tomtentp

OMG, loving the new update!  
 
Started a new game:
Looked around, all the window curtains were already closed (awesome!).  Picked up a radio ("hmm, never seen one of these before, what's it do?"), turned it on.  *Zombie crashes through window*.  Ran around like crazy trying to find a weapon.  Found a baseball bat (Hooray for sports that I dont play!).  Bashed in the head the zombie.   10/10, would turn on the radio again.
 
Wandered around a bit and found another house.  Went in, and looked around.  Empty, *phew*, started going through the stuff in the house like Link in a pottery store.  Went to the kitchen for food, ate a dozen donuts in one sitting.  Opened up a drawer, SCORE, the guy that lived here was some kind of electrical engineer or something!  Grabed a backpack and took all the timers, remotes, electrical scrap and sensors.  10/10, would be a kleptomaniac again.
 
Found another house ("What's this, boarded up? hmmm, oh well, I'll just go in").  I started to unbarricade the front door and at least 20 zombies leap out of the second floor window DIRECTLY ABOVE ME (I didn't have time to count, could have been more or less).  I push away a few as I try to scramble back in terror.  The house was apparently infested with them, and the barricades only seems to corral them in there after they took out whoever was in there.  It took me 20 minutes to thin out their numbers, and it seemed like they would never stop coming out of the house (or dropping down on me from above).   In the end, the house was pretty well stocked with food but the paydirt was the shotgun and 5 boxes of ammo (Poor guy, never got a chance to use it, the zeds got him while he was on the toilet....what a way to go).  15/10, would get ambused by 20 zombies falling on me from above again.

That's racist!
Right?

Agreed. To achieve optimum legibility you need to get as high contrast between the text and the background as possible. Now since we are using other colors than the most optimal ones (black and white) simply outlining the text with black isn't enough since the text itself is close to black.
Maybe adding a semi transparent backdrop behind the text or some kind of blur effect will do?
http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/29256/text-not-very-readable-on-different-image-backgrounds
 
EDIT:
Example on blurred backdrops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1P3ttk9rus

What about physics for pushing a door to shut while zombies are pressing up from the other side?
Imagine having to force a door to close while a zombie is trying to get in. Hard to make but would provide cinematic immersion!

What about physics for pushing a door to shut while zombies are pressing up from the other side?
Imagine having to force a door to close while a zombie is trying to get in. Hard to make but would provide cinematic immersion!

Where I live, it rains a lot. And it comes down sideways.
 
But that doesn't stop us from going outside. We don't get soaking wet and catch a deadly cold, even though the temperature and wind chill can be pretty nasty, like hypothermia levels.
 
Why?
 
Because in our rain forest area along this stretch of coast on Vancouver Island, we use Rain Gear.
 
So when I am in the game and a light drizzle is keeping my character indoors instead of carrying on, I find this rather immersion breaking.
 
Because even the poorest of us around here can jury rig some rain gear with a few plastic garbage bags or even grocery bags with a hole for the face as a rain poncho that keeps us dry and warm in our core while our pants, shoes, and hands get damp.
 
But first chance I had, I got water proof boots, a rain jacket, rain pants, a dry sack for my hiking pack and ziplock bags. Heck, my rain gear is even tear proof, accidentally had a drill slip and run across in once on a construction site and it just had a few nicks and a broken zipper afterwards that was a easy enough fix. And a proper rain poncho has a great second use as a small tent cover.
 
So, my suggestion for the game, there be durable warm rain gear jacket, pants, and boots in the game that even acts as a bit of protection from zombies if it is of high enough quality, and the ability to jury rig a rain poncho out of a few garbage bags and perhaps some duct tape if it needs more than that - and that it can be torn when moving through trees, over a fence, through a broken window, or the most obvious culprit in this game, a zombie attack (grab, claw, bite, etc).
 

 

 

Hello there, here's another realistic suggestion and a suggestion that should optimize things a bit.
 
