Airport, the wall, map changes, optimizations & more!
Airport:
A small airport has been added to the map. It has a small terminal building, a runway, and some military tents. After the outbreak, the airport was quickly taken over and shut down by the military.
Terminal: Runway & Tents:
The Wall:
There is now a wall that goes around the entirety of the map, so now when you run into the edge of the map you run into an actual wall instead of an invisible one.
Map Changes:
There are now a bunch of abandoned cars around the map. These are just static objects and are not drive-able. Currently, its just 3 color variants of the same vehicle but more will be added in the future.
Lab Update:
The layout of the laboratory has been updated. One of the rooms now has a prison cell and two quarantine cells. More will be added to the lab down the line.
Optimization:
With this update comes some optimizations. The way roads and sidewalks were handled in the has been changed. Due to this change performance/memory usage has been improved by about 10%.
Fixes & Changes: – Fixed FPS Min showing as 0 – Fixed roads sometimes overlapping zombies – Fixed tree trunk sometimes overlapping trees – Changed zombie cleanup to 70 seconds – Added new zombie models
Devblog 43
Vitamins, tooltips, improved medical system and more!
Vitamins:
Vitamins are a Tier 2 Medical spawn, meaning they will be uncommon. Once taken starvation will be reduced up to 40% for 2 minutes. There is a little green "health" bar on the
Tooltips:
Now all items in the inventory have tooltips. The tooltips describe the item or give information about the item like how much health, hunger, or hydration is restored, or the type of ammo it uses.
Medical System:
There is now a new medical system in the game. It now shows what's wrong on a body diagram and gives some information on how to treat it. This system is intended to be pretty simple, it's just another way to show the player some information.
Roof Visibility:
Previously when you got close to a build the roof would become invisible. Now when you get close to a building the roof becomes transparent, but when you actually go inside the building it becomes invisible. The level of transparency isn't set in stone so it may change in the future.
Trees:
It is now possible for the player and zombies to go underneath trees. Not being able to go under them was mostly an oversight. When underneath a tree it will become transparent.
Fixes & Changes: - Fixed buildable items being unbreakable - Fixed build preview for the wooden spike - Improved player hitbox - Optimized achievement checking - Optimizations and improvements to the game log - The mouse cursor is now visible in menus and inventory - Zombie cloak now lasts 45 seconds
https://z.ridgelinestds.com/devblog-43/
Devblog 42
New trees, flashlight, water improvements and more!
Steam Sale:
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone. Z: The End is 20% off for the duration of the Steam Winter Sale.
New Trees:
There are now two different types of trees. There are now oak trees and pine trees. The only difference between the trees is the texture, so give the same amount of resources.
Flashlight:
A flashlight has been added to the game. Flashlights have a fairly high spawn chance so finding one shouldn’t be an issue. Now you can get a better look at whatever is chasing you in the dark.
Water:
The shader that was used for water has been changed. The previous shader was only compatible with DirectX 9 while the new one works with Direct X 11 and 9. Video
Fixes & Changes: – Fixed issue where key binds were not being saved – Fixed minor issues with the launcher – Changed trailer floor color – Changed trailer wall texture – Converted more buildings into single assets – Minor texture changes
https://z.ridgelinestds.com/devblog-42/
Devblog 41
New lighting, illness, UI changes, Steam sale and more!
Steam Sale:
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Z: The End is 20% off for the duration of the Steam Autumn Sale.
Lighting:
The lighting system has been completely overhauled. The previous system worked good for the day and night system and dark areas like the lab but something like a flashlight or static lights around the world looked awful and didn’t work well. But the new system can. Its nowhere near ray-tracing, or path-tracing, but it looks pretty good.
UI/HUD Changes:
The UI has received some minor changes with this update. Firstly the item names in the inventory have been shifted to the left and expanded slightly. The status effects such as bleeding, or sick have also been changed. Previously it was just one bar that showed all the effects now all of the effects have a separate bar.
