Welcome to Watch Survival

Hello Bloggers and Readers and Survivalists and Gamers! I see you have found your way to Watch Survival. This web space is all about my favorite genre of video games. What you will get on Watch Survival is News and Updates on Current and Up-coming Survival Games.


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

State of Decay Trailer and Gardening Video

Thought I'd let everyone see this State of Decay (formally class 3) Trailer I found on UndeadLabs website. This is looking like a really awesome sandbox zombie survival game. I can't wait to get my hands on it.


they also posted another video recently about gardening in State of Decay which is also really neat to see. Shows this game is going to have a lot of options.

                                        

New Diablo 3 Patch 1.0.4 Now Live

I really love the Diablo series, I always have. So I have decided to include it into my website for it's hardcore mode. Playing Hardcore on inferno really fits into this website's survival aspect because it is in all honesty not easy at all.  I've been playing D3 since day one of release.  They released a great game but it's not all rainbows it does come with its flaws and it still needs quite a good amount of work. I'm really liking this new patch though and I wanted to Post the info for everyone to see. I feel they are working on the problems most of us diablo fans are complaining about and they seem to be listening to the fans and heading the game into the right direction. They just need to start working on itemization more in my opinion because in all honesty it's not even close to being caught up to Diablo 2's awesome item system.  I like everything in D3 better than D2 except the Loot and that I hope is what they begin fleshing out more soon.  They improved legendary items in this patch and That is a great start.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/7029347/Patch_104_Now_Live-8_21_2012

The Indiestone and Project Zomboid seeks a skilled Coder!

Hey all, I recently found a post on the official PZ homepage letting everyone know they are currently looking for a java coder to help them speed up the content updates.  I really love this game and do hope they find someone good that can help them speed things along and keep us from having to wait so long in between updates. The official post and information can be found here.

http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index.php/2012/08/the-indie-stone-need-you-if-youre-a-java-coder/

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Females Have been spotted in Project Zomboid





Well women have finally started to show up in Project Zomboid. I am soooo glad to because the world just wouldn't be believable without ladies in it. That also includes lady zombies as well. They are working on Adding ladies to the game and it should be within the next few patches I believe when they will be complete according to whats being said on Project Zomboid website and from the developers Twitter site.  This was the first screenshot posted showing off the female zombie.

<edit> since this post is not that old I decided to update it today with a video I found showcasing the female players and female zombies

   

Dayz QandA with Rocket from Reddit

Max Planck on the official Dayz Forums posted this huge Q and A from rocket from the Reddit site. Thanks Max for compiling this for everyone in the community.  Some really great info inside here and I'm really looking forward to all this neat stuff Rocket is talking about for the game. Below is the Link to the original post, but I copy and pasted it over on WatchSurvival for the lazy. :D

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/72533-the-reddit-questions-answers/



Q: Any word on a quiver sort of thing for crossbow bolts? It's a pain when each bolt takes up a whole space in your inventory/backpack.

A: Quiver is planned

Q: If you had the ability to add one thing to the game, no limits, what would it be?

A: Underground construction using red-faction style damage mechanics for clearing out the subterranean world.

Q: How do you feel about the current situation with the hackers. And have BattlEye been co-operative with you? Can we see a step forward in stopping the hackers or is the release our real safety area.

A: hacking is an ongoing issue. ArmA2 was never designed for what DayZ is putting it through. With DayZ standalone we can address this issue without causing ArmA2 problems, so it can remain the product it is. It is something we
will always have to work on, you cannot completely stop hacking.

Q: What's your favorite gun in dayz?

A: makarov. Because it sounds awesome and its a desperate mans weapon.

Q: Do you plan on having the standalone game as a closed beta, with a prepurchase function where people will get access to the game? (Sortof like minecraft)

A: Alpha will be heavily discounted paid project. The project will never be a full retail priced title, and the alpha will be heavily discounted. No prepurchase. But there will be a premium type purchase that contains some extra collectors edition type stuff like concept art prints etc... for those who want to throw money at the project

Q: What is your best estimate for the standalone release date?
A: Before the end of the working year (2012)  

Q: Are you going to make weather more of a big deal come the stand alone game? so far the ONLY TIME ive ever gotten to the point of being sick in dayz was when i spent 2 hours swimming.

A: Absolutely. Redesigning that from scratch.

Q: gasoline rare, but vehicles common??

A: I like it :)

Q: How customizable will player skins be in the standalone? Will they work like they do now (full-body replacements) or will you be able to find different shirts/hats/etc?

A: Different clothing is on my list of design priorities

Q: I know you had originally said you were skipping 1.7.2.5 and going straight to 1.7.3, what changed?

A: The attempts to fix artifacting were more important than the dog implementation, so I tried to fix that first.

Q: when will you fix female characters´skins? it is really anoying to not be able to wear ghillies and cammo. also, great job so far, rocket.

A: With the standalone release.

Q: Will the Stand-alone version run on the ARMA 2 or ARMA 3 engine?

A: It will run on its own branch of Real Virtuality

Q: which RV version is it closest to?

A: The most important element of DayZ will be its multiplayer code. The most tested multiplayer code is ArmA 1.62. We know this netcode, we know what we want to change. We will merge in what need from elsewhere but we won't be ambitious with the netcode. We will start with the current state as the base and work around that.

Q: Wildlife? such as bears, cougars, wolf packs, will they be added?

A: More wildlife absolutely. Horses would be cool too

Q: Any idea what price range the standalone version will be in?

A: I don't ever see DayZ costing more than 25 euro. Alpha will be heavily discounted from this.

Q: Would you ever consider a bounty hunting system?

A: I'd like to add methods that allow players to create their own systems for things, so if they wanted to create such a system they could

Q: Will hand combat be introduced?

A: Yes

Q: With the popularity of Lingor, somewhere down the road can we expect to see other maps officially supported aside from just Chernarus? If so, how would character selection work?

A: Absolutely. I think having the ability for the character to travel to other islands is my preferred one (e.g. by boat or air). If you character hasn't traveled then I would see it as creating a new one for that island.

Q: How many maximum players do you think/plan to have on a server for the standalone version of Day Z, do you think the game would benefit from a higher density of population? (I personally think it would but I'd like to hear your
opinion and know what the "netcode" could handle ect ect)

A: It is more design dependent than netcode dependent for the standalone. 100-200 is easily achievable. More would need a larger map.

Q: Can we expect improved performance for the standalone-game or should people with weaker computers who can barely play the mod start spending money on their pcs?

A: performance will be much better.

Q: Will the standalone game keep the realistic game mechanics of arma? and do you plan any changes to player & zombie movement? (This might be seen and two questions however game mechanics effect player movement so its kinda just one question)

A: Will keep the base mechanics, but change many things (such as UI and inventory completely replaced from scratch). Player animations likely to eventually (but not initially) have many changes).

Q: What exactly can we expect from "Dogs"? What functions will they perform and how is one supposed to interact with them.

A: Expect them to grow a lot from their initial implementation. Someone posted an excellent review on the code here on reddit, but i can't find the link. Basically expect them to track, to warn you of danger, and to follow you. And then get shot. And then you QQ.

Q: Is the Broken limb system working as desired right now? I find that sometimes getting hit one single time by a zombie while I'm at full health will break a limb. That seems a little excessive to me.

A: Not at all. It's barely acceptable now.

