Some thoughts about the amount of time various tasks consume

[Tsambo]

So, let me start by saying this. I don't own the game and i haven't played the game. But i have watched many gameplay videos and it looks really really interesting. Although, i feel that the time it takes to do some tasks is really short...

 

For example the task of raising a wooden fence. I think it should take much more time to reduce a tree to logs with just an axe and to reduce those logs to planks with just a handsaw. Definitely more than 10 minutes. Also the time it takes to raise a wooden wall piece. It should take much more time (definitely involving some heavy digging) to build a fence that wouldn't fall right over if a 150lb zombie just leans on it. What do you think?

 

Also what about plants and farming? How much time does it take for them to be able to support you? Does it take 3 months for potatoes (for example) to grow? Do you succeed in planting every time you do it or you can fail, depending on the season, the kind of the plant, and you know, luck?

 

What do you think about how fast time passes in game generally? Obviously i can't have an opinion on that, but i am curious.

[unsaved_progress]

I think the passage of time works well for the pace of the game. In sandbox mode you can alter the relative timescale so you can even play on 1:1 (except be careful because then your character will need to sleep for 8 real life hours! yikes!)

 

Sure some things are not realistic in the time they take but I think the devs are trying to balance the realism with fun (or a lack of monotony/tedium). So yes, some things are a bit whacked out, but for me, I want that wall built, I don't want to have to wait all day...

 

As for plants: not sure how long it takes to support you as I have failed in my attempts so far. That answers the question about succeeding every time too....it can be quite challenging, watering enough, keeping disease from infecting, protecting from Zeke trampling all over...

 

My advice would be to just get this game   you won't be disappointed even if walls get built very quickly... 

 

Good luck!

[syfy]

certain liberties have to be taken in the game.

 

you are right, the way we build a fence is incredibly fast and easy and with no actual supports holding it upright, other than a post in corners. but trying to make every little thing we do in the game be absolute realistic to the T, would quickly get boring and frustrating.

 

plants do in fact grow much faster in game than in real life. simple fact is that 98% of the players would not live long enough to take care of and harvest their crops if we had to follow real life growing times.

 

that being said, there is still a ton of work to be done on the game, and the future is unknown as to what the Devs have in mind, and what will actually work when applied in the game. give it time, it's a work in progress.

[Tsambo]

You are right thinking about the gameplay and how that would be affected by my suggestions. Still i really think you shouldn't be able to build any kind of fortress as a 3 month old survivor. It is highly unrealistic and i have read somewhere, i think, the developers are pro-realism.

Anyway, we can all be satisfied... I don't have a single clue about game designing and modding, but it sounds easy to include some kind of "hardcore" option to play the game. Obviously that hardcore option would lengthen those times we are talking about and include many other "extreme" suggestions (but simple enough to include) that would make the game really hard and/or boring!!!

[Tsambo]

And here is just one example of why i started this thread. I would like (just a personal opinion) to not be able to build this thing even after 3 years, not 3 months.

 

http://imgur.com/a/nf9gt

[Zathura]

I would just like to know where he found 1200 nails! 

 

I'm lucky if I can gather 2 or 300.

 

Still, some things need to happen quickly if you want a chance to survive. Especially if you're actually -in- the city. Boarded up windows need to happen within the first few days, if possible.

 

It would be realistic to build simple walls quickly (not in 10 minutes, maybe), but the game unfortunately doesn't include sheets of plywood yet.

[Tsambo]

Still, some things need to happen quickly if you want a chance to survive. Especially if you're actually -in- the city. Boarded up windows need to happen within the first few days, if possible.

Well that's easy. Just take down a few doors and use the wood (if you have an axe or a handsaw). Nothing wrong with boarding up windows, although they wouldn't be much better than non boarded up windows if a mini-horde hit you.

 

But taking down trees, making planks with just a handsaw and erecting walls without even digging in 12 hours is really different than boarding up some windows imo.

[Zathura]

But taking down trees, making planks with just a handsaw and erecting walls without even digging in 12 hours is really different than boarding up some windows imo.

You are correct sir. Which is why I made the comment about the plywood.

 

I thought I heard somewhere though that the basic walls we build will be destructable in the future (or are they now?)

 

If so, then that would be slightly more realistic. If you only put half an hour into building a section of fence or wall, yeah, it's gonna be pretty weak and crappy.

 

I guess I'm getting off the time involvement topic though. As Sfy said, if it were too realistic in certain aspects, the game would lose some of it's enjoyment.

 

Spending literal weeks just trying to put up a waist-high fence that zombies can fall over anyway would be disheartening, especially when having to balance that time with gathering supplies.

[Tsambo]

Spending literal weeks just trying to put up a waist-high fence that zombies can fall over anyway would be disheartening, especially when having to balance that time with gathering supplies.

Life after the apocalypse, especially after the zombie apocalypse, is tough, unforgiving, boring and deppressing, not just "disheartening".

 

Also if they make it tough to build something it would be much more satisfying to actually make it than it is now. Now you can have the ultimate fortress in a week's play...

 

Also it goes without saying that those wooden walls will be destructable in the future. I made my arguments with destructable walls in mind...

 

edit: Also this:

Anyway, we can all be satisfied... I don't have a single clue about game designing and modding, but it sounds easy to include some kind of "hardcore" option to play the game. Obviously that hardcore option would lengthen those times we are talking about and include many other "extreme" suggestions (but simple enough to include) that would make the game really hard and/or boring!!!

[Zathura]

Iiiii'm not sure it would ever get "boring". If you did get bored during the zombie apocalypse, you're probably too complacent and you're gonna get ded.

 

Also, my argument has in mind the fact that it seems the average lifespan of most people's characters is anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months.

 

Myself especially...if I can barely survive two weeks as is, and had to spend at least two or three months just to secure my safehouse...I honestly probably wouldn't play the game.

 

Like others have said in other topics. This kind of specialized niche desire is exactly what modding is for. You may want the game to be uber-hardcore and completely unforgiving, while I would rather take a more casual approach.

 

If you make the game too hard from the start, too many people will give up on it.

 

But if you're just making the rationalization that it's not realistic, without actually suggesting it be implemented that way by default, then yes, you're right, lol.

 

(Edit) I would suggest you start a sandbox game with zombie numbers, strength, and senses up, with uniform distribution. I would bet money you would really appreciate being able to chop down a tree and get a couple wall pieces up in an afternoon.

 

(Yet another edit)

 

Don't worry...the zombie apocalypse WILL happen, and you'll get to spend all the time you want on your wall, just like I'll be secluded in my mountain home with long-ranged rifles, picking off anything that comes within my field of view. (I'm too far from town to get a real horde anywhere near me.)

[Tsambo]

Well, then, if you need a fort from the beggining to survive, maybe you should approach it from another angle (i don't mean you personally). BUT, you have made your opinion clear and i respect it.

 

I just hope for two things.

 

First for many selectable "hardcore settings" (and i mean many) so you can easily "mod" your gaming experience without having to actually make a mod.

 

And second for the game to actually be easilly modable. For example if in my mod i want to extend the making of wood planks with a handsaw and an axe from 10 minutes to a couple of hours, then i wouldn't be able to make the mod at all if the game wouldn't let me to somehow interrupt the making of the planks, go kill some nearby zombies and then continue from where i left it...