Alamandorious

Alright, easy enough; noticed that the Debug window is gone in the game...for alpha, -bring it back-. The reason for this is that it supplies valuable data concerning zombie spawns, health, humanity, and other such important factors that, when something goes wrong in the game due to a glitch, can be noted down for the purposes of a detailed report which, in turn, helps -you- correct issues. By disabling it in Alpha, you're really only hurting yourself. Beta, I can understand a bit more since it's more stress-testing, and gameplay testing than bug finding (although there's still enough bugs to be found in Beta), but in Alpha it is vital for well-rounded reports. I've seen and heard of a few alarming suggestions that will hinder the sales of the game once it's on the market. Realism: Yes, this game should be as realistic as possible...the fact that it IS so realistic is part of its draw. However, there's a fine line between a healthy dose of realism, and overdoing it. The game is still a game, and people are going to be curious about it..and not everyone is a hardcore realism fanatic. The Hud: The current hud is great. It offers information that is not readily available, while being vague enough that the player has to make guesses. Some would argue the hud makes the game 'unrealistic', that it should be removed: No offense, but that is a DUMB idea. The difference between the game and real life is simple; your queue for hunger is not the sound your belly makes, but how it feels. Ditto with coming down with a cold, having an infection, a broken limb, thirst...it's all stuff we FEEL first. The game doesn't offer you a tactile sensation; we haven't gotten that far yet with technology. Instead, you have to take visual queues to be more effective. Some audio ones to enhance the visual ones is ok, but to be forced to rely -solely- on audio queues doesn't cut it...for example, say the gamer's machine is in the living room, and there's lots of noise, or he/she has been told by significant others or parents to keep the volume low. Suddenly...the audio queues can't be used. Bam, frustrated gamer. If you take away the visual elements of the HUD for the standalone, you will be limiting your market to hardcore simmers and hardcore gamers...a smaller market than average gamers by far (and by average I'm talking about those people that are a little more into games than the casuals). Their reaction will be decidedly negative with the lack of information, and thus any hopes of making a decent amount of income will be rendered moot. You will even lose what little bit of the casual market that might be interested in such an involved game. 3rd person view: I know it's an option for server admins to take that view away. I personally don't use it; I prefer 1st person mode...played the original Doom back in the day, and shooting zombies with a shotgun in 1st person mode brings back memories of good times. Some people might want it removed from the game entirely, because first person is more 'realistic'...which it isn't. In real life, unless your peripheral vision sucks or you walk around with blinders on, your field of view is 180 degrees...in this game, and every FPS game I think, your view is 90 degrees...so the arguement of 'realism' to have this removed is moot point, and keeping it as an optional thing means that those players that like 3rd person views in games can go to servers and use it, again increasing the marketability of the game. I suppose at this stage this is more of a 'what not to do' list than a to do. To be fair, I can't really contribute much to the 'to do' list because so many people have put out so many good ideas. This is my response to some of the more inane ones that seem to be being heard more than the good ones. I will, however, contribute two 'positive' suggestions: Vehicle spawns: We know people LOVE to horde vehicles...in places that would take hours to reach on foot...that are -technically- off the map...so I would like to see code that allows only a certain number of vehicles within a certain radius of one another, and that if that number is exceeded or the vehicles are taken 'off map', that they despawn and respawn in one of the nominal vehicle spawns. Also, some of the lower-end vehicles (old mountain bike, ATV), should have more plentiful spawning, seeing as neither are particularly good, and both leave you highly exposed (admittedly, the one time I was shot on the bike was my own damn fault; I rang the bell as I drove by somebody fueling up the Bus at a gas station >.< Couldn't resist >.<), and don't necessarily offer the best speed for travelling, although they're a darn sight better than being on foot. Also, if the vehicles aren't -used- within a certain time limit (say 48 hours), that they return to one of the nominal spawns. Attack Helicopter: We already have the fun transport helicopter in-game; people tend to freak out a bit when they hear it incoming. I think it would be fun to have a real attack helicopter in game...make it have a single, solitary spawn point...one of the big airfields. Make it take more fuel, consume fuel faster...and make its ammo spawns rare (starts with 0 rockets, relatively few bullets)...it would be a really awesome reward for someone, or a clan, to have fully re-armed, re-fueled, and repair one. Concidentally, add a ground-to-air missile weapon, also rare, but more common than the ammo for the helicopter, so that people can fight back against it. This suggestion is a bit of a silly one, but it would still be cool to have. Well, that's all...hope these suggestions get taken. All in all, still one of my fave games to play...even with the one battleye incident I've had (got unbanned, yay me!).

I stand corrected on that. Thanks for the info :)

Look, people. The main point of anything is that the person who is paying for the server has the final say...if he/she/they have a reasonable suspicion that something untoward is going on, they have the right to ban people as needed. Now, they can be merciful and unban if it's possible that there was a misunderstanding, and from what I've seen most are not asshats and will do just that...but getting all uppity about it isn't doing anyone any favors. So let's all just chill out.

If this happened while you were at school, then somehow someone got ahold of your CD key and you ended up banned when they hacked.