Q: Will dayz standalone support the oculus rift peripheral?

A: someone gave me a heads up about it, love it, I hope we could support that.

Q: Zeds walking indoors. whether this is a glitch or a feature, will it be kept for the beta/stand-alone?

A: Won't be kept. I can already effect this (changing a config value for each building). However, we will only make this change if pathing for zambies is fixed and their lifecycle is implemented.

Q: Will you be using a different map for the DayZ Stand alone, or will you keep the same Chernarus map?

A: We have been revising Chernarus for DayZ for some time now. The working name has been "Chernarus Plus". More will be announced about that on the tumblr. Eventually will will create entirely new maps and/or the community will
develop some.

Q: When the game reaches Stand-Alone point, and new maps and areas are available that are bound to happen, will there be more open buildings? Not necessarily lootable, but just there for covering areas? An example would be the
small schoolhouse like building next to the South Barracks at Northwest Airfield. Perfect covering a friend while he loots or something of the sort.

A: Absolutely. This was a key consideration in the development of Chernarus Plus (the map changes that come with DayZ standalone). More enter-able buildings, moving towards all buildings enter-able or visually being obvious that they cannot be entered.

Q: Will DayZ standalone allow mods?

A: Not initially.

Q: As you probably know, Lingor island has been very popular recently. Have you played it much if at all, and has it's design influenced your future plans for the standalone dayz release?

A: I havent played it (so crazy busy right now with all the wrong things), but I really want too. it looks fantastic. Something we will grow support for more with the mod over the coming weeks I think.

Q: How much freedom will you be given with the standalone release? (eg. Game mechanics, UI)

A: Absolute. Expect complete change. Change is good!

Q: What are the frustrating or negative aspects of having the mod popularised so quickly?

A: Development slows to a crawl, and it is easy to spend all your time doing interviews and no time developing and/or sleeping.

Q: With the standalone, you've said 100-200 players per server is a possibility. How are you going to tackle the density issue? Will the Chernarus in the stand-alone version be much bigger than the current iteration? Will we see a totally new map that's bigger?I'm just concerned about 200 players on one Chernarus-sized map. I feel that'd be more deathmatch than survival.

A: Make the maps bigger is the answer

Q: When standalone DayZ comes out, how much will it differ from DayZ current version?Lots of missing stuff or will there be added.

A: It will be a complete redevelopment of the same design, using mostly the same assets and some new, and some redesigned assets. Focus is on the engineering and architecture first.

Q: Will we be seeing different weapons/vehicles added into the mod?

A: Absolutely. We already have a few weapons in progress. Mainly to have more "find at home" style weapons. However content is largely secondary to getting the design right. Content is the easy part.

Q: Is any of the underground base idea going to be present in the standalone initially, or is this still ages off?

A: There will be "something" in the standalone, but it will only be the basic genesis of the idea. I need to ensure we have confidence in the direction of the project as a standalone before I can ask the mass commitment to such an ambitious feature.

Q: Will their be any major Hive updates coming out soon? At the moment stats and player location have been a bit of a mess...

A: Standalone will have an entirely new engine-sync'd system

Q: Any thoughts about combining DayZ and ACE? I've played it a while on lingor dayz and that was absoltely astonishing. It made me never ever want to play dayz without exhausting and wind systems.

A: It is hard enough getting DayZ and ArmA2 development in line, let alone introducing additional code dependencies onto other teams, such as ACE and ACRES. They are designed for specific objectives that may come into conflict with DayZ. They should be enjoyed for what they are. I think that DayZ could learn alot from many mods in ArmA2 and implement great stuff.

Q: What "Endgame" for lack of a better word do you plan to have for DayZ besides base building?

A: my plan is to have this developed in such a way so you make the plans

Q: Making all/most of the buildings enterable will cause the players to scatter around the map and reduce the chances of meeting other players, are you planning on making all buildings enterable? If yes how will you prevent the problem stated above?

A: yes, already done for the standalone.

Q: In the future, standalone perhaps, do you think that private-hive servers are better than going with the global one? Seeing it as people who alt+f4 would punish themselves by not being able to play for a while and "ghosting" (changing server to swap position in a firefight) would not be possible.

A: I think for the mod we open it up and see how it works. If people want to run private hives they can, but ideally we need a way to pool at least some statistics collectively.

Q: How does Rocket plan to look at alternatives to the current method of server hosting? Changing the way that the servers are organised (hive+server-side-map vs all server side) would change the game significantly, yet you cannot easily test this in alpha.

A: There is significant change planned to the "how" but the end result will feel much the same as it is now.

Q: on a scale from 1-10, what degree of customization in clothing of players will there be in the standalone game if it's currently rated at 3/10.

A: I would desire 10/10. Reality for the initial release is probably more like 5/10 and then it is something we work on.

Q: What do you think about modern megapolis map? And if "Yes", can we expect it in DayZ mod or in Standalone version?

A: I like the idea of exploring this, but I think there are performance issues and art timeline issues. It is something we could look at more for a new DayZ map, say next year.

Q: I believe you've recently introduced the first 'persistent' stat in the game between lives in terms of humanity. Does this represent a movement away from each life being its own separate entity?

A: yes, we want play style to be persistent across all characters to an extent. This adds some permanent consequence to player behavior.

Q: Zombies with rag doll physics? :D

A: I've got basic ragdoll high on the list.

Q: Are you guys planing adding more "story interactive environment" stuff? turning Green Mountain into a number station or adding a "ground zero" for the virus breakout?

A: Not story interactive stuff. But more narrative, such as virus background and the ability to interact and find out about the world.

Q: Any chance of putting in more vehicles? I have been playing for months now and so far i've found only 2 cars. One bus and one pickup. I really have started to dislike that the game is more of a running simulator than a survival game.

A: Yes, we are looking at how vehicles work for the standalone.

Q: Given that the Zeds quickly become fairly minor threats at present and are manageable even in large hordes are there any firm plans yet to make the zombies more lethal? Also, is there any plans for mechanics like weapon/gear degradation or breaking down/building up/customising weapons and gear from components?

A: You had me at weapon/gear degradation :) Yes, yes, and more yes. But don't expect these with the initial standalone, we need to get things working roughly as they are in a more polished state first.

Q: If you are going the route of weapon degradation please for the love of the gods PLEASE don't make it break guns after 100 or so shots. I always hated in fallout how fast shit broke down. Modern weapons can take thousands of
rounds before showing any signs of slowing down unless inappropriate ammo or poor weapon maintenance is involved.

A: Agreed. Weapons should JAM not BREAK

Q: Any plans to make more buildings accessible in the near future?

A: Yes. On initial release of the standalone. Confirmed and already in the current standalone build.

Q: What are you planning on adding to encourage people to teamup? What sort of community features are you planning on adding to help and/or balance cooperation in the game?

A: Group/community features are a key design consideration that will be closesly linked with construction. I.e. you build a base and the better it is the better options you have, such as storage and respawn etc...

Q: Rocket, implementing the 'new' humanity is in my opinion something that will make me play different ( less like a douche). Will it be finetuned ? Like when you kill zeds etc. Because now it's really hard to get rid of the score you gathered while not knowing it would count.

A: We will play with this concept (humanity) a lot, so that it plays better. Changes will be experimented a little in the mod over the coming weeks.

Q: How much days after the first effected will the stand alone game be

A: This will be confirmed with my brother (he is a virologist) as part of the base narrative development.

