SurrounDead cover
SurrounDead screenshot
Genre: Shooter, Adventure, Indie

SurrounDead

Patch 0.6.0b - Discovery Part 1 - QOL Patch

First of all, apologies for the delay in this patch. Look forward to patches coming after this one as I stated in the previous dev update. Now onto the patch notes:



  • New small town located next to the Airfield called "Lower Bottom"
  • New difficulty setting that stops you from building at "dungeon" POIs (Traps can still be built)
  • You can now scroll through your equipped weapons simply by using your scroll wheel
  • Option so you can press interact key to loot a container instead of holding down the key
  • You can now sleep via using the RV




  • When getting in a vehicle, your current weapon will no longer be unequipped and will show back when you exit the vehicle (also weapons and backpack are hidden)
  • Airdrop markers now show what type they are and are larger on the map
  • Improved detection of being at a POI (mainly at the bunkers)
  • Trees and stones now drop all of their materials once they're destroyed/chopped down (Less picking up 10x stones, etc)
  • Reduced hits needed to chop down a tree and destroy a rock
  • Picking up a container/tent now drops the items at your position instead of blocking you from picking it up until all items are removed
  • Adjustments to loot table
  • Hold Left Alt and scroll mouse to change camera distance in third person
  • Improved lighting of placed objects
  • Reduced noise that crouching produces
  • Consuming rad pills, etc now instantly stops geiger rad sound
  • Dead player inventory UI now resembles 'alive' inventory look
  • Adjustment to where the player perceives audio in first person (please say if there's any issues)
  • Adjusted all vehicle physic models (Mainly to do with collision)
  • You can no longer remove large boulders when placing objects
  • You can now disable AI bullet trails also
  • Improved location of where flashlight beam is spawned from
  • Flipping a vehicle only changes its rotation now
  • Secret intel laptops no longer sell for $1 but $500
  • You can now use binoculars near walls and move while using them
  • Slightly reduced chance to find fish
  • Player placed turrets now produce much more noise (aggroing more AI)
  • AI weapons now produce a lot more noise that will aggro more AI around them
  • Improvements to visibility of text when choosing options in save menu (A better formatting system for text that will be used in more locations in future updates as it's more modular)
  • Adjusted some zombie spawns at the port
  • Improvements to main menu




