philbur

An interesting perspective from a long-time DayZ Mod YouTube content creator... JackFrags has been a great source for videos from the Mod days and a bit of the early SA builds. (no thanks in large part because he usually teams up with FrankieOnPC). Here he talks about mostly more recent games (with a healthy amount of DLC garbage), but his point about devs releasing a game "too early" to meet release dates is a good one. While you are on his site you should take in a few of the "old" videos to remind yourselves just how far we have come in the SA.... Cheers!

Just a bit more context... JackFrags is one of those Youtubers that gets invited to preview upcoming games...he has early access to Betas, and publishers send him game keys and swag to give away on his channel. Suffice to say... If guys like Jackfrags, Frankie, Septicfalcon, and numerous others decide to start streaming DayZ in it's new incarnation it will go a long way towards making this game a long-lasting and extensively populated MOG. It will also help to dispel a lot of the ill-feelings of a number of folks who have given up on it and I feel a lot of those individuals were pretty passionate about the Standalone back when Rocket announced it...and our experiences in Chenarus would be the better with them than without. The reason I posted this link was to share with all of you his feelings about how the decisions behind a game title's final state have a lot to do with ideas like monetizing DLCs and follow up expansions, as well as the trend towards half-polished "GAMEPLAY" because timelines demand the game get launched by a certain date regardless of its stability or missing features. This speaks volumes to me in relation to DayZ SA, as the primary reason for my continued faith that the game will indeed be as great as was originally promised (albeit slightly different). I sincerely hope that the dev team can justify their time over the last couple of years by giving us an experience that measures up to the highest of our expectations. While I fully expect a few features that I, personally, really wanted to make it into the final game will not be there...I can at least call upon opinions such as the ones in Jack's video as a reminder that regardless of what WE wanted, and WHEN we wanted it...the dev team or BI execs decided to stay the course and do it THEIR way and ultimately this will result in a better game for all of us, whether we currently think so or not. BTW... Youtubers will sometimes just throw up some gameplay footage when they want to VLOG about something, so the footage was not the reason I posted it...and besides...that was only Battlefield 1 gameplay...an obscure game from a fringe company called DICE...and is the latest installment in their marginally successful series of online shooters... ;-)

Precisely! And what a great game mechanic to figure out how to manage it. And in the Canadian Armed Forces it was a 10km "forced march" in full gear, 50-pound pack, 15 pound battle rifle with 4 full mags, and you had to do it as a TEAM in under a set time! And THIS was for Armored Crewmen...who had a nice little 50-ton battle tank to get around in...FFS! Infantry dudes are not quite right in the ole noggin... ;-)

Yes..But further to this I would suggest they just decrease the Stamina Bar, and have the bar also slowly shorten as you jog. It is an "easier" adjustment that more closely resembles real world physics. No one walks in Chenarus and the devs seem to accept it as normal to jog all the time...it's not natural and it almost seems like it encourages the player to take less notice of his surroundings. A gameplay mechanic that makes you become LESS-IMMERSED is kind of odd...for a game that is all about immersion. They seemed very pleased with the way it works in the initial release but I hope as you do that they bring the whole "Stamina" factor closer to reality. In order to "jog" with full pack, battle rifle, ammo, and dressed fully and across broken terrain a fit soldier could cover maybe a kilometer before you were huffing and puffing. That's about 50 pounds on average, not including your weapon...so maybe let's see video footage of Martin and Peter trying that out in the MOCAP studio? ;-P I would love a return to the "huge" map and this is easily the most effective way to do it.

Two excellent questions...as these two are basically the most critical challenges facing this title as it goes forward. I am afraid that this kind of thing will get shoved under the carpet until all the fluff gets implemented. (My guess is they wait until .63 hits EXP and the Jam-Packed servers grind to an FPS standstill.)

My first effort will be to see if adjusting the "Shadows" option in the menu will help with this. It's probably going to be fine with stuff like this because of the slight tweaking we can all do through the video settings....( I hope).

POW! :-)

Or....are they trying to give the night sky a bit of diffusion? It is nice to see a crystal clear night sky, but wouldn't it be more common to see a bit of "haze" across a large portion? I don't mean light pollution...just general diffusion.... As long as the primary stars that are the ones we use for navigation (and planets of course) are visible we should be able to get around.

