World of the Living Dead

A lot of changes have filtered in over the last couple of weeks along with fixes, so I’ll address the meatier parts of the update, which took longer than we expected, due to real-life infection in your devs.

Speaking of infection, your survivors can now be bitten by zeds…

Infection

The circumstances leading to a bite during PvZ combat are complicated, but z-density certainly plays a role. Future items, infocards and skills will help to improve bite resistance, but for now your characters have to rely on their general fitness and skill.

Being bitten does not always immediately lead to infection, although some characters may have lower natural infection resistance than others. Again, this will be something that can be improved over time, and some items may even allow you to stave off infection for a long period. For now, your characters will become infected within a matter of hours or days, depending on their natural resistance.

Note that NECRA regulations prohibit the use of bitten or infected characters in defensive positions.

Bitten characters will display a gray square next to their normal health indicators. A report will be shown in gray when a character is bitten.

An infected character can continue as normal for a varying amount of time, depending on their virus resistance. Again, this attribute will be something that can be improved using items, infocards or skills in future, but it’s just their natural resilience that you can depend on for now.

Infected characters display a sickly greenish-yellow square next to their normal health indicators. A report will be shown in the same colour when a character becomes infected.

When a character becomes infected, there is a risk involved in keeping them active and around other characters. They may be able to keep moving, but they can turn in hours or days. Although you may notice patterns over time, the unpredictability of this can be dangerous. A character who turns while in the midst (in a squad or a safehouse) of other survivors - even survivors under the control of another NECRA operative - may be able to get in a few bites before they are subdued. Characters left alone when about to turn will tend to wander off, delirious and in search of company, before they fully join the ranks of the living dead, so you won’t find compromised safehouses. This also means that safehouses cannot be intentionally rendered unusable by leaving an infected character there.

A NECRA operative can choose to terminate the survivor status of any character who has been bitten or infected. This effectively means that their fellow survivors will be told to “remove” the survivor by whatever means they deem necessary, or, if the survivor is alone, communications will be terminated and they will no longer be tracked by SCUGS. This action can only be taken from the NECRA ID page of the affected survivor.

Your tools to fight infection will grow over time, so do not be unduly disturbed by feelings of powerlessness when a survivor is bitten. This reaction is normal but your operative training should allow you to make tough decisions when they are required, and evaluate the risk of keeping a bitten or infected survivor in the field.

SCUGS streamlined

The second major change today is that the the map page no longer causes a page refresh when moving your squads. This was a massive overhaul which has meant several other changes in the way that the map works.

Loading the map page no longer results in a scan for z-density and locations for every active squad. This alone should really speed up load times for players with multiple squads. Instead, when you select a squad, SCUGS will scan the vicinity around the squad. This is only done once for each squad, after a page reload, so it shouldn’t be too intrusive. Doing it this way means that the map page should be a lot snappier to load, letting you get straight into planning a route for your chosen squad and not being held back while resting squads take a leisurely look around.

For normal movement, your squads will progress after a slight delay as SCUGS tracks their new position, but the page itself no longer needs to be reloaded.

As part of this change, we have removed the broadcast counter at the top of the page. This has been the cause of a lot of delays in page loading times, and we haven’t found it to be exceptionally useful in our own testing. Instead, this has now been replaced with a private mission counter. The “Battles” counter has been renamed to “Attacked!”, a minor change to highlight the danger when a report comes in. The PvP system will be streamlined over time. We’re well aware of the problems with the way it currently works.

Part of the update which may be unwelcome for those of you on smaller screens is that the current reports have now been merged with the survival reports under the map. This is a temporary solution so we hope you can work around it.

We hope that you will enjoy these improvements to the SCUGS interface. Thanks to Jungly for putting in some crazy hours to get them working so well!

Missions interface

Missions have been slowly increasing in complexity as we piece together the engine we’re working towards. The “deliver” missions which were introduced a little abruptly recently have been difficult for most of you to attempt, and in some cases have been confused with “collection” missions. Bear in mind that missions are being tested and so we know that the current approach is not ideal, but we’d like to see how innovative solutions to completing the delivery missions can get. You can use trade or combat to obtain special items, so remember that, even when you don’t have a particular strain or vaccine, someone else might.