  • Fixed markers disappearing after death of the player
  • Fixed trying to build inside a no build zone could cause you to get locked in build mode
  • Fixed power attack (mainly) and normal attacks with melee weapons sometimes not dealing any damage or not hitting a target mid swing (when it should)
  • Fixed issue where a laptop quest wouldn't start as it's calling an already started quest. Will now be unique every time and drop the laptop/show a warning if there no more laptop quests in you "play session"
  • Fixed reversing where vehicles would go faster than going forward
  • Fixed issue where geiger rad sound wouldn't stop
  • Fixed oxygen bar randomly showing up when it shouldn't
  • Fixed markers not showing on the compass after loading a save (This will only apply to new markers you place)
  • Fixed POI bosses not counting towards kill count if you go to area, leave area and then come back to it (Would also change their name to default)
  • Fixed loot refill timer difficulty option not actually working
  • Fixed when dying in a vehicle it keeps driving off even after death
  • Fixed issue where a corner roof piece couldn't be placed if a floor piece was underneath it
  • Fixed not being able to snap floor pieces to triangular floor pieces
  • Fixed still being able to use night vision after taking the battery out while using it
  • Fixed lockpicking not giving any scavenging or thief skill
  • Fixed issue where some UI elements wouldn't be able to be recreated after death or exiting to main menu
  • Fixed resetting all key mappings doesn't take effect until restarting the game
  • Fixed issue where you could infinitely sprint by changing weapons when at 0% stamina (toggle on)
  • Radio UI now gets removed correctly when exiting to main menu
  • Fixed not being able to open up riot gear equipment when it's unequipped
  • Fixed some boss spawn locations
  • Fixed passive skill UI showing as default numbers until an action that changes them directly causes a change in their UI
  • Fixed an issue that would randomly not allow you to open debug menu
  • Fixed an issue that could weird times with loot refill
  • Fixed Pacific Palm Mall POI details and boss spawn
  • Fixed zoom in with binoculars causing you to see player body
  • Fixed not being able to remove a marker if it was on top/below of a POI marker
  • Fixed infinite XP farm to do with POI crates
  • Fixed wolf ragdoll
  • Fixed binocular view
  • Fixed front prison door being backwards (Caused issues with keycards, etc)
  • Fixed blood decals appearing on weapon attachments
  • Fixed spelling mistake at Ellwood radio
  • Fixed floating trash at Grain Valley Subway entrance
  • Fixed Deadeye not aggroing nearby AI
  • Fixed hair type 7 showing as bald in character creator
  • Fixed falling through map at a couple of locations
  • Fixed vehicles changing color
  • Fixed garage door not actually fully opening or closing
  • Fixed garage door not allowing a few vehicles to go through it
  • Fixed crashed aircraft collision
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the airdrop marker not to spawn
  • Fixed small building (mainly located at the port) where you couldn't walk into it properly
  • Fixed human AI weapon tracers going through vehicles
  • Fixed Z fighting in police station
  • Fixed collision issue in particular garage of a house model
  • Fixed flashlight not showing scoped in or using binoculars
  • Fixed airdrop plane randomly disappearing in the middle of flight
  • Fixed not allowing difficulty change during gameplay not even working
  • Fixed not allowing difficulty change progressing to other saves and vice versa (this is mainly a fix for future saves, but may apply to your current save if you haven't changed to another save with it on the opposite setting)
  • Fixed wanderer pants being spawned as cargo pants
  • Fixed radiation still damaging player after an infestation was destroyed
  • Fixed being damaged by razor wire while in a vehicle
  • Fixed placed turrets damaging other placed turrets
  • Fixed not being able to exit out of binoculars if you're looking at a wall
  • Fixed a possible issue where skill points would show as 0
  • Fixed 2 buildings in West Grove near the market causing players to get stuck
  • Fixed multiple collisions at the port
  • Fixed location at port where it wouldn't change player to swimming movement and you couldn't see the water
  • Fixed floating trees located near to destroyed tunnel in the north of the map
  • Fixed an issue with the battery charger station that could clear its contents
  • Fixed not being able to quick drop items out of containers
  • Possible fix for inventory staying on screen after death
  • Fixed trader names not showing up as their unique name in dialogue


Zurvivor

An Update and Reworked Infestations & Bunkers

Hey everyone,
I was hoping to of had the next patch out by this day however commitments outside of the game for this weekend has pushed this back.
Work on said patch is still going well and fixes alot of issues you have had as well as bringing in new additions and changes.

So what happens after this patch?

Reworked Infestations


Infestations in their current state are boring and sometimes broken. With this rework, they are getting a heavy visual uplift and a massive mechanical change too.
When you start a game there will be "Primary Infestations" that need to be taken out for special rewards and more. These primaries also have secondaries that need to be destroyed first before taking out the primary one.
To not give a way too much information, once all are destroyed you will still see randomly spawning, small infestations in a similar way to how they are currently setup.


Reworked Bunkers


Also coming after this is reworked bunkers. No more bunkers that look all the same, but unique layouts with unique puzzles and more. Expect the unexpected...

Until next week, I will not be able to work on the game until my commitments are over. Until then keep surviving and enjoying the game!

Zurvivor

TL;DR Commitments this weekend, expect patch shortly after and news on infestations & bunkers

Patch 0.6.0 - Discovery Part 1 - POIs & more



  • POI System - All POIs are now discoverable and major locations have named bosses and unique containers to loot
  • Alternate POI System - Beginning with the observatory. A select few POIs will have alternate styles they can have. From being covered with zombies, to covered with Coyote soldiers. For each of these, there will be unique reasons for why a certain thing spawns
  • New overgrowth added around the map
  • New truckstop location added (More smaller locations like this coming in patches to follow)
  • Camera shake intensity slider
  • A selection of vehicles now have a random color they can spawn with
  • You can now open a locked door with a crowbar, however causing a lot of noise while doing it
  • All traders now have unique dialogue
  • More crashed helicopter spawns added to built up areas
  • UI that shows durability of radiation filter
  • UI that shows battery level of night vision goggles
  • UI that shows battery level of flashlight
  • You can now quickly drop an item or entire stack of items with Left Shift + Right Click

