TheMachine

Well firstly, I'm not saying Rocket and team can't do whatever they want, they can release in 2016 if they like (and just might at this rate). My concern is that they've obviously fallen into the main trap of software development and bitten off more than they can chew. Do you remember when SA was just going to be a reworked version of the mod with a different client/server architecture? As I recall, the plan was to do that, to sort out the various issues the mod had with hackers and server load, then iterate upon that with new features. From what I've seen in the dev blogs they've went all out on new features (most of which aren't finished) and haven't even fixed the basic bugs the mod had. It's as if they're just sitting there adding one new thing after another, then getting an idea about how that first thing they added should be changed/bug fixed. I've been doing web development for years, and trust me I know exactly how things like this happen. Either you start with a well defined plan, do that and release it then add new features or you'll NEVER, EVER release your product. I'm not even taking aim at rocket and team either, or calling them out, I'm just stating the facts that are self evident from everything I've seen so far.

And I don't understand your question.

A failed release, then a years wait and the complete absence of any release date are indicative of vapourware. My concern isn't that the team aren't doing anything, my concern is that they've fallen into the most common trap in software development and expanded the scope of the project to such a degree that they can't realistically ever release it. There's no other explanation for the YEAR long delay and their point blank REFUSAL to tell us even a 3 month timeframe when we can expect to play the game.

SA has already went almost a year past it's original 'release date' and still doesn't have a timeframe for release. I know the fanboys and suckups will get up my ass for saying this, but this is pretty much the definition of vapourware, whatever your opinion on it is. The dev team are seriously taking the piss not even announcing a tentative release date. Either they should call the project off or tell us when it'll be released. This sort of thing happens all the time in the games/tech industry, the scope of the project expands (and keeps expanding) until it gets to a point that the product will basically never be 'ready'. Sooner or later the company/team runs out of money and resources for the development and it's cancelled. This, I believe is what will happen to DayZ. I remember it happened on kickstarter, team asks for $400,000 to make a game, they get over 3 million and decide to expand the scope of the original project instead of just making what they originally planned to make, before they knew it they were over budget, had spent themselves into a corner and the project was cancelled. At present, I don't believe, nor is there any evidence whatsoever, that DayZ will be released as a standalone product. The fact that they won't even give a release date tends to suggest to me that even now, we're at least 6 months out. And who knows, maybe after 6 months they'll add MORE things to the project and it'll be another 6 months? Release early, release often - If the staff behind dayz can't operate by this philosophy then I don't think we'll ever see a game.

So I've been killing people on DayZ for a long time. I've become really good at it too. But lately I've been trying to think of newer, better ways to troll the shit out of other players, killing them just isn't enough anymore. One of my favourites is to break legs, let the victim bandage up, follow them for 15 minutes while they try to find supplies, hunt animals then shoot them again. This however, is quite hard to actually pull off successfully, people usually just suicide or get killed by someone else. Killing someone with great EQ is also decent, but since that's standard bandit practice anyway, it's hardly a deviation from the norm. Betrayal can be fun, especially if you team with someone for at least half an hour, then sombrely say "I'm sorry man, but I just have these urges..." waiting for their response of "what?" then shooting them in the head. This too is a lot of work and it'll usually ends with them being killed by someone else before you have a chance to execute your devious plan. Classic 'gentleman' banditry can be fun too, not actually killing a player but making them drop their EQ, but for this you really need a team. Letting someone fully repair a vehicle before sniping them is good, but requires a lot of patience. What about you guys, what sort of depraved shit do you do?

Imagine, if you will, the nightmare of living in a post apocalyptic world, there'd be mass murder, rape, torture and cannibalism. Now, think about this in the context of DayZ. More than anything it's the psychological aspect that makes the game thrilling to play. The fear of other players. When you're playing DayZ, you don't want to die, but you expect it, you know it's coming and you know it's from another player. What if we could add a new dynamic to the gameplay that'd really force people to make difficult decisions? Imagine you're at the airfield, your looting the barracks while your friend stands guard outside, suddenly shots start coming in, DMR's, m14's, AK's blasting, your friend dies and you manage to make it inside wounded and bleeding. You manage to bandage yourself, but you know the other team is closing in, you KNOW you can't fight them off on your own. It's a matter of time until they sneak up and toss a grenade in or pop you in the head through the window. BAM, lights out. So, what you do? If you're a pussy, you logout, but if you're a real man, you either fight your way out of there or die trying. Wouldn't it be cool if death had consequence beyond losing your gear? Wouldn't it be cool if after you were killed you were locked out for say, 10 minutes? BUT, if you take your own life, no lockout, you can just relog. That'd force so many tough decisions from players, do you fight against hopeless odds, or do you take the easy way out? Or, did that guy inside that building just shoot himself or did he just fire a shot into the ground? Scroll, select 'suicide?', 'are you sure?' 'yes'. Your character turns and puts his pistol in his mouth, BOOM, game over. That'd give me a new goal in game, corner people and make them suicide.