In order to make the mission types clearer, we’ve added coloured flags on the missions page, showing the following types: collect, deliver, survivor, cache, family. We hope these will assist you in deciding which missions to attempt, and we’ll be getting back to improving missions very soon.

Thanks for your patience over the last two weeks. We really hope the update today makes playing WotLD more fun and we’re looking forward to your feedback and bug reports as you really get your teeth into the new features!

NECRA operatives can now set ration breaks for survivors from the Command page. The schedule can be as frequent as you like, but survivors will still only eat what they need for the day. This can be a good way of keeping on top of hunger and thirst, and gives you much more control over when you need to make sure the required resources are in place.

More details about the update over on the http://forum.worldofthelivingdead.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1085

The top-voted feature from wotld.uservoice.com makes an appearance in today’s update: the drop all button, a treat for the NECRA operative who just can’t get enough loot!

• Drop all button. Works in safehouses only and is per character, not affecting equipped weapons but affecting ammo.
• Fix for mission and broadcast locations, hopefully avoiding any inaccessible markers.
• Route length limitation. Set to 10Km to avoid browsers choking on information and requiring manual cancellation.
• Can now sort survivor table by character name on the Command page.
• Level progress bar increases along with SP gains when scavenging.
• List of items found when scavenging are shown at the top of the scavenge page to avoid excessive scrolling.
• Notification shown when characters are overencumbered and cannot move.
• 5SP for completing first route in tutorial - only those who complete this will be ranked.
• Significant changes in the backend to avoid page loading errors and to ensure that a failure to load some background elements will not prevent the map from loading.

You can discuss this update over on the forum: http://forum.worldofthelivingdead.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1010

After last week’s major changes to gameplay, the latest changes seem tame, although they include a lot of fixes and a few heavily-requested features:

• More tips added - thank you to Knight of Fools, aaano, Rosslessness and oogabooga66 for providing their words of wisdom
• Maximum number of squad slots increased - based on level
• Ammunition naming errors corrected for .30-06 Springfield, .50BMG and .40 S&W cartridges
• Flashing indicator lights only show for the active squad when moving
• New “taster” titles unlocked at higher levels
• Framework in place for localization of the game, although not yet active - French to be enabled in a few days
• New players who lose all their characters will now respawn close to their original missions and locations, so that they can more easily complete the tutorial.
• The time before SCUGS assigns new survivors has been reduced from 20 to 3 minutes.
• Reduced distance for first character mission
• Additional checks to test that SCUGS missions give 300 SP on completion
• SCUGS missions were being handed out too frequently, causing UI errors - these types of missions are currently being issued one at a time
• SCUGS missions now only enabled above level 7
• Fix for errors with collecting items from NECRA caches
• Fatigue increases removed from combat with zeds at locations
• Fixed display of safehouse construction timer
• Destroyed safehouse no longer destroyed if resources in it - items left behind should now be available to be looted by anyone
• Completing tutorial steps now shows a notification
• Level 4 squads were being shown as visible on the map
• Status update box now works from message pages
• Changed “Attack Zombies” link to “Kill zeds”
• Changing title to “Zombie Chow” now shows a notification instead of causing an error
• Hunger and thirst deaths were giving away twice the correct refundable SP under some circumstances
• Using Morphine when scavenging now heals characters without an error
• SP update on top menu was broken
• Fix for zeds killed counter

As always, you can discuss the changes over on the forum.

We’ve put together some World of the Living Dead e-cards (we call them zedcards) for you to send to your friends this holiday season.

