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

[Zombra]

That bad for cars?

that good for his window glass business

 

[Infinitron]

USG_Mucifikatorul Seems like you accidentally opened two YouTube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoNuq96ld8j_9UUNL3c7vWA/video
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIrmrTOFlHOjSFljU7f9eqA/videos

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

USG_Mucifikatorul Seems like you accidentally opened two YouTube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoNuq96ld8j_9UUNL3c7vWA/video
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIrmrTOFlHOjSFljU7f9eqA/videos

Yea, well, sadly one has to be killed off and I am afraid it's the one with more subs. Wish we could merge them.
Hmm... Speaking of moving channels... We would love to have a shorter, custom URL for the channel, but YouTube wants the channel to have a minimum of 100 subs. So if you haven't subbed, do so please! The proper channel is:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIrmrTOFlHOjSFljU7f9eqA

The old one we'll rebrand as a generic White Pond Studio account and we'll post only boring videos of bored people doing boring stuff. The new channel is where you want to be. Trust me!

 

[Infinitron]

OP has a broken video now. Maybe you could reupload the old channel's videos to the new one.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

OP has a broken video now. Maybe you could reupload the old channel's videos to the new one.

They were not representative for the game as it is now so good riddance. The new trailer is in the works, new Steam page too.
If Jimmious wants he can edit the OP with the bus fire video or wait until the official trailer is done and post that. On our end we have updated the Greenlight page with the new stuff, not sure though if it matters when the actual Store page is published but we wanted less loose ends.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772335854

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

We can't afford to buy this as soundtrack, but booyyy oh boyyyy it would fit so much. So do yourself a favor and start the immortal "Stand By Me" by Ben E King in the background while you watch the timelapse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwZNL7QVJjE

PS: We're not showing a full 24h timeframe, that would make for a huge video. Just accelerated timelapse of a dawn and dusk, with the effect it has on FOW and viewrange.

 

[Infinitron]

In Urban Strife, if there is a zombie pandemic all around you doesn't mean you cannot enjoy an innocent game of Tag. Please don't use the sharp side of the hatchet. It's been known to give strong headaches.

PS: This is a short demo of the civilian A.I. avoiding danger and combat. And yes, please avoid hitting civilians with hatchets. Real ingame ones do more than 1 hp damage.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Thanks for the quick post Infinitron

Please do note that this is a "Coward Civilian" AI type. In Urban we have "Brave Civilian" AI too, the kind that will rather whoop ass than flee. You will never know who is who, until you bother them. Makes life a bit more interesting, doesn't it?

 

[Zombra]

Please do note that this is a "Coward Civilian" AI type. In Urban we have "Brave Civilian" AI too, the kind that will rather whoop ass than flee. You will never know who is who, until you bother them. Makes life a bit more interesting, doesn't it?

Curious, do other factions have multiple AI types too? Are there cautious cultists and reckless cultists? Starving zombies, not-that-hungry zombies, brain damaged zombies that can barely walk? Rookie soldiers and tactical geniuses? Etc.

On the subject of AI, what about morale? If you kill 7 of 8 soldiers, will the 8th one surrender/run away? Or does everyone fight to the death for no reason?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Curious, do other factions have multiple AI types too? Are there cautious cultists and reckless cultists? Starving zombies, not-that-hungry zombies, brain damaged zombies that can barely walk? Rookie soldiers and tactical geniuses? Etc.
On the subject of AI, what about morale? If you kill 7 of 8 soldiers, will the 8th one surrender/run away? Or does everyone fight to the death for no reason?

The A.I. behavior is determined at individual level, for all human factions. Probably faction profile will determine to a certain degree the group composition to fit the story, but there will be braves and cowards everywhere.
Zombies have brains leaking through their ears. They know dark is nice, light is bad, brains are tasty. And they like to congregate in hordes that will go through everything to eat you. And that pretty much sums up the personality of a zombie.

Morale is very important and very much WIP, since it ties deeply into AI programming. We do have an industry setup to produce various morale boosters, from moonshine to various plants and concoctions. So it will play an important part. But atm is in the works.

 

[Zombra]

Fuckin' fantastic. Individualized AI and morale effects. The design decisions here continue to impress me.

 

[Alienman]

Can you take prisoners, or let people live and still do the mission?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Can you take prisoners

Technically yes, your party is dynamic so writing such an event won't be that hard. But while we do have missions where "guests" are escorted, we have none where you take prisoners. But we do have a prison inside the Town Hall so why not. We'll think about it.

or let people live and still do the mission?

As for second question, yes. Most combat missions are annihilation/assassination, meaning that you can either kill all or if you identify the leaders and take them out, the rest of the group will surrender and live.

 

[Alienman]

Taking prisoners would be cool if you can ransom them, maybe for food, or money - not sure how your economy will work? Or like in Jagged Alliance 2, get captured as prisoners instead of dying so you can bust them out later on down the line.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

There is no money, it is mostly a barter economy with each faction favoring more certain items over others, according to their interests and beliefs.