Q: Any idea on when 1.7.3 will release? I'm so excited for dogs! Also I know your planning on doing a mine craft model for the pay system of the standalone, can we expect to see a smaller price than CO? Like $15-$20? I'm going to buy it either way! Keep up the awesome work and you're doing a great job of keeping everyone informed!

A: I would never see DayZ being a full retail title. It does not need to be. And the alpha will be heavily discounted. 1.7.3 will release after Gamescom.

Q: Will there be some kind of a crafting system? Like building parts for crashed cars from other parts? Or cooking meals which will give u more stamina or something.

A: Yes, we have some awesome ideas for "crafting" system but it won't be traditional. It will be something that fits with the authenticity (not crafting sniper rifles from tin cans).

Q: I would like to know if the Dayz mod will continue to be updated after the new standalone is released or in the process of beta.

A: Yes, the mod will be much more open than it is now - allowing more projects like Lingor and more freedom for server administrators. The game development will draw ideas off this pool and develop a more standardized experience.

Q: For the dogs, if they spawn with you as a fresh player. Can you order them to go home or stay away? I really don't think I could handle having my wee pup get shot by some bastard if I find myself getting attached! Would bring back too many bad memories of losing pets

A: You will have to find the dogs and feed them to earn their trust (sound familiar?!?). They will get more obedient the longer they are in game wth you.

Q: So I see you're talking about 100-200 Players/Server, did you give up the idea to try something like EVE's server structure or is it still planned for later on?

A: Absolutely not given up. More than ever committed to this. BUT, we must walk before we can run :)

Q: Are there any plans on making zombies more frightening/scarier than they are now? Not in damage but in looks/sounds. I'm thinking of zombies jumping at you from a dark bush,zombies with open guts,bloodied zombies,.. They really aren't all that scary at the moment.

A: Absolutely. I would rate us as 1/10 for scariness at the moment. I want to go up to at least 7/10

Q: Do you plan to add any more guns to the game for standalone?

A: Absolutely, mainly focused on the "what you would find at home" type weapons.

Q: I love the game. Can't play it enough. But, one of the things I really dislike is the inventory system. Can you give us any specifics on how this might be made more user-friendly in the stand alone?

A: Completely redesigned from the ground up. No news yet, will post on tumblr when we do.

Q: Will the standalone (or mod in future) have any features allowing customisation of appearance? I'd love to be able to find various hats/clothing/accessories in houses and supermarkets, and then change my appearance to be as bad-ass as possible

A: Customization yes, including colors and face, and also by picking up items in the world. And looking badass.

Q: Do you plan to keep weapon switching like it is (Stop, slowly take out other weapon) or do you want to speed it up a little? Are you willing to add native support for holding a weapon in your backpack? What about headlamps?

A: We are reviewing hw this will work (weapon switching). Headlamps are on the list.

Q: Aside from base building, do you have any other game mechanics planned to increase the variety of play for late game characters?

A: I think group and faction mechanics will help there. Combined with construction I think we have lots of potential. Making it easier for players to make good videos will also help too.

Q: Have you ever considered implementing a proper trade menu system between your friends/other survivors? Right now its very awkward moving stuff out of each others backpacks and can sometimes result in items disappearing

A: Considering it, but want to be very careful with any mechanic so it doesnt feel forced or contrived.

Q: Have you thought of NPC territories? (Think Metro 2033 hubs in the tunnels) Personally I'd love there to be a corner of the map where survivor NPCs of remaining society don't shoot people with hero skins, but shoot everyone else on sight (having much better sight overall). This would allow a more risk/reward of being a bandit and also allow for multiple bandits to raid said settlement.Will DayZ itself be available to change via community addons? (similar to minecraft
and bukkit) Lastly... How much bug-testing will be put into work on the standalone?

A: NPC is both a performance issue and also a design issue. I think I want the game to focus as much as possible on supporting player interactions. Bug testing will be conducted mostly by the community.

Q: The Port safe point. Will this be kept?

A: No safe points if it can be avoided, but requires some pathing changes.

Q: Is it possible to add an extra gangs/factions into the game which will be AI controlled and could crop up at random times (like crashed helis) with a base and can be infiltrated for some higher quality loot, just to add to the end game
so people don't always have to turn to killing each other.

A: Group play and faction support is a key design consideration

Q: Is there another system planned to allow messages to be given to other players that aren't on, such as notes left in tents or cars or things to communicate information to offline players when they come back?

A: Yes, we have been looking at the mostly unfinished diary system already in arma for some ideas.

Q: i'd like to know if he actually plays his own mod actively o.o

A: Not nearly as much as I like, should. Most time is spent testing little changes (for example I spent the last week playing with dogs!)

Q: Will there be a possibility of having character slots when the stand alone comes? using more than a single character sounds like a must, right now i'm up at the airfield and i have absolutely no way of helping my friends that just began to play the game because i'll take a long time to travel down and i might die and lose everything just trying to help. Also, will there be a "party" system so you can see where your friends are with some sort of indicator?

A: Group play is very important one of the key design priorities. But we need to explore how this mechanic will work and not disrupt the disorientation that occurs on death.

Q: Did you also think about fixing the vehicles? They disappear on restart and it really gets annoying :)

A: yes :)

Q: n a post someone put a bunch of features they hoped for. One of them was the idea of a large wandering horde (100+). Would this be possible?

A: I've look at it and I seeing what options I can do for it.

Q: Will you\dayz be at PAX and if so to what extent? What about BI?  

A: I will be at PAX, attending a few panels and meeting people/discussing. Looking for a comic artist. BI won't be attending beyond my presence.

Q: Are there any plans to completely remove HUD from the game? I think it would definitely help set the atmosphere!

A: Absolutely agree. We will probably have something but it will be heavily cut down. most cues will be visual and audial.

Q: Did you also think of trading items or NPC Survivors?

A: No NPC survivors.

Q: Is it possible to implement a REAL melee system in ArmA 2 ? I mean, not a pistol reskinned as a hatchet/crowbar. It would be really cool to be able to charge and deal more damage, things like that.

A: Real as in a crowbar comes out of the screen and splits your head open? Probably not. Although that would solve a number of issues. But yes, we will look at improving the system beyond the crappy hack that is there now.

Q: I have to ask: Will there be a single player option with Day Z standalone? If so, will there be roving NPCs that function on a need->get kind of mentality to prevent them from starving to death?

A: Probably. But I am unlikely to work on that. Later once this is successful we might get a team to do that or we will open it up to the community.

Q: First, let me tell you that your game is fantastic and that I wish you the best of luck with all of your future projects! Anyways, just curious, but:
-When did you start coding?
-What was your motive to begin coding mods/games?
-How do you feel about releasing a standalone game?
-Any ideas for future games?

A: I started coding DayZ properly in december. I first started coding when I was maybe 12 back when my parents bought me an Amiga. I started because I wanted to make games that I wanted to play. I wasn't getting what i wanted from the games I was plying. Releasing DayZ standalone will be a dream come true. I want to make some tycoon style games that allow you to go into first person and actually do tasks. More realistic focus, like ports of call. And more
Eve style MMO's.

Q: Will there be more group functionality? Group leader can leave points on map for group to see, maybe see where squad members are?

A: Group functionality is a priority but we need to be careful not to remove the disorientation on death and from trying to find people, that is part of the disaster disorientation and fear.