Wow. Just wow. Dude, there is an issue with Battleye banning people that don't deserve it (I was one, got unbanned, yay!), but you just admitted to using a hack. Ban is totally valid; buy a new copy, never hack again.

Had this happen to me about 1/2 an hour ago. Logged in, ended up in the plains of nowhere, logged back out, logged back in to one of my favourite serverse...spawned in with my cammo clothing...but no weapons or gear. And I had that assault rifle that could be zeroed, and could alternate between thermal and night vision >.< Ahhh well.

This worked for me!

ESP? As in Extra Sensory Powers? Or is that something else?

I sent an appeal to Battle Eye, yes. The MotD from the guy who was paying for the server said he was giving up on it due to the number of hackers, and I can't get onto the server anymore thanks to the global ban to get his e-mail :P Basically, judging from other replies, I'm up shit creek without a paddle. I've contacted steam to see if I can't buy another copy of the game from them so I can play again; I'm trying my best to not let this experience sour me, since I really enjoy it and want to see which direction things go as it moves to stand-alone. Although the long runs were a pain, I really love the whole concept of a survivor or band of survivors (in my case, band, because two of my friends play) moving from town to town hunting for supplies. I'm rambling :P Anyway, appeal sent, we'll see what happens. Just heed the advice about vehicles...even if you don't believe me, don't take any chances >.<

I miss the early days of Punkbuster. Loved to play America's Army...hated running into the fog-hack people >.< I was going to try the new version of it, but I heard it was rife with hackers. Personally, would prefer to see Hardware bans, to a degree...if it was PB doing it, and not Battleye. Got screwed just tonight after a mere week of play by BE. Lesson learned on my part; you see a fully repaired, nearly fully fueled Heli somewhere, don't take it >.< Also learned that if your heli slides into a forest after landing it 20 feet away from said forest, don't try to take off in it even if it ends up in a small clearing...you'll shift direction due to wind or something and die. Spawned in again, died to zombies within 2 minutes of spawning (got trapped in a small building by two small groups), spawned in again, made some progress in regards to food and edibles...logged out in a safe area, logged back in to continue a little while later...and was banned. Yes, I expect the invitable bombardment of 'you're a hacker',.I'm not, bit I still expect that reply. At the very least, heed the warning about the vehicles in this, and don't get into one unless you've fixed it up yourself.

Just got my global ban tonight. Gotta love it ^^;; My mistake for thinking I was fortunate enough to find that Helo at the Lighthouse between Cherno and Elektro :P Shouldn't have gone back onto the server after I noticed the MOTD from the guy who ran it saying he wasn't going to pay for the server anymore because of the hackers :P Only about a week into the game, too, lol.

A word to the wise: If you see a fully repaired, fully fueled (or near fully fueled) vehicle...don't take it. Found a near fully-fueled, but fully repaired helo at the Lighthouse between Cherno and Elektra next to the crash site of a player-driven Helo, got into it, died in it, died to zombies within 2 minutes of spawn, then logged out once I'd gotten to a relative safe area on my third spawn and have since been globally banned. Even though it's hard to come by vehicles, better only take the ones that you repair yourself or you could end up like me and several others that I've seen on these forums >.< It's too bad anti-cheat, anti-hack programs aren't an exact science.

Question: Given the issues with Battleye, will you be using a different form of anti-cheat, or at least give people the ability to run their own private games (via a sort of standard direct connect multiplayer) so they can play with their friends without worrying about hackers once the stand alone is ready to roll?

Here's the funny thing, a few days after this post, battleye found a global ban problem. So guess what? It's not infallible, and people that don't deserve to get banned are getting banned. Myself included. Found a fully fueled, fully repaired Helo next to the Lighthouse between Cherno and Elektro, right next to the crash site and corpse of a player. Got in, flew it around. Died tonight in it in a freak accident (damn thing slid 20 feet into the woods. It got damaged before the blades could fully spin up...oddly enough, kept self-repairing when I popped in and out of it...it slid into a clearing, I got off the ground about 10 feet when the rotor hit a nearby tree after the helo moved slightly, and it crashed and blew up...well, that last part was my own stupidity...shouldn't have tried to save it). Spawned in again, died to zombies less than 2 minutes later after getting trapped in a small building. Spawned in again, played a little while, logged out to go help with things around the house, logged back in, BAM, global ban. So you see, it very much is possible for this sort of thing to happen. Believe me or not; last cheat codes I used in a game was in Duke Nukem 3D back in 98, last time I played it.

First off, a note of positive: Even in the Alpha stages of this game, I've been having fun. Just started playing last week and have been enjoying the game immensely, looking forward to seeing where it's going. Secondly: I know it's not your guys's problem, but I've been victimized by Battleye now as well >.< Didn't know it was possible to get banned when I discovered a fully functional Heli next to a crashed one (player crash, not in-game loot crash) at the lighthouse between Cherno and Elektro. Lesson learned; from now on, I'll only get into vehicles if I repair them myself, or one of my friends repair them. Hopefully I'll get unbanned and be able to go back to playing. If not...please, if you're making a stand-alone, don't go with battleye. Sent them off an e-mail detailing what happened, what server it was on, etc.