How do Survivors, another Monday and the Build 33 IWBUMS process is still making pleasant progress. We’ve just released Build 33.5, the details of which can be found right here.
Oh, and if you’d like to join in with the 33 Public Test and aren’t familiar with the procedure, then click on through here to discover IWBUMS secrets.
Let’s go over to our French correspondent Romain ‘RJ’ Dron to find out the latest.
So which of the primary bugs have been crushed by the time of this 33.5 build, and which are still to face your wrath?
Well I’ve been working alongside EasyPickins on the bug-smashes, and our main goal were the Linux build crash and some co-op sound nonsense. For instance, only Player 1 was able to hear sound and stuff like that. Overall 33.5 is way more stable, basically, thanks to EP!
So what’s the current status in terms of Steam Server creation bugs?
Well, that’s an EP fix again. We’ll see with this new release if everything is working as intended, but I have a good feeling about it.
Are you turning your attention more towards the difficulty aspect of 33 now? How do you expect First Week, Survival etc to change as the IWBUMS progresses?
Yes, I am – but that also involves watching the forums and gauging the temperature of what people think about how it is currently. So that’s both players coming into it, and long-established hardcore players.
As such it’s a gradual process, but cool types like LeoIvanov are really helping out with balancing and experimenting with the sandbox options. I’m also thinking of adding more sandbox presets to help with it. Stuff like the frequency of meta-events, an option that will make the population more uniform after a set amount of days etc.
What other ways are you polishing the build?
Right now I’m having fun (and occasional difficulties!) with FMOD Studio, which is basically a sound mixer with tons of possibilities.
So for example, I can randomize the pitch of alarms, make their distance fade more realistic and also play with thunder – so when you’re far away then it’s less dramatic, the pitch is lower and all that fun stuff. It really give us the power to do lot of things, some of which you can already experience in-game with choppers.
Zombie sounds are also in the pipeline, as we can make their noises more in tune with their aggression levels. Just as in something like The Walking Dead, the noise of zombies when they’re idle should be very different from when they’ve been alerted by a passing survivor. All the zombie stuff probably won’t come for build 33 as we need more zombie sounds, primarily for the female zeds, but it’s all on the table now.
Now, let’s head over to Holland for a report from Turbo ‘TurboTuTone’ TuTone.
I’ve committed a bunch of fixes to 33.5, including an updated spreadsheet adding narrative content to Initial Infection and various fixes and corrections. It should also be a lot more legible now. There’s also some new tweaks too, which can be found below.
Lights and Furniture Movement
I’ve added something to movable lightsources that gives you the option for the bulb to be taken out, or for a new one to be installed. So basically aside from the standard white bulb there’s now coloured ones that are a little rarer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMkKfDnryao
During use bulbs have chance to break and by default won’t work outside, but with an Electrician skill of 5 then with a screwdriver and electronics scrap then you’ll be able to craft a battery connector. This is particularly handy for those outdoors lamps which then can operate at a base gate entrance or such. Oh, and here’s a decoration tip: this also works on some awesome rare movables that can be found like the neon sign.
Radio Updates
In 33.5 and beyond radio devices will eventually break after prolonged usage, and they can now be dismantled in return for constituent parts like wire, aluminium and (depending on skill) receivers and transmitters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkv9a_zByrY
This means that you can now craft radio devices too, if you’ve taught yourself from some enthusiast magazines called Guerilla Radio. As ever, your proficiency in electrics will have an impact on what you craft – allowing for wider channel ranges, transmission ranges, better power usage etc. When you’re level ten you’ll also have a chance of crafting ‘exceptional’ devices too – which are of the highest tier, have great stats and enable UI stuff like the distance meter for the incoming signal.
I know that myself and Will would also likee to thank Moose65 from the TIS forums for his AMAZING help in searching for the wide variety of typos within the radio broadcasts, and would also like to direct your attention to this excellent guide to the new system by Woodward. Thanks guys!
This week’s featured image from Conehead the Barbarian here on Steam. The Non-Centralised Block of Italicised text, would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send blogs like this and patch notes direct to your mailbox.