Including two special edition NECRA infocards (not authorized for use in combat situations), these cards are sure to put a rictus on the face of any true zombie fan!

http://worldofthelivingdead.com/event/zedcards

Primarily bug fixing and cross-browser compatibility, which I know isn’t very exciting but has to be done to keep things running. You can discuss the release over on the forum

• Fixed the recent error which meant that many new players were not receiving their character missions (this may also have been causing problems with broadcasts not being picked up in certain areas).
• Most of the game is working on Internet Explorer quite well now (was pretty painful and time-consuming)
• The change password link should no longer cause the left menu to break.
• The update status form was broken on a lot of pages but should be fixed now (except on a couple).
• Login form should now work after an incorrect name or password has been entered.
• The status update notifications should now work correctly.
• Empty status updates will no longer be posted.
• Problem with the buy button on the Agency Exchange should be fixed (it was causing the game to hang).
• Fear can no longer reach levels above 100 even when you cross into the area where SCUGS satellite coverage will start to fail.
• We’ve added the player insignia to all rankings pages (rankings problems still not fixed, but is next on agenda).
• Image hover now works correctly on the top menu (so you shouldn’t see a delay when you hover).

I also took note of suggestions from Robidash McAllister and Andrew Johnson on http://wotld.uservoice.com: Items in inventory management now show more information when you hover over info, including category (which will tell you which skill applies for the firearms) and max firepower/melee strength.

Some crazy SCUGS sysadmin holed up in a server center seems to have decided to give NECRA operatives a way to share their current status. It’s really barebones at the moment, but a number of operatives have already been using the system. Here’s some of the network chatter from today:

Impus Poking around Palmdale, looking for a nice place to build a safehouse

Rosslessness is spending the day reuniting loved ones.

Knight_of_Fools Finally found some water. Survivors almost dead from thirst. Need to scavenge more.

slutsmckenzie venice beach was a little rough, got too cocky. let’s see where i end up next.

And here’s the text of the rogue message that went out on SCUGS maintenance channels earlier today.

=== SCUGS internal messaging system === === Pre-authorized message from SCUGS sysadmin 0194BSCH-AT === NOTE: this message has triggered SCUGS automatic redaction for breach of protocols hey operatives!! bob here. scugs sysadmin based down in … [CLASSIFIED] … things went bad about … [CLASSIFIED] … ago but we got the door sealed and … [CLASSIFIED] … except for marvin but he was just really unlucky we got a system update out earlier - woot! but a couple of us miss the old social networks so we rolled out a really simple status system along with the scheduled release today not much to it yet, guys, but give us time… just a way for you operatives to get to know each other looks like it went out ok - we did get a query from … [CLASSIFIED] … but for some reason it made it into the release better stop using the SCUGS maintenance channel now lol been some glitches in the satellites and the internal operative ranking and review systems - sure are busy but at least not out there with zack… take it easy, bob —- Systems Administrator 0194BSCH

The latest beta release of World of the Living Dead is up and it includes a lot of changes. Characters

• Minors and seniors can now be found in the game. These refer to adolescents and the retired elderly, not to very young children. There are benefits and drawbacks to each age category.
• Broadcasts have been reduced, as these were a temporary measure until we felt that the lethality of the game had been balanced. Please look after your characters and remember that the survival of the human race depends on NECRA operatives keeping their charges alive :shock:
• Instead of depending on the collection of random survivors, some of you will now receive messages from SCUGS, with data on the location of family members that your current characters may have believed lost.
• You can now sort and search in the character table on the command page. We want to add this to the squad table under the map, and also intend to put in much more data on the character to save you clicking back to the character pages, but we couldn’t get this in for the release.
• We’ve added a list of all bonuses and penalties, including infocards and active meds, to the survivor stats page. This gives you a quick overview of skills as well.

Infocards

• Ten completely new infocards
• Collection page so you can easily track how many you’ve collected from the currently available total.

Account sitting

• You can now authorize another player, or a few players, look after your characters while you’re away. You can access the interface for this from the “Command” page by clicking “Account settings” under your insignia. Once authorized, the other player can switch to viewing the game as though from your account, so use this with care. You can revoke authorization from the same place.

Locations

• Over 4000 completely new locations added.
• 12 new location types, including motels, coffee shops and burger joints.

Safehouse creation and upgrading

• Build times changed for all safehouses. Much quicker to build now.
• SP cost reduced for all safehouses.
• Territory radius adjusted for most safehouses. Some up, some down.
• Level required reduced for a few safehouses.
• Garden and purifier upgrade now available from Store upwards.
• SP cost of all upgrades reduced.
• Level required reduced for most upgrades.

