KickStarter Dead State Pre-Release Discussion [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Gozma]

I dunno why I assumed that was a possibility. It just seemed obvious with the static base and zombie setup that would be what they'd be going for. I got zero interest then

 

[likaq]

http://www.examiner.com/article/pax-2014-dead-state-may-be-the-baldur-s-gate-of-zombie-games

"The quickest and easiest way to describe Dead State might be “Baldur’s Gate-style RPG in the Zombie-apocalypse”

 

[Grunker]

How procedural is the game ATM?

it isn't and isn't intended to be. missed chance there, imo.

Yeah, it feels a bit like the new X-COM in this specific sense (some cool ideas that would fit even better with a focus on replayability and different playthroughs through randomization).

 

[tuluse]

http://www.examiner.com/article/pax-2014-dead-state-may-be-the-baldur-s-gate-of-zombie-games

"The quickest and easiest way to describe Dead State might be “Baldur’s Gate-style RPG in the Zombie-apocalypse”

You have to understand, when your only frames of reference are BG, Mass Effect, and Skyrim, well BG is probably the closest.

 

[SuicideBunny]

i was gonna ask who the hell knows bg along mass effect and skyrim but doesn't know more apropriate stuff, but i totally forgot about the EE and its ios and android releases.

 

[Grunker]

i was gonna ask who the hell knows bg along mass effect and skyrim but doesn't know more apropriate stuff, but i totally forgot about the EE and its ios and android releases.

Don't underestimate the fact that the most avid, casual ME/Skyrim fans had their start in their teens with BG. I love the IE-games, but most of the worst "RPG-fans" of today had their start with them and idolize them, those being the oldest games they've played.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Gave latest beta a spin, overall I somewhat liked it, but remain disappointed by writing, mainly by dialogues. I find it mind-boggling that Brian wrote many of my favorite parts of VtM:B, yet here dialogue is full of cliches, still hasn't got reactivity and is often really stilted. Haven't unlocked all shelter NPCs yet, but already want to murder half of them, due to writing mostly. Only somewhat entertaining guy was Dawg, him I would have very much liked to feed to zombies, but with some considerable regret.

Combat feels like that early AoD beta, and right now is kinda easy. Granted, I savescummed a bit, but even with savescumming zombies shouldn't be so easy. I think they really need to at least either tweak volume threshold so zombie reinforcements shuffled into fray earlier, or, preferrably (but harder) tweak combat system so zombies should not be so frail and easy (special attacks, higher chance of infection, etc). Many weapons have unique special attacks, but those attacks aren't distributed fairly among them, some have less and some more. Also said attacks are really boring, it's either slightly more crits, or slightly more damage with less accuracy. No targeting body parts, no various different criticals.

Liked shelter management aspect. I don't know if it would turn out entertaining when the game would be finished though. Lack of randomization could really hurt this aspect.

 

[SniperHF]

Gave latest beta a spin, overall I somewhat liked it, but remain disappointed by writing, mainly by dialogues. I find it mind-boggling that Brian wrote many of my favorite parts of VtM:B, yet here dialogue is full of cliches, still hasn't got reactivity and is often really stilted.

The Cliches are one thing but not my biggest complaint. It's the complete lack of nuance in so many of the dialogs. Usually there are 3-5 options. 1 sounds like a decent and reasonable thing to say, another one sounds a little disinterested, and the other 3 usually sound like someone with Tourette's syndrome.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Gave latest beta a spin, overall I somewhat liked it, but remain disappointed by writing, mainly by dialogues. I find it mind-boggling that Brian wrote many of my favorite parts of VtM:B, yet here dialogue is full of cliches, still hasn't got reactivity and is often really stilted.

The Cliches are one thing but not my biggest complaint. It's the complete lack of nuance in so many of the dialogs. Usually there are 3-5 options. 1 sounds like a decent and reasonable thing to say, another one sounds a little disinterested, and the other 3 usually sound like someone with Tourette's syndrome.

Yeah, true. Heroic option, normal (somewhat whiny) option, histrionics option. Sometimes bonus aggressive option. Many PC's responses, beside "normal" half-assed one, are really, well, overblown. I was more concerned with NPC's responses though, given that they are one of the main resources and that a player will need at least some of them.

