Alpha 1.12.53 Animations | AI Improvements | Strip Malls++

Monday December 6th,

Hello everyone, we'll be moving our 1.12 build from Steams experimental branch (you should be here if you want to test on new builds) to our stable branch (most of you are already here). The 1.12 update introduces some big changes to Survive the Nights. This cycle was pretty quick and features some massive gameplay changes. Below is just a brief overview of the changes, hop on and check them out yourselves!

Zombie Improvements

We’re making some pretty big changes to zombie behavior in the coming build. Some of the biggest changes you’ll notice are the increased amount of day zombies. Previously zombies that made it through the night would die off. From 1.12 on they’ll no longer die, they’ll simply turn from ‘night zombies’ to ‘day zombies’. There are increased numbers of zombies all around and we’ve made some decent optimizations to surrounding AI systems.

Along with the increased numbers of zombies you’ll notice there will now be small zombie behavior differences. Zombies that around during the day will be dumb, slow and sluggish. Day zombies that aren’t inside darker structures won’t really be a massive threat; their danger comes in the amount of zeds not their speed and strength.

Day Zombies Roaming

Strip Mall and Day Zombies

In addition to the added number of zombies you’ll also notice a few more changes. Zombie animation speeds have changed along with zombie speeds themselves. We’ve introduced some variation in zombies, some are faster than others, some are far slower. This should greatly improve the general feel of zombie hordes.

Zombies are now easier to kill and headshots drop them easier than before. This change is very simple but plays into the changes we’re making with more zombies. The overall feel we’ve gone for here is that headshots get the job done much easier now, range and weapons being a factor of course.. Overall though zombies should just go down easier. It feels more satisfying to kill them in general and feels far more apocalyptic with the increased amounts.

Zombie walk and run animation have been improved to reflect new zombie speeds. We’ll continue to tweak these as we move through development.

Updated Slow Zombie Walk

Andre has made some really nice texture improvements to our current zombies and we’re concepting a random texture system for scaring and clothing. The updated textures remove a lot of the bright colors and shininess the zombies have. They look way more fitting the the world and bring the zeds far closer to what the team originally imagined. They’ll make better placeholders for the time being.

Updated Zombie Textures

Updated Textures

Waypoint Improvements

We’ll be introducing a fully place able waypoint system in 1.12 you’ll be able to add one marker anywhere you’d like on the map. Along with that, you’ll not notice all important map markers highlighted depending on your needs. Should the guide be directing you towards something like a car lot

Waypoint Placement

Additional Strip Malls

We’ve been greatly expanding the quick guide and plan to continue to do so. In 1.12 the guide will continue right on through to finding a vehicle and getting to a hardware store for some fortification materials. We’ve added around 20 new strip mall additions, mainly hardware stores, gun shops and pharmacies.

Hardware Stores, Pharmacies and Gun Shop Additions

Changelog

1.12

Fixed footsteps by adding footstep events to animations.
Manually placed waypoint now clear automatically when reached.
Fix for bounce when opening the map near the edge of the island.
Fix for proxy punching being broken

Quality of Life

Tweaked guide to add placing of a marker for navigation to the car lot.
Added snipers to police station and prison.
Removed snipers from Farmhouse.
Removed broken searching functionality from certain bathtubs.

Animations

Improved set of walk animations for zombies that are less repetitive and vary in speed.
Improvements to run animations.
Improvements to idle animations.

Zombies no longer attack vehicles during the day.
Added headshot sound when shooting zombie in the head
Improved zombie hit detection
Zombie speeds now more varied. Most outdoor zombies will be walking slowly during the day but a small percentage will still run when chasing a player. Outdoor zombies during the night will become a lot more aggressive but some will still walk. Indoor zombies will still be more aggressive than outdoor zombies during the day.
Rebalanced zombie spawn locations to cater for new outside zombie during the day.
New zombie texture variants added and textures improved.
Zombie textures now more desaturated and blend more into the world
Zombies spawn with a random height difference to increase variety
Zombie ambient lighting now looks correct when zombies are outdoors
Improved zombies floating above the ground
Improved zombies sliding when starting to move and when coming to a stop
Improved zombies sliding when walking around
Zombies are now easier to kill.
Headshots on zombies are now more powerful.
Disabled several zombies from spawning.
Performance improvements when close to a lot of zombies.
Ragdoll pooling system which reduces lag associated with dead zombies.
Fixed screaming zombies turning around on the spot instantly
Increased zombie amounts.
Zombies no longer die in morning and remain outside.
Fix for zombies legs moving around when a stationary zombie is attacking a player

Map

Map now re centers to the player upon opening.
Added map positions for to hardware store, pharmacy and gun shop
Added info when hovering over map pins
Map pins now highlight based on current tutorial step
Fixed issue which caused the mouse to unlock while in the map UI.
Map now starts zoomed in on the player location.
Players can now place a marker on the map which shows in the world as a waypoint.
Map icons now increase in size when zooming for improved visibility
Outline around player position on map now reflects friend vision distance
Player is now displayed on the map as a white arrow instead of blue.