People with low-spec computers will have fps troubles with going trough all those bodies and a lot of blood. So, I was thinking about blood outdoors should fade away slowly when it's raining and soon disappear. It might bring a few extra frames per second.
 
What do you think?

But that's not what TIS devs are aiming for ! That doesn't make sense in their general approach of their game.
 
 
Realistically, after all industrial activity stopped working, MRE won't be found once everything is consumed, they wouldn't spawn magically from nowhere. This is a "zombie apocalypse simulator", "this is how you died", if you reach a point where no pre-apocalyptic food is left and you're unable to provide for yourself, well you die.
Guns cannot be crafted but they can be found on zombies, or on a dead survivor's corpse and some melee weapons will be craftable !
 
 
Not only for hours, for days, weeks or months ;o
A post-apocalyptic world is a harsh place, I DO hope many will die from starvation, dehydratation, diseases and such, because everything IS gone... especially after houses got raided by many different groups. That's exactly when it gets to be interesting ! New commers would either have to find a nice group, and if they're alone for a while they'll have to find some remaining rotten food, dogfood, dead rats, berries, search dead corpses along their road, drink from nasty puddles or in rivers, trying to survive until the end of the day. Plus there already is a feature to help new comers, admin can choose what items new commers will spawn with (or none at all, which is better).
And in EXTREME cases, no need for a loot respawn system, admins can do it manually and even had some RP. Like spawn a bag with an entire "survivalist inventory" in an abandonned safehouse, or in the middle of a a horde etc... Makes much more sense than items respawning from nowhere.
 
Also, what's taking away the element of fear isn't loot on zombies, it's the fact zombies are actually not much of a threat because of the combat system being to easy, the developpers themselves said it. When the combat is up to everyone's expectations and zombies are a real threat, you'd better search houses and avoid zombies ! And if your desperate and spot a zombie with a bag (when the feature's in), well you can risk your life and try your luck. You're not supposed to fear zed (well yeah they're ugly and smell bad), you're supposed to fear for your life !
Being munched to death or dying of starvation ? you choose ;o
 
Plus, when you consider the map expending, it will be gigantic, people will have many space to search for loot.

I think it would be nice if we had an "unpack all" button for unloading loot into a cabinet at a safehouse, the equivalent of the "loot all" button when you're scavenging.
 
I usually organize my scavenging bags by type (canned goods/non-perishables, books, medical supplies, tools, and fresh foods) and I likewise dump them into corresponding drawers/shelves whenever I get to a safe place. It's kind of a pain to have to drag-and-drop them over one at a time to do this though.

Well, I was part of it (I'm the John he's talking about) and I'm an admin on that server as well ! But the server wasn't using steam API + Whitelist back when this happened ! It was still totally open 
 
 
I remind a post you made about what you had in mind for the future of PZ's multiplayer, you were mentionning persistent servers with entire player made cities, factions, large amount of players etc... I think those kinds of servers deserve that kind of "deep death mechanism".
Even if it's closed and need registration, it's not just about "fighting griefing" which can be done obviously more efficiently in other manners.  It's about "death being more "palpable". The whole game revolves around death ; it shouldn't be something anodyne like in any multiplayer FPS where you just respawn and keep on doing what you're doing. Death must be something that matters.
Like in real paper&pen RPG, if your character dies... well... he dies forever, you can't finish the scenario/quest you were playing with your friends, and on the next scenario/quest you'll be playing, you'll have to start another character."
 
 
No one takes the ability to play the game away from the players, they would still be allowed to play on any other servers than the one they just died on, or play singleplayer or last stand.
But a lot of people don't care much about "characters and skills" when their char is still fresh, with a fresh character you can be "kamikazish" without any real consequences to death. And if you just lost your level 3 carpentry character you can just create a new char and go for revenge over and over.
 
"This is how you died" , not "This is how you died over and over" ;o

Every other skill I think is connected to one visible trait/action, but that one might be too overpowered:
- panic
- food/water
- sleep
- looting noise

Basically, the Survivor skill is on the skill list along with carpentry, cooking, sprinting, etc.
 