I honestly would not worry about this. Being a bit of a fan of high-power ballistic cartridges and long range shooting it is my experience that barrel length is not as big a factor as you would think on ultimate velocity and to a lesser extent projectile energy. I know this is a good thing to pursue to add authenticity to the experience...but why bother now, when there are so many "major" tasks to tick off the list first? Add to that...the ballistic coefficiency (BC) of the bullet is going to be the biggest factor in determining the trajectories and retained energy upon impact at different distances, so it would mean you would be adding a bunch of different ammunition options into the loot economy and seeing as Chenarus has two basic states (pre-infection civilian life and post-infection military occupation) it seems there would only really be two types of bullet design for each caliber. (Hollow\Soft point hunting bullets and Fully jacketed military "ball" ammunition). Good to see a nice batch of updates from all of you, though...but I just hope you don't get sidetracked by details like this. Manage your limited cycles! We will be more than happy to complain about stuff like ballistics when the time comes! hehee. :-) BTW... Tested 22-250, 6.5 Creedmore, 7mm Mag, 300 Win Mag, 308 Win, and 375 H&H Mag. Many bullet designs, weights, powders, and loads...with various barrels from 18 to 26 inches. I lose about 30 F/Sec when I shorten the barrel by an inch....so based on 2500 F/Sec you can see that "velocity" is less worrisome. Accuracy does indeed suffer with shorter barrel length but remember that the rifling and type of barrel design play a big role in this.

Well... My argument is that the addition (if staffing is short) of a dedicated spokesperson would be offset by the increase in positivity and ultimately the increase in sales.

OK, Thanks for reminding me about that. I associated Brian with being the guy who drove the overall development of the game because I considered him to be well-spoken and a very good communicator (which originally gave me the confidence to buy in to the EA process) and I was not clear there had been an obvious shift. Apologies to Brian for the last few instances where I tried calling him out. Yes, I have recognized that Eugen has been the lead voice in the SRs but again...I was thinking there was another layer of oversight that remained free of actual "in the trenches" work.

Hall "bailed"...and HIcks "failed" (not really...but you would think so by reading the negativity) I cant help but chime in here, guys.... But in my opinion (obviously) the darn thing just wont get that extra push towards BETA until the development is better managed. I tried (and failed) to not read too much into the Status Reports because they just left me thinking that the studio was way too casual and amateurish an outfit to take on this huge project. I don't read the SR now...and I am getting better at regaining my patience. Simplify, and reconcile. I can't control the process...so I am removed from it emotionally... I play the game, as it is...and for the most part my enthusiasm remains. I swear they still need better structure and accountability but I ain't the one paying their salaries and my reputation as a Game Studio is not on the line...so whatever... Beta in the Spring, please...or else I'll just....well.....I'll go ahead and....ummm......geez...you know, I will have to keep on playing what's playable... Your ROI for anyone who has played it over a hundred hours or more is more than probably any other game you have owned so ultimately there is no "real" reason to slam the EA state of the game unless you truly feel a degree of personal hardship has been perpetrated against you and you "must" stick it out until the "end". So to all the Survivors who swing towards making excuses for the dev team, and all the Survivors who just play, and to all the Survivors who are sick and tired of the lack of progress or poor design I say Good for you and stick to your guns, as without discussion and debate we would all just be playing No Man's Sky in our faded DaiKatana T-Shirts. Bottom Line, No one on the team has taken ownership of the project, so no one needs to be responsible for it. This is a problem. OR...Bohemia is fine with this process so far and does not consider that there IS a problem. Either way...hearing from the devs themselves is not something I consider seriously, as their paycheck depends on their success. Where are the BI press releases? That would surely satisfy most of us...and the rest would just need to kindly go find another EA title to blindly cry about. Finally, as I have said ad-nauseam, if Brian is still the captain of the ship....where is he and why does he not personally comment anymore? If his plan was to bring on staff that could best convey his messaging and relieve his workload then I fear his choices are not effective and his decreased cycles have not been used beneficially. Sorry, all...but been around the block enough to know that ultimately there needs to be someone who can be serious and professional and clinically efficient when you ask serious and critical questions. If this is impossible because it's simply "just a game development" then so be it.... Let's just hear it from the business people, and not the fluff. I, as many of you loyal Survivors, am grateful for being an early access supporter because it revealed an immense amount of insight about how games were developed and how the processes evolved and this was a rewarding experience in itself...so, now that we have been given the chance to become personally invested, it is fair to say that our opinions are more precisely defined than maybe some other casual observers. This means that we all will have pretty "good" reasons for saying what we say in the forums and regardless of your point of view, they are all mis-informed to an extent. So lets hear it from the Director of Media Relations (or whatever department has ultimate ownership of DayZ SA) at Bohemia Interactive and finally get this this thing back on whatever track it is destined to take.

