Stable Build: 41.78.16 | IWBUMS Beta: 41.78.16 | Version history | Wiki
Follow us

News

News & Dev
June 10, 2021

Last Boy Zcout

Hey all, here we all are again. Here’s your latest zombie news. Beginning with the latest from the MP Strike Force who are working on the implementation of multiplayer for the ongoing Build 41 public beta.

After a more highly populated test last night, last week’s quiet optimism for the client zombies work remains – but there’s certainly many/varied subsidiary issues that have been dislodged during their implementation and need sorting out.

In terms of gameplay blockers there are some car issues that need addressing (meaning last night’s test had to be vehicle-less), player deaths are prolonged to the extent that you wonder if God mode is active, the client zed system seems to get confused when admins/players choose to teleport close to their buddies and very occasional doppleganger naked zed corpses occasionally form during zombie killings. Survivors also reported being liberally doused in level-ups out of nowhere also, which Spiffo will have to clamp down on.

In terms of the group combat itself – it can still look messy with fellow survivors engaging with zeds in the mid-distance and the zombies getting Force Push-ed, and occasional zeds (again in the mid-distance) teleporting position. Likewise corpse placement doesn’t align all that well and needs a once-over.

HOWEVER players reported that (obvious bugs aside) they were never really put in a position where they got an unfair bite. There were no zombies ‘giving birth’ to other zombies (tester phraseology, not author’s own) and teleporting instakill zombies were a non-thing. This was the primary aim of the recent client zeds work, so is good to hear – especially when there are still screws to tighten in this area to make everything flow some more in terms of visuals and feel.

Similarly, we had a tester in central Canada playing alongside Yuri and Andrei in Eastern Russia – on a server in France – and they were able to play together relatively comfortably. Which is more good news.

Fingers crossed this week we can do a big push on the bugs outlined above and knock it all into better shape. Thanks for your continued patience on this, we recognize that it’s far less fun watching a marathon vs. a sprint.

Finally in other MP news RJ has now made it so that Walkie Talkies now work with VOIP – if someone is talking in VOIP with an equipped radio or a radio on their hotbar, and you have a radio on or near you on the same frequency then you will be able to hear them. If you’re standing at a distance from the walkie-talkie then the voice you hear will be quieter, and vice-versa.

This has been something we’ve been wanting to implement for a long time, and it’s great to finally get it in and placate PZ Reddit’s persistent Bernie Sanders.

It also allows us to remind you of that most vital of PZ development discoveries: that the French word for ‘walkie talkie’ is ‘talkie walkie’.

SFX AND MUSIC OVERHAUL

These past few weeks the PZ sound overhaul crew have been tackling the music system, as well as plugging in many and various new SFX created by their colleagues. So, over to The Noiseworks’ Michael Klier to find out a little more.

“The music system has been revamped from the ground up. Instead of a random playlist the music choice now reacts to the game.”

“There are different parameters that have an effect on the music. A different selection of tracks will play when you’re roaming a town zone vs exploring the wilds. Music is no longer a constant either. When a track plays out we now give players a chance to indulge in the new ambiance of the soundscape for moment. It’s only after a random amount of time that a new track will start playing.

“When you wake up after going to sleep a different selection of tracks will start playing, and which ones play will depending on various situations – such as if you’re waking up to zombies, have had a nightmare or are simply going to a more pleasant start to the day.”

“Action music will be triggered when you decide to engage zombies head on, and if things get a bit hairy, the music will change gears as well. We are, however, also making sure that you won’t be able to tell whether you’ve escaped to safety (or are entering dangerous territory) by the music alone.”

“In future iterations of the PZ soundscape (so not in the initial drop) we have plans for layered approaches to using the stems of the soundtrack that Zach has provided – but for now we are concentrating on how the individual tracks play as a whole. That said, tracks will no longer simply fade out – if you leave a town zone for example they will conclude musically. Likewise the ‘starting’ signature track when you load in or spawn in a new house will always be “Finally Calm, until things start becoming… not calm.”

Please note that the following mix is WIP, but it’s a good example of where we’re at. As before PLEASE NOTE that the vast majority of work for this is being done by the Noiseworks team, and as such it’s not holding back any MP work.

BENDS IN THE ROAD

Behold the work of Kukrapok! While Mash, Binky, Xeonyx and RingoD continue their labours in our version of Louisville this has started to happen to the internal main map…

A changelist of all IWBUMS patches since the 41 beta was released can be found here. A general list of stuff added to PZ, and vids of features being worked on, is kept here – so you don’t have to plough through endless dev blogs for info. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right hereOur Discord is open for chat and hijinks too! Our thanks to all bratty stepsisters out there for refusing to relinquish their gaming PC!

PREVIOUS

Muldreraeuuughhoid

News & Dev | 03 June 2021

NEXT

MP Status Update

News & Dev | 17 June 2021
Stable Build: 41.78.16 | IWBUMS Beta: 41.78.16 | Version history | Wiki
Follow us