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On the Test Trail


nasKo

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Okay, so TLDR after the last night’s Wednesday Night Test Session on the Build 41 MP beta is that the new MP is increasingly LOTS of fun, but there is still LOTS for us to do.
 

For those interested in the nitty-gritty, here’s the changelist for the week of dev-time that was being tested.
 

For those who would rather just see a few quick vids and screenshots of the developers, PZ server admins and modders we assembled to have a play of the current Build 41 MP, here’s some of the very same:
 

 


And, an example of one of the many bugs we still need to seek and destroy.



 

And a few bits of tester feedback:

“The whole group of us met up around the campfire and then made a cross-Kentucky trek. As we lost more and more people the feeling of being in a zombie movie slowly intensified. We started out with like… a dozen people and then hordes split us, people got bitten, etc. All was extremely fun and engaging. Despite a few bits of lag/desync, it really played extremely well. Issues seemed mostly to be fussy visual ones.&rdquo

“It really was a blast, overall it’s very playable at the moment. There’s some desync with players sometimes, some slight tp’ing zombies and a bit of confused zeds when lots of players are around – but the overall experience is so smooth and SO PZ.”
 

So, what items are on the list for polish and fixing ready for the next Wednesday MP test? Well, among other things, the following are in the spotlight:
 

  • We’re seeing occasional black-boxing and car weirdness (as seen above) so we 100% need to crack down on this.
  • Players can’t move after being shot
  • We’ve got some item-duping on different events, like falls
  • Player lighting (flashlights etc) isn’t synced
  • Some SFX still aren’t matching up
  • Lots of general improvement to connections, admin settings, chatbox etc.
     
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Other non-MP stuff done this week:
 

  • Zombies can now pathfind through destroyable objects. They prefer to go around, but if there is no other path, they’ll thump on walls and crates, etc.
     

(We are aware that, coupled with the zeds crawling beneath cars update in 41.50 this will be making your lives even more difficult – and are testing this to see how it plays and will be looking at ways to compensate for it, perhaps increased wall and object health etc)
 

  • Some really promising optimization that should see a frame-rate and load time boost.
  • General balance to: survivor zeds, loot spawn locations, item weights, some nutrition and whether or not you enjoy eating raw dead animals.
     

SPIFFO’S FINAL THOUGHT:

Although everything is looking very positive with the MP stuff PLEASE note that we still have a very long ‘to do’ list before we can consider a public IWBUMS beta release and Community Megatests.

We are sorry for being such massive teases with this stuff, but we hope you’ll agree it’s better than radio silence.

Also, don’t walk on campfires.

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A changelist of all IWBUMS patches since the 41 beta was released can be found here. 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 you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right hereOur Discord is open for chat and hijinks too!

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3 hours ago, nasKo said:

an example of one of the many bugs we still need to seek and destroy.

Or can this be reframed as a *feature* and used to bring in single prop planes, which get shot down at the map borders by anti-aircraft artillery (with radio warnings) 🤔🤔🤔

 

Jokes aside, MP looks much more personable with all of the unique player outfits!

Edited by trombonaught
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1 hour ago, trombonaught said:

Jokes aside, MP looks much more personable with all of the unique player outfits!

 

Aye, they posted some on Twitter too, the "last remaining survivors" screenshot is my favourite one. The outfits really personify everyone, and the weapon models too. The animations and models were one thing in SP, in MP it's no longer "look at that guy with a vest and pants".

And the female models back in B40... Dear lord. :D

Edited by MadDan2013
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Excellent progress guys! I think its safe to say you are closer to the end than the beginning. I am liking the new zombie features that are making them harder/more scary/life like. Its one of the few games I want it as real as possible and as hard as possible, but with enough tools that if you are smart enough you can survive, for a while.

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