Teaser Dogs and Wildlife... Soon™... Now taking tester applications.

[WolfeClaw]

 

I'm planning on adding variety in the color of the rats as well, so you'll be able to find your rats in-game (provided you own different colored rats, that is).

That's a nice answer, but you wouldn't find wild rats with markings and colours such as mine have ^^ I'm in for any documentation if you wish to push this further in terms of "pet rat" - but if you stick to wild rats, leave them plain agouti or grey and that will do the job.

 

 

Yep! I've only looked briefly into it so far regarding the animals within and around Kentucky and the main rat types appear to be both the Norway rat (Which can be anything from a light brown to a dark brown) and the Hispid Cotton rat (which I've only seen as being a brown/light brown with more of a white, bristled texture to their fur). There's also the Eastern Wood Rat that has a little furry tail and burrows within caves and crevices.

 

But yes, feel free to chime in anytime should I make some mistakes. Accuracy is key to this mod.

[Livio Persemprio]

i never owned a rat, but suddenly i feel like i want one. can't hold all this cuteness ;_;

thinking about pet rats made me think: will zombie aggro and kill rats if they're in their line of sight?
i wondered since in a pic earlier you can see a dead rat in front of the player (though he might have killed it himself)
what i'm wondering with this is: this might conflict with zombie movements maybe (zombies following escaping rats til the other side of the map), or kill every rat on the map, while they should be "smarter" and hide underground, so, assuming my guess is correct, best bet would be to make only pet rats will be killable and aggroable by zeds, making life easier for the coding aspect (pure guess here, the only thing that i know about coding is that i don't know about coding, but i guess that you'd need to touch the zombie settings to make them drop aggro after a while that the rat is on the run, or make rats respawn way more often or stuff that would require unnecessary work or balance)

the other thing that i thought is: i assume the pet rat will just wander around near you, will it have some sort of "allowed area" to walk into? (that to avoid him wandering too far from you), or maybe it could be highlighted with a button if you need to find it quickly (or a way less realistic but far more useful "summon" button from the inventory)
a cool thing would be to tell the pet to "jump on my shouler/bag/whatever and don't move", so that you can take him out without too much paranoia, or telling him "you can't wander off this house perimeter (when you live in a safehouse)

sorry for the wall of text, this is just how i imagine the thing, but i have no clue on how it really work, i just tried to use some logic, might be completely wrong on everything XD

[MisterInSayne]

i never owned a rat, but suddenly i feel like i want one. can't hold all this cuteness ;_;

thinking about pet rats made me think: will zombie aggro and kill rats if they're in their line of sight?

i wondered since in a pic earlier you can see a dead rat in front of the player (though he might have killed it himself)

what i'm wondering with this is: this might conflict with zombie movements maybe (zombies following escaping rats til the other side of the map), or kill every rat on the map, while they should be "smarter" and hide underground, so, assuming my guess is correct, best bet would be to make only pet rats will be killable and aggroable by zeds, making life easier for the coding aspect (pure guess here, the only thing that i know about coding is that i don't know about coding, but i guess that you'd need to touch the zombie settings to make them drop aggro after a while that the rat is on the run, or make rats respawn way more often or stuff that would require unnecessary work or balance)

the other thing that i thought is: i assume the pet rat will just wander around near you, will it have some sort of "allowed area" to walk into? (that to avoid him wandering too far from you), or maybe it could be highlighted with a button if you need to find it quickly (or a way less realistic but far more useful "summon" button from the inventory)

a cool thing would be to tell the pet to "jump on my shouler/bag/whatever and don't move", so that you can take him out without too much paranoia, or telling him "you can't wander off this house perimeter (when you live in a safehouse)

sorry for the wall of text, this is just how i imagine the thing, but i have no clue on how it really work, i just tried to use some logic, might be completely wrong on everything XD

 

Very buzy at the moment, so sorry for giving a short reply for now, I'll try to get back later and explain more! I do really appreaciate the feedback you've been giving, especially the level of detail on it! <3

 

The plan is that zombies actually completely ignore animals, possibly even when they get attacked by them. The logic behind that is, zombies don't start flailing wildly or react to it when being fire either. Though, they do somewhat get drawn to the sounds and investigate, but don't give chase or see them as a target.

