DayZ without Zombies

[ninjan777 104]

well zombies are fairly realistic though, i mean the are only rotten infected humans with a special taste for umm.. humans!

Edited December 21, 2012 by ninjan777

[BearGravy 53]

I sort've like the idea, I've something like that in mind, but not werewolves or anything. More along the lines of a apocalyptic setting. Were there are radiation pockets that you must avoid before dying of radiation. We could use ghouls as something to avoid. We could also have settlements around the map. They wouldn't have to necessarily be safe havens. But there could be a trader there and guns must be lowered at all times, you can put it up to shoot people if you want. Things like that. Sort've like a fallout aspect. Maybe even a map with a sort've 50's style to it.

[CorporalCupCake 1]

...Really?

Edited December 22, 2012 by CorporalCupCake

[GeneticFreak 23]

Hmm on second thought, another survival game set in post apocalyptic future where the machines take over the world would be kinda epic

DayT-1000

After all, roaming skeleton robots should be a tougher enemy than zombies, and just as scary

Not to mention possibility of Hunter-Killer or HKs roaming the sky to scoop you into the experiment chambers :D

But, that will be another game altogether

Edited December 22, 2012 by GeneticFreak

[The Shadow 119]

Other unrealistic creatures? You mean, like... zombies?

There is more chance of zombies being real than orcs, goblins and werewolves. There are documents showing that Hitler was researching bring the dead back to life in WW2 and theres even some old black and white videos of dogs heads being brought back to life in labs, whether these are 100% legit is a different matter but still in my eyes "Zombies" are more realistic than any other creatures that were suggested.

Edited December 22, 2012 by The Shadow

[BwobBwub 660]

Why has DayZ to have zombies?

Why do you always just think of zombies?

Maybe because it's a zombie survival mod?

[PracticalTactical 164]

tbh, zombies are actually not doing it for me anymore. Aliens plz.

[thodouras95 21]

Not a bad idea, but I really believe rocket should leave this aside for the future...After he's done with DayZ mod and DayZ SA, he can make a DayX game series with stuff for everyone.DayV with vampires, DayA with aliens, DayT/S with terminators/skynet, etc etc.

[MrCheeseChuckles 1]

We should add hundreds of Paris Hilton's running around in the big cities shopping while we're at it, if you get in their way they just mow you down for an insta-kill. We could call it DayPH!

Also those suggesting Aliens, they tend to get boring really fast. Just play the Fallout 3 DLC named "Mothership Zeta" and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Edited December 24, 2012 by MrCheeseChuckles

[032125 (DayZ) 91]

I'd rather do away with the zombies and implement gangs/raiders/bandits. Dean has let me to believe that the zombies were an afterthought; the original concept was a survival simulator, and I like that better.

I'd take a MadMax mod over a zombie mod any day.

[OrLoK 16182]

DAYC

survivors vs chavs

That would be spooky.

It would also be my weekends.

L

[Goodrita 27]

Not sure if trolling...or...just stupid

[Dv6T 2]

I think this would be a cool idea, not permanently or anything, just like an option. Maybe vampires or werewolves or witches or something, it would be kinda cool.

[syndicatefaction 118]

Did i really just read this?? Sorry OP but the kid section is in the Warz forums, not here....

[Ephringael 3]

While we're adding werewolves, we must add mermaids, dragons, goblins.

I would play DayMermaids.

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

Go play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Pripyat was the best) you'll find a whole range of monsters to attack you, and not too dis-similar form DayZ. I think you must have passed this game as most of you did.

DayZ would not be what it is without having INFECTED things. no need to add other fictional beasts. Lets add packs of wolves and also bears for futher scare factor.

I always thought DayZ would be better if it was a little more E&E (or Behind Enemy Lines to the non Military speaking crowd)

[nobody 31]

From all stupidest threads.. this is the worst.

[enforcer1975 1111]

Other unrealistic creatures? You mean, like... zombies?

They are infected..and if you ever read the news you would know that it only takes some bath salt to turn a person into a zombie like creature...

Edited December 24, 2012 by Enforcer

[XxSilentB1adexX 0]

Isnt it why they call it Day(Z) meaning z for zombies

[TheThinkTanker 26]

[WARNING: Very long post ahead.]

Wow, OP has gotten a lot of undeserved hate for his comments.

