Vehicles

[theundersigned]

Okay. I'm genuinely curious. Would you prefer gasoline that, for the most part, goes stale after about a month (in some cases there could be ways to filter it and make it workable again), or would you prefer "infinite" gasoline (from a variety of sources)?

 

I feel like the former might feel a little contrived for a video game, while the latter might make the game more fun. However, I also feel that the idea of limiting the use of vehicles to the "setup period" (somewhere between a week and a month) would restrict an otherwise "over powered" resource and ultimately increase strategic play.

 

Cars could conceivably be used as a portable house in the beginning of the game, potentially crippling the difficulty level. However, if gasoline had an expiration date, then fresh fuel requirements may make the vehicle in your possession more and more of a liability as time went on to the point that the car would only be useful as some sort of blockade. At this point, the resources gathered using the car could be used to establish solid fortifications (with great risk, of course).

 

On the other hand, gasoline without expiration would make cars viable so long as fuel was accessible. In this case, would having a car make the game too easy? Or would variables such as noise, frailty, fuel availability, and limited storage space restrict its use and effectively balance difficulty? Would fuel expiration not be necessary?

[Walther]

Okay. I'm genuinely curious. Would you prefer gasoline that, for the most part, goes stale after about a month (in some cases there could be ways to filter it and make it workable again), or would you prefer "infinite" gasoline (from a variety of sources)?

 

I feel like the former might feel a little contrived for a video game, while the latter might make the game more fun. However, I also feel that the idea of limiting the use of vehicles to the "setup period" (somewhere between a week and a month) would restrict an otherwise "over powered" resource and ultimately increase strategic play.

 

Cars could conceivably be used as a portable house in the beginning of the game, potentially crippling the difficulty level. However, if gasoline had an expiration date, then fresh fuel requirements may make the vehicle in your possession more and more of a liability as time went on to the point that the car would only be useful as some sort of blockade. At this point, the resources gathered using the car could be used to establish solid fortifications (with great risk, of course).

 

On the other hand, gasoline without expiration would make cars viable so long as fuel was accessible. In this case, would having a car make the game too easy? Or would variables such as noise, frailty, fuel availability, and limited storage space restrict its use and effectively balance difficulty? Would fuel expiration not be necessary?

 

hm, expiration date on gasoline? dunno, IIRC gasoline can take quite a while to "go bad" even though I don't know how long it would take...

I'd make gasoline so scarce, that you think twice about driving. do I need the gasoline to power my generator? molotows? hm, what to do with the little gasoline I have...

 

a car has lots of benefits, as you have already pointed out. movable home, storage, protection, range... important to me are downsided to those benefits... noise, wearout, damage, etc so that you would have to constantly work on your car or switch cars a lot...

[theundersigned]

There's also the possibility that the game will be designed in such a way that players won't live long enough to see every day gas expire.

[ExcentriCreation]

Cars make a lot of noise.... I wouldn't expect them to be THAT OP. If you were going to use them as a house, you would want to park a fair way away from towns. Driving up to a building you were intending to scavenge would be a bad idea & if you parked around the block, chances are it would be swarmed by the time you got back...

In short I don't think having abundant fuel would be a problem, aside from quick escapes & travelling long distances I don't anticipate them being overly useful at all

[Razor_89]

I feel that adding vehicles would change the game up quite a bit and require a ton of work. We'd need:

• various 3D models of cars
• a system of car maintenance
• add sounds of different vehicles and how zombies respond to them
• add a storage feature on how much it can load up
• gasoline resources
• controls for the cars
• hit boxes for how cars would damage zombies or structures on impact
• perhaps a driving skill or perks for it

Personally, I'd rather put bikes in the game as they require

• A few different types of 3D models
• Don't need disjointed hit boxes as zombies can still attack you while your on the bike
• Fatigue system instead of gasoline
• Don't really have to deal with colliding with buildings either.

[PlasmaMan]

As someone who has had a family member work in a gas station (and totally just didn't Google "How long does it take for gas to go bad?") I actually know a little bit about gasoline. First, it does take awhile for gas to separate into liquid and sludge. Usually about 1 1/2 months. That's not very long considering how long (I assume) it will be to even repair a car. Really, if they actually implement cars, I'll wait out for a motorcycle.

 

Pros

-------

Nimble so it's easier to dodge zombies

Less parts and fuel needed

Takes up less space

 

Cons

--------

Louder

Less item transportation

You could probably hit a zombie, fall off and most likely die.

 

Sounds perfect for me. Back to gasoline. I'm all for non-perishable gasoline. Or heck, maybe some form of survivor made gasoline? It's an idea.

[theundersigned]

Well, I was kind of thinking of cars as something integrated into an overall "tier system" for the game.