[Livio Persemprio]

though theoretically zombies tries to bite anything that moves, i think this is by far the best option possible, a ton of unnecessary work gets cut off. i love it C: so my fellow rat companion will be safe even if it decides that it wants to scout the block for no apparent reason ^^ (that's my inner child here crying over dogmeat's death on fallout 3... "NO YOU DON'T DIE. RELOAD SAVE. NOW")

will animals be harmed by fire? and (i'm thinking about deers here) scared by human presence? perhaps they could use the code for zeds that they use for noticing players (with less smell sense and more view capacity)

[MisterInSayne]

though theoretically zombies tries to bite anything that moves, i think this is by far the best option possible, a ton of unnecessary work gets cut off. i love it C: so my fellow rat companion will be safe even if it decides that it wants to scout the block for no apparent reason ^^ (that's my inner child here crying over dogmeat's death on fallout 3... "NO YOU DON'T DIE. RELOAD SAVE. NOW")

will animals be harmed by fire? and (i'm thinking about deers here) scared by human presence? perhaps they could use the code for zeds that they use for noticing players (with less smell sense and more view capacity)

 

Yes, and definetly yes. I've actually made my own "Line of Sight" system ^__^ there is a lot of technical stuff explained on the second page and end of the first page IIRC <3

[Livio Persemprio]

my bad, i read it carefully but i really need to stop doing drugs, i already forgot it XD
well, time to read again then. thanks for the answers and thanks for the hype

edit: "This are things like "onSpottedDanger" or reversed "onSpottedPrey" when for example a "Wolf" and a "Bunny" spot one another."

this means something might try to eat my pet ;_; i'll never let my Rémy out on its own
who am i kidding? i'll have a Rémy II, Rémy III, Rémy IV, and god knows how many more XD

[XxDuSs90xX]

i don't know where to start but thank you so much for this mod and i am very happy to see it continue, sorry for my english it's not my first language.

i have some questions and suggestions if you don't mind

let me first thank the devs you really did an awesome and an enjoyable game ( i know it's not the right topic sorry about that ) but i want also to thank the modders for their great work because i feel like they are the string that ties us gamers and the devs because they add the small things that we like to be in a game things that devs don't have the time to add things like some love but others don't so thank you all for your great work (ps: this mode is not a small thing ).

---so first question when you release this mode do we spawn with the dog or do we have to search for it if we don't can you make it spawn like in hydrocraft mod like if you use a dog whistle the dog will spawn and he will run towards you the same things go for the deers if you want to add them but with deers there is alot of things in my mind, you can track them for them to spawn, it's like you have to forage and if you have a certain level in foraging you will find deer tracks then it trigger an event will tell you there is a deer nearby and there is a chance that a deer will spawn, this will make foraging more interesting, and if you have a dog you can interact with him to track a deer 

---second question if you add wild life like wolfs can they track you like if you stay for to long in the forest there is a chance that a wolf will spawn and hunt you and if you are injurde and have fresh wonds there is a highier chance for spawn

--- the 3rd question is more important can you add horses and if you ride them will get you a boost in sprinting 

that's all for now  

and i wish the best for this mod i really feel that this mod will be the best in pz.

sorry for the long post and my bad english

[MisterInSayne]

And here is todays spoiler! ^__^ Enjoy <3

[MisterInSayne]

 

i don't know where to start but thank you so much for this mod and i am very happy to see it continue, sorry for my english it's not my first language.

i have some questions and suggestions if you don't mind

let me first thank the devs you really did an awesome and an enjoyable game ( i know it's not the right topic sorry about that ) but i want also to thank the modders for their great work because i feel like they are the string that ties us gamers and the devs because they add the small things that we like to be in a game things that devs don't have the time to add things like some love but others don't so thank you all for your great work (ps: this mode is not a small thing ).

