News Archives/2021-2022

Thursday, December 22nd, 2022

Day 5: The Ashwoods

The Ashwoods is a new area that neighbors the Secronom Bunker outpost and NEZ. It is an outdoor mountain/woodland-themed location in the northern outskirts of Fairview city. While more secluded from the dense city population, there are some new interesting threats that have been evolving out of view now on the prowl.

Our last couple of area content expansions and revamps have had an end-game focus. This time we’ve put our sights on making an area that is accessible to a wider range of players, specifically the playstyles of those around Secronom Bunker. We’ve narrowed in on what people love to do at this outpost and we’ve designed this area to be synergistic with those activities. The main focus is boss hunting with bounties and missions, we’re looking at having these experience rewards scale more with level so end-game players have just as much reason to participate.

• New Outpost

This new outpost is led by Val, who is the leader of a neutral nomadic bandit group. Within the radius of their camp is a safe zone but once out of bounds, you are on your own. This outpost will be restricted to its own trade zone and it has its own unique crafting page and accepted recipes. We’re also introducing more missions to do here that overlap with Secronoms and tasks specific to the area.

• Crafting

This group has a knack for making things work in a pinch and squeezing out additional firepower. It may come with some downsides or flaws though. At this new outpost, crafting will not include the same menu that other outposts have but will offer new recipes unique to them. One example is the ability to craft tier 2 or tier 3 implants, but at the chance of a negative stat also being applied to it.

Other examples are a new series of makeshift powerful weapons designed by these bandits. Though their focus on power comes with some quirks. Fully automatic shotguns that may have a tendency to jam every once in a while, revolvers that use shotgun shells that require some strength to use, and inaccurate cluster grenade explosives just to name a few.

• New Infected

We’re utilizing some of our infected AI improvements in this new area, boss variants as well as some special infected variants. Still features humanoid infected, though with a little more brain power, and has developed a behavior to actively hunt survivors due to food scarcity.

On the flip side… We want to further explore the world of how animals interact with the virus and what mutations may come from it. We’re looking at wildlife such as bears, wolves, and more flying bird variety infected.

Post-engine upgrades and holiday event season, we’re still in the early development stage for this area. We will do additional posts on our progress and design changes throughout the process. We’d love to hear some ideas for more area mechanics, weapons, or creative infected types. Please share them on our forums or in df1-suggestions !

We’ve been following the discussions around our recent announcements and we’re actively iterating based on feedback and talks around the Discord/Forums.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2022

Day 4

Unity 5

We’ve been diligently upgrading and climbing up the ladder of legacy Unity versions. This work has been incredibly important for the future of Dead Frontier. On a technical level, it ensures that players can continue to play smoothly for many years to come. In terms of design and development, these changes have opened so many content opportunities for you all to enjoy.

The Unity 5 game engine is considered one of the larger technological leaps for Unity. When we first started considering upgrading Dead Frontier’s engine, it was important for us to keep in mind how people access and play the game. We did a lot of research and came to the conclusion that Unity version 5.3 would be our end goal. This release is only 3 versions behind Dead Frontier 2 which runs on the Unity 5.6 engine. It contains a slew of development tools for faster progress and release times, potential graphic improvement avenues, and is the final version that supports making builds of the game for the web player/web browser.

We are approaching this engine upgrade and release in a way that will be as seamless as possible. We have started with upgrading and porting existing features and assets to ensure they work as they should. While this means players will not see all the changes of this transition on the surface at first, we will make moves towards utilizing new functionality that this engine has enabled for future content afterward. Below are some things that will directly impact how the community plays or sees Dead Frontier in the future:

[Initial engine release]

• Cosmetic Dye System:

The new cosmetic dye system will be completed as a part of this upgrade, this will include all varieties of color options with a few examples including pink, purple, cyan, orange and many more.

• Cosmetic Sets:

Cosmetic “set” items, are costumes that can only be equipped in one slot and will behave as an entire outfit for your character. You will not be able to equip other cosmetic items with an outfit item equipped.

• Graphics Improvements:

Graphics quality improvements, while many of our assets are not able to utilize the new graphics options of Unity 5, there are atmospheric and some changes to the game’s appearance with lighting.

[Post-engine release]

• Zombie AI Pathfinding:

Unity 5 comes with the ability to make pathfinding zombies using navmesh. This is something we’re planning on using sparingly on special enemies and future areas to make things more challenging and interesting. We shared an early showcasing of this in action in a gif yesterday.