Q: I'd like to know if he has any plans for the hacks that's corrupting the game, or does he not care because its just an alpha

A: It is something that we can deal with in the standalone. You'll never stop hacking completely, but we just keep vigilant with it and don't ignore it.

Q: This may sound a tad rude, but many people agree: ARMA II was poorly optimized which causes many of us to get poor FPS. Has this been addressed in the new engine for the standalone?

A: I wouldn't agree ArmA2 is poorly optimized. But yes, it is not optimized for the purposes of something like DayZ, and that is easy enough to address as a standalone.

Q: Do we have to pay for the standalone if we paid for ArmA II and Combined Operations? Not that its a problem, DayZ is awesome!

A: Yes, you will. But it will be very cheap !

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Defensive Grid 2 Raised enough on Kickstarter

Just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that Defensive Grid 2 by Hidden Path Entertainment has successfully raised enough funding for the development of Defensive Grid 2 on Kickstarter.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hiddenpath/defense-grid-2

While I am glad that DG2 got the funding it required for the sequel because I really enjoy tower defense games and I think DG is a great one, Did any of this leave a bad taste in anyone Else's mouth? It just didn't seem right to me that a company that made a successfully popular game on steam and sold several thousand copies really needed a kickstarter?  Also the kickstarter itself is trying to entice people to donate up to 1 million for cool features most games should have now-a-days anyways. While I love Hidden Path Entertainment for giving us DG cause it's a wonderful tower defense game. It just all seems ewww and selfish and greedy to me and just feels like bad form on their part.

They tried to counter-attack this argument with something along the lines of "Well we sold DG so cheap on steam and sold the dlc at development cost"   Really? seriously?  Who actually believes this? I want to see the books on this one.  What was sooo expensive about DG was it the fancy voice acting of one actor? or the supreme mega ultra cinemas (there was none). I understand they are a business and need to make money but this just isn't the way to do it.  Anyways, enough of my little rant.  DG is awesome game regardless and I'm hoping DG2 will be awesome as well once it is complete.

Possible New Minecraft Features

Hey guys, Just doing a little late night posting and showing off a couple screenshots I seen from new features they are working on in minecraft. The first shot seems pretty great for people like myself that have to have absolutely everything organized into specific containers.  Seems like a preview of labels for our chests which I think is great. Must....organize....everything.....

The second screen shows what appears to be an invisibility potion or something to that effect.  These will be a blast for multi-player I'm sure but I could see them causing issues as well.  For example stalking players and finding their hidden stashes! or Simply grief killing. Not sure how they will work until more detail is released.
I also may as well post in here and let everyone know I plan on starting a Let's Play of minecraft hardcore survival here soon.  I really wanna cover a Project Zomboid Let's play but I'm gonna wait till a few more new features are added and a few key bugs are fixed to make the Let's Play more entertaining.  So I figured the next best thing for now would be having some fun in minecraft, so look forward to those soon.  I'm also moving in real life but I don't see that being to much trouble and taking up to much time so hopefully won't hurt WatchSurvival in the slightest.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Small Minecraft Update

Small Minecraft update was released today.

Minecraft 1.3.2

+ Added sideways logs in trees
* Fixed a bug that caused players to fall out of the world when going into the Nether
* Fixed a bug that caused random suffocation damage in water

Project Zomboid Current Status

This was Posted on Project Zomboids message board and things are starting to look up for the indie game. they are really chugging things along nicely trying to get ready for the release of PZ on Steam.


----------copy and paste------------------
Bit more of an in-depth 'where we're at' post:

  • Since we're most of the way there, we're going straight for RC 3 and skipping RC 2.6, but will make sure all the fixes in 2.6 are in 3.
  • Fire is in and working as it was before it was removed. Still needs save testing.
  • Rain not in yet but will likely be a quick job when the time comes.
  • Music in and working perfectly.
  • Lua integration fixed completely. Overloaded methods now work properly.
  • Female characters more or less in, we just need to do a massive export of all the characters, pieces, anims before we can get them in properly. (exporting = few hours tying up the PC unfortunately. Need to come up with a system that allows the PC to be worked on while it's happening since at the moment every 10 seconds a new window pops to front of screen making simultaneous working hernia inducing)
  • Tutorial playable up to Raider. Only issue is the scripted 'fire' command is not working so the K&B showdown scene is a bit weird as he doesn't shoot his shotgun. Other additions needed is making NPC / zombies not spawn during tutorial again to avoid any unintended interference.
  • Some UI fixes, like sorting out the choose story page, still needs doing.
  • Still need to add character to character creation screen, and add a female option to it.
  • New tutorial system in but need the steps of the tutorial adding:

    We may leave this till after RC 3 it depends I guess.
  • After this we're going to spend some time scouting the forums and watching youtube videos and cleaning up a few of the bigger issues we notice. to make sure RC3 has no glaring bugs that have made 2.5 an issue.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Gamescon should open up some info for us

Just letting everyone know I'll be covering gamescon survival game info once it becomes available and published. I know Dayz is going to be there and have a booth setup with their most current patched version of the arma2 mod.  Watching rocket talk to the crowd is always amusing.  As I find more information I'll be sure to post it.

<edit> it seems news is already starting to come down the line.  Joystiq has already posted some information for us.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/08/15/gamescom-2012-dayz-stand-alone-to-have-instanced-building/

If you have been following Dayz much you already knew about the plans to add underground bases, but it does give us a few more details and lets us know another piece of info about Dayz the Stand-alone game.

Dayz the game is going to be a revamped Chernarus! So it is going to be taking place in the same world that Dayz the mod takes place in, but it's going to have new areas added onto it and it is also going to make more of the buildings enter able.  I actually really enjoy the Chernarus map so I think this will work just fine.  It's just going to be fleshed out more and more areas added onto it.  That piece of info was new to myself.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/15/dayz-lead-wants-game-on-consoles-having-meetings-about-it-at/

They also seem to be talking about bringing the game to consoles, but I honestly don't see how that will work without a control revamp because as it is currently Dayz has way to many buttons for a controller.  Honestly doesn't pertain to me or WatchSurvival cause I'm about PC gaming but I figured some out there may wanted to know it is being considered.


Monday, August 13, 2012

Minecraft reaches 7 million in sales.

My goodness the popularity of this game knows no bounds.  It just keeps growing and getting bigger and bigger. I can honestly see why though as there is nothing out there like it. The official forums posted a news post this morning about the sales. As they keep adding new features and giving more freedom and players more things to do, it's just going to keep getting bigger and bigger.

http://www.minecraftforum.net/news/578-minecraft-surpasses-7-million-sales/

Here's the copy and paste from the site.

" That's right, the PC version of Minecraft has surpassed 7 million sales!  In addition to blowing the lid off of XBLA sales records, and continuing to set incredible landmarks in the handheld market, Minecraft also has over 37 million registered users!

Minecraft as a game continues to have a phenomenal level of success, with humble beginnings in the hands of Mojang founding member Markus "Notch" Persson, and growing over a period of years into one of the most successful indie game titles in gaming history.  In addition, the recent changes to Minecraft in 1.3.1 - and future changes planned for 1.4, including Mod API support, more adventure map options, and more - are setting the stage for a whole new generation of game.  In many ways, the upcoming changes will allow people to custom-tailor Minecraft to their liking with minimal effort and hassle, paving the way for the ultimate user-made experience.

