Dec 5, 2019

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Hello all,

We’ve released the 1.0.1 patch to our stable branch on Steam. We'll be posting be a devlog tomorrow with more information on all the new changes in this patch.

A lot of network backbone has changed. There could be odd and funky issues with persistence between players. If you experience any of this please report it.

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.

Thanks for playing, submitting bug reports, providing feedback & supporting the game in alpha. If you're enjoying the game, please consider writing a review or updating your current one. Thank you! :)

Patch 1.0.1

Weapons

Added new double barrel shotgun.

General

Implemented a bunch more achievements.
Stopped/improved items falling through the world.
Resolved issue where connection would be lost when trying to respawn.
Fix for players getting stuck on servers.
Other players firing weapons now have correct bullet ejection.
Fridge now spawn loot instead of being player storage.
Potential fix for scenario where players were losing items from the inventory after login back in.
Fixed hatchet damage range issue.
Fix for fires continuously burning.
Fixed scenario which could allow for placed items to still decay.

Game Entry

Improved overall connection to game pipeline which should help game entry for people getting stuck at connection initiated.
Moved the asset pre loading into the game startup rather than server entry. This could reduce entry into game times by up to 50%

Server Performance

Fixed extensive server lag spikes on player join/leave. This could result it small hiccups or network delay when interacting with the environment.
Resolved server performance issues that were being caused by IOWait and general disk usage under heavy load from players.

Reduced zombie attack ranges. This will need further work in the future due to interpolation issues stopping it being improved further at this time.

Continued the the guide beyond the initial 12 steps in the quick guide. This should help new and existing players learn more about features in the game.
Fixed the issue where Interaction cancelled would spam the small notifications when inspecting.
Resolved issue which would cause the inventory to break when changing the key bind for sprint.
Weapon breaking hint now fits in UI.
Fixed sleeping bag guide point grammar.

Environment

Fixed collision issue getting down stairs that are next to window in old house.
Added an extra harvest locations around guide areas which should help new players find the items they need.
Fixed floating bushes north of Sage Creek.
Fixed floating houses near north east of Sage Creek on the coast.

Quality of Life

Reviewed all item pickups and lowered weight on key items that were causing inventory bloat.
Fixed issue where a slowish press would register as a hold and enter placement mode.
Stopped melee hitting light switches, fridges and door panels and this could cause hits to enemies to not count.
Added functionality for eating items directly without adding to the inventory by holding interact key. Note that uncooked cans still enter placement mode with hold so that they can easily be placed over fire.
Various new and improved hints for actions we have seen people getting stuck on in videos and streams
Added inventory sorting systems so that items can be sorted by weight, category, alphabetical or none which allows for player managed loot order.
Doubled the storage capacity in all containers.
Improved expert player spawn locations that you get after completing the guide.
Drinking from canteen animation length shortened to make action faster.

Sound

All suppressed gun fire sounds are now working.
Fixed issue which was stopping other players and AI footsteps working correctly.

Known Major Issues

Some players are experiencing getting stuck at connection initiated. This issue is known and in most cases not caused by connection issues and is related to incorrect loading. This is usually accompanied by a black menu scene after skipping the alpha disclaimer message. For many players reloading the game fixes the issue. Once the scene in the background of the menu scene loads everything should be fine. This is on the top of our priority list.
In some cases there appears to be a broken skinny bald zombie with a blue shirt with the number 33 on it. The issue manifests itself in the form of either an invisible zombie that appears to attack you but is actually stuck running in place on your client. Alternatively it the zombie appears to just remain stood animated at the position of death.

Links

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net

Nov 21, 2019

Alpha Version 1.0 is Available Now!

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Patch Notes 1.0

Improved the FRKS reload animation timing.
Fixed issue which could allow for zombies to be inside of fully fortified structures.
Fixed issue which would result in vehicles being in the air after server restart.
Improved expert spawner locations.
Fixed issue that meant zombies were spawning in cleared structures too soon after being cleared.
Fixed issues with progressive reloaded weapons which could render other weapons unfireable.
Cleaning kit no longer clips the barrel during clean animation when cleaning the Clinchester.
Reduced the amount of positive effect to mental health from eating cooked foods to make it more balanced against the lowering overall health.
Sickness chance removed from dry food consumables.
Mental health capped between -10 and 3. Previously it could go higher than allowed which would spam the log.
Improved the descriptions on some weapons.
Fixed issue with the APUG scope clipping the camera when firing the ARG15.
Fixed issue with hearing distance sounds on the ARG15 when firing.
All shirts while having a weapon equip now match.
Added in-game user bug reporting with screenshot functionality.

Hello all,

It has been nearly two years since our shaky unlisted pre-alpha release in December of 2017. Our Steam store page is no longer unlisted/hidden so it will now be visible on all the normal places on Steam such as the Steam store, discovery queues, genre lists and other categories. We've gone ahead and added more servers for this release. Please keep in mind that there may be some initial server issues but we're fully prepared to spin up more servers, if needed.

We’d like to firstly thank all that have helped hunt down major issues, fill out bug reports and put the time in to tweak and adjust current features. Survive the Nights has become part our family and some of you with it. This update will refresh anyone that’s interested in all the work accomplished over the last two years.