• New enemy animations and attacks:

Adding enemies with a new variety of attacks has been difficult because we were very limited with our animations as our enemies use a legacy animation system from Unity 3. In Unity 5, there are new ways to easily add animations and enemy models which means we can make a wide variety of new enemies that are not modified versions of old existing enemies.

• New UI System:

This has been in development for some time in Unity 4, however in Unity 5 we have the right tools to complete this upgrade and it has been moving along quickly. This includes UI that scales with screen resolution, and a setting to scale it larger or smaller manually, as well as some quality-of-life and organization changes surrounding our menu layouts.

• New Level Loading system:

Dead Frontier is currently very rigid with how levels/city blocks can be created and what can happen inside of them. With Unity 5 we will be able to implement many new features and types of levels that can be played due to new scene and level management systems. Some examples of this would include large or multi-story raid buildings, minigames with different level conditions and goals, and areas that can change during special events. In terms of performance, areas should load noticeably faster for players as well.

We want to take a moment to thank the community for patiently waiting for content updates as we pursued these engine updates throughout 2022. This development time was incredibly vital to taking Dead Frontier that much closer to the potential we all see in it. We’re incredibly confident in 2023 being the biggest year for Dead Frontier yet, and we’re focusing all of our efforts on utilizing these tools for the content you’ve all been wanting. All of us developers are long time players of Dead Frontier and we're incredibly happy with the direction things are heading in. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

Tuesday, December 20th, 2022

Day 3

Bandits

We've always wanted to do more with the bandit system, so we're expanding them into a game-wide content update for everyone. We're introducing 5 new tiers of bandits.

• Low to Mid Tier
  • Exiled Survivor
  • Found around Nastya's Holdout.
  • Weaponry: Beta Tomcat, Skorpion, Beta RX4, Gerring HP

• Red Fist Thug
  • Found around Dogg's Stockade and Precinct 13.
  • Weaponry: M16, Uzi, SL8, Kolt Python, Beta 8000.

• Rogue Soldier
  • Found around Precinct 13 and Fort Pastor.
  • Weaponry: UMP, FM FAL, M21, Webster 1942, M79

• Raid-tier
  • A group of ultra powerful bandits will spawn similarly to Devil Hounds and Volatile Leapers. This group is packed full of Elite, Legendary, and Unique bandits.

• Legendary Bandit
  • Found in raid blocks.
  • Weaponry: A10 Bullshark, Heatpit 75, Rusthound 37E, Rhea 55, Junker 6

• Unique Bandit
  • Found in raid blocks, the group leader.
  • Weaponry: Any past or current prof 120s, seasonal, Limited Edition, or Dawn weapons.

All Bandits will be getting some new items added to their loot pool. This includes things like 20-30 minute boosts, and we're exploring changing loot rates based on individual types of bandits. All these bandits are currently in private testing and should be ready early 2023.

Zombie AI

The fact that zombies are not intelligent can fuel a lot of our gameplay loops. It makes them easier to predict and allows for tactics like using obstacles to your advantage. What if a few did have a little more brain? We've recently been devoting a lot of time to AI improvements. We can now override a zombie's default movement or give them special attacks.

Some examples of movement behaviors would be zig-zagging while running towards players, avoiding the players with strafing and keeping their distance, and pathfinding with varying degrees of intelligence.

Some examples of special attacks are jumping attacks, grabbing attacks, and different vomit behaviors like leaving a trails of vomit on the floor for a certain amount of time. Attacks are specifically more experimental because the wide-range of possibilities, we're approaching this section more incrementally.

We will be visiting some existing infected, as well as introducing some new infected for the upcoming Ashwood area. We'll be applying these new behaviors to bosses and some special infected. We still think there is a place for certain tiers of infected to be that have the "cannon fodder, sprint straight towards their target, or stumble into obstacles brainlessly" behavior. They're zombies after all. These changes are some of the largest undertakings for us not only from a design perspective but technically as well. Expect these to take some time, the latter end of our time estimates, as they will need thorough developing and testing. It needs a lot of polish and tweaking but below is an early development proof of concept pathfinding.

Monday, December 19th, 2022

Day 2: Masteries

Masteries are a long-term progression system where you earn experience for multiple types of skills, with no level cap. Each level earned in a mastery further increases your abilities in those related activities. We're exploring a lot of other ideas, but we're looking at launching this new system with the following masteries:

• Warrior: Every enemy you encounter and defeat further improves your combat abilities. For every infected or player in PvP you slay, you will gain mastery experience points towards Warrior. Each level in this mastery grants you more damage dealt and damage reduction.