Illness/Infection:
The sickness effect has been changed. It now lasts 5 minutes and can be cured with 1-2 GermX as each one removes 2.5 minutes from the timer.
It is now possible to get an infection when attacked by a Zombie. The infection is a bit more dangerous, it doesn’t go away on its own and takes away more health. But it can be cured with a single GermX.
Benchmark:
There is now a simple benchmarking tool in the game. It can be accessed in the video settings menu. It takes 30 seconds and will give the minimum, average, and maximum framerate when complete. This will mostly be useful for me as it allows me to test the impact of changes in the game. It probably won’t be useful for most people because as long as your PC was made in the last 10 years you can probably plat the game.
World Changes:
Previously all of the buildings were made up of separate blocks, similar to something like Minecraft. Now the buildings are made of one large object. This makes creating new buildings significantly faster.
The roof for the trailers has been remade. It’s definitely better than the old one but I may make some changes to it.
Launcher:
There is now a launcher for the game. It will only show up once so you can select which DirectX version for the game to use. After that, it will just open the game and close itself automatically. But if for some reason you like to press the play button on the launcher every time you can select to show the launcher. If for some reason the DirectX version you selected is giving you issues the launcher can be shown again by holding Shift while pressing play on Steam.
Fixes & Changes:
Changed various item names
Changes to the day/night system
Enabled Santa zombie
Enabled candy cane
Disabled pumpkin zombie
Devblog 40
Steam Sale, illness, new sounds, and more!
Steam Sale:
Happy Halloween everyone, Z: The End is now on 20% off for the duration of the sale.
Illness:
An illness system has been added to the game. At the moment there is only one illness and its just a cold. There is a chance to get sick when you get attacked by a zombie. It can be cured by taking pills. If left uncured it may eventually kill you as it drains health, hunger, and thirst. Down the line, more illnesses will be added as well as ways to get them and cure them.
Sounds:
There are now sounds for bandaging and consuming the pills. There have also been some minor changes to the sound system to prevent sounds from playing when they shouldn’t.
Food:
Jars of pickles have been added to the game and the generic can of food has been replaced with “BLAM”. Both of these items can be found anywhere from houses to the store.
Fixes & Changes:
– Fixed items not getting saved – Fixed inventory being usable when it shouldn’t – Changed handling of crossbow bolts – Changed likelihood of attacks causing the player to bleed – Change wooden spike texture
Devblog 39
Crossbow, new neighborhood, pausing, bug fixes, and more!
Update:
Bit of a late update this month, mostly due to all the extra stuff I had or decided to do this month. The old domain playzgame.net is no more, well in a sense. Now it is only used to redirect to the new domain. From here on out Z: The End and all future projects will be under the main domain ridgelinestds.com.
Crossbow:
A crossbow has been added to the game. Like the bow and silenced weapons, it doesn't attract zombies when shot. It also uses the same arrows as the bow is also very powerful with a 50% chance to kill a zombie with one shot. But unlike the bow, it is uncraftable and must be found.
Neighborhood:
Another small neighborhood has been added to the world. It's located just down the road from the bar. It's a good place to get some basic supplies before heading to the laboratory.
Pause Menu:
Previously the "pause" menu didn't pause the game. Now it actually pauses the game so if you have to take a break you don't have to save and exit to the menu.
Fixes & Changes:
Fixed a player model related issue with the bow
Fixed an issue with the zombie kill counter
Fixed keybinding reset button not working properly
Fixed arrows not colliding with doors
Fixed issue where zombie models weren't being used
Enabled the pumpkin head zombie
Devblog 38
Zombie cloak, new building, new achievements and more!
Zombie Cloak:
The zombie cloak is a new craftable item that allows you to blend in and get significantly closer to zombies without getting detected. It's crafted with 3 cloth and 2 guts. Guts are obtained from harvesting zombie corpses with a machete or axe. The cloak only lasts for 30 seconds so make sure to use it at the right time.
Bar:
A bar has been added to the world. Just another place to find supplies to keep you alive.
