kemb0

Mentioned in another thread. Would love to see internal decay. Just putting that thought out there cough cough... http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/3782-erosion-nature-takes-over/page-14#entry144420

Just found this mod. May have been suggested already but would love to see interior decay too: Mould, dirt & grimefungus (mushrooms growing in damp corners)paint striping off wallsmaybe even have floorboards collapse leaving a hole in upper floorsplaster crumbling off ceilings covering floorscupboard doors coming off at their hingesdirty mouldy bed sheetsgrimey kitchen sinksmall plant growth

Agree with the King, it seems odd to force everyone to be 27 yet go on about how the game is focussed on a realistic interpretation of a zombie apocalypse. Is this insinuating that only 27 year olds would survive? Keeping it simple, from a gameplay perspective you could simply say, older character = worse at everything. In essence you're creative a difficulty level. Play with an older character and the game will be harder and thus more challenging. Therefore, you're extending the longevity of the game by giving players an additional challenge once they've tired of the default age setting.

Same here, I'd built a huge self-sufficient fort and pretty made a large area of my surroundings zombie free before I noticed my sprint skill had nudged up a notch. It did give quite a noticeable speed boost though. I'd love to know what it's like at level 5. But if the devs are planning on making the game harder, I'm sure they'll tweak the skill increase speed to reflect this.

I only seem to find my character gets bored if I read a book for a long time or stand still for a long time. Then it seems, so long as I do something, my boredom will disappear.

I agree. I do think there's potential but I'd like to see a lot of other areas of the game get addressed first.

One thing I'd mentioned is that older characters would get an additional skills boost at the start. Eg you'd start level 2 farming (or whatever). That's not something that currently happens, so is offering something new. Regardless though, my input was purely intended to show a potential in the idea. Obviously many ideas can start one way and ultimately end up as something else after a more considered design approach. The danger is in dismissing something at its first iteration purely because that first iteration isn't considered to have merit. Saying that, I'm actually going to contradict myself and say I agree that the whole age concept wouldn't personally add much to the game for me. But I don't agree that it's a worthless idea for other people, which I was trying to suggest with my input.

Ewok, you are aware you can choose from numerous traits when you create a character as well as choosing a profession? That's not the blank slate you're describing and having age change certain factors about your character is almost the exact same concept. I still can't see how this can be a bad thing unless you, by design, also dislike traits and profession choices in the game? Fact is, people like cutsomising their character in games. I'm suggesting allowing this in game would not only be giving people something that they want (or if they don't then just leave it at the "default" setting) but also ensure it has consequences to how you play the game, so make it more interesting - just as traits and profession currently do. That's a win-win in my book. I do dislike the idea of noticeably aging in-game though. I've currently not played more than a few months in-game and find myself getting bored as I've achieved all there is to achieve. I can't imagine someone playing for 20 years!

Rathlord, if you peek at my comment above, I had made a suggestion as to a purpose of age. In essence, young = faster/stronger. Old = comes with already improved skills but weaker/slower (plus potential NPC benefits but not sure what the plan is in that regard). You'd chose the age of your character at the start of the game, in the same way that you can already pick traits to give benefits/disadvantages. Gives players a simple choice which could dramatically change how you approach the game. I can't think of any way that'd be a bad thing? Similar to if I choose to start the game with the marksman trait, I'd change how to play the game with the aim of using guns as my main weapon. Now if I chose to play as an older guy, I'll have a better chance of, say, doing well at farming. I'd be trying to get out of town as quick as possible to build up my farm in the wilderness. But because I'd be slower/weaker, I'd be more likely to die before I get that far. But if I go for a younger guy, I'd spend more time looting in the town as I'd be stronger/faster. Maybe even build a base in town. Just giving a potential reason, but I don't think the game would be any weaker without this.

I find these skills a little confusing and not all that distinguishable (or even useful) to the extent that I'm sure they could be reduced down to two skills and maybe allow us to add something better in their place. For example, in the PZ wiki, these three Lightfooted Nimble Sneaking all revolve around "sneaking" in some way. Also, if you're good at running, that kinda sounds like you'd also be nimble. And if you're light footed, wouldn't you also be good at sneaking? But apart from anything, I don't feel the benefits of these three really have any discernible effect on the game. I've never had trouble with the base speed of climbing out a window. I've rarely had trouble avoiding zombies. If they see me, I'll either run (or walk) away, or just pass through a bunch of trees, so losing all the zombies. And is having a faster sneak speed better? Wouldn't that mean you'd have less time to react when stumbling upon zombies? I'd rather see something like these under "Agility", which I feel would havefer more distinguishable benefits: Speed - how fast you can run (increased by sprinting) stealth- how good you are at avoiding detection, reduction in making noise in general. At higher skill, smash windows silently - muffle with cloth (combined current light-footed, nimble and sneaking. increase by doing all of the above) strength - allows you to carry more stuff, push back zombies, force open locked windows at higher skill level (increase by doing upper-body physical exertion or carrying heavy loads) Fatigue - allows you to run for longer / stay awake for longer / get bored slower (increase by pushing yourself to the limits - ie tire from sprinting, stay up late, etc) All the above you could realistically improve in real life, so it seems odd that you can't currently. If you chop down trees for three days straight, wouldn't you get stronger? If you push your body to its limits you'll get better at handling it.

