Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG - now available on Early Access

[Iluvcheezcake]

Has there been any news about this game?

 

[Jrpgfan]

Has there been any news about this game?

Yes. They confirmed it's gonna be released when my 10yo daughter graduates from college.

Hopefully it'll have co-op so we can play together(if I'm still alive).

 

[Alienman]

That soon.

 

[Acrux]

On the Steam forum they said it was supposed to be a Q2 release, but they are "reevaluating options" since JA3 releases in July.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

On the Steam forum they said it was supposed to be a Q2 release, but they are "reevaluating options" since JA3 releases in July.

JA3 is out now and it's Q3 already.
Release when?

 

[luj1]

Has there been any news about this game?

Yes. They confirmed it's gonna be released when my 10yo daughter graduates from college.

the good news is that you can go play to playing dating sims in the meantime

 

[Jrpgfan]

Has there been any news about this game?

Yes. They confirmed it's gonna be released when my 10yo daughter graduates from college.

the good news is that you can go play to playing dating sims in the meantime

I'd rather keep dating your mom.

 

[Stavrophore]

Dev reply from yesterday when asked about any new updates/dev diaries/releases.

It's not about being afraid, we're confident Urban Strife is quite unique in its design so it can stand on its own. It's more about finding a proper window to display the game on release. Steam only gives you so much attention and focus when you release a game. If you fumble the first week, you've pretty much crippled your launch and it might take years to recover, if ever.

We can't compete with the big guys on marketing fanfare. So we'll have to play it smart.

 

[Jinn]

Reasonable and honest. Release it when it'll benefit you the most, guys. Also, get rid of the zombies.

 

[luj1]

I'd rather keep dating your mom.

a massive step up from your last date - the worn down hentai doll you keep in ur closet

 

[Abu Antar]

What I wanted to know the most "...our release is still set in 2023"

Urban Strife August 2023 DevBlog

Long time no see. It has been a long hot summer and a busy one. We had planned initially to release the game in July, but by the time Q2 ended it became obvious the game was not where we wanted it to be and we’ll be releasing it in a very noisy marketplace, with a lot of games competing for attention. So we decided to reassess the development timeline since it was clear we will be postponing the release and look for a new window, later this year. The extra development time was and will be put to good use - and here’s a list of features and QoL improvements that have already made it into the game since the NextFest demo.

New Smoke Spreading Mechanic
Our dynamic fire system has been unanimously appreciated so we’re adding now a new one that will pleasantly tingle your inner tactician senses: dynamic smoke/gas. The cloud will grow and decrease over time and - most important - it will spread through open spaces only. That means a closed room will contain the smoke while breaking windows and opening doors will dissipate it. The uses for the smoke/gas will be plenty and will come in the shape of new grenades (starting with the most obvious, a smoke grenade that will break LOS).

Refined NightOps Mechanics
Night ops will now benefit from a refined light system, with each individual game tile having its own light intensity, instead of a generic light setting that affects the entire map. What this improvement brings is the ability to implement light generating gadgets (flares and all other illumination devices) that will make night combat quite interesting.

The LOS mechanic has been overhauled too and we added an option to manually finetune the ranges. We found out that the old automatic system was generating ridiculously small visual detection distances when the player was using stealth at night. Speaking of detection ranges, we added much needed UI helpers for zombie spawners so you will no longer bump inadvertently into one.

Perks & Attributes
A much awaited development was that of the attribute progression of your characters. As promised we have implemented a system of “grow by use” that will naturally develop your team members according to the actions they perform most often. If for example you will use a certain sheriff to block punches with his face and get KO’ed a lot, that will improve his Endurance (assuming he makes it alive through the process). Successfully dodging melee attacks on the other hand will improve his Agility. And so will sneaking. These are just a few examples, but there are a lot of ways to improve your squad for you to discover.

Another essential system is that of individual Perks. The concept behind them is that they define your team members specialization and provide them with significant bonuses in their expertise area. Some of the perks will be related to the character's background, others will be gained by performing activities your fighter is already good at. For example, once your Dexterity is above 75 you will be able to earn a specialization perk. Constantly using knives for attacks, you will slowly unlock the Bladed Weapons perk/specialization.