 

[Agesilaus]

Gave latest beta a spin, overall I somewhat liked it, but remain disappointed by writing, mainly by dialogues. I find it mind-boggling that Brian wrote many of my favorite parts of VtM:B, yet here dialogue is full of cliches, still hasn't got reactivity and is often really stilted. Haven't unlocked all shelter NPCs yet, but already want to murder half of them, due to writing mostly. Only somewhat entertaining guy was Dawg, him I would have very much liked to feed to zombies, but with some considerable regret.

Combat feels like that early AoD beta, and right now is kinda easy. Granted, I savescummed a bit, but even with savescumming zombies shouldn't be so easy. I think they really need to at least either tweak volume threshold so zombie reinforcements shuffled into fray earlier, or, preferrably (but harder) tweak combat system so zombies should not be so frail and easy (special attacks, higher chance of infection, etc). Many weapons have unique special attacks, but those attacks aren't distributed fairly among them, some have less and some more. Also said attacks are really boring, it's either slightly more crits, or slightly more damage with less accuracy. No targeting body parts, no various different criticals.

Liked shelter management aspect. I don't know if it would turn out entertaining when the game would be finished though. Lack of randomization could really hurt this aspect.

I agree that the dialogue is total dogshit and needs to be completely rewritten, but I'm not so onboard with the combat part. Zombies, when taken one on one, should be very easy for the player characters. Look at the graphics, they shuffle over like AMC Walking Dead zombies; a grown adult with a weapon should be able to take them out with no difficulty whatsoever. The idea that one of those zombies could ever land a hit in a one on one, face to face battle is absurd. The only except is when the adult is cornered and there are too many, or the zombie attacks out of the blue from a hidden position.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Gave latest beta a spin, overall I somewhat liked it, but remain disappointed by writing, mainly by dialogues. I find it mind-boggling that Brian wrote many of my favorite parts of VtM:B, yet here dialogue is full of cliches, still hasn't got reactivity and is often really stilted. Haven't unlocked all shelter NPCs yet, but already want to murder half of them, due to writing mostly. Only somewhat entertaining guy was Dawg, him I would have very much liked to feed to zombies, but with some considerable regret.

Combat feels like that early AoD beta, and right now is kinda easy. Granted, I savescummed a bit, but even with savescumming zombies shouldn't be so easy. I think they really need to at least either tweak volume threshold so zombie reinforcements shuffled into fray earlier, or, preferrably (but harder) tweak combat system so zombies should not be so frail and easy (special attacks, higher chance of infection, etc). Many weapons have unique special attacks, but those attacks aren't distributed fairly among them, some have less and some more. Also said attacks are really boring, it's either slightly more crits, or slightly more damage with less accuracy. No targeting body parts, no various different criticals.

Liked shelter management aspect. I don't know if it would turn out entertaining when the game would be finished though. Lack of randomization could really hurt this aspect.

I agree that the dialogue is total dogshit and needs to be completely rewritten, but I'm not so onboard with the combat part. Zombies, when taken one on one, should be very easy for the player characters. Look at the graphics, they shuffle over like AMC Walking Dead zombies; a grown adult with anything resembling a backbone should be able to take them out with no difficulty whatsoever. The idea that one of those zombies could ever land a hit one on one, face to face battle outside is absurd. The only except is when the adult is cornered and there are too many, or the zombie attacks out of the blue from a hidden position.

And that's exactly why I written about lowering volume threshold and adding more zombie reinforcements (or at least rising the chance of infection). I don't argue that individual zombies shouldn't be really dangerous, but zombies should present a threat. And not only zombies, they could've add opportunistic looters' attacks, when people are engaged in battle with zombies, etc. I don't know if it's possible to dynamically generate actors in their custom Torque, but it would be kinda strange if there's no way to implement such feature.

 

[tuluse]

And that's exactly why I written about lowering volume threshold and adding more zombie reinforcements (or at least rising the chance of infection). I don't argue that individual zombies shouldn't be really dangerous, but zombies should present a threat. And notonly zombies, they could've add opportunistic looters' attacks, when people are engaged in battle with zombies, etc. I don't know if it's possible to dynamically generate actors in their custom Torque, but it would be kinda strange if there's no way to implement such feature.

When I played the first EA version, I once had a fight make enough noise to attract more zombies. They spawned at the edge of the map. So it's possible.


Of course, I was able to run past them without the zombies even getting a single attack off, so it didn't even matter.