Exp that goes toward the Survivor skill comes from the amount of days that you've survived.
 
Ex. 1 day = 5 exp
 
What the skill does is increases your tolerance to Panic, slightly decreases your base Hunger and Water needs.
 
The reasoning behind this skill is that as days, months, and years go by a person has survived long enough that he/she will have gotten use to the apocalyptic world around them. The person has seen everything, to the point were what used to be scary isn't. He/she has killed hundreds of zombies and isn't as terrified by them anymore (in time). His/her body has also slightly adapted to the shortage of food and water. Similar to how the human body goes into survival mode if it isn't getting proper nourishment. The person no longer eats normally due to having a limited supply of food and water. I was also thinking that the amount of Sleep required should be slightly decreased also.
 
If someone has survived in the apocalypse he/she is going to be a much different person mentally and physically. Currently, your character can survive for years and take on everything that the apocalypse has thrown at them but the only difference between you and Joe Newbie is that you can make one hell of a chair or table.
 
The world has changed and his/her mind and body should adapt to it in time.

I like the idea just above this post, having to be more careful not to bump into stuff when trying to be sneaky. How many times I've cleaned houses from kitchen to bedrooms in 30s. The amount of noise indoor being related to your own haste/speed is something I like a lot, the clumsy/graceful traits would take a lot of sense as well !

Tho I don't think that's something in contradication with the OP's idea. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the OP was mentionning some more "map related" noises than "skill related" noises. Like no one would suspect that shelf isn't properly fixed to the wall and going through the books would break it, or that grabbing a knife on that messy table would make that spoon fall on the floor, or that a mess of tins and glass bottles was waiting for you behind that door, or even that the door hinges were old and would squeak like a scream in the night, or this window wasn't properly manufactured and would shut itself in a loud clapping noise, or the good old creaking stairs etc... You see my point ;o
 
That's something I mentionned on a "what would you like to see in the map?" thread on the discussion board but it actually suits this suggestion : more garbage and "apocalyptic mess" in the street that would make noise when stepped on, such as broken glass, empty cans of food rolling on the floor if you step on it etc...
 
Tho I don't see that as a "replacement" for alarms, I freaking love alarms ;D I'm even thrilling for more alarms when dead cars are scattered accross the map.

Hey, I think it would be a good idea to add this item in game
 
positive:
 
-added bonus to sight radius while equipped
-can plan ahead depending on what you see
 
Negative:
 
-must have it equiped on you with both hands
 

I think that being able to find and use binoculars in PZ would add more depth to gameplay.
 
Players of the old side-scrolling shooter Soldat will probably remember the way the game handled sniper rifle scope zoom in two dimensions. The player could move his cursor to the edge of the screen, dragging his view away from his character so he could fire at targets that were out of sight for unscoped weapons. However this left your character vulnerable, as you could not see if he was being attacked at close range.
 
My suggestion for PZ is to include binoculars as an item that would occupy the Primary slot while in use (akin to the spray paint can in the Spray Paint mod). You would be able to see objects beyond the limits of the typical game screen, provided that you had a clear line of sight. Of course all the usual obstructions would still apply - buildings, trees, rain, fatigue etc - but in clear weather and across open ground you would be able to "glass" an area and hopefully make a more informed decision as to what to do next.
 
This could open up gameplay to "keyholes": viewing things far away through gaps in trees and buildings. It would also leave you vulnerable to zombies sneaking up on you while you were "zoomed in". Just like real binoculars, your field of vision would be quite narrow (my set gives me about a 6.5 degree angle) so you would need to scan from side to side to get a full view of what's down range. Everything outside of your FOV could be greyed or blacked out.
 
Devs, I wouldn't have the first idea how much work is involved in this suggestion. But it seems like a reasonable thing for an apocalypse survivor to do, binoculars must be common enough in Kentucky and I don't think it would be overpowered in MP due to the narrow field of view and increased vulnerability.

