My thoughts after playing alpha 17. Yes, I said 17.

[Buggi]

Are you suggesting that most features in the game are currently broken? That's a pretty sweeping and inaccurate statement.

 

Define a 'feature'.

 

Minibikes?

Zombie AI?

Structural Integrity?

Loot Balance?

Game performance?

Sleeper spawning?

 

These are the backbone of the game and they are all broken in one way or another.

 

Don't misunderstand me, I do love the game. But again, I love the concept, the execution and priorities of the dev team are a little baffling.

 

How many times has madmole redone the grass textures?

 

Toss me a current build of A17 and I'll revise my statements.

 

Plus, they still haven't made any attempt to make the game support mods. Yes it IS modable, but the ID's are still hard coded (Very bad), 3D assets cannot be added, and there is no API.

[Guppycur]

Minibikes work, and are going to work even better in a17.

Zombie AI works, and will work better in a17.

SI works, dunno what your issue is with that.

Loot Balance is just that, balance, so ... technically works, just maybe not to your liking.

Game Performance is fine on high end systems, and will be even better once the game reaches beta phase, the phase that actually handles this.

Sleeper Spawning works, and will work better in a17.

 

...and let's pretend that MM's only skillset is art, doesn't it make sense that he works on art? Do you want him on AI? Physics?

 

"haven't made any attempt to make the game support mods" is by FAR the most laughable thing you've ever said... probably the most laughable statement ANYONE here has ever said... do you realize that if that were true, there would be no mods?

 

You're utterly destroying the credibility of your well-earned frustration at this particular alpha's development cycle length by these statements. Id's are no longer hard coded in a17, I've added a CRAP ton of 3d assets to my mod, and there are what, 4, 5 API mods out there? Come on man...

 

They literally expose hard coded elements to XML just so we can mod them... that's effort on their part, it doesn't just appear magically.

[Roland]

I'll put to rest the suspense: no, it's not working yet.

 

Most of the stuff IN the game doesn't work yet.

 

Oops...Xbox player...

[Buggi]

These elements are in the game, and they are functional. Zombies can move, in circles much of the time

 

How do you know ID's are not hard-coded? I've not read any indication of this.

I just re-read the notes and the only reference to this was

Increased the block id limit to....[higher than it was] 1/26/18

 

How do you add 3D assets to this Unity game? Do you bundle them in Unity's Asset system?

 

There are mods that use a built-in mod API? I was not aware the game even LOOKED for custom DLL's. I've never found any indication to a modding API.

 

If I'm wrong about these things than so be it. But when it comes to A17, it's a sort of I'll believe it when I see it sort of thing. After 17 iterations of the game, I think it's time for a series of performance improvements. In War of the Walkers mod, the Forge is nearly impossible to use as the FPS lag is so high. I go from 60FPS to 1 when I open that thing.

[Karma]

Define a 'feature'.

 

Minibikes?

Zombie AI?

Structural Integrity?

Loot Balance?

Game performance?

Sleeper spawning?

 

These are the backbone of the game and they are all broken in one way or another.

 

Don't misunderstand me, I do love the game. But again, I love the concept, the execution and priorities of the dev team are a little baffling.

 

How many times has madmole redone the grass textures?

 

Toss me a current build of A17 and I'll revise my statements.

 

Plus, they still haven't made any attempt to make the game support mods. Yes it IS modable, but the ID's are still hard coded (Very bad), 3D assets cannot be added, and there is no API.

 

Define 'broken'.

 

Perhaps I misunderstood but my interpretation was that it did not work at all, as in game-breaking.

 

Your list is accurate, these are all things that still need work (some currently in progress). And that's what Alpha and Beta (mostly Beta) are for.

 

But the game hasn't gone gold so "broken" is not an accurate assessment. It's a premature statement considering how playable the game currently is. How enjoyable someone may find it is subjective but it is definitely playable.

 

Edit: forgot the word *need* in front of the word *work*

[Buggi]

While I'm glad many of these items are reported as fixed or working better, my main frustration is time. How many programmers do they have on their team? 2? 3?

 

With more and more 'early access' games using "Alpha" and "Beta" loosely, I've learned not to rely on the strict development terminology those represent. In the end, I think this game came out far too soon. I understand why it did. And I've gotten many hours of really fun play from the game, and am streaming a multiplayer game of it on Saturdays. But these year long waits have been BRUTAL.

[Guppycur]

...but it didn't come out "too soon", because it's not out yet.

 

I think you're really missing the whole idea of Early Access.

 

I also don't think you read the dev diary much.

[Roland]

While I'm glad many of these items are reported as fixed or working better, my main frustration is time. How many programmers do they have on their team? 2? 3?

