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EnigmaGrey

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Howdy survivors.


We’re approaching a point at which the Vehicles build (details on how to play here) is feeling increasingly fully-formed. On Monday we released Vehicles 29, which most importantly brought back some FPS lost to towns and around tall buildings – as well as getting our Mac/Linux players back into testing.


Aspects of the build we’d like player feedback on, meanwhile, are the latest updates to where car keys spawn – and also how vehicles will now drift to a halt when the accelerator isn’t down, rather than it acting like an active brake.


We also gave the dashboard’s heater a dual-purpose with air-conditioning – meaning that your character can find relief from the elements in both summer and winter months. Rules on sleep consistent with the rest of the game were also added to the mix – meaning that taking a nap in a car is just as dependent on pain and panic levels as anywhere else.


In non-vehicle affairs, meanwhile, Vehicles 29 also added darkening to levels below player’s z height to help sense of depth between levels – saving many of our future construction enthusiast survivors from smashed-up limbs.


NEXT UP


We have Bitbaboon Steve’s map streaming optimizations running backstage, and they appear to be mixing in fairly nicely with ChrisW’s rendering improvements. We’ll give them a bit more of a test, and then they’ll likely be released alongside the stuff that EP, Connall, RJ and Yuri are beavering away on the upcoming Vehicle Build 30.


Most likely due for release early next week, 30 will introduce new materials for those with Mechanic attributes: Mechanic skill books, different types of muffler to let you tinker with engine noise, new tools like lug wrenches that are required when you remove tires etc.


We’re also doing our best to clear up confusion over car keys – who can get into what, and which car key starts up which car. As such if a player is near a car that they have the key for then from 30 onwards then a key icon will appear above their head – while keys both in inventories and in said icon will be colour coded to the colour of the vehicle itself.


Keys inserted into the ignition will also now be visible on the dashboard – alongside a fancy new temperature gauge to show you whether you need to be wearing your big coat. Here’s a quick vid that covers much of the above.

 


Future vehicle builds (at this point likely to be released as IWBUMS betas rather than in the current Vehicles beta slot) will also include Turbo’s work on mist, fog and snow [latest vid found here], as well as a map update that will fill in many of the more empty slices of countryside between our major towns with fields, tracks and farms that should complement vehicle exploration quite nicely.


Yuri’s current task, meanwhile, is the physics collision work that needs adding to the system so that RJ can implement Artist Mash’s smashed up mailboxes, garbage cans and road signs.


Also due for more immediate release in Build 30, meanwhile, are some fixes to longstanding tidy-up issues like the see-through MP chat window conflicting with snow (and, now, the upcoming fog), weirdness with syncing door locks in MP and pants that never get dirty.


Connall, meanwhile, has also coded in the ability for modders to support 1x and 2x tiles in their mods. Previously, modders would have to choose whether to support 1x or 2x but not both – so hopefully this will be of help.


Finally we’d also like to flag ShylokVakarian’s latest scientific study of PZ and loot house halls. Enquire within for details.


Today’s rooftop skirmish from Savv. A general list of stuff added to PZ, and vids of features being worked on, is kept here – so you don’t have to plough through endless dev blogs for info. 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 here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too.
 

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Its hard to say "how many keys is the right number of keys." 

 

But the balancing solution i think is not really to limit the cars at the outset, its to remove cars from the game by attrition.

 

Allow me to explain my point. At the game outset, we had the crisis, and lots of keys got dropped, left in cars, left in houses, left in office buildings on desks and everybody bailed out. This makes sense.

Those glorious first two weeks where you run around and can get a new car every third day and line them up in all the neighborhood driveways, whatever you want, like everything else the erosion should set in and thats when you start having trouble. Driving on roads shoudl be fairly safe, but driving on corpses, grass, and over curbs should cause very gradual damage to tires with the risk of catastrophic blowout. To a nonmechanic player in july or august of the first year, no big! Theres a hundred more cars.  

 

But cars parked all first winter long should really should really be worse for the wear-- in the 90s especially, car batteries did all their dying in the wintertime. Batteries were crappier back then too.  So now its year two and most of the random cars have dead batteries and flat tires.  Situation changes.  No more running out of the building and checking three cars in the parking lot and finding 2 keys in the gloveboxes and driving all over creation anymore- gets a lot more problematic on highly eroded roads and with limited abilities to resupply.

 

 

If you combine this kind of atrition, link tire damage to the erosion system and the tile type they're driving on, add potential for catastrophic blowouts, you have a lot of potential for really nailbiter situations. Drive your truck into the woods and you lose a tire at a bad time... uh oh its getting dark...

 

If the auto shops could be powered by generators, those would have equipment to charge batteries and refill tires... ?