• Looter: No stone left unturned. For every loot spot you interact with, you will gain mastery experience points towards Looter. Each level in this mastery grants you more item find chance and search speed.

• Artisan: Being the backbone of any society is exhausting work. For every service interaction you provide or good you produce, you will gain mastery experience points towards Artisan. Each level in this mastery grants you faster production times and reduces how much your hunger lowers with each service provided.

• Master: A jack of all trades is a master of none, but you're different. The more mastery levels you gain, you will gain mastery experience points towards Master. Each level in this mastery grants you more experience gain.

This system is currently being privately tested. We plan to implement this system in early 2023. We're currently investing time into balance changes for what and how many bonuses these skills provide. If you have ideas or suggestions, please leave them in #df1_suggestions or on our forums.

Sunday, December 18th, 2022

Taking Dead Frontier to New Heights

Happy holidays @everyone! We hope you're enjoying the event!

Before the year ends, we want to take some time to discuss what's in the development oven and what you can look forward to in Q1 and early Q2 of 2023. We’ll summarize with a more general list. Over the next 5 days starting today, we will go into more detail about each category. We have a lot to talk about!

Horde Blocks, Boss Nests, Private Instances

New event types and activities to do around the outposts, and more ways to play with friends.

Masteries

A new system to encourage long-term player progression goals and rewards.

Bandits and Zombie AI

Expanding bandits into map-wide content for everyone and updating zombies to have interesting special attacks and movement behaviors.

Unity 5 Engine

Performance and graphic improvements, new UI, and a much more stable engine version for the future of Dead Frontier.

The Ashwoods

A new outdoors woodland-themed area located near Secronom Bunker and NEZ that features a new bandit-controlled outpost, more infected variants, and new equipment to find.

Day 1: Horde Block, Boss Nests, Private Instances

[Pre-development] Horde Blocks

Every hour a random block located extremely close to high-activity areas like outposts, NEZ, Wastelands, and Death Row is chosen to have their difficulty and rewards increased. This means a specific coordinate will be highlighted on the map and it will have higher aggro and tougher zombies, but rewards increased loot spot count and loot rates for weapons and armor while in the area.

[Pre-development] Boss Nests

On rare occasions, a boss cycle will be mutated into a boss nest. A boss nest is an area that contains not only a larger quantity of bosses but mixes in bosses that wouldn't typically be seen together. i.e Giant Spiders, Wraiths, and Titans all in one block for chaotic action and mayhem. All of the bosses will reward the player. This is a fan-favorite event from the holidays that we're happily making a game feature going forward.

[Complete, in testing] Private Instances

Private instances will be coming to the game and work similarly to instance following (or also known as Join A Friend to some). Come up with your own unique keyword or name and share that with your friends. If they enter the same key or name and they will be placed in your own private room. We have made the decision to not allow private instances in the arena.

Now would be a great time to include ideas and suggestions as this list is subject to change with feedback! We’re actively reading and implementing things mentioned in Discord and on our forums.

Note: This list is not absolute and is subject to change at any time.

Friday, December 09th, 2022

DF1: FATMANS FOLLY COMING SOON!

We're happy to announce this years Christmas event: Fatman's Folly! From December 15th until January 5th you will be able to:

• Find the hidden Christmas loot spots and get a huge array of seasonal rewards
• Battle the brand new Rampaging Reindeer mutation and all our previous winter enemies
• Take on Fatman and his army of Elf Commandos
• Craft the new North Poleaxe and Elf Implant
• Loot a pair of Festive Horns
• Get a massive +200% EXP, +80% More Loot Spots, +35% Looting Speed, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire 22 days!
• Grab a new Limited Edition weapon and implant from the credit shop

Miss it at your peril!

Friday, October 21st, 2022

DF1: THE TENDRILS OF TERROR HAS BEGUN!

From now until until November 6th you will be able to:

• Battle the new Orangejack Tendril boss and all our previous Halloween infected types
• Take on the deadly Orangejack and Whitejack bandits
• Craft a brand new pistol, implant and a cosmetic head piece
• Get a massive +200% EXP, +80% More Loot Spots, +35% Looting Speed, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire 17 days!
• Grab a new Limited Edition weapon and implant from the credit shop
• Get an extra 20% credits with every purchase!

Miss it at your peril!

