RhinoCrunch - Jan 2013 - Interview with Matt Lightfoot

[SmashT 10907]

Q: It's now January 13th, where is DayZ standalone and what happened to the December target?

A: As people have seen, Rocket said we had to release DayZ by the end of the year. We have gone on to different aims since then, at the time we were aiming to make the mod a standalone game with some slight improvements, now we want to make greater and much bigger changes to the engine. This was going to be a big challenge, do we do it now before we release an initial build or do we do it after and we decided that it would be much better do to it beforehand so people really acknowledge how much we can achieve in such a small time, ultimately the challenges we took on blew any initial plans we had out of the water so that is why there is a slight delay.

Q: I've mentioned when we spoke before about DayZ becoming an MMO and you seemed pretty surprised when I said it could be at that scale, is that becoming more of a realisation these days?

A: As I mentioned in our last discussion we have made many improvements to the server-client architecture so there is the possibility for a vast amount of more players and increase efficiencies on the server, we have been playing around now with persistent and things and it's reminding me of the initial mod development, now we are redoing the database so they are more efficient and so we won't encounter the same problems we did with the mod in regards to lag from the hive server and problems like that, now because we are designing it again, being able to see it all coming together is just fantastic.

Q: Can you tell us the server player number and what standalone servers will slow?

A: Well to be honest, I'd rather not because we have tested it on only maybe one machine to a fairly reasonable number. If we say one server is to judge everyone by then we could have some fairly upset people so we would rather go into the closed technology test that we have announced and get an average from the people invited so we can figure out on average on what people will be able to do.

Q: From the sounds of that it sounds more then 50?

A: It's perfectly possible to have more then 50 players, however with the map, how many players is it going to make the map feel crowded and also what else do we want to do with the changes to the engine and the efficiencies we have saved? We could add more zombies in or all sorts of things and it's what we do with that extra power really, do we add more players or not? That's something we have still yet to decide on.

Q: Going back to the closed technology test, when is the most precise date for the test?

A: The most precise date I can give you is some time in 2013, however it is imminent. I'm actually still sending invites out now as we really want to invite people who really contributed to the mod, the people who helped out in the really early days of the mod, people that were on the original server and things like that, it really has come quite a way and there is still some people yet to be invited with that as for the date it's yet to be decided.

Q: You have now decided to allow streaming, videos etc to be released even though the technical test is under NDA, is that correct?

Initially we wanted to get everyone invited to the technology test to sign an NDA, not so much to censor people but more so to control who has access to the files. Ultimately if we try and hide it someone will probably break the NDA to share video, images etc with the internet how it is now it's best for us to fully endorse that so the NDA is more to stop people sharing files, just on your point of calling it an alpha, many people get misguided by that it's more a technology test for our actual foundation build which is going to be constantly evolving and we are going to be adding new things as well as keeping it fairly stable throughout where as a normal alpha isn't likely to be stable throughout it.

Q: I had predicted that the reason the standalone was pushed back was because ArmA II sales on steam are still very high and from a business standpoint that would be a bad move, is that the case?

A: No, ultimately we want to get DayZ out in the technology test as soon as possible, partly because it will make it much easier for the team working on it, as Dean has mentioned we are currently burning the candle at both ends while it's covered in petrol, we are working exceptionally hard. As long as we get those initial releases out and then are down to bug fixing and releasing regular updates, the pressure of people constantly asking us when it's out etc will hopefully be relaxed.

Q: So just to clarify BIS has nothing to do with the release timeline and DayZ being pushed back?

A: No they aren't correlated, obviously the company does have an input to the release date but that's decided by us as a team and is not influenced by ArmA sales.

Q: Are you feeling the pressure?

A: The biggest thing is members of the community, everyday I get maybe 10-15 people adding me on Skype wanting to ask me questions about the standalone, I'll get 20-40 emails a day from people asking for access to the technology test or questions about standalone, people on Facebook, Twitter, I've even had people call me at silly hours in the morning and they have genuinely got a less favourable reply.

Q: Is there any way for members of the community to get access to the closed technology test?

A: Well no. We want to be more focussed with it. The less people we have the more time and resources we can devote to a smaller number, we don't need to guarantee so many servers up and it's much easier to manage problems and give feedback and speak to them about any issues brought up. Having a fairly small fixed number (500-1000) means it's a lot more manageable.

Q: I've noticed there has been a favouritism against bandits and for heroes, for example it was mentioned you had a heat map for player deaths in Chernarus and you didn't want to release it because of bandits using that to their advantage, are we going to see the same favouritism in the standalone for heroes and are bandits going to get the shaft again?

A: I wouldn't say it's favouritism if you are a good bandit you will be able to think of the hotspots yourself, if we release heat maps it would probably be more bias against heroes and everyone else because we would be helping them where as now we aren't helping either side.

Q: Is there anything that we can do to help Ivan and Martin, the two developers arrested on Espionage charged and detained in Greece?

A: Possibly the best place I can point people towards is http://www.helpivanmartin.org/ they have got letters you can send to your politicians and stuff like that there.

Q: Would you like to spill the standalone date or anything else before you go?