Congratulations to Mojang for the amazing sales milestone, and to everyone out there in the Minecraft community for making it what it is today!"

The Dead Linger Pre Screenshots and thoughts on random world

I'm really digging The Dead Linger so far.  More so then most of the other survival games at this time for a few reasons. One of those main reasons is its huge amounts of randomization. Some people may complain about the graphic style but its still in very early stages at the moment and the coolest feature about The Dead Linger is the massive amount of randomization that the world generates with assuring that no two worlds are ever the same. (think minecraft seed generation) Literally everything in The Dead Linger will be randomized. From the forests to the House layouts to the insides of the house to even the furniture that is placed inside the houses.  This is really awesome because it ensures new game-play every time you start up a world to survive in so you don't get stuck inside the same cities over and over again knowing where all the good loot already is.  Each survival run will feel fresh and new as you go around searching for supplies and trying to survive.  I think this is a really exciting feature for a zombie survival game to have. You won't get bored searching the same places over and over because they will never be the same.


Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Dead Linger Gives a nod to Project Zomboid

Hey check this out.  I just found this on The Dead Linger's site and found it kind of amusing.

http://www.sandswept.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2634

Apparently there's some Project Zomboid fans among the Developers of The Dead Linger.  They refurbished their fire axe  to make the design match the axe in the "Till Death do us part" Poster from Project Zomboid's Storyline Mode.  I Wonder what Indiestone thinks about this?

Dead State Tons of Q and A

Good morning my fellow survivors.  Dead State is looking like a really awesome game and I really enjoy how they are going a different direction with the game instead of the normal FPS style most of the new survival games seems to be taking.  Anyways I've found this huge Q and A Listing on their forums that anyone interested in the game should definitely take a look.

Account/Kickstarter
Area Map
Base/Shelter
Character Creation
Combat
Combat Map
Dialogue
Equipment
Food and Water
Game Events
Gameplay
Missions
Misc
Mood and Morale
NPCs (Allies)
Other survivors/groups
Skills
Vehicles
Weapons
Zombies

Instead of copy and pasting all the Questions and Answers I placed the Links to the different sections on here so You guys can get to the stuff that interests you the most.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Dayz Hotfix Build 1.7.2.5 Rolling out.

Well the forums seems to be giving out some good news for this latest hotfix build for dayz.

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/67383-hotfix-build-1725-rolling-update/

seems to be making the game much smoother. People on the forums are also reporting that zombies seem to have better pathing as well because they have become slightly slower which helps dampen the zig-zaging effects zombies have not sure if that's true or intentional or not but it sounds like great news to me.   I can't help but be excited for Dayz stand-alone as the bug fixes for Dayz the mod is starting to show how fun the game can be when it's smoother and less full of dupes.  I'll be playing this one myself once I get off work today to check things out. I'll get back on and update the blog letting everyone know from my own experiences how the patch actually is once I get the chance to play it.

Friday, August 10, 2012

The Jester DLC for Dungeon Defenders

Found this on Dungeon Defenders website for my Tower-defense survival fans.

The Jester is available now on the Steam marketplace! You can get this new hero class, along with a new map, a male costume for the Jester and four new weapons by following this link. And it’s all free for the next two weeks. After that, the Jester DLC pack will be $3.99. To make sure that she’s yours forever for free, click Install Game next to the DLC. You can do this from the store or via the Steam client.

Project Zomboid Q and A

I recently found an interview from Will Porter, Writer and Co-Developer of Project Zomboid and thought I'd share it with everyone.   You can check out the full interview here from another fellow blog site. 

http://oldschoolraygun.com/?p=200   Looks like some exciting new features are heading for Project Zomboid as it gets closer and closer to awaiting Steampowered.com approval which I talked about recently in another post.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Class 3 Q and A

Found this Q and A posted on the forums thought some might be interested for those wondering about Class3 a Zombie survival game in the making.

Q&A: Zombies and Survivors in Class3, 7/13/12

Q&A: Zombies and Survivors

Now that we know a little about the world and the backstory, it’s time to learn about the people that inhabit the world. Some of them were people at some point, anyway. (The entire Q&A is the first three posts in this thread, so be sure to read the whole thing before commenting!)

Zombies, Behavior and Weaknesses

  Can you shoot limbs off the zeds while they are still alive?

Yes, you can shoot off their limbs and blow holes in their torsos, and they’ll keep coming at you.

 Do Class3 zombies require headshots to die (and stay dead), or do they have hit points you need to deplete?

Head shots are by far the most effective method of killing a zombie. Our producer, Jess, says “If you’re melee attacking you basically need to beat the snot out of them enough to destroy the brain.” Believe me, you’ll know when you’ve destroyed the brain.

: Will you be able to dismember a zombie?

Yes.
 

Is the zombies’ sense of sight dulled at night, so that you can pass through certain areas that would have gotten you spotted during the day? Or is the opposite true?

Jess again: “Their senses aren’t dulled (our zombies don’t have the best eyesight anyway) but they do tend to be more active at night and they prefer to travel in hordes. So while you might not encounter as many stragglers at night, you’ll be in bigger doo-doo when you encounter a nocturnal zombie — because where there’s one there’s a whole lot more.”

Last week we told you that once you claim a building as a Home or an Outpost, zombies will stop spawning inside the building.  If you clear the map of all zombies, will zombies keep spawning to account for ‘off-map’ zombies moving into your neck of the woods? What if a (cleared) building isn’t claimed?

If you clear it but don’t claim it, zombies will come back. Claiming a Home or Outpost will suppress the zombie spawn for a small radius around the building, but the creatures will continue to spawn elsewhere and wander toward your community if they hear anything to investigate.

As for clearing the map, it’s not that small — you simply will not be able to move fast enough to shoot every zed. There are some parts of Trumbull Valley that have no buildings for you to claim, and therefore you can’t stop the zombies from creeping in through the gap in your line.


 Survivors

  What happens if you kill off all the survivors? Will more spawn?

There will always be more survivors in the world. But if you’re going through them like Kleenex, you’ll have a harder time finding enough people to keep your Home thriving and growing.
   
Can the NPCs be trusted?

In Class3, yes. You may need to earn their respect before they’ll help you (and some of them are so downright unsavory that you won’t want to invite them into your Home), but in Class3, you don’t need to worry about a fellow survivor clubbing you like a baby seal.

  How do you tell your fellow survivors to help you build things and to help you search for supplies? How do you communicate with them when you don’t see them? Are there walkie-talkies or something?

You’ll interact with survivors who are not part of your community by agreeing to help them, trading with them, and earning their trust. After they join your community you can assign them to various duties in your home base (e.g. manning Watchtowers, working in the Workshop, preparing meals in the Kitchen, or tending to the wounded in your Infirmary). They’ll also be available for scouting, supply, and rescue missions when you call in to your base via walkie-talkie and request assistance.

  Will survivors follow you around, or can you tell them to stay at one of your buildings? Guard a (non-Home, non-Outpost) building? Can they fight? Will they run [if things get out of control] or stand and be eaten?

It depends on the situation, the survivor, and what you’ve done to that point.

You can assign a survivor to defend a Home or an Outpost. They can’t do anything with an unclaimed building, but the number of buildings that can be claimed as an Outpost is far greater than the number of potential Homes.