 

cheers

 

 

edit: I just realized that since everything runs out of gas eventually this whole point is ultimately moot 

Edited by thiosk
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1 hour ago, thiosk said:

 

But cars parked all first winter long should really should really be worse for the wear-- in the 90s especially, car batteries did all their dying in the wintertime. Batteries were crappier back then too.  So now its year two and most of the random cars have dead batteries and flat tires.  Situation changes.  No more running out of the building and checking three cars in the parking lot and finding 2 keys in the gloveboxes and driving all over creation anymore- gets a lot more problematic on highly eroded roads and with limited abilities to resupply.

 

 

If you combine this kind of atrition, link tire damage to the erosion system and the tile type they're driving on, add potential for catastrophic blowouts, you have a lot of potential for really nailbiter situations. Drive your truck into the woods and you lose a tire at a bad time... uh oh its getting dark...

The best scenario for car usage.

I think that from year two you should be really attracted to your car, keep it in a gods shape.

Personally I like when I have 1 in-game car, with our own history, with a lot of mileage (I think it's pretty good idea to include your mileage on a dash), so I want more focus on car maintenance

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I have an impression that the ignition with a key and without it looks almost the same. Especially regarding small size of itself. It’s only my opinion but anyway. Since the main reason of adding it to the gameplay was the fact that players were confused if there is a key in the ignition or not, I propose to emphasize it more strongly. In other words make the ignition with a key look more different then the empty one.

 

How it looks now:

01.png.30c643f98efb09733f0f107f34fef930.png

 

Maybe make the key bigger?

02.png.8454d36d1580ff477f2f328850f52623.png

 

Or change its color to distinguish it better? (Yeah I know a green key is rather rare thing in our world :-D but anyway it's just an idea)

03.png.5d74c64da0d512d8b7f4f78b4a814123.png

 

Or maybe "side view"? Again it's just a consept : )

04.png.526ce80c29365f996806840a1b06b6b7.png

 

PS. In real life I am not as bad as my relationships with "Paint" :oops:

Edited by YourRussianZombieFriend
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3 hours ago, YourRussianZombieFriend said:

I have an impression that the ignition with a key and without it looks almost the same. Especially regarding small size of itself. It’s only my opinion but anyway. Since the main reason of adding it to the gameplay was the fact that players were confused if there is a key in the ignition or not, I propose to emphasize it more strongly. In other words make the ignition with a key look more different then the empty one.

 

PS. In real life I am not as bad as my relationships with "Paint" :oops:

 

you are not wrong with this... but wouldn't it be easier to let the keyes as they are and just add a colored "key ring pendant" ?

 

would also be better seen as any kind of key

 

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26 minutes ago, King-Salomon said:

you are not wrong with this... but wouldn't it be easier to let the keyes as they are and just add a colored "key ring pendant" ?

 

would also be better seen as any kind of key

 

Right, ring pendant is also a good idea! I didn't suggest the certain way to do it (I am not a designer or smth), just wanted it more eye-catching and clear.

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Just wanna put this out there...

 

Fahrenheit. Not Celsius when doing temperature displays. 

 

Yes, I know the rest of the world uses Celsius, but Americans use Fahrenheit, as would all of their temperature displays. 

 

I'm fairly certain you'd include an option to swap between the two. Actually most cars I've seen that digitally display temp have this feature in real life.  But I wanted to be a loud American anyway. 

Edited by Sick Boy
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Isn't what you want, but i'll just help you understand the Celsius thing to a minimum

100 is boiling point.

50 is frickin hot, around 122 F.

25 Celsius is around room temp.

12.5 Celsius is 55 F.

6 Celsius is an early day, like 6 AM. 43 F

3 Celsius is basically rain

0 Celsius is around 32 F, it's when water freezes.

-100 Celsius is beyond death.

 

(Note: I'm guessing on the whole Celsius thing, correct me).

(Note 2: Thanks Fenris_Wolf.

Edited by Kennethdio
Accuracy stuff.
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100C = 212F the boiling point of water

37C = 98.6F human body temp

21C = 69.8F this is considered room temp.

12.5 = 54.5F

6C = 42.8F

3C = 37.4F this doesn't mean snow, it depends on humidity and the temperature at cloud level. 3C at cloud level = rain

0C = 32F this is freezing point for water.

-40C = -40F

You'll probably die long before you get to -100C

 

Edited by Fenris_Wolf
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2 hours ago, trombonaught said:

January 21st, 2014:

 

Mars surface temperature: -29C

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada temperature: -31

 

Just had to pipe in with one of my hometown's claim to fame.

Don't forget our other claim to fame, nicknames for the streets being like "Scaryland", "Gangside" or, my personal favorite, "Sellcrack".

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