Jan 17, 2020

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Hello all,
 
Thanks for checking out our 2nd Alpha Devblog! Some of you might be new here so thanks much for the support! The team pushed out an update just before the Christmas/New year holiday and then took some much needed time off. We've been back at it for a couple of weeks now and have been busy at work with the 1.2 patch! Below are just a couple of features and mechanics we've been working on. Check out the full changelog here.
 

Lock Mechanic Rework (Coming in 1.2)

 Our lock system is rather unique. It's also not had too much attention since its introduction. After our last patch, we received quite a few heated bug reports. It seems there are instances where locks simply didn't work, among other issues. The last couple of weeks James and the team have spent a good deal of time reworking the system.
 

Lock kits can now be removed while they are unlocked and reset.
Created functionality for weaker crafted lock kits.
Now have the option to hide the pin code being entered. This allows streamers to use the locks without worrying about their code being visible.
Locks can now have multiple owners (Auto locking/unlocking) by snapping a lock shut with the correct pin entered.
Locks now only scramble on opening/closing of UI rather than after a lock has been snapped shut from within the UI.
Added new weaker craftable lock kit variant.
Lock code starting with 0 now work correctly. Previously locks would break after server restart.
Locks no longer show in the locked state after trying to lock with 0000.
Resolved issue with locks where the highlight would appear again after taking items from a container.
Locks can now be operated with keyboard num inputs.
Locks now have additional UI to help explain lock function.
All new lock UI added which is bigger and clearer to understand
Placed locks now show on the map including after death so that players can return to their locked containers.
Added craftable lock kit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=38&v=oM99ZhHNbPg&feature=emb_logo
 

Lock Markings on Map and Death Markers

 A lot of players have requested their placed locks be noted on map. This will allow them to return to their goods easier upon death along with a nice little death marker. Both of these were highly requested with our in game suggestion feature. Please consider using it above all else to report bugs and suggest features. It can be reached by pressing escape and clicking report bug or F1. This information is sent directly to the team and the more reports or suggestions the more time we can dedicate to the feature or issue.
 

Lock Markers - The highlighted one will be your last placed but all will be tracked.
 

Lock and death markers - this should ease the burden of getting back to your loot and location.
 

Craftable Compass

Many have requested a craftable compass variant. We've added that for 1.2 with a slight change to compass mechanics. Crafted ones and found compass both work the same just at different speeds.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=it1SEv7g5qc&feature=emb_logo
 

Time Display

 Another massively requested feature was a way for players to tell the time of day. The guys have spent some time this week working on a system just for that. You'll be able to access it with "F" just like the rest of your stats.

Time Display on Inspect (F)
 

Time Display Readouts
 

Weight and other Information Readouts on Hover

 Another much requested feature is weight on hover. The 1.2 patch will feature the ability to hover over items and get a readout on the current item your hovering ons weight along with ammo amount.
 

Displaying weight and ammo amounts on hover
 

Airport Point of Interest

The airport strip in game is, well, quite lackluster to say the least. The structure was removed some time ago and reworks have started for 1.2 patch. The airport will feature out buildings (hangars) broken down planes alongside a massive terminal. There are a lot of feature mechanics going in here. The perimeter will be sealed and you'll need to power the structure to open the gates for vehicles access. The terminal itself will feature an armory far more challenging than the current police station armory. We'll have some video and more design in the next devblog but below is a quick sneak peek at some of the airport plans.
 

Interior boarding area
 

Exterior terminal

Hangar
 
Thanks for checking out our second alpha devblog. We'll do our best to get a devblog out as often as possible aside from patch weeks. Please consider switching over to our experimental branch if you're interested in upcoming features as they will be first released there. We're hoping to have the next patch out on experimental branch by the end of the month. Thanks for the continued support and continued issue and suggestion reporting :). Below are some helpful links to anyone new and interested in the game. If you'd like to follow a bit closer, please consider joining our Discord. We're here, we're listening!
 

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
 
 

Dec 22, 2019

Patch Notes - Alpha 1.1.3

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Hello all,

We’ve released the 1.1.3 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. Jay explains more details about the update in the devlog below.

This update includes a special winter event for the holidays. To participate in this special event, please head to any main town in the game and search for the giant Christmas tree. There you will find a sign outlining the rules on how to receive gifts under the tree. You'll need to power the tree and survive 3 rounds of zombie waves.

We have done our best to prevent server wipes and have not had a single wipe since alpha release. Unfortunately, it was necessary to condense servers and we couldn't pick and choose which ones to keep. You'll now see in the server list 6 US servers, 6 EU servers and 3 AUS servers.

Thanks for playing, submitting bug reports, providing feedback & supporting the game in alpha. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the team at a2z Interactive :)

Patch Notes - Alpha 1.1.3

Features

Zombies are now drawn to additional sounds and light. Generators, fires, fortification damage and more all now agro zombies.
Added usable fireworks for new years. These can be used for signaling location or just making awesome displays!
Added fox passive AI that can be found in urban areas.
Vehicle storage added.
Added [Create All] button in the crafting menu.
Single ammo can now be loaded or unloaded in to all guns via the inventory.
Added field of view (FOV) slider in the settings.
Smaller roller shutter door now works.