Achievements:
I've been slowly adding achievements to the game and with this update, I've introduced two more. The new achievements are "Chivalry is Undead" which is obtained by finding a sword and "You've Got Guts!" which requires you to harvest the guts from a corpse. In the end, I'd like to have around 50 achievements in total.
Fixes & Changes:
- Fixed the center point on various zombie models
- Fixed door positioning
- Fixed menu button issues
- Adjusted saturation of the pink zombie
- Adjusted zombie-player detection
- Adjusted various item spawn rates
- Added small tables and bar stools
- Added purple flowers
- Removed concrete
Devblog 37
Machete, texture improvements, player detection improvements, and more!
Update:
This update is a bit smaller (and later) than usual, July ended up being a much busier month than I had expected.
Machete:
A Machete has been added, it is similar to the sword but more oriented towards harvesting rather than killing.
Player Detection:
Player detection has received some changes this update. The radius at which zombies can detect the player has been adjusted. The default radius has been decreased in size which has increased the usefulness of weapons that don’t attract zombies. But the radius for weapons that do attract zombies has been increased. This should make stealth a bit easier while also making going in guns blazing a bit harder.
W.I.P Section: Stuff that’s being worked on but not ready yet.
Zombie Camouflage:
A new craftable which will allow you to get passed a bunch of zombies without being detected. Bumping into zombies may make them detect you. Shooting guns will ruin the disguise.
Animals:
The AI system for animals is nearing completion. The only things that really needs to be made are the spawning and the textures. Animals will provide food when killed and may distract zombies.
Fixes & Changes: – Changed blood pool texture
– Fixed sound issue with some weapons
Devblog 36
Achievements, remade building saving, dynamic ambience, and more!
1 Year Mark:
We have passed the one year mark since Z: The End was released into Steam Early Access. I'm very happy with the progress that has been made, and I'm also very thankful for all the feedback and support.
Achievements:
Achievements have been added! Currently, there are only 4 but more will be added down the line. This was mainly to get familiar with adding them.
Building Saving:
Building saving has been completely remade and now works significantly better. The old system "worked" most of the time but it had its issues. The big issues being that sometimes it just wouldn't save everything and sometimes it would create doubles or triples of an object. Making the new system also turned out to be easier than I had expected due to already having a good understanding from the last time around.
Dynamic Ambience:
A dynamic ambiance system has been added. This system is used for constant ambient sounds like wind and birds during the day and crickets and other creatures during the night. This is just a first pass on this system so there isn't much variance in the ambient sounds but it still gives the game a new feel. The volume of these ambient sounds is also adjusted depending on your locations. If you are outside it will sound normal and if you are inside it will be quieter.
Fixes & Changes: - Fixed transparency bug with player built roofs
- Fixed footsteps not playing in player buildings
- Fixed bug with zombie kill counter
- Fixed bug with discord integration
- Improved zombie spawn detection
https://www.playzgame.net/devblog-36/
Devblog 35
Armor, increased world size, world changes, and more!
Update:
Bit of a smaller update this time around, May has been a really busy month full of lots of very fun tests and exams. Also happy Memorial day.
Armor:
Kevlar armor has been added to the game. It spawns in Tier 2 areas, like the night vision goggles. Once found the armor can then be equipped by selecting it in the inventory. Armor reduces the amount of damage you take from zombies.
Increased World Size:
The size of the world has been increased by about 50%. It is now 30720×30720 pixels. This will likely be the final size of the map, or very close at the least. It’s not exactly massive compared to the maps in other games but I believe it should be big enough.
World Changes:
Due to the increased world size, the roads had to be expanded, the amount of trees in residential areas has been reduced, and the underground lab was moved to the far end of the map.
Saving Changes:
Saving has received a lot of internal changes, its now much cleaner, and some bugs have been fixed. Due to all of these changes save from old versions will not work.
Building Saving 2.0:
The current system for saving player buildings works, but isn’t without issues. I’ve made improvements to it but it needs to be completely remade. I hope to have this done by the next update
