DayZ Developer blog 26th April, Video from PAX and our latest "building"

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

But I am.

Yeh but that usually implies you can't be objective or apply logic. I know it shouldn't but that's life. I prefer "cheerleader", at least then we get to wear short skirts and make human pyramids.

[Dr. Goner 661]

Anyone know if there will be a devblog today?

Thanks!

[ash712 52]

Wow I've been gone from these forums since the end of 2012, and now that I'm back I've noticed that : THE USERS HERE HAVE BECOME A CRAZY IMPATIENT MOB! ZOMG! ^%$#@ RUN! (chill out...seriously...it's just a game!)

[Dr. Goner 661]

Wow I've been gone from these forums since the end of 2012, and now that I'm back I've noticed that : THE USERS HERE HAVE BECOME A CRAZY IMPATIENT MOB! ZOMG! ^%$#@ RUN! (chill out...seriously...it's just a game!)

Wow, you've been gone for over four months. Did they have electricity back then? Was the world actually in black and white or do the pictures just make it seem that way? Please tell us more oh bard from the bygone ages.

[Katana67 2907]

That... and people constantly pointing out a vocal trend of "complaining" doesn't really help... at all.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

I will never understand whats going on again... so I guess I have to simply wait for SA.

[TD-4242 12]

Wow I've been gone from these forums since the end of 2012, and now that I'm back I've noticed that : THE USERS HERE HAVE BECOME A CRAZY IMPATIENT MOB! ZOMG! ^%$#@ RUN! (chill out...seriously...it's just a game!)

The only error in your post is that "HAVE BECOME" should be "STILL ARE"

[Authentic Contiguity 3]

Am I the only one that realizes that any time not spent (read wasted) on doing Dev Blogs is spent working on the game so it comes out sooner? The sooner it comes out the sooner we won't need Dev Blogs. I hound this site for the updates as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to complain that the dev team is actually developing the game rather than posting a blog.

[Sutinen 635]

Am I the only one that realizes that any time not spent (read wasted) on doing Dev Blogs is spent working on the game so it comes out sooner? The sooner it comes out the sooner we won't need Dev Blogs. I hound this site for the updates as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to complain that the dev team is actually developing the game rather than posting a blog.

It's a few pictures and some text. That doesn't take much time.

[Authentic Contiguity 3]

It's a few pictures and some text. That doesn't take much time.

Maybe that's the case. Although, Rocket and Matt usually are talking about staying up late to do the dev blogs so it apparently takes more time than it seems. They probably have to think a while I about what they want to reveal at this point, and of course taking proper in game pictures and uploading them can take some time. If they do a video, which is what everyone really wants, then that could take half a day getting set up. I think we're fortunate that the team is as involved with the community as it is right now.

[DazTroyer 227]

Which was my point a while ago, let a streamer to an update. Less work for them and good results for us. :)

[Authentic Contiguity 3]

Which was my point a while ago, let a streamer to an update. Less work for them and good results for us. :)

I agree.

[dallas 5195]

And Rocket responded to that a while ago, having to constantly brief an outsider would be more of a hassle than a benefit, also he wants to learn from the process himself for future projects. Anyways Matt releasing four new screens and 35-40 minutes of new footage still wasn't enough for some poeple and every time we get a new update, people browse through it superficially and then complain about the lack of new content in the updates.

You just can't please everyone all of the time and some people, you just can't please at all.

They want to keep the team small, because they want to focus on development rather than on management, they'll update us when they have time and something interesting to show. You can't both demand updates every Friday and at the same time expect them to be huge and filled with new features. There's a reason, why they can't just reveal everything(no one mentioned WarZ) and how many mo-cap videos do we really need.

[CapricornOne (DayZ) 379]

What exactly is there left to know? :huh:

There's been more information released about the game/plans for the game than that of GTA5... Even after the big media blowout the other day... You don't have people clamouring to Rockstar as to why it was pushed back a few months.. If it benefits the final product, that's all that should goddamn matter.. <_<

[Serious Stan 202]

This is the best development so far in SA, let this mastermind who designed this wreck in charge of alot of the content in plans :)

love it!

[SmashT 10907]

Which was my point a while ago, let a streamer to an update. Less work for them and good results for us. :)

We feel that is a slippery-slope. When I say we, I mean right from our CEO down. The feeling is, once you start employing people to do everything - before you know it... BAM... you are "EA". Other than one notable exception, I honestly believe that nobody in the industry really comes into it saying "I'm going to develop shit and just make tons of cash". But when you suddenly have a crapton of people working on stuff, it can loose it's heart.

My "EA" point was not that EA is bad, but that EA is big. I'm not suggesting that making them higher quality would be bad, or that it would make us "like EA" - but hiring someone to do all the little things will make us bigger, and that's the slippery slope. When it's me, there is nobody else to blame.

I believe one of the standalones "successes" is that it's staying connected, directly. I'm directly responsible for many parts, so I can't pass the blame. If something is fucked, it's because I haven't done something. it makes me supremely responsible and I can't blame shortcomings on anyone else.