After that, what they do depends on their own tendencies and the situation itself. They will choose to fight or run for it, depending on what’s going on (number of zombies, where you are, what you’ve done in the past, their own inherent preference, and more).

You can get more specific in some situations, usually mission related. But generally, you’ll choose which survivors are best in which situations, and which survivors suit your strategy of the moment, and then see how it plays out.

  What about survivors you haven’t rescued, how do you interact with them? Can they be killed (before you have a chance to invite them to join your group)?

The interaction is more “action” than talking. Depending on what you’ve done so far, and the survivor’s own personality, they may offer you the chance to do them a favor. They may tell you to get out and go away. They might be extremely friendly. It just depends on the circumstances.

Survivors won’t join your community until you’ve earned their trust (and you can lose the trust you’ve gained through your actions or lack thereof). And yes, they can be killed before you’ve built that relationship, if you are working with them on a mission and you don’t protect them.

They aren’t at risk until you’ve encountered them, for gameplay reasons. If they’re over on a part of the map you haven’t gotten to yet, and therefore haven’t met them, there’s no chance they’ll die until you have a chance to act. No guarantees after that, though!

  Is there a limit to the number of survivors you can recruit?

There is a limit based on the how many bodies you can house, feed, and equip. You won’t want to have 100 people milling around in the base you’ve built in an old church. Effectively, the limit is the size of your base and your ability to provide resources for its population.

“[other humans are] the enemy, zombies are just added danger. It’s an apocalypse, complete societal collapse. No more morals or democracy, just greed and survival.” Will that kind of thinking be an element of the game?

The other survivors aren’t an enemy in the sense that they will try to kill you. But in terms of the story we’re developing, there are definitely human beings who aren’t Nice People in Trumbull Valley. There are some survivors who, if rescued, will harm your community with their bad attitudes and tendency to sow discord... and THAT leads to nasty consequences.

Will it be necessary to sleep in Class3?

Every survivor needs some downtime in order to operate at maximum personal efficiency, so in that sense, yes, they will need to sleep. Time to build a Bunkhouse!

  Will the game go on if I log out? Will zombies continue to spawn overnight? Will I have to worry about my character being in a safe place? Will my character start up in the same place/condition I was in when I logged out?

The number of zombies won’t change, and your Home (and your Outposts) will not be damaged while you’re logged out.

But if you weren’t rested, or if you were injured when you logged off, you’ll come back feeling fresh as a daisy, assuming you were offline for the same length of time it would have taken you to rest online. Any work you had queued up, such as upgrades to your Home facilities, or weapon repair in your Workshop, will continue to progress while you are logged out.

As a result of those mechanisms, though, you may have an extremely hungry community if you stay offline for months. Your survivor band will also be healing up and resting... and eating food and drinking water.

  How will food and water affect the player controlled character and other NPC survivors? Will scavenging for supplies (food, water, ammunition) take a big role in this game?

You will need to feed your community, or they’ll lose faith in you and eventually abandon you.

And yes, if you can’t grow food in the safety of your base, you’ll need to scavenge for it.

They have said repeatedly that they want this game to be a hardcore survival game; that takes into account human waste and NPC psychological needs.

Psychological needs and survivor morale are an important part of community building. Unhappy survivors don’t work as hard, contribute as much, or follow your lead as well.

As hardcore as we are, though, human waste management is a bridge too far in terms of “things we want to simulate.”

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The WarZ beta access and concerns.

The Warz, supposedly the first MMO of the Zombie survival genre is getting a lot of hype all around the web currently. I thought I'd chime in here and Let everyone know that beta sign ups to check the game out are still currently being listed.

http://thewarz.com/preorder.html

While it could be the greatest thing since sliced bread for the survival nuts like myself. I do have some concerns for the game at this time.

1. The game is being spouted as an MMO with missions/quests/objectives whatever you want to call them. This makes me wonder how much the seriousness of the survival aspect is going to be and if the game isn't just trying to be Yet another MMORPG with Zombies tac'd onto it.  We honestly have done the MMORPG thing to death this decade and it's kinda getting dug into a deeper and deeper grave as more companies try to cash in on the cash cow of MMOS and spit out poor excuses for a game just to make money.

2. The game has a gold coin currency system.  Thats right a game set to be about a zombie apocalypse in the current world's future is going to have vendors and gold currency that players may use to buy and sell goods with vendors and players.  This type of genre and timeline with a gold coin currency system worries me because it makes me just question "why?"  If I was in a current zombie apocalypse  and I found an extra gun I didn't need, wouldn't I want to trade that gun for food or ammo for my other gun or maybe batteries for my flashlight or something?  Why gold of all things? Aren't gold coins more for the Dungeons and Dragons style games with wizards and such?  I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a zombie apocalypse having a form of currency at all.  Trading should be what it's about.

3.  It will have a micro-transaction shop.    Yea I know right? a game focused on surviving and looting items to survive is gonna let you pull out that wallet and make things Materialize into the game world.  While I know they need to pay for the game and updates and servers ect somehow I feel there is much better ways of going about it then this way. Which IMHO completely breaks immersion of the world and leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.   Starving to death?  No worries just insert your credit card and pay 2.99 for that virtual can of beans that will materialize on your character and save their life.    They have already stated that they will be selling things like improved health packs and the like. This is a really bad idea for this kind of game and with a game as WarZ that has such huge potential for the fans they are trying to grab they should understand they are not going to like this model.  Materializing items into a world that is no doubt survival and loot based is a really bad idea.

This game has potential to be great but these key issues to hold it back, but we shall see as beta comes out and more info comes trickling down the lane for us to see and play.

Orcs Must Die 2 Seems to be looking pretty good.

Orcs Must Die 2 recently released by Robot Entertainment. Seems to be a great hit.  While I've yet to play part 2 of this series as I've just recently started playing part 1.  I thought everyone may like to see some feedback on the game.

http://www.pcgamer.com/review/orcs-must-die-2-review/  Score: 84/100

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/28/orcs-must-die-2-review  Score: 9/10

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/31/orcs-must-die-2-review/ Score: 4.5/5 stars

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/orcs_must_die_2/b/pc/archive/2012/07/30/review.aspx  Score: 9.25 / 10

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/orcs-must-die!-2  Score: 84 / 100

Visit the last link I posted from Metacritic to see more reviews for the game.  I will for sure be picking this one up in the future after I feel I've done part 1 justice which I personally am having a great time on. I'm sure part 2 is more of the same fun entertainment with lots of new things added. I'll be looking forward to it.

Minecraft 1.3.1 Update is Now Live!

Minecraft  the pc survival sandbox game has released another update. 1.3.1  More info can be found here.  http://www.minecraftforum.net/news/568-131-is-now-live/  Shown below is a copy and paste from the Minecraft Wiki.