As some of you may know, Survive the Nights is our first venture into game development. We realized about a week after our Kickstarter campaign finished that we’d jumped right into the deep end. A concept is great but it’s not by any means a massive, functional, multiplayer game. Development from 2014-2016 was very rough around the edges as we were learning skills and putting them to practice. There was lots of trial and error and an awful workflow that kept our pace slow. Our unlisted pre-alpha release opened our eyes a bit more. We had a lot of help from a dedicated few who stuck around after that initial release helping us hunt down issues, tweak features and test newly implemented ones. We took on a proper Jira based workflow, set realistic goals and have gained a good deal of knowledge in the last two years. In many ways, 2017 sparked what we consider actual development. The game now meets and exceeds our original alpha trailer in many ways.

Below we’ll take a look back over the last couple of years month to month. Please feel free to check on all of the progress we’ve made via our changelog or even more informative newsfeed on Steam.

December 21st 2017 Update Highlights

Unlisted Pre-Alpha Release
Due to a glitch in Steam’s back end our intended quiet release ended up on the Top Sellers list at #1. Those that had our game on their wishlist jumped right in. Most were thinking they were getting an alpha build, not a pre-alpha project. The backlash was pretty harsh. Those that had been following our development knew what to expect but most didn’t. The project was not in the best shape to be in the eyes or hands of the public. The night of release our lobby crashed, the game went out with a missing .exe and pretty much all that could go wrong did ;) It was a nightmare and a great time all at once.

Our first handful of patches were shot out within the week to try and stabilize the builds. The basics were getting tweaked, the initial influx of players was a total shock and we were simply not prepared. The upside to all of this were the bug reports. We went from hunting bugs ourselves in the rare chances we were able to find the time to having 100’s of reports come in. We got to fixing anything before we ever considered adding any additional features.

January - February 2018 Update Highlights

Big fixes for loot issues and cabinets that were eating player loot. Additional quality settings were added, logs cleaned up and dozens of other small and large bug fixes. Things became a bit more stable here and we started tweaking and adding planned.

0.1 Patch Notes - January 4th 2018

0.2 Patch Notes - January 28th 2018

0.3 Patch Notes - February 15th 2018

March/April 2018 Update Highlights

We began improving the actual player experience and locks were introduced and improved. Physical loot was introduced and container loot was removed for balancing. There were a lot of AI tweaks as players responded to zombie behavior and that provided us with some helpful feedback. Electrics were improved, breakers were introduced LED indicators added to electrical items to make easier to understand what’s going on. Garage doors were introduced, firewood and coal burn longer. There were a lot of general quality of life improvements.

0.4 Patch Notes - March 14th, 2018

0.5 Patch Notes - April 20th, 2018

Making too much noise testing electrics

Breaker explodes due to overload

May/July 2018 Highlights

We hunkered down and focused on fortifications, general game improvements. Patches got much larger and more feature rich. We made a big move. In the beginning of June, we had the opportunity (also due to leases expiring) to leave our tiny office. The team moved into the center of Hedon just east of our former location. The space is amazing although it has come with its fair share of work. Vacant for the last 5+ years, it was in rough shape but this would later play to our advantage. Luckily John and James have had their fair share of experience with carpentry with construction being their now former livelihoods. With the help of Andre, Jos and some friends/family, the office quickly became the team's nightly project!

0.6 Patch Notes - July 7th 2018

Moving on up!

Backer named shops provide specific drops (e.g. hammers in hardware stores, medical goods in pharmacies)

August 2018 Update Highlights

The base for fortifications were introduced although it wasn’t yet activated in the build. We also worked on optimization and profiler work. The project started coming together nicely including map changes, new spawn points, fortifiable structures and AI improvements allowing zombies to traverse through windows. This was our first iteration of fortifications, it’s stiff and not exactly what we’d first pictured. It would later be completely reworked for a far more fluid and free-placed system. We started trying our best to get weekly devblogs out and share as much information on development as possible.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #1 (Optimizations | Spawns | Fortifications) August 27th, 2018

Initial fortification introduction

September 2018 Update Highlights

We had our first major quality of life update. We improve spawn locations, add container counts, add new notifications along with numerous other UI improvements. Rag-dolls were improved, the project was cleaned up and reduced from 10 to 8gigs. We upgraded to Unity 2017 from Unity 5 and do quite a bit of tweaking to get things settled again. Shared optimization improves performance. We optimized over 3500 in game textures. Rik and Marko joined the team as interns from ROC Friese Poort. September was a very busy month and October would be the same.

0.7.19 Patch Notes - September 6th, 2018

Pre-Alpha Devblog #2 (Fortifications | AI) September 14th, 2018

Pre-Alpha Devblog #3 (Traps | Animations | Fortifications) September 21st, 2018

Pre-Alpha Devblog #4 (Fortifications | New Spawns | POI | Interns) September 28th, 2018

Fortification improvements

Explosion damage

October 2018 Update Highlights

We figured it out. It took us a while but we have a proper workflow! We began getting used to using Jira/Bitbucket. Proper branches, pull requests and workflow allowed us to tighten up on sloppy loose ends. Our development pace began to pick up. Fortification improvements were introduced allowing players to gather worn planks in the worlds from old fences and wooden tables. AI attacking fortifications, you’re no longer safe and sound! New design items were created and the interns got to work crafting much needed drops. Fortifications were about to be rolled out along with traps and were first introduced in our next build 0.8.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #5 (Workflow | Fortifications |AI) October 5th 2018