A: We haven't fixed a date yet as we are still working on some final things we would like to finish before we push out the technical test.

Edited January 14, 2013 by smasht_AU

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Niiiice!!! I'm gonna buy Matt a new microphone for his next Birthday to replace that cheap £20 knock-off he insists on using.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Fraggle

[joeman4 23]

Great interview got me more excited then ever! And Matt get your developer ass a new mic :lol:

[beastoverlord 574]

Niiiice!!! I'm gonna buy Matt a new microphone for his next Birthday to replace that cheap £20 knock-off he insists on using.

The Blue Snowball is pretty cheap and has excellent quality. ;)

[m.w. vindicator 880]

It is a fun interview. RhinoCrunch is a fun commentator who isn't too serious all the time.

[beastoverlord 574]

Yeah, I like Rhino. He comes off as an asshole, but it makes it really entertaining. I have to say one of my favorite YouTube videos right now is his WarZ rage too. I couldn't stop laughing about it.

[picky (DayZ) 25]

Is chernarus a post soviet state in russia? I thought it was somewhere south of it.. either way. good vid thanks..

[mattlightfoot 2463]

You mean my beautiful sennheiser one, I do also have Dean's old logitech one but that one is majorly chunkey and heavy. My ears get all warm and such with the logitech one.

[Thasik 79]

RhinoCrunch is a fun commentator who isn't too serious all the time.

Eh. The way he approached the whole WarZ controversy was very immature and, if anything, overly serious. Of course he wasn't anywhere near wrong, but anyone should have seen that coming.

Just hope he uses this experience to give some good feedback and clear the air. He is a good interviewer.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Thasik

[daze23 549]

does he want a cookie for being a bandit?

[beastoverlord 574]

You mean my beautiful sennheiser one, I do also have Dean's old logitech one but that one is majorly chunkey and heavy. My ears get all warm and such with the logitech one.

Matt, I do have to say that you NEED a new microphone if you keep doing this interviews. If you count how many people each one of these can prospectively get to buy the game, you can spend a little money on a better mic.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

You mean my beautiful sennheiser one, I do also have Dean's old logitech one but that one is majorly chunkey and heavy. My ears get all warm and such with the logitech one.

Maybe just put mattresses around the walls of your room to muffle the echo. I'm sure you can just nick a decent mic from the BIS offices when nobody's looking. Or just stick it on expenses.

[Ovation 52]

Smasht_AU can we get one of your awesome Q&A text formats on this interview? <3 i would do it myself but im dyslexic

*Edit* Thank you very much Smash, It would take some time to do all that for the community so it's truly appreciated,Reading is a much more preferable way for most people to listen to detail and it will add more player knowledge in doing so.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Ovation

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Yes Smash, please type up every word that was said in the interview. Cheers.

[Brad77 0]

i agree it was a great interview and cant wait

[Ovation 52]

At 4:35 he talks about the extra resources they have from optimization, they are questioning where they want to put them in,

who votes more zombies? ^.^

Edited January 14, 2013 by Ovation

[DemonGroover 8836]

More zombies!

[white 44]

more zombies! with proper animations!

one thing that could be addressed somehow is dealing with how zombies spawn since they pretty much tell if theres someone around. maybe there could be a couple of zombies all the time in those places, so ppl far away would still see them around on empty places.

Edited January 14, 2013 by white

[St. Jimmy 1631]

Moar harder zombies = less headless run 'n' gun banditry. That footage was pretty awful to watch :P

Edited January 14, 2013 by St. Jimmy

[dallas 5195]

Can someone buy Matt a new jump rope and two new styrophome cups?

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

More zombies. Getting off the coast no matter where you spawn should be an achievement unto itself.

[Ovation 52]

Don't want to be all over the post here, "online so often lately"

But this might be off topic but; Would you guys like the idea of there being more zombie on the coast, and lesser inland?, to help push people away from the spawn area's more?

Edited January 14, 2013 by Ovation

[Maca (DayZ) 769]

Don't want to be all over the post here, "online so often lately"

But this might be off topic but; Would you guys like the idea of there being more zombie on the coast, and lesser inland?, to help push people away from the spawn area's more?

More Infected everywhere on the map. Should be very hard to find any sanctuary unless you actually search it out....

Thanks for the post smasht.

[Zionist Wabbit 154]

I eventually just switched off the footage and went about some usual Online things while listening. Footage is saddening..

Anyhow: Sounds great. Did miss a few things I, personally, wanted to know - But, beggars can't be choosers. Any new information is music to my ears. He mentioned the possible release date for the Closed Alpha, Matt seemed to have tried to by-pass it. I'm hoping it was out of uncertainty relating to a few weeks / a few months, rather then a simple 'I don't know'. Can't wait to watch a few video's on it :-P

Kudos to the team overall, too. Quite a smart idea to simply have the NDA cover the Files ect. rather then any Footage. Show's you're actually believing in the Product, even at an early stage (Along with stopping any reason to gloat if someone were to leak Footage).

[The2ndLink 156]

Good interview Matt.

"sometimes in 2013" :lol:

But I just can't get to like Rinocrunch. The more I see from him the more annoying he becomes.

Edited January 14, 2013 by The2ndLink