  • New items:
  • AR45
  • AR45 Mag
  • AR45 Extended Mag
  • Wanderer Jacket
  • Wanderer Pants
  • Oil Rig Boots
  • Oil Rig Tactical Helmet
  • Winter Coat
  • Old Chest
  • Shark Ornament
  • Boat Helm Ornament




  • A few changes to the prison and oil rig and where loot is and some miscellaneous objects
  • You now see all POIs you discover without a GPS but still need one to place markers or see unique events
  • Allowing can opener in lunchbox, lockpick in tool cabinet and container and antiseptic in medical containers
  • Improved melee accuracy and detection
  • You can now open and close locked doors as you please after unlocking them
  • Changed skill tree UI so more skills can be added
  • On skills that require a key press, the default key used will be shown to the player on the tooltip of the skill
  • Player marker now scales with zoom of map (Zoomed in it will be smaller and zoomed out it will be larger)
  • Increased damage water does to vehicles
  • Default camera vertical offset has been changed from 0 -> 5
  • Changes to zombie loot table
  • Changes to first person camera
  • Increased camera shake when damaged and hitting with a melee weapon
  • Removed airdrop timer setting due to changes to behind the scenes code of the system
  • Time between auto saves has been increased from 300s to 600s
  • Siren sound is no where near as annoying and loud now
  • Animation when hovering over a player marker
  • Optimizations to textures
  • Optimizations to save menu UI




  • Fixed unique oil rig equipment not spawning at the oil rig enough
  • Fixed spot on oil rig where player could get stuck and not be able to move
  • Fixed garage door not spawning pick up when destroyed
  • Fix for oxygen UI still showing
  • Fixed being able to shoot while building
  • Fixed compensator attachment on SV98
  • Fixed hunters scope attachment on AK15
  • Fixed certain items not spawning on zombies corpses
  • Fixed permadeath death screen showing an extremely large number for how far you have traveled
  • Back-end change to AI health bars that should fix issue where it stays on screen


Also changed patch version to start with a '0'

Zurvivor

When is the 'Discovery' update?

Hey everyone, just want to give an update on what is happening at this moment in time.

The 'Discovery' update:


To begin with stuff was a bit more busy than I expected today in real life. Also the issue I ran into has been fixed and stuff is looking ready. However, I want to delay it until Friday to add more content to it (Additional stuff the community wants). The POI system and other features are all done but I am eager to add a bit more for one larger update a couple days delayed. I will also look at doing a sorta impromptu AMA in one of the VCs in discord and make sure to poke me about this as the days goes on leading up to the end of the week.

The test:


I am going to create a secondary map for testing (a copy of the current map) and this version will allow it so you can destroy every single piece of furniture in buildings and a little bit more. When this test version goes up it will be used for performance testing and more so I can make sure that it doesn't adversely damage performance, saves, etc. There will also be a discord chat page created so all this talk can be localized there.

Finally:


I want to apologise for the delay, nor do I want to create this a normal thing with future patches but with the recent uptick in SurrounDead players I want to release a slightly larger update with more content, changes and bug fixes than what was slated for tonight but a bit later than expected.

This post will be available on reddit and discord too.

Zurvivor

TL;DR Patch now coming Friday with more content, changes and big fixes.

Discovery & What's Next?

Hey everyone,

First of all, SurrounDead is on sale for the following week, so enjoy the 50% off and I look forward to hearing from new players!

The next patch 'Discovery' will be coming out this weekend/leading into Monday. This patch will be the first part of updates including that add and improve the late game and reworking certain pieces of content/features.
For example, reworked bunkers and infestations (No news today but look forward to more fun and an expanded experience for both pieces of content).

So what's next after these patches?


After these reworks and new content, we will be leading into the quests update that will be a heavy undertaking to add a lot of new content to the game and more.
Furthermore, small and larger changes will be happening to current POIs in near and future updates (From slight level design to loot containers, etc).
And a poll, about changes to base building:
Poll about limiting (large) base building to selected locations around the map

There will be a new dev update post after the 'Discovery' patch has been released going into more information on the future.

Also a small teaser for what's coming, should we say to a city near you...


Zurvivor

Discovery - The upcoming 1.6 patch

Hey everyone,

The next patch is around the corner (1 to 2 weeks max) and this patch is a slight move away, but also a big step forward for the world and content of SurrounDead.

