SMoss

Oh yes, this might very well be the way to go in the future once mechanics and features are further fleshed out to a point where it would not be necessary to update info on specific features regularly due to them changing over time for example.

Please keep in mind that even though items you mention (helicopter, rpg) are announced, it does not mean that development on the other of your points listed have come to a halt. As one of my brilliant colleagues once said, "first priorities are not always first deliverables" :)

No problem at all. Developing games is a long haul and there'll be plenty of times in the future when we'll have to keep reminding ourselves that even though the Alpha was released in december 2013, and even though we are getting closer to the Beta, nothing at all is finalized yet. There is a TON of work to go still.

Development for the console prototype is at such an early stage that there's nothing yet to show or talk about really.

There is a lot of concern in this topic regarding the direction DayZ seems to be going and I can understand where it's coming from. While bigger elements of the game are still in development it can look like we're just throwing new gear and weapons at players and not much else in an attempt at hurling DayZ towards becoming another PvP title. However, the vision of having a finished product where you have to work hard in order to survive ingame is very much still there. Obviously, that is not the current state of DayZ, but that does not mean that we do not have that goal in sight - The infected will be back in larger numbers, and with better AI, when performance allows for it. Spawn rates for food for example can and will be tweaked (most likely many times over), but I could imagine that it will happen after, say hunting for example, becomes a more viable source for survival.

I know it's cheap, but I basically can't tell anything about it to any degree of detail.

There's some good feedback here which can be taken into account going forwards. It is of course important that continuity is upheld later on, but for now, there is still so much work being conducted on DayZ that progression is not guaranteed.

While in development, we'll have to distinguish between how things are supposed to work and how things actually do behave in the live environment. When things don't work as intended, it is much appreciated when players report it on the Feedback Tracker. The team will then investigate what the deal is.

Something other than the pirate treasure chests :)

There's some info on this in the following wiki post: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Geometric_Occluders

As noted in the topic containing the 2015 Roadmap: Please note; as mentioned at PAX Aus., items figuring on the roadmap does not mean them having to be polished features / mechanics / items. Q1 2015 Basic vehicles V3S utility truck Central economy (advanced loot distribution) Global per item quantity and rarity control Dynamic event frequency and radius control Item type / Storage type / Time persistence for each instance New renderer Current Status: Testable and underway with internal QA PP in progress Water surfaces & ocean not present – IN PROGRESS Optimization and parallelization – IN PROGRESS New Infected AI Initial implementation rolled out- Current goals are aimed at optimizing the server resource cost and increased infected amounts Basic stealth system (zombies, animals, ...) Initial system rolled out – Crouching, holding a low profile to sneak around infected Diseases Brain Prion disease from human meat, Cholera from untreated water – Will be expanded on further Improved Cooking & Horticulture Prototype extension rolled out to stable branch – We'd like to expand upon this further when the new UI is fully functional Advanced Anti Cheat (Evolving BattlEye) Stronger process and memory protection deployed earlier this year – Shut down all known public cheats, aggressively pursuing private cheats Q2 2015 Advanced vehicles (repair, modifications, ...) Vehicle parts currently expanded on .59 We've expanded the vehicle selection type – and begun work to include 2 wheeled vehicles, as well as aerial vehicles We want to expand this into different operational fluids (aviation fuel, diesel fuel, gasoline, motor oil, and so forth) Advanced animals - life cycle, group behavior Present on .58 stable branch. Several bugs preventing proper operation under load MP environment, but looking strong Changes to distribution handling currently being investigated Player statistics (dayz.com / API) Statistics actively being saved central hive side Will be displaying the initial set of statistics within the new UI when this becomes standard New UI Tech Blocking issues being resolved by programming team Design team working on rollout of initial screen changes Player Stamina Rewrite of new player actions which was dependent on the new Player Controller and Animation system is under way Once remaining blockers on new player controller are complete, implementation of this should be incrementally occurring Dynamic events Functioning spawning, cleaning up, and respawning on experimental/stable branches currently Dynamic control over the quantity, frequency, cleanup, and respawn of this system is functioning via CLE tools World Containers (Fridges, Chests, etc.) Initial prototype of this system is currently working on .58 stable. We look forward to expanding upon the existing fridge in the future. Priority on this within the roadmap was pushed to Q4 so we can focus on preparation for deployment of server binaries and private hive / servlet package New Physics System Ongoing development. Vehicle simulation, Ragdoll, Item Throwing, etc. are the visible representation of this. Currently with the new system in development, DayZ is operating two systems – which can be problematic, cause issues, and cost server performance. This will be improved in the future Q3 2015 Traps Functional implementation currently sits at Bear Traps, Trip Wires, and Land Mines We would like to expand this into improvised explosives and traps paired with the existing trip wires Barricading The initial functionality of locking doors via lockpicks was implemented many months back However we would like to expand this further into the barricading of existing structures (beyond locking the doors) This will likely get pushed to Q4 of this year Character life span + soft skills Internal builds have the first skillsets for this feature functioning Hunting, Medical, and Repair skillsets for specific types are currently functioning Properly displaying these are dependent on the new UI being fully implemented We currently are hoping to see the first bunch of these skills come with .60 but we will keep the userbase filled in Animal predators + birds Bratislava Team has been working on the proper implementation of the aggressive animal AI Internally we would like to see testing on these mechanics hit experimental branch late Q4 or early Q1 of next year Art Assets for the initial rollout of this mechanic are in place – pending programming / AI work We'll see this moved to a late Q4 / Early Q1 goal Aerial transport Update of Take On Helicopters Little-Bird model complete as our "Pilot" program for Aerial Transport Creation of assets and mechanics for fixed wing and rotary aircraft under way Internal testing on the flight model complete – We'd like to see this hit experimental at least before the end of the year That said – We'll need to keep updating the progress on this in Status Reports to see if it is viable Console prototype Obviously PC development is paramount to us. So console prototype work will get moved to Q1 of next year BETA version. What does it mean for DayZ? When will we see it? DayZ's Beta will be when primary work switches from feature creation as the primary focus of resources, to bug fixing and content creation for said features as the primary focusCurrently about 85% of our focus is on feature creation / engine development and 15% is on bug fixing Originally our intended goal for this was the end of Q4 this year Several areas of development are taking a bit longer than expected New target adds a few months to this goal – putting us towards the end of Q1 next year for the switch to beta It is critical to understand that hitting 1.0 is not a freeze on development for DayZ Bohemia Interactive fully plans on continuing work on DayZ past 1.0 for at least a targeted 5 years The renderer is most definitely still in focus, but as implementing it in the new engine is a somewhat big undertaking, it'll probably be a while still before we see it as part of an update in the live environment.

