Yes, I understand and agree that doing checks by multiples of 5 is the best option. However, having 3s and 8s kinda complicates it, that’s why I suggested rounding these numbers up to the nearest 5 instead.
Oh I see, rounding character skills, not the skill checks. I’ll think about it and the impact on the game.
As I add more items, it may not matter. A Colt Python has a weapon bonus of +8 so a skill check looks like:
(ranged + weapon_mod) >= 50
A 42 ranged would work in this case.
So far it’s rare, though, to find an item with such a bonus.
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It certainly works for most of the checks, but I can’t really think of any items that’d affect persuasion or leadership, for example.
I’m in a cycle of checking my gear and crafting can’t get any further
Not yet, but eventually I need to add them. For example, a military uniform provides a bonus to leadership.
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I’m adding more to do to chapter 2 but the game should end at 8pm day 2.
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@JimD are you planning to continue this format where you proceed through the story day to day, or is more time going to pass as the MC establishes a post-zombie outbreak routine?
By the way it is really shaping up into something special. Great work!
@cascat07 I plan to jump ahead in time at key points, such as when traveling far distances.
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Sounds good. At some point though I’d like to “automate” some decisions like meals. Particularly when you have more people and each should be taking on different roles based on their abilities.
Also I think you should be able to go back to places you have looted once to pick up some things you may have had to leave behind. Might even be worth allowing the MC to consolodate and hide the loot and only take what they can carry planning to come back later. So in Fred’s house for instance consolidating some things in the safe and coming back later.
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@JimD needs to be careful here or he loses the impact choices have. If you are allowed to go back to the safe and get the insulin later then when Parker comes to you later in the story asking for help getting insulin you get to avoid consequences.
I’m not saying Parker will do this but based on ZE choices it seems like a choice-consequence sequence @JimD likes to utilize.
That is a time sensitive acquisition and like all the choices so far that is truly the most precious resource. Any time you spend going back to the same house to gather mechanical parts is time lost going after more valuable loot. You might also loose out on something special because you aren’t the only scavenger out there or a house you already hit gets stripped bare in your wake.
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@cascat07 automating tasks will happen, but for now, I want it to be in the moment. I agree it’s necessary down the line.
As far as revisiting looted places, I like the idea but have to give rewards and penalties for everything so it adds to the coding. For example, if Fred drops the bag when trying to throw it between houses, you have to retrieve it within a certain amount of time, or it’s gone. I like coding those kinds of events but it adds to the project, and I already get mail saying (and I quote), “you have been working on this game for years and its not done. stop being lazy”.
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Wait…You mean Fred doesn’t always drop the bag? I never had him manage to throw it ‘-’
@StarshinaSokolov I should have said “when” not “if”.
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Considering the breadth, depth and complexity of your project, whomever sent this mail, lacks experience and/or knowledge of working on such a project. I don’t find stuff like this valid criticism.
If you were adding feature after feature and allowing feature-creep to take over that would be one thing but I don’t see this.
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@Zolataya I didn’t take it to heart much. I chuckled at it, since in that time, I also published A Wise Use of Time and worked a full-time job. I do feel feature creep is becoming a factor though and do want to publish again this year. Ugh.
@NotGoingToGiveUp glad you like them. I look forward to letting you get to know them.
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I understand but I hope you’ll keep it in mind I really think it would be a good feature and add to the realism. As to the person criticizing your progress I think an appropriate response would have been “shut up.”
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On the topic of descriptions from earlier I felt like sharing that I always figured Jaime for Latino for some reason and pronounced his name with an H sound instead of a J. Also, it was kind of weird reading the description of Parker. I guess it’s just where I live but being Christian and Asian is pretty generic from my perspective. So that line seems really weird to me. 
I’ve been lurking and playing for a bit but just though I’d throw in my 2 cents about the descriptions: so far I think you’ve struck a pretty good balance with enough details that we get a feel for the characters yet not so much that we’re overwhelmed or taken out of immersion. I think it’s pretty realistic for the MC to notice or at least guess at someone’s gender, ethnicity and clothes when first meeting them. And like you said, if it’s relevant to the plot all the more reason to do it.
There are so many things that would merit praise in this herculean task you’ve set yourself but we haven’t got all day so I’ll just applaud the parts I noticed in my latest run through 
:
- in the MMA origin, if the MC is female our opponent/training partner makes a macho comment about it. That felt quite realistic, really liked it.
- Sifer is really cool with her naginata but I liked that you made her idealistic/naive/super optimistic, thinking or wishing that she’ll get to go back to university soon. If all the NPCs were badass survivalists with no flaw or hope whatsoever even though it’s only the first few days of this disaster…it’d be really weird.
- the nephew interactions, seems like that’ll play a big part in the story later on. Now if it could be a niece and we could call her Clementine that’d be even more awesome.
“A lot of work” doesn’t even begin to cover it but it is wonderful work and I hope to see more and more of it, and eventually buy the game (in a couple decades 
)