Quality of Life

Fire barrels now have mesh over them so that cooking is possible.
It's now possible to clean rags in a canteen with water by boiling it on a cooking surface.
Hearth fireplace now includes a small area to cook on.
It's now possible to reload while sprinting.
Hydration system change to only count against overall health recalculation if it's actually at 0 when the morning calculations are done. Previously if hydration had been at 0 in the given day it would still negatively affect the overall health calculation
Sorting inventory by weight now puts the heaviest items to the top.
It is now possible to open doors while zombies are hitting the door.
Continued fire damage duration reduced to 1 second. Previously 3.
Players can now get closer to fires before receiving damage from them.

General Fixes

Fixed issue where ammo in guns could go out of sync. This resulted in ammo that couldn't be fired.
Fixed issue where dead players would always drop full ammo in boxes and weapons.
Plastic bottles now burn when put over open fire.
Adding and removing battery from headlamp now works correctly.
Melee now does varied damage to window frames dependent on what weapon is being used.
Added working single and double manual garage doors.

Crafting

Resolved issue where some crafted items weighed more than the items used to create them. This could cause items to be lost when crafting with a full inventory.
Powdered milk now has a canteen recipe.
Disabled the air horn tripwire craftable. Implementation isn't fully complete.
Added firewood craftable out of the plank and the worn plank.

Improved guide hints so that it's clearer that the guide continues after the quick guide.
Removed link to old issue tracker from the tab list and replaced with steam community link.

Models

Reduced scale of fixed campfires at starter camps. This should make them easier to get close to and use for cooking.
Updated some cooked cans that didn't have the lids popped off after being cooked.

Zombies now break through window frames faster.
Zombies no longer start moving to a different entry point while a door is opening.

Environment

Couches now give clean rags.
Pallets now return worn planks and nails.
AI navigation in strip mall next to police station in Addersfield should now be working correctly.
Broken down cabins now fire wood.
Water dispensers now give clean water.
Removed double harvest locations on tents.
Power station sealed off to save players wasting time looting while it's not finished.
Metal shed interior now loads from further away.
Removed the metal doors leading to the exterior in the power station building.
Blocked off all lower floor entries to the under construction apartment blocks and the power station.
Tweaked the hospital building so that the garage doors have space to work correctly.
Changed the bathroom door in the farm house to an interior door and filled gap in wall.
Added garages to various houses around the world so that players can now store their vehicles.
Raised the lights in the gas station so that RV's can fit.
Gas station trash in second garage bay cleared so that both are usable.
Gas station floor materials improved.
Fixed floating road sign in union point.
Removed rocks inside Addersfield house.
Moved strip mall from subsector to largesector in Addersfield so that their loading range reflects other buildings.
Removed the tree inside the cliff outside of Sage Creek.
Fixed hole north of old town where players could get stuck.
Removed floating rocks above Black Rock

Animation

Reviewed and made faster all consuming and interaction animations to make gameplay feel more fluid.
Improved the aiming position of the double barrel shotgun.
Added new manual garage door animations.
Fixed rare issue which would lead to a door snapping to the open position when trying to open it.

Major Known issues

Fire barrels currently don't work for cooking items. They do appear to be cooking but will never transition.
Other players and ai footstep SFX not working.

Links

Dec 13, 2019

Alpha Devblog #1 - Hello World!

Survive the Nights - a2z Interactive

Hello all,

Thanks for checking out our 1st Alpha Devblog! Some of you might be new here. Thanks much for the support! We've been quite busy over the last 6 weeks or so getting out our first alpha builds. We were patching quite frequently and we've not had a chance to share much more than patch notes since alpha launch. Our longer term supporters will tell you we're rather active when it comes to devblogs and we will do our best to get one out every week.

This devblog will focus on what we've been working since our 2nd alpha patch, 1.0.2. There has been a tremendous amount of bug reports submitted and suggestions made by all of you and we're very grateful. We had a small but dedicated team of 'testers' for the last two years in unlisted pre-alpha and with the player base expansion, issues are being found quicker. We're able to tell what really needs doing first just by how many duplicate reports and suggestions we get. We'll not delve too far into fixes here although we'll list them at the bottom. The blog today will focus on just some of the suggestions and improvements the community has made that we're now implementing.

Thank You
Firstly, the team would like to thank everyone for their continued support of our project. We've not had the greatest start for unlisted pre-alpha 2 years ago. This was largely due to our past lack of knowledge. It has taken some time for Survive the Nights to grow but it's finally doing so. Thank you if you've been here a while. As you know, STN is our first project and we've grown quite a lot over the last few years. Our development pace reflects that growth. The learn as you go method ,while tried and true, isn't the fastest and we wouldn't be here without our original backers helping to push fixes and features.