So what will this update consist of?
The main reason for this patch is to give the world of 'The Valley' a bigger reason to be explored and reasons to go to now and old locations alike.
At the moment, some of the features that this update will consist is;

  • Explored/unexplored POIs - Discover them, loot them, defeat the undead or human enemies. After discovering a POI the location will be added to your map.
  • More random events - From current heli crashes, to one or two new ones.
  • Overhaul of observatory - Changes are happening, these changes may apply to new locations too.
  • More bosses - Each prominent POI will have a named boss you can take out to get unique and desired loot.
  • New locations - Not the Infected Deadzone but more in pre-existing areas.
  • And more to add to the discovery of 'The Valley' that i haven't and won't outline here ;)


After this, you have the Infected Deadzone and End Game update to look forward. Event more goodies coming with these.
While short, I hope this gives a good indication that more content is coming to SurrounDead soon before the next major patch.

Zurvivor

Patch 1.5.0e - The Valley

Hey everyone,
A smaller patch here today but the stuff on the horizon is looking very good. So what's happening?

To begin, I am going to be taking a break from game dev stuff until the end of this week so I can sort some things out. This then leads to the next patch after this; I'm going to be working on a new feature/slice of content from the roadmap before the release of the 'Infected Deadzone' (As well as other smaller updates).

Now. moving onto the 'Infected Deadzone', the scope of this update has increased to feature a large city and new content for the player to find, explore and suffer to the consequences from. This means the 'Deadzone' update and the end game update will actually release closer together, so once the 'Deadzone' update goes out don't expect to be waiting long for revamped bunkers, revamped infestations and more.

Finally, in the next dev update post I will be showing off deeper planning for the end game update and some hints for the Deadzone update (Which I want to keep more secret). With that, onto the patch notes:



  • You can now rename player placed containers
    [*[ You can now sleep in player placed tents
    [/list]



    • Buffed Makeshift Knife
    • Slightly increased melee hit detection size
    • Improved some building and vehicle lighting
    • Slight camera lag when driving vehicles




    • Fixed night vision when scoping in with a weapon
    • Fixed some floating and sunken vehicles
    • Fixed 'Sneaking Magazine' being wrong
    • Fixed zombie dog stopping attacking and movement when hit with a weapon that can cause pushback
    • Fixed zombie dog not having a hit animation
    • Fixed zombies walking through stationary vehicles when you're inside them


    Zurvivor

Patch 1.5.0d - The Valley



  • Fire from molotovs actually cause the AI and the player to burn even when they've left the "zone of fire". Fire will stay on the AI/player for approximately 15 seconds for AI and 12 seconds for the player
  • Materials trader added to safe zones
  • You can now disable an enemy turret by getting behind it and interacting with it
  • Water wells added to safe zones
  • New player spawns




  • Battle Ready Glock, Cerberus, Winchester 45, Exterminator, Guardian, Survivor and Valkyrie buffed
  • You now have to turn on the radio that plays constantly
  • The power of which a grenade is thrown is now determined by what you're looking at (Distance)
  • Improved radio text with new UI and texts (More to be added)
  • When building, the degrees you are placing an object at (Rotation) is now shown
  • Airdrops, jets, etc now disconnected from save system and are able to spawn from the first time you enter the world (Timer resets every time you reload the game)
  • Reduced volume of AI firearms
  • Notification when a helicopter crashes
  • Slight delay between death and acidic zombie blowing up added
  • Changed name of police station briefcase to avoid some confusion
  • Health regeneration is now faster but only heals up to 80%
  • Slightly reduced molotov AOE
  • You can now stack books and magazines
  • You can now gain toughness by standing in radiation without a mask
  • You can now put attachments into a weapons case
  • Ladders now have sounds when moving up & down
  • Smoother vehicle driving and adjusted all vehicle collisions
  • Adjusted katana position on player and other melee weapons




