User talk:JoshCz

Changes to Malton

Just so you're aware, most of us aren't opposed to changes in the game. For my part, I think the game has a number of unbalanced aspects to it that could use better balancing. Off the top of my head:

• scouting safehouses is a waste of AP in nearly all cases (I posted the math up for it back when it first came out, and others' analyses came to the same conclusion)
• barricade interference over-favors disproportionately small groups of coordinated zombies in large-scale confrontations, making ongoing sieges virtually impossible
• speaking generally, barricade mechanics favor survivors at small numbers and zombies at large numbers, rather than favoring them equally at all sizes

I'd love to see some of those areas addressed. And I'd love to see the introduction of more variety in terms of mechanics and items. That said, most of us have also come to terms with the reality of the situation, which is that we have no ability to bring about change in the game. The stuff we post in the Suggestions pages are just that: suggestions. We can't act on them. We can only put them forward as suggestions for Kevan to implement into the game, since he's the game's creator and the only person with the ability to make changes to it. We already have hundreds of suggestions that have been peer reviewed by the community, so he has plenty of ideas that he can draw from if he wants to make changes, which is why we tend to be more particular about the suggestions these days, since there's no reason to put forward anything other than the best of the best ideas at this point.

That said, given that the game has been on the decline for a number of years and that most of us either paid him on a one-time basis or never at all, even keeping the game running is extremely generous of him. The game and wiki aren't free to keep online. He's getting a bill each month to keep them running, even though most of us are not paying him to do it. Likewise, it's perfectly reasonable for him to not bother putting any more time into the game, given that he's unlikely to get a return on his investment. After all, making software is his living, so if something isn't making him money, he needs to be spending that time on something else that will help him pay the bills. He's made a number of changes over the years, but most of his recent ones (e.g. scouting safehouses, bellow, etc.) have been met with hostility by the community, so it's no surprise that he's not making many changes at this point.

Most of us would like to see this game back at its prime again, and we'd love to see changes happening to the game, but changes don't seem to be paying the bills, so it's unlikely we'll see many or any further changes to the game at this point. We can hardly blame him for that, since he's got to be able to eat and have a roof over his head. —Aichon— 16:27, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

Sorry, I missed your response until just now when you removed it. I do agree that the sandboxiness of it plays an increasingly important role as the game gets smaller and older. Every now and then, folks hold special events for no reason other than to hold an event, since we all already know how the events will end (e.g. if it's a siege, the zombies will win, every time; if it's a mass PKer strike, we'll wipe out everyone in the building). As far as groups go, the groups that are still around are having a hard enough time keeping themselves together that I don't think you can count on them to support creating new groups. A group needs a critical mass of players before it has any sort of staying power, and the groups that are still left are the ones who have managed to hang onto their critical mass still, though their number is slowly dwindling.

But a focus on more events? Absolutely a great idea. If everyone already knows how a siege will end, then spice it up by making it about something else. I've in the past suggested ideas like timed sieges where one side "wins" if they can accomplish a specific objective in a certain amount of time. For instance, zombies win if they break the siege, but there's a time limit for them to do so. Or maybe survivors hold a siege, but they do so at a secret location, and it becomes about the zombies' hunt for the siege. Or pull together another zombie megahorde (quick note: I speak from experience when I say that organizing and managing a zombie megahorde is not easy). I dunno. There are thing you can do though is the point. And those sorts of events help to keep existing players engaged while also giving new players something cool to do at the start of their time in Malton, making them more likely to stick around.

So, I do think you have a point, and I do think there are things to be done. Keep at it, and don't let us dragging our feet discourage you. :) —Aichon— 23:20, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

Welcome, and good luck

Hello there Josh,

The game is really dragging its feet these days. I haven't played it myself for years. Such a pitty, because i had a total blast in the past with it, both ingame and in the wiki.

Welcome to Urban Dead, and i wish you luck on your quest to restore even the smallest bit of glory to the game.

And don't mind any eventual Troll you meet in your way. They lurk beneath them bridges, just waiting for tasty players to devour. --hagnat 13:16, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! The problem I face is that I didn't actually get to play during the glory years so I don't really have an idea of how to get there. I think we should get a wiki group, get the people who still hang around the wiki, to come up with ideas to keep the game fun. organizing things is what I want to do, and I'll definitely need help organizing stuff. I'm gonna need training too JoshCz (talk) 14:39, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