 

[Zombra]

I haven't played the beta really at all, but I do know that it's intentional that the zombies generally aren't threatening. They're supposed to be easy to deal with unless things get out of hand. Whether that makes for good gameplay, I leave that to you guys who've played it. Sounds like it's not that thrilling.

 

[SniperHF]

Dead State beta is quite a content upgrade. I couldn't even get that far due to the save bug and ended around 16 days in. And it still felt like there was tons to do after that. I generally like the shelter management aspects. Though it needs interface improvements to streamline the process from becoming a chore. Once you get 10+ followers shelter management takes too much time.


Also the exploration is pretty good. Some of the areas get samey after awhile in layout. But the enemy placement and various world building tricks work to keep it slightly unpredictable. To me this should be a big area of focus going forward. I would also like to see a few more complex/larger areas instead of the typical Burger joint + gas station + empty space type feeling some of them have. Combat areas like the car dealership are good and the game needs more of these.


I also like the items/loot in the world. All the weapons feel unique and have varying attacks. The found luxury item variety is nice and it genuinely is exciting on later maps where goods are rarer to find a big cache.


Generally speaking I'm not happy at all with the PC writing. Your character either sounds like he doesn't give a shit or a nihilistic fuck. Very little in-between. Other writing is better. I like the radio sequences for example. And Doug is hysterical.


Combat is mixed but leans toward competent while boring. It needs to be more Visceral to spicen it up. And primarily by sound effects. Characters needs to grunt or yell when shot/knocked down.

It's also heavily dependent on if you get caught off guard or not. When you are caught off guard combat can be legitimately challenging/fun. But if you engage in combat of your own volition it's a cakewalk 90% of the time even when fighting large groups. One of the issues is that there is almost no incentive to take less than an extremely capable combat party on most excursions. I played several times intentionally with weaker allies and it was A LOT more challenging.


The health system was intended as a way to mix up party composition it seems. You can heal characters at the shelter passively over time and when you have injuries it seems like the game expects you to hold them out a day or two and you bring someone else. Presumably less than ideal. But in reality what happens right now is you either send your weaker party to obviously easier areas on the map for a few days or just heal instantly with the medical satchel.


I think a better design decision would have been to disallow most forms of healing outside the shelter. This would radically change the game but add a seriousness that the combat is sorely lacking right now. I'm not 100% sure how the promised hardcore mode is going to shake out but I don't think this is part of it .


AI seems a lot better than in the 7 day demo (I played it early not after patches), but it's still lacking in some areas. The biggest gripe for me is how slowly the enemies wander over to noisey combat. Example, you get in a fight with 3 looters in a house. In the next room might be 2 more looters. Sometimes they'll wander over late after the first combat is over. Making both combats easy. Sometimes they'll stay right where they are and wait for you. Also making both combats easy. Other times they'll head over quickly and make it 5 vs 4. Much more entertaining, especially when it's unexpected. MORE of this please.


Nitpicks and annoyances -

The perks poping up after adding points in character screen is annoying. Add a summary or something afterward instead. Also the font could be bigger.

Why does animation speed slider affect the game speed? should be combat only or seperate.

Joel's dialog says he wont let you take his weapon yet you can take it from the shelter storage screen without having even talking to him.

Asking davis "anything to improve your mood" should not end dialog. - this actually goes for several characters.

it should be more obvious when there are other dialog options, the scroll bar is easy to miss - http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m468/SniperHF/itsprettyhardtoseethatsidebarondialog.png

Weird graphics shifting when zooming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iCrq7ZfapY

It's very annoying to switch gear around every day. When I change my in party line up I move my best gear to the new party members but this takes significant time every day. The menu issues make it worse.


Suggestions:
AP cost for merely looking at your inventory blows ass. - Make it like AOD. If combat is supposed to be tactical, surveying your tactical options should not cost points. There are too many items and characters to remember it all. Equiping the gun, moving the item, or using a consumable should cost. NOT just looking at them.

Add information in more places. It should be possible to see all your characters attributes and skills on one screen. It should be possible to see things like the Fence HP somewhere outside of the job board. Not having your characters stats on the shelter storage screen makes it a HUGE pain to allocate equipment.

I saw no way to loot a knocked out human enemy. I had to murder them first. Seems kinda mean. I'd probably turn the choice of leaving them alive or killing them into a mechanic. Killing too many humans lowers morale in sane people for example.

