Hello all,
We’ve released the 1.5 patch to our stable branch on Steam. You can find our patch notes below. There’s a lot of testing and breaking to do so go at it! Please do your best to check against the list of changes and report bugs using the in game bug report system.
Survive the Nights - Alpha Devlog (1.5 Update Showcase)
Alpha v1.5 Showcase Trailer
Free Placed Fortifications
Along with hordes, free placed fortifications will really change the gameplay. Zombies actively hunting the player each night will create reason to fortify a structure and free placed fortifications will greatly increase your chances of surviving the horde. The mechanics behind them are rather challenging and interesting. Zombies have to be aware of placed fortifications, they have to attack fortifications, they have to avoid them when possible, receive damage from them and they have to stop attacking them when you're no longer behind them. The mechanics are coming along quite nicely with the visual aspects (something we'll showcase next week). You should be able to place them in the upcoming experimental patch, we'd like to get that to you early next week. Below is a video showcasing some of the AI logic, registering and attacking a placed fortification also being damage by the barricade. They also stop attacking and attack the player when he moves to the opposite side of the barricade. Below that you'll see a gif showcasing the logic rotating toward a fortification.
Video Showcasing AI Attacking Barricade and Player In Game
New Fortifications
The initial 1.5 build will feature 4 types of freeplaced fortifications. Concepted by our moderator and concept designer Num47 and created by Andre the fortifications can be placed anywhere in the world and strengthened/repaired. They can be completely destroyed so be sure to keep on top of repairs and replacements if you want to keep that added level of security to your structure. Along with these additions you'll find you're no longer safe on top of vehicles as zeds will now attack and damage them to the point of explosion, killing you along with themselves.
Fortification Improvements
The current fortification method when it comes to covering windows with planks/boards only allows for a hammer and nail setup. This simply wasn't fast enough in most cases so we've expanding tools a bit. You can now use a screw driver and drill to apply fortifications. The screwdriver is faster than the hammer and the drill is obviously faster than the driver. You will need screws for both drill and driver, nails still being required to apply fortifications with a hammer.
Horde UI Concept and Preview
Horde mode will feature quite a few new mechanics. One of which will be a UI to keep track of a few things including how many 'horde nights' you've survived, how many zombies you've killed, when the horde starts and stops along with the direction the horde is approaching from. These features and this UI is all in its infancy, We'll have far more information in coming devblogs along with experimental patches so you can start testing these new features.
The player will receive in game notifications for both hordes approaching and XP/Level notifications. You'll have a limited time to flee before the horde arrives, you'll be notified when you're leaving the hordes reach. Players that choose to flee will not receive the larger XP boost from killing the horde.
We've made quite a few adjustments based of community feedback with our experimental patches, one of the suggestions that made it in was a horde difficulty reset. Upon death the player is able to reset the horde difficulty with the slider below.
New Animations
You'll likely be seeing far more zombies in the coming updates. We've improved and will continue to improve zombie characters and animations. In the 1.5 builds you'll see the start to some zombie animation tweaks. Creepier leg dragging and more fluid movement helps to add to the horde vibe. We've also spent some and started tweaking weapon animations.
Weapon Fire Animation Tweaks
Merch Shop!
While we're currently unable to sell merch in house (which is what we would ideally love to do one day), we've opted into a 3rd party seller, Teespring. They will provide those that have requested it the ability to pick up some cool merch and help out the team.
Patch Notes - Alpha 1.5
HotFix 1.4.24
Added system selecting horde difficulty on respawn. This allows players to select any difficulty lower than their hardest achieved difficulty.
Reset everyone one in experimental branches XP and horde difficulty in prep for release.
Players now receive a hint warning explaining how exploiting will not progress horde.
Zombies killed outdoors at night now get cleaned up quicker.
Players now receive a hint explaining how fleeing does not have a penalty.
Zombies now do slightly less damage to all fortification types.
Weapons now wear slightly slower.
AI now damages vehicle while players are stood on top of them.
Horde status now always shows in the inspect menu. This allows the player to know what difficulty is approaching and whether they joined too late to start the horde.
Flee distance reduced from 200 meters to 150 so that players can escape more easily without triggering the horde.
Fix for player standing on the billboard. Back more angled and removed ability to stand on the little ledge
Quantity in container UI no longer clipping.
Horde zombies can no longer spawn under the ocean and rivers.
Added exploit prevention mechanic for when players stand on top of items where zombies cannot reach.
Resolved issue where horde progress would get stuck due to lost zombies.
Clinchester rifle now does more damage.
R-6804 rifle now does more damage.
Fixed exploitability of certain areas where the player could stand to avoid zombies.
Disabled roadblock free placed fortification.
Hordes
Added horde system with progressing difficulty the more hordes you survive. Hordes can be escaped by fleeing.
