hulahuga

OP: this is a much better way to do it. Good suggestion! :)

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/56347-where-is-the-apocalypse/

Well if that is how they work in real life? Otherwise you just make a card house of faked mechanics... Campfires would be needed to make torches perhaps, or at least provide a source of them? Because right now their only actual use is actually cooking, ive never so far used them to provide light... Matches don't have to be, and I really think they won't be within a month or so. Torches would be a nice weapon, but not a too high damage, it is just a club with some fire on really, and zombies should probably be able to withstand that better than a hatchet, but it would make for a nice complement. Yes it would rule out some of the roles of chemlights and flares, but why not, they are un-realistic anyhow!? Plus, it would further specialize the role of the light sources: Chemlight=exit/entry points, initial light check before entering buildings and such, more stealth gameplay, ability to use one a the same time as your main weapon. Torches=main light source, medium range, quite easy to fashion, no need (but a possibility) to loot. Flares=emergency lights for locating people or provide light over a large area when you want to be able to use both hands, blinding night visions, provide nice distractions and fake movements.

What I have already said? Think boarded up buildings, dead bodies of men and women fending off the zombie hordes, more realistically spaced out wrecks and raod blocks along the roads and open fields, carcasses of dead, eaten animals, people in the fields and forests, traces of battle between the military and the zombies, command posts where the officers have made a desperate last stand, burning vehicles, buldings, objects. I mean just imagine the possibilities :)

No. Realism, atmosphere, but perhaps most importantly, gameplay use! (originating from a better and smoother light spread, an introduction and continuation of the fire and heat mechanics, including weather and an ability to carry fire with you, especially considering how matches will most probably grow a lot more sparse, and finally an ability to have a new form of, albeit not so effective, weapon). Which all three together contributes to this mod's proverb, authenticity.

That would be interesting if it is a singleplayer or low amount of player game. But if you've heard some of the interviews you will know that Rocket is gearing this to be a very high amount of players, and that people themselves would be able to build such factions in the game :)

Finally some logic and reason from you. Okay, so nr. 1 DayZ is an ArmA mod, and arma 2 is an army simulator, making flares and chemlights exist as premade assets but torches not (even though torches would be dead simple to do). nr. 2. I would choose a torch that I can pick up just as I can pick up both a flare and chemlight, but I would want it to take up the off-hand slot, making you only able to shoot with a side-arm or swing a melee weapon simultaneously, as I said before. Plus the torch when not used would go out, and you would thus either be put back in your backpack or be dropped on the ground, but it would however have a counter going down as you use it (just as in real life), but then you will have to light it again also. With all these things accounted for I really don't see how it would be un-balanced. Plus, in all honesty, fuck balance if it means it is authentic and as real as it gets, then it WILL be balanced, because that is how real life works, it balances out different tech levels and degrees of rarity according to rules similar to the market (see "the invisible hand")! ;)

You can't say torches would not be useful or authentic though, really not... How about a rose or lavender scented one with a slight touch of cream undertones ?

Yes, but did you even read what I have written, and have you actually ever ran around with a flare in your hand without both blinding yourself and being incredibly visible to toehrs due to it being an emergency flare made for others to see you... Plus it is is not very authentic...

Want one?

No, you would most definitely not. It would be some much more authentic and useful that both the flare and the chemlight (due to the reasons already stated, and especially the softer light), and they do not need to be looted, since you can actually create them yourself, further pushing the game towards what Rocket wants, player created content and scenarios :)

Finally someone with a bit of sense in them! =)

Yeha not mandatory, but an optional non-lethal weapon would be interesting. And yeah, tasers as bazbake said, or perhaps just a bit of a slap on the back of the head to knock an un-knowing player down...

What? Do you even know what a torch is? A torch is just a man-made stick that burns with a flickering light, it is something that people have been using for ages, and is something very easily craftable, and one of the most useful items in a survival situation, both to gain light, fend off hostile animals, and to carry the heat of the fire with you to light the next one.

Did I ever say they shouldn't be visible from afar? They would grow into very cool orange light dots flickering through the forests and such, no issue with that :). The flares however are frigging emergency signals, not meant to light the area as much as to show it to others... And yes, it would be more common to find people with torches in an apocalypse situation than a frigging military grade flare or chem-light ;). Do you have an issue with suggestions with the aim of improving the game? If so then I suggest you change forums.

Of course man ;). I develop stuff myself so I know. But Rocket doesn't actually have to be the one to do this, I am sure he has someone who can help him do some of the level design, and as I said, they can do it incremental :)

Because chem-lights are so useful right now? They have a light radius of two meters basically and have almost no practical use except for marking your possible points of exfiltration. And they are so common in real life in the middle of a forest right? Right? Plus you can't wave them around to fend off zombies and possibly a disturbing player. They also, and this only the graphics side, don't contribute a very interesting light source... edit: I mean just think of how cool it would be running there in the forest with a torch and a side-arm/melee weapon with a flickering torch in your off-hand spreading the orange-ish light among the trees, dancing with to the tune of the winds, breathing life into the fire.

Well if I have to explain everything into the most tiny of details then. Torches could be crafted through using firewood and or sticks/branches taken off trees or found on the ground. They could then be lighted at any fire in the game, be it a burning barrel of a camp fire. They could also be crafted with just a branch, a match and perhaps something that could catch fire easily, perhaps just some resin from the trees sticking to the branches from the start. How long they would burn would depend on how they can burn in real life (depends on the thickness and coating in real life), and also have a modifier from the weather (i.e if it rains then they should have a chance to go out, or just burn out faster, depending on how the devs want to do it). This torch could then be used to light a fire without matches (because remember, matches will probably very soon grow into something that youll have to replenish, just like [un-convertible] ammo).

Yes, and it looks very unrealistic right now, with only some car husks tanding aroudn coupled with a couple of blockades here and there. And as I said, as soon as you go away from the streets you don't find a single frigging trace of the apocalypse...

I would advise you to please take a look at some zombie movies or series (i.e Dawn of the Dead or the Walking Dead). The zombies would grow everywhere and they would try to fiercly fend them off with everything they've got. Think boardplanked buildings, more dead bodies, burned out buidlings, tanks in the streets, crasched vehicles and whatnot...

And you think it is realistic that everyone runs aroudn with a frigging flare? Plus the fact that they give off a frigging huge light radius, and blinds you in third person... A torch would be a very nice middle-thing, that also goes much more in line with the survival aspects of the game, instead of the "this is a converted military simulator" game... ;)

Shouldn't be so hard to do map changes considering he is a BI employee... On the other hand buildings and stuff are more easily placed right now :)

Well, making these meshes have custom faces should really NOT be hard. They jus thave to look at the other meshes and textures, see how they are structured, and make sure these thingies follow suit. Also, with a number of costumes this high they don't even need to do that right away... ;)

Unreal 4 looks cool, but not really anything ground breaking except for the deferred ligthning (which all engines are pushing now ;)).

Rocket is not making any assets as far as I know. The 3d guys create them if they want custom content, but yes he is currently using the large database of arma 2 stuff for the vast majority of the game, but if he means to go standalone then many, if not most assets have to be made anew, unless it simply grows into an extra thing for arma 3...