Factions

• Basic faction rankings - only uses number of players now, but is the first time the existing factions in the game will be clearly listed, along with their profile information.
• Safehouses can now be converted into faction safehouses, which allows any faction member to enter with a squad and share the management of the safehouse. This can only be done if the player who created the safehouse has a character or squad in the safehouse.
• Faction safehouses have walls for messages, can be upgraded, and all bonuses to recovery rates apply to any squads inside the safehouse, regardless of player level. Items can be shared, as can the defense of the safehouse.
• This step is not reversible. Leave a faction and any converted safehoues remain the property of the faction.

Zombie killing You can now deliberately choose to kill zeds in any of the 90,000 blocks of Los Angeles County - without moving. The interface for this is currently shown under the map page, in the squad header, and on the Command page. Click on “Attack zombies” to engage with any zeds in the area. Fear and fatigue may increase, and unskilled characters will run the risk of injury. The combat currently uses the same mechanics as the move and fight rounds you see when travelling on a route, so you may see less effect than you might expect, especially with unskilled survivors. We want to adjust this over time to reflect a more realistic interaction between squads dedicated to actually killing zeds, as opposed to moving past them. Give us your feedback. We’ll also be significantly adjusting the SP gained from killing zombies, both when moving and when clearing a particular area. NECRA Credits We’ve made NC available through PayPal, with double NC for anyone who supports the development of WotLD during beta. Any NC bought will be carried over into open beta and beyond. The Agency Exchange will allow you to requisition items or information from SCUGS. Meds will be available in various new configurations. Thanks to Rosslessness and BooleanRhythmic for their suggested packages: the Flatliner and Evasion Packs. These have now been included along with basics such as the Shock Treatment Pack and the ultimate ZPAW Preparedness Pack. Other new additions are the bug-out bags. These contain a lucky dip of items suitable for giving survivors a head start in a tough situation. For when things get very desperate, NECRA can issue transponder codes for NECRA Emergency Caches and also survivor locations. Each of the above sections has limits on how often they can be ordered from SCUGS. We want to make sure that the game remains balanced even though we obviously do depend on your support to keep going. The range of items available from the Agency Exchange will be expanded over time. Firearms and items We have extensive changes planned for firearms. There are some dependencies with other items, so we’re delaying any changes to the items available for now. Make sure to get your special requests for firearms in soon to the Armory, and they just might get into the next release. BooleanRhythmic is coordinating suggestions over in this thread: http://forum.worldofthelivingdead.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=649 Multiple injuries We’ve decided that allowing multiple injuries and even insta-death in some cases, didn’t make for a very enjoyable experience, nor does it allow NECRA operatives a chance to bond with their charges or shepherd them to safety when injuries do occur. There should no longer be double or triple injuries from combat or on a single leg of a route, but remember that survivors can be injured just as easily on the next step of a route, so beware pushing them into high z-d areas. Bugs

• Fixed computed errors in the magazine capacity of certain firearms during combat.
• Rare bug fixed which caused ammo consumption to go wild during combat for some survivors.
• Fixed problem with the notification for overencumbered characters preventing a squad from moving.
• Fixed some route submission errors.
• Stopped bug which was allowing infocards to boost proficiencies beyond the maximum allowed for a weapon - we know this was a popular one ;) but it was breaking combat at times.
• Repaired javascript problems on the map page when all characters were dead.
• Pagination arrows enabled correctly on resources left at locations.
• Safehouse upgrades that were incorrectly failing to deduct SP have been fixed, but note that upgrades now also cost much less.
• Missions and squads should no longer spawn outside the game universe. Existing inaccessible missions will be removed soon.
• Levelling from SP refunds should have been stopped.
• Ghost defenders should disappear.
• Multiple inventory management bugs fixed.

We’ve got a bunch of new features lined up in the next release but we have to delay in it until the weekend.