Regression fixes
Fixed issues that were introduced in exp 1.4.22 with the change to using steam server list. Passworded servers work again, incompatible servers no longer show as "Not Set" and hidden servers don't show in the list as expected.
Player Levelling
Added base player XP system that will be expanded upon with rewards in future updates.
Free Placed Barricades
Added system which and all new barricade type fortifications that can be free placed to hold back and damage zombies and other players.
Quality of Life (QoL)
However UI now shows more quickly.
Scrap metal from empty cans recipe not requires 3 scrap metal instead of 9.
Zombies now damage the lowest condition fortification when attacking fortified windows.
Fortifying sped up slightly between all available tools.
Bandage recipe now takes 2 rags instead of 1 but gives 25 health instead of 15 meaning less inventory and crafting time.
Overall melee hit detection improvements. Especially affecting players with lower FPS.
D battery packaging is now green so that it can be easily distinguished from AA batteries.
Stamina drain is now varied dependent on not only weight but type of action.
Certain weapons are now much less likely to jam. Examples: all revolvers and double barrel variants.
Weapon jamming is now spread more fairly based on current condition and doesn't start until condition is lower overall.
Weapon wear working gain.
Lola and Rauser pistols now do slightly more damage.
Bateman accuracy improved when aiming down the sites.
FRKS shotgun now takes 5 shells instead of 7.
Pump action shotgun now takes 7 shells instead of 5.
Crafting certain items no longer craft with higher than their max quantity.
Items like nuts/bolts now have higher amounts per box when harvested from the appropriate locations.
Small work bench is now ground placement mode only.
Reduced overall weight of log drop.
AA battery harvesting removed in favour of spawning batteries in the conventional way. This should help save confusion.
Energy drinks simplified by having only 1 variant and making it more effective.
More scrap metal can now be extracted on each search.
Fixed issue which allowed players to get through walls by exiting the pickup seats.
Fixed intense reflections.
Windows bars can now be crafted properly.
Item condition now correctly syncs when joining near an object that is already loaded for another player.
Can now consume items from the inventory while looking at a cooking surface.
Engine access points on all vehicles updated to make it easier to open the UI.
It's now possible to inspect while inside of a vehicle.
Smaller rotation steps when turning items in placement mode.
Hotkeys now work while looking at fortifications.
Item hover now shows after dropping item while looking at it.
Compass now settles to position faster.
Large items are now slightly further away from the player when in placement mode.
Large items in placement mode no longer raise of the ground when looking up. This makes the system feel more fluid when placing items.
Replaced searching area functionality with the ability to hold F to keep the inspect menu visible.
Fixed areas in the police station where it was possible to stand on an invisible collider over staircases.
Engine Update
Reduced overall memory footprint.
Game project migrated to Unity 2019
UI
Quick start guide now animates on and off screen.
Added XP and Level display that shows when inspecting.
Data privacy button working again in Unity 2019.
Added new UI on new life that gives some back story and information for new players.
AI
Day zombies now agro slightly easier.
Lower scream chance once they spot the player.
Lower scream chance from annoyance.
Unfortified doors and windows now break open faster when being attacked by zombies.
Tweaks to zombie behaviour around door frames to spread them out more evenly and have them behave in a more dynamic way.
Zombies now start attacking the player as they are running toward. This helps zombies feel more fluid.
Slight improvements to zombies bumping the player. Still not 100% fixed.
Zombies are overall slightly faster.
Fixed several exploit issues with with zombie chase mechanics.
Zombies are now harder to kill with body/limb shots.
Zombies now attack vehicles when they cannot reach the player.
Resolved issue which stopped zombies being cleaned up around the player on logging in.
Added system for transitioning zombies into an aggressive pose after attacking. This prevents them entering into idle in between attacks.
Added system varied walking speeds.
SFX
Lower scream volume.
Music in game plays more often.
Overall music volume raised slightly.
Loud speaker at police station now correctly stops playing after electrics are turned on.
Animation Improvements
Add 2 new zombie walk animations and improved existing animation transition.
Arg15 fire animation improvements.
Rauser fire animation improvements.
VFX
Worn planks are now larger on the window frames.
Fixed broken tree chopping shader (introduced in unity 2019 1.4.22)
Breaking and damaging effects added for all new barricades.
Buggy explosion effect is now correct.
Rag dolls now receive correct force from melee and guns.
Animations
R-6804 fire animation improved.
Pump action fire animation improved.
Double Barrel fire animations improved.
FRKS fire animation improved.
Clinchester fire animation improved.
Bateman revolver fire animation improved.
Lola hand gun fire animation improved.
Props/Drops
Added new barb wire trap that lays on the floor and slows down and damages players and AI.
Added new battery drill drop.
Added barricade variants including barb wire, spike and wall types.