E3 Expo - June 2013 - Interviews and Gameplay

[loopy_loppy26@hotmail.com 18]

Loot is only available to loot when it is in your line of sight. For example If it is under a bed it will not show up when you open your inventory unless you can actually see it.

I have concerns with this, as we've seen in the footage, you can now have the inventory open while moving, fair enough, but when you add the idea of changing stances while having it open, you could easily walk into a room, take everything up high, go prone and just move around, without even looking, and get pings from items you may not have even seen.

So in effect, you could walk into a building without even physically looking, do a lap of the room standing, using the inventory as a loot scanner, then do a lap prone/crouched, and do the same thing. I'm an optimistic supporter of the game, and that just happens to be one thing I disagree with. That, however, doesn't change the fact that it will be a fantastic experience.

another thing I noticed is that statement rocket said about there being no scripted or otherwise "events" such as heli-crashes and the such. I'm a little disappointed there too as I found that a really thrilling idea in the mod, roaming the countryside actually had an impact, and could be a very profitable venture, and the randomness really added to the game Imo. It definitely would take away from the monotony of loot, run, loot, run, next town. But I guess Dean will make his mind up on that once the alpha is circulating and he gets feedback.

Also, I'm not sure if its been stated yet or not, but I was wondering about loot areas, such as will there still be military areas? or will all loot tables and spawn points be evenly balanced, if the latter is the idea, I can see people never leaving large cities if they truely can get every piece of gear there. If anything I think there should be more military areas, filling dead zones in the map, even with the reduced availablity of "high tech" weapons available as rocket has previously confirmed.

[Death_Dealer 3155]

I really hope the SA does actually end up looking like this. Or maybe better.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Death Dealer

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I have concerns with this, as we've seen in the footage, you can now have the inventory open while moving, fair enough, but when you add the idea of changing stances while having it open, you could easily walk into a room, take everything up high, go prone and just move around, without even looking, and get pings from items you may not have even seen.

So in effect, you could walk into a building without even physically looking, do a lap of the room standing, using the inventory as a loot scanner, then do a lap prone/crouched, and do the same thing. I'm an optimistic supporter of the game, and that just happens to be one thing I disagree with. That, however, doesn't change the fact that it will be a fantastic experience.

another thing I noticed is that statement rocket said about there being no scripted or otherwise "events" such as heli-crashes and the such. I'm a little disappointed there too as I found that a really thrilling idea in the mod, roaming the countryside actually had an impact, and could be a very profitable venture, and the randomness really added to the game Imo. It definitely would take away from the monotony of loot, run, loot, run, next town. But I guess Dean will make his mind up on that once the alpha is circulating and he gets feedback.

Also, I'm not sure if its been stated yet or not, but I was wondering about loot areas, such as will there still be military areas? or will all loot tables and spawn points be evenly balanced, if the latter is the idea, I can see people never leaving large cities if they truely can get every piece of gear there. If anything I think there should be more military areas, filling dead zones in the map, even with the reduced availablity of "high tech" weapons available as rocket has previously confirmed.

Regarding the inventory, only items you have a direct line of sight to and are within a close vicinity of will show in the "vicinity" part of the inventory. That means you won't be able to scavenge in the way you describe above. Although technically you could find some loot using that technique, without actually physically looking yourself (under beds etc) you will miss most of what is in the building.

Ragarding loot spawns, the whole system will be very different to what we have now. There will be high grade military gear eventually but the devs can limit how much of everything there is in the DayZ world, not just the server. For example, they could decide that in the whole world of DayZ only 4 DMR's will exist (this is just an example). That means that out of all of the players in the world (not just one server) only 4 people can actually own a DMR. If you use your imagination you can quickly see how this will lead to some items becoming extremely precious and will potentially lead to some very tense trading situations.

With regards to where loot will actually drop, there is now thousands more places to actually look for loot but the loot drop levels will be low meaning you really will have to search for gear and everything you find will be valuable to some degree, even if that's not immediately obvious.