You should hop into some of the IRC channels, that way you can get into conversations with the folks still actively playing the game. Plus, it'll let you get some immediate feedback, as well as work on recruiting folks. That said, make sure you don't recruit in a group's IRC channel (too much), since that'd be rude. But yeah, the only way stuff happens is if someone organizes it and is the driving force behind it, but at this point, most of us who have had interest in driving things are burnt out. We're willing to participate, but we're not willing to head them up...at least not yet. I wouldn't be surprised if an event or two gets organized this year or next, since it's been quite awhile since the last major in-game event. —Aichon— 15:27, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Take a look at Mall Tour for an example of a Zombie event. It was really fun playing around with them. And like Aichon said, some old timers are somehow burnt out... we would love taking part of any event, but not leading it. --hagnat 16:31, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Lottery

Timestamp: JoshCz (talk) 00:34, 17 July 2015‎ (UTC)

Type: Buff

Scope: lucky zeds (for now)

Description: In the last round of discussion of the lottery idea xyu brought up a good point that it was a very complex idea, and would be hard to implement. so to make the lottery idea actually work in the game, it should be implemented progressively adding one winner type at a time. This would also give the community a kill switch if they hate the idea. The lottery will be held at the start of the month, all lvl 10 or above zombie players can buy a single lottery ticket for 100xp or 1000xp if they have over 25000xp. There will be 15 winners. The zombies chosen will mutate into A barricade ripper that tears down barricades faster hitting the barricade 50% of the time and tearing down 3 levels of barricade with each hit. This zombie has a reduced claw attack to 2 and bite at 3, but has an increased feeding groan range to 10 blocks and has 75 HP. It can also ruin any empty building with 3 AP rather than 5. This is one of the more interesting winners and one that I feel represents the idea well. Hopefully this zombie will help with zombie organization, encouraging play between non-affiliated players. Also it would make things more dangerous and interesting for the Malton survivors, giving them a dangerous foe to hunt in the city. If the idea works we can continue to add things to it to continue the fun.

Discussion (Lottery)

Previous Discussions User:JoshCz/Lottery

Random Events

Timestamp: Axe Hack's Ghost (talk) 02:25, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Type: Events

Scope: Game Mechanic

Description: Now, I haven't been around for two years, nor have I been active for two years, but I do notice things. Like the massive decrease in player numbers. In the time I've been gone, I've played various sandbox games. Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto, Lego Marvel Superheroes...Besides flashy graphics and being single player, what made these games enjoyable? Was it the adventuring and discovering new places you've never been to before in Skyrim? Or maybe the heists in GTA? Or perhaps it was collecting all of those gold bricks in Lego Marvel Superheroes. In the past, Urban Dead had all of these events - Mall Tour, the Dead's tour, you name it, it's happened. But the thing was...All of these events (minus the Easter Egg Hunt and even the airdrops) were all planned by the player base themselves. Yes, I know. It's a taboo to suggest the inclusions of NPCs or events, or even leaving the options of what to kind of events would happen to Kevan, and heck, this is probably even a dupe, but I think Urban Dead needs randomized events. Non-player planned events. Maybe a random building was struck down by a passing horde that came out of nowhere, or you searched and found something amazing inside a random building out of sheer luck. It could even be an assassination plot, both successful or failed as you slept through the night, or even a temporary decrease in supplies for the day. Just...Anything. Anything random that would occur at server reset every day, and last anywhere from a few seconds to until the next reset. It could range from a destructive event that takes out one random building, to being able to find supplies for a day in a random building that normally would not house those items, to finding a new flavour text at a random location for the day. Archive of your suggestion below Library Improvement Timestamp: JoshCz (talk) 07:11, 22 February 2017 (UTC) Type: Resource change Scope: All maybe some Libraries across Malton Description: Library improvement. Need a reason to play zombie? Library. Reason to help new players? Library. Wanna make the game interesting again? Library. Libraries across Malton now have books that can be written by players. These books contain a free skill (the skill it has can be specific so as only for beginners Like Basic Firearms Training) Players must spend both AP and XP to write a book. Any ruined libraries lose ALL books inside it. All players can loot libraries. This helps bring new players into the game by letting them get basic skills earlier. This also makes Libraries across Malton a vital resource point. The second part of the plan is interesting but not 100% necessary, human skill wipes. These skill wipes are not upon death, but rather upon being headshot as a zombie. Skill wipes can even grant xp to the person headshot per human skill lost so as to add a sense of progression. Skills can be brought back by a team-mate through use of libraries though it costs time and xp. Zerging protection: players who zerg by writing books to give to fake accounts seems like a problem, but the massive xp drain from writing all the specific books to a library that may be stolen from or may be ruined by zombies. Writing books is only for those who have the xp saved up, saving xp is very important for this change. I actually tried to get my friends to play, but their experience was lacking due to low player count, lack of ability to do anything starting out, and low risk low reward. I think we need to fix some of these problems if at all possible. JoshCz (talk) 07:15, 22 February 2017 (UTC) Discussion (Library Improvement) WARNING This suggestion has no active discussion. It will be removed on: 5/28/2018