Yeah, it's one of those tough ones. It is of course a known issue that the team will focus on fixing during development.

I don't see any harm in that. I mean, there are forum topics where people hand over their gear to other players for whatever reason. As long as it's not a loot shop where profits in real money is the goal (which does not seem to be the case), then it looks kosher to me.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that it'll be good to go next week when the guys get settled after the post-holiday rush at the office.

Not exactly. There'll be something else on the way.

As player count is going to increase later on, it's understandable that it would be nice to be able to hide a small camp a bit better. Nothing has officially been announced yet, but the designers do have something in store for this topic (it looks very promising). Just hang in there, and I'm sure that Brian or Peter will include some info + screenshots in upcoming status reports and on the Trello board.

Both. That's what the team is working towards.

Afternoon Survivors, In this week's Status Report, our Lead Producer Brian will inform us of the current state of development as well as give us a peek at a couple of the incoming vehicles/transportation devices. Also, our Lead Designer Peter will let us in on future plans for hunting and horticulture which looks exciting to those of us who enjoy the hermit lifestyle. Contents This Week Development Board SpotlightDev Update/HicksDev Update/PeterCommunity Spotlight: Isaaq Development Board Spotlight Dev Update/Hicks Happy Holidays everyone! This Status Report will be the last one for this year, as for the last two weeks of this month the team slowly starts heading home to spend the holidays with their families. That said, we have some cool stuff to talk about and show this week, as well as updates on the major engine work everyone is curious about - and even a few new screenshots. ONCE AGAIN - BE AWARE THAT 0.59 STABLE UPDATE BRINGS A COMPLETE AND TOTAL WIPE OF CHARACTERS, ITEMS, AND SERVER DATA! Later today we will bring the Stable Branch servers offline for the 0.59 update. Changelog should follow shortly after the update - and notifications on the service will come from the official DayZ Dev Team twitter account. (twitter.com/dayzdevteam) Please keep in mind - this is but one build on the path of development. It will have its own issues, absent features, bugs, and so on - the best thing you can do to help bring DayZ towards the game we all can't wait to see it become is to file those bugs over at feedback.dayzgame.com ! This report, I'd like to give you all an update on where the new animation system, as well as the new renderer are - and what the next goals in their development are. Animation System: Currently Completed: - Animation Engine Base - Animation Engine Editor Current Focus: - Infected, Player, and Animal skeleton support/graph production - Finishing synchronizations - Finishing differential animations - Ramp up for animators on new technology Next Up: - Add nodes to support more extensive functionality - Synthetic Rotations - Removing legacy animation system tech once deprecated Renderer: Currently Completed: - DX 11 Water Surface Rendering - DX 11 Ambient Occlusion Current Focus: - Optimization / Parrellization - Clouds Rendering While at PAX Australia I spoke briefly on how I'd like to be able to bring the Little Bird to stable branch before Christmas - and how if anything prevented that I'd make sure to let you all know. That said - the programming teams now have the first of our aircraft operating on the proper physics system, however multiplayer sync is not quite ready for the Steam branches. While we won't be seeing in time for Christmas - I'm confident we're not too far off now. :) Keep an eye on the DayZ Trello board to track the progress of this task! That said! The art team has finished on the upcoming Jana Dirtbike - which you can see in the below screenshots: Now that the Jana is complete, work has just begun on everyone’s favorite DayZ method of transportation - THE BICYCLE Lastly this week - I'd like to give you all a sneak peek at some of the awesome stuff some of the team in Bratislava have been working on. It’s no secret that we've wanted to bring dangerous predatory animal threats to the woods and fields of Chernarus - and we're getting close to being able to do just that! - Brian Hicks / Lead Producer Dev Update/Peter Along with scavenging for non-perishable food and cultivation of your own crops, the wildlife of Chernarus offers yet another way how to gather food important for survival. As most of you know or guessed gathering food thru horticulture