 

[Zombra]

Building an economy around taking prisoners seems like a big development investment for not much return. I'll be happy if enemies run away when they're beaten. I'm just glad they don't all fight to the death like idiots.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Building an economy around taking prisoners seems like a big development investment for not much return. I'll be happy if enemies run away when they're beaten. I'm just glad they don't all fight to the death like idiots.

True, this isn't a WW2 game with large armies and prisoners. But what I said stands, there is a prison inside the Shelter police station and as a RPG twist taking prisoners sounds interesting. The mechanics are there so if this doesn't make it into the main game, there's also an option for a modder to add it.

 

[Alienman]

Oh boy, you know what that means. Loverslab next

Edit:

Tough crowd!

 

[kirin]

Curious, do other factions have multiple AI types too? Are there cautious cultists and reckless cultists? Starving zombies, not-that-hungry zombies, brain damaged zombies that can barely walk? Rookie soldiers and tactical geniuses? Etc.
On the subject of AI, what about morale? If you kill 7 of 8 soldiers, will the 8th one surrender/run away? Or does everyone fight to the death for no reason?

The A.I. behavior is determined at individual level, for all human factions. Probably faction profile will determine to a certain degree the group composition to fit the story, but there will be braves and cowards everywhere.

Individual AI that tries to behave like a real person is great, but how do enemies cooperate with each other to take you on? What do they "know" about your squad's positions and gear setup? How do different "teams" (civilians, bandits, zombies) interact when there is more than one around?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Individual AI that tries to behave like a real person is great, but how do enemies cooperate with each other to take you on? What do they "know" about your squad's positions and gear setup? How do different "teams" (civilians, bandits, zombies) interact when there is more than one around?

For detailed questions about programming and code everyone is welcome to our discord chat where they can talk directly to Razvan Radu, our senior programmer. In that respect I am just a middle man. But don't worry I've forwarded your question to him for now and this was his answer:

Each AI has its own individual shareable memory. They know what they see and hear and share that info with nearby allies if there is any kind of sensor contact. About cooperation, it is not handled by a fully computed simulation but it is rather strategic. There are heuristic functions based on multiple SCORES: who can flank who, how protected is a potential target, ..., all those scores being WEIGHTED by individual preferences: a sniper will try to keep safe distance and good cover, ...

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Today we finally got our custom YouTube URL:
https://www.youtube.com/c/UrbanStrifeGame

Many thanks to all who subbed and helped!
If you haven't subbed already, just know that the Scavengers eat a cute kitten each day you're not subbed.
For real.

 

[kirin]

Individual AI that tries to behave like a real person is great, but how do enemies cooperate with each other to take you on? What do they "know" about your squad's positions and gear setup? How do different "teams" (civilians, bandits, zombies) interact when there is more than one around?

For detailed questions about programming and code everyone is welcome to our discord chat where they can talk directly to Razvan Radu, our senior programmer. In that respect I am just a middle man. But don't worry I've forwarded your question to him for now and this was his answer:

Each AI has its own individual shareable memory. They know what they see and hear and share that info with nearby allies if there is any kind of sensor contact. About cooperation, it is not handled by a fully computed simulation but it is rather strategic. There are heuristic functions based on multiple SCORES: who can flank who, how protected is a potential target, ..., all those scores being WEIGHTED by individual preferences: a sniper will try to keep safe distance and good cover, ...

That is cool! Could you say some more about AI decisions under uncertainty? For example, before it sees your entire squad, or after your units have gone out of line of sight, does the enemy know your position, or is it guessing, how does it decide to probe you. Like, you wouldn't assume that there's only one bandit, and they shouldn't assume that there's only one of you either.

Also, there is this common trope in zombie apocalypse fiction where when two human factions fight, the weaker side will try to manipulate zombies to do the dirty work for them. The player can surely do this, but can the AI do it organically?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

That is cool! Could you say some more about AI decisions under uncertainty? For example, before it sees your entire squad, or after your units have gone out of line of sight, does the enemy know your position, or is it guessing, how does it decide to probe you. Like, you wouldn't assume that there's only one bandit, and they shouldn't assume that there's only one of you either.
Also, there is this common trope in zombie apocalypse fiction where when two human factions fight, the weaker side will try to manipulate zombies to do the dirty work for them. The player can surely do this, but can the AI do it organically?

No, the AI won't set traps or make assumptions on its own like a human player would. We have RPG scenarios where the AI will give you plenty of trouble, but not as an organic tactic. USG AI will behave based on its sensors and on the ruleset it operates under, like a nice, well-behaved AI.

We will unleash Skynet as a DLC, later, though.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

In Urban you need to carry a big gun. And sweets. Sweets will get you anything, including components for Molotovs.
Here's our first iteration of the trade/barter system in all its glory. Hope you like it.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

FFS.
Did the bot notice something related to Russian bazookas?