The people saying, "It has to have zombies because of the Z in DayZ!" are completely missing the point OP was trying to make.

He's not saying we should add new enemies/creatures to DayZ, or even remove the zombies and put in new enemies and cal it DayZ. He's talking about taking the gameplay systems that make up DayZ and adding different scenarios, different PvE enemies or threats to create new games in the Massive Survival Sandbox style that DayZ has created.

What makes DayZ the experience that it is? Is it Zombies? Certainly not.

Does DayZ require zombies for its systems to be fun? Not at all.

Could its systems hop genres successfully? Well, why not?

Let's break down what makes DayZ special.

1. Realistic survival systems: Food and water are required, warmth is required, shelter is required to an extent, medical supplies are required to treat infection, wounds, etc. It’s about creating a realistic environment (a normal day/night cycle, varied geographical locations, etc) with realistic consequences to create a game world that feels like it could be a real world with minimal suspension of disbelief. As Rocket has said in the past, the real enemy in DayZ is the player's own body. Zombies and player threats are just a bonus.

2. Massive maps for 50+ players: Create tons of locations of a huge variety within this massive map so players have a huge world to populate, explore, and play in together.

3. Open Sandbox world: The game provides a scenario (zombie apocalypse in this case, but could easily be changed to something else with a bit of creativity), a basic framework (death conditions, basic PvE enemies that are more predictable, like a force of nature, as opposed to a malicious force like players) and the tools to interact with the world (food, water, gear, weapons, ammo, tools). The game then offers minimal direction for player actions. Players are free to decide how they use the tools they are given to interact with the world that has been presented to them. Players create their own narratives, their own objectives, and are not given “quests” by the game.

4. Player-dictated interactions: When meeting another player, you can talk to them as you would talk to another human being. No menus, no flagging yourself as a private player or chat invitiations on the server, just talking. Or shooting. Or teaming-up. Or robbing. Or trading. Or sneaking past and stealing. The game provides Lots of nuanced options for players that are only limited by the player's imagination. It's the player's choice on how they interact with players, not the game's.

5. Mixed PvE and PvP: All combat actions, and all actions in general, are performed in real-time with no restrictions (For example, there are no PvP-only servers, it’s all just thrown in together). Real-time PvP and PvE threats coexist and can take place at any time simultaneously.

6. Permadeath: You don’t earn experience that carries over to your next life. You can’t keep weapons or equipment for your next incarnation (except for tents and finding/looting your dead body, but it’s not automatic and there are risks with each of those options). Everyone starts the same regardless of previous playthroughs, and it doesn’t matter how many zombies you grind (that’s a weird mental image), it won’t help you in your next life if you die in this one. Survival becomes incredibly important because death is final. The only thing that carries over into your next character is anything you, the player, actually learned.

This is what I consider the core of the DayZ experience. None of these things require a zombie or "infected" threat. So why not take all the fantastic ideas behind DayZ's survival sandbox world and create new games out of them with different threats and themes? People in this thread have already mentioned how interesting it would be to fight/run from dinosaurs, intelligent robots, aliens, etc. Think about taking the DayZ experience into space, where you need to think about the added threat of depleting oxygen levels. Cool, right?

Basically, create an intense player-driven open world survival sandbox mmo with real-time skill-based combat and harsh survival conditions. Then simply switch out the PvE elements/enemies to fit the new scenario.

This works with zombie apocalypses, WHY NOT try it out with werewolves?

Here’s an idea: You have all day to loot, kill players for their beans, find food, build shelter, fix vehicles, etc., and at night you have extremely powerful enemies tracking you, hunting you, trying to kill you. Suddenly you have to consider how and when you travel to new locations (can I make it there on foot before the sun goes down?), and getting lost on the way to your destination eats up precious daylight. The sun is going down, do you have enough bullets to ward off any predators? Has someone started living in your usual hiding place? There’s an unsuspecting player, is it worth the risk to kill him and take his bullets/food/vehicle to outrun the wolves? Does he even have the right gear? Would his death just be a waste of bullets without a big enough payoff? Would he be willing to team up and defend a position in town with you? Would he just betray you after the night assault is over? How many nights can you survive in this harsh world without succumbing to other players, hunger, thirst, illness, the wolves, etc? Perhaps the werewolves live in settlements to protect themselves during the day when they’re human, and players could try hunting them down during daylight hours to make the night assault less difficult. But is it worth it to waste time and resources killing them instead of looking for more food/water/ammo/etc to survive the night?