General
  • Updated the launcher
    • Includes demo mode. Note: Clicking on demo mode without the game installed will not work, and instead freeze at game updating and not download.
    • The "Loading update news" message which appears when the launcher attempts to load the release feed is now styled, rather than the plain html it was prior.
  • Improved overall stability and performance
    • Reduced CPU, RAM & bandwidth usage.
    • Accelerated chunk loading.
    • Decreased lag spike frequency.
    • Made the Nether less laggy.
    • Decreased unnecessary world updates.
    • Made the chat work smoothly even when the server is laggy.
    • Decreased packets sent between client and server.
  • Made Singleplayer internally use a Multiplayer server[1][2]
    • Decreased world saving intervals.
  • Added optional single-player commands called "Cheats" on non-hardcore worlds[3]
    • Type / and then hit tab to autocomplete & get help on various commands
    • Most commands from MP are available.
  • Added option to let LAN friends join SP games
    • You can choose which gamemode players join in and whether they are allowed to use cheats.
  • Added demo mode for non-premium users[3]
    • Lasts 5 game days per world.
    • Singleplayer only.
  • Added Chat Settings
    • Change which parts of chat are shown and how opaque it is.
    • Toggle chat colors, links being clickable and warning prompts for links.
    • Option to rebind the command key, which opens the chat with / in the textfield.
  • Added Snooper Settings
    • Allows users to toggle anonymous data being sent to Mojang.
    • Shows which data will be sent.
  • Added video options
    • Have to be toggled manually in options.txt for now.
    • Vertical Synchronization.
    • Fullscreen mode can now be enabled at startup.
  • Mobs can now spawn on top of upside down all slabs and stairs
  • Improved F3 mode:
    • Truncated coordinates to 5 fractional digits.
    • The y-coordinate now shows both the feet level and the eye level.
    • Removed frame rendering time history graph (bottom-left).
    • 3 new values:
      • ws: Walking speed (constant)
      • fs: Flying speed (constant)
      • g: Boolean value, true when you touch the ground
  • Updated language files
    • Added tooltips for all types of Monster Egg blocks and the End Portal Frame.
    • Added more descriptive tooltips for different types of tree-related blocks, sandstone and stone bricks.[4]
    • Localized server commands.
    • Added missing commands-related strings.
    • Added missing double chest GUI caption.
Gameplay
  • Added Adventure mode[5]
    • Only playable using commands.
    • Building, setting things on fire and using buckets is disabled.
    • Players can only interact with mobs and the environment.
    • Players can place and take stuff from a chest, a furnace or a dispenser.
  • Added trading[6]
    • Using emerald as currency, villagers will, depending on profession, offer different trades to players.
    • There are three kinds of trades: Selling, buying and enchanting.
    • As displayed in the top-most part of the trading GUI, villagers take one or more items or item stacks and give back something.
    • After trading, villagers will sometimes emit purple particles for a few seconds to indicate that their trades changed.
    • Otherwise unobtainable bottles o' enchanting and chainmail armor can be obtained by trading.
  • Improved Creative mode inventory
    • There are categorized tabs for various groups of items and blocks.
    • Added a search tab which will automatically be switched to when the chat key is hit.
    • Added survival inventory tab, which shows the full inventory, a 'Destroy item' slot, armor slots including a preview of your character and a 2x2 crafting field.
    • Items can now be deleted from the inventory by shift-clicking them.
    • Added layered snow block, Monster Egg Blocks (Silverfish spawning blocks), Ender Portal frame and all potions.[7]
    • Now shows potion effects' timers like in Survival.
  • Improved experience collection
    • Depending on ore type, experience now drops from ores that drop items.
    • Taking smelted items out of furnaces gives experience now.
    • Destroying mob spawners gives experience now.
    • Adjusted experience level progression:
      • Levels 1-15 cost 17 XP points each
      • Levels 16-30 cost 3 more XP points than the previous (cost = 17 + (level - 15) * 3)
      • Levels 31-∞ cost 7 more XP points than the previous (cost = 62 + (level - 30) * 7)
  • Improved enchanting
    • The new maximum level with bookshelves is 30, without 8.
    • 15 bookshelves are enough to reach level 30.
    • The 3rd slot shows the most expensive possible enchantment more often.
    • Increased chances for multiple enchantments at once.
    • Adjusted enchantments' to go with the new maximum level.
  • Added writing in books
    • New crafting recipe for books: 3 pieces of paper and one piece of leather in any possible shape.
    • New item: Book and Quill - Crafting recipe: 1 ink sac, 1 feather and 1 book in any possible shape.
    • Right-click to write on & edit up to 50 pages or read.
    • Click 'Done' to save the book, 'Sign' to choose a title and finalize the book.
  • Improved Multiplayer
    • Made entities less likely to glitch through blocks.
    • Added automagical downloading of standard sized texture packs when joining servers.
    • Made server commands more descriptive.
    • Added reason parameter to /ban.
    • Added /seed command to show the map seed.
    • Added /defaultgamemode command to choose the gamemode new players start in.
    • Added /debug command to enable and disable profiling.
    • /kick messages can now contain "\n" to force a new line.
    • Blocks other players are mining now show cracks.[8]
    • /tp can now be used to teleport to specific coordinates.
    • Made server list re-orderable: shift+click or shift+arrow keys move selected servers.
    • Server list now scans for LAN servers.
    • Added hardcore difficulty: Players are banned upon death.[9]
    • Connections are now encrypted to prevent eavesdropping.
    • Added SRV Record Lookup support
      • Different subdomains of one domain can handle different servers via different port numbers.
      • Service name should be "minecraft"; i.e. "_minecraft._tcp.example.com".
  • Added & changed many minor things
    • Individual, stackable items near each other on the ground now become one item stack.
    • Added shift clicking support to armor slots, brewing stands & enchantment tables.
    • Added setting to disable servers offering you texture packs.
    • Made the stars smaller and brighter.[10]
    • Villagers spawned from spawn eggs will get a random profession now.
    • Removed the downwards knockback while drowning.
    • Doors being broken by zombies now show their damage.
    • You now spawn with an empty inventory in Creative mode.
    • The "Mojang" splash screen when opening the game appears for 1 instead of 3 seconds now.
    • The sky color in the End changed.
    • Blocks now show cracks when destroying them while the GUI is hidden.
    • You can now fall 4 blocks without getting hurt (might be a bug as there exist other, higher distances that don't cause damage either).
    • Respawning in superflat is no longer random.
    • Main domain of skin database is now skins.minecraft.net instead of s3.amazonaws.com.
  • Improved the Pick Block key
    • You now get the actual block.
    • You can now pick paintings, boats, minecarts and mobs, which will give you their spawn eggs.
    • Picking huge mushroom blocks now gives mushrooms.
    • You can no longer pick portal blocks.
World Generation
Blocks & Items
  • Emerald Ore
  • Emerald
  • Block of Emerald[11]
    • Crafted by putting 9 emeralds on a crafting table.
  • Ender Chest
    • Crafted by surrounding an eye of ender with 8 pieces of obsidian.
    • Stores each player's contents across dimensions and all Ender Chests.
    • Contents are preserved even if all Ender Chests are destroyed.
    • Explosion-resistant.
    • Emits light and purple particles.
    • Unless mined using a Silk Touch-enchanted pickaxe, they drop 8 obsidian.[12]
  • Tripwire Hook[13][14]
  • String
    • Can now be placed on the ground decoratively.
  • Wood
    • Can now be placed in 3 different directions.