It's these subtle but significant changes in the way we will play DayZ that excite me, at this point when I see buggy animations I see see potential and things that will be fixed/worked on throughout the alpha period. IMO it's simply too early to just say, "well that looks shit" and move on although it is important we tell the devs when we think something looks like shit and why because it's that feedback that will push them on and let them know what we expect.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Fraggle

[triggy89 171]

i am not even going to use this as any kinda of benchmark as i instantly picked a lot of holes in it, i don't think i actually want to play this until its a fully functional beta. It will be amazing once its done, but currently although it does show a lot has been done, there are certain levels of expectation i have built up in my head which are of course not going to be met in the alpha. I really do hope they overhaul the player animations as they feel very rigid at points and zombies obviously need A LOT of work as well, lets hope now they have sorted the majority of the architecture etc it should come on leaps and bounds. Better pathfinding, animations, aesthetics etc.

I think people picking holes in it it entirely warranted, but at the same time it shouldn't be OMG IT LOOKS RUBBISH/negative in the slightest. They have pretty much created an entirely new game, and with such a small team that is admirable, yes there is a huge amount of work to make it a fully functioning game, but at the same time they have been working on it for under a year. To be honest for the timeline this seems like decent progress. This isnt a warz situation where nothing is done, the progress is real and its there for all to see. Once the alpha is released and the bare bones of the game are sorted we should see some real aesthetic progress, if by the time its in beta and its still as glitchy, then thats something to really worry about. But currently, everything looks about on track. The issue is time is of the essence here, gamers and people in general are fickle, the hype around the game is somewhat faded into the background, and i think to fully utilise the mods wave of popularity rocket and the team really have to kick into gear now.

Jesus there were a lot of typos in there, almost didn't make sense XD

Edited June 13, 2013 by triggy89

[Bat (DayZ) 230]

I really hope the SA does actually end up looking like this. Or maybe better.

This image is a screenshot. So, the game already look like this?

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

This image is a screenshot. So, the game already look like this?

Yes, depending on your settings of course. As far as I can see the pic hasn't been doctored in any way, they've just chosen a nice composition/angle. I'm pretty sure I've read that Rocket is dead against editing screenies so what you see is what you get.

[Death_Dealer 3155]

This image is a screenshot. So, the game already look like this?

Who knows? They could have enhanced the screenshot afterwards.

[DemonGroover 8836]

That screenshot looks pretty much in game to me.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Here's a few more from the same article. To me they don't look enhanced at all, when testing this is how the game looks on my system. Now it's worth remembering that screenies are ALWAYS more flattering than actual gameplay footage because the person can choose a nice angle etc to show the game at it's best and you can conveniently ignore buggy animations but we've all seen the current gameplay now and torn it to pieces so a few more pics won't hurt at this stage.

Here's the original article on Kotaku: Article

Edited June 13, 2013 by Fraggle

[barrett_killz 229]

The screenshots look beast, but the gameplay looks horrible, for some reason...

[joe_mcentire 2074]

what's that? HOBOvillage?!

[fluxley 2228]

The screenshots look beast, but the gameplay looks horrible, for some reason...

There's a good chance the shown gameplay is being run of a gaming laptop as this has been the case with every other time they have shown gameplay footage.

Rockets main aim while at E3 is not to impress people and get more hype.

He's showing the game exactly as it is currently, what they are playing is an actual live development build that is being worked even while at E3 and a good way to show people what to expect is by using a system that shows what the average player will experience as not everyone will be able to play on max settings just like any other game.

There's probably other factors too such as taking a full on gaming rig halfway across the world would be a major ball ache.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Fluxley

[triggy89 171]

There's a good chance the shown gameplay is being run of a gaming laptop as this has been the case with every other time they have shown gameplay footage.

i dont think he was referring to the framerate, rather the glitchyness, But it is an alpha.... lets hope its improves quickly before i start sounding like the warz fanboy crowd who used its and alpha/beta excuse to defend every shitty aspect in the game ;)

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

The screenshots look beast, but the gameplay looks horrible, for some reason...

It's for many reasons. The Zombie anims aren't synched up with their actual behaviours yet and that player anims are still being heavily worked on too. Only time will tell how much it's going to improve from what you've seen at E3.