• You may have noticed that your characters all tend to be adults. We’ve had minors and seniors in the system for a long time. They will make an appearance this weekend, along with some other changes to the way you can develop your group. The broadcast system was never intended to be a permanent feature of the game, at least not in its current incarnation, so don’t get too used to having teams of expendables…
• We’ve been ignoring factions until we started to see them start functioning on their own. The chatter we’ve been seeing in the in-game messaging system has told us that it’s time for them to start becoming more visible. Basic faction rankings will be enabled, along with the first of several faction-based features: faction safehouses.
• The game has been restricted to a limited set of infocards since we started the beta. A new batch will be enabled, along with a page where you can track your collection.
• Although there are still thousands of untouched locations, we’ve decided to enable some types which you must have noticed by their absence: fast food joints, hotels and coffee shops are among the several thousand more locations which will be appearing on the map (although this method is only going to happen during closed beta - we still intend not to replenish or spawn locations). And that’s just the beginning. We’re well aware that there are bodies of water in the game universe… ;)
• A host of new items will be available at the new locations, and maybe even at some old ones. You didn’t think we were going to leave you with four types of liquids and a handful of everything else forever, did you? No - we know that there’s a lot of stuff out there that will be useful to your survivors, and we aim to bring it to them.
• There have been some excellent suggestions here about how firearms could be improved in the game. We might not get these changes in with this release, but we will be reworking the list of firearms over the next week. This includes changes to calibers available and also the correction of the ammo weight errors.
• As part of some UI changes to make it easier to manage characters, we’ve adding the ability to sort and search in the character table on the command page. We’ll also be putting in an easily-accessible popup to tell you more about the character, although we might not get that in for this next release, as it has a tendency to slow the page down. We might, though, we just might :D
• We didn’t want to put in a vacation mode just yet, although we’re not ruling it out, but we have put in a way for you to ask a trustworthy fellow tester to look after your characters. The player will be able to sit your account without having access to your password. You can turn it on when you go away and turn if off when you come back.
• A new feature which we’ve been testing, but which might not make it into the game fully-formed, is the deliberate killing of zeds. Rather than just move through areas of z-d, we’ve enabled killing for killing’s sake. It does require some tweaking, as obviously there’s a difference between evading and killing, so bear with us if it doesn’t behave quite as expected at first - unless it does, in which case we got the changes made in time!

That’s some of what’s coming up. I’ll be posting about the next batch of features immediately after release. If you have a suggestion that you want to make sure gets considered for a future release sooner rather than later, check out http://wotld.uservoice.com/ Post your suggestions and vote on the ideas you like. This isn’t available from the game yet, so anyone who reads this blog will get first crack at it. We’ll be paying close attention, although the forum is still a great place to discuss the details. Feel free to suggest anything you like. Play around with the system and let us know what you think. We’ll also be making NECRA Credits available - but with double NECRA Credits during closed beta! Any NC bought will be carried on into open beta and beyond. I’ve been analysing the way meds and other elements were used during testing, and I think the new packages will work well with a lot of different styles of play. We depend on your support to keep up development of the game, but we want to give you as much back as we can in return, so we’ll be adding new premium items all the time, while also checking to make sure that the game isn’t unbalanced. I know some of you are struggling with pretty annoying bugs. A lot of these are fixed in the release but are still broken on the server:

• Levelling from SP refunds.
• Automated consumption bugs (and we’re looking into alternatives for this as well).
• Multiple fixes for inventory management bugs.
• Inaccessible missions beyond the borders of the game universe.
• Spawning outside the game universe.
• Problems when trying to leave a faction.
• Ghost defenders (those of you who have had this one know what we mean).

There are a number of other bugs that we’re still working on. We might do a real bugfixing push after this release, although some of them will be rendered redundant by gameplay changes we’re working on. Internet Explorer is still really hating our javascript, and we know that some of you are finding the map very slow at times. :oops: That’s it for now. Sorry for the delay and we hope you’re looking forward to checking out the new features. Next week I really hope to be talking to you about vehicles ;)

The winner of our recent competition was beta tester “EddieHaskel” with this entry tracking news on outbreaks in Afghanistan. Only a fragment of the original report remains, but a more detailed version can be found on the forum, along with more reports and journals from our winner and other WotLD testers.