Dev Vlog #2: Night & Day
Hello backers!
We've released our second dev vlog; "Night & Day." This is a very, very early, pre-alpha sneak-peek at our night and day cycle in The Dead Linger. Nothing here is final, and everything will be improved. There will be many more videos to come.
Follow this link!
Enjoy!
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Funding period
Mar 30, 2012 -
Apr 29, 2012
(30 days)
- First created · 4 backed
- Has not connected Facebook
- Website: sandswept.net
Pledge $10 or more
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For pledging $10 or more, you will receive a Steam copy of our action-RTS game; DETOUR! (Note: Select either $10 reward. You still get both of them.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $10 or more
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A HUGE thank you from us, and your name will go in a very special section of the game credits!
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Along with the other $25 reward (and $10 reward,) you will also receive an exclusive medal on our Sandswept forums for pledging $25 or more!
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Receive a copy of the game upon release! Plus the above rewards!
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Receive a copy of The Dead Linger Official Soundtrack once it releases! Plus the above rewards!
Estimated delivery: Jun 2013Pledge $50 or more
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For pledging $50 or more, you will receive a SECOND copy of The Dead Linger to give to a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, pet, or grandparent. Plus the above rewards! (Note: Select either $50 reward. You still get both of them.)
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UNIQUE in-game item, "The Kickstarter". (Exact item type to be determined, definitely something that won't get replaced by a better item!) Plus the above rewards!
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Small piece of game content named after you. (screenname or anonymous, if you prefer not to use your real name.) (Content such as a street sign, random store signs, or random graffiti found in the world) Plus the above rewards!
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A game update named after you -- The "You" Update -- with a whole set of items named after you. Screenname/Nickname or anonymous is still allowed if you don't want to use your real name. Either way, you are a true hero and that should be celebrated! Plus the above rewards!
Estimated delivery: Mar 2013Pledge $2,000 or more
2 backers Limited (8 of 10 left)
Get your likeness in the game! We'll take a photo of your head, put it on a character in the game, be it a commonly seen zombie, or the occasionally, hostile and crazed survivor (your choosing!) You and your friends will get to shoot yourself! Plus the above rewards!
Estimated delivery: Jun 2013
Comments
Creator Mike Sarlo on April 30, 2012
I saw some form of humonids or at least thought i did, are those the zombies? Btw nice job
Creator Jesse Connors on April 26, 2012
How about the difficulty? Will there be aspects to consider such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, hot/cold environments, sickness, etc.? If so, I'd like to be given, in the options, check boxes for each aspect, to customize my own challenge, as opposed to easy/normal/hard where everything is picked for you. (obviously default easy/normal/hard settings are great, and servers wouldn't allow me to make my experience easier than everyone else's... but for solo or private LANs, etc. making my challenge unique would be nice)
Creator Noe Ridgway on April 26, 2012
I saw a question about whether the seasons would affect day/night length. That seems like a cool idea. What I'd really love to see is the phases of the moon simulated. It'd create an interesting scenario: do I go out at night when there is still some light so that I don't need a flashlight, or do I wait until it's pitch black and hope that I don't literally stumble into a zombie horde?
Another question: will gunshots draw the above zombie horde, a la Walking Dead, or are you going for the less intelligent classic zombie style? Apologies if this has been asked before. I skimmed through the comments and didn't see it anywhere.
Creator Florian Rohrweck on April 25, 2012
the duration of the pitch-black night scares the shit out of me... awesome.
Creator Ian Harvey on April 24, 2012
How many living animal species will there be? Estimate?
Creator Sandswept Studios on April 23, 2012
@Rey: Zombies won't be particular about night or day, but you will have a harder time seeing them at night. Night is definitely going to be dangerous, but also in some ways, safer. They can't see you very well either.
Creator Rey on April 23, 2012
will zombies spawn more in the night time or is it the same on both times? if zombies spawn more often at night then the night and day feature should be expanded so it would give us a chance to find shelter. this is just my suggestion/opinion on that you are working on.
Creator Sandswept Studios on April 23, 2012
@Ryan Connors: The placement of objects in the scene is random. We're just testing generation. It won't be on a grid street layout like this forever, it just lets us test other systems better in the meantime.
Creator Ryan Connors on April 23, 2012
Intriguing! Is there a cell placement algorithm that dictate the housing placement, is this actually manually pieced together? It's nice to see a build, even if its pre-alpha. I'm glad to see progress is coming in line with excitement for the project.
Creator George Coleman on April 23, 2012
There should be a moon cycle as well then, so on some nights there is no moon, n on some nights the moon is full and (relatively) bright.
Creator Daniel Gravina on April 23, 2012
yea but im sure a moon wont be out every night
Creator FreeQuest on April 23, 2012
@MidnightReverie: only if there is no moon ... with a moon its that bright you don't need a torch to see well i don't....
Creator MidnightReverie on April 23, 2012
The night should be a lot darker. Have you ever travelled to the countryside that has absolutely no street lights and lamps? It's virtually completely dark, stretch your arms right in front of you and that's all you can see.
The game should force the players to use torches at night, this game should be scary, after all.
Creator Dominic Aquilina on April 22, 2012
That looks perfect. When the world goes to hell and there's no more light pollution night would truly be a thing to be feared. I'm so looking forward to this.
Creator Sandswept Studios on April 22, 2012
@Chi-Young: Zombies don't have a particular preference for either. The cover of darkness works both ways, concealing yourself, and the zombies.
@Jason Thacker: Yes, the night will probably be brighter in the end.
@Kaidin: It won't be this bland for long. This is early pre-alpha. We're testing things, testing systems, testing rendering. It will look much different when you get your hands on it (and we'll have lots of videos between now and then.)