Enemy AI Improvements
A major shift in AI mechanics has been going on behind the hood. Initially the game used an implementation based on the Behaviour Tree system. That system was based on priorities and was up to a point predictable and repetitive. Based on it, if throwing a Molotov would have the highest priority, a NPC would always use it. We have switched gradually (and now completed that switch) to an Utility AI. This system assigns scores for each possible action and the AI NPC constantly goes through a decision process and picks the action with the highest score dynamically. An example would be a NPC bleeding. A “normal” behavior would be for the NPC to bandage itself as a high priority default action, ignoring the fact that it has an enemy 3 meters away lined up for a perfect shot. With the new AI system it will dynamically weigh its chances and pick the best option according to specific circumstances and roles.

The Utility AI also brings an interesting new upgrade to the table. Simply boosting the score of the Healing behavior for a specific group of AI will turn them from basic grunts into field medics. And with the addition of new behaviors, such as reviving fallen teammates with stamina boosters, the new enemy medics will make the tactical field a lot richer. As a matter of fact there are so many cool new things that happened and will happen in the AI department we’ll reserve the next devblog just for it!

Inventory & QoL improvements
Inventory management was the area where we received and processed the largest chunk of demo feedback. A lot of the fixes and improvements come from demo players' suggestions and for that we can only say a huge Thank You! Examples include the ability to donate shelter resources directly from the base stash, the ability to craft directly from stash/loot containers, content filters that stay selected when switching between inventories and make locating those elusive bullets much easier, etc.
Another long-awaited feature is the overhaul of the corpse looting. Now when a character dies, it will drop a backpack with all the loot, easy to see and open. More than that, the loot from the same tile will be compacted into a single container so gone is the annoying game of trying to click through a pile of 100 dead zombies to claim your drops. We also decided to keep the “Drop All” system. We feel that we should rather find solutions to balance the inflation of items/weapons than “magically” disintegrate the items NPCs use against you. And speaking of looting too much, we added the option to drop items onto the ground.

Campaign & Time Management
Many demo players have voiced concerns regarding the time pressure when exploring sectors in real-time. Although the day/night succession was a cool effect, the speed at which it happened made players make rushed decisions, instead of focusing on tactical planning. You do not want to make a great night attack plan then find out it’s already morning because you had to take a phone call or you took too long surveying the enemy routes. In addition, each hour spent planning and generally having fun in combat carried a huge cost in resources back home. A cost that most players felt was too aggressive so we switched off the game time acceleration (time flows but it’s a real 24h clock).
Of course, time and resource management is a must-have. We do not plan to throw away this component. We are just migrating separating it from actual combat so you can enjoy both aspects. When moving between locations, time will flow normally so there will be day/night combat and your base will consume resources while you travel. But we still have more work to do on this meta layer for a proper survival experience and this will be a major focus on the remaining time until release.

So, release, when?
When we’ll be happy with our metagame and the balance between all the economy and gameplay systems (looting, crafting, industry, traders, scavenging teams, time passing, incoming horde, etc) we’ll be ready to put the dot on the i and announce a proper date for release. Until then, our release is still set in 2023. On the updates front, in addition to the extended blog post about the new AI features, expect a devblog regarding the RPG campaign, which has also progressed a lot. Until next time!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/710230/discussions/0/6252726091237176311/?ctp=7

We do appreciate the eagerness of all those who wait for the game. We have invested A LOT of years in this - rest assured we are the first that we want this project to blossom into an awesome game. When you support indie games you need to be ready to accept delays, they're in the nature of the project.

As a quick update we're finishing the new AI (as promised, we'll have a full article about it in one of the next devblogs) and scripting the secondary campaign layer (random encounters, both RPG sidequests and combat ambushes). Also the player's avatar has received a quality pass that we'll showcase in the next blog.

