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Hot Wheels


nasKo

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This weekend has seen a whole bunch of vehicular fun, so… buckle up? Is that too corny?

 

 

CAR TESTING

A new build of physics-enabled vehicles fun is currently doing the rounds in internal testing. The general consensus is still that they are ‘way better than we were expecting’, so hats off to all the work put in by EP, Martin and Yuri from General Arcade.

 

In our new build different car models have different handling and performance and when you’re speeding down the road you’ll occasionally be forced into a hard brake by the pile-ups of wrecked cars that we have envisaged for the edges of the map. These still need work, but one thing that’s pretty cool is that each wreck is a physics object, so you’ll be able to smash your way through if you’re in a pinch.

vehicles-use.jpg

 

Right now it takes 5-6 minutes to drive from West Point to Muldraugh, and around 10 if you’re making the trip all the way up to Rosewood Prison – which will knock off about a quarter of tank of gas in an average car. This already feels fairly balanced, but will clearly come under scrutiny when we’re playing around with the system later on. We will also need to make zombies very interested in engine noise.

 

Here’s a video of our current vehicles build, as provided by the ever-lovable Mark.exe. Please note, as ever, that everything in the vid is WIP and in development – visuals, handling, UI, zombie collision and everything.

 

 

Martin’s new textures mean that cars pop out of the screen less than they did , but we are also going to experiment without using gradients – which could result in them looking more at home in the PZ world and its colours. We’re currently doing a few new textures with this in mind, and hope to get a few examples into our next internal test build.

 

Alongside general implementation and gameplay tasks that still need doing, this test flagged a few more things that need attention, and a few of which we’ve worked on today. Wheels need more detail so you can see them spin, there needs to be less ‘float’ on sharp turns, we need shadows placed under vehicles so they look a little more grounded and there’s also a few flickers and (non vehicular) MP crashes that need attention.

 

We should also do our best to limit this sort of zombie car-tipping – although it is quite fun.

 

 

 

BUILD 37

So Build 37 is nearly here – it’s just a matter of checking its fixes are working correctly, and maaaybe squeezing a few more nuggets from The Great Bug Purge in too.

To this end we’ve just released Build 37.6 into the IWBUMS public beta. This adds new annotated stash maps to the game for equipment hidden in offices, restaurants and warehouses – and introduces maps for all the major urban hubs on the PZ map. You can also rename map items should you want to make their uses clearer in your inventory, and that of you MP buddies.

 

As mentioned last week, this also features changes to the MP sleep system and some assaults on longstanding issues like saucepan rain, co-op curtain sync and many/various gamepad eccentricities.

 

 

BUILD BEYOND

Clearly work on overriding systems and animations continue in the background while vehicles thunder forwards into view, but we’ve also got some smaller nuggets in the can for Build 38. Stuff like extra powers for Admins over player inventories, Discord integration into MP chat and the ever increased likelihood that the next map update will be ready to roll for it too.

 

In more general PZ news: as of today we have a new team-member! He’s a super-talented guy with a bunch of games industry experience garnered from a multitude of different projects (some small, some massive, some Zomboid-size) and he’ll be working deep in our codebase for the foreseeable future. It’s only his first week though, so we’ll let him bed in a bit before demanding Mondoid contributions.

 

This week’s last stand from Levi [Hun]. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send blogs like this and patch notes direct to your mailbox. We also live on Twitter right hereOur Discord is now open for chat and hijinks too. A general overview of the content of PZ builds past, in testing and upcoming can be found here. Mod Spotlight blog featuring the lovely Nolan now coming tomorrow on projectzomboid.com. Thanks all!

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22 hours ago, miked79 said:

Adamantium-infused patience.

I can wait...I really can. #drool

It was funny the first few times but by now I'd appreciate some actual feedback on the Mondoids :D

(singled out this comment but just in general)

 

23 hours ago, ditoseadio said:

Any chance to add bicycles?

Possibly in the future. Bikes would require more different animations, which make it unlikely imo. Looking around while on the bike. Possibly shooting while on the bike. Falling off the bike. Pedaling. Etc

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Cars are lookin gooooooood!

 

Obviously this feature is being developed one priority at a time, but I'm looking forward to seeing how cars are balanced out in terms of damage and vulnerabilities (running over zeds/zeds breaking in/zeds waiting inside).

 

Also looking further down the pipe... gooooood luck to whoever is writing the NPC behaviours with this stuff!

 

Solid mondoid and loving the new implementation/update pacing.

