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

[Katana67 2907]

Currently I think the main issues with the mod is that players tend to gather in the same predictable places. Whilst I think that's a good thing because cities ect would likely be where you'd find the most activity it can get predictable. The new areas/structures and points of interest being added to the SA should spread players accross the map a bit more meaning that wherever you are the chance of running into someone is increased.

The devs have said that the SA could potentially have many more players on the map but they've also said that they may "spend" these new resources on other things and that they will try to find a balance, they won't just flood the map with players because they can. I personally think 50 - 60 players max for Chernarus would be ideal, I think it's important that the player still feels isolated.

I agree completely with the player count. I was really sort of timid about supporting their initial attempts at trying to include a doubled player count in Chernarus. 50-60 is perfect, a steady 50-60. Any more than that and I feel you'll never be able to reliably be stealthy and/or start an encampment. The map is deceptively small once you've explored it all, unfortunately.

The biggest thing that I think will change gameplay is the fact that they're taking the inclusion of interiors seriously. I practically squee-d when I heard that they intended on making those HUGE apartment buildings in the new area around Chernogorsk completely enterable. I may not ever go in them mind you, but making shelter significant has been a top interest of mine since the mod was released. That, and just having to scavenge and move through interiors will make gameplay all the more suspenseful and change things up dramatically from field-banditry.

It'll change how people look at towns, coupled with zombies being serverside and not revealing player positions... I will actually have cause to enter a town and perhaps even clear, live, and defend it. It's these sweeping ambient additions that I think will change the gameplay the most, rather than forcing mechanics on people.

[sav112g 114]

If the towns and city are now huge with regards to places to enter players may choose to play only in them. A kind of player Choice. Chernarusions living off and feeding off players entering their town. Interesting if buildings become just to big to search quick.

They could even set up things to entice you in and traps.

Edited May 12, 2013 by sav112

[rainf 76]

Agreed. If you've only watched vids and not played then you won't feel the same suspense as the player. DayZ has always been (or at least started out as) a fairly slow game. It's not about wall to wall action. When you're walking through the countryside having not seen another player for 2 hours it actually adds to the tension. Knowing you could have a sniper watching you at any time or a player could around the next corner is what adds to the tension.

QFT, although its not the snipers that bother me too much, more often than not, they'll end it fairly quickly for me.

Its those shadows you thought were your imagination, those 2 or 3 guys who HAVE been following you, they're rifles too ineffective at long range to make sure they put you down quickly and cleanly.

You have been careful, you watched the town, you saw that other guy leave, now its your turn to go in there.

Quietly, slowly, except in all your care you don't realize that they are closing in for the kill, taking position around that grocery store you just entered and found that can of drink you so desperately needed to get rid of the flashing red hud indicator (its been a while since i played, i heard the hud changed).

What happens next is usually a given, but sometimes we miraculously survive the chaos long enough to make sense of what had just happened, and these make for amazing experiences a player can have on both sides of the spectrum, this is what makes DayZ amazing, videos cannot capture this.

Sometimes in these moments our senses literally warn us of the impending danger, which you might expect to be a real life phenomenon but not so in a game, the whole 'I haven't seen anybody in over an hour, i just know that its about to get really intense' and then there it is. I love DayZ, cant wait for SA.

:(

Edited May 13, 2013 by Bricks

[law1977 17]

On the subject of player count, I feel (as long as performance issues are handled) that doubling the amount of people able to a server is good plan. If you compare to original mod, which has refreshed people's interest in a more hardcore type of game. Most servers were a max of 50, which was fine then because you could clear a small village or town in 10 mins ish due to the lack of enter-able buildings. Now each town will have almost all buildings enter-able so people will have have to hang around more, search each building look for that gun or other weapon.

This means the big cities will take a long time to clear taking account zombie dodging and of course carefully avoiding other players. With the new area's being placed up north and hopefully the more varied loot spawns, this will actually make the map much bigger. Maybe not in running from one end to the other but the amount of searching needed to be done will make you lurk in area's you never did before.

Also judging from the vids we have seen and dev blogs we have all read, surviving will be harder then it was in the mod. You will need to have more medical supplies, clothing will have a much greater need due to the pockets and things. I personally can`t wait to get my hands on the game and see what the team have done with crafting and how things will work.

So I hope they do try to get more people for the server with the changes made I think it will make sense, I see Fraggle and Katana67 points but I think the more people is now possible due to all map changes. Like they have both stated meeting people was rare and scary, which we need to keep in the game for the tension but I reckon 100 will possibly keep everyone happy.