Hi all...Just do what I did. Step away from the forums, and especially the Devs' Status Reports. (Yes, here I am...posting...but just a quick troll or two doesn't count IMHO ;-) ) I still mess around in Chenarus, and await signs of the BETA....but I decided to try ignoring the frustrating nonsense coming from the studio these days. Amazingly, when you put distance between you, (the gamer), and them, (the Devs) reporting through their "Status Reports", the SA is still fun, and as long as I don't let myself get baited with false alarms, missed deadlines, and broken promises I will endure. The same is true for most of you too, I bet. Enjoy your Holidays!

Searched and did not find anything about this...so might as well fire it in here. How about Wheelbarrow, Wagon, Hand Cart, or even just a plywood/metal sheet to be used as a stretcher or way of hauling objects? With the HOPEFUL introduction of weight-based player stamina values, this type of thing would be used quite a bit I think.

Well... I knew THIS was coming. My two cents.... The only real issue I have with this SR is the nature of the excuses...as they are the same ones over and over again for the last three years. The team spends way too much time apologizing and it is getting old. Just stop with the cliché crap and get to work. At this point bringing up the fact that they promised BETA for end of LAST year only reiterates how terribly this project has been managed and I don't want to hear it anymore. I honestly thought the team would at least give us SOMETHING to play with over the Holidays...even if it was going to result in a buggy EXP build. Instead, they say to us that "even playing the current internal .63 build will make you never want to go back to .62".... Thanks for that, guys. You are taking a lot for granted by locking us out for the foreseeable future and I only hope you work some magic with the big-time YouTube streamers out there when you finally have .63 ready....or you might find you came up one Christmas too many in the world of "what have you done for me lately". Going to take time off and I wish all you fellow Forum Subscribers a safe and happy holidays. Maybe I'll be back...and maybe not...but either way, it's been an experience. Cheers!

See!... You just chastised me for thinking you were chastising me! ;-P Bio... Yep... I think you know my comedic sarcasm by now... I am a victim of being old-school enough to still erroneously think forum readers can magically infer the intent of my words through my text....

I prefer FW190s and ME262s ;-) But seriously...I still have a couple of these kicking around and as mentioned, I keep one on a lanyard with a few other handy things.... Problem is...I just end up using my multi tool ! Add a Leatherman and NOW you're talking! Opening Cans, Knives, Screwdrivers, etc.!!

Oh...You guys are hilarious.... Slow night for you all? I searched for "Hand Cart" But thanks for the swift and diligent oversight...Don't know how I could have gone on much longer without someone chastising me for some frickin thing! ;-P

Well, you see...the point of them would be the fact that as soon as "most" survivors hear a vehicle they instantly go into KOS mode....and only rarely will someone flag down a car with the only intention being to hitch a ride... Having some sort of way to haul cargo around (only around towns, even) would mean you don't have to hopelessly go around looking for spark plugs while they have all been looted and hidden away. Anyhoo....I am asking fellow survivors about this and so far it's 3 in agreement. (4 players asking for new assets must surely qualify for Dev consideration?! Heh heh.

Freudian Slip! That might be EXACTLY the release "goal" date for Beta. This would be actually reasonable, considering how things are "progressing" but we'll see. AND.....figures I would see yet another weapon model....but there's not enough screen pixels in the entire world to display the size of Face palm this deserves.... Just STOP with the fluff and get on with the core mechanics, guys....Sheesh! I swear sometimes it's like "craft time" in kindergarten. I know things like weapon models can be conceptualized in parallel with other (read: FAR MORE IMPORTANT AND RELEVANT) activities...but the optics just seem wrong when you know the player base is indeed becoming testy. Leave out the pics and give us more detail on technical capabilities/limitations of the current game development environment or whatever else you might be able to show us that intrigues our curious and attentive minds, please.

