scriptfactory

The purpose is NOT to add new content and worry about debugging and cleaning up later. I hear this often repeated by DayZ fans but I can't find a source for this (false) information. These same fans run around telling everyone they don't know anything about game development while repeating this lie. The purpose of the alpha/beta testing phase of a project is to verify (via black-box testing) that implemented features function as intended. The whole point of alpha testing is identifying bugs that will need to be fixed before the initial release of a product. This is why a feature freeze typically occurs BEFORE the testing phase of the dev. cycle even starts.

@OP: I don't agree with all of your comments or priorities but I also feel that a focus on core functionality would be beneficial to player enjoyment AND development progress.

Doors should be able to be locked with a combination lock.Safehouses should be protected with traps (we need more variety).Unused windows and door can be barricaded with wood logs, stones or metal plating/sheets.Combination lock Rare variant

For endgame-style mechanics like OP is looking for we will probably have to wait for mod support (e.g. Breaking Point, Life, 2017, Epoch, Overpoch, etc.) That is not a criticism.

I'm pretty sure vanilla DayZ will always be a bunch of guys running around with guns and sometimes you eat or puke. Wait for mod support.

I don't think it is intended that a person pick apples for 15 minutes to survive after spawning. That is horrible.

Well, ranges of movement speeds based on equipment has been done before, especially in combination with a stamina system. But no game, as far as I can recall, lets your create your loadout by running around and gathering gear. I haven't never seen any game design plans for DayZ's advanced weight + stamina system but I sincerely doubt it will be as advanced as you seem to think it will be. None of the systems implemented to date seem that sophisticated from a design standpoint and they shouldn't be. Everything should be simple enough for people to understand without a UI. Oregon Trail was amazing. XD Project Zomboid has a fairly complex health system. There are also several text-based roguelikes I have played that offer similar functionality but not in a multiplayer environment. https://pzwiki.net/wiki/Health Don't get me wrong, I understand that the plans for the eventual health and medical system are quite in-depth. I am just not sure if the final implementation will be even close to what is planned. There is a reason USFIV is the de facto fighting game in e-sports and Smash is primarily played at children's parties and teen sleepovers. Footsies. Option selects. 1-frame combo links. The skill ceiling for the game is incredibly high. Street Fighter is not Mortal Kombat so it has no need for combo breakers. An understanding of frame data is needed to play SF which, I feel, adds greatly to its complexity.

If planning a medical system was all it took for a game to be innovative then Star Citizen would have won that race. I don't judge games on what they promise to deliver, I do it based on what they actually provide. As of right now DayZ has fallen short on all fronts. I fully expect this to change but (if we take Arma 3 as an example) not before Q3/Q4 2016, at the earliest. But, then again, I used to play a lot of pen-and-paper RPGs as a kid. The damage/health systems in GURPS or Rifts > anything in modern video games. Stamina and weight has been done before in many, many genres. From sports games to MMOs, the concept is not that new. Well, it is no secret that SF fans think Smash is for carebears. :D Again, I don't agree with this statement. Everything in this game is derivative or some other game that I have already played. The thing that drew me to mod was the possibility to eventually partake in a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic world. Mod was (and still is) a fun deathmatch but DayZ SA seemed to want to offer more. I remember watching videos of Dean Hall back in the day and him actually saying that he was looking for way to reduce KoS. I don't know if it was too hard or whatever but all of those plans seem to have been abandoned. I am in total agreement with you here. I love the game for what it is but I will never accept it as even having the potential to be the "greatest game ever". I might be old and jaded but I don't find the continual bugs and broken state of this game to be charming. But games are great and you are too for discussing them with me. Thank you, sir. :)

DayZ is only point, shoot, die, rinse, repeat, right? It's just stretched over a longer period of time but, currently, it is a slow deathmatch game. Even after all features on the roadmap are added there is still no innovation that Minecraft hasn't already provided (besides multiplayer torture.) I played a lot of chess, checkers and Risk/Stratego when I was a kid. For me, the ability to invest an extreme amount of time in a game, develop strategies and perhaps see my manual skill/dexterity increase determines how fun I find a game. Street Fighter is like chess on crack once you get a basic understanding of the game mechanics and improve your move execution. Being able to, repeatedly, implement plans may sound boring to you but there is a whole industry (MOBA E-sports) built off of 5v5 PvP on a single map. I love balanced and fair games that require skill. I love for a total noob at a game to still have a chance to survive and defeat me. DayZ is not that game.

DayZ is a fun game! I invested over 600 hours into it (most of that time spent auto-running around the map). But I also have 1000 hours in SFIV, 1200 hours in BF 3/4, 400 hours in BF:BC2, hundreds of hours in MW2/CS 1.6/CS:GO, etc. How is it even possible to make an objective argument for DayZ to be greatest ever? I'm pretty sure games have to be finished to be considered for that title... Methinks OP be trollin'...