P.S. Please accept my apologies for not announcing the Halloween events in advance. Our new baby was due right around the time I wanted the event to start, and I didn't want to promise a specific date and then let you all down because I had to run off to the hospital etc. Our little girl has now arrived safely so I was able to start the event this morning. Thanks for understanding :)

Wednesday, August 10th, 2022

Client Update v108

• The way player avatars work was completely redone, using a more modern shader system.
• The player avatar dye system was implemented.
• All colours now filter through the dye system, this includes all of the original colours with the exception of special cases. (Like the santa cloak or cultist jacket)

• Implemented the hide armour status, this will not render your armour ingame if toggled on in the outpost.
• The original arena soundtrack was re-added.
• Health bars now have a setting in the settings menu.
• The flamethrower now has a transparency slider in the settings menu. For performance reasons the slider will allow you to have flames be completely invisible for those who have lower end hardware.
• Removed the timer for entering an outpost.

• Players can no longer fire their weapon while fading in. (Multiplayer)
• Players should not longer automatically aim at you while not faded in. (Multiplayer)
• Fixed a bug where you could damage yourself with enough speed boost.
• Implemented 4 new armour abilities.
• Fixed a bug that caused discord rich presence to not work properly.
• Fixed a bug related to missions that involved killing an enemy for loot that may have caused it to count incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug where the hide backpack and hide hud settings may have not been saving correctly.

• Summer event preparations

Summer Event & Sale

From now until until August 31st :

• Get a massive +200% EXP, +80% More Loot Spots, +35% Search Speed, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire rest of the month!
• Get our new Titan Hunter Armour set from the credit shop, complete with two brand new unique abilities!
• Get an extra 20% credits with every purchase!

Miss it at your peril!

Friday, July 1st, 2022

Independence Day Event & Sale

From now until until Sunday July 10th :

• Get a massive +200% EXP, +80% More Loot Spots, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire 10 days!
• Grab a new Limited Edition July 4th Hat from the credit shop (only 100 credits for GMs!)
• Get an extra 20% credits with every purchase! Miss it at your peril!

Wednesday, June 15th, 2022

Mini Update

All 5 main outposts have now been unified under one single trade zone. This was done to help balance out the various economies and just to make the game easier to play as a whole. Personal outposts are unchanged however, and you will still only be able to trade with those in your specific area.

Monday, June 13th, 2022

Client Update V104

• Fixed a bug that stopped the arena working properly when visiting from a personal outpost
• Fixed melee hitboxes
• Fixed a bug that caused excessive aggro
• Fixed a bug with bandits that rarely occurred when loading the area

Client Update V105

• Fixed a bug with the ingame logout system not working correctly.
• Fixed a bug where players were being teleported to their last visited outpost when dying in the arena from a personal outpost.

A temporary speed boost event was added to make up for this error, sorry about that.

Daily Challenges

You should now get a new challenge every day. You can see all available challenges by clicking the Challenges button on the left hand menu panel in the outpost. We will be continuing to expand the challenge system over the coming weeks.

Friday, June 10th, 2022

Clan, Storage, and HTML update v8_4_13

Clans can now buy +1% Loot Spots and +1.5% Loot Speed upgrades through Victory Points!

This update also comes with the first optional simplified menu that is activated via the settings menu found on most outpost pages.

Tuesday, May 31st, 2022

Dead Frontier Client Update v101

• Removed watermark
• Changed DR zombie knockback and how it works
• Chat can now be opened with the enter key
• Asterisk removed from player names on the enlarged minimap
• Health bars were added to bosses
• Fixed a bug where the combat tag would not work if killing clanless players.
• Fixed a bug where loots would save as searched if you or another player barricaded a building.
• Fixed a bug where enemies would target you earlier than intended when entering an area
• Re-added our custom output log (It can be opened through a button in the settings if you are on the windows standalone.)
• The output log will save your current and previous game session.
• More implementations for the custom colour system so it matches the outpost better.
• Fixed a bug where a security error occurs when a damage boost expires
• Fixed a bug where additional experience would be gained when killing an enemy.
• Fixed a bug with the damage formula that was causing lower than expected damage values. (Everyone in theory now does more damage)
• Plenty more optimizations, notably to movement and taking damage, and melee weapons.
• Gold membership perks will now display as boosts on the left side of the HUD. The search spots bonus is an estimate as this works a little bit differently.

Gold membership includes (approximately)

• +100% experience
• +100% weapon / armour bonus
• +100% cash / ammo bonus
• +60% loot spots bonus

Your GM perks are now shown like this and are not event bonuses.

Note: We are aware the latest build says "powered by unity" and is the trial version. A new version of the game will release shortly to address this.

