Classified Information: New 3.0 Zombie survival

[Duby]

Hey guys,

 

Just thought I should share something which you which I, Reiska and Damien feel you deserve to know.

 

Roughly about four months ago we started designing and creating a new Zombie survival mod in secrecy using the 3.0 base with consent from Ywa. We came up with a game design which would bring the regs closer to what they wanted, but with enough of a modern feel would be required to bring in and keep new players. 

 

We reached up to about a month ago an early Alpha of the Gamemode, this included; Bosses, classes and ported Green content from the old mod which was completely re-coded from scratch for zs 3.0 intergration. 

 

Unfortunately Damien is very busy with his Degree, myself am busy again with a foundation degree and my apprenticeship, and Reiska with large amounts of work to the point where he can't wank in peace. Therefore, construction of this mod will no longer be continue. Its a shame but a decision was made that the mod wouldn't ever be able to be fully completed to the quality or expectation to that the players would demand. We also acknowledge that there isn't anyone really left of the old regs to actually play it. So that did have a part to play in this. 

 

So I'll paste some of the images and videos from the start of when we started developing this mod. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BACK IN DEVELOPMENT 

 

 

 

1/25/2016

Edited January 17, 2016 by Duby

[Pistol Mags]

What a bummer. I was actually really looking forward to playing this new ZS when you first told me about it.

[Duby]

Indeed it is a shame. But people move on and interests die. Something or someone else will come along.

[Damien]

Bump

[Jeremiah]

oh

[Psychopeti (HUN)]

Hmmm.

[Cheeseman]

Sob

[Pufulet]

The HUD is somewhat pleasant but the rest is just standard 3.0 content.

[Duby]

Nope not at all, some things which are standard 3.0, some are completely different as was planned. Why change something which is already perfect, that's why the 3.0 update was requested in the first place if you don't remember.

 

When working on a new Base of course you have the standard content, which you either choose to change or keep. 

 

This new mod is nearly finished and is going to be launched with some base content which will be developed over time. Its important to start off with a good solid gamemode before adding elements to it. Or else the balance is lost. 

 

This gamemode is coming very soon and its going to knock all of your socks off for sure.

[Guest AleksCore]

K.O.

[Duby]

We have had a lot of Beta testers on and have had a lot of feedback. I've changed the Dynamic of the game slightly to the players wishes, it seemed sensible after some refection.

 

If you would like to take a look at the change log the look at the Offical Green ZS GitHub repository, if you have any content you would like to contribute, I advice waiting for it to come out of Beta due to many code changes which may occur.

 

https://github.com/JarnoVgr/ZombieSurvival

[Cheeseman]

I'm glad you guys are still working away at the new ZS 3.0 mod. Can't wait to see what it looks like when done.

[Duby]

Still got to implement Bens graphics update. But here is the current state of the human HUD. 

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/305487667002924480/F83B0A80F2AF9E35A267BABCFBB267D1DFEFCB2F/

Edited March 2, 2016 by Duby

[rui_troia]

On 3/2/2016 at 5:42 PM, Duby said:

Still got to implement Bens graphics update. But here is the current state of the human HUD. 

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/305487667002924480/F83B0A80F2AF9E35A267BABCFBB267D1DFEFCB2F/

Niiiceeee, so far as I've tested with you Duby I can say the following should be done to have a perfect Mr.Green V3 Remake, where it attracts players and increases the possibility of having "new blood pumping trough the old heart of Mr.Green"...

 

>Human classes

• Classes shouldnt make the game too hard for zombies, just like in previous versions people would spawn with extremely overpowered pulse rifles as engineers and would spawnkill the zombies together as a group, and some would just run around and heal. Don't make classes strong to the point where you can obviously tell the difference between a lvl 0 and a lvl 6-7 player, just make it slightly noticeable by adding minor boosts and unlocks that wouldnt make the game be based on how much of a veteran you are.

 

>Zombie classes, hit detection V.S Humans, first player zombies and HAVING FUN playing as zombies

• Player zombies MUST have fun, and by that I mean dont suffer the pain of facing strong cades/knockback/spawnkill.
• All player zombies should get an armor that would reduce the damage they get by 3x times, on the momment that they would leave the Zombie Spawn (make it last 10 seconds), aswell as a speed boost.
• Knockback should be reduced, considering Humans will deal fair ammounts of damage against zombies. I recommend that if 5 zombies are within a range, knockback would be totally removed and it would do the opposite effect (boosting speed slightly)
• Boss zombies should also give a minor boost to around zombies.
• Redeeming option based on how many points you've gotten as a zombie, based on a new system I recommend that should be applied (1HP dmg = 1 point; 1 killbow = 100 points; Redeem = 600 points) Points could be called as Flesh.
• Make zombie classes level-upable! Granting bonus to nearby undead and to self.
• Randomize boss zombie option between having 1 boss, or 2 bosses at the same time but with lower HP.
• Make zombies have "long-arms" (increase hitting-range against Humans and barricades, aswell as slow the target greatly)
• Don't make zombies making sounds every bullet they take, its annoying.

 

>Maplist content

• Decrease avaliable maps to 10. Less maps = faster download time = higher chance of having more regulars coming now and then = increase ZS population.
• Add a variety of map events, such as weapons dropping aswell as ammo caches, different boss spawning areas, usable entities...
• Map pictures MUST show up on loading screen aswell as tips for it, it's more good looking other than a massive green face in the middle and some text most players dont understand.

>Human weaponry

• Make it hard to obtain new weapons, but fairly easy to get ammo.
• The current system being developed by Duby is okay.

