[2021] About these new store screenshots

I guess I kinda get what you mean? But like... How exactly do you show 'Crafting' in a screenshot? just a picture of the UI? Not exactly flashy or eye catching. In fact to any user looking at the screenshots it's bland, boring, and basically just a bunch of text that makes no sense out of context of gameplay.

Same with building, what, take a pic of a building in progress? Any of the buildings in the screenshot could conceivably be built with player hands (Albeit in some cases using creative mode); So how exactly do you explicitly show 'building' when anything in game could be made? Given that anything COULD be made by player hands, Showing off literally any building demonstrates what a player could build; Eg, the first four shown screenshots.

Similar with coop, honestly, What, show an extra player in frame alongside all the zombies? That just adds an old and very ugly model to the frame with a nametag over it. Not really eye catching; They might do something like this after re-doing the player models though.

Vehicles, i guess is a good one, and is the only one I can't really contest.


In the end, it's likely that they were just pretty damn proud of the graphical updates they had achieved, and of all their new zombie models- So they went to town taking new pictures to show off those facets of the game. Vehicles, player models, buildings, all that stuff is old hat so it probably didn't really come up during the impromptu screenie session.

Originally posted by Tux: how do you show a player made building
how do you show the process of a making building
how do you show a crafting window
how do you show a vechile?
how do you show more then on player on the screen

I mean for me the screenshots just validate 100% what I feel this game turned into, exactly and on multiple demisions. so for me its rich predictable irony like the CMA pretending to not know who Jerry Jeff Walker is

I do not think anyone would be confused as to what this image below is trying to illustrate
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0vy0IkuaxN4/maxresdefault.jpg

looking at the store images one would not even have any idea that there even is crafting. it makes the game look like its a $5 indie shooter with different weapons

Yeah, Use a screenshot from 12 alphas ago as an example of how crafting could be shown ingame. How bout using something more modern that represents the current state of the game?

I don't see why you expect the store screenshots to show something like crafting..The screenshots are in fact NOT the only method of conveying information on the store page. There's the tags, the videos, the 'About this game' section, the reviews, The currator reviews, and likely more that doesn't come to mind off the top of my head. Some things just do not represent well in a screenshot, and the current crafting system is one of them- Whether that validates your personal opinion or not does not make it any less true.

https://7daystodiemods.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/7-days-to-die-craft-schematics.jpg

Is this a screenshot of the crafting system? Does any particular part of it stand out to you? How long does it take you as a long time player to find the 'Craft' button that's near the center of the screen? How long do you think it'll take someone who's never played the game to notice that small craft button? How many people do you think will just skip over this screenshot because there's nothing to it- It's a big gray box that doesn't really show much about the game.


How Do you show a player made building? How do you differentiate something player made from something dev made when both have the exact same set of tools and building blocks? How do you tell apart one of the POI's from something a player poured their blood sweat and tears into building and making it look beautiful?

You can't. Screenshots are meant to represent the possibilities- And simply put, the possibility is that any single POI in the game could be made by a players hand, That's one of the joys of a building game in a voxel world. It's like taking a screenshot of village in minecraft- It could be player built, So why is taking a screenshot of it showing what could be built by your hands not properly representing 'building'?


How do you show the process of building in a still image? Explain that to me. Show half a building? Show a building with unupgraded parts in random places? Why? Why demonstrate the intermediate steps between nothing and fully built? What purpose does it serve? What's to tell the onlooker that the building in question is in fact in progress? What if that's the full state of the building?


And why does there need to be screenshots representing these things specifically? A screenshot showing literally any building in the game, playermade or otherwise demonstrates what COULD be built, And a blurb of text in the 'About' section covers that you can in fact build.

A blurb of text covers that you can in fact craft- Why does there need to be a screenshot of it? With the old system of crafting where you had to actually put things in the right places, Sure; That kind of crafting was pretty popular at the time, so showing it off was a good move. But that system is kinda outdated nowadays, and even if it wasn't, has long since been removed from 7DTD- Now it's just a simple list that doesn't need to be shown off, It just needs to be stated in the About text.

A tag stating 'Online Coop' is all that is needed to tell a prospective buyer that the game has coop, why does a screenie need to show a second player?


Like, dude, I get it, You hate the current state of the game. It's not the game you wished it to be, It's not the game you want it to be. It just seems to me like you're grasping at straws to try and validate to yourself why you're done with this game, And picking really silly things to try and do it with.

You're isolating the screenshots as if there is no other information in the entire store page, As if the screenshots must represent every single aspect of the game in it's entirety and that's just downright inaccurate. And you're not even allowing for the fact that maybe the new screenshots will be added onto as the devs go forward in development with the remainder of A19, A20 and whatever comes after, as they update all of the visuals like they did with the zombie models and textures and graphics. It's a pretty safe bet that after they redo the player models and clothing system they're going to add screenshots of that new stuff to the store page- So why pretend like the new screenshots are the final representation?

Originally posted by Tux:

Originally posted by Shurenai: Yeah, Use a screenshot from 12 alphas ago as an example of how crafting ..

that is EXACTLY what I was afraid you would say when I selected that specific screenshot instead of this one

https://7daystodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Alpha_13_Campfire.jpg

I would suggest stepping back a second and giving what I am saying a more deep reflective thought

these excuses is why they can only show close combat screen shots 100%?