I like the idea. But what about if you make sounds by actually bumping into stuff, rather than when moving stuff from loot window to inventory window.
 
Like if you are a little hasty and rush up to a fridge and runs into the fridge which cause a thump sound.
 
Or if you rush by a chair in 100km/h and it'll make a moving-chair-on-floor sound.
 
This would cause you to be less of a marathon runner and more of a sneaky thief, which would be more like the case in reality I think.
 
 
EDIT:
I think this would make it more of a player skill rather than a dice roll. I don't like dice rolls.
 
I think you would be very annoyed at your character if he, knowing that there is a mega huge das uber zombie horde outside the door, without you being able to control it, just "tips over a shelf".
 
You would be like "COME ON CHARACTER PERSON THING...... REALLY???"

State of Decay did something similar to this. When looting a container, by holding down a hotkey, the player character slowly, methodically searched through the items, causing a small amount of noise in a small radius. enough to pull a zombie in close who was standing just outside a window, for example. When holding down shift+hotkey to search, the amount of time taken to search a container went down dramatically, but made significantly more noise over a larger radius. Not only that, but there was a chance to make a really loud noise, with a high chance of pulling a very large group of zombies towards your position (spawning them in I believe) in addition to pulling any in the immediate area.
 
It all came down to risk and reward, while balancing the player's impatience. Sure, you could frantically rifle through a cabinet in the hopes of finding ammunition to fight off the zombies who chased you into the house, but that came at the risk of pulling in even more unwanted company.
 
If anything similar to what you suggest was implemented in Project Zomboid, it would have to follow the same pattern of risk and reward. Sure, you can sneak into the West point hardware store, around and behind some of those large urban hordes, but when carefully lifting that axe off the shelf you accidentally tip over a nearby shovel. Thunk. Suddenly, taking the time to slowly pull the hordes out of the town centre, instead of sneaking in like a shortsighted, overweight ninja, seems like a much better idea.
 
Finally, given the state of the inventory system as-is, any 'looting noise' should be made when removing an item from a container, rather then simply looking at the contents, maybe even balance it out based on the player's skills and the size/weight of the item being moved. Otherwise, sneaking past a row of bookshelves to check for skill books (and similar events that shouldn't make much noise) could break the immersion entirely.

So while playing I noticed that, when the power is off for the city, the buildings are still alarmed and go off, something a lot of people believe is taking away from the immersion of the atmosphere. During my contemptations about how to deal with this, and messing with my skills at the time, I came up with an idea that makes sense, especially for the long run for gameplay and possibly for MP as well.

Instead of relying on alarms alone for an audio cue for zeds to swarm a location, put a small change to cause a more subtle "looting alarm" for players looking through loot locations. It could be a sound cue that plays and attracts zeds to the loot location similar to alarms, but has a smaller radius and could be linked to a skill, particularly Nimble or Stealth, so that the audio cue goes from something like a shelf falling at level 0 to a small box or can falling over at level 5, with changing radius of effect for each.
 
I imagine that, with the large majority of locations you can loot, the chances for this "alarm" to be caused would be fairly small, something like 1 in every 250 locations or something, and maybe depending on the loot location, such as small shelfs over appliances, there could be a higher chance for "failure," causing the player to act quickly and stay on his/her toes. Not to completely remove alarms from the end of the game, as generators are planned for implementation, so they could theoretically be powered by "invisible generators" we just don't see yet, but I think this addition could really help immerse the player more than the usual alarm.

I'll try to keep this relatively 'simple'.

Aiming and Firing

The aiming system we have in-game right now isn't all that great; You look in the general direction and hit a target without really aiming at all.  

I haven't played multiplayer yet but I don't really think that the current aiming system will work very well with it at all.  I think hand-to-hand weapons are okay, but guns aren't.