There'd be no point punishing someone for suiciding, it's the easy way out. The point of the lockout would be to force people to make the hard choice, fight on, or take the easy way out to avoid the lockout? It'd add a whole new dynamic to the game when your enemies are so scared of you they cap their own ass.

How does killing ones self take away from anyone else playing experience? It's realistic and gritty.

It'd FORCE people to decide if they were going to be cowards and go out with a bullet in the head by their own gun or risk a 10 minute block by fighting, it's called an incentive. You can bet your bottom dollar, lots of people would suicide.

I never said 24 hours, brony guy did. I suggested 10 minutes to make the decision harder. Do you kill yourself, sensing the situation is useles, or do you risk the 10 minute login block by trying to fight back?

I'm going to bet around september/october, if it was july they'd happily announce it to the world and everyone would be happy. The only reason they aren't telling people is because it's not in the immediate future.

24 hours would be a cool, but most people can't take that kind of hardcore.

You know a game is hardcore when you literally poop your pants while you're playing it. Some people may ask, why tell the following story? Aren't you embarrassed? Do you have no shame? No, is the answer to all of the above. Sometimes DayZ is just so riveting, so tense, that you can't even control your bodies reaction to the high octane thrill ride, especially if you ate chipotle the night before and you've got a dodgy stomach. It all started in Elektro, after an epic battle of wits and courage I finally overcame the sniper on Dobre hill with a flanking maneuver, killing him with a single shot to the head with my double barrel shot gun. The loot was a DMR, 5 mags and basically a full loadout with an m4 in the backpack. This is when it happened, BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM, I'm being fired at by a guy with what sounds like an M14 aim, I can only assume it's his friend higher up the hill. After an exchange of fire and broken legs, his friend is dead and I'm bleeding on the ground. That isn't the worse part, in all the confusion and excitement I've pooped myself, the smell permeates the room and as I stand up I feel the remnants of last nights chipotle soak my joggers, I'm ashamed. The worst part though? I spend the next 20 minutes gathering loot, getting a blood bag and finding a safe place to logout before going to the bathroom to clean myself up.

The people that play DayZ are patient, we're willing to wait for servers to load, we learn to live with bugs and we accept the fact that we're going to die sooner rather than later. But, the general COD, counter strike crowd are NOT patient and that, along with some other stuff is why DayZ will fail. 1. No one is going to spend 2-3 minutes loading into servers, which judging by the length of time the mod has been out and the fact this still hasn't been fixed will be a problem in the SA too. 2. I don't believe people will continue to play DayZ long after they buy it, because they'll rage quit. 3. Rocket doesn't seem to really understand what players actually want. Remember how he'd spent weeks working on irrelevant features no one asked for or really wanted (dogs) and how he refused to remove certain textures even though they were turning the map into a surrealistic modern art piece with the artefacts? Refusing to remove high powered sniper rifles despite the hacking and duping? Yeah, that's Rocket, as good and as novel as DayZ is, he just doesn't fully 'get' his own creation. I mean for crying out loud, they're doing Motion Capture for zombie movement when they should be looking into a system that lets people build structures. 4. They've missed their window, simple as that. Had they released DayZ 6 months ago when the buzz was at it's height then we might have had a winner on our hands. Unfortunately the project has lost focus, time and direction. Hell, Rocket just went off for a two month holiday when he's the lead developer of a game, incredibly irresponsible on his part and a big fuck you to the people who're waiting for the game. In any other industry that'd get you fired. I want to see DayZ succeed, but I just don't think it can anymore. The silver lining is that the mod is going in fantastic new directions with all the different forks of the original people are making.