So the feeling is, yes the blogs are glitchy and not well done. But they're honest, and I think the "warts and all" approach - together with filming on normal/low settings - will greatly help manage expections which is going to REALLY help on release.

I take the point, but the chances of us getting someone to do this are non-existent. They would need to be local, like at the studio. We've got too many externals as it is and it is soaking up the vast majority of my time trying to keep everyone reviewed and on track who is external.

I'm going to use the video blogs as a chance for me to learn how hard it is to produce video content, so that one day when I grow up and start my own studio - I'll know what I want when I get a video editor to do something. When I was training as an infantry officer, I had a rule that I would never get someone to do something that I wasn't prepared to do myself.

My comment about EA is not that they are bad, but that they are big. I don't want to run a large project at bohemia because it is an another country, speaking another language. I have a hard enough time as it is, it's like cooking in someone elses kitchen. They don't do things how I would do them, because the culture is different. I don't understand things and I would want to do everything my way - not because its better but because that's my culture. I'm bad enough as it is, just ask Matt. If I had to run a 100 person project in a company where I don't speak the language - when I haven't had any time to even stop to do any planning... I think I'd turn up at work one day with a grenade or something rammed in my ass.

I'm sure that if we go out and say "hey, can someone do the devblogs?" someone is going to put their hand up. Actually, I have several friends who could do it - but that adds two or three days to the process. And then the time needs to be taken to brief them on what I want, which I can't necessarily explain very well.

I am also, frankly, tired of dealing with external people. This is not LA. Just ask my agent about this! I think people forget this, a lot. This is the czech republic, full of many talented people - but there is a cultural and a language barrier. The devblogs are not for marketing, the only aims they achieve for us are, in order of priority:

- For the team to have fun and blow off steam

- A sneaky chance for me to show some bugs I want fixed ASAP, and blackmail the team into fixing them by them knowing I will make them public

- To show people who we are, that we're not perfect, but that we're having fun

- For me to learn a bit about video editing to help me manage content producers when I start my own studio.

- To demonstrate the current status of the build.

So yes, I get your point - and I will commit to spending a bit more time and not produce something so low quality next time - as it does appear that some people are quite disapointed by it (and I think they have a point).

But I do think you and me, and the others who have an issue with it - I just don't think we're even on the same planet in terms of what we value. DayZ is just one big experiment to me, I'm experimenting because nobody, and I mean nobody gets carte blanche authority to do whatever they want. I imagine few people in the video game industry have ever received such a loose contract as I have. That's why I went with Bohemia, because not only did they accept me having complete creative control... they encouraged it. The CEO, Marek, encourages me to experiment and make mistakes.

I watched some interviews about Louise CK about his "louie" TV show, and I thought - yeah I get that. I turned down some incredible offers because while the money is good, I wanted complete creative freedom. Absolute. That's what Bohemia gave me, and I'm using that to learn and make mistakes.

I'm not the guy you hire to make a safe project. I'm just not that guy, I never have been. The Air Force knew it, the Army knew it - they used me on projects that needed my mix of good and bad traits. So I'm going to make plenty of mistakes, and yeah, this devblog probably was one of those. But I'm glad I did it, and I've learned some things. It's inspired me to make a better effort with the next one, and it's taught me the difficulties of making content delivery - and I think that will make me a better leader when it comes to making my own studio one day.

Edited May 4, 2013 by smasht_AU

[DazTroyer 227]

Never read that from rocket before, can't really argue with that can i, lol. :)

[skilpad 43]

Yes, that's correct. You don't have all your other staff sitting around doing nothing because you are waiting on your lead programmers to finish the engine architecture though. You have them working on other tasks in the mean time. If the artists are there, why not have them working?

O ok well if you put it that way....

[Julia_Shafer 18]

wow did a torpedo hit that bad boy?! lol

Edited May 4, 2013 by andwii

[YZ250 248]

Wow I've been gone from these forums since the end of 2012, and now that I'm back I've noticed that : THE USERS HERE HAVE BECOME A CRAZY IMPATIENT MOB! ZOMG! ^%$#@ RUN! (chill out...seriously...it's just a game!)

WE are the Game !

[YZ250 248]

Am I the only one that realizes that any time not spent (read wasted) on doing Dev Blogs is spent working on the game so it comes out sooner? The sooner it comes out the sooner we won't need Dev Blogs. I hound this site for the updates as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to complain that the dev team is actually developing the game rather than posting a blog.

I could have something watchable with audio commentary recorded and processed within the Hour, ahhh but I could have been Developing in that Hour.....ahh i see where your going.........dont keep following that Road, it goes nowhere

[siew 53]

what i really hate is everything like that...

where is it?

this is so fucked up...

-.-

[SmashT 10907]

You should know by now the DayZ team operate on Valve time. Next tuesday is somewhere between soon™ and the end of time.

Edited May 5, 2013 by smasht_AU

[leviski 2152]

You should know by now the DayZ team operate on Valve time. Next tuesday is somewhere between soon™ and the end of time.

Valve time gets the best of us

[muzzlehead 15]

Will Duke Nukem be featured in the stand alone?

:D