and hunting will be promoted in the future over non-perishable food as that should be quite rare to find. Animals in DayZ have their day cycle and you can learn by observation what their territories are and where are the points of their interests, may it be water reservoirs, grazing or resting areas. Hunting shouldn't be trivial as animals are very sensitive to your presence and will flee if they notice something unusual going on. However what will the hunting be without the possibility to track your prey down? Tracking is a must have to deepen the hunting experience and make it more enjoyable. Not to mention it as a necessity for following fleeing animals by different signs and marks they leave. Hooves or paws prints, blood stains and scraped ground, even stomped grass patches will help you with localization if you follow them carefully. The same system will be used for tracking of survivors by their foot prints or blood stains and also vehicles, which can leave tracks or stains from leaking operation fluids and don't forget destroyed small items as mileages, sign posts and others as shown in the last Status Report. I'm happy to see how such small details generated by dynamic entities will add to the overall authenticity of static world. Keep your eyes open... see you in Chernarus folks! - Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer Community Spotlight: Isaaq Hey all, So for this time around I came across a couple of videos created by Isaaq. Isaaq seems to be primarily doing RP which always makes for an interesting watch. In particular I enjoyed the video "A Strange Land" which shows the struggles of "a man who just woke up on the coast": If you go to Isaaq's Youtube channel, you'll find a couple more videos which are quite good. Hopefully we'll see more DayZ videos in the future as well. Also, you'll be able to follow Isaaq via his Twitch and Twitter channels where you can catch his streams and news on new videos. As always, if you have a nice video containing DayZ footage you'd like to share, or if you have come across some DayZ footage from other content creators, just post it in the Gallery section of the DayZ forums and we'll happily have a look. Header image credit: green.bratishka - Michael aka SMoss / Community Manager

Yep, no problem :)

The loot economy is not spread across multiple servers on the public hive. It's on a per server basis, so chances should be the same.

Very valid concern. At the moment though, I think anyone will be struggling to get 50 fps in cities. There's still a lot of work to be done in terms of optimization.

As 2015 draws to a close and we approach the two year milestone of DayZ in the Steam Early Access program, the DayZ development team would like to show our deep appreciation to those who have joined us on the journey of this landmark title. We more than anyone understand the frustrations and difficulties that come with participating in the public development of a game. As the team marches along with the new Enfusion engine development, we with our community have weathered broken or missing features, near game-breaking bugs, general growing pains, cheating issues and more. We’ve also experienced exciting landmarks and vital improvements alongside them. We count ourselves lucky to have one of the most passionate, dedicated gaming communities sticking by us through the good and bad, aiding the team in making massive gains and advancements we might never have been able to accomplish without Early Access and those who have participated in it. With our goal set for a 2016 release from Early Access and the coming 1.0 of DayZ, lets take a quick look at what we have ahead of us: Steam Workshop support (Modding)Base BuildingAerial VehiclesNew RendererNew robust Animation SystemEnhanced Audio System supportPredatorsFinalized Chernarus +Animal CompanionsNew more modern UI & InventoryPublic Server Binaries & Servlet/Database ReleaseNew User Actions & Fluid movement within the game worldAnd that’s only the beginning. The entire DayZ team is exceptionally excited about the coming year. We look forward to building this world with our growing community, seeing even more amazing stories play out and sharing landmark moments with everyone that has made this game what it is so far. We thank you, and to everyone who has joined us along the way on our march to DayZ’s ultimate release - this wouldn’t be possible without every one of you.

Ah, it's no trouble at all. Basically, as long as items do not skew the balance between donating and non-donating players on your server, you're golden.

It'll also be exciting to see if there'll be some interesting hunting related mods coming up.