derLoko

DayZ lost half its playerbase in the last few weeks. Maybe there were simply too many servers and some were shut down by BI.

And you wanna know what the development cost for games like that is? Here, knock yourself out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop GTA IV had roughly the same amount of money available as DayZ (100 million). GTA V was one of the most expensive games ever made at ~140 million. edit: Actually, the Steam fee probably can't be counted as "development cost", so DayZ budget is closer to < 60 million. Anyway - it's a whole lot of money no matter how you look at it. Which is why I wrote before: Not trying to start a conspiracy theory here - it's fine and all if they simply sack some of that money as "profit". For comparison: Both GTAs were huge hits and made a whopping 1 billion+ in the end. However, it's worth pointing out that the current budget for DayZ is simply HUGE, while the current state of DayZ leaves a lot to be desired. Early Access is supposed to provide money for development - not easy profits without risk.

Well, this is certainly true in many cases. Of course, it makes no sense to put too much effort into fixing a UI that is essentialy a placeholder. However, i often read general claims like "Bug fixing is for beta", and that simply isn't true. If you're interested: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html (see point 5 "do you fix bugs") http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/198696/keeping-agile-with-zero-bug-defect-policy Beta is meant for polish - doing some large-scale testing to find and fix some remaining bugs, squeeze out 10% more performance, or make some minor changes based on user feedback. The game/software is NOT supposed to be severly bugged and unplayable at the beginning of beta, or even during alpha. Piling broken features on top of broken features is generally a really bad idea. At some point, the code will be such a mess that it becomes really difficult to fix bugs or even identify what exactly the problem is. Personally, my concern is simply that DayZ won't be "done" anytime soon, or at all. I'm afraid that the Bohemia bosses might not be willing to put the required resources into DayZ for some reason, and that this won't change unless there is more pressure on them. And considering that DayZ earned them almost 100 million $ already, there should be more than enough money to put into the game.

I'd love to hear an experienced deloper's opinion on it - but I'd say there is NO WAY DayZ will be in a state that can be called "beta" (read: feature/content complete, freeze till release) in 6 months, or will be ready for a release worthy of an AAA game in 12 months. Let alone make "everybody happy". For me, that's just mind-boggling. It can only mean that: 1) The plan is to rush DayZ into beta & release despite being not nearly ready for it. 2) Or the devs already plan to delay beta & release anyway, but aren't telling us. Yay. 3) Or they are indeed completely unaware that they won't be able to make it. 4) Or the miracle patch comes, the game is suddenly finished and all the problems are solved, and I'm all wrong. And I'd love to be proved wrong - but I'm honestly not seeing it.

Sounds much like seasons, which aren't going to be in DayZ. But Zomboid has seasons and the world changes kinda like you described.

Well, it depends entirely on how much time & money is left and what is considered "finished"... It looks like there are currently no plans to fix lighting, for example.

btw are status reports officially released on Tuesday or Wednesday now?

beta. whenever that is ;P

Are bicycles and motorbikes on that list? How many vehicles can we expect total?

Actually, the public hive system was just like that in the beginning of the mod. Server hopping was an issue even back then. When Rocket finally allowed players to host private hives, things got much better imo. And then, SA got released and was based on a public hive once more.

My point is: 1) Those mods will be incompatible. You'll have to choose between base building OR crafting OR new items OR... 2) Even if some mods will be compatible, combining them will probably result in a pretty unbalanced mess. 3) It turned out some modders were working on the same features at the same time - probably not knowing that others were doing the same thing.

What's really needed imo is a modpack that includes all great mods and makes sure they're compatible and balanced as a whole. Otherwise, all those different mods will start to split the community...

looks promising, but i can't find the server in DayZCommander.... http://www.youtube.c...ed/vyWTm2xWlDo

Namalsk is an awesome map, looking forward to 0.7 ^^ Imo a few things could be improved, tho: 1) No good spots to build a camp/base Nobody bothers to build camps or even hide a tent on Namalsk. It could use some small islands that can only be reached by boat or helicopter. 2) Spawn points are too spread out imo - Survival becomes kinda meaningless if you can just respawn near your corpse and get your gear back in no time. - Every fresh spawn can make a quick trip to A2 and pick up the gauss rifle. It lessens the feeling of travelling, exploring, and risk vs reward. - Makes meeting with friends a chore. btw is there any way to download the source files for the map?