Number pad should work for dialog numbers.

TAKE ALL HOT KEY

Page up and down should be camera tilt, home should send camera to character.

Why not 1-2-3-4 for character switching.

Add feedback for successful lockpick. A text bark or something.

Companions – include a summary for skill improvements on companions?

Unlock doors from the other side. Seems kinda dumb that you can't do this without a pick.

More stuff to do in your room? - seems pretty empty in there.

Increase the base volume of ambient music on locations. I can barely hear it on full.

Weapon speed should be a stat on the list with damage. Only way I can see it now is to equip it.

Party members should shout when someone dies.

Add a map filter to only show unexplored locations.

You should consider making renee an even less competent fighter. They each don't want the other to go in the field but both make sense as a pair skill wise. - it feels like a non-choice.

The way new party members join feels unnatural. It should require you to head back or maybe send a guide with them back to base.

I wish more areas started with an event or sequence isntead of dumping you on a grid.

Maybe add a sound effect when the zombie tries the lunge/knockdown attack. From the human that is. - screaming in horror or something.

Looting costs no AP? - this is an exploit. Should cost AP during combat.

You can find a random encounter twice and they'll still be dead. Maybe they could turn into zombies?

Loot screen needs character selection like transfer.



Stuff I like:
Lack of kill XP works here. You don't have incentive to kill dangerous zombie groups but when you get into unexpected combat the zonbies and such will hear you.

IMO something understated is the level design / zombie placement, its pretty good.

I like weapons having unique attacks, like brain jab.

The All dead inside trick was a nice touch. - more tricks like this. Of course sometimes all the dead must actually be inside.


Outstanding questions:

Does survival from companions help on world map for travel? Or only the PC?

Is more health gained when not working? If so this should be more obvious.

Where do you see what ammo type a weapon uses?

Still not really sure how other party skills help you, like negotiation or survival.

Some of the special attacks are pretty unclear as to what they do.



Random observations:

I can't be the only one who reads Doug as Jeff Goldblum/Malcom from Jurrasic park right?

Is there any logical reason to take less than 4 people out?

If you have music muted the game is VERY quiet. And not in a good eery sort of way. It's quiet to the point of boring.

Seems like there is a lot of food. - is this intended as part of gameplay only to get more rare later?


Bugs and such:

The Max getz gate wake up scene happend late in my game. On day 9. He was already availible for party use 2 days prior.

Whe Vic comes to talk about the fence, does he mean fully repair it? Or the wood fence upgrade? Vic also repeated this?

Somehow I eneded up with 5 people in my party. - http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m468/SniperHF/lol5partymembers.png

The shattered perk is on elaine after she 'recovers'. Is this intended or placeholder?

After renee and anita argue about who goes in the field the 2nd time anita faces the wall for some reason.


Sometimes players start on top of each other in combat, usually when moving.

The day after Todd arrives he says he can "no logner support my leadership". This is dumb. Also pricilla intiated two dialogs on the same day right after arriving. Again dumb. Let it simmer alittle. Pricilla immediately asked for the day to pray, then asked again for the day to pray because of the cop lady from before they arrived.

Combat camera got stuck outside a building. - http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m468/SniperHF/camerastuckoutsidebuilding.png

After a crisis the camera got all fucked up - http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m468/SniperHF/camerabugafterasheltercrisis.png

 

[agris]

Post that to their forums man!


edit: Roger, as long as they'll see it.

 

[SniperHF]

Post that to their forums man!

Yeah I'm going to over a few days. Gonna take me awhile because:

Done. Response was if I could post all the feedback in individual posts in one of the dozen or so specific seperate feedback forums they made for it. Lol is probably the most friendly thing I can say about it with 'counterproductive' and 'bureaucratic' coming a bit closer to my real feelings while still staying polite.

They have like 8000 subforums.

 

[likaq]

This is a review of the first 10 seconds of the game. During character creation, the default sex for characters is female, which is rapidly becoming a pet peeve of mine. I'm all for progress and the inclusion of women (and any other demographic that so desires) in games, but "ladies first" is hardly inclusive or progressive. Putting men first here, while also unfair, is at least traditional -- like "ladies and gentlemen." Do the devs expect that most players will be female? Or perhaps that most characters will be?

