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

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Was this first video that showed more than 3 party members?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

I used a different build (the closed alpha), where you have all the recruits at your disposal. So far the team limit is 5. We've done some interface testing at very low resolutions and it seems that is the maximum number of cards we can show (although we changed the hud since so we might be able to increase the limit now). There's no hard limit except visibility for low res PCs so there might be more changes coming to that area.

 

[Zombra]

USG_Mucifikatorul One thing I keep noticing in preview videos (which still all look great) is that whenever a weapon is fired, the player has to drag the cursor all the way to the UI at lower left to activate the weapon before firing (every shot, no less). Is / will there be a mappable keyboard hotkey for "activate attack mode"?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

USG_Mucifikatorul One thing I keep noticing in preview videos (which still all look great) is that whenever a weapon is fired, the player has to drag the cursor all the way to the UI at lower left to activate the weapon before firing (every shot, no less). Is / will there be a mappable keyboard hotkey for "activate attack mode"?

Not currently (it's an alpha/dev buld), but probably will be, it makes sense.

To be clear: when you press the weapon in real-time mode, it triggers turn-based and gives you weapon control (otherwise disabled so you don't misclick while exploring). If you do not engange an enemy or trigger a conflict, the game reverts back to real-time (aka peace mode) and weapon control is again disabled for the aforementioned reason.

I am doing my best not to hurt anyone but poor Billy Bo when doing these tests so that's why the game goes back to real-time and I have to manually reactivate the weapon.

But yea, a shortcut key would help.

 

[Zombra]

Appreciated. Forgive me if I've said this before, I say it to every dev, when your UI person is designing controls, if every time they click the mouse they could ask themselves "could this also be a hotkey?" it would save me a lot of dragging a mouse cursor around

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Of course the weapon / bullet values are very much WIP until we have solid feedback from a large scale public demo, but the mechanics are there and that's the point of this video. I've checked some YT real life tests and it seems like a .223 / 5.56 goes through about 3 thick planks and stops in 4th (so if we assume those crates aren't made of pine, is identical to our test).

Anyway, the final balancing is yet to come so take everything as it is (aka in development still).

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Of course the weapon / bullet values are very much WIP until we have solid feedback from a large scale public demo, but the mechanics are there and that's the point of this video. I've checked some YT real life tests and it seems like a .223 / 5.56 goes through about 3 thick planks and stops in 4th (so if we assume those crates aren't made of pine, is identical to our test).

Anyway, the final balancing is yet to come so take everything as it is (aka in development still).

Full realism isn't probably necessary or even desirable when one takes account reduced engagement ranges which are common in tactical games.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Very true. We're using just enough real life values for the things to make sense (like avoid a plastic bag blocking damage like a brick wall).

 

[Alienman]

Damn, there goes Plastic bag +5 for head protection.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Damn, there goes Plastic bag +5 for head protection.

It still could save people from the perils of oxygen.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Damn, there goes Plastic bag +5 for head protection.

It still could save people from the perils of oxygen.

Yeah, without plastic we'd all combust.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Of course the weapon / bullet values are very much WIP until we have solid feedback from a large scale public demo, but the mechanics are there and that's the point of this video. I've checked some YT real life tests and it seems like a .223 / 5.56 goes through about 3 thick planks and stops in 4th (so if we assume those crates aren't made of pine, is identical to our test).

Anyway, the final balancing is yet to come so take everything as it is (aka in development still).

type of bullet matters just as much as caliber, e.g., a FMJ will penetrate much further than say, a soft-tip or hollow point.

and if you want to be super realistic, FMJs are cheaper(therefore more common) -- I have a lot more of those than other rounds because they're used for shooting at the range

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Yes, we have hollow points too and they come with reduced penetration and increased damage (they'll damage soft targets, armored ones will just receive a major punch to the gut aka stamina loss).

 

[Abu Antar]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/710230/view/2970671580627237713

Urban Strife - Summer 2021 Dev Update
The Survival and Strategic layers are completed and working as intended in the game.

Survival Industry

Your base in Urban now has a fully functional survival industry with a complete development tree. It is based on building blueprints that carry a cost in workers and raw resources (the shelter already has a few old facilities, those come pre-built).

The new industry produces resources directly needed to keep the general population alive, healthy and happy but also defensive upgrades that increase your shelter’s survival rating. You also have workshops that can mass fabricate stuff that your team needs in their adventures (beside your own “backpack crafting" possibilities).