As SmashT said earlier, my one major concern is that zeds will forever have a certain buggy feel in this engine but it's simply too early to judge yet. All we can say for sure is that it all needs a lot of work, luckily it will get that.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Fraggle

[Gua 16]

[gummy52 57]

Just a quick question - but has anyone here actually been involved in alpha testing of a game before?

Sure. I have for a number of games. In fact, my previous post is relevant.

Look at Minecraft. People loved alpha videos of Minecraft and it excited more people into buying it. That doesn't apply here. In fact this is very much the opposite. If you have to say "its just an alpha" then you're admitting that the alpha doesn't look good. With every new video less people tune in and more voice concern. http://i.imgur.com/YfI7Eht.png

[fluxley 2228]

i dont think he was referring to the framerate, rather the glitchyness, But it is an alpha.... lets hope its improves quickly before i start sounding like the warz fanboy crowd who used its and alpha/beta excuse to defend every shitty aspect in the game ;)

Well ok, check this reddit thread, Rocket explains the current situation regarding the bugs seen in the video's

http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/1g5sa9/dayz_standalone_footage_from_e3_booth_with_matt/

[Elo 44]

Meh. I just don't get why zombies seem to have such a low priority. Shouldn't zombies in a zombie game be one of the first things that properly work?

[joe_mcentire 2074]

Meh. I just don't get why zombies seem to have such a low priority. Shouldn't zombies in a zombie game be one of the first things that properly work?

why do you think they have low priority?

[Death_Dealer 3155]

why do you think they have low priority?

Because they looked horribad in the current build footage. Their appearance is fine, it's just the mechanics.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

Because they looked horribad in the current build footage. Their appearance is fine, it's just the mechanics.

...so if something doesn't work out well in the first place, it must have low priority?! f** logic right?

btw: dean mentioned at E3 that zeds ARE high priority at the moment especially because of the fact that they are glitchy and buggy..

Edited June 13, 2013 by joe_mcentire

[Death_Dealer 3155]

...so if something doesn't work out well in the first place, it must have low priority?! f** logic right?

I never agreed with him. I only said why he thinks the zombies are a low priority because apparently you can't infer that.

[victusmortuus 1074]

Because they looked horribad in the current build footage. Their appearance is fine, it's just the mechanics.

I don't think they'll ever be fixed.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

I don't think they'll ever be fixed.

that would be terrible...time will tell..

[Bass50 43]

Some cool stuff from the interview linked earlier:

Will colonization be possible, i.e. Eradicating zombies from a certain area and living there?

At the moment, yes. The way the zombie spawns work now is that they're all spawned at the start of a mission on a server. And then they respawn in a zone so long as there's no players in it. So if the player clears out, say, a village and and they stay where, then no zombies will spawn there. But—and this is a big caveat—zombies can rove around. So, particularly if you've fired a lot of ammunition or exploded something, zombies from a long way away may hear you and may come there in a big pack.

Was really worried about this for a while so really happy he mentioned it. No more endless waves of zombies.

Will there be any form of barricade system to hold out inside buildings?

Just today, unfortunately we can't demo it because it's not configured, a system has been implemented that allows you to interact with the world. So picking up basically any object in game, and being able to move it around, and all that stuff. But it's not persistent past the server restart. We need to judge what we can store long-term.

I wonder how many items we'll be able to pick up and move around.

Somewhat disappointed with this though:

Can we expect "random events" upon initial release of the Standalone? (Downed helicopters, Abandoned campsites, etc.)?

We're really reluctant to do that kind of stuff, what I far prefer is to create the tools for players to do their own thing. I think those kind of events are much more compelling than anything that we can come up with. So if we do that, I kind of feel like we've lost a bit. If we can't build the tools for the players to create their own events, then I guess we'd have to step in. But I'd say we'd kind of failed.

On one hand I agree with him, on the other hand things like crashed helicopters really encouraged exploration.

Does anyone know if anything has been said about ragdolls? Ragdolls are the best thing in ArmA 3 DayZ, makes killing zombies SO much more satisfying.

ArmA 3 nighttime also looks great, hope DayZ nighttime will look somewhat alike.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Bass50