pilgrim*

yeahn I know what "Agile" means as a concept, and I explain it's limitations. Realise that BI is UNIQUE among software developers (this is the KEY) for a number of SPECIFIC reasons. Then READ my suggestions of why BI doesn't fit into your conceptual box. - Read up on BI and find out how they actually work, look at their record and their methods. You say, confidently <<people over process>>... but in fact you are glorifying a Process. That's just fanaticism. There will be a new buzzword soon and Disney and Apple will be using it to cover whatever the hell it is they do. As always. All these process terms are simply TOOLS .. You pick them up when you want to use them, and you throw them back in the box when you want to use something else, or you leave them to rust, or you redesign or modify them, or you build your own. YOU make the decision, not Marshal McLuhan, not Kant, not Ford, not Musashi, not Trump or Mao or the Pope - and in the case of BI, not your shareholders. Jobs and Ford and Gates and Disney (the man) were NOT successful because they followed someone's RULE BOOK about how to do it - totally the opposite. They went their own way and did NOT do what they were supposed to do. AND plenty of individuals have thrown away the latest COOL rule book and then totally FAILED, too.. which makes me think that a "How To Be Original and Successful" pocketbook of big-time new-age flowcharts is ONLY as useful as you think it is, definitely no more and no less.. You CANT judge ORIGINALITY or CREATIVITY or SUCCESS by a flow chart .. YOU judge how useful it is, it doesn't judge how useful YOU are. Only Accountants really DELIBERATELY use standard methodology - they do it to make sure they are NOT Unique. If you are half way up in an organization you can use the accepted company "methodology" as evidence on paper to cover your @ss so nobody can say it was your fault. <<Hey dude, I'm AGILE, get off my back>> What else are bullet-point methodologies good for, seriously, however trendy they are? If you want to TRY to WIN they are good for perhaps noting they exist and then being Creatively MISUSED, crossbred and MUTATED. Methodologies are ZOMBIES. And you don't in fact need to know the buzzwords to mutate the zombie. You just need your brain working inside a team. By the way - Have you ever EVER been to a REALLY GOOD Power Point presentation ever ever ever about ANYTHING AT ALL ever in your entire life ?? (heh) - just wondering. Me neither. * * * It's really easy to knock Dayz and show how they do everything wrong (plenty of folk are doing that right now) And it's really easy to show how Pokemon did everything right (really big success, still going strong) That's true. But - if I had to make the choice for myself between just one of those two games - which would I choose ?

Ethernet connection is REALLY a LOT better. =Seriously = Also switch off your antivirus while you play, AND anything else you're running at the same time (like Skype etc) and stop any auto-update trash. Don't share the wifi with your kid brother or your dad watching football. [for starters] DayZ uses more CPU than most games What are the pings given in the DayZ server list, for the servers you log in to? Say for instance, what are the lowest 5 pings listed ?

Plenty servers in France and Germany, also Britain.. the ping across Europe is pretty good. Kind of FUN being multinational, right? I'm based in France but play often on other European servers .. anywhere is easy ping in Europe; but I don't play so much on Brit servers, because Brit players are 87% HEADBANGERS (sorry UK lasses and lads, not my fault) :))

- guess that makes you an expert then ?

well .. er .. Yes ? .. you get updates to kind of "Update" the stuff that needs updating.. ya know? - you can call them Patches if you want .. You complain about stuff not working AND you complain about updates in the SAME comment ? Decide which you want.