Answer to question about random encounters:

There are multiple kinds actually. Ranging from simple ambushes to mini-quests that vaguely relate to the main storyline (without messing it up, but with some local consequences you will discover). A bite of spice sprinkled on top of your main dish, so to say.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/710230/discussions/0/6252726091237176311/?ctp=9

USG_Omucupixu [developer] 17 Oct @ 12:22pm

The changes to the AI allow it to make more complex decisions on its own (like heal itself or choose a grenade instead of a gun) and also give the player more tactical maneuvers.

The basic problem with the AI in any game is that the computer always knows where everyone is. It needs to be trained to "forget" in a realistic way that you are moving to flank its soldiers (for example), otherwise no matter how well you sneak around, the enemy will always be ready and aiming at your point of entrance. This seems trivial but it is not if you want to factor in noise, peripheral vision, etc. It is just one of the bonuses that come with the new AI system.

The old AI system would be fine for 90% of the games. We're just aiming to make this game a bit better than that.

During the February NextFest we were still working on the new AI code so it wasn't stable enough to include it into the demo. We are glad to announce its development is now complete and it is working as intended.

Q2 has passed so obviously not. We're still sorting through a final list of to-dos atm and most likely when that done we'll be able to put out a more definitive release deadline. We know people are eager for clarity but these are important decisions and are not taken easy.

 

[Nm6k]

Dev's just confirmed a delay to next year on discord

 

[HoboForEternity]

Good decision tbh

 

[Nm6k]

Since the given date before was just 2023 well it's going to be some time next year

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

From discord:

We are moving from beta to release candidate and it's a pretty complicated process. But when we are done we'll be able to announce a release date.

We'll have some dev blog posts on the way, don't worry

 

[The_Mask]

USG_Mucifikatorul - this won't be released in Romanian?

 

[agris]

From discord:

We are moving from beta to release candidate and it's a pretty complicated process. But when we are done we'll be able to announce a release date.

We'll have some dev blog posts on the way, don't worry

Why is this so cryptic? Why do we need to comb through a gussied up IRC to find tidbits of info pointing us to future releases of information? This isn’t the internal machinations of the politburo, it’s a status update for an effing tactical computer game!

 

[PanteraNera]

I still can't belief how long this thing is in development.
I hope once it is released it comes complete and not another year or two of patches and content being added.

I fucking hate modern times.

 

[Alienman]

I still can't belief how long this thing is in development.
I hope once it is released it comes complete and not another year or two of patches and content being added.

I fucking hate modern times.

It really felt like it was close to release for a time, maybe a month or two out, then something happened. Is it time to worry?

 

[Modron]

Why is this so cryptic? Why do we need to comb through a gussied up IRC to find tidbits of info pointing us to future releases of information? This isn’t the internal machinations of the politburo, it’s a status update for an effing tactical computer game!

This is gaming in current year (and increasingly modding as well): "Join our discord."

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Why is this so cryptic? Why do we need to comb through a gussied up IRC to find tidbits of info pointing us to future releases of information? This isn’t the internal machinations of the politburo, it’s a status update for an effing tactical computer game!

This is gaming in current year (and increasingly modding as well): "Join our discord."

Discord essentially has replaced the traditional function of forums, for shittier experience due to flow of text in real time

 

[luj1]

Why is this so cryptic? Why do we need to comb through a gussied up IRC to find tidbits of info pointing us to future releases of information? This isn’t the internal machinations of the politburo, it’s a status update for an effing tactical computer game!

This is gaming in current year (and increasingly modding as well): "Join our discord."

Modding hit Discord way before game development. When I see 'join our discord' from actual game developers I just cringe.

Really I loved Blizzard back in the day. It's done when it's done. And 0 fucks given to the advice of fans.

 

[luj1]

I still can't belief how long this thing is in development.
I hope once it is released it comes complete and not another year or two of patches and content being added.

Ive seen worse

But my problem is that these guys don't even have a character system

Really I dont care about the story and writing (both are shitty) but the systems must be robust

Does building characters come down to those 6 attributes controlled via sliders? Are there skills? Are there feat/perks? I asked the guy and he said they have a mockup system which doesn't feel right and they postponed it. Red flag

Also not sure how I feel about the color indicator on target dummy, im old school and like numeric values. Maybe they have a plan for that, but for me its unintuitive as fuck.