Then again lets see what happens when the game comes out ;-)

[mzltv 2281]

Nah, seriously though - there's no real rush for the devblog. I'm sure the second they've got sexy new updates, they'll be dropping them on here.

Edited May 13, 2013 by mzltv

[triggy89 171]

i have to agree with keeping servers at 60 people. I realise the size of the map in terms of buildings that you are able to enter etc will make the game feel bigger, but i tend to find with 50-60 people on a map at the moment you tend to run across people often enough, and any more would defiantly ruin the feeling of isolation and being one of a select few survivors. I would guess that on the map there would been 50k people living there before the virus struck. (i could be totally wrong). Lets say 90% of the population died outright and 9.9% came back as zombies. So 5k zombies and 50 survivors ( so there is a 0.1% immune rate amoung the population). I think that's a good number. (i think i read somewhere they spawned 4k zombies on a server?) It makes the sheer volume of zombies a lot more threatening and killing others secondary. I think it will balance the game somewhat. having say 120 people would defiantly detract from that and make humans a lot more of a threat, and with that number of zombies as well. Personally i think it would be too much. I would prefer more zombies than more people.

PvP is an important aspect to the game but you run the risk of making players the number one threat, which in a zombie apocalypse i personally don't think should be the case. Zombies should be difficult enough/challenging enough that people think twice about taking someone out just for the hell of it. Unless you have a silenced sniper/gun someone should really think twice about blasting someone, knowing that zombies could very well cut them off their escape route and lead to death. Atm players are very much the only threat with zombies being very easily avoidable.

Note: maybe rocket should give an explanation to number of people on a server and number of zombies, it would add to realisitic nature of the game knowing the numbers/stats behind infection.

Edited May 13, 2013 by triggy89

[triggy89 171]

[taken 2 minutes ago]

Nah, seriously though - there's no real rush for the devblog. I'm sure the second they've got sexy new updates, they'll be dropping them on here.

at work i guess? I have exactly the same thing at work :P, also discussing the star trek movie i see? hehe

Edited May 13, 2013 by triggy89

[mzltv 2281]

at work i guess? I have exactly the same thing at work :P, also discussing the star trek movie i see? hehe

Anything to avoid the monotony 'eh? ;)

and hells yeah to the Star Trek discussion - saw it last night and it literally melted my face with joy.

[triggy89 171]

Anything to avoid the monotony 'eh? ;)

and hells yeah to the Star Trek discussion - saw it last night and it literally melted my face with joy.

haha tell me about it! really want to go and see it, i think when my bonus comes through, I'm skint. Oops thread deviation....... :P

devblog please?

Edited May 13, 2013 by triggy89

[Macev 5]

I've taken 2-3weeks to "almost" complete Crysis 3 because i'm never off DayZ and gave up on Far Cry 3. I've got Metro2033, Metro lastlight (free with new card :P ) and BF2 for Project Reality sat here unopened and waiting to play. Even on the dull days and there are many in DayZ, i still find myself playing it and nothing else. :huh:

exactly same happend to me. I have about 10 unplayed games from steam sales. Homefront, Max Payne, XCOM, Walking Dead... But I just play DayZ day after day since may 2012. Is there any rehab for me?!

BTW Origins is best, but map should be Chernarus, not Taviana.

Edited May 13, 2013 by Macev

[sav112g 114]

Do you think they will loose control of SA? And by that I mean within days if not weeks will there not be Mod’s out for it including every weapon going???

Or will it not be mod friendly and they will be able to control the whole situation more.

[mzltv 2281]

Do you think they will loose control of SA? And by that I mean within days if not weeks will there not be Mod’s out for it including every weapon going???

Or will it not be mod friendly and they will be able to control the whole situation more.

In what respect? Your question is full of non-specifics and generalities.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Do you think they will loose control of SA? And by that I mean within days if not weeks will there not be Mod’s out for it including every weapon going???

Or will it not be mod friendly and they will be able to control the whole situation more.

It won't be moddable for a long time. It's a shame but to keep hackers away they need to keep it all locked down. The reason you see flying tanks in the mods is because people have access to all of those files from Arma and scripting them in is VERY easy, in the SA that won't be the case

Edited May 13, 2013 by Fraggle

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

It's been said plenty of times, the SA will be locked down, at least to start with.

Mods may get a place eventually, but that's not going to be any time soon.

