graliv

Work in progress below, Just making sure the devs don't winge RE: conceptual rights. Updates will be found on: https://graliv.com/blog/ if I get around to any. It seemed like i’d spent days in the water, after jumping the rail from the ship, the infected were everywhere and I had no other options. Scrambling onto the beach and panting on the shore, just thankful for being alive but starting feeling the cold wind beginning to bite. In the distance the dull thud of a shot gun tells me all I need to know, the infected are here. Picking myself up, throwing both arms around me and shivering, looking up the shore I can see a small house a hundred yards to my right, keeping low, praying not to be seen, I creep closer, very aware that the t-shirt and jeans I’m wearing are lethally inappropriate for the late autumn weather, the only positive thought in my head: its not raining. Slowly staggering to just outside the gate of the one story fisherman’s house I listen, the only sounds now are the birds and brisk wind, opening the gate wincing as it gives a loud squeak free swinging out of my hand and abruptly juddering with a loud tang against the metal stop. No point waiting, I need to get out of the wind, even though, as I just noticed half of the windows a broken, stumbling forward I try the closed front door and with a sigh of relief find its unlocked, opening the battered tarred door quietly my eyes instantly fall upon an old black woolen coat hanging on a hook to the right. Keeping it quiet and assuming from the broken windows and the stillness, there’s no residents, I pick up the musty coat and slip into it, as gratefully as I’ve even donned any garment. A thump against my thigh sets me to fishing inside the lining of one of the pockets: a care warn Swiss army style multi-tool with attachments. Starting to take in my surroundings, I note I’m probably not the first visitor, the food cupboards by the old iron stove are all open, one hangs swinging on one hinge. Looking further I see a table and chairs and door leading to internal room presumably a bedroom. On opening the door, the unmistakable stench of something rotten hits me, so quickly its closed. Just as I’m pondering my next move, I hear the pounding of soft shoes and a rasping of breath from outside, without thought I open the back door and run!!! Five Minutes later and thankfully warming up from exercise, I have to stop, crouching, fighting for breath, just behind a holly bush. During my frantic dash I’d passed signs of societies breakdown, several cars abandoned on the road, i’d pounded across to get into the trees, with doors open and windows smashed. There’s an old grey pick-up just ahead. Pausing for a few more minutes while my breathing normalizes, to make sure I’m not being followed and to confirm there was no signs of anything else out there. I reflect on my options, practically naked and alone, with what only can be described as predatory human beings who’ve been infected by the virus that’s swept the planet, I can either give up and die of fight to survive, the radio had said that any contact with bodily fluids: blood, saliva can lead to infection so: don’t exchange fluids with the infected. “ha ha ha” I’m loosing my mind, or am I returning to sanity, anyway “I must survive”, first a weapon, I feel the desperate need to get something to drink, as I’ve got stomach pains due to the salt I swallowed during the swim. That pick-up may have something useful, so risking a mad dash into the open I end up sat down on the forest side with my back to the drivers door, thankfully there’s no dead, looking up and down the road, I open the door, the first thing I see is a half empty bottle of mineral water, in the door pocket, opening it greedily, i swash it all back. Putting the empty bottle in my pocket. Next a rummage of the glove box brings up nothing but an old paperback, try the other side pocket, again nothing. Back seat nada. Jumping out, checking left to right to see I’m still in the clear, I stand up to have a look in the bed, again nothing, there’s is however a built in tool box just behind the passenger compartment, I open it and inside an old flat head screwdriver. It’ll do more damage than my bear hand so I grab at it and shove it in my trouser pocket. Thinking I’d spent enough time in the open I run up the rise of the roughly forested hill and start jogging using the cover of the tree line keeping watch for more abandoned vehicles, other survivors and shuddering at the thought the infected. Graeme Livermore

@DemonGroover, yep good point. I love the potential for an AR (Artificial Reality) environment, that could be created in DayZ. I'm an ancient RPGer (pencil and paper et al) and can see possibilities of in a few years (keeping in mind whats going on at Twitch.tv) where we could actually have environments to explore or to watch others explore, that will create a "believable" experience. Just imagine: A fully interactive AR environment, with photographic quality experiences, where a community can participate in a "Zombie" outbreak, alien invasion or natural disaster. Create a persona, build relationships with your neighbors, then something happens, you don't know what its going to be just an event in real time. So you sign up (pay ya bucks) and commit to two hours an evening for 6 weeks. It could be commented on, watched by thousands, big brother style. Its going to happen and DayZ may be part of the start of the genre (or maybe Sims was, whatever). An exciting decade ahead in gaming.....