I covered the difference between the old-as-dirt crafting system you chose for the first screenshot, and the new style of crafting. The old lends itself well to a screenshot because there's actually something to show. The new is no different than a screenshot of an inventory menu, Which most people will skip right past because it's a giant grey window that doesn't show much of the game at all. There is very little point in taking a screenshot of an inventory- Most games don't, Because noone wants to look at menus in a screenshot.


There are things that are not demonstrated that will absolutely be changing going forward like player models- Why go out of their way to show screenshots of the current player model when they full and well know they're going to be redoing it entirely in a few months?

Why not just skip spending time on taking those screenshots until they can take screenshots of the new ones instead, ones that actually represent the new and exciting instead of the same player model we've had since what, alpha 4? The stand in models that I'm pretty sure they just grabbed from an asset store?

Vehicles! Why post screenshots of vehicles specifically at this time when they know they're going to be doing the vehicle mods soon? Why not wait till vehicle mods are done, and can show off a row of 8 vehicles all different colors for once.


As stated and explained, Chances are better than even that going forward new screenshots will be added.

In the end, The new lineup of screenshots was made almost entirely to show off the brand new zombie models, the new graphical settings, the new textures, And to that end, It serves that purpose perfectly. It's not as if they couldn't have added other screenshots to show off other things- But, With the foreknowledge as the developers that many of those things will be changing in short order, It is not beyond reason that they opted to forgoe including screenshots of existing and long out of date things in favor of later posting images of the newly revamped things.

Originally posted by Tux:

Originally posted by RasaNova: I first read the title and thought "Here we go again with the store page pics..." So color me surprised, this isn't what I expected!

Yeah it looks like the current store screenshots are more focused on the new graphics, lighting, and textures. The best way to do that is to show examples of them. But how is that a problem exactly? I suppose if somebody was browsing and had no idea what the game was about and only looked at the pictures, they might think it was a Left 4 Dead clone or something.

I'll agree, more screenshots showing other aspects of the game in action would be nice, and they could do that while still showcasing the new visuals. They could show a rooftop workshop with crafting stations, a wandering horde walking by a half-built fort, or a massive fortified base on horde night.

But again - what's the problem? If the worry is that new potential customers might not get what the game is about, that's a noble concern but it's on the publisher to make that call. But it seems more that you see this as a confirmation of an opinion that crafting is basically gone, which is objectively false. Or am I missing the point?

if you are a new players, and no nothing about the game, the only way you will know the following exists in the game is is you maybe see the last video in the list
-crafting at all
-building at all
-vehicles at all

If I saw those screenshots as a possible new player intrested in crafting and building its extreemly likely after seeing those screenshots I would not bother looking more into the game

Or, Yknow, Maybe actually look at the rest of the store page.

Originally posted by Store Page: GAME FEATURES
Explore - Huge, unique and rich environments, offering the freedom to play the game any way you want with many unique biomes.
Craft – Craft and repair weapons, clothes, armor, tools, vehicles, and more with over 500 recipes. Learn more powerful recipes by finding schematics.
Build – Take over a ruin, or build from the ground-up. Design the ultimate fort to include traps, electric power, auto turrets, automated doors, gadgets and defensive positions to survive the undead. The world is fully destructible and moldable.
Cooperate or Compete – Work together cooperatively to build settlements or work against each other raiding other player’s bases, it’s really up to you in a wasteland where zombies and outlaws rule the land.
Create – Unleash your creativity and build the ultimate world by yourself or with friends. Enjoy unlimited access to over 800 in-game items, nearly 2,000 unique building blocks and a painting system that offers over a quadrillion possibilities.
Improve – Increase your skills in 5 major disciplines with a multitude of perks under each attribute. Gain additional skills by reading over 100 books. 7 Days to Die is the only true survival RPG.
Choose – Play the Navezgane campaign world, or dive back in with friends in a randomly-generated world with cities, towns, lakes, mountains, valleys, roads, caves and wilderness locations. The possibilities are infinite with nearly 400 unique locations.
Combat – Encounter over 50 unique zombie archetypes including special infected with unique behaviors and attacks.
Survive – Experience real hardcore survival mechanics with nearly 50 buff boosts/ailments including hunger, thirst, infections, broken bones, food poisoning, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, dysentery and more.
Destroy – Buildings and terrain formations can collapse under their own weight from structural damage or poor building design.
Loot – Scavenge the world for the best guns, weapons, tools, armor, clothing, which have quality ranges which govern attributes to provide hundreds of thousands of item permutations. Augment items by attaching a multitude of mods
Quest – Meet Trader NPCs to buy and sell goods and complete quest jobs for rewards. Enjoy several quest types in over 200 questable locations.
Customize – Create your own character or pick a preset and customize in-game even more with a huge selection of clothing and armor you can craft or loot in the world.
Drive – Enjoy the badass vehicle system where you find all the parts, learn all the recipes and craft your own vehicle including bikes, minibikes, motorcycles, 4x4s and even take to the skies in gyrocopters.
Farm or Hunt – Plant and grow gardens for sustainable resources or head out into the wilderness and hunt over a dozen unique wild animals.

Screenshots are not in fact the only source of information on the store page. And most people are not so narrow viewed as to judge something purely off of screenshots without even glancing at the rest of the store page.