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[jc6036]

I think that deserves a stick comic It might be awhile though, I don't have my computer right now.

[BishopX]

I'm noticing an interesting pattern with the spawning mechanics that wasn't there in older versions.
It seams to me that periods of furious action are alternating with periods of quiet, suspensive, lonely-survivor, empty streets parts. I like it very much, being every second followed by pack of zombies is full of adrenaline but after a while its just annoying and it looses its scare factor. The period of calm postapocalyptic scavenging let you settle down a little and makes the unavoidable upcoming frenetic part much more tense.
Not sure if it was intended, but its great. 

Definitely intended.  It's a mechanic I'm still playing with, trying to get just right, but I like alternating the pace like that; forcing a period of intense fighting or running away, followed by a "reward" period where you can relax a little and collect items or whatever.

Can we have the 1st day be a little less sporadic bouts of death though? Right now I'm running into shockers and spitters before noon, and I got my first hulk on Day 1. Give us enough time to have possible means for dealing with this stuff, often I don't even have long enough to make it to a gun store.

Can I request an expanded noise mechanic? I would like to occasional environmental noises (doors swinging, trees moving in the wind, rodents rustling, birds overhead, trash blowing in the street) and possibly zombie noises as a well. Right now you can't hear zombies (or smell them), you can only see them, and by the time you see them, they see you.  I would like a chance to hear them coming (especially the large ones or large groups) and be able to decide if making it to that store is worth the risk.

[Ehndras]

Considering how WE make sound and they can track us, it'd be awesome to hear far-off zombies or hear them a few ticks before they spawn, it'll add to the suspense and introduce an interesting dynamic.

[DeKaFu]

First day in the new version has been...rocky. (Windows port)

First character was doing okay, made it through the first night and then went outside to find the entire area dotted with mini fungaloids everywhere. Okay... Ran down the highway and smack into a Mi-Go and flaming eye? Kinda out of nowhere. Ran away and shot the Mi-Go to death before being dogpiled under a hundred zombies.

Next character exploring the now relatively empty city, finds a backpack and goes to a library and starts reading until the game decides to crash, and continue to crash two turns from the point it last saved at no matter what.

Oh well.

[Whales]

I got stuck in a debug loop after dropping a romance novel, I think it was. Something's wonky with books and stacking, it looks like.

Any more information than that?  If something's causing a loop, I'd like to know about it so I can try to fix it.


I like the idea of detecting zombies via sound, and expanded sounds in general.  I just need to figure out how to present this to the player, how to represent it in the code, and how to keep it from being just a bunch of spam about sounds.

[jc6036]

Maybe some sort of passive interface that shows the general direction and type of sound heard? Like south: footsteps, moaning. North: rapid buzzing. It would either have to be integrated into a menu     ( :| ) or integrated into the main screen ( )

[ChairmanPoo]

After drinking from stacks of cans and the like, I get from time to time a wrong message (eg: "you now have an empty sig 10 mosquito", when in truth I have an empty can)


BTW: on spawns: a positive note: it seems that now reasonably secluded locations (basements, et al) now seem more or less safe to sleep in, unlike in previous builds?

[BishopX]

I got stuck in a debug loop after dropping a romance novel, I think it was. Something's wonky with books and stacking, it looks like.

Any more information than that?  If something's causing a loop, I'd like to know about it so I can try to fix it.


I like the idea of detecting zombies via sound, and expanded sounds in general.  I just need to figure out how to present this to the player, how to represent it in the code, and how to keep it from being just a bunch of spam about sounds.

A "Listen" command might be a good idea. Takes 30 sec, gives you a read out of sounds, possibly including directions and distance depending on perception. If zombies moan, anytime a zombie out of view gives it a go that should display. Maybe some other animals should make noises as well. Wolves at night... bears... Mosquito whines?

EDIT: I just heard breaking glass in a basement. No zombies yet. What gives?

[Whales]

After drinking from stacks of cans and the like, I get from time to time a wrong message (eg: "you now have an empty sig 10 mosquito", when in truth I have an empty can)


BTW: on spawns: a positive note: it seems that now reasonably secluded locations (basements, et al) now seem more or less safe to sleep in, unlike in previous builds?