---so first question when you release this mode do we spawn with the dog or do we have to search for it if we don't can you make it spawn like in hydrocraft mod like if you use a dog whistle the dog will spawn and he will run towards you the same things go for the deers if you want to add them but with deers there is alot of things in my mind, you can track them for them to spawn, it's like you have to forage and if you have a certain level in foraging you will find deer tracks then it trigger an event will tell you there is a deer nearby and there is a chance that a deer will spawn, this will make foraging more interesting, and if you have a dog you can interact with him to track a deer 

---second question if you add wild life like wolfs can they track you like if you stay for to long in the forest there is a chance that a wolf will spawn and hunt you and if you are injurde and have fresh wonds there is a highier chance for spawn

--- the 3rd question is more important can you add horses and if you ride them will get you a boost in sprinting 

that's all for now

and i wish the best for this mod i really feel that this mod will be the best in pz.

sorry for the long post and my bad english

 

 

Thank you so much for the compliment! <3

 

1. This is something we'll leave people to speculate about for now related to the dog. For other animals, they'll spawn in the same way zombies do, but more related to places you'd find them in real life. So deers and rabbits roam in the woods, and rats, racoons and such will be more commenly found in and around houses. ^__^

 

2. The animal behaviour will get smarter along the development, the aim is to make things as realistic as possible.

 

3. This is something we haven't decided on yet. It is something we want, but is something very low on our list of things to add.

 

Again, thank you for the compliment! It's a lot of work, but we're dedicated and very excited for this ourselves aswell ^__^

[Livio Persemprio]

now that i think about it, are you planning to add something to balance the dog? since it won't be attacked by zeds you can just use it to slowly clear the area
perhaps stuff like thirst and hunger for it? or maybe having it getting "tired" after a certain number of kill in a certain amount of time

[MisterInSayne]

now that i think about it, are you planning to add something to balance the dog? since it won't be attacked by zeds you can just use it to slowly clear the area

perhaps stuff like thirst and hunger for it? or maybe having it getting "tired" after a certain number of kill in a certain amount of time

 

Yes, the plans are to make them as realistic as possible, if you mistreat your dog, or don't feed it for too long, the dog will start doing it's own thing instead of following orders.

A dog comes with responsibilities It's not an all powerfull weapon that you can just send into hordes while you just sit back to watch Though, if you treat your dog well, don't be surprised if it randomly brings back a zombie leg as a gift to you hehehe

 

But these are all 'planned' things. It'll take a while before we get there!

[Livio Persemprio]

yep, all i know about coding is that it's hard as hell, i can wait XD
this is awesome news, animal fights balanced ^^
perhaps the pet rat could give you happiness boost more than the dog? since it can't do anything for you
or you can train it to sneak under a door (in game  it would mean through, but who cares) and open it from the other side (since they're always opened from the inner side) but this would surely need some nerf for player inhabited houses in multiplayer.
i hope i'm not stressing you out too much XD sorry, i just get enthusiastic too much sometimes

[stewydeadmike]

Can't wait for this mod to be finished, then I can finally live out my dreams of surviving the zombie apocalypse as a lone survivor and his dog. 

[Sparrow]

Horses would be awesome, but I can see why that would be low on the list. It would require a lot of animation, and it seems pretty complicated given that we don't have a vehicle system yet.

 

Still...

 

How about cats?

[Atoxwarrior]

cats fill the house of murderers zombies :3

 

[Livio Persemprio]

cat being killed by other animals ;___; this world is cruel enough as it is, i'd be more careful to save my cat rahter than to save myself, and what would happen if i form a team and i have a cat, a friend has a mouse and another has a dog?

edit: it may be a quest: save all the cats you can XD
i know it, i'll end up like this
http://rs1278.pbsrc.com/albums/y518/LocalGravy/Misc%202/catlady_zps388cdae1.gif~c200

[MisterInSayne]

No teasers today or tomorrow unfortunetly, however, I've started on the behaviour control systems which in it's current state already is a massive upgrade to how the animals work, and visually present themselves to the player <3

[zarkness]

Oh.. I have some questions..

- How many animals we can have?

- How many we can bring with? (most likely one)

- What do they do when we leave them at home?

and .... Do these dogs wag thier tails?

[Teesee]

WE WANT TAIL WAGGING!