Vanilla DayZ offers plenty of opportunities for small team-based cooperation. It will probably never offer the experience of surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. People always talk about DayZ being like "The Road" but someone needs to make a fucking "Mad Max" or "Book of Eli" mod. Post-apocalyptic civilization without NPCs.

You have a very condescending tone for someone that clearly has no previous experience with the software development process. This game would not be considered an alpha build outside of the early access process. It would be "pre-alpha", meaning it is not even ready for public testing. The Early Access release model allowed game developer (like Bohemia) to release software that was still in the implementation/development phase of the dev. cycle to the general public. I will, briefly, detail how typical software applications (including games) are developed according to my experience. You start with an idea. A list of features that you would like in your app. You create requirements for the implementation of that idea. You analyze your current software solutions against your product requirements. You build a minimum viable app. This is where the majority of development comes into play. There is all sorts of automated and internal testing that goes on in this phase. You are now ready to release the app for public testing (e.g. your alpha and beta testing phases). You can now release the first version of your app or go back to step 1.Now, people are assuming DayZ is already at step #5 because Early Access devs love to use "alpha testing" as a blanket term for all "public testing". But I am pretty sure DayZ skipped a bunch of steps and went from an idea, to developing that idea, to realizing their current software wasn't viable for that idea, to evaluating their software, to creating requirements, to developing their software, etc. All the while the game was released for public testing (not free but at a cost to the end-consumer.) I hope this helps you understand why people get confused about a game that has been in "alpha" for this extended amount of time. A 2-3 year alpha is not normal. It is, also, not bad. But, please, stop talking shit about how people don't understand something when you are, clearly, confused as well.

The butthurt is strong in this thread but it would be interesting to let it ride and see what comes of it. The forums have been kinda' boring as of late. :D

Intel CPUs are quite reasonably priced right now for the performance, IMO. http://www.atelco.de/en/26/CPU.search?nsr=1

Mod was great for various reasons. But here are some things that I loved in Mod that it seems players think isn't a part of DayZ: Hero/bandit system.Mountains of glorious weapons.Mountains of glorious vehicles.UI with icons.Global chat. All of that shit was fun and when it was no longer fun I would play some "hardcore" mod like DayZero. People also say that all that shit is not a part of DayZ. Honestly, I hope someone makes a DayZ classic mod for SA.

Or it would end up like H1Z1 and Rust with people simply choosing not to play since their current server is empty and they would have to get geared up again to play on another server. I think public shards (with 5-10 servers per shard) is the best of both worlds. Create your base on one shard and hop to others to loot up. I see no problem with this. Then again, I don't play for the "best" loot and don't care if other people DO. I don't give a shit if someone server hops for an AK or a hi-cap vest. I do care about the shitty deathmatch and there are other solutions to that problem that will present themselves after modding support is enabled.