Tuesday, May 24th, 2022

Unity 4 / Client Update v100

Hey @everyone, we've just released our Unity 4 version of Dead Frontier! It's one of our largest projects to date and tackles a lot. You'll have to read the forum post for all the details... but here are a few highlights! :pogchamps:

• Migrated to Unity 4, which granted the standalone client lots of stability.
• Major optimizations across the board.
• Consume option for food and medical items when looted.
• Increased loot density in all early-level areas (Up to Fort Pastor) greatly.
• Added the ability for loot spots to save your search progress when interrupted.
• Added a Main Menu button to the Start screen.
• Tons of other system rewrites, quality of life additions, bug fixes, and polish.

Full list: https://fairview.deadfrontier.com/onlinezombiemmo/index.php?topic=949321.0 --Clayton

Monday, April 14th, 2022

DF1: FURMAGEDDON HAS BEGUN!

From now until until Sunday April 24th you will be able to:

• Take on the hordes of Easter infected and the deadly Heartbreaker bandits!
• Craft a new assault rifle and two new pieces of clothing
• Earn a unique implant through our new challenge system
• Get a massive +200% EXP, +80% More Loot Spots, +35% Looting Speed, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire 14 days!
• Grab a new Limited Edition weapon, implant and some super cool awesome totally not cringey cat ears from the credit shop
• Get an extra 20% credits with every purchase!

Miss it at your peril!

Monday, December 13th, 2021

DF1: PURGE OF THE PLAGUE

Starting early on Friday December 17th and continuing until Wednesday January 5th you will be able to:

• Defend your fellow survivors from the deadly Plague Seekers; hell-bent on purging every living thing from Fairivew!
• Mow down infected Reindeer, Elves, Snowmen and other Christmas favourites
• Follow the clues and unlock a special reward in our daily scavenger hunt! (17th until 23rd)
• Loot one of SIX unique pieces of clothing
• Get a massive +200% EXP, +80% More Loot Spots, +35% Looting Speed, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire 20 days!
• Grab a HOT new Limited Edition weapon and implant from the credit shop

The scavenger hunt runs until the 23rd and begins at 6:00PM UTC (1:00 AM your time) each day in our Discord (https://discord.com/invite/deadfrontier2). The first person to solve the clue and find the Golden Santa wins 1,000 credits and an engraved trophy. Note that even if you are unable to be online at this time you can still get the santa later in the day (until next reset). You will need to collect at least 5 Golden Santas to craft the special reward. Any spare Golden Santas can be used to craft smaller rewards. Clues and further hunt details are posted in the df1-hunt-announcements channel.

Miss it at your peril!

Tuesday, December 1st, 2021

Dead Frontier 3D Client Update V75

Summary:

• The Dead Frontier Map now has named locations! Numerous changes to multiplayer sync in attempt to make it better
• Player Input overhaul tying mouse and movement to your frame rate
• Party UI showing other players health and armour in the inner city on the Enlarged Minimap
• Horde Indicators on the Enlarged Minimap
• Death Row Zombies will now slowly build up to a sprint
• Fixed bugs that caused boss cycles to have low aggro (finally)
• Added new multiplayer settings for barricading, and disabling chats
• Damage numbers where other players indicate when they get hit can now be toggled on in the settings (Also available in arena)
• Two new player bonuses. (search speed and loot spot bonus); These will be available in the future.

Full changelog: https://fairview.deadfrontier.com/onlinezombiemmo/index.php?topic=947005.0

This is an ambitious update and overhauls some core systems of Dead Frontier 3D so we ask that if you encounter any problems or have any feedback please post in v75-bugs-and-feedback

Monday, October 18th, 2021

DF1: SCOURGE OF THE SCARECROW

Starting early on Saturday October 23rd and continuing until Sunday November 7th you will be able to:

• Take on a brand new Scarecrow boss and it's diseased minions
• Follow the clues and unlock a special reward in our daily scavenger hunt!
• Craft a brand new Halloween themed weapon with unique game mechanics
• Craft three new pieces of clothing
• Get a massive +200% EXP, More Loot Spots, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire 16 days!
• Grab a new Limited Edition weapon and implant from the credit shop

The scavenger hunt runs from the 23rd until the 30th and begins at 6:00PM UTC each day in our Discord (https://discord.com/invite/deadfrontier2). The first person to solve the clue and find the Golden Pumpkin wins 1,000 credits and an engraved trophy. Note that even if you are unable to be online at this time you can still get the pumkin later in the day (until next reset). You will need to collect at least 5 Golden Pumpkins to craft the special reward. Any spare Golden Pumpkins can be used to craft smaller rewards. Be sure to check the df1-announcements channel for further details closer to the day.