Yeah...well...I personally don't use the full timeline to base the SA development progress on. That is misleading when you consider that the full-blown re-write and Enfusion effort only began, when, about halfway between initial alpha launch and 0.62? Add to that the overly-simplistic "math" not accounting for the plethora of influences governing their output and focus in relation to each game module and tasking. Sure, the dedicated early adopters that really started the ball rolling will most certainly be ones to have qualified opinions on the development progress/processes....but hey, everyone wants to have their kick at the can, understandably. I also am "starting" to regard the SRs as a bit of a joke in the sense that nothing of substance comes forward into the builds afterwards. (and therefore they read like blogs from people just tinkering around with a hobby of theirs and not as official media that is meaningful to a customer). So, taken under these pretenses, I try not to expect "anything" to happen....so when is doesn't, my blissful ignorance is justified. When the info was released to us about the pending "GamesCon Demo" I admit that I was stoked, but I quickly came back down to Earth when I finally saw it...as it came across to me as being the "idea" of something that will eventually become a "plan" which will find its way to the development table, and might one day be implemented. I am using that same perspective towards RTM 1.0 and I regard the inevitable release of Beta as being just another (albeit long-overdue) content update. I started in the SA back in 2014...but the end of 2015 seems more like the "Start" of it all...once the problems with the ARMA2 engine were finally realized and the decision to completely re-engine the game was reached. Call it Fanboy Math if you want, but my slow painful wait for the Devs to get their act together therefore only stretches across two full years. In that time I have admittedly grown somewhat jaded towards news from the team regarding what their "next steps" are and I associate a lot of that with poor oversight and not necessarily with poor development skills. (I don't presume to have the slightest insight in to how a game developer can do his/her job any more efficiently). What is far easier to gauge is the effectiveness of the administration of a project because you can see more of the macro performance of a project compared to the declared milestones and ultimate end goals. As of now, if the Beta drops before March I will consider it a massive feather in the teams' caps...but if it drags into late Spring/Summer I honestly don't imagine there will be too many others who share my level of optimism and patience and I don't foresee this great project reaching it's original potential. That not only seems like a terrible waste of time...but also a waste of talent... It would be well for the teams to remember that their careers might depend on the success of this venture and a large metric of that success is governed by their team leader's abilities to manage successfully. ETA? Bah! There's no point in asking if there is no way of systemically measuring. John Carmack said it first and best. "It will be done when it's done" (The server player counts will ultimately decide if it was worth it IMHO) This is just a bit of a vent, I suppose.... I'll be better after I get killed on the coast a few times this evening...

@Dancing.Russian.Man, @DannyDog, @Sqeezorz Hi guys! Yeah...my post was a bit vague and sorry about that. I originally meant that the NEW player controller is such a dramatic overhaul on how we will interact with everything and everyone and therefore the Devs need to consider EVERY relationship and dependency of each item and each action. That's a tall order to get right and bug-less the first time around. A note on the New Spawn mechanic as well...as I hope that the "Final" server browser will indicate the weather...so the fun of dying to the elements, at least, can be avoided.

Sorry but I disagree about the player controller. The engine has been rolled out for the most part but I don't think it is in a state where the Devs can just start adding features and content. Optimization will probably be the hardest part and I can imagine we are going to see some drastic FPS drops in the first release or two. This is going to be a HUGE difference. And "everything that's relevant for it" means everything your player can interact with. SO that covers most of the dynamic content. That's what I meant about it might be a bad thing if they rushed the content. They may have finished building the instrument....but now they need to learn how to play.

@Baty Alquawen can help by teleporting you out of your predicament, by the way. Just don't ask her to replace your boots. This is not the USA, here in Chenarus...you can't sue for damages or mental stress...heheheh.

Ghosting into a different server is pretty lame, I agree...And dying a few times of hypothermia before I got a fire going and a few nom noms into me is not the end of the world IMHO...as it gives me a bit more of an emotional investment with the character that makes it past the initial day or two. Looting is not the only thing to do by a long shot right now. The builds are at a transition point due to the fact that they are finally rid of the legacy game engine. The last thing they want to do is release a buggy and broken Beta because they rushed content into an engine they don't/can't understand fully yet. Not trying to make excuses for the state of the game, though...just my perspective, that's all. Guess I am a "finding ways" savant...because I still find it cathartic to wander the map and mess around. Trying my hand at being a city-dwelling hermit now...and its pretty spooky in a high POP server!