Pre-Alpha Devblog #6 (Points of Interest | Interns | Fortifications +) October 12th, 2018

Pre-Alpha Devblog #7 (Fortifications | Traps | Feedback +) October 19th, 2018

Pre-Alpha Devlog (Fortifications | 0.8 Update Showcase) October 30th, 2018

Zombies attack fortifications

Devlog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfo5W6Mxvhc

Weapons damage fortifications

November 2018 Update Highlights

Our 0.8 update was ready to release on our experimental branch. The initial introduction of our fortification mechanic is exciting but static and not exactly what we wanted. Traps are introduced, the shotgun traps and propane fire trap became craftable.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #8 (Experimental Build 0.7.20) November 16th, 2018

December 2018 Update Highlights

We spent most of the month fixing fortification and trap issues. We made improvements where possible and adding some additional quality of life fixes. 0.8 is moved to our stable and default branch for more testing and preparation for 0.9. Crafting got a major rework, allowing players to search for recipes or ingredients. We introduced a notification and hint system for explaining a bit more about what’s happening in game. Door interactions are tweaked, stats and consuming got some love and item dropping got a needed improvement. Starting camps were introduced for new players and structures are cleaned up to easy movement and AI pathfinding. Placement mode was introduced, players could now place drops in the worlds directly from their inventory. Previously they had to drop the item and then move it. The 21st marked our unlisted pre-alpha version one year old.

Patch Notes 0.8.21 (Fortification Update) December 10th, 2018

Pre-Alpha Devblog #9 (0.9 Preview) December 14th, 2018

Pre-Alpha Devblog #10 (Crafting | Consuming | Notifications +) December 21st, 2018

Notifications

Starting camp

January 2019 Update Highlights

Well that was a quick year! We made a good amount of progress and our development skills and speed started to pick up pace again. We took on another intern, Ids. He joined the team as a media designer. Ids began working on feature videos and also started a lot of 2d artwork improvements. Weapon attachment development picked up pace, our lobby was improved further and Allgamer/Clinton expanded on panel and backend control. Bedrolls were introduced allowing players to log out anywhere in the world.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #12 (Attachment Progress | Bedrolls | 0.9 Progress Update) January 25th, 2019

Weapon Attachments

Sleeping bags

February 2019 Update Highlights

0.9 was released to our experimental branch, physical loot was enabled in favor of container loot which was disabled. Headlamps were introduced so new players have a shot at not dying if they spawn at night. Major cooking improvements began, updated notification systems and more. 0.9 was released with a devlog showcase just as 0.8 was. There were many changes and bug reports filed in once released. We began development on proper vehicles and prepared to introduce our first car, the cricket. Game achievements got a rework and we tightened up our workflow on Jira. We also introduced a new UI system showing stats on button push.

Devlog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_TQrFzbR4k&feature=emb_title

Pre-Alpha Devblog #13 (Experimental Build 0.8.22) February 1st, 2019

Patch Notes 0.9.22 + Devlog (0.9 Update Showcase) February 7th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #14 (UI Improvements | Player Stat Visuals +) February 15th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #15 (Window and Kitchen Improvements | Workflow+) February 22nd, 2019

UI introduction

March 2019 Updates Highlights

Vehicles got a total rework, vehicle sync is tweaked and things smooth out. Further cooking improvements were made. Cans can now be opened by cooking them over fire and popping their lids off. We totally tweaked the crafting recipes and began to balance time/loot needed. General loot spread was balanced and backend controls were created to make further future adjustments easy. We introduced the first batch of Steam achievements. Hotkeys were introduced at player request among other tweaks and feature additions.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #16 (Vehicle Sync | Starting Camps +) March 1st, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #17 (Vehicle Work | Hotkeys +) March 8th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #18 (Experimental Build 0.9.23) March 21st, 2019

Cans have lids cooked off

Some teething issues with vehicle development

April 2019 Update Highlights

0.10 moves to our default branch and with it another devlog/showcase video from James. We improved vehicle animations, introduced player and zombie death loot. Weapon attachment continued and improved on the original design. Jos began to design bunkers and container forts to fill in the wilds. The RV was totally redesigned, more campsites were added and animations are improved. Radios were reintroduced after being broken for some time. We started working on passive AI and deer and stag implementation was in the works.

Patch Notes 0.10.24 + Devlog (0.10 Update Showcase) April 5th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #19 (Attachments | Design | Storage+) April 12th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #20 (Player Loot | RV Update | Design+) April, 19th 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #21 (Weapons | Vehicles | AI +) April 26th, 2019

May 2019 Update Highlights

We continued development on vehicles, weapon attachments and passive AI. Development continued on hunting and we created small game traps. The Wikipedia was revamped and linked to all drops in game. We continued world design, bunker design, container and cabin camp work continued. Numerous issues from 0.10 were addressed.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #22 (Attachments | Traps | Wiki ) May 3rd, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #23 (Experimental Build 0.10.25) May 15th, 2019

June 2019 Update Highlights

0.11 moved to our default branch. New trap concepts began taking shape, key binding finally got some development love, vehicles are improved and conditioning was introduced. We introducse random vehicle color and conditioning on spawn. We developed the T5-Pump Action shotgun and weapon attachment animations were improved. There was a lot of optimization done to the project and towns themselves.