    • Placement works like similar to piston placement.
  • Furnaces
    • Can be fueled by wooden tools now.
    • Return an empty bucket when using lava buckets as fuel now.
  • Ice
    • Instead of melting in the nether, it now disappears.
    • Can be obtained using Silk Touch-enchanted gear now.[12]
  • Glass Panes
    • Can be obtained using Silk Touch-enchanted gear now.[12]
  • Nether Portal
    • Leaks into the Overworld now: Depending on difficulty, zombie pigmen rarely spawn in them.
  • Slabs
    • Added all wood types.
    • Wooden slabs crafted after the update act like wood.
  • Stairs
    • Added Sandstone Stairs.
    • Added wooden stairs for all kinds of wood.
    • Adjusted hitbox.
  • Slabs and Stairs
    • Will now be placed upside-down when placed on the upper half of a block's side.
    • When placed upside down, rails, pressure plates, levers, doors, torches, redstone torches, repeaters, redstone dust and beds can be placed on them - Redstone dust behaves like on glowstone - It transmits power horizontally and upwards, but not downwards. Redstone torches don't power redstone placed on slabs/stairs above them.
  • Leaves
    • Water slowly drips through them when it's raining.
  • Cauldrons
    • Slowly fill up when it's raining.
  • Dispensers
    • Minecarts & boats will now be placed if there's rails/water in place.
    • Instead of dispensing buckets, dispensers will now suck in or place water or lava in front of them.
  • Gravel
    • Changed texture
  • Jungle leaves
    • Have a 1/200 chance to drop a cocoa bean when destroyed now.
  • Levers
    • Can be placed on the underside of blocks now.
  • Wooden Pressure Plates
    • Can be triggered by arrows now.
  • Pistons
    • Now take 2 redstone ticks (4 game ticks) seconds to expand.
  • TNT
    • Depending on difficulty, does different amounts of damage now:
      • Peaceful: no damage
      • Easy: 1/2 less damage
      • Normal: same damage as before
      • Hard: 1/3 more damage.
  • Cocoa Beans
    • Retextured item.
    • Can be planted & grown on jungle wood now.
    • Can be grown instantly using bone meal.
  • Cookies
    • Give a full hunger point now.
  • Nether Warts
    • Can now be grown in the Overworld and in the End.
  • Book
    • Changed crafting recipe: 3 pieces of paper and one piece of leather in any possible shape.
  • Book and Quill
    • Crafting recipe: 1 ink sac, 1 feather and 1 book in any possible shape.
    • See above for more information.
  • Written Book
    • Can only be obtained by signing a Book and Quill.
    • Can be sold to villagers.
  • Empty buckets
  • Signs
    • Stack up to 16 now.
    • Crafting now gives 3 signs instead of 1.
  • Golden Apple[19]
    • Has two crafting recipes now, the new one replacing gold nuggets with gold blocks.
    • Second tier gives Regeneration IV, Resistance and Fire resistance effects.
    • Only second tier glows like enchanted tools.
    • Has attributes the Golden Apple had before 1.1.[20]
  • Monster Spawners
    • Added NBT tags to further customize spawned mobs.
    • Only changeable using map editors or mods.
  • Boats
    • Are not broken by lilypads anymore, instead they run straight through the lilypad now, breaking and sometimes dropping it.
    • Are less glitchy and more responsive now.
    • Increased maximum speed.
    • When exiting, players will be moved from the boat.
    • When broken by a player, they drop a boat now.
  • Minecarts
    • When on rails, they can be accelerated a bit while sitting in them.
    • When exiting, players will be moved from the minecart.
Mobs
  • Pigs
    • Drop 1-3 porkchops now.
  • Slimes
    • Reduced spawn rate in superflat maps.
  • Silverfish
    • When suffering from poison potions, they will now spawn more silverfish from nearby silverfish blocks more often.
  • Creepers
    • Increased knockback effect.
    • Depending on difficulty, they do more damage now:
      • Easy: ~50% less damage
      • Normal: same damage as before
      • Hard: 33.3…% more damage.
  • Creepers & Spiders
    • Become aggressive towards the last mob or player that hit them now[21][22]
  • Skeletons, Creepers & Zombies
    • Become neutral against players again a few seconds after being hit in Creative.
Bug Fixes: [Collapse]
  • General
    • Fixed many bugs
      • Fixed texture packs in folders not showing their icon and description
      • Fixed Man-in-the-middle attack allowing hackers to log in as you when you visit their server
      • Fixed the Open texturepack folder button not working on OS X
  • Gameplay
    • Fixed many bugs
      • Fixed liquids slowing down flying players.
      • Fixed blocks with the same id but different data/damage values stacking in Creative inventory.
      • Fixed boats & minecarts not being one-hit breakable in Creative.
      • Fixed raw fish, dyes, saddles, potions, milk buckets and tools depleting in Creative.
      • Fixed water destroying non-solid blocks when breaking them from above.
      • Fixed Silk touch giving you only one slab from double slabs.
      • Fixed redstone updates not propagating through unloaded chunks.[23]
      • Fixed repeaters getting stuck when loading their chunk.
      • Fixed tools taking damage when breaking insta-breakable blocks.
    • Fixed a few misalignments in the item sprite sheet.
    • Fixed the arrow representing players on held maps being offset.
      • Fixed being able to duplicate sand, gravel and powered rail.
      • Fixed placing a piston in front of another powered, but not extended one resulting in a glitched piston with the head's texture on all sides.
      • Fixed TNT dropping as a resource on creative mode.
      • Fixed powering specifically glitched pistons crashing the game.
      • Fixed the End Portal Frame block not showing as a block in the inventory.
      • Fixed weather not working correctly in certain biomes.
      • Fixed Overworld portals above Y=127 not being recognized when leaving the Nether.
      • Fixed various hacked mob spawners crashing the game.
      • Fixed thrown splash potions not preserving their type when reloading the world.
    • Fixed many Multiplayer-specific bugs
      • Fixed arrows scooting up to the top of the block they were shot on.
      • Fixed Endermen not opening their jaws.
      • Fixed fully charged arrows not showing their particle effect.
      • Fixed many sounds not playing.[24][25][26][27]
      • Fixed magma cubes' and slimes' jumping animations not showing.
      • Fixed thunderstorms not darkening the sky.
      • Fixed weather not fading in or out.
      • Fixed enchanted armor and tools not glowing to other players.
      • Fixed explosions not pushing players back.
      • Fixed TNT not knocking back players.
      • Fixed pistons not pushing back players.
      • Fixed players on minecarts, boats or pigs and spider jockeys not being displayed in the correct location.
      • Fixed glitchy mob prediction.[28]
      • Fixed fishing lines not showing.[26][29]
      • Fixed sneaking players' nameplates not staying hidden when loading the chunks they are in.
      • Fixed Unbreaking-enchanted tools sometimes breaking and then re-appearing a few times.
      • Fixed potion effects losing their graphical effects when traveling between dimensions.
      • Fixed blocks disappearing when placing them under yourself and jumping.
Notable bugs (Complete bug list):
  • Ping in the Multiplayer Servers List is now +10000ms instead of the normal ping.
    • This bug also applies to "localhost".
  • It now takes more time to connect to a server (+10s).
    • This bug also applies to "localhost".
  • In the "Reset Demo World" screen, the "Cancel" button does nothing. So we are forced to click "Delete", or close the game to avoid that.
  • In multiplayer, the player might be blocked trying to walk through an open door if it is within the spawn protection area.
  • In multiplayer, some signs may appear to have no text on them. Which one has and which one hasn't changes between logging out and in.
  • Server list is not saved after re-ordering.
  • When shift clicking on armor in creative, on survival inventory it just deletes it instead of equipping.
  • When trapped between water flowing east or west and a block, the player will take suffocation damage.
  • Players can destroy entity-like blocks in adventure mode such as paintings or minecarts.