for those who haven't heard of "Waterfall" & "Agile" "Waterfall" The waterfall model is a relatively linear sequential design approach for certain areas of engineering design. In software development, it tends to be among the less iterative and flexible approaches. The waterfall development model originated in the manufacturing and construction industries; where the highly structured physical environments meant that design changes became prohibitively expensive much sooner in the development process [compared to software engineering]. When first adopted for software development, there were no recognized alternatives for knowledge-based creative work. = seriously obsolete in software development "Agile" Agile software development is a theoretical approach to software development, such that requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customer /end user. It advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continual improvement, and it encourages rapid and flexible response to change. It is useful and natural, for only very small startup developers to use this technique instinctively. 1) In the BI structure, the "self-organizing" development team's only 'customer' is BI itself. This is to a large extent their INTERNAL practice. 2 ) End users are not a stable group with defined common ground, and their desires and expectations change through time, sometimes irrationally, users are in flux and sometimes in strong disagreement, improvements are moot, and changing factions seek fundamentally different outcomes. = For "Agile", to be cost effective, except at minimal scale and with payback time not a consideration (eg spare-time indies and modders), requires the specific preliminary targeting of a single "end user" group, and developing to their taste alone, deliberately ignoring other possible interests or users. It is useful [for instance] for the production of mass popularity games of low complexity (Lowest Common Denominator games) and Apps. This renders "Agile" a simple, non-flexible technique, useful for outsourcing. xxP =IMO, naturally =

I'm sorry you took shit this morning, Kirov. Perhaps you should change your job or your lifestyle? Meanwhile - exactly when between mid 2014 - DayZ versions 0.44 -0.44 and the dec 2018 current versions, do you think DayZ STARTED going off the rails ?

I missed out on that stuff .. tell me more .. I was around when animals were introduced, and I was around they cut down all the northern forest and wilderness and built towns and villages, and I was around when they extended the military bases so it was easy to gear up full mil, and I was around when the zombies faded out to one or two per village, and stopped doing interesting things, and I was around when they stopped leaving dead bodies lying in the road, and I was here when persistence was introduced and you could have 5 tents full of mill gear, and I was playing when server admins realized they could join the public hive and then just kick anyone they liked, with no comeback fropm BI or the GSPs, so they looted masses of gear for "friends only" and went PvP on other public servers, because if they were killed they could gear up again on their kick server in 3 minutes. And I was playing when they took FLIES out of the game in case it was too gruesome for the kidz. BUT I never wiped my ASS once in DayZ And dang, I never SAW a pine-cone, and didn't hear anyone ever mention them, DEFINITELY not Hicks. <so that's all CR@P.. OK?> Maybe lots of fun to say, but bullcr@p. * * * Back on topic... Is this HARD TO HEAR ?? Listen : The ONLY PROBLEM about darkness in DayZ was that some players were turning up their GAMMA at home so they could see really well AS IF IT WERE DAYLIGHT. You understand? - This is a difficult problem because BI can't control a players Gamma from the server, so they're free to cheat as much as they like. It's an Exploit. This was wrecking the game for anyone who wanted to play in ANY KIND of darkness/nightime in DayZ. It doesn't matter if there is "bright moonlight" or overcast under-the-trees "deep darkness".. Some bastard could TURN THEIR GAMMA to max, for laffs, and put a bullet through your head from 100 meters away. It made NO DIFFERENCE if YOU could half-see, not-see, had a torch or a flare, wanted to PLAY this nightime Game .. made no difference.. You were 100% dead every time, and pretty soon everyone stopped playing nighttime except the gamma exploiters. And because zombies didn't see real good in darkness, that just made it Laffs Exploit Time, free and easy for hoppers and mass looters. TOGETHER WITH A 24 HOUR CLOCK SET TO REAL TIME? - half the time you want to play it's dark and the Exploiters kill you every time you log in. That gets to be old, really fast. So - Kind of got boring, right? (unless you were a play for laffs kidz exploiter & didn't give a toss) The whole problem is that simple.. there aint NO mystery about it. Gamma Exploit is ALL this is about. Nothing else. * Depends which solution you want - I can borderline play nights now (sometimes, but it's very mainly cr@p). But I sure was NOT interested in playing on a server with Gamma Exploiters, there is NO WAY AT ALL to know if they can see you, and if they are exploiting (they ARE) then they CAN. That's cr@p too.

there it is

Wow dude, you think you're fine, but you look pretty BAD to me..what is that green stuff coming out of your ears and the corners of your eyes? Is that Wasabi ?