  • Fixed ladder climbing where player would just walk off (Causing possible fall damage, etc)
  • Zombies and other AI will no longer block the muzzle of your weapon
  • Fixed 'Shakes Cones Trader' trying to sell item for credits instead of normal money (Same fix for other traders)
  • Fixed zombies ignoring vehicle damage after being hit once by a vehicle
  • Fixed lockpick being slightly offset after it shakes (Breaking)
  • Fixed Big Rig causing crashing sounds when turning
  • Fixed Charger vehicle hitting ground quite a lot
  • Fixed stamina still going down once entering a vehicle
  • Fixed weird zombie behaviour around infestations
  • Fixed getting into a vehicle with 0 fuel still plays vehicle sounds
  • Fixed closing save menu when in death screen doesn't show respawn options after
  • Fixed frag grenade and pipe bombs randomly despawning before triggering an explosion
  • Fixed regenerating health not starting when spawning in
  • Fixed fishing probability to feel a tug on the line
  • Shooting range targets now have a name
  • Fixed trader names not showing in vendor menu


Zurvivor

2 Years & The Future

Hey everyone,
Today marks the day SurrounDead has been out for 2 years. The game has changed massively since launch day (And I hope for the good for the most of you).
There's still quite a bit more to go to create SurrounDead into the game the community wants and something I'd be happy to buy with my own money too as a full product.
So what's next?

The Near Future:



  • Infected Dead zone: The next large-ish update before the major one is the addition of a large irradiated zone with a small military town and military base. Destroyed due to outside attacks and attacks from within, discover the zone and fight your way through it.
  • An Actual New Trailer: I've been terrible with this. At the moment, if you're not to look on youtube or anywhere there are only 2 very outdated videos of SurrounDead. At this moment in time, I am currently creating an updated trailer that shows the world of 'The Valley' and the dangers you will face. I expect this to be out around July/August.
  • End Game Update: End game areas are gonna get a face lift, a larger reason to go to them and a more in depth design to them. No more, copy and paste bunkers but expect unique bunkers that differ depending on where you are. More information will come after the 'Infected Dead Zone' update.
  • New & Reworked Locations: Apart from new POIs at locations that haven't been touched yet, I have plans to go and add to current POIs and improve or completely rework the design of current locations. The plan at the moment for locations currently is here:

  • The City: Another new location and final "large" addition to 'The Valley'. Towering skyscrapers will cover the city to a surrounding suburban area. I will leave it at that, but extremely looking forward to everyone seeing how it turns out.


The Far Future:



  • The Roadmap: There are still multiple major updates coming from; quests, to vehicle mods and a world electricity system you can control. I hope everyone is looking forward to these updates as they will add so much to the game. More news at later dates.
  • Multiplayer: With major updates still to go, multiplayer is still coming but quite far still to go.
  • Outside World Of 'The Valley' : What happens outside of 'The Valley'?
    In future updates you'll be able to travel outside of the world to smaller maps with unique locations. Get to these locations, get all the gear you can find, new lore to discover and then extract back to 'The Valley'. So yes, it sort of is a take on the extraction mode, but I don't want to overcomplicate it too much as this isn't replacing the 'base game' of SurrounDead at all but adds to it, with something you wouldn't even have to touch if you didn't want to.
    This also doesn't rule out anything about new 'large maps' but I am not currently creating a large one at least before 'The Valley' is completely finished.
    I will also share more information as stuff starts to get finalized, like how you get to these locations, what happens if you die and more.
    One thing at the moment is that however you will not be able to save at these locations or create a permanent base.


More news about certain things will be shown with time. Especially with new features like being able to go outside of 'The Valley' which I'm sure there will be quite a few questions about



Community Suggestions:



  • Below is a link to a google form where you can suggest new content, improvements and bugs

Community Suggestions Form

Also, I'm looking at getting into a discord call soon with the community to talk about the game and more. I've been wanting to do this again for some time but still in real life has always got in the way of this.

And finally, I don't say this enough but thank you for everything, from praise to criticism, anything to make SurrounDead a better game.

Zurvivor

Quick Dev Update - Back from trip and what to expect next

Hey everyone,
I'm back from my trip and starting tomorrow (19th June) I'm fully back into dev mode. At this moment in time, I'm looking at an update at the end of this week but more likely start of the next. I won't go in to detail of what this this includes but expect some new content, QOL stuff and many bug fixes.

I'll be posting updates over on the discord with progress and more so keep an eye there for updates.

Finally we're coming up to 2 years of SurrounDead and I'll be doing another dev update for that going over plans near, and into the future. There may be some other goodies but time will tell.

Zurvivor