Patch Notes 0.11.26 (Hunting | Trapping | Attachments+) June 13th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #24 (Vehicles | Pump Action | Key Bindings) June 14th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #25 (Vehicles | Optimization | Design & Cleanup) June 21st, 2019

Keybindings

Vehicle Randomization

Bunker

July 2019 Update Highlights

We introduced 0.11.27 to the default branch. We began the first stage of polish on mechanics that are in the project in preparation for having alpha ready by the end of the year. Town improvements continued, car mechanics improved and we introduced the part and function systems. Town signs are created to ease up on player confusion. A lot of bug work is being done at this stage. Most days development was far behind fixing. We were grinding through issues at a feverish pace and trying to find balance and stability.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #26 (Town Optimization | Vehicle Parts & Function) July 5th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #27 (Experimental Build 0.11.27) July 15th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #28 (Vehicle Damage | Town Signs | Patch 0.11.28) July 19th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #29 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.29) July 29th, 2019

Town Signs

August 2019 Update Highlights

0.11.30 was introduced on our experimental branch. Road signs were implemented making it much easier to get around the island. Lock mechanics got a total overhaul, allowing for the lock owner to store codes. New player guide work began and we started planing for alpha players and how new players might approach survival.

New lock mechanics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO50WZ8qUQs&feature=emb_title

Pre-Alpha Devblog #30 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.30) August 4th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #31 (New Lock Mechanics | Road Signs) August 16th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #32 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.31) August 17th, 2019

Patch Notes 0.11.31 (Vehicles | Optimizations | Lock Mechanics ++) August 20th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #33 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.32) August 26th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #34 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.33) August 30th, 2019

September - November 2019 Update Highlights

The team is now in full on alpha mode. We’re introducing the last of our Alpha trailer features to build and trying to find as much stability as possible. The RV is introduced and although it still lacks many of its features the base is in and it makes a great people mover. Day cycle changes, tweaks to UI, tweaks to containers and loot spread. Build 11.34 goes to our experimental branch. We tweak fortification mechanics making them much stronger. Propane tanks now damage vehicles and structure windows. Roadsigns go into project and we have massive changes to melee making zombies a bit easier to kill without a weapon. We reintroduce container loot, we make adjustments to weapon damage and calorie intake. A massive amount of pre-alpha balance happens in these 3 months leading up to todays release.

Pre-Alpha Devblog #35 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.34) September 6th, 2019

Patch Notes 0.11.34 - September 10th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #36 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.35) October 3rd, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #37 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.36) November 2nd, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #38 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.37) November 6th, 2019

Patch Notes 0.11.37 - November 7th, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #39 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.38) November 13th, 2019

Fortification improvements

Melee improvements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfh0QrQNBZ8&feature=emb_title

On Saturday, November 16th, we posted our last major update to our pre-alpha build. We’re now ready to move forward to a public listed alpha. Expand the community, feedback and ideas! We’re all very excited to continue feature implementation. The release date announcement update on the 16th also included a new devlog from James, a run down of what we’ve done over the last two years.

Last Pre-Alpha Devlog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPVxJaF6s9g&feature=emb_title

One last big thank you to everyone. Firstly, thanks much if you’ve actually read this far. A lot of people don’t seem to be big on reading these days! Thanks to everyone in the community who stuck by and helped out. If you’ve left a review for us two years ago, please consider checking it out again. If not for us, at least for yourselves. You spent the money and we’re doing our best to deliver the game you want to play. It has been a few crazy years and we’re super excited to move forward and expand on our vision for Survive the Nights. We’ll have a public roadmap up shortly. The next couple of days will likely be messy if there’s a big player influx. We’ll do our best, same as we did with the unlisted release. We’re here, we're working and we're not going anywhere. After all, if we give this up we’ll have to get real jobs again ;)

-The team at a2z Interactive
James, JB, John, Andre and Jos

Links

Nov 7, 2019

Patch Notes 0.11.37

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Hello all,
 
We’re moving our experimental branch to default today. 0.11.34 will become 0.11.37. There have been a good deal of changes in between 0.11.34 and 0.11.37. Some highlights include the addition of the RV, the return of container loot, improved melee, new game guide, door mechanic improvements and much more. If you're into helping us crush bugs please report them on our public tracker.

This will be our last default patch before our public alpha launch v1.0.0. We will only be doing experimental patches now as we approach release. If you're enjoying the game, please write a review or update your current one. Thank you! :)

