jfn3000

Some of those things require electricity sure, but I read the point as making (or keeping) sound as a core gameplay element. Making zombies sensitive to sound is an excellent idea, and I think already implemented? I thought I saw that they did respond to gunshots if awkwardly, and that they were sound-sensitive in the mod as well. But I like the idea of enhancing the sound interactivity beyond gunshots. This goes well with my suggestion for clutter objects (http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/176194-interactable-clutter-objects/ shameless :P) and doesn't depend on the specifics of electricity usage. Trash cans, tin cans, gunshots, church bells, etc. wouldn't require electricity. If destructible scenery objects make it in, their destruction noises would play into it as well. Here I'm thinking of not just broken glass on the ground, but breaking a glass window. Something I would add would be a sensible way to handle sound volume over distances. VoIP range is still awkward for example, and it could get cumbersome to calculate sound intensity from the waveforms. Maybe sound FX could come with an intrinsic volume property, and then zombie AI could use the distance and volume to check if it's audible. Basically, the AI "hears" everything, but if some math on the volume property and distance fails a check, the AI doesn't act as if it was heard. This also allows source separation without actual audio processing. Handling sound through closed doors or around buildings is probably best left to the new audio guy, I'm sure he has some tricks up his sleeve.

It depends on the architecture, I think. Cell segregation sounds like the most work, but it may already be in place or planned. It's a good way to go about things since you can conditionally skip a lot of heavy work if no one's in the cell, or if it's clean (i.e. untouched.) Adding the extra timers would be second, and that could be a little or a lot of work depending on how things are done. Expanding things like this can be simple addition of code snippets, or can turn into a deconstruction of an entire subsystem. Servers already control loot spawn timers on their own, I think the central database only contains spawn locations in that regard. Obviously different servers have different loot in a building at a given time or no one would hop around. To me, it seems easy, but only because the challenges and steps to implement it are straightforward. I have a hard time accounting for the actual time and effort required, which is what it really boils down to.

Good point, since that's what it looked like in those games :p Maybe it would require the use of one or two hands, so people were actually holding things. You could extend this type of interaction to dumpsters and bodies, too, if desired. Take two hands to slowly push one of those dumpsters around, or drag a body back into your lair. Animation refinement down the line could make the idea look pretty good as well.

Oh agreed for sure. Clutter is a pretty common feature of games now, so I figure it will happen eventually. I don't know when larger developing houses insert clutter, but early-alpha seems a bit premature :p The main suggestion is the ability to interact with the items, rather than just kick them around unwittingly.

I've noticed while playing that some gestures flow smoothly directly to new ones. For example. give a thumbs up and then flip the bird: it is a smooth one-handed animation. But raise your hands in surrender and then flip the bird: you are an awkward puppet for a few seconds while you put your hands down. My suggestion: add a cohesive gesture-switching scheme. Gesture-to-gesture switching would in all cases be roughly the movement and length of time you would expect it to take in real life. Most importantly, there is not an intermediate state of "no gesture" between them. This would pair well with the suggestion to allow movement during "appropriate" gestures, as in the following example: You are held up for beans, you put your hands up in surrender. They command you to kneel and put them behind your head. You decide to take your chances and sprint for it! Or you don't like the look of their masks and just flip them the bird directly and hope for a bullet. The overall idea would open up richer interactions as more gestures make their way into the game. It would also allow for smoother tactical gesturing if those make it in.

I think that's one of the reasons it becomes such a good idea. It's multifaceted and players can use it to their own ends. Kind survivors can bond, perhaps adding more emotional weight to deaths after you've shaken hands with a stranger. Deceptive types have another layer of illusion to hide behind. It also adds another "neutral" animation, where your weapon hand is unarmed and hence you're not an immediate threat.

I'm a fan of a lot of the things Eve Online has done, and this is very much applicable here without damaging immersion. I agree that it would enhance the value of human life greatly. You don't necessarily need to take it to the level of repairing Hinds, either, if you want a more subtle impact. Example: You find a book about medicine. While you have it in your inventory, you're able to "research" medicine (the verb used in Eve.) It takes 4 hours (or whatever) of being logged in and alive to learn the skill. Once learned, it opens up more medical recipes with slightly better results. E.g. you can use improvised materials for things like IVs and transfusions with less risk of getting sick. Once illness and health mechanics make it further, you could have the medicine skill reduce the time it takes to fix hypothermia. Notes: In Eve, you don't have to stay logged in to research, so months for high level battleship stuff isn't unreasonable. In DayZ it makes more sense to be logged in to learn, since it's a survival game. You can't just log and learn things, you need to survive the wilds of Chernarus for 4 solid hours after finding the book.Optionally, it could be like eating where there is an animation and you are otherwise indisposed. Then it could only take an hour of "reading," but reading involves sitting down with the book in your lap, making you vulnerable and requiring interruption to go find more food or hightail it.If these "skills" only open up new recipes or make things slightly more effective, you can lower the effectiveness of existing actions slightly. Maybe without a weapon care book, a cleaning kit is only 80% effective, meaning your gun will slowly become ruined despite cleaning it religiously. With the book skill learned, a bandit group has reason to keep you alive to clean all their guns instead of just murdering you, since they probably don't want to take the time to read books instead. If in the future, a splinted fracture means you can't run until it's healed, medicine-skilled splints could take less healing time.Recipe-based incentives open up bartering with other survivors. Trade a good splint for some campfire jerky that won't go rotten. If any skills make it into the game, I see this as being the closest to retaining the hardcore survival feel while opening up player-driven gameplay options.