I won't say I disagree with you .. 1 - it is true that consoles are the big market now (that's for sure) 2 ) - it is also true that BI ventured into the console market in 2001 with a port of Operation Flashpoint to Xbox but "they didn't understand consoles" (someone said at the time) and it almost bust the company totally (I hear) - they lost a lot of time and money, changed working relationships. They have stayed away from consoles since then - up til now. That's a very short version of the story of BI & BIS and the company growth and change, though. Other stuff happened too. My opinion: I think we'll hear sertious "unexpected" breaking news soon, inside the next month or so. only IMO - this just my own thought. For myself - I LIKE DayZ on PC.. really like it .. but I'm not a managing director with a heap of wages to pay every month, ya know? Just the daily running costs of a technology company are Serious Money. This is why the Indies are getting massacred by the Disney / Soney / Etc Megacorps. - An average blockbuster - film or game - 25% or 30% of the budget goes on advertising. Standard. Only 2/3 of the budget is even spent on how good the programmers are or how great the ideas are, or the CGI or the development technology. A BIG chunk is spent on plugging it to the masses. That doesn't make it a better game, it makes more people buy it. And you can pay that staff from some other budget, you can scrap a game, you can buy or sell talent, you can try it out see if it brings in cash or not, fast, or slow over the next couple of years, or you can dump it and bring out Version II next year, scrap it for Version III 18 months later .. it's no BIG worry. It's "just a game". You got to ask yourself (if you run a specialist games company) how many folk are playing on Xbox tonight.. compared to PC ? And add PS4 to that. Figures aren't official (they won't tell ya), but : Xbox One - around 39+ million units to april 2018, and PS4 around 80+ million units ?? - that gives you a market of 120 million players ATM - this Christmas - IF you sell to consoles. xxP

sorry friend - I'm deadly bored with this off topic conversation. Let's talk about something technical ? - "Software Development Model" for instance ? Same advice to colinm9991 - Mojang had 12 employees when it was bought by Microsoft, if either of you are interested. BI has not been bought by anybody.

Mojang? You want to know? If you really NEED the info - HERE'S a RED HOT LEAD. to start you off. (But don't TELL anybody I put you onto it, OK? this info is hard to find) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojang xxP

- by biggest Indy I meant largest staff, as is clear from the context. Over 300 employees this year. Check your facts. ps - Mojang is owned by Microsoft (oops) how Indy is that?

papsh - you added the text about the "super realistic world" AFTER I answered your post dude. (heh.. got ya) All you said first time round was << eyes adjust to darkness...... hahahaa wtf are you smoking ??!! >> You got my answer to that. You (country dude) - Have YOU ever been out on the ground level - away from artificial light - on a night when you could NOT SEE your hand in front of your face? That has happened to me 2 times in my LONG lifetime and both of those were in mountain blizzards. I mean when you cant see your hand when you put it up to touch your face. That's Extremely RARE. You should try a little potholing (speleology) - you'll understand what I'm talking about. THEN you can't see your own hand. At nighttime anywhere you always can. * * * The only problem about darkness in DayZ is that some players were turning up their Gamma so they could see as if it were daylight. A lot of people objected to this (and a lot of players did it too). so eventually BI decided to try to do something about that one single problem. This is how far they have got at the moment. you understand its a difficult problem because you can't control a players Gamma from the server, so they're free to cheat as much as they like. If a lot of folk don't like BIs experiment, BI will try something else. But it is true that Gamma abusers were wrecking the nightime game totally. We don't want them back, I guess.