Patch 0.11.37

Improved fall damage calculations to reduce the chance of unfair death.
Resolved issue which could lead to an empty hint on overall health lowering.
Added small info read out under overall health stat which informs the player what they need to do to increase overall health.
Fixed issue which allowed vehicles to spawn very close to other vehicles. This could lead to vehicles being inside of each other or in random positions.
Fixed issue with progressively reloaded weapons getting caught in an infinite reloading loop.
Fixed issue which would sometimes make punch really fast.
Achievement for killing a chicken with a bear trap now works.
Zombies now have hit reactions when being shot.
Exploded vehicles can no longer be pushed around by bumping into or shooting them.
Generators now use ground placement mode.
Performance improvements.
Fixed issue which allowed the player to visually see their backpack weapons when first joining game.
Tree stem sections that can be cut off no longer rotate after tree has already settled. This resulted in a strange visual effect with the green highlights that display where the tree can be chopped.
Using bandages now has animation.
Improved some of the wording in the default server config to improve clarity.
Disabled copper wire and fire cracker drops as they currently have no purpose.
Fixes and stability improvement of weapon penetration functionality.
Player consumable animations can now be canceled after 70% of the animation has played without stopping the actual consume.
All consumable player animations can now be canceled.
Removed coordinates from bottom right corner of screen in preparation of early access.
Added new hint for when the player in dry firing without ammo in their inventory explaining how to change back to unarmed.
Added new hint for when the inventory is full which explains how raising overall health will increase carrying capacity.
Added new hint for how cooking closed cans over a fire to open them.
Fixed the pivot positions on loads of drops so that they don't clip into the ground on spawn.
Sped up consuming times to help game flow/calorie intake time.
Fixed instances were incorrect or no consuming animation would play when consuming an item.
Killing zombies near world traps like bear traps no longer sets them off.
Passive AI can now take damage from melee.
Passive AI now take damage/die from world traps like bear traps.
Headshot damage multiplier increased.
Shotguns now do slightly more damage.
Hasp and staple is now craftable using scrap metal and pliers.
Avoidance now works when switching between looking through a window and back to frame. This would sometimes stop melee working against windows.
Avoidance distance lowered.
Electricity meters now start with a few parts.
Footstep sounds no longer play while in vehicle.
Carrying capacity now increases by 10 when overall health is positive and decreases by 5 when negative.
Jerry cans now only spawn at vehicle part spawner locations as they were too common.
Improved description of campsite campfires to make it clearer how cooking over them works.
Added screenshot option to drone cam.
Resolved issue which could cause players to become stuck on a server. This would stop them rejoining until after the server had restarted.
Interior lights no longer render on terrains as it was causing some shading issues.
Zombies now spawn back in buildings quicker when they are not fortified.
Jerry cans have been removed from hardware item spawners as they were also in vehicle part spawners making them too common.
Tweaks to hardware/electrical item spawners which should make locks kits more common. Less electrical items should now spawn in the hardware stores and instead be pushed to warehouses.
Tuna can disabled temporarily.
Restructured the guide to make it clearer for new players.
Added several new achievements for the guide.
In game UI no longer displays just before loading is complete.
Players no longer show for other players before their own loading screen disappears.
Fixes for vehicle spawn rotation issues.
Shotguns and R-6804 rifle now have shell eject sound effects.
Fixed issue which allowed weapons to jam even while empty.
Fixed issue which allowed for fast firing weapons to fire one additional shot when firing really fast.
Fixed material error which was spamming when shooting red brick variants.
Resolved issue single bullets being able to hit multiple point on the same enemy. This was a fault caused by the penetration system.
Fixed lock position on bathroom sink cabinet that wasn't visible.
Added toggle option for new quick guide in the full guide tab.
Hover icons now have adaptive fade in/out range to bring more relevant interactions to the players attention.
Information hover icon updated to make it more clear.
Lowered vehicle inputs UI slightly so that it fits nicely with the new quick guide.
Resolved spamming error when looking directly at terrains.
Added new destination visited achievements.
Fixed issue with containers which would result in the loss of items in the event they were put in different containers from the same inventory stack.
Reintroduced container item spawning. Containers now spawn highly consumable/common items like food and tinder.
Overall physics stability improvements for vehicles.
Other players head movement range while in vehicles has been reduced to stop it stretching.
Fixed issue which could cause zombies to remain in T-pose position.
Improved UI in drone cam mode, made it so that it can be exited with 'esc' and removed secondary camera mode which didn't work correctly.
Now possible to enter drone cam again (subject to perms)
Chicken sound effects now quieter.