A major thank you to all the new supporters in alpha! The community and player base has grown quite a bit over the last 3 weeks and our bug reporter/suggestion tracker reflects that. We're here and paying attention to your issues and ideas, so please continue to share them they truly will help to shape the project and the game you want and are now playing.

Crafting Adjustments
One of our biggest requests in regards to the crafting system so far has been the ability to create the maximum amount of an items. James has spent some time this week working out [Create Max] mechanics for the crafting systems. You'll see these mechanics introduced in the next patch. Crafting will continue to be improved. If you have additional suggestions, please use that in game tab.

Create maximum at once

Weapon Unloading
One of the biggest weapon requests outside of additional weapons has been the ability to unload weapons. This week James has spent a bit of time working on weapon unload. You'll now be able to remove ammo and it should restack to an ammo box in your inventory. You'll see this live in the next patch :)

Weapon unloading

Zombies and Player Window Damage
Something we've noticed watching you all play and have wanted to sort for some time is window damage. Andre has spent a bit of time this week working on random window damage. You'll notice now that zombies and players do random damage to window fortifications. If you've not put it together, this means zombies will get out and into houses quicker now so keep that in mind ;)

Zombie causing random damage

Player causing random damage

Field Of View
Something requested often has been a FOV slider. Andre spent time this week getting that back into the project and you'll see it available to you in the coming patch.

FOV slider in action

Garage Doors
In the coming updates you'll see all of our garage doors functioning. By watching videos and watching players live on servers, it's clear to us now that you need and enjoy vehicle storage. John spent some of his time this week working on animating all the in game garage doors. The smaller warehouses with 'coming soon' doors will function in the next patch. We'll also be adding more garages to structures that don't have them including small residential garages, along with adding and animating garage doors on houses with attached garages.

Small warehouse garage doors functioning

New Passive AI (Fox)
Towns are missing a decent hunting source. While most do have chickens you need to venture to the wilderness for a bit more meat in most cases. In the next patch we'll be introducing foxes, they'll be mostly based in towns. This should breath a bit more life into towns along with providing the player with a chance at an additional food source. Jos has spent a good deal of time beginning implantation and you should se fox in our next patch :)

Fox, hope you have a hunting permit!

Additional Changes and Fixes
Please check our changelog out for a full breakdown of what we're doing and what's up. Above is only a small section of suggestions and fixes that we are working on. The changelog for the most part updates with pull request approvals and merges. What you see there should be in our next build. Below is the changelog as of writing this devblog.

Features

Single ammo can now be loaded or unloaded in to all guns via the inventory.

Changes

Plastic bottles now burn when put over open fire.
Adding and removing battery from headlamp now works correctly.
Sorting inventory by weight now puts the heaviest items to the top.
It is now possible to open doors while zombies are hitting the door.
Continued fire damage duration reduced to 1 second. Previously 3.
Players can now get closer to fires before receiving damage from them.
Melee now does varied damage to window frames dependent on what weapon is being used.

Crafting

Powdered milk now has a canteen recipe.
Disabled the air horn tripwire craftable. Implementation isn't fully complete.
Added firewood craftable out of the plank and the worn plank.

Models

Reduced scale of fixed campfires at starter camps. This should make them easier to get close to and use for cooking.

Zombies now break through window frames faster.
Zombies no longer start moving to a different entry point while a door is opening.

Environment

Added garages to various houses around the world so that players can now store their vehicles.
Raised the lights in the gas station so that RV's can fit.
Gas station trash in second garage bay cleared so that both are usable.
Gas station floor materials improved.
Fixed floating road sign in union point.
Removed rocks inside Addersfield house.
Moved strip mall from subsector to largesector in Addersfield so that their loading range reflects other buildings.
Removed the tree inside the cliff outside of Sage Creek.
Fixed hole north of old town where players could get stuck.
Removed floating rocks above black rock

Animation

Improved the aiming position of the double barrel shotgun.
Added new manual garage door animations.
Fixed rare issue which would lead to a door snapping to the open position when trying to open it.

Future Content
Just wanted to share a few quick things we're working on for future updates. We'll have a proper roadmap up shortly. Clinton is working on design when he has the time. We've been working on quite a few new fortification mats and traps. Below are a couple examples of both.

Window fortifications (wire tripped flame thrower)

Plywood, reinforced planks and metal planking

Metal bars and metal sheeting

Thanks for playing, submitting bug reports, providing feedback & supporting the game in alpha. We'll do our best to get a devblog out weekly aside from patch weeks.

Please consider switching over to our experimental branch if you're interested in upcoming feature as they will be first released there. We're hoping to have the next patch out on experimental branch next week.

Below are some helpful links to anyone new and interested in the game. If you'd like to follow a bit closer, please consider joining our Discord we're here, we're listening!

Links

Dec 5, 2019

Patch Notes - Alpha 1.0.1

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

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

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