I’d play that game.

Another example: Players are humans with mechs that can transform from backpacks to full-sized giant robots. You’re on a giant Halo-sized space station that was overrun by AI combat drones. Your mech form can help you combat the drones and is a built-in weapon and vehicle, but you need to find the right parts to fix it up. And you need food, water, warmth, and oxygen on top of all that. And the PvE combat drones can shoot you from a distance, so they’re much deadlier and much less mindless than DayZ zombies. You switch between your mech and human forms for combat and stealth, respectively. And staying in your mech too long makes it succumb to the same virus or AI that turned the original robotic drones against their masters in the first place, so you have to spend time in your human form and look for mech components that can wipe the mech’s memory and reset the clock on it turning against you. Throw in other players looking for the same resources (food water, ammo, parts to augment your mech, ) and trying to avoid the same combat drones, and you have a DayZ style sandbox survival game with SciFi elements and mechs. MECHS.

I’d play that game, too.

Obviously, those are just rough ideas of how to apply the DayZ formula to other scenarios and genres. And they most definitely couldn’t be made in Arma II (someone please prove me wrong and make them). But they’re proof that we could at least TRY to use something other than the generic zombie apocalypse scenario!

And that’s all OP was really trying to say.

I love DayZ as much as all of you. I think it has started something special. I want to see that special something applied in new and interesting ways. The zombie apocalypse was fantastic for showing how this style of game could work. Now we just have to let other developers take these design elements and apply them to some scenario other than zombies.

Wouldn’t that be awesome? It sounds fantastic to me.

Thanks for reading.

SIDE NOTE: For those of you using “realism” as a defense for why the systems of DayZ would only work with zombies, you’re really missing the point.

Just remember that 1) the realism in DayZ comes from the real-time combat, the necessity for food, water, and warmth, the ease of death from one or two bullets/bleeding out, the ease of simply talking out loud to other players, the freedom for players to create their own objectives instead of being confined to quests created by the game, etc. The realism DOES NOT come from the zombie threat.

And 2) flesh-eating infection zombies are about as realistic as unicorns. They both exist in the realms of fiction. There is no virus that could ever turn a human being into a flesh eating zombie and there never will be, no matter how much we want it to. Zombies are the same amount of ridiculous and improbable as unicorns and werewolves and vampires. I mean, they’re not even the most realistic fictional threat. Robots and AIs that turn against us are more plausible. Aliens from outer-space are more likely. Zombies are just an implausible impossible fiction.

I know, man. I want them to be real too. But they’re fiction, and all the zombie apocalypse preparations and wishful thinking won’t make them real, or even realistic. They’re perfect for videogames, though.

Cheers.

[Ratsmon 131]

I couldnt believe my eyes when I read the thread, no offence. But it seems like you just popped into the internet and think: Hey ! Let's change the whole concept of a game and why the people play it!

*Facepalm

I dont want to be mean, but just think about having vampires to run around and werewolves attacking random players. It doesnt fit.. DayTwillight :D

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

would we be able to fall in love with vampires and werewolves if not I disagree.

[SiiriXX 159]

Has someone said ad gay sparkling vampires yet? or am I too late for that suggestion?

Or maybe Sergei's that shout 'you misread it' when they get hurt?

Edited December 24, 2012 by SiiriXX

[smore98 225]

This topic is self-defeating.

Uber-face-palm incoming.

*Uber Face-palm*

[TheThinkTanker 26]

I couldnt believe my eyes when I read the thread, no offence. But it seems like you just popped into the internet and think: Hey ! Let's change the whole concept of a game and why the people play it!

I have a hard time believing that the "whole concept of DayZ" and "Why people play DayZ" is zombies. You play DayZ for the entire reason that it has zombies? There are better games for killing zombies.

I play DayZ because I've never had player-interactions this potentially interesting. I play DayZ because it's an interesting tense experience looking for food and worrying that players have me in their sights as I struggle to survive. I play DayZ because every experience with someone who is actually friendly is more meaningful than all those other times I get shot as a fresh spawn by some sniper. I can't get that in any other game.

DayZ's core experience is so much more than just "there are zombies."