Actually, thinking about this some more, why not allow wall climbing if you've achieved a higher skill level in one of the skill categories? I'd be all for higher skill levels giving more unique bonuses.

Dunno about high walls but I wish I could climb over / through a garden hedge. I'm sure that's a lot more feasible in real life yet your character can not do it in the game.

I think age could play a more decisive role with NPCs implemented. Generalising: Young = a lot of physical benefits and faster learning older = more likely to gain the trust of other NPCs or gain other benefits from them. Also how about older characters come with several skills already improved? The older the character, the more they know. but maybe they struggle to learn new concepts.. Not sure what the deal is with someone saying it'd be too hard for the devs to implement this graphically. Until I read this thread, I thought old characters were already in, seeing how you can already pick a grey haired balding guy as a character. That's all it needs. No need for additional anims.

I agree I cant see it happening. For a start there's probably several development years worth of better ideas already here that would come higher in priority. I don't believe it's that complex to code though. I've previously written code that randomly generated stories. A few hours work and you can get the fundamentals working. Obviously there'd be more depth to this that what I'd done as you need it to reflect what the player is doing.

I think the speed boost is a sound idea. I'm sure someone who regularly treks through the woods and wilderness would be swifter than a city-slicker. As you say, it needn't be an overpowered boost, just 10-15% faster than normal.

Edit: In fact, if the player has an empty notebook and pen in their inventory, maybe the diary would be auto-written each day in the same way that water is auto-drunk? So allowing your boredom level to be auto-depleted (or would it be replenished?)

The first time I went to make a diary entry in this game, I was expecting a time bar to come over the player's head after which, on completion, I could check in the diary and see what my character had written (yeah I know, I have unrealistic expectations). I was a little disappointed when it turned out I had to write the diary myself. So would be cool if your character could automatically fill entries in the diary based on, say, the last five things you'd done of significance. I think it'd be funny to find out what he's written based on your actions. For example: "Harvested some potatoes this morning. Got a good yield of 8 potatoes. Nice! Headed over to Dixxies after that and found some apples and a water bottle - waste of time! Later on I ran in to some trouble with some zombies and got a small scratch on my crotch. Terrified I might be infected - there of all places! Patched up the scratch though and it seems to be fine for now. Downed half a bottle of Chardonnay....hahah..hic. No water. Just cereal to eat tonight - so lame." All these things could be auto-generated pretty easily if the game keeps track of the last five or so significant things that happened to you (which in itself I shouldn't think would be hard to do). You'd just need to track stuff like: 1) Where you travel 2) What you loot 3) zombie interaction (number seen / killed / proximity to danger) 4) crop interaction 5) crafting 6) injuries (and how they were obtained) 7) cooking and eating For example, a cooking entry could consist of: "Grabbed some (fruit/vegetables/meat/various foods) from the (fridge/cupboard/rucksack/stocks) and chucked it in the (frying pan/saucepan/baking tray). Made myself a (bland/hearty/delicious/incredible) (stir fry/soup/casserole/pie). I (wolfed it all down/took a little/left it all for later)." Of course you could flower up the writing as much as you like. For example, if the character writes the diary while they're in a panicked mood then the tone of the entries could reflect that. You could also include other significant details like: "The electricity/water/gas has been off for XXX days now." "I've been feeling (great/a little bored / really on edge) a lot recently." "I've not seen another living person for XXX days." And even include useful hints for the player: "I know the gas is off but I don't see why I couldn't just make a camp fire to cook something decent." "Maybe if I combined different foods in the saucepan I could make something more interesting to eat" "Been thinking about making a tent so I could camp out in the wild and get away from all these zombies." "I seem to really enjoy killing zombies with a butter knife but I'm sure my axe would be better."

I understand the thinking behind this but I think it's fine as is. This suggestion does complicate things. Sure it may only seem like a minor addition but it's a minor addition that you'll need to deal with every time you add something to your inventory / bags. small complication X frequent usage = major complication.

IS this not already possible? You can build supports and build raised floors with walls and windows to drop a sheet rope from. I think you'd currently need to build stairs in order to build the raised floor though but could that then be destroyed afterwards?

Suggestion: Order of priority with which items are used to water plants. Largest item first. When I had the following in my inventory: Water bottles Spray cans Watering can I would have thought it would make most sense to use the largest (and most logical) item first, ie the watering can. But the game seems to want to use the most empty item first. In my case I wanted to water some newly seeded plants. So several times I've ended up having to do this just to water one plant: 1) Attempt to water newly seeded plant. Uses water bottles first, so emptying them 2) Try again, used up small amount of water in spray can. Crop still not fully watered 3) Finally use up watering can water. 4) Now have to refill water bottles which were intended to be used for thirst quenching. Sure it's not a big deal. And sure, I could have put my water bottles in my rucksack first. But that's just extra inconvenience and doesn't avoid the fact that it'd be easier and more logical to use the larger and more obvious container first. sorry, I think I've rambled on a suggestion that could have been made in just one sentence!

Just allowing the tent to be put up and used to protect against rain would be fine for me. I built one in multiplayer for this purpose, not having previously used a tent before. Found myself in the wilderness in a rain storm, whipped out the tent, only to be greeted with: "You're not tired enough to sleep" I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP!!!! *sigh*