Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG - coming to Early Access on December 10th

[fantadomat]

Item durability is the worst game mechanic,after respawning enemies and level scaling.

It really depends on how it is implemented, and the thought-process behind it. Dark Souls has the right idea. Arms and armour break at a snail pace - but then there are a few enemies that can corrode A&A, and durability can also act as charge(s) for unique abilities (that the weapon has).

You can do a competent system, if you've played videogames before, you play your own videogame and you have some common sense.

And you could colonise the sun...

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Disgusting features to manage like durability.

Forced to agree. Games with durability generally go one of two ways:

1) Your pickaxe breaks after mining 5 pieces of coal. So after every time you do anything, you have to drag the pickaxe repair kit from one little box into another little box in inventory. There's no challenge, no drama, just a constant chore that's only relieved when you upgrade from coal to solar panels. It's a gameplay system that makes the player feel best when they no longer have to engage with it.

2) Your pickaxe more realistically doesn't wear out until months of use, so it's not a part of normal gameplay, so when it finally does come up it's a "gotcha" moment. The game trains you not to worry about it, then penalizes you for not worrying about it until now.

Which one do you think JA2 is?

 

[Harthwain]

You could treat repair as an upgrade: if you keep your weapon in a good shape, then it deals more damage/reloads faster, etc. Make this "bonus" last as long as your weapon is in an exceptionally good shape, then let it go into a "neutral" territory, then go into penalties (less damage/slower reload/jamming).

This makes weapon degradation a somewhat slow process - it happens eventually, but not so often that it's a constant chore to deal with.

 

[Togukawa]

I hope weapon repair is not something you have to micromanage. If you can set a policy like e.g. rimworld it could add some depth without extra hassle.
Anyway I'm intrigued to see what you guys will come up with. And if I have to drag repair kits I can always fire up cheat engine .

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

We have a lot of ideas about how item durability can actually REWARD you, instead of punishing you. You will hear more about it when we publish the details about the shelter industry and crafting mechanics.

If the durability will stay in the game, it will stay because it adds gameplay value and fun. If not, it gets scraped.

 

[lightbane]

As long as weapons don't dissolve into thin air ala System Shock 2, it should be fine.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

As long as weapons don't dissolve into thin air ala System Shock 2, it should be fine.

Nah, we're all about recycling stuff. And remember, you don't need a weapon that fires to hit them over the head with the buttstock. Cause yea, you can do that

 

[Abu Antar]

I love zombies.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

I love zombies.

Well then we know which faction you'll be BFF with.

 

[Abu Antar]

Listen to the devs sensual voice, trying to seduce us with AP talk.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

The sensual voice belongs to our friend & alpha tester Kordanor. But the words of the siren song about AP are ours, we admit. :D

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Zombra]

That little "move out of the way" animation is a really nice touch.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

That little "move out of the way" animation is a really nice touch.

Beside good manners it also teaches the AI that he/she cannot use an occupied tile (even temporary) to peek and shoot around a corner. Otherwise bad things happen.

PS: How do you like the changes to the HUD? Team cards and health bars got a small rework.

 

[Gordian Nutt]

How does this compare to Dead State?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

How does this compare to Dead State?

The setting is somewhat similar (apocalypse, zombies, shelter) but USG is built on a great engine (Unreal Engine 4) and has none of the problems Torque 3D put DoubleBear through. We played DS, read Brian Mitsoda's article on its shortcomings (on Gamasutra) and tried to find smart solutions for them.

A good example handling the zombies - slow dumb enemies who tend to get stuck and take a million years to finish their turn in DS. Our zombies move as a horde made out of individual AIs - so all move at once but each of them has its own sensors and reactions. So you can split a horde, distract some, kill some while the others investigate your decoy, etc. On the other hand if you take them for fools and get surrounded by a full group of zombies... it will be a fight you'll remember.

Hopefully you'll get to play a free demo/prologue early this year and see for yourself.

 

[Zombra]

How do you like the changes to the HUD?

Who? Me? I like it, ammo count and AP are much more readable. The font is a little boring though, I prefer the 'handwritten' font from before.

 

[Abu Antar]

HUD looks much better.

 

[lightbane]

The setting is somewhat similar (apocalypse, zombies, shelter) but USG is built on a great engine (Unreal Engine 4) and has none of the problems Torque 3D put DoubleBear through. We played DS, read Brian Mitsoda's article on its shortcomings (on Gamasutra) and tried to find smart solutions for them.

Don't forget about arbitrary game limits to slow down your progress, ungrateful NPCs that turn on you at the first opportunity when moral gets low enough, forcing you the leader to go on every mission even when it doesn't make sense, way too few lockpicks and too many doors with high locked levels to go through, zombies that react instantly upon you coming closer but happily ignore other enemies' presence, shitty menus, NPCs factions that are always opposing you when they should be cooperating or are hostile to everyone without being called out, bad plot with no real C&C, etc. All of these are flaws that plagued Dead State.

 

[Alienman]

No more backpack as inventory?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

That part of the hud was redesigned a while ago. I mean the backpack is still there, but having it on main hud obstructed too much space.

 

[Zombra]

ungrateful NPCs that turn on you at the first opportunity when moral gets low enough

This is a weird criticism. If any genre needs morale to be a substantial gameplay concern, it's this one. You want your NPCs to be mindlessly loyal Pokemon no matter how shit you treat them? What are you, the President?

 

[Grunker]

wots dis den. better than dead state?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

wots dis den. better than dead state?

We drew inspiration from games like JA2, DS or Silent Storm, tried to come up with fixes for their shortcomings, used in our game whatever they did well.
If the final product is better, that's on the players to say. We certainly aim to make a better game, otherwise why try at all?

 

[lightbane]

This is a weird criticism. If any genre needs morale to be a substantial gameplay concern, it's this one. You want your NPCs to be mindlessly loyal Pokemon no matter how shit you treat them? What are you, the President?

No, but I expected a supposed war veteran who I let him to live in my refugee to consume my resources and who I catered to his wishes, to NOT insult me and treat me like I was skinning puppies for fun because I removed hot water for one day to save fuel.
Basically I decided to switch off the fuel generator for one day to save fuel, but that gives your survivors MASSIVE morale penalties, to the point that some "low morale" dialogs trigger, which make more sense if you're acting like a tyrant rather than switching off the lights for ONE DAY.

wots dis den. better than dead state?

It didn't have the devs' spouse go insane and later break up, so it should be better by default.