Miss it at your peril!

Saturday, August 07th, 2021

Mini-Update: Repair Price Adjustment

Starting from today, all services will have a minimum value of repair level * 20:

• 5: $100
• 15: $300
• 25: $500
• 35: $700
• 45: $900
• 75: $1 500

Inputting a lower price into the sales dialogue will automatically raise the price to that amount.

UPDATE 11/08: The price floor has been lowered to half it was previously, so a level 75 service will have a minimum price of $750

Tuesday, August 03rd, 2021

New Limited Edition Rifle

Check out the new Limited Edition Hailstorm C12. It comes with a unique 3-shot burst fire mechanic and can slow enemies by 50% per hit.

Only available until August 17th so grab one while you can!

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021

Client V65 - Death Row Release (SEZ Revamp)

• 10 new weapons to find or craft.
• Hyper aggressive Death Row infected variants.
• Irradiated, smoldering, and black variants of existing bosses.
• Dangerous aggro spikes.
• Improved loot pool.
• Nearly double the size of the previous SEZ.
• Restricted minimap vision.
• Unable to open menus near infected.

Other changes: https://fairview.deadfrontier.com/onlinezombiemmo/index.php?topic=944778

Sunday, July 4th, 2021

There's been some confusion around the way I worded my last post surrounding the Dawn weapons. No new Dawn (or Dusk / X-Dusk) weapons are going to get added. With that said, I am looking at balancing them out. I'm avoiding giving them a damage buff and aiming for a unique mechanic that makes them stand out.

Currently, I'm experimenting by giving them the ability to ignore PvE armour on infected (this includes shields) as well as some capacity increases. Armoured infected are more common in Death Row, so this should make Dawn weapons quite powerful and versatile in this end-game area without direct power scaling. For the Dawn Melee and Chainsaw weapons, the current idea is to lower their melee proficiency requirements to 0. This should enable a lot more players to be able to enjoy these weapons as even most end-game players do not have high enough melee proficiency to utilize them.

This is all subject to change during the testing period I mentioned in the previous post as I gather feedback. That said, some of these changes may go live before the update is out (stat-wise, not mechanic-wise). Due to the confusing wording, I just wanted to clarify what the plans around these weapons were.

Thanks. -- Clayton

Thursday, July 1st, 2021

Development Update #2

Hey @everyone, I have a quick progress update regarding this upcoming Death Row SEZ revamp. I'm working hard to catch up and get this update out to you guys on July 19th.

Besides some environmental bits for Death Row, just about everything is complete. I will be doing a test period with a group of players to help find bugs and finalize stats on the new 120 weapons, Dawn weapons, Death Row infected / bosses, new variants of current bosses, and the SEZ loot pool that will start in a little over a week.

• 10 new 120 weapons that can be crafted or found pre-assembled. Complete
• Dusk / X-Dusk, Dawn, and new 120 weapon models. (Thanks to JustThatDude) Complete
• New armour penetration (PvE) stat for some weapons. Complete - Smoldering, Irradiated, and Black variants of current bosses. Complete
• Death Row area mechanics (tougher infected spawning during aggro spikes, obscured minimap vision, and menu opening restrictions). Complete
• Death Row infected and bosses. Complete
• Death Row environmental touch-up. (eta 1 week)
• Testing and balancing. Release notes will be much more detailed and include everything not listed above.

Thank you for your patience.

-- Clayton

Thursday, April 22nd, 2021

Dead Frontier 1: 2021 Development Update

Alright, it's time to talk about what I have been working on. Things are still being developed but I will release more details later on and answer questions or address concerns as they pop up. Here is a basic overview.

Traditionally we would expand the map more to the right side, adding a lot of space. This time I want to put more focus on making better use of existing space. We have a large map but not a whole lot to do in it. This means revamping current areas (and infected) to feel unique and turning low traffic areas into points of interest.

The scope of this varies from idea to idea and area to area but starts with the largest being a South End Zone revamp. A hellscape created by experimented on infected locked away, now releasing into Fairview.

The Plan

SEZ is supposed to be the go-to place for looting. While it does indeed have better drop rates, NEZ has an uncontended convenience factor. The aim is to create a looting-based equivalent of the Wastelands. So what are the goals for this area?

1. Restoring some of that "jackpot" feeling to finding rare loot without restricting loot spot counts. High-risk, high-reward.
2. Utilizing the crafting system in a way that allows us to introduce new content that doesn't abandon older content.
3. A dark and gory atmosphere.

