1.0 third person disappointment AGAIN

Originally posted by Mithrandir:

Originally posted by Operator: So if you bought the game originally like i did when it first was released.
You should know that third person was both in the original trailers and game play. it was only later removed due to bugs.
it was a promised feature.
I know it was a long time ago, but that is what got me first interested in Zd2D.

Thank you for your answer. This is something I wasn't aware of at all.

I think you got it before me, because I don't remember seeing those original trailers with 3rd person. I got it in 2015 and I think it was on Steam since 2013.

Iirc the very first versions, like A1-A3~, had a third person mode that came default in the engine, But it was causing huge problems and ultimately got disabled.

The devs may've said at the time they would like to keep it as a feature if possible but It was never a promised feature on the kickstarter. Nor by any other avenue to my knowledge.

Despite that they've still done some cursory work on getting it to work again, but, it's prolly not going to happen. It's likely to just stay as a debug mode feature for quite awhile, if not forever. Working on the stuff that WAS promised > Working on stuff that was hoped.

Originally posted by Operator:

Originally posted by Shurenai: Iirc the very first versions, like A1-A3~, had a third person mode that came default in the engine, But it was causing huge problems and ultimately got disabled.

The devs may've said at the time they would like to keep it as a feature if possible but It was never a promised feature on the kickstarter. Nor by any other avenue to my knowledge.

Despite that they've still done some cursory work on getting it to work again, but, it's prolly not going to happen. It's likely to just stay as a debug mode feature for quite awhile, if not forever. Working on the stuff that WAS promised > Working on stuff that was hoped.

While I only somewhat agree with you.
I originally bought the game all the way back then because of the third person mode.
removing it earlyish on was indeed a huge hit, It was causing problems but there was always talk of adding it back when it was finished, the can just kept getting kicked down the road.

The road map we have now was not back them, so I choose to take third person as something that was originally promised.
just because it's not in the NEW road map does not make it any less valid that it was there and copies were sold with that game play perspective in mind.

kickstarter.com/projects/7daystodie/7-days-to-die-zombie-survival-game
Third person literally is not on the kickstarter.

To my knowledge it was also never promised in any other way; It existed in the first versions of the game because Unity has it as a function that is accessible by default, not because it was put there on purpose.

The can kept getting kicked down the road because actual promised features like vehicles, more zombies, NPCs(like traders), more POIs, better RWG, etc, etc, etc all take precedence over something they would Like to get working again in a game that already functions and was intended from the start to be a First Person Shooter.


Don't get me wrong; I hope they can get TPS working for the people that want/need it. But it is not and never has been anything close to a priority, and the game wasn't sold on being a TPS game; It was sold on being an FPS game.

Originally posted by Kickstarter/Storepage: 7 Days to Die is an open world, voxel-based, sandbox game that is a unique mash up of First Person Shooter, Survival Horror, Tower Defense and Role Playing Games combining combat, crafting, looting, mining, exploration, and character growth.

I remember when it was in the game natively without need for going into the debug menu. I believe it was F5 if I'm not mistaken.

One of the big problems with third person is with competitive multiplayer gameplay. It opens up such a can of worms for cheating. You think it is bad now with being able to posture yourself in 1st person until you can look through the world and find hidden bases? The 3rd person view is almost impossible to prevent it since the camera is even further away from the character model.

Back when it was consigned to debug mode it was at least in part due to the fact that TFP hadn't fully decided whether to embrace single player and small group co-op as their main focus or whether to make this game another Rust and DayZ clone and go full PvP. For PvP, 3rd person view was definitely going to be a no go. It was also due to the terrible horrific 3rd person character animations.

Of course, history has revealed that a PvP focused design was abandoned in favor of PvE solo and co-op and so that brings some hope. Also, 1.0 is coming with overhauled 3rd person character animations. Maybe without the problems with cheating--many of which don't matter if you aren't competing against other players and sexy animations, there is a chance that third person view could come back.

It's definitely not listed in any of the plans though. We just have to hope that each section of the roadmap that says "....and so much more" might include the return of 3rd person view.