 

With more and more 'early access' games using "Alpha" and "Beta" loosely, I've learned not to rely on the strict development terminology those represent. In the end, I think this game came out far too soon. I understand why it did. And I've gotten many hours of really fun play from the game, and am streaming a multiplayer game of it on Saturdays. But these year long waits have been BRUTAL.

 

Why too soon? I’ve followed it since Alpha 5 and have really enjoyed experiencing the process and seeing the changes firsthand. Patience is subjective and if you are at the end of yours then that’s your limitation but I wouldn’t trade my memories of earlier alpha versions with all the attending forum discussions just so they could’ve kept the game behind closed doors until later because some people just want a game rather than access to the development process.

 

If this is too soon for you there is a simple way to pretend it’s still behind closed doors...

[Buggi]

I can't though!

 

The cat's out of the bag

And being eaten by a feral screamer

Who just saw me...

 

AHHHH!!!! @_@

[Karma]

While I'm glad many of these items are reported as fixed or working better, my main frustration is time. How many programmers do they have on their team? 2? 3?

 

With more and more 'early access' games using "Alpha" and "Beta" loosely, I've learned not to rely on the strict development terminology those represent. In the end, I think this game came out far too soon. I understand why it did. And I've gotten many hours of really fun play from the game, and am streaming a multiplayer game of it on Saturdays. But these year long waits have been BRUTAL.

 

Time is a social construct, man

 

But seriously, TFP are well within the acceptable timeline of game development. And the wait is part of early access. Likewise, so is being part of the development, no matter how slow you perceive it to be. And increasing the size of the dev team doesn't necessarily equate to faster development, it often has the opposite effect.

 

MM and the team seem genuinely passionate about making a game they've always wanted to play. They appear dedicated to their vision and final product. I'm not sure what more could be asked of them.

 

I agree though that many EA titles abused the lack of regulation in the industry (*cough* No Man's Sky *cough*). But as it currently stands, TFP have delivered a great gaming experience...which will one day result in my inevitable and necessary intervention

[Scyris]

Even when they started allowing mods on console for Skyrim, it was a joke.

 

Thats because its on console, which is heavily limited in what mods you can use. Most of the skyrim mods worth anything need SKSE to run, which the console companies won't allow. Nor do the consoles have the power to use much more than the most basic of mods.

[Scyris]

Minibikes work, and are going to work even better in a17.

Zombie AI works, and will work better in a17.

SI works, dunno what your issue is with that.

Loot Balance is just that, balance, so ... technically works, just maybe not to your liking.

Game Performance is fine on high end systems, and will be even better once the game reaches beta phase, the phase that actually handles this.

Sleeper Spawning works, and will work better in a17.

 

...and let's pretend that MM's only skillset is art, doesn't it make sense that he works on art? Do you want him on AI? Physics?

 

"haven't made any attempt to make the game support mods" is by FAR the most laughable thing you've ever said... probably the most laughable statement ANYONE here has ever said... do you realize that if that were true, there would be no mods?

 

You're utterly destroying the credibility of your well-earned frustration at this particular alpha's development cycle length by these statements. Id's are no longer hard coded in a17, I've added a CRAP ton of 3d assets to my mod, and there are what, 4, 5 API mods out there? Come on man...

 

They literally expose hard coded elements to XML just so we can mod them... that's effort on their part, it doesn't just appear magically.

 

Well graphical mods like models and such are a bit of a pain to implement, but xml or icons are easy enough, and good enough for this early in the dev cycle. I've had alot of fun trying out varying mods, currently trying undead legacy, its like borderlands, loot city, I love it.

[Guppycur]

I'm functionally retarded and have been bringing in new blocks, items and entities left and right... Sphereii and Xyth did a fantastic job of collaboration to make the process easier for the mod user. From the sdx tutorials to the mod launcher, the process is part of a system that works, and works well.

 

Most new mods are using this system, and it's serving the community well.

[themirror]

I'd have to agree about all the criticisms the OP mentioned. I've worried that this will be the outcome of a year of waiting.

 

They are programmers, artists, and gamers.

 

Game designers? They need to level up that skill a bit more. Know your limitations, know your time frame, know your budget. Any time estimate for feature X you come up with, double it.

 

I love the game. What I love even more is the IDEA of the game, the potential if you will. I just hope, at the end of the road the developers actually implement the best, most inclusive modding API and highly optimized systems. This game with those ingredients can live a very long vibrant life.

 

Cool down buddy... A17 it's not a path to put a few things in the game, the whole engine was changed. Big changes take time and effort... they need to doublecheck every piece of code to make sure that all features will work as intended.

There is no sense to launch those features without checking and rewriting all of them.

 

Also, TFP never mentioned a deadline to A17. Let them work...

[Kevin1000]

>Snipped the Whole Thing - try the Bug Reporting forums -- OzHawkeye<

[RestInPieces]

Obvious is obvious. +1 to OP.