kemb0

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.

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.

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*

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 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.

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.

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."
 

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."