EDIT: Ninja'd

Edited May 13, 2013 by Chabowski

[Donlod 6]

Im hoping the SA will never be modable and that hacking (especially mass killing/teleporting and disable grass, buildings, idk) will be reduced a lot and that server admins cannot check files to look up positions of player/objects, thats the only reason i quit playing DayZ Mod.This ruins the whole game experience.

[vaevictis 18]

Im hoping the SA will never be modable and that hacking (especially mass killing/teleporting and disable grass, buildings, idk) will be reduced a lot and that server admins cannot check files to look up positions of player/objects, thats the only reason i quit playing DayZ Mod.This ruins the whole game experience.

I agree with you that hacking is the worst thing that can happen to any game and it is destroying the whole feel of the game.

I honestly can not understand why people would do those stupid scripts, like moving players through the map, enabling god mode, getting different items with scripts, ammo boxes etc...

The whole idea that appealed to me by dayZ was the difficulty of the game, the fear of zombies, weighing a decision between going in the city (house) and get some loot and not going in.

The start of the game is awesome (when you have no equipment and your are scared of a one zombie).

If you kill the suspense and make game easier with cheating you basically destroy the game as it should be (difficult, realistic,....).

However on the other side, it is kind of ironic for a game derived from a mod not to have any moding capabilities.

I love to see the originality of people and what they are doing with modifications, addons etc with arma series.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I agree with you that hacking is the worst thing that can happen to any game and it is destroying the whole feel of the game.

I honestly can not understand why people would do those stupid scripts, like moving players through the map, enabling god mode, getting different items with scripts, ammo boxes etc...

The whole idea that appealed to me by dayZ was the difficulty of the game, the fear of zombies, weighing a decision between going in the city (house) and get some loot and not going in.

The start of the game is awesome (when you have no equipment and your are scared of a one zombie).

If you kill the suspense and make game easier with cheating you basically destroy the game as it should be (difficult, realistic,....).

However on the other side, it is kind of ironic for a game derived from a mod not to have any moding capabilities.

I love to see the originality of people and what they are doing with modifications, addons etc with arma series.

Yup, Rocket said it was a shame (and ironic) but there really is no other way to keep the game from being abused. He did say he'd like to see it modded in the future though so I guess time will tell.

Edited May 13, 2013 by Fraggle

[intensity 157]

Yup, Rocket said it was a shame (and ironic) but there really is no other way to keep the game from being abused. He did say he'd like to see it modded in the future though so I guess time will tell.

Sorry to be off topic, but I'm loving the new avatar there, Fraggle. ^^

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Blonde is the new brown.

[Private Evans 1303]

Im hoping the SA will never be modable and that hacking (especially mass killing/teleporting and disable grass, buildings, idk) will be reduced a lot and that server admins cannot check files to look up positions of player/objects, thats the only reason i quit playing DayZ Mod.This ruins the whole game experience.

The future of such a game like DayZ is MODDING !!!!

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

The future of such a game like DayZ is MODDING !!!!

In the long-term you're probably right. In the short term the security has to be the most important.

[Zarniwoop 1193]

Agreed Fraggle! But I am having second thoughts about modding altogether...

Hopefully there will be some good way of sorting servers so that finding one that suits the player's preferances will be easy. A clear annotation deviding the vanilla servers from the modded ones.

Edited May 13, 2013 by Zarniwoop

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Well all of that's along way off. The game is going to be in heavy development for a long time and during that time and for (I'd guess) a long time after release there will only be one version to play, the official version.

[brzator47@gmail.com 524]

Hopefully no modding/private hives ever. The mod was at its best by far when there was no modding and before rampant hacking. Leave it up to the majority and you can count on the unique, harsh and unforgiving experience getting ruined. Unlike the mod, we can expect plenty of new content later on with SA, like official new maps. I don't think modding is necessary, even in the long term.

[Reverie 175]

i have to agree with keeping servers at 60 people. I realise the size of the map in terms of building that you are able to enter etc will make the game feel bigger, but i tend to find with 50-60 people on a map at the moment you tend to run across people often enough, and that any more would defiantly ruin the feeling of isolation and being one of a select few survivors.

-snip-

Of course you run across people often enough in a mod where almost all buildings are non-enterable... players have no other option except wander in the open in-between cities, where you have greater chance of being spotted and also spot someone else.

With the buildings fully enterable, one could assume that of 100 players, half would be scavenging inside the buildings (and would not get in contact with you), while the other half would be on the move.

Which means that on the worst scenario, with 100 players in a map with enterable buildings, you will have the same or less amount of encounters than what you have now in the regular Chernarus.