Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Alpha 3.21!


Here it is.

Changes:
ALPHA 3.21 CHANGES
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FIXED BUGS
- Bunch of random player skills upgrade. Nice but not intended.
ALPHA 3.2 CHANGES
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Bug/exploits fixes, gameplay and balance, noticeable AI improvements for acceptable CPU cost.


FIXED BUGS
- Crash: Giving stackable items would crash the game in certain situations.
- Crash: CHAR Guard AI attempting Shout action while they weren't allowed to.
- Crash: Attempt to fix DirectX error D3DERR_DEVICELOST. A stab in the dark since I can't test the fix myself, tell me if it works.
- Correct difficulty rating in post mortem and hi scores.
- AI considered only the top item in item stacks.
- AI wasn't switching weapon when out of ammo and no reload available.
- AI now resets directives and orders when has no leader.
- AI sensors memory incorrectly used global game time rather than local map time (this affected simulation only).
- Sleeping now illegal if not enough sleep points spent (fixes exploit).
- Equipping an item with batteries now spend one energy unit as you turn it on (fixes exploit).
- Trackers out of batteries were still working.

GAMEPLAY
Followers
- Choose the upgrading skills for your followers.
- New order : Drop all items.
NPCs
- Civilians & Police have a 75% chance to upgrade on mornings on their own (player followers have 100% chance).
Food
- Food has a best-before date, nutrition value is divided by 3 when expired.
- Eating expired food can cause vomitting.
- Army rations no more stackable, but they last longer that groceries.
Dying
- Dead people don't drop all their items, some can be destroyed.
Items
- Dropping an useless item (tracker or light out of batteries) discard it (destroy it).
- Items with batteries are not automatically equipped.
- Ranged weapons can jam when you fire (insert curses here).
Undeads
- Undeads level progression back to 3.0 rate (faster).
- Invasion event will progressively spawn hi level undeads (if undead evolution option enabled).
- Zombie Lords now assault breakables too (like Neophytes and Disciples already do).
- Zombie Lords and Disciples will not appear before Day 7.
- Scents life time increased A LOT - Zombies will chase living a lot longer.
- Some undeads smell distance increased.
Breaking
- Breaking fences drop planks.
- Breaking stronger objects drop more planks.
Firing
- Firing accuracy penalty is now given if tired (big penalty) or stamina bar not full (light penalty) (was if running).
Other Bad Guys
- Rebalanced "those guys".
- 2 new items carried by "those guys", one of them is very useful against them.
- Can find two special items in CHAR Offices if lucky (one new, one old). Good reason to visit them.
National Guards
- National Guard leaders now bring one special item after a certain time (was previously carried by "those guys").
- National Guard only comes before Day 10 - no National Guard after that.
- National Guard squad size reduced.

INTERFACE & MANUAL
- New actors icon when they have 3h or less left before becoming hungry/sleepy (green icons).
- Expired food has an icon in inventories.
- Removed cheat keys. Sorry guys.
- Changed some messages.
- Updated manual.

GRAPHICS & MUSIC
- A couple of new graphics (items, icons).

OPTIONS
- Increased default Starving Zombification.
- Increased default Max Undeads.
 
AI
- Several specific CivilianAI improvements :
  - New : Close door/window behind them.
  - New : Close doors and barricade windows near them before going to sleep.
  - New : Map exploration. 
  - Mod : Trade only for interesting items, but will still trade anything with the leader.
  - Restricted use of flashlights (again).           
  - Improved Firing logic when in contact with enemy.
- Fleeing AI try to close/barricade door/window between them and the enemy.
- Fleeing followers prefer to flee toward leader.
- NPCs leveling up try to choose usefull skills (they still have to choose from 3 random skills like you).
- AI only interested in ammo items compatible with carried weapons.
- AI only interested in expired food if lacking food.
- AI will use blue pills more often.
- CharGuardAI and SoldierAI now use Fight or Flee logic (less stupid melee deaths).
- Soldiers and Gangs explore the map too.
- All undeads -except Skeletons- explore the map.


Have fun!
And remember, die with a smile!

End of post.

17 comments:

  1. Thank you, Thank You, Thank You :D

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  2. Yes! I am so glad i checked this blog one more time today.

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  3. Great changes!
    By the way, will my old saves work with this new version?

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  4. Saves are not compatible. I'll FAQ that.

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  5. Unless its a feature the skill gaining is messed up, ive been gaining addiotional random skills everyday (its day 1 hour 6 and i have five level 1 skills), also i dont know if is intended (as a hint to the story of the game or something) but zombies never go inside CHA buildings unless they are chasing someone, altough its nice to have a very safe place

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  6. Damn it. Skill bug indeed, forgot a condition check. I try to check everything and STILL leak stupid bugs like that. I'll do a super-fast 3.21.
    And Zombies do get inside CHAR offices, you were just lucky/unlucky.

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  7. Also i dont know if survivors are super fast but they always seems to be 4+ survivors inside barricaded CHA buildings with guards in the front gate (but i always tell myself that they are secretaries, janitors and such so no harm) And guess i have been lucky since i pretty much tend to sleep with doors open in CHA buildings with no incidents. You should keep the random extra skill (maybe as a configurable option?) just lower the chance to acquire. Also im wondering how are you going to implement stealth?, i dont know how hard it would be to implemet but i think a simple way would be a toggle option like running, when the skill is active it creates an AoE fog of war effect on the character, higher levels make the area bigger so when its high leveled enough enemies will be inside the fog and wont be able to see you but you can see them. Obviously doesnt work if an enemy spoted you, if there is a enemy next to you or if you are out in the open in clear wheather and prolly would drain more Stamina than runnin depending on the OP.

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  9. there seem to be some mess up with melee weapons that should use stamina... hammer still eats the same amount as any other weapon, it seems...


    and "- Increased default Max Undeads." seems to be wrong... its still the same 5%, but you can bump it up to 20%, not 10% as before.

    that's version 3.2 by the way. )

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  10. Melee weapon stamina is a bugged.

    "Increased default Max Undeads" is right (up to 200), its the bundled readme that incorrectly talks about "Invasion Daily increase".

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  11. Excellent work! Thank you for working on this game. (I'm willing enough to go alt-tab for a while that I'd also support as much AI improvement as you feel like coding, but hey.)

    It's like Urban Dead single-player.

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  12. wow this game can has really long loading times =D mine loaded for 20 minutes... district size 150.
    i think you should mention how long can they actually load... cos i thought it freezed before once...
    damn .net, and eats cpu like no tomorrow... at this rate my computer will have a real zombie apocalypse inside =D

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  13. There's not much I can do about very long loading times for very high options settings, and I can't estimate time left its out of my control.
    There's a warning in the options screen, take it seriously ^^

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  14. yeah, i just didn't take it THAT seriously ) that is not a problem for me after i know about it, but i think it should be made more clear for others =D
    there seems to be a problem with firing atk value due to stamina loss.
    "Firing accuracy penalty is now given if tired (big penalty) or stamina bar not full (light penalty) (was if running)"
    in reality its more like quite big penalty if bar is not full, and a little bit more penalty if tired... like -3, -4. or -8, -10. i think the first value should be toned down )

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  15. One thing: your blog title graphic is called "banner.jpg" and AdBlock removes it. You might want to change the filename.

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