 

 

That's all I suggest and have seen for now, I might come up with more things later, the HUD looks incredibly good. Dont mind what people say about making ZS out of V3, IT'S THE BEST THING TO DO. Most of these players just want an excuse to do well as an Human player or are simply elitists and "old zs wannabes"..

 

The HUD looks fantastic, beats every server I've seen so far, now I suggest you do the following:

IMPROVE L4G ZS, AND LAUNCH IT BY SUMMER - Just keep testing and perfecting it, it can wait. When the time is right you should upload it by early summer, where most players are on to play it.

CREDIT NoXiousnet for allowing you to do the remake on the V3 - Yeah, it's a remake out of V3, it may not look like NoX or any other ZS server, but still.. The base project came out from V3's mechanics, in a question of crediting the possibility of a smooth, more balanced remake of V1's Mr.Green, you should credit NoXiousnet for letting it be possible of doing the remake on the V3.

MAKE A STRONG DATABASE - Stats must be saved and shown up in somewhat of a ranking page, if this is not done it will be hard to get regulars to stay around without a reason other than having fun, a community needs its elitists and tryhards.

That's all Duby, just keep doing what you're doing

 

-Commander RuiEUrope (aka rui_troia)

 

Edited January 16 by rui_troia

[Duby]

Yes there is a lot of content included in this which can be used for sure!

(I'm not making a levelling system for this ZS 'currently' because of it being easy to loose the games balance.)

Somethings I'm going to look at asap:

-Melee weapon knock back

-Damage Noise spam

-Sort out a decent map list ( I suggest we get everyone to grab the maps they like inc obj so we can create a community based list)

-Sort out the weapon prices so we don't have people running around with 3 primaries

-Make zombies easier to use with 'hit detection'

 

 

A few things I'm going to do is balance the Howler for Wave 2 unlock, then add our old Etherial class under a new name and perhaps model.

Give the Zombie Dice command some new features more than just health and brain for redemption points. (Maybe even GC)

 

I would like to add a Daisy Green join collection for when you join the server and play. So people have a reason to join once a day and play a round. 

 

This feedback is Great Rui,

keep it up while we test  

[Pistol Mags]

Playing on this new ZS felt really good and it made me miss when I played on the server. The only major complaint I have that I can remember is hitting players as a zombie not registering when I hit players or try to launch props as a zombie. I'm sure there are technical gmod terms for this but I don't know them. When I try to hit players while both of us are moving most hits miss even though I'm close to the player and aiming at them. When I prop hit I was able to move and jump after clicking on the prop and it would still count as a hit. Now I have to stand completely still and it's not that accurate either. Things like this really detract from the experience for me and is frustrating especially since I'm so used to the old style.

Another complaint is buying weapons as humans. During matches, I can hardly afford any gun barely even a crappy SMG because most of my SP is spent on ammo so I can keep killing and medkit charge when I'm a medkit. I mostly end up using a Glock or Deagle throughout the whole the game and the only time I primary weapons is when someone dies and I take theirs. I'm not sure if weapons are too expensive or you don't earn enough SP from actions such as killing zombies and providing ammo and heals for players.

I like the HUD. It's very simple and looks nice. I noticed some issues with the howler too but I'm sure you know that. This is all I can remember from my recent experience testing the new ZS.

[Duby]

I can see that this hit detection is causing an issue, as well as the prices of some shop items.

I think I'll make Ammo cheaper and weapons more expensive, it should make the game feel more rewarding and less annoying in terms of trying to get a good weapon to have fun, I think this is a key part of getting the game mode right.

Yea I noticed there were some issues with the howler, I've fixed them and am adding a few more features to make it easier for people to see that the howler is actually attacking,  and not just by the sound lol

I've been looking at the range of zombies and yea perhaps I should enable the Lag compensation, that could make a difference for sure. 

The humans are more or less there, its just balancing out items. But I feel the zombies have a way to go in terms of making sure they don't feel boring or disinteresting. Bosses aren't enough to keep the average players interest.

Thanks for the in-depth report

[Duby]

ZS 3.0.1_V5_Beta is live on the Beta server

I've got some good content added to the server and a lot of bug fixes and alterations. Here are the main points of this update which are visual

Update Contents:

-Modified Human HUD elements

-Added Howler Howl attack animation

-Improved zombie hit detection

-Fixed Wraith

-Sub gamemode file structure

-Arena Mode is an offical sub game and has full map support under za_

-Decreased ammo shop price

-Howler unlocks on Wave 2

-General code clean up

[rui_troia]

Nice, cant wait to test out the arena sub-game and the zombie hit detection

[Duby]

I'll provide a few test maps for Ywa to add to the server for us to facilitate it. 

I'm going to try and make the shop look a little better as well, feels a bit dull atm, may add a few graphics to make it look a little more interesting.

Umm to test bosses and balance we need a min of 16 players, so when we have our beta test again I'll get the admin mod installed so we can spawn bots.

[Braindawg]

Gas Grenade

model

Edited March 5, 2016 by Braindawg

[Duby]

Looks amazing man I'll work on getting it into the game asap. Could you also do a medical grenade? Code wise it would be similar I imagine.

[Duby]

Having a great time testing updates, things are going swimmingly..

 

[rui_troia]

Keep it up

[Duby]

On 12/03/2016 at 0:30 PM, robbert^^ said:

Looks interesting enough, if you need someone to whip up some mysql for you, let me know. I do it for my job anyways so it's a walk in the park for me now a days.

Sure sounds cool to me, when we get to some SQL shit I'll call upon you to help I'm pretty basic with my mysql skills so it will be nice to learn something new ^^