Players no longer bump into dead zombies.
Fixed various particle errors on the server which caused console spam.
Removed trash from forecourt of fuel station in Old Town.
Vehicles found that are under the threshold for smoking no longer smoke unless they are on or are about to blow up.
Camping chairs can now be harvested from for scrap metal.
Camera animation effects are now reduced when hitting fortification objects, trees and when nothing is hit.
Disabled the muffler drop since it is not used in game.
Reduced overall network traffic caused by AI.
PVP disable server config option now works.
Fixed issue which stopped players receiving damage when their limbs were hit.
Locked containers no longer display the amount of items inside.
Locked doors and containers now say "Locked" instead of "Press E to open".
Some item containers around the world have now been converted to player storage which requires a lock to be placed before use.
Reload animation for other players using the FRKS shotgun is now correct speed.
Added new quick guide UI system which should help new players learn the game.
Added extra stats to stats UI thats in the main menu.
RV's and cars should spawn at correct rotation. Previously this was causing them to spawn inside of items.
Added animations for harvesting from stags and chickens with with machete, hatchet and axe.
Wind now works in the new menu scene.
Added new spawn point locations for players who have completed the guide.
Player spawn point improvements location improvements.
Interacting with items is now quicker.
Notification when harvesting while inventor full is now correctly.
Doors now close after time when there are no players near by. This stops server stagnation where all doors end up open.
Conflicting key binds now display in the UI. This helps stop players binding the same keys.
Hand held radios are now shown in hand for other players.
Loading screen inputs helper now bigger with clearer font.
Kitchen taps now provide dirty water instead of clean. They also have the correct message when searching.
Small garage doors now have 'Coming soon' hovers.
Added new Stag and Doe animal type.
When trying to a slam a door while you don't have enough stamina now reverts to the standard open/close instead of doing nothing.
Slamming doors now requires shift plus interact to be pressed.
Doors no longer slam open when pressing interact on door panel. Doors now open instead when pressing interact.
Improved FRKS reload animation.
Nails can now be crafted from scrap metal.
Berries no longer provide health.
Updated game start splash screen.
It is now possible to harvest from stags and chickens without the correct tool. A lower amount of items are retrieved.
Spawn point location improvements to help early game.
Hints now stay on screen for longer so that players have time to read them.
Zombies no longer stand on bridges during the day.
Anti cheat improvements.
Increased brightness and width of cricket vehicle headlights.
Fixed alignment on death message UI.
Fixed structures that were not working with new functionality introduced in 0.11.32 for preventing zombie spawns in structures that are fully fortified.
Vehicles no spawn with fewer parts and fuel.
Weapon reload sound effects now work with master audio sliders.
Vehicles no longer sink in to the ground a fuel stations.
Vehicles can now catch fire and blow up even if they weren't already running.
Fixed errors being caused by shooting red bricks.
Vehicles now take less damage when impacting objects (Including zombies).
Improved zombie vehicle collision calculations so that there's less chance their rag dolls get caught on vehicle.
Zombies now get cleaned up faster when killed by a vehicle.
Improved performance by reducing zombie movement calculations in the distance and stopping their animations.
Improved performance by creating LOD's for vehicles.
Removed some physics calculations for Zombies that were not needed. This should improve performance when near lots of zombies.
Fires no longer warm players through walls.
Hand warming animation only plays when a fire is in the player vision. (Health regen still works without line of sight)
Moving away from fire no longer incorrectly notifies of interaction canceled.
Tweaked loot balance. Reduced the amount of guns slightly. Increase the chances of finding custom location based loot. Warehouses now also have (Electrical/car parts) loot.
Fixed issue which could on rare occasion cause zombies to become invincible.
Player no longer receive damage when switching seats while vehicle is moving.
Passengers no longer receive damage when driver exits vehicle when moving.
Fixed issue where vehicles could slowly roll away from their server instances which would mean players could no longer enter.
Tweaks to zombie loading distances to improve overall performance.
Searching area using F is now quicker.
Hold interact functionality made quicker for all interactions.
Added functionality for adding strength to existing lock using an equipped screw driver and screws.
Fixed floating lamp post in terrain 27.
Resolved issue where engine audio/visual wouldn't update after getting out of a vehicle.
Fixed terrain clipping with road in scene 28.
Warehouses now have improved design and location specific loot.
Added working RV vehicle.
New inputs helper UI added during loading screens.
New loading screen images added in preparation for early access.
New menu scene added in preparation for early access.
Overall loot balance. Less ammo and food. Increased loot in special loot locations like shops and increased likelihood that it's relevant to the location being looted.
Screwdriver weapon added.