[Hydromancerx]

i never owned a rat, but suddenly i feel like i want one. can't hold all this cuteness ;_;

 

I have had a pet rat before. They are great pets. I got mine at the end of 5th grade since it was the class pet. Since it was around kids all day it was super docile. They are very smart creatures and I swear acted more like a dog than a rodent. My rat lived a long and happy life. It was one of the best pets I ever had. At the bottom of my pet list are hamsters, they can get MEAN!

[MisterInSayne]

i never owned a rat, but suddenly i feel like i want one. can't hold all this cuteness ;_;

 

I have had a pet rat before. They are great pets. I got mine at the end of 5th grade since it was the class pet. Since it was around kids all day it was super docile. They are very smart creatures and I swear acted more like a dog than a rodent. My rat lived a long and happy life. It was one of the best pets I ever had. At the bottom of my pet list are hamsters, they can get MEAN!

 

 

The story of how I got my first rat (the one in the picture) is one that one that could be applied to the way I want the pet rats to work in the mod.

 

Everyone take a seat, it's story time! Some of you may not believe me, but I promise you, all of this is exactly how it happened (aside from not using my real name in this). It happened as I was staying at my grandma's for a weekend. And somewhere along the day my grandma yelled for me from the basement "Sayne, come look at what I found!".  I hurried down, and all I saw was my grandma bend over the washing machine, making an awkward attempt to move it... She moved out of the was as I came closer and said "There is a rat behind it... But, I think it's a tame one!".

And there she was, scared, skin over bones, her ears were showing signs of necrosis at parts... She looked like she had been through hell.

She was cornered, and petrified, she didn't even move as I moved the washing machine, and didn't really try to escape when I grabbed her. And thats when I noticed she was covered in fleas, which we're jumping all over the place. We quickly took her upstairs, and put her on a plastic sheet on the table. My grandma still had some anti-flea stuff (from around 1980 hahaha, but it did the trick) which we put on her, gave her some food and water, which she couldn't get to fast enough.

My mom didn't want to hear any of it at first, and told me I couldn't keep her. but, still took me to the vet, and slowly changed her oppinion, and before we left the vet, she told me I could keep her anyway.

 

She lived for at least 2 years, one day she just had no energy, I stayed up all night holding her, and she passed away very peacefull and quiet in my arms. I cried so much. :<

She was the sweetest, most gentle creature I've ever seen. She never bit anyone, loved to be pet and given attention, she was very curious and intelligent compared to other rats, but also very calm, unless she wanted to play.

And like hydro noticed with his rat, I noticed too, they behave a lot like dogs.

 

TLDR; found a tame rat in my gandma basement, and kept it as a pet.

 

The idea I have for the rats ingame is split them into "tame" and "wild" rats. Tame rat's won't survive on their own for long, and will get more and more rare over the first few months in game. Untill it's impossible to find them at all. Wild rat's won't be able to be tamed, or it's very very hard to do so if I decide to even add the possibility.

If you do find a tame rat ingame, it'll be in a bad shape, and will need immidiate medical attention and feeding. But yes, I am all for having pet rats ingame, and making it worth the effort required to get one. ^__^ <3

[Livio Persemprio]

i didn't think about it, but actually having a small chance to tame a wild rat would be lovely
perhaps it could obey less orders, or it could wander on its own more, added to the fact that it would be harder to tame in the first place. i can picture myself talking to wild rats to feel less lonely, especially if i focused more on surviving myself during the first month or if i'm just unlucky with finding pets XD

that said, it's a lovely story, i really wish i had a rat now XD (pretty hard since i own two cats at the moment)
could you just put it in a pouch and wander outside with it?

[Atoxwarrior]

beautiful history   

[Teesee]

Offtopic

 

Mah boys. Only one missing on the pic.

[Hydromancerx]

Nice story Sayne.

 

Perhaps tame ones could be found in cages or something too? While mine got to run around sometimes out of his cage it was always supervised. It also might be funny to find one in a hamster ball.In theory a rat could survive in one since the holes could let in grass or water for the rat to eat. And poop might fall out through the holes. The spherical shape might protect them from zombies too.