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Maybe balance those Corvettes out with a few none too gently used Camaros and Mustangs. And hopefully a few trailer park muscle cars - the kind that look like they're held together with a combination of rust, Bondo, and primer paint.

Edited by Octopus
Grammer
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29 minutes ago, Sky_Orc_Mm said:

Discord will integrate with the MP chat system?

You can check it out on how it works on the Dead Pixels server. You can chat in game from Discord.  We've had it for over a year.  We also started the factions idea too.  Thanks for the shout out though.  

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Oh! I got some bugs to drop with this already.

 

Sometimes the bot has a stroke and dies for a bit. Cause Unknown

 

Sometimes messages do not go into game. Caused from typing to much too quick

 

Discord has a character limit that doesnt match the in game limit. 

 

I know so more bugs I think but that is it for now. 

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1 hour ago, Paul Redeker said:

You can check it out on how it works on the Dead Pixels server. You can chat in game from Discord.  We've had it for over a year.  We also started the factions idea too.  Thanks for the shout out though.  

Jab have done the same module, if there are any plans to add official support, that's great.

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While it's great to see such a variety of cars, I cannot help but wonder if there will be more to them beyond cosmetic.

 

I mean, does that delivery truck has any advantage over the corvette (besides the cool Spiffo, that is) beyond the cosmetic one? Would there be any advantage in choosing one type of car over other? Would bigger and slower cars have something to compensate for their lack of speed or maneuverability? This is something I think that needs some serious work on.

 

A game I always use as comparison to PZ, State of Decay, did some really good work balancing their cars (specially on the YOSE version). Every time you went out on a scavenging run or mission, what car to bring along was as important as choosing what gun and melee to carry or what character to bring along.

 

Were you going to loot some faraway stash? Bring the Modern Pickup or the SUV; lots of cargo space at reasonable speeds. Are you going to wipe an infestation? Bring the Police Cruiser and bring them out with the sirens for an easier kill. Are you going on a timed mission where speed is vital? Grab the Sports Hatchback or the High-end Exotic, trading defense for speed. You just need to pick up some new survivors? The Modern Sedan is your best choice. Are you going on a horde-squashing spree? Grab the Military Pickup or the ''Black Van'' and pound them into mincemeat.

 

There was a car for every situation, and no car was ''the all-purpose'', and even the ''crappier'' ones (like the Old Pickup, the Station Wagon or the Pizza Delivery Hatchback) which were mostly there to make the game world feel unique, were good to have around in a pinch. Specially if you were planning to ram into a Big Bastard.

 

@nasKo

 

So, now I ask? What advantages will PZ give to each car? Will there be situations where a slow, lumbering van makes for a better choice than a fast sportscar?

 

Those are my two cents.

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11 hours ago, nasKo said:

you’ll be able to smash your way through if you’re in a pinch.


Hoping you all reconsider this a bit and tone things back. A car slamming head on into another car is a bad idea and will wreck your car (the one driving head on) right away at any speed that would even move the other car at all. The cars work in progress stuff still looks insanely over powered to me, and while I get that it's fun to smash stuff and run over countless zombies, I think that it would be better if it was toned down and this sort of busting through cars stuff was left to sandbox options.

Just my two cents. That being said, great Mondoid as always :D Keep up the awesome work :)

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50 minutes ago, Kuren said:


Hoping you all reconsider this a bit and tone things back. A car slamming head on into another car is a bad idea and will wreck your car (the one driving head on) right away at any speed that would even move the other car at all. 

 

This was poor phrasing on my part in the blog. I was trying to get over that the wrecked cars have physical properties too, and as such a car pushing through them (slowly) will push them to one side. I think in the excitement I may have got carried away.

 

This is still PZ so collisions will result in broken bones etc, but this video is more of a tech demo without any of the game-enforced harshness. That said, I'm sure there'll be a few mods that make the most of the physics craziness.

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6 hours ago, Blake81 said:

 

@nasKo

 

So, now I ask? What advantages will PZ give to each car? Will there be situations where a slow, lumbering van makes for a better choice than a fast sportscar?

 

Those are my two cents.

 

Seems like a no brainer to me. Storage room, speed, gas usage, etc. If it seems logical, it's likely.

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Nice WIP.

 

With all these impacts, did vehicles are damaged (i assume they will) ? There's a "body part" damage location for them ? And, finally, did metalcraft would be of some use to repair them ? Opt. ; there's any "customisation" available on vehicle (i assume not) ?

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