Links

Nov 2, 2019

Pre-Alpha Devblog #37 (Experimental Build Patch 0.11.36)

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Hello all,

Thanks for checking out our 37th devblog! We’ve released the 0.11.36 patch to our experimental branch on Steam. Thanks very much to all the testers finding current issues. There’s a lot of testing and breaking to do so go at it! Below you can find our patch notes. Please do your best to check against the list of changes and report bugs to our tracker.

We will only be doing experimental updates as we approach our alpha launch. The next stable update will be our public alpha release v1.0.0. Thanks much for the continued support! We couldn’t do it without the continued dedication of backers willing to help test for issues and suggest fixes and improvements.

Patch 0.11.36

Sped up consuming times to help game flow/calorie intake time.
Fixed instances were incorrect or no consuming animation would play when consuming an item.
Killing zombies near world traps like bear traps no longer sets them off.
Passive AI can now take damage from melee.
Passive AI now take damage/die from world traps like bear traps.
Head shot damage multiplier increased.
Shotguns now do slightly more damage.
Hasp and staple is now craftable using scrap metal and pliers.
Avoidance now works when switching between looking through a window and back to frame. This would sometimes stop melee working against windows.
Avoidance distance lowered.
Electricity meters now start with a few parts.
Footstep sounds no longer play while in vehicle.
Carrying capacity now increases by 10 when overall health is positive and decreases by 5 when negative.
Jerry cans now only spawn at vehicle part spawner locations as they were too common.
Improved description of campsite campfires to make it clearer how cooking over them works.
Added screenshot option to drone cam.
Resolved issue which could cause players to become stuck on a server. This would stop them rejoining until after the server had restarted.
Interior lights no longer render on terrains as it was causing some shading issues.
Zombies now spawn back in buildings quicker when they are not fortified.
Jerry cans have been removed from hardware item spawners as they were also in vehicle part spawners making them too common.
Tweaks to hardware/electrical item spawners which should make locks kits more common. Less electrical items should now spawn in the hardware stores and instead be pushed to warehouses.
Tuna can disabled temporarily.
Restructured the guide to make it clearer for new players.
Added several new achievements for the guide.
In game UI no longer displays just before loading is complete.
Players no longer show for other players before their own loading screen disappears.
Fixes for vehicle spawn rotation issues.
Shotguns and R-6804 rifle now have shell eject sound effects.
Fixed issue which allowed weapons to jam even while empty.
Fixed issue which allowed for fast firing weapons to fire one additional shot when firing really fast.
Fixed material error which was spamming when shooting red brick variants.
Resolved issue single bullets being able to hit multiple point on the same enemy. This was a fault caused by the penetration system.
Fixed lock position on bathroom sink cabinet that wasn't visible.
Added toggle option for new quick guide in the full guide tab.
Hover icons now have adaptive fade in/out range to bring more relevant interactions to the players attention.
Information hover icon updated to make it more clear.
Lowered vehicle inputs UI slightly so that it fits nicely with the new quick guide.
Resolved spamming error when looking directly at terrains.
Added new destination visited achievements.
Fixed issue with containers which would result in the loss of items in the event they were put in different containers from the same inventory stack.
Reintroduced container item spawning. Containers now spawn highly consumable/common items like food and tinder.
Overall physics stability improvements for vehicles.
Other players head movement range while in vehicles has been reduced to stop it stretching.
Fixed issue which could cause zombies to remain in T-pose position.
Improved UI in drone cam mode, made it so that it can be exited with 'esc' and removed secondary camera mode which didn't work correctly.
Now possible to enter drone cam again (subject to perms)
Chicken sound effects now quieter.
Players no longer bump into dead zombies.
Fixed various particle errors on the server which caused console spam.
Removed trash from forecourt of fuel station in Old Town.
Vehicles found that are under the threshold for smoking no longer smoke unless they are on or are about to blow up.
Camping chairs can now be harvested from for scrap metal.
Camera animation effects are now reduced when hitting fortification objects, trees and when nothing is hit.
Disabled the muffler drop since it is not used in game.
Reduced overall network traffic caused by AI.
PVP disable server config option now works.
Fixed issue which stopped players receiving damage when their limbs were hit.
Locked containers no longer display the amount of items inside.
Locked doors and containers now say "Locked" instead of "Press E to open".
Some item containers around the world have now been converted to player storage which requires a lock to be placed before use.
Reload animation for other players using the FRKS shotgun is now correct speed.
Added new quick guide UI system which should help new players learn the game.
Added extra stats to stats UI that’s in the main menu.
RV's and cars should spawn at correct rotation. Previously this was causing them to spawn inside of items.
Added animations for harvesting from stags and chickens with with machete, hatchet and ax.
Wind now works in the new menu scene.
Added new spawn point locations for players who have completed the guide.
Player spawn point improvements location improvements.
Interacting with items is now quicker.
Notification when harvesting while inventor full is now correctly.
Doors now close after time when there are no players near by. This stops server stagnation where all doors end up open.
Conflicting key binds now display in the UI. This helps stop players binding the same keys.
Hand held radios are now shown in hand for other players.
Loading screen inputs helper now bigger with clearer font.
Kitchen taps now provide dirty water instead of clean. They also have the correct message when searching.
Small garage doors now have 'Coming soon' hovers.
Added new Stag and Doe animal type.
When trying to a slam a door while you don't have enough stamina now reverts to the standard open/close instead of doing nothing.
Slamming doors now requires shift plus interact to be pressed.
Doors no longer slam open when pressing interact on door panel. Doors now open instead when pressing interact.
Improved FRKS reload animation.
Nails can now be crafted from scrap metal.
Berries no longer provide health.
Updated game start splash screen.
It is now possible to harvest from stags and chickens without the correct tool. A lower amount of items are retrieved.
Spawn point location improvements to help early game.
Hints now stay on screen for longer so that players have time to read them.
Zombies no longer stand on bridges during the day.
Anti cheat improvements.
Increased brightness and width of cricket vehicle headlights.
Fixed alignment on death message UI.
Fixed structures that were not working with new functionality introduced in 0.11.32 for preventing zombie spawns in structures that are fully fortified.

Links

Sep 10, 2019

Patch Notes 0.11.34

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Hello all,
 
We’re moving our experimental branch to default today. 0.11.31 will become 0.11.34. There have been a good deal of changes in between 0.11.31 and 0.11.34. Melee and fortification improvements among the other changes listed below are a bit part of the recent update. Below are a few screens, gifs and videos of just some of the progress that has gone into this patch. If you're into helping us crush bugs please report them on our public tracker.

Melee Improvements

Melee has needed some love for some time now. We’ve begun to improve the system in 0.11.34. Melee damage now provides some feedback. You’ll see in the video below zombies react to the direction of your swings and where you hit them. Zombie hit boxes have been tightened up and melee in general has improved. The effects are not just for punching, melee weapon reactions, animations and hit boxes have also been improved.

Propane Tank Damage

Roadside signs will help you navigate the map

Map update and improvements

Fortification Mechanic Update

Fortification mechanics have been altered slightly. Newly placed fortification objects now start with a default strength of 10 instead of 2. This speeds up fortifying overall and gives newly placed fortifications more significance. Locks now have an initial strength of 500 when applied. This makes them much harder for player and zombie to break in through a door or get into a locked container.