There's too many posts to rebut individually, but I will say this. DayZs' scope is beyond what can be achieved with the Arma engine. Right now we have a patchwork, something that's not quite there but could be if a few prerequisites are met, but none of those prerequisites are being actively tackled by the development team (at least not that they've stated publicly). These include - 1. Slow load times, for a commercial game and not a niche mod, quick server loads are a MUST, people will tell their friends they can't even play the game they bought and it'll crash the sales. 2. Player count, 50-60 players (60 gets really laggy even with low ping) servers are not enough, the map feels completely empty. Unless this can be addressed and we can have 100-200 player servers then it's just a running simulator with AI. 3. Bugs bugs and more bugs. 4. Hackers. 5. Consoles, Rocket has stated he wants to release (cash in) on DayZ on consoles, this will without a doubt (deny it all you like, Xbox crew) ruin the experience of DayZ on PC even if it's a parallel development, ie a different game altogether that doesn't mess with the PC version. 6. Rockets 2 month vacation. Sure he has a right to do whatever he damn well pleases, but at this stage in the development it's trolling. There's more points that are self evident facts about the state of the game but I'm not going to write them all out. Fail as compared to what it could have been. Like a brilliant scientist who has a car accident and goes from 180-70 IQ. Could of had cold fusion, instead you get mouth drooling.

No, it's not, I really believe DayZ has missed it's window and from what I've read the development is going in the wrong direction(focus on textures, 'lore' and not gameplay). I don't doubt it'll be a moderate success, but not the breakthrough game it could have been. The threads I made on the other account were an example of the mindset of the hacker, brought to public light for all to see. It was part satire, part truth, but since all satire is just something taken to it's logical extreme it worked pretty well. In fact, it wasn't even that extreme, you've got to understand the mindset of these idiots that hack, it's a whole subculture of weakness that exemplifies everything wrong with not only gaming but humanity in general.

If you can't tell the thread I made about hacking was satirical (it was beyond ridiculous the stuff I posted on that account) then good God man, welcome to the internet.

This is a great post. It seems no one is making light of the fact there hasn't really been any 'amazing' features announced, I seen a swamp near kamenka and like you mentioned, new skins and inventory system. But that's it? The ONLY new 'feature', if you can call it that, from the latest dev blog is the 'radio transmissions', now you can talk to other players on radios. Well holy shit, I can talk to my friends on TS anyway. It does NOT talk a year to make a new inventory system, tweek a map and make some new skins. So you've got to wonder, what exactly are they doing that'll actually bring something to the experience?

Like most of the general gaming population, I don't have time to read 70 pages of teenagers arguing about what style of ghillie suit will works best. The point is, BI and Rocket lied from the start, they gave us false release dates knowing it'd slip back and back until it's been what, 6 months past their stated release date already?

So, rocket is climbing mount-fucking-everest, that's another 2 months we can assume there's no chance of a release on the standalone. I know the suck ups will bitch me out for even saying this and call me entitled etc. But this is beyond a joke. Not that the game is taking so long to release, we'd rather have it late and in playable state than early and buggy. The JOKE is that neither Rocket, or BI are being honest with us about when the release date is, they obviously have some idea. It's almost like they don't want to just say 'Ok, it'll be released around january 2014', because that'll put a real damper on the 'buzz' (that's died down now anyway) or so they think,

The only people complaining about this are the people who enjoyed combat logging. Now they actually need to stand and fight or at least get a little better at running away, so they come onto the forums to have a good cry and try to come up with ridiculous scenarios where they NEED to go away from the computer really fast and can't logout. Here's an idea, if it's an ACTUAL emergency then just leave the computer. If your friend is being attacked by raptors on the I35, just leave the house and go rescue him.

Yesterday I shot a guy with a DMR, he got knocked down instantly, unconscious. I ran up to him, whispered ever so gently "Do you feel me? I'm inside you now, deep, deep inside...", he just asked me "what's wrong with you man?" as if I'm some sort of sick maniac. It got me thinking, we need basements in DayZ. We need to be able to capture people after we shoot them down and they're alive. Imagine if we were able to hog tie people and load them onto the back of our Urals, then take them back to our houses (since all buildings in SA will be enterable) then drag them down to the basement, gagged and bound. You could literally build up a collection of survivors until someone came and broke them out. DUNGEON KEEPER. It'd be really cool of gagging someone made anything they said on direct chat sound like cadences, just "mhmmmm mhmhmmM HMMMMMMM HMEMMMMM". You could be the master of their realm, your basement, giving them food and water, whenever they logged in it'd be in your basement, they'd NEED to escape to continue playing the game. You could even have a sort of slave trade going, selling survivors for weapons or supplies, perhaps to be used building something their new slaves masters wanted. This is not a suggestion by the way.

Can a mod move this back to general? This is important stuff.

Why has this been moved to the suggestion forum when I clearly state in the first post that it's NOT a suggestion?

When you're hog tied you should be unable to log out, just like on some servers you can't logout when you've shot a gun. Sure, you could close the client, but when you log back in you're in the same place. That way we could have a PROPER slave system, use them as cheap labour. Perhaps they'd get a spartacus and revolt against their slave masters, that'd be interesting.