Yeah, messages are a little messed up with the new inventory system sometimes.  I'll address it eventually
Basements are safer now!  I've also removed the ability for new spawn points to be created (not released yet); it was more trouble than it was worth.

I got stuck in a debug loop after dropping a romance novel, I think it was. Something's wonky with books and stacking, it looks like.

Any more information than that?  If something's causing a loop, I'd like to know about it so I can try to fix it.


I like the idea of detecting zombies via sound, and expanded sounds in general.  I just need to figure out how to present this to the player, how to represent it in the code, and how to keep it from being just a bunch of spam about sounds.

A "Listen" command might be a good idea. Takes 30 sec, gives you a read out of sounds, possibly including directions and distance depending on perception. If zombies moan, anytime a zombie out of view gives it a go that should display. Maybe some other animals should make noises as well. Wolves at night... bears... Mosquito whines?

EDIT: I just heard breaking glass in a basement. No zombies yet. What gives?

Hmm, listen command, not a bad idea.
Re: breaking glass; are you schizophrenic?  Might you be hallucinating from another source?

[BishopX]

After drinking from stacks of cans and the like, I get from time to time a wrong message (eg: "you now have an empty sig 10 mosquito", when in truth I have an empty can)


BTW: on spawns: a positive note: it seems that now reasonably secluded locations (basements, et al) now seem more or less safe to sleep in, unlike in previous builds?

Yeah, messages are a little messed up with the new inventory system sometimes.  I'll address it eventually
Basements are safer now!  I've also removed the ability for new spawn points to be created (not released yet); it was more trouble than it was worth.

I got stuck in a debug loop after dropping a romance novel, I think it was. Something's wonky with books and stacking, it looks like.

Any more information than that?  If something's causing a loop, I'd like to know about it so I can try to fix it.


I like the idea of detecting zombies via sound, and expanded sounds in general.  I just need to figure out how to present this to the player, how to represent it in the code, and how to keep it from being just a bunch of spam about sounds.

A "Listen" command might be a good idea. Takes 30 sec, gives you a read out of sounds, possibly including directions and distance depending on perception. If zombies moan, anytime a zombie out of view gives it a go that should display. Maybe some other animals should make noises as well. Wolves at night... bears... Mosquito whines?

EDIT: I just heard breaking glass in a basement. No zombies yet. What gives?

Hmm, listen command, not a bad idea.
Re: breaking glass; are you schizophrenic?  Might you be hallucinating from another source?

Yeah, I'm schizophrenic...but it wasn't acting up at the time. Nothing was breaking glass upstairs either...

[Whales]

It's always acting up.  Auditory hallucinations can appear at any time, independantly of visual ones.

Glad it made you freak out and check around, though

[justinlee999]

Whales, any estimate on when NPCs will be back?

[ChairmanPoo]

The new spawning algorythm is really nice, IMO (aka: the "periods of calm + periods of activity", plus the "relatively safer basements" thing). Despite the odd -and sometimes deadly- hiccups of spawning stuff in unlikely places and/or atop a player.

PD: BTW: I just had an idea: how about a human scent bomb, as a chemistry recipe? It could be used to lure stuff away from you, or into traps.

PPD: Also: when NPCs do finally come in: it would be nice to have some setting to tune how NPC populated is the world (and, conversely, how many fully apocalyptic zones with little to no NPC presence are around)

[Whales]

Whales, any estimate on when NPCs will be back?

A month, maybe?  This kind of thing is really hard to estimate.  Any time I say "Oh, a couple weeks" it ends up being 1-2 days.  Any time I say "Just a few days!" it ends up being dozens of weeks.  So I don't know for sure!

[S.K. Ren]

I found Junji Will report as to how it turns out.
EDIT: Uhhh, wth. I didnt take any damage, it just froze for about 30 sec then gave me a game over
EDIT 2: OH GOD YOU'RE EVIL! I can't melee them...