Patch 0.11.34 (Changes since 0.11.31)

Fixed issue with database which was incorrectly retaining door states.
Large water storage container no longer spawning. (Future feature content.)
Wrenches no longer fall into some surfaces.
Camera now animates when hammering fortifications.
Potential fix for new day UI and stat changes not always working.
Resolved relevancy issue which would cause nearby objects to turn off for a little while when dropping items.
(Regression) Beartraps are now craftable again. Introduced in - Unknown
(Regression) Vehicles now blow up again. Introduced in v0.11.31.
Vehicles start now start smoking when their condition reaches 30. Previously it was 60.
Melee weapons no longer disappear when hitting locks.
(Regression) Zombies are no longer invisible when moving away and then back to them while another player is nearby. Introduced in v0.11.33
Improved issue where the zombie could still reach the player with their attack after being stunned.
Fixed issue which caused the wrong hit reaction animations to play on zombies when they were hit by another player.
Resolved various null refs on the server.
Arms no longer cast shadows when performing action like warming hands or eating.
Fixed scenario which could allow berry harvesting in the winter even though plant would still be bare.
New roads, structures and points of interest added to ingame map.
Higher resolution textures added to ingame map.
Map key functionality added with info to ingame map.
Resolved error being spammed into log while joining game.
Crafting planks from log now produces 5 planks instead of 8.
Each hit now adds 2 strength to fortifications instead of 1. With this change and other tweaks fortifying is approximately 3x faster.
Newly placed fortification objects now start with a default strength of 10 instead of 2. This speeds up fortifying overall and gives newly placed forts more significance.
Tweaked melee weapon attack rates so that the cooldown is always less than the attack rates. This stops them returning to the static our positions which makes melee feel more rigid overall.
Standard planks now have a max strength of 40 instead of 60. This is in preparation of stronger fort types.
Locks now have a default strength of 500. Previously 100.
Melee weapons now receive varied damage from hitting objects.
Melee weapons now do varied damage to fortifications/locks.
Fixed error which was happening when lock was scrambling after the played had closed lock UI.
Explosions now break window frame glass near the explosion.
Zombie male/female/skinny female/Fat now use random textures for torso/legs/hair.
Can no longer crouch under water surface on terrain 62.
Canteen (Clean) variants of water have been changed to look better.
Attack animation on hatchet now works on chop down animation.
Improved zombie hit reaction animation effects.
Stopped rabbit trap drop from decaying.
Updated alpha disclaimer on game load in preparation of early access.
Improved hit accuracy for flashlight attacks.
Melee spawners no longer spawn flashlights. This means more percentage of melee is usuable weapons. Flashlights now spawn as weapon attachments.
Cricket vehicle camera height increased slightly to allow better view out of back window.
Structures no longer spawn zombies once entry ways are all fortified/locked.
Intersection texture fixed on terrain 29.
Propane fire trap volume lowered.
Added directional player camera animations when attacking with melee.
New AI stunning system added. Zombies now play directional hit effects and become stunned when hit.
Zombies can no longer become crawlers from melee attacks.
Reduced the chance that zombies push the player when bumping into them.
Reduced melee avoidance distance against walls.
Zombies no longer play hit reactions while climbing.
Resolved issue which sometimes stopped zombie hit reactions working.
Fixed issue which stopped melee damage being dealt to zombies when the hands were hit.
Zombies no longer jump through wall in police armory.
Added town distance signs between towns so that players can navigate more easily.
Fixed dupe glitch which was causing weapon attachments to not get removed after a server restart.
(0.11.31 regression) Weapon attachments can now be removed again.
Vehicles no longer play glass breaking sound effect when initializing.
Secondary hammer attack now works again.
Crafting recipe no longer clears back to list after crafting an item.
Baseball bat with nails no longer play the incorrect animations when being used by other players.
Baseball bat with nails no longer casts incorrect shadows.
Road on entry into Union Point on terrain 54 now have collision.
Glass breaking VFX and SFX no longer play when hitting windows while trying to fortify.
Trees that have been cut down no longer produce their autumn falling leaves VFX.
Player no longer bobs up and down when crouched near a fire that is on.
Removed various log errors that were happening due to item relevance.
Crawling zombies no longer transition back to standing zombies when moving far away from them.
Crawling zombies now align with surface they're on.
Players can now move while consuming from canteen.
Credit window improvements.
Small workbenches can now be picked up like other drops. Previously they opend the inventory to the crafting page like large benches. This prevented the item being picked up.
Server no longer throws errors when vehicle condition gets updated.
Resolved issue causing weapon avoidance to not work when equipping a weapon from the inventory.
Overall improvements to melee hit detection while standing near objects.
Avoidance now stops melee attacks.
Resolved issue which stopped player animations playing when looking up.
Player camera now plays animation when taking damage from zombies.
Improved camera shake caused by explosions.
Potential fixes for AI not spawning after several days of up time.

Thanks much for the continued support. We’ll keep smoothing out this .11 build and get it into proper shape for a solid alpha build. We couldn’t do it without the continued dedication of backers willing to help test for issues and suggest fixes and improvements. The 0.11.35 builds are already in the works. Feel free to follow along with our progress on the changelog.

Links