Weapons

We're working on a new lootable weapon set that can only be obtained by looting this revamped SEZ. These new weapons will have crafting recipes with high requirements (existing 120s, devil hearts, etc), but more excitingly, we're adding in the chance to loot them already assembled and complete.

Infected

I am taking some inspiration from "Death Row" that existed in the DF2D era and adding a Secronom twist on it. One of the first things I am borrowing is some of the infected. We are introducing DF3D remix versions of the Crow (and its ability to fly over objects), Red Longarms, Green Longarms, and.. a few surprises. I'll show more of them later on. :)

Twists

There are currently some experimental area-specific features, twists in the works. This includes turning it into a "dark zone" where minimap visibility is obscured, needing to clear the area around you of infected before being able to open a menu manually, and hardcore aggro spikes where buffed variants of the areas infected spawn (similar to old hardcore events but during the aggro spike duration). I will keep you guys updated on my progress with this area revamp!

Boss Variants

Finally, this next addition isn't directly related to the SEZ revamp but will be included in the update. I am adding more variations, like the current "flaming" variation, to existing bosses starting with some ideas inspired by DF2. At the moment this includes charred and irradiated but will be expanded to a few more. These will introduce slight mechanic and stat variations to mix things up a little.

-- Clayton

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

Happy 13th Birthday Dead Frontier!

To celebrate 13 years of Dead Frontier, everyone gets the following bonuses until the end of the week:
+200% EXP, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot, +100% Cash/Ammo Loot and more loot spots!

There is also something special in the Credit Shop :)

(Due to popular demand, I've decided this event will be extended until the end of the week)

--AdminPwn

Sunday, April 11th, 2021

Beginning of a New Era?

Today was an unusual day in Fairview: from the northern reaches of Secronom Bunker down to the furthest of the Wasteland, the sky is covered in a thick, mysterious red fog that blotted out the sun and seemingly caused the infected to be more aggressive than usual.

After 9 days of chaos, the "Bunny Man" has finally decided to end the chase himself, by broadcasting his final coordinate across the entire city and inviting everyone for a talk.

Following the coordinates, our scouts made contact with an individual who introduced himself as Dr. Peters, a member of the cult that wrecked havoc on the city this Easter, seemingly leading to the wild chase that left the Commander MIA and the Secronom crew scrambling to apprehend him. He warned us of a facility located somewhere in the city that the Commander and Dr. Adler tried their best to seal away (along with whatever unfortunate survivors trapped within), currently being barely secured by an emergency power system that's about to give way, and containing unimaginable things that threaten to send Fairview into what he can only describe as "the outbreak all over again."

Whatever he's talking about, it seems that this facility is the cause behind the red fog that is currently suffocating the city in darkness. Our best hope is for the fog to clear once the season changes, and our forces be as well armed as possible to whether what's ahead.

Scavenger Hunt Transcripts

The transcripts for the Scavenger Hunt, as well as the new NPC's message, can now be found here.

Friday, April 9th, 2021

Update: Mini Daily TPK Competition

Since activity in the arena is pretty low aside from Mondays, we've decided to add a mini daily TPK competition. It works just like the weekly competition, except that the winner each day receives 100 credits. The first competition starts right now!

Hopefully this should make the arena a teeny bit more lively

Thursday, April 8th, 2021

Eggstra Egg Options

You can now craft either a speed boost or Epic Egg 2021 (which gives a guaranteed cosmetic) with your spare Silver Easter Eggs!

Tuesday, April 6th, 2021

New Forum Moderators

I'd like to extend my congratulations to our new (and returning) forum moderators. I hope you'll all give them a (not so hard) time as they adjust into their new roles.

• Claire45 (http://fairview.deadfrontier.com/onlinezombiemmo/?action=profile;u=5677768)
• Nonconformist (http://fairview.deadfrontier.com/onlinezombiemmo/?action=profile;u=9215896)
• odinaden (http://fairview.deadfrontier.com/onlinezombiemmo/?action=profile;u=4110496)
• dreamdark (http://fairview.deadfrontier.com/onlinezombiemmo/?action=profile;u=12454705)

Friday, April 2nd, 2021

Client V60

• Call of the Cult Easter Event preparations.
• Increased how much distance lootable ragdolls teleport in bounds.
• Added setting to toggle the noise filter graphic setting.
• Reduced Harvester attack tracking speed.
• Fixed a bug where bandits and players with PvP toggled on couldn't shoot through loot spots.
• Fixed a bug where bandit ragdolls were causing performance issues on death.
• Fixed a bug that made trees remain bright in low brightness settings.
• Fixed a bunch more flickering textures and oddly lit floor tiles.