Some of these will require to be staffed with workers and it will be up to you to balance the allocation of the workforce between the scavengers teams sent out to harvest raw materials and those hired to work inside the walls.

Blueprints can be found through RPG, exploring the city and/or you can acquire them from your allies, when you manage to befriend a faction. Two thirds of the plans are free to unlock as an independent settlement (a third is actually already unlocked, just not built yet).

Spoiler

Crisis & Consequences

With a survival industry you need proper consequences for that sense of impending disaster an apocalypse needs to feel real. Don't worry, you won't miss the signs. You will get advance warnings from the civilian population when something is about to go wrong.



But if you ignore them and allow the shelter to go into deep red, you will pay the price and generate a crisis situation. Then it's all about how long you take to solve the crisis. The longer you take, the harsher the penalties/damages will be. Fail to recover before the deadline and your hopes and dreams to save humanity will be savagely crushed.

The Strategic Campaign: Alliances & War

In the post-apoc Urban, the powers-to-be are aligned under the leadership of three major underground leaders, each with his own view on how humans should spend the few remaining days on Earth. We have explained previously the differences between their beliefs. One more thing to note is that the benefits you get as their ally are quite different too - and the tasks they require from you as well.

As powerful as these figures might be, reigning in an apocalyptic society is more about shrewd alliances than steamrolling everyone. Thus their influence comes from their acolytes, the local barons and warlords that hold & defend the actual territories and resources. These lords will be the ones that you will first come face to face with, before you’ll get anywhere near the faction leaders. The way you deal with the local chiefs will determine if they’ll consider you a friend or an enemy. If you manage to gain the support of a majority, their faction will become your ally. If you aggro too many, the faction will declare war against the Shelter and you will become KOS in their territory.

The benefit of having a strong faction as ally will become evident once the threat of the main zombie horde will creep closer. With hard work & sacrifices you can fight off the undead alone, of course. Yet an ally will allow your Shelter's scavengers to gather raw materials in peace in their territory, their traders will have a more generous inventory on offer and they'll reward your allegiance with unique rewards in items and blueprints.

Finally, taking one of the main faction as ally will also bring a specific theme to the new world you’re building, so you might want to go on a few test runs before committing to riding with a bunch of drunk bikers, worshiping the undead or making friends with army drill sergeants.

Tutorial level & dynamic help widget

You will start the game in a micro tutorial level, that will both introduce you into the story and teach you basic gameplay elements. Just follow the instructions in the new Help Widget. This widget will show up each time there are new elements in the game and offer quick help to the new players. It is not game blocking and you will be able to close it once you have acquired enough experience.

Streamlined dialogue system



We felt the need to speed up the dialog delivery so we implemented a new system with a single output for the player (previously after you made your choice at the bottom, you had to read the full dialogue text over your avatar's head, on the scene). The new system distracts you less and also reduces the workload for future game localizations.

New graphical assets

We have already shown these new graphic assets on our social media and they got a very warm reception so they are worth mentioning here too. Our vehicle collection has been expanded with an iconic RV and the lonely zombie males now have an accompanying set of lovely zombie ladies with a matching appetite for human brains.

4k HUD elements

We are reworking all our main HUD elements for 4k resolution (instead of upscaling them) for maximum viewing quality on high end displays.

UNTIL NEXT TIME!

PS: Thank you for the continued support and if you have made it this far down the text, why not add Urban Strife to your wishlist? And get more people to do it, it really helps!

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

All I need to know is will there be cheese?

 

[agris]

Looks amazing, as if Dead State were made by a high-T team.

 

[Grunker]

I really liked Dead State but had to stop playing because it was simply too dysfunctional in terms of polish. This is looking like a rather promising upgrade.

 

[agris]

With the rebirth of Microprose as a publisher, we may be at the start of a golden era for strategy / tactics. Here's hoping.

 

[luj1]

When is this coming out? Looks good

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Well, first step is to produce a decent vertical slice demo, get public feedback on the game and balance/fix what's wrong.


Then we'll see.

 

[agris]

Well, first step is to produce a decent vertical slice demo, get public feedback on the game and balance/fix what's wrong.

What's the scope: combat map(s) only, combat maps + shelter, or first X% of the game?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Demo will basically be the prologue of the game. It will include the first faction RPG + combat (+zombies, +unaligned baddies), but with a small twist that we can't spoil.
There will be some basic upgrades you can build for your base, too, just as a teaser. Enough for a couple of hours of fun (depending on your completionist/direct gameplay style).

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Okay mister, when is the demo coming out?