about the cars

[TIO DO PASTEL]

Hi, I would like to talk a little bit about the cars of the project zomboid, I know that the work is still in progress and so I would like you to put some things on as the focus of the game is to be realistic.

bugs (* tell me if it's my potato pc):

-The map does not load when I'm driving at high speed with the vehicles.

suggestions:

realistic marches:
"You have to change the gears of the car."
-You can keep the car in (N) and accelerate to the maximum making a lot of noise and attracting zombies.
-You can sing the wheels.
- according to the speed the steering wheel of the vehicle turns faster.
If you brake at high speed the car can lose control and run.
-nitro
-You can blow the engine if you do not shift gears.
-You have to calibrate the pnels and change the oil and things like that.
-when the pall burst was only in the wheel iron, the car would continue walking only with the horrible handling, making a lot of noise and damaging other parts of the car.
-You can turn on the car alarm and use it to your advantage to attract zombies.

thanks for listening.

[trombonaught]

I love the turning on the alarm idea! That would be a great way to hit the bases of opposing factions!

[Damien Darkside]

No shifting gears, it is way too tedious. Maybe manual is common in Europe, but in America (setting of game and majority of players), and even in the 90s, automatics are very common. My mother didn't learn "stick" until her mid 30s and only because my step-dad taught her since his own car was a manual. I was born in 89 and I wasn't in a manual until around 2002. 

 

Honestly, if we have to start changing gears, even with a single button press let alone putting in neutral, it is going to put a LOT of people off cars automatically. It also would take a bunch of buttons. I gotta control the car, find the button to pop into neutral from 2nd, use the "Up" or "Down" shift keys to pop it into  1st or 3rd depending on my speed (while steering), go back to driving and not crash into anything. So that is Forward, left or right, neutral, shift change, drive all at the same time. I won't touch them for this reason. That is NOT what you want for game design. You want players making tactical decisions on using cars based on the characteristics of the car, not the controls. You should say "I am not going to use the car right now because I might attract a horde" not "I am not going to use a car because I think the controls are shit".

 

Mechanics like this doesn't make the game any "harder". It makes it tedious and keeps players away because of somewhat daunting or annoying controls. How many people are turned off of Battlefield helicopters because of the inane controls? At least BF offers more control for an experienced player.

 

I don't want to worry about down-shifting around a corner while I am trying to avoid a horde because I didn't shift the car. Or blowing the engine because my phone went off beside me and I didn't catch that I should have shifted. Or catching a few youtube videos on "How to know when to shift your car gears" just to play a game.

N2O doesn't work like it does in video games. It requires a specific engine type, tons of customization and is not legal in many places since it is directly linked to street racing. Nobody in rural America (the setting) would own a car like that.

 

Alarms however, are a fantastic idea. Would be awesome too if you could hook a car up to explode with your made explosives (which aren't hard to do) to cause massive damage.

 

Minor maintenance of the car should be a good focus and great for mechanic/metalworking. Things that are common such as tire damage, oil checks, and other small things should be fine, but we aren't playing Car Simulator 2018 here, we are playing a zombie apocalypse.

 

[Magic Mark]

Forcing manual transmission is probably too much. Not needed, and automatic transmissions exist. A lot of dedicated driving games have default automatic transmission, the good ones release with optional manual.

 

Nitro: No thanks, it's absolutely nothing like it is in video games.

 

Oil changes: I have been pushing for this. The developers have implemented engine temp, so it's illogical to not have the fluid that's actually tied to that application.

 

Car alarms: Would be nice to see these get used in a way that's not only screwing the player.

[trombonaught]

8 hours ago, Kim Jong Un said:

Car alarms: Would be nice to see these get used in a way that's not only screwing the player.

Would this be like using them to draw zeds out of an area (as opposed to the same mechanic applied to lure them towards an area), reset the alarm to safeguard your car (as in, use it for conventional purposes), or do you maybe have some else in mind?

 

(Just curious as to what people can come up with here)

[Damien Darkside]

On 1/15/2018 at 10:35 PM, trombonaught said:

Would this be like using them to draw zeds out of an area (as opposed to the same mechanic applied to lure them towards an area), reset the alarm to safeguard your car (as in, use it for conventional purposes), or do you maybe have some else in mind?

 

(Just curious as to what people can come up with here)

Unfortunately, this game is set in the 90s (from what I remember) and car alarms weren't that common. Sure some new models would have it when requested, but definitely nothing from the 70s-80s. However if you have enough electrical skill, hooking up the wire that supplies electricity to the alarm with a trigger shouldn't be too hard. Heck I made my own wireless alarm in grade six with a trigger for a wireless, garage door opener, the trigger, wire, batteries and a smoke detector for a project with minimal help from my parents. So if your car does not come equipped with an internal alarm, one should be able to put their own in there. Especially if you are combining a large alarm with a car battery or something.

Now that I think of it, one could easily turn a boombox into a distraction device.

Blast some Will Smith on cassette while zombies are shuffling towards the radio.

 

[

[Mordeekaakh]

On 15/01/2018 at 4:59 AM, TIO DO PASTEL said:

Hi, I would like to talk a little bit about the cars of the project zomboid, I know that the work is still in progress and so I would like you to put some things on as the focus of the game is to be realistic.

bugs (* tell me if it's my potato pc):

-The map does not load when I'm driving at high speed with the vehicles.

suggestions:

realistic marches:
"You have to change the gears of the car."
-You can keep the car in (N) and accelerate to the maximum making a lot of noise and attracting zombies.
-You can sing the wheels.
- according to the speed the steering wheel of the vehicle turns faster.
If you brake at high speed the car can lose control and run.
-nitro
-You can blow the engine if you do not shift gears.
-You have to calibrate the pnels and change the oil and things like that.
-when the pall burst was only in the wheel iron, the car would continue walking only with the horrible handling, making a lot of noise and damaging other parts of the car.
-You can turn on the car alarm and use it to your advantage to attract zombies.

thanks for listening.

A surprising amount of your suggestions exist in the car related finnish game My Summer Car (also on steam). It doesn't have zombies tho, but other then that it have a somewhat simular feel to it that PZ has, it can be very punishing for minor mistakes. In short, you're putting together an old car from pieces and trying to make it run, while also dealing with basic survival like hunger and sleep. When I played that I was actually thinking alot about PZ, that if you combined the best of these two games you would have the ultimate car focused zombie survival ever.

[thiosk]

I suspect "manual mod" will hit steam once the development process goes further along.

 

I feel the same way about many of the gun ideas, and bathroom ideas, and other "gritty realism" that might be fun for some but not for all. 

 

Modding in the long term is one of the things that will make this game really shine.

[Kelefane]

And always remember, "too much realism" is a bad thing when it comes to video games. If you're forced to grind too much and are faced with too much real world realism, it can become an exercise in tedium - this is usually when gamers draw the line and quit said game.  People play games to escape and have fun. 

[Minnigin]

5 minutes ago, Kelefane said:

And always remember, "too much realism" is a bad thing when it comes to video games. If you're forced to grind too much and are faced with too much real world realism, it can become an exercise in tedium - this is usually when gamers draw the line and quit said game.  People play games to escape and have fun. 

exactly why I quit Haven, than why I also quit wurm unlimited