Let me start off by saying that I currently have 635 hours in-game and play on 3 seperate private shards, one of which is for PvP and is 3PP:Off. I do think that DayZ does a lot of things well and would like to compliment the DayZ Mod community, Rocket and the rest of the BIS devs on the wonderful product they have all contributed to. I think the DayZ environment is somewhat reminiscent of a recently post-apocalyptic world. I build a sense of attachment to my gear through the exhaustive, multi-session looting process. This gear attachment translates into some kind of character attachment. It definitely contributes to my sense of being present in the game. But I do feel that much more work could be done as far as the user interface is concerned to improve the immersive experience. So I recently read this thesis from some dudes that work @ EA DICE: http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/111921.pdf They evaluated a bunch of first-person shooters and attempted to quantify "immersion". Their findings and comments from a game designer friend (that played the game briefly during the Christmas holidays at my suggestion) made me realize what I have disliked about DayZ since I started playing it. The distinct lack of expressive user interface elements poorly communicates my avatar's experience to me. In other words, shit is confusing. So confusing that the transient state of immersion often eludes me. The authors write: "For the purpose of this thesis, immersion will be defined as; moments during play when the players access their real world perception, reasoning skills or emotions (the primary frameworks of the player) to play the game or voluntarily adopt the game world as a primary world and reason from the characters point of view, rather than having to refer directly to the rules of the game. ... From this definition three distinct types of immersion factors can be described, immersion concerning reasoning, immersion concerning perception and immersion concerning emotions." Well, emotional immersion is taken care of through the permadeath mechanic. It sucks to lose a huge investment. When seeing another player you immediately feel the need to rob/shoot him to take his loot, shoot him to take his time investment (griefing) or avoid him to keep your time investment safe. DayZ also does a fair job of immersion through reasoning if you solely judge the game based on the ability to loot and shoot. If the DayZ game designers avoid improving and enriching gameplay mechanics past the point they are now then the job is done well. We know which houses we should loot. We know through meta-gaming where the best weapons are. We know how to kill zombies most effectively. There are no world containers or destroyable objects so there is currently no reason to even check these objects. The DayZ ruleset is understood by experienced players... new player have a bunch of problems but that could be fixed by a tutorial or sandbox testing ground of some kind. But there are quite a few problems with immersion through perception, in my opinion. Items falling under the ground. Inconsistent loot spawn mechanics where items will pop into existent around you sometimes. The weekly wipe during maintenance is completely inconsistent with persistence. Items that don't really fit in the game world, like PAYDAY masks, teddy bears but no other toys, NATO military gear when no other NATO equipment/buildings/bases are present. Items that aren't able to be picked up even though they look like they should be able to (e.g. those piles of garbage.) I hope most of these problems will be fixed by the end of beta. Now we have immersion of perception. The authors write: "In order to manifest player presence within the game world, the player must be allowed to elicit information as he or she would make use of perception in a real world scenario. ... Because of this, it is fair to argue that a UI element strengthening the player’s in-game perception can increase player immersion. By bonding the player closer to the perception of his or her avatar, a player presence within the game world can be manifested resembling human presence in the real world. ... Diegesis seems to be of less importance when considering perceptual immersion. ... In other words, UI elements strengthening the player avatar perceptual link can also strengthen player immersion whilst still digressing from any sense of realism, fiction or UI transparency." This is where I believe a mistake has been made by the DayZ game designers. They have simply avoided any kind of meaningful UI, attempting to rely strictly on in-game world elements, aural and "meta-perceptive" elements, and the inventory screen to convey extremely complex player information like health, hydration status, sickness, temperature and injuries. The authors continue with: "It feels relevant to distinguish internal perception from external. The most obvious loss of perception when transferred into the body of an avatar in a game might be the loss of perception regarding ones internal status, such as the level of health. However, there is also need to make up for perception regarding the world external to the avatars body, such as the loss of direction and orientation that might appear as argued above." They have completely avoided any kind of UI to identify players effectively giving all players a case of prosopagnosia. I meet people on RP servers and see them again 5 minutes later and they no longer recognize me. This is a huge break in immersion for me. Something as simple as a configurable hex markers, like in Arma 3, that could be disabled would even improve this situation. While so many players complain about 3PP:On as an immersion breaker it actually can help some people have a better sense of spatial perception. I know when I am hiding in a bush in real life, but I can't figure it out with 3PP:Off. When playing on Hardcore servers I often see bad players that think they are hiding in bushes or tents but they are visible clear as day. TL;DR: I feel the UI (not HUD) needs a bunch of help and no one really talks about it. I wish more focus was put on it.

I've been waiting for working persistence and barricading since April 2014. Still waiting.

A project plan is always necessary. If they aren't meeting their deadlines and milestones then their project scope/requirements probably aren't clearly defined. No company just lets its developers just do whatever they want. That's the quickest way to waste money and cause projects to fail.

Can confirm. I am a big ego-shooter enthusiast (since Wolfenstein 3D). I play other comparable games in first-person mode. This is the only game that makes me feel physically ill. I haven't had head bob or post-processing enabled since Dec 2013. I believe it is directly related to the lack of framerate stability, the strange perspective warping (regardless of FoV) and the janky character movement in 1PP.

Reading throught this Q&A I can only think: I had a lot of fun playing DayZ (600+ hours in 2014) but the game engine limitations are so fucking disappointing.

I'm an American living in Germany (so I am no expert) but I think the literal translation is something like "spotted camoflauge".

I don't think there is a maximum draw distance in BF3/4. I've seen videos with 3km+ sniper shots and in BF3 the longest sniper shot was somewhere around 4km. Frostbite 2 is pretty amazing from a technical perspective.

Virtually every FPS I play is in 1PP. I even play H1Z1 in 1PP mode. The difference? In H1Z1 I get a stable > 60 (normally 120) fps. In DayZ I get an unstable 10-50 FPS. These low, jittery FPS numbers make a 1PP gaming session extremely uncomfortable. The DayZ engine just sucks for first-person (currently).

I remember many people had a problem with the griefing in Mod, too. Isn't this why the "bandits vs heroes" feature was added? PvP is fun, it is a part of the game, and it shouldn't go anywhere. PvP should be the result of a conscious decision to hunt/kill other players and not the default method of social interaction because of boredom. So what can be done? Give players something to do. Make them feel that their time in-game wasn't spent just wasted running around, picking up loot, and then dying. More infected and aggressive wildlife: bears and packs of wolves will give players a way to use their bullets that don't include other players. Infected drop items: I assume this will come since you can already view a zombies inventory. Certain items should primarily/only show up on infected (e.g. bullets, tac. vests, etc.) This will give players a grind. Safehouses: Give users another grind to protect their items. This will also give certain resources (e.g. nails) value so, perhaps, trading will start to occur. Luckily these features are already on the roadmap and could cure this player boredom. We will just have to wait around a while for them to get added.