First of all, with the 3D system, when aiming, arms should be slightly detached from look direction, so it's a sort of keyhole aiming style.  So if I'm facing forward, I can move my character's arms still to aim within that 45 degree forward direction.

Bullets would be fired towards the mouse cursor, however would take height into account too.  Say you're got a zombie next to a wall, he's standing still, so it's purely a target to shoot at.  If you howver the cursor over the grass in front of the zombie, the gun will be 'aiming' at the ground, so the bullet will hit the dirt.  If you hover the cursor over the zombie's legs, it's aiming at that height, and will hit the legs.  If you hover the cursor a little above his head on the wall behind him, the bullet will hit above him.  

This would work by having an invisible 'aim target' attached to the cursor, which would move across the space in 3D, up and down walls, along the ground, etc, kind of like a laser pointer from the gun to the mouse.  The gun would then trace a ray from the gun's 3D position (even from rooftops or balconies) towards that point in space, and if it intersects with something along the way then that is what it will hit.

For example, you're on a three-story building rooftop, in front of you is two-story building with one zombie on the roof.  You aim your mouse cursor at the road behind that building, so although you've aimed at the road, if the 3D ray passes through the zombie, it would hit him.

This ray would be invisible, and the aiming would not be 100% accurate (skills would play a larger role here), but I think this would work really well for making sure PVP gunfights aren't a "I can click faster than you" affair.

Gunshot Wounds

So to combat the DayZ style bloodlust that some players may have, gunshot wounds should be dangerous, but not instakill dangerous.

Basically, the player body model is already in-game, you've got your body parts which can be damaged, etc.  So depending on where the raycast hit point is on player's avater, that part of the body would be damaged with a gunshot wound.  

A gunshot wound would cause bleeding and agony, and the 'Needs medical attention' moodle would linger until the bullet is removed.  You could get lucky and the bullet may pass through you entirely, but if not, then you could risk trying to pull it out yourself (and likely infect your wound), or try to find a doctor.

Depending on where the bullet hits, you would have effects to your character:

Head = Instant kill
Neck = Death in under 5 seconds, slow movement, heavy bleeding
Chest = Death in under 10 seconds, slow movement, crawling, heavy bleeding
Stomach = Slow movement, crawling, heavy bleeding, possible passing out (Likely needs someone to drag you to safety and carry you back to camp)
Legs = Limping or crawling, bleeding
Arms = Decreased melee damage, decreased pushback force, bleeding

And also, all gunshot wounds should be treated properly, and I believe the devs plan to overhaul the medical system which would definitely play into this to ensure the wound doesn't become infected.

Having these effects for getting shot would make it more of a risk to try and shoot someone.  These factors would come into play:

-You may miss.  Result = DEAD
-You may hit them and they may shoot you back.  Result = INJURED
-You may kill them and their buddy shoots  you.  Result = INJURED OR DEAD
-You may kill them and steal their supplies.  Result = ALIVE

So you'd need to be a good shot, you'd need to be quick enough to pull your gun, aim accurately (+ have good aiming skill), and shoot them before they can react and run/start shooting, and even if you down them, they could still shoot you before they bleed out.

Taking Cover

This one isn't so big, but I believe sneaking will make players crouch low in future versions, so having more low objects like cars and what-not would allow for some really intenses gunfights.

Well, those were my ideas as simple as I could get them, still pretty long, but let me know what you think.  This would be a lot of work for the devs but I personally think that in order to have PvP being fun and giving players a chance to defend against griefers and bandits, this is the way it should be done.

Thanks for taking the time to read through.

-Ben
 

I think it's quite possible for them to catch on fire, but it's the short time that it takes in PZ that seems unrealistic. Also it would be very nice to have som type of graphical indication of what is about to occur (like smoke), which would give you a heads up before everything just runs ablaze.

I think it's quite possible for them to catch on fire, but it's the short time that it takes in PZ that seems unrealistic. Also it would be very nice to have som type of graphical indication of what is about to occur (like smoke), which would give you a heads up before everything just runs ablaze.