Some Suggestions and Changes for Immersion

[Clumzy (DayZ) 377]

DayZ is one of my favourite games, not only because it is so original, but because it has so many features and ideas that make it way more immersive than most games. I'd like to offer up some suggestions, and state my opinions on some other popular topics. I've put everything into spoilers so it isn't so long.

Animation and Visual elements

I think this is one area that ArmA II is severely lacking. However, there is a lot of potential for improvement in the standalone, and while I'm sure it's being worked on, I have a few ideas about some unique animations and visual elements that could improve the game.

Get rid of most screens

So, Rocket has said that he wants to make indicators for things like illness and hunger more realistic, with audio clues instead of a UI. I'd like to propose the same thing for items. Right now, if we want to check the time or look at a compass, we just see a picture of it on the screen. I think that a cool feature would be to, in first person, actually have your character bring up a watch that might be on his wrist, or hold up a compass in his hand. I'd love to see a character actually pull out a map (that behaves more like a real map, not having markers that are seen by everyone and whatnot) If third person is kept in the game, then a player in 3dp would see the same kind of overlay/screen, have an over-the-shoulder view, or be pulled into first person. I also recall some game being brought up in the suggestion forums, where the player looks into his coat to see the items he has. Perhaps that sort of system could be implemented for backpacks. By cutting down on the amount of screens and overlays as much as possible, it could help improve the aesthetic of the game.

More animations for character and environment interaction

Just small things like pushing open doors with your hand, opening vehicle doors, and turning over/patting down a body to loot it would be nice. I wouldn't mind seeing healing animations similar to Far Cry 3's, where you actually put a bandage on yourself, pry out a bullet, or inject yourself with something. However, this should have presets for the character to interact with, such as arms, legs, torso or head, depending on the location of the injury. If something like this isn't being implemented already, I definitely think it should be, on release or in an update.

Accurate Weapon Collision, Interaction with World

I saw this in a WIP game called Ground Branch. Basically, if a player has a gun raised and walks into a wall, the gun gets pressed up against their body, instead of just... doing nothing. In most games, the weapon is "rendered on top of the world". ArmA II already has a system like this, where the gun raises slightly when making contact with something, but it's really not good. This would not only look good, but help to balance weapons realistically (You wouldn't want a sniper or LMG for indoor CQB), especially if paired with realistic weapon damages to different body parts.

Gameplay

I really love the gameplay in DayZ, but here are a few suggestions that I think deserve attention.

Scopes

I know this has been brought up a few times but the topics are pretty old, and I have some different ideas for it. So, I think it would be a great idea if the scopes looked more like this:

http://upload.wikime...rifle_scope.jpg

http://snarkybytes.c...rough_scope.jpg

Rather than just having a black layer on top of the screen. However, most people say that the area around the scope should be blurred out, but I disagree. If you're already focusing on the crosshairs of a scope, on a screen or not, your eye won't be focused on what's outside of it. But if you wanted to move your eye around while looking through a real scope, you could. So really, I think the magnified scopes would look perfect if they looked exactly like the picture above.

Also, maybe scope glare could be a factor. I know that most military guns have anti-glare coating or mesh covers, but I hope to see an increase in civilian weaponry in the standalone. It seems possible to me that cheaper, civilian hunting rifles could have a chance for scope glare, but only in the daytime, out of the shade, at just the right angle, and only with a few scopes (If attachments are implemented). It should be easy to avoid scope glare, and I'm not sure if this should be put in, or if there's something about scopes I don't know. Maybe it will seem too arcade-y, but I'd like to see what people think about a subtle use of glare.

Waste Items

To me, it kind of makes sense that eating a can of beans would leave you with an empty tin can, or drinking a soda would leave you with an empty soda can. This would be a good source of trash loot, if you ever found yourself needing any. Also, maybe using up a magazine shouldn't just make it disappear, hopefully we will get an empty magazines, if bullets are introduced as individual items.

Gun Handling

I don't really find it realistic that the player can hold a 20 pound machine gun perfectly still for an endless amount of time. Also, if you could keep your gun lowered to show that you were friendly, but still be able to bring it up quickly, that would be nice too. I think that the way a character currently holds a gun, pointed straight but off to the side, should be changed, or removed, and have more emphasis put on a lowered weapon and an aimed weapon. Or maybe just make it possible to bring your weapon from "down" to "aimed" with some actual speed. I've played paintball and airsoft before, and I've never felt compelled to hold a gun in the way shown in most fps's.

Bathing

I have seen this idea posted before, but those topics are back from August, and I think this should be discussed more for the standalone. What if, a players odour accumulated over time, and this could attract the attention of zombies? Bathing would be pretty easy, just go out into a pond, river, lake or ocean, or stand out in the rain.