Just for my own interest, I researched this and answered your question a while back in this blog. (but don't panic, I aint going to do it again) : Most of the answers are - in fact - in front of you in the dev comments and updates - if you have eyes to see what they are ACTUALLY saying. Some of the comments are not 'direct' because obviously as an employee there are a range of topics you cannot legally discuss, concerning company policy, even regarding the hardware/software you use in different studios (and how come those different studios work together, and how they are equipped, etc). But the answers are there, if you look and use your intelligence, particularly if you have experience in the industry. A couple of other indications you can find touring around the web, checking technical pages, and also financial /company /personality info.. build yourself a picture. It is not difficult. I did this and gave my opinion (you can find that in 2 or 3 places here if you want to). Naturally it is MY assessment and NOT insider information. BUT it seems pretty clear to me - = what/why/how = About 2/3 of the comments/suggestions/questions on the blog are (lets say) fairly off the wall or casual .. may be interesting, funny, but not realistic.. and answers come back from other bloggers. There are several blog staff who pick up on serious stuff and pass it on where it is needed. etc etc Ya know - in 10 minutes MaxwellHouse69420 could find out that BI have 300+ employees, and the large majority are technical staff. He could also find out where their 5 studios are located, what projects they are working on now, what might be coming up, and he could also NOTE that BI (which has expanded enormously in the last 4 years) is a PC based gaming company.. It's development equipment (hardware & software) , which is NOT standardized across the Studios (for reasons that HAVE been mentioned here by Devs) is focused on PC game design but is now being integrated between studios AND "repurposed" to build console games. Technically the PC game (DayZ) is being restructured at the development phase so that the built game (PC) will translate directly to console. Previously a lot of output to the PC game just did NOT translate (and it would be DUMB to build the same game twice for two different platforms) This is a major change in development strategy. Explains pretty much what folk KEEP ON asking. er... obviously ?? But bloggers don't want to hear this from me, and don't want to work it out for themselves, they want to have the insider private operation of a private company laid out in explicit detail in public by the employees.. right down from the boardroom plan to the technical specifications of office server & development tools. Now how many companies actually DO that ? Anyone know of any ? p.s. - BI is the biggest Indy developer in the world ATM. But everybody already knows that, right? It's here on the blog in open sight, and plenty of other places (jeez, even wikipedia?) I don't see how anyone could have missed it. BI is an interesting and unusual company with a variegated & unique history. They interest me (that doesn't mean anyone else would be interested). I like their messy chaotic style, their luck, their attitude, their product, their 'abnormality'.. quite a lot in fact. So good luck to them, IMO. Being an Indy is no barrel of laughs. Those days are over for all Independents.

I agree with that . The problem was gamma boosters gaining unfair advantage and spoiling the night game - was only that.. always was.. nothing else at all. Nothing else needs solving. YOU live in a city, dude.. !! (and you aren't a photographer, either) .. see how much I know about you from one casual comment ? You never spent a night in open country, wilderness, or in a forest in your life, right? - except maybe in a camp with headlights, floodlights and a McDonalds? Bet you don't know that you can see SHAPES better in low light from the edges of your eyes, and COLORS better by looking directly at them? And I know, you don't know why. Human beings have been hunters since we started being human. You have some AMAZING equipment born with your body, and a brain designed to process the input even when you aren't thinking about it. Pity to not make use of those abilities or know about them. You only get one lifetime to make use of it. Try it out. xxP

- if you are outdoors at night with zero artificial light, overcast, no stars, even in woodland, and you can't see your Hands in front of your Face wow ... you are in a STRANGE place IMO - that's probably not Earth