Hi just wanted to think in text, regarding DayZ Zombie (infected) behavior, this is not a suggestion, just observation and potential improvements Dormant Zombies are always awake and do not sleep, standing in one place for extended periods of time would not be natural behavior, there could be many natural triggers in an environment, mouse,cat,bird etc assuming that prime motivation for attack is food, which biologically would be an essential requirement, some instinct must dictate that other undead are not good food, otherwise zombies would attack each other to extinction. Therefore, a zombie would patrol, in coding terms this would require mapping of immediate environment and setting way points around obstacles even to the extent of passing into open doors, at any point a zombie may stop for an indeterminate length of time and then move on, and could even become permanently static. This would improve realism and also create a less certain environment for the player as sight lines and hearing distance would change. Triggering Zombies will trigger on movement or sound relating to potential food sources, so non stealthy movement in eye line or on hearing footfall, in the later case in theory zombies could trigger zombies and then return to dormant on recognition of non viable food source (another zombie) or if unable to acquire target by sight (IE player hides/stops moving) if no sight is gained zombie listens actively for a period of time before going dormant and returning to start point. On a positive identification of viable prey, the chase is on! Hunting Zombies emit a hunting call that triggers any other zombie that hears it. Hunting Simply put its a straight line of sight chase. Limited predictive behavior is inherent to the nature of the reanimated, on loss of sight, (building/ bushes) the zombie will continue in a straight line for 30 seconds, unless it also can hear breathing/footfalls, at which point it stops and attempts to reacquire, via hearing/sight, and will back track to point of last contact looking and listening. In theory on total loss of prey randomly 3 minutes the zombie could slowly return to starting point, which would add another element to play as other players could encounter returning zombies, which would make zombie behavior less static. I won't bore you with anything else, as stated just working through some thoughts these were better in my head.

Replies on comments: Random furniture generation on server restart - houses need to be individualized for better realism. Don't think that is possible, and it would result in so many furniture clipping through the wall. Also, the load on the server would be massive. I understand some programming concepts, as far as clipping is concerned you map a zone for furniture then create say 5 items that fit that mapped area, then if you have 3 zones in a room you only have to rand*5*3 * rooms, that should be OK. In theory if server load is an issue you could only map furniture if a player comes in sight range which would mean item creation/assignment could be staggered. At the very least linen could be different colors on beds and pictures on the wall could have different images. It would just have to be an extension of loot creation. Spawn with random Items. Been suggested. People would kill themselves until they spawn with the items they want Its a replay-ability. On spawn, you have 4 slots, you would be giving people two 1 slot items, from a carefully controlled list for example: torch & battery, Can opener & beans, Water Bottle(empty) & bandages, Sprite and Apple, Matches & fishing hook etc. Zombies carry loot There was some word on that. They carried loot in the mod, i don't see why they wouldn't in the SA. Its guaranteed its gonna happen as it creates a rather than avoid zombies, which is a good new spawn tactic before you get a fire axe, it would put pressure on confrontation making the risk and encouraging the zombie kill skill. Character specialization on spawn - Military (Hardier) - Hunter (more accurate) - Engineer (Specialist Crafting Items) - Athlete (faster movement) A huge NO to player classes. Shame, I think its a good idea. Names would also be nice as it makes you invest and makes "death" a lot more difficult to live with :) You could broadcast with body types making a greater diversity of characters coz lets face it they are all clones no individuality beyond kit. For starting items you should only have very basic clothes (shoes, shirt, pants) which might be randomized though (maximum: Shirt+Jeans+Jogging Shoes) giving you 2-6 inventory slots. No other gear but a flashlight+battery (as gimmick for being able to spawn at night - not to be replaced with anything). Random clothes would be good, anything that creates an "individual" that's not exactly the same as the last guy you got killed through stupidity would improve the investment in the character, I don't know about you but first time I kept a guy alive for an hour I was quite upset when he got shot in the head by a sniper. I also remember crawling for half an hour in the woods until I found someone who I begged to kill me.

Just some bullet points, some may already be pipe lined, but just giving my tuppence worth for final release or future mods after release (assuming the dev team reads the forum) :) Sewer Systems/Caves/cellers - New travel options in large towns plus exploration, defensible positions, persistent camps on user dedicated servers (make torches essential, not just dead weight on spawn). Spawn with random Items. Random furniture generation on server restart - houses need to be individualized for better realism. Openable cupboards/wardrobes etc Crowbars usable or locks for locked/blocked doors, all rooms should be accessible/mapped Character specialization on spawn - Military (Hardier) - Hunter (more accurate) - Engineer (Specialist Crafting Items) - Athlete (faster movement) Non Player non Zombie sprites - Should be possible to create random wandering/static (i.e. behind closed doors) guys/gals that run away from Zombies and players (carry loot) some interactivity options other than "kill" would be good maybe: follow? Zombies carry loot Players can volunteer to be searched whilst conscious - may cut down on banditry executions - Also a guaranteed knockout (3 minutes) when prone would help Greater range of Fruit trees/Berry bushes/Mushrooms/Roots/Crops - recipes (I know we have cooking pots and stoves) could be interesting Player mapping tools and model kits for map creation on private servers Anyway May come back later got more run out of time. Love the game BTW Don't lose the atmosphere its perfect!!! Graliv