets real features in) means people need a restart. If not, TFP would have to do double the work just for backwards compatibility.

 

So you only have the choice between a long time between updates or frequent restarts. Take your pick.

[Xtrakicking]

You missed the point entirely, how did you do that?

 

Care to explain?

[Ythill]

1: Randomized zombies with looks/stats randomized, for example nurse zombie can have between 70-130 health, do 8-18 damage, but have pretty much infinite looks for physical looks as the only thing thats static is either a male or female nurse outfit. Zombies should not be carbon copies of each other, its lore/immersion breaking for me.

Exactly this. I got involved in a meat-world 7DTD discussion with a fellow player last night, and this was one of the main topics. We were both looking forward to the UMA zombies and I understand that it didn't work, but I hope there are new solutions for how to greatly increase zombie variety. There are already multiple skins applied to the same frames (e.g. worker zombie and "tweaker" as we call him), maybe they can just do a bunch of skin work? Or at least change the colors of their clothing.

 

It's very detrimental to the immersion when you get a wandering horde of 16 zombies and there are only 3-4 types. And we literally avoid the snow biome, not because lumberjacks are too tough, but because fighting them in groups is too kitchy.

[The-Walking-Dad]

You missed the point entirely, how did you do that?

 

I think he was making a different point.

[Xtrakicking]

Exactly this. I got involved in a meat-world 7DTD discussion with a fellow player last night, and this was one of the main topics. We were both looking forward to the UMA zombies and I understand that it didn't work, but I hope there are new solutions for how to greatly increase zombie variety. There are already multiple skins applied to the same frames (e.g. worker zombie and "tweaker" as we call him), maybe they can just do a bunch of skin work? Or at least change the colors of their clothing.

 

It's very detrimental to the immersion when you get a wandering horde of 16 zombies and there are only 3-4 types. And we literally avoid the snow biome, not because lumberjacks are too tough, but because fighting them in groups is too kitchy.

 

I also agree. However, the implications of adding a zombie randomizer system are hard to endure. The devs already struggle with keeping the optimization and texture memory of the game at bay in its current state, just imagine the lag problems and the time it would take to implement such a system.

 

It would be an absolute dream come true if they managed to, though.

[skullpoker]

worker zombie and "tweaker" as we call him

 

lol me too. I have seen Business and Construction zombies doing the tweaker walk, like the zombie with the same skin as the crawler.

 

As for those Lumberjacks, kite them with a bow. They're pretty easy as long as they aren't running.

[Roland]

You missed the point entirely, how did you do that?

 

Well I felt you were much to harsh in your assessment of Mojang. Worst developers ever? They chose a model that encouraged modding. Their base game was meant to be a framework for hobby game makers to use and develop into their own visions and the engine that they chose made it possible for 100s of people to do so flying under the radar at work.

 

It's kind of like people who criticize TFP because there are mods that are more fun than the vanilla game. Well those mods wouldn't even be possible without TFP having the benevolent attitude they have towards modding their game. Mojang always seemed to have this same benevolent attitude towards modders and that quality puts them close to the top of what I value in a developer. They may have had some problems but certainly not the worst as you portrayed them and Microsoft didn't bail them out. Microsoft purchased them for a billion dollars.

 

Supposed crap developers sell their IP for 1 billion dollars? I don't think so.

[Maharin]

Supposed crap developers sell their IP for 1 billion dollars? I don't think so.

 

Stretch goal?

[Xeen]

Roland I was going to respond but you know what, never mind this isn't important enough to bother with.

My opinion is my opinion and I'm entitled to it.

[Bubo]

A17 response to the non-believing vermin.

 

[snip]

 

[SnowDog1942]

We were both looking forward to the UMA zombies and I understand that it didn't work, but I hope there are new solutions

 

One of our resident modders, i forget who, one somehow fixed the performance issues with UMA zeds. Unfortunately I dont think anyone commuicated the fix to Devs... so they gave up

[Pille]

You can already sort-of do this yourself.

 

Have a look in blocks.xml for the SpawnTrader block. Just use that as a base and make several blocks with different entities and then place however you like in prefabs.

 

A17 is going to make this a LOT more viable since the block ID limit is being removed. Sadly we're still restricted to the rotation degrees, but it's better than nothing.

 

I know but thanks for the hint. Imho expanding the prefab format would be more beneficial in the long run. Don't want to be forced to mod my blocks.xml to regain an old feature. And as you said, the rotations are restricted (+ the positions are restricted too).

[Ripperi]

Microsoft purchased them for a billion dollars.

 

I thought it was 2.5 billion?

[Trankitas]

؟Any progress with the faction system?

 

Any progress with bandits, natives, and other factions shown by Joel?

 

I love the game, keep moving foward!

[Guppycur]

One of our resident modders, i forget who, one somehow fixed the performance issues with UMA zeds. Unfortunately I dont think anyone commuicated the fix to Devs... so they gave up

 

StompyNZ most likely, and no not quite; even after "fixing" the issue, testing showed that they were still inferior to baked zombies... something due to them having more bones than necessary? I don't recall the exact comment... at any rate, Kin is definitely aware of the issue but as a company TFP decided to opt for baked zombies. You'll note that even most of those are now mostly just copies of one another.

[Zadwanaa]

Realism was gone since the game was out in alpha 1, the fact you can mould iron with your barehands killed any realism it had already.

 

but zombies are realistic?

[CplCritter]

I think the words immersion and realistic are getting too loose in definition on this thread. They have two different definitions but people are using them interchangeably in the wrong ways triggering a bunch of, "is carrying stacks of wood in a backpack realistic?" comments. The game has some realistic elements like gravity, but the focus is not to have a game more realistic in every detail, but something more immersive to keep you interested.

[Menace312]

but zombies are realistic?

 

An "idea" can be made plausible with a good explanation. I.E. zombie apocalypse.

 

Where is the explanation for, magically moulding metal in your hands?

 

But it does not need to be realistic... Just fun. Do it doesn't matter either way... It's mute.

[Survager]

Joel, Gazz, Roland, what about chance to break an item on workbench?

 

As I understand it, we will be able to unite weapons without modifications and other items on the workbench to get the best quality, since this is happening now at 16 Alpha.

 

 

Joel, Gazz, Roland and all peoples who read this, what do you think about adding a chance to break an item on workbench, a chance to improve an item on workbench, and some other chances that will depend on the level of the character's special skills?

 

Thanks.

[Pille]

but zombies are realistic?

 

They are "possible" (they are not directly contradictory to physics) or insufficiently defined allowing us to make their existence consistent with our universe. Even zombie spawns out of thin air are possible in real life but very unlikely.