As you are running a business based on a BIS product without a particular agreement between you and BI - perhaps you should be doing your OWN advertising ?? It is easier to blame the suppliers, than to advertise your product. You know this because of your PR experience. NO SOFTWARE COMPANY will EVER say that the software they sell is << Fit For Purpose>> in any way. ( This is in fact the law. Ask ..for instance .. Microsoft.. they are pretty BIG and well known: Read what you Sign For when you buy MS software.. you sign for "ziltch", "nada" "zero" any "IMPLIED" or "claimed" functionality could be "Anything" or "we have no idea" or or "Nothing", or "any combination" "data loss" "damage" "unpredictable or disastrous secondary effects" "non-operability" "all NOT our fault" , that's what you Agree To when you BUY from Microsoft). You know it, because you are telling your own users exact the same thing right now. * Base-building is FINE (=but dumb IMO=) .. BUT there is a temporary glitch in Persistence (it might happen to your base, your campfire, your steak, your hidden pack or the whole server shard, or regions of it, & seems to affect private AND official too ..). So at least we can locate the area-of-function this problem is affecting.. it's not a private shard problem.. it's not a "base" problem - seems it's a vanilla persistence storage and re-integration problem. - Bet I'm not the only person to have figured that. This is a REALLY BIG PISSER and we all know it. And BIS know it better than anybody.. An intermittent glitch like THIS ONE can really Wreck your big Free Launch Weekend. (.. say! Microsoft and a load of other companies have been through that too, heh). Unfortunate is the word. * * * the Devs will be working on it, and nothing else. And one thing I DO know from REALLY enough years in the industry, is that DEVS do not do PR. They cant. They do not have the mindset to explain what they are working on to the general public, including "gamers". And if they did explain what they just spend the day on, not 1 person in 100 would understand them at all. So lets not all rant about the DEVS "not doing their jobs", and "what is wrong with them?", etc.. NOTHING is wrong with them. They are doing their jobs, they are programmers, not making boardroom decisions, not giving press conferences. THEY will have this sorted very soon. As you know. If you are an ace at PR, write to the BIS director and make him an offer. He's the guy to talk to. In the meantime, tell your players what they can expect, what they can't do, what they can do. If they ARE new to the game - as you say - they have plenty to try out, for SURE - and new DayZ players should NOT expect to survive more than a few hours. So tell them this is a chance to explore & train in the game. Hmm? Do your PR thing. You are good at it. We (old folk) played DayZ for a LONG TIME without Persistence, before Persistence was even introduced .. Do you remember that? It will be all SMOOTH real soon. No panic. Shiny < Hey, soon bases will stick around and get bigger and bigger, and maybe we'll we'll be able to set fire to them and burn them to the ground? > xxP

just wanted to see your flowcharts, mate, to see how they helped the process. xxP

HaHA.. LOL Did you REALLY just say that..?? sorry friend, no insult intended.. but .. "paying for a product gives you control over your life".. ??. I'm dropping out of the conversation, you just made my day.. that's enough of a laugh for tonight. You win hands down. Have a good time, you hear? Don't by too much product or you'll end up locked in mega-control of your life. And THEN what might happen ?

Your company publish a lot of those, does it? .. Show us some of them please, right here on the blog. So we can learn from you. (..yep, I'm betting you wont..) Still, you must be Sooooo improved compared to how crap you were ?

that didn't happen what's the solution now ?

your pc is checking every server on the planet to find out how many players are online right now on every one of them? Maybe set your max ping to 100 or 150 and THEN try ?> hmm.. but my PC takes maybe 5-10 seconds to find all the servers & populations. Then I list according to ping and don't bother with the filters.

"Shit like this should not happen" But it does. Jeez - have you seen this planet? sometimes there are even air disasters, climate change, people die of food poisoning, and folk shoot each other.. wow, that shit shouldn't happen! So what's your SOLUTION? Maybe they should close down all the servers? Just STOP everyone playing altogether? Or maybe - because you KNOW this will happen until it's FIXED (could take an hour or a week!) .. You could meantime maybe take a couple of days off? OR write really a LOT complaints to fill up all your quality time until the problem is fixed. Or maybe - ya know - get some fresh air or something.. ? I bet ya what you like THE DEVES ARE WORKING TO FIX THIS AND NOT DOING ANYTHING ELSE. - And 100% I'll bet you KNOW that already. Now - do have you a handy foolproof method of Changing the PAST? Because If you do, tell the devs. Then we'll ALL be happy. .. aint that the truth.