Please report any bugs found in #df1-bug-report so we can have a smooth event.

Side note: Wanted to say thank you for being so patient in regards to news on updates outside of tomorrows event. I will be talking about what I have been working on and future plans after this event has concluded.

Thursday, April 1st, 2021

Secret Easter Item Info Leaked

In addition to the Easter items found, we at the DF Wiki have unearth a brand new secret Easter item, hidden deep in the game's code. While the current sprite appears to be just a placeholder, here's a teaser for it:

Monday, March 29th, 2021

DF1: CALL OF THE CULT

Starting early on Friday April 2nd (Good Friday) and continuing until Sunday April 11th you will be able to:

• Take on the mysterious Lepus Cult and their hordes of infected minions
• Follow the clues and unlock a special reward in our daily scavenger hunt!
• Loot one of FIVE unique pieces of clothing - Craft a brand new Easter themed weapon
• Get a massive +200% EXP, More Loot Spots, +100% Weapon/Armour Loot AND +100% Ammo/Cash for the entire 10 days
• Grab a new Limited Edition weapon and implant from the credit shop

The scavenger hunt begins at 12pm UTC each day in our Discord (https://discord.com/invite/deadfrontier2) and the first person to solve the clue, find the Silver Easter Egg and post proof wins 1000 credits. Note that even if you are unable to be online at this time you can still get the egg later in the day (until next reset). You will need to collect at least 8 Silver Easter Eggs to get your reward.

Miss it at your peril!

Tuesday, February 23th, 2021

Dead Frontier 3D Forum Moderator Applications

Hello everyone, as part of the forum cleanup and restructuring process we are going to be looking for some new forum moderators. Most of the information you will require is written on the application form.

The forum moderator applications will be open for approximately 1 month from today and we will be selecting 2-3 applicants based on their responses, community activity, and involvement. The role to put it simply will require you to moderate the existing forum boards and enforce the Dead Frontier rules as well as helping users with any questions they may have.

The staff selection process for Dead Frontier has always been tight so with these applications we hope to give everyone the ability to tell us about yourselves and have an opportunity for the role. We look forward to reading your responses and best of luck.

Forum Moderator Application Form: https://forms.gle/QrkCqDLQmNJVnoL39

--Barney

Friday, February 19th, 2021

UPDATE: GM Tickets, Improved Mission Rewards and EAS Changes

• You can now buy Gold Membership from the Credit Shop, which means that players that have issues making online payments can still earn GM.
• Mission rewards now scale with your level up to +900% EXP and +50% Cash for 220+ players
• EAS has been improved so that it won't ask you to re-authenticate so often if you have a variable IP
• EAS is now mandatory for all accounts of level 50+
• Aggro during bosses has been slightly increased
• Number of boss spots has been increased (starting tomorrow)

--AdminPwn

Tuesday, January 26th, 2021

Fanart: Zombie Battle

Check out this epic piece of DF fan artwork! It was created by Rally and his friend, and took over 160 hours to complete.

This is gonna be my new desktop wallpaper

--AdminPwn

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021

Mini Update Client V59

• More difficult bosses like Black Titans, Flaming Black Titans, and the Wastelands Devil Hound now drop a guaranteed MC item. (This change for the DH will start at reset)
• Outpost Attacks now happen at predictable times, every 4.5 hours starting at reset.
• Improved on lootable ragdolls teleporting in bounds.
• Fixed a bug that didn't allow players to interact with lootable objects if in PvP mode.
• Fixed a bug where the Wastelands would increase game brightness the more you moved through instances.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't scroll world map if you opened it while world map snippet was toggled on for the minimap.
• Fixed a bunch of flickering textures, unreachable loot spots, and places players would get stuck.
• Fixed a minor issue with the Discord Rich Presence not adding a space between the zone name and coordinate.
• Reverted changes done to prevent loot progress resets with moving players and zombies.
  • This should help with zombies and players popping through walls as often as they were.
• Reverted a change done that aimed to prevent additional non-lootable bosses from spawning after killing them.
  • This should help with the inconsistent amount of lootable boss bodies players have been experiencing since last update.
  • This unfortunately does mean that the original bugs will be present again until we can find a better way to address them.

I've begun work on things outside of this but we're not quite ready to talk about it yet and would like to wait until some of our discussions and ideas are more set in stone. Until then: https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

--Clayton