Creator Kaidin on April 22, 2012
The neighborhood seems really bland, just block after block of pretty much the same stuff, I'm sure that will be changed but it scared me at first. Anyway if you compare these videos to the early Minecraft ones you seem to be ahead, so far at least. Also I do want to say that shadows look good and it got me thinking: a survivor could make some sort of sundial using tall objects that either they constructed or that was generated in the world, still shadows really impressed me.
Creator Jason Thacker on April 22, 2012
I feel like there needs to be a little more light at night, shouldn't the moon be illuminating the city or something? I really like the idea behind making it this dark though, I can just imagine hiding in a little shack in the pitch black listening to moaning all night.
Creator Chi-Young on April 22, 2012
How safe will the day be?
Creator Sandswept Studios on April 22, 2012
@Michael Chen; It won't look like a spotlight when we're done with it.
Creator Spade on April 22, 2012
lol Everything will be better, I'm sure of that wholeheartedly. I think it will be fun as hell to walk around in a dark environment. Of course I'd love to see moon bloom with clouds for it to sneak behind to make it that erie creepy breath sinking darkness that I'm so terrified of when I'm out in a woods or walking down an ally that just makes you stop in your tracks and wait for light.
Creator Michael Chen on April 22, 2012
I understand that a lot of improvement will be made, but I'd still like to point out that the sun looks like a giant spot light at this stage; perhaps that will be one of the things on the to do list.
Creator Tom Neudorf on April 22, 2012
Nice
Creator kewlpersin on April 22, 2012
Now I understand why you stated in your campaign video that gameplay footage would just detract people. That looks great for being pre-alpha though. If I had more money I would go over $50. Keep up the great work guys!
Creator Ryan Tomas on April 22, 2012
Will there be seasons? Like in Winter the nights will last longer than days and in Summer vice versa? I think that would be a cool tweak to the night/day cycle idea.
Creator Daniel Gravina on April 22, 2012
im sure u will
Creator Scott Krieger on April 22, 2012
If we got nightvision goggles, I would like them to be rare or hard to craft, and them to constantly need batteries so you can't use them all the time. Also it would make sense if they limited your vision somehow, to further make them only useful occasionally.
Creator André Traleski de Campos on April 22, 2012
Looking pretty early lol. But i have a good feeling about this game, the ideas that Butangas gave it`s really interesting, im looking exactly this on a zumbi game: something really different. Please considers these ideas on the comments and stuff. Im very proud of being part of this ;)
Creator Butangas on April 22, 2012
Nighvision googles for nights?
Do Zombies generate body heat (or "fouling heat")?
Could a moon give some light at night? (Or burning buildings?)
In a world overrun by zombies the usual powergrid should be defective.
Maybe you could collect parts for your personal power generator in your hide-out?
Creator Andy Bates on April 22, 2012
Thanks for sharing! Looking good.
Can't wait to get my hands on the soundtrack. The music sounds perfect for the subject matter.
Creator IanB on April 22, 2012
Can't wait!
Creator richie_k on April 22, 2012
Aah, this looks awesome! Can't wait to test out the alpha! And can't wait to get the soundtrack this June(?), the music is truely amazing!
Creator James Young on April 22, 2012
Video content = King.
Still the best way to interact and address your community. Keep it up!
Creator Stephen "Stoibs" D on April 22, 2012
Nights that are actually dark, nice. If for some reason I'm feeling particularly suicidal and decide to wander the streets at night instead of bunkering down I should indeed be forced to make the choice of stumbling around in the dark or making myself a zombie beacon by using a flashlight. I like.
Creator Eli Kaplow on April 22, 2012
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2165/when-the-zombies-take-over-how-long-till-the-electricity-fails
Fun little article about that.
Creator Scott Krieger on April 22, 2012
Would power grids still be operating? you'd think that the lack of staff at the nearest power plant would cause some problems
Creator Draysen Foreman on April 22, 2012
Love the shadow dynamics from the night/day cycles. Cannot wait for more updates. Add street lights in the city! (possibly damageable from gunfire? :)
Creator Samuel Evans on April 22, 2012
I am very excited for the release! Great job on the Night/Day cycles. I would love to see shadow effects from flashlights/headlights etc.
Creator Scott Krieger on April 22, 2012
@Sanswept Studios; Thank you for the fast reply! I believe that whatever you decide, the game is still going to be totally awesome!
INDIE DEVS FTW!
Creator Sandswept Studios on April 22, 2012
@Scott Krieger; The nights will probably be shorter than the days, and we'll be balancing all of that. We've thought of the exact issue you're worried about, and we'll do our best to make it very fun.
Creator Scott Krieger on April 22, 2012
This is really cool, but honestly, I would hope that you could change the time yourself. It might be just me, but I'm not excited about bunkering up in a house at night because I'm too weak to go outside for an entire HOUR. At least make servers have that as a customizable option. I think an hour would be good, plenty of time to do stuff, but not too long to the point of getting boring. This is just my opinion, usually when I game for 2+ hours, I plan it for a weekend or something, as an all-A student, I don't have time usually to blow 2 hours straight on gaming, and thats just one day. But, I still want to have fun, at least make it customizable please.
Creator Ian Harvey on April 22, 2012
The Kickstarter special backpack should have built in lights.
Creator Ian Harvey on April 22, 2012
Stinkin COOL! GOOD JOB GUYS!!
Creator Kade on April 22, 2012
Freaking awesome! Looking good guys :)
Creator Ryan Suddeth on April 22, 2012
Jeese, the nights are especially dark/ Need flashlights, stat!