A different way to hide bodies

I don't really like the 'hide body' function, how a corpse just magically disappears and can never be found again, along with his loot. There's already a 'Drag Body' ability in ArmA II, so I think that players should have to manually hide a body until it despawns, or maybe add an ability to bury them. The drag body function could also serve to mark territory, intimidate players, or even right out messages for aircraft by positioning them.

Items

Here's a list of some items I'd like to see in the standalone.

Weapons

Extremely Common (Found anywhere in their respective environments)

-Wood Plank (Very low damage, mostly used to knock zombies back or down, if such a thing is going to be possible)

-Brick (Thrown item, a chance to break bones, high chance of knockout and a chance of lethality if it hits the head)

-Broken Glass (Maybe with some duct tape or fabric around it as a handle)

-Tree branch(Same as wood plank, but found in forests)

-Rock(Same as brick, but found in forests)

Very Common (Can be found in homes, many other buildings)

-Baseball bat

-Screwdriver

-Claw Hammer

-Shovel

-Crowbar

-Kitchen knife/Meat cleaver

Common

-Mosin-Nagant

-Cricket Bat

-Hunting Knife

Uncommon

-TOZ 123(4 gauge russian shotgun)

-Machete

-Tokarev TT-33

Rare

-MP-443 Grach (Police/Low-level military)

-MP-446C(Similar to MP-443, but a sporting pistol, so found in homes)

-Saiga-12

-SKS

-OVL Hunting Rifle

-Combat knife(Does more damage than hunting knife?)

-AK-74M

Very Rare

-PP-2000

-Glock 18

-SV-98

-9A-91

-RPK-74M

Extremely Rare

-SVU

-AS-VAL/VSS

-PKP

-AK-12

That's it for now, I'll try to update this in the future. Let me know what you think!

Edited January 12, 2013 by Clumzy

[beastoverlord 574]

I've always liked the scope idea. It would make it way more immersive. That would be the top of your list for me.

[DemonGroover 8836]

Welcome to the forum.

I like the idea of you holding out the compass, looking at your watch or pulling out a map. The only issue i see is for those who play in 3rd person - it might look a little weird.

[Roark92 90]

all good ideas i think. nothing too extreme, just pleasant additions. hopefully these subtle things like the animations you mentioned will be looked at and worked on in the months after the release.

ive also thought that odour/smell should play a role in the game. especially with things like defecation and a stamina system. smelling should provide a cue of some sort that relays some information about what it is your char. is sensing. like if you walk near a fire pit you will smell smoke even if you cant see or hear it. could make for some suspenseful moments when you are deaf and blind but can smell enemies about :P still i understand the complexity of adding in a whole new sense to the game, but dare to dream right.

the scope thing is a no brainer to me really, fully agree with you on that one.

the junk items yes. i actually think that junk items should spawn a lot less (maybe not at all?) and just be created by the players as they use up their resources. could contribute to illness as well (populated places filled with trash) a way to tell if it is fresh or not would be useful as well, assuming its not just going to despawn of course. but yeah it becomes troll weaponry for sure in that regard.

[Clumzy (DayZ) 377]

Welcome to the forum.

I like the idea of you holding out the compass, looking at your watch or pulling out a map. The only issue i see is for those who play in 3rd person - it might look a little weird.

Thanks. I figured for the compasses and maps in third person, there would be a few options: You could have the same kind of screen that is currently shown, the camera could come in to an over-the-shoulder view, or it could pull you into first person.

[Very Ape 748]

Welcome to the forum.

I like the idea of you holding out the compass, looking at your watch or pulling out a map. The only issue i see is for those who play in 3rd person - it might look a little weird.

Pulling out a map could switch you to first-person mode, much like it does when you aim down the sights.

[Clumzy (DayZ) 377]

Updated to have an 'items' section, and put everything in spoilers to make it shorter.

[Leto (DayZ) 72]

I don't think the SKS should be rare.

[chris_heyward 47]

I like those ideas except one:

A Brick... not lethal... Come stand in front of me, let me throw it at you and when you re-awake from your coma, then tell me it wasn't lethal... lol

[Clumzy (DayZ) 377]

I don't think the SKS should be rare.

Well, I was thinking a modernized version of it, and I wouldn't really want a semi-auto sniper being uncommon. If it were the older version added to the game, I'd agree with you.

I like those ideas except one:

A Brick... not lethal... Come stand in front of me, let me throw it at you and when you re-awake from your coma, then tell me it wasn't lethal... lol

Fair point. Maybe a headshot with it would have a close to 100% knockout rate, depending on how it hits you, and a fairly high chance to kill, maybe like 25-50%. I'll update the OP.