Here is a clean compilation with all the questions and answers from the Ask a dev event on IRC. All small talk between questions has been taken out for pure information only!
Thank you all for attending!
--------------------------------------------------
<Tatsur0> ALRIGHT lets do dis
Question: Are the number of powerful weapons in official maps going to be reduced in the next patch? Mainly nightmare and haunted...
Answer: Powerful weapon reduction: We haven't discussed it seriously, but may at some point. The human win ratio is increasing, so I can see where it might be needed.
Question: Tell us about this new game mode you guys have been working on, and the new barricading system. We've heard hardly anything about them besides rumours.
Answer: At this point, the entire thing is still in the testing/development phase so all of the heavy details are under discussion. The idea for this game mode is to make the game more clan-accessible, and to have zombies and humans fighting to complete some sort of objective. I won't go into much detail past that as we are still working out the best way to do that, and the only way to do that is to change things and see what works. So, I have to stay out of more detail, just to make sure I don't tell you something that we decide against later on.
Question: Will we be able to ever chose are player model?
Answer: This is still being discussed as well, and more seriously now that we have a large list of player models to choose from.
Question: Can someone explain the barricade system to us?
Answer: The new barricade system is pretty exciting, in that it relies on more than physics. There will be some strategy involved, and placement will be more free-form. In short, it will work somewhat like you think real zombie barricading would work, assuming the released version remains much the same as it is now.
Question: What new wepons will be added, if any?
Answer: You've seen our media releases and some of you already have an idea of what's going in. The Pipebomb, Molotov, Double Barrel shotgun are all being polished up now. We weren't happy with the SKS we had finished awhile back but I hear rumors of esJ interested in working on a bolt action rifle.
Question: Do you guys have a "final" list of features that you plan on adding before the final release, or are you constantly finding new ideas to add?
Answer: I would say that we have a final list of what we would love to finish up that we decided on a while back. Of course what happens with long-term development is that you come up with new ideas or remember old ones. So the list sometimes grows or gets displaced, but yes, we have a final vision.
And eh, Brian is pressuring me soooooo. We're talking about *testing* another zombie attack, not sure how it will go, and it really depends on animations. Also, we've been wanting to do this since release, but we're definitely looking at melee attacks for all weapons (including pistols, shotguns, etc. etc.).
Question: When will we get zpo_decayed?
Answer: We may find use for it later, but right now there aren't plans to release it. It was being reworked quite a bit and the mapper is no longer around.
Added: Right now we have a couple WIP Objective maps int he works. Pingu is working on a test map for our new game mode and as you can see from our media release, we have maps that were donated by former NMRiH and D.E.A.D devs. The community is growing and we're seeing a lot more talented authors releasing community maps, I think we can do without decayed for now. But the map is not dead.
Question: When are you expecting the next major update be released? And will the zombies get any more abilities or zombie classes?
Answer: No timeframes, we don't like to disappoint. And we don't do classes, which answers the "cade breaker" question (one person asked if there will be a zombie class to break the new planned barricades).
We're working hard though, so it's our goal for now. We're always looking at releasing content, whether it is incremental or in big patches.
Question: Wont the molotovs be used as a tk weapon though?
Answer: No, we're going to focus on preventing griefing. We want to keep the game fun, so that's another goal we always look towards. That is, preventing ways people find to grief (such as people setting one another on fire).
Question: If all weapons are melee that defeats the purpose of melee weapons
Answer: I would say that we've always strived for melee flexibility. But we would have the gun melee attacks be less of a focus on melee. Rather, less of a focus on damage. It would be extremely short range, possibly stunning, but we're still discussing.
Question: In the next few release's will you make it if you blow your self up as a human you don't become a zombie?
Answer: No. The view of more zombies is that more zombies in the area are attracted by the death and combat so it's not really a "non-realism" thing that you become a zombie when you explode.
Question: What possible improvements will we see in the cell phone?
Answer: We're still looking at using the cell phone as our objective list, that has been the idea for a while. It isn't implemented yet at all, so it's still in the works but we'll find a way to make it useful.
Question: Will there ever be an intro video upon launching the game?
Answer: Probably not. A lot of people are annoyed with them and they delay the game loading. So, we're avoiding it.
Question: We going to get shotguns with stocks? So we don't have super long recoil times?
Answer: Yes, we're releasing a double barrel
.
Question: How will the pipebombs work? Will they be similar to grenade use?
Answer: They will be similar in functionality, but different in the mechanics. We plan on adding grenade cooking, so that the pipebomb fuse lighting won't be "washed over".
Question: How seriously do you take the suggestions area of the forums?
Answer: (Frikazoyd): I read the suggestions because there are occasional tweak ideas in there that work well, or sometimes people will point out errors in our logic for changing something. So we read it, but the major overhaul questions get ignored largely. Most of those ideas don't take overall gameplay or *our* goals into consideration. Usually another dev like OkeiDo, Knights, esJ, Junkers, Garrador, etc brings it up to my attention when something grabs theirs.
Question: Since melee is getting a greater focus, will there be some sort of stamina to prevent some sort of melee spaming?
Answer: Not really "more" focus, just that we're adding more low power, low range weapons. But yeah, we'll work on preventing melee spam.
Question: Will there be duel pistols? Any chance of there being a monthly user map picked to become a official map? Will there ever be an item to cure infection? Any chance of having guns sometimes break?
Answer: No
Question: Are you planning on lowering the knock back force any more? And are there any balancing issues you are trying to resolve?
Answer: Knockback is kind of funny, we actually almost entirely neutralized it. We're satisfied how it is but we always tweak, so if we want it to balance out better, we may. Anyway we always look at balance so it's always a work in progress.
Question: This is more of a suggestion than a question, but it runs on from another question: perhaps instead of an intro movie you could add that video that was released a while ago as a sort of tutorial as a main menu item in game.
Answer: It's provided on our site, youtube, and on moddb. Because of this and our game already a huge download we have no plans to include it in game, or as an option/link.
Question: Would you guys ever consider having blunt weapons doing more knockback and
blade-edged weapons doing more damage?
Answer: The way the engine calculates all of that is pretty interesting. It's something we've discussed before, but the way it works is basically a case of high workload for low return. So basically it's undecided whether we'll look at that again, but it isn't really looking good.
Question: Will there be a chainsaw additon?
Answer: It's still being discussed. We have a model, but it's being debated on how to use it so if we ever did one, it is a *long* way off.
Question: Is it true that all pistols do the same? will there be a second magnum?
Answer: Yes, because they all use 9mm ammo. And second magnum, yes we're working on it. But it's nothing definite until it's done
, but good chance.
Question: Will the zombie models ever walk like zombies?
Answer: We're working on new animations, yes. So the hope is yes. but animators are hard to come by so if you know any good ones, send them our way.
Question: Will there ever be an objectives menu so people can see where we are at without relying on gametexts that are often missed?
Answer: That was discussed with the cell phone earlier. So yeah, that's kind of what we're looking at doing.
<Tatsur0>
Final Teaser- Waitress is being remade and we have another female model in the works.
<Tatsur0> Thanks for joining us!
Ask a dev Log (If you missed it)
Linear Mode