The rest of the game may be really good, but I've stopped supporting developers who are so eager to be seen not to be unfair to women that they never consider that it's possible to be unfair to men. I'm putting this up for people like me.

Review from steam.

 

[Surf Solar]

It seems easy to troll people with this nowadays.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/70755535/dead-state-the-zombie-survival-rpg/posts/986858

Beta Patch #1 Released

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve been enjoying playing the Beta. We’re super grateful for all the feedback and bug reports that have been pouring in - you guys are totally awesome! You also did a fantastic job working together to identify potential causes of a couple major bugs, which helped us track them down and resolve them a lot quicker.

This first update addresses the biggest issues you guys reported, fixes various miscellaneous issues, tweaks balance, and extends a couple of features.

Here’s what’s new and/or improved in this build:

Spoiler

-- Fixed save corruption issue - this was related to save data for AI behaviors being doubled with each save. This should also fix some reported character combat lag.

-- Fixed return to shelter crash - thanks to the community, we discovered this was time zone-related and the game now uses its own internal clock independent of PC clock.

-- Adjusted lootlists for balance.

-- Added additional Leadership commands.

-- Added new AI behaviors and AI behavior fixes.

-- Memorial Wall can now be unlocked (but it only shows placeholder entries right now).

-- Suggestion Box can now be unlocked (but it only shows placeholder entries right now).

-- Added AC bonus from Vigor stat.

-- Fixed various dialogue issues.

-- Added various new dialogues.

-- Fixed blocking issues and exits for several levels.

-- Performed loot passes on motel levels.

-- Fixed various misc. art issues.

-- Implemented perk selection GUI art.

-- Implemented various shelter-related GUI art, including art for the shelter return summary and time passage on job board.

-- Fixed issue where players couldn’t max out weight through group trade interface.

-- Fixed a bug where damage resistance reported negative numbers.

-- Fixed a bug where the GO! command removed characters from the combat queue.

-- Added chainsaw sounds.

-- Added a few new levels and a couple new allies.

-- Finished the Allies portion of the Goals screen so you can now get more information - some data is not fully implemented yet, however.

-- Added pepper spray miss sound.

-- Fixed and “softened” level borders so that camera is less likely to get stuck behind them.

-- Added undead mobbing functionality - you’ll find the undead are scarier in groups now.

-- Added fishing pole item and fixed fishing bug - now you can catch all the fish your heart desires!

-- Added location unlocks from listening to the radio - I hope you’re tuning in every day...

-- Fixed an issue with the undead continuing to feast after a character stood up.

-- Fixed some issues with wall line-of-sight and wall positioning.

-- Tall fences now block LOS and attacks.

-- Fixed issues with dialogue overlap in crisis events.

-- Fixed some issues with existing perks and perk functionality.

As we move forward, we’ll continue to address game-breaking issues as top priorities, as well as add some new features, address problems with existing systems, add more critical path content, and continue loot passes, combat passes, and scripting on existing levels. Let us know what you’d most like to see in an upcoming patch and we’ll see what we can do!

 

[Raghar]

It seems easy to troll people with this nowadays.

Well alphabetically it's sorted as: man, woman, unisex.

 

[Overboard]

It seems easy to troll people with this nowadays.

Well alphabetically it's sorted as: man, unisex, woman.

Rearranged.

 

[Raghar]

unisex belongs at the end, because users would need to be able quickly change between a man, and a woman.

(It's one of many exceptions where game development violates: grammar, proper SW engineering practices, work hours, law of physics, and common sense.)

 

[Zombra]

It seems easy to troll people with this nowadays.

Well alphabetically it's sorted as: man, woman, unisex.

Uh huh, or female, male, other.
<--- successfully trolled

 

[Trash]

Last patch shows they're moving the right way. Exploring the maps really has a UFO vibe to it. With more AI scripts and the zombies becoming more of a threat this will only get better. My biggest gripe so far is something I really had not expected. Where are the other factions? Where are the neutral npc's? Where is the all important interaction with other survivors outside my own group? The ever npc is either a zombie or hostile or a recruitable character thing really isn't working for me. Are they still implementing those? Have I somehow missed them?

Only npc I found that was truly neutral was a survivalist who warned me not to enter his house. Nice moment. It was however the only neutral one I found and there was zero interaction.

 

[Surf Solar]

This sounds pretty good.. Thinking of actually getting into the early access version to help a bit here and there too.