 

Starting a new character, players would find a car, collect supplies, hole themselves up somewhere, and as soon as the car ends up breaking down/running out of combustible fuel, they would take what they have and build a fort and farm to sustain themselves for as long as possible (now begins the well-known arcade competition for the highest score, which would hopefully be broken up eventually by NPCs and some sort of meta event system). This time, players would not be reliant on a car, similar to how players must rely on new sources of water after the supply shuts off.

 

This tier system could provide a decent pace for new players, while maintaining the difficulty level (after the initial preparation period) more experienced players have become accustomed to. It may also give the world a more "dynamic" feeling, playing in a world that is constantly aging and changing as you act out your own individual apocalypse. If players fall behind, then they might lose the game. (Similar to long-term plans for stockpiling food, water, weapons, and finding adequate shelter). Allowing players limitless access to cars would turn vehicles into one of the few infinite resources in the game (unless fuel, like house-foods, was limited), which would be undesirable in terms of difficulty.

 

However, one of the biggest problems with this proposition is that players may feel rushed or forced to use a car for the first month of their survival, which defeats the purpose of a nonlinear game. The only thing that could break the formula would be NPCs and spawn location (some places have less cars, perhaps, or a group of NPCs have already taken all the cars in the area).

 

This may solve the problem of linearity, but it does nothing to remedy feelings of being forced to use cars as a tool for survival. But maybe that wouldn't be much of an issue as the water shut off already forces us to use rain barrels (or stockpile water...or find a more "infinite" water source) and the limited supply of food forces us to farm...if we want the highest "score" that is.

 

Another problem is that allowing the fuel to expire would also timegate fairly desired content for the game (although I'd imagine making it alive to the fuel's expiration date would be rather difficult). However, limiting fuel would also timegate this resource. The only difference would be that the the option to use cars would remain open for as long as fuel is available.

 

I would prefer, as you may have guessed, that cars and fuel be treated similarly to the water shut off. I'd like cars to be limited and valuable, making the first month or so of survival an extremely important preparing period. As I said before, this would enforce more strategic play, whereas implementing scarce but non-perishable or even limitless fuel could trivialize cars and their role in survival to the extent that the game fails to achieve the difficulty level the developers seem to desire for it.

 

"This is how you died," after all. Not, "This is how you learned to thrive."

 

Of course, my premise is that the implementation of cars would make it far too easy to survive. As of right now, I have no idea how "over powered" or even "under powered" cars could be. Therefore, if my initial premise is overturned, then I may have trouble arguing my point.

[Bprince2010UK]

Personally, I'd rather put bikes in the game as they require

• A few different types of 3D models
• Don't need disjointed hit boxes as zombies can still attack you while your on the bike
• Fatigue system instead of gasoline
• Don't really have to deal with colliding with buildings either.

^ This. Bikes are infinitely better than cars

[theundersigned]

This isn't about which is better. It's about whether perishable or non-perishable fuel would be better for the game.

[Etsamaru]

The game doesn't seem well suited for cars due to the lack of roads unless I am missing something, but it would be nice. Cars attract zombies do to the noise and visuals they make and would be risky, also there would be a lot of other cars on the road in the way, abandoned vehicles and what not. So it wouldn't be OP. 

[Sammy The Salmon]

I don't think that the map is quite big enough for vehicles like cars and motorbikes but having things like bicycles and maybe even scooters and skateboards would be good as long as something like a skateboard couldn't go on grass

[Guest]

I don't think that the map is quite big enough for vehicles like cars and motorbikes but having things like bicycles and maybe even scooters and skateboards would be good as long as something like a skateboard couldn't go on grass

Are you sure you're not playing the pre alpha map?

[Connall]

 

I don't think that the map is quite big enough for vehicles like cars and motorbikes but having things like bicycles and maybe even scooters and skateboards would be good as long as something like a skateboard couldn't go on grass

Are you sure you're not playing the pre alpha map?

 

 

Yeah, I mean it would really depend on the size of the vehicles and such. I think you would be able to get cars in there fine, the question of how well they would control? I don't know. I think an isometric viewpoint can have some pretty awkward controls when it comes to driving.

[umoito]

i personally think the spawn rate for fuel is pretty accurate at the moment, keeping in mind that when cars would be added, they would be a new place to find gas themselves, so as would the gas station. other than that it looks pretty realistic as to find a gas can in a shed pretty rarely. It would demand time and loneliness to be able to snatch some gas from a car, which you just came into with your car parked near it since gas is heavy, when it comes to a world where making noise may decide if you become a zed or keep running home having a car is not a very smart idea, should only be used when need, like traveling to other towns, or across town.

anyways... i'm liking this discussion people seem worried to make it as good as possible, which is great!

[Sammy The Salmon]

No I have the steam version and did play the version before that so I dont have the pre alpha map