E3 Expo - June 2013 - Interviews and Gameplay

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I wonder if there will be a system further down the line where say a player has modified a weapon with attachments, customizations (like if there will be a system for coloring a gun or attach stuff like mementos to make it unique) and other stuff and then killing a large number of either survivors or infected, making that unique weapon "famous". Like.. saving the "preset" in the database and making it spawn extreeeeemely rarely once the original owner dies.

Very strange sentence. Hope someone gets what I'm trying to say. :P

I kind of understand. There could be a legendary Enfield, made famous at the slaughter of Vybor and cherished by it's owner for many months. I dunno, my sentence is getting weirder than yours. We can dream can't we?

I'm surprised no one has been discussing the newest addition, being able to actually pick up large objects in the game world to form barricades, that has potential for some interesting scenarios.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Fraggle

[terrvik 2409]

I kind of understand. There could be a legendary Enfield, made famous at the slaughter of Vybor and cherished by it's owner for many months. I dunno, my sentence is getting weirder than yours. We can dream can't we?

I'm surprised no one has been discussing the newest addition, being able to actually pick up large objects in the game world to form barricades, that has potential for some interesting scenarios.

Yeah, kinda like that. Since the game now tracks "objects" it should be possible to create new ones in the database when a certain value is met. And if one server manages the economy globally it should be possible to only have one of these famous items in the world at any given time, just as rocket has said. The difference would be that some items in a sense would be user created!

That surprises me as well, but my guess is that there really isn't much to discuss yet since we know so little about it. When we see it in action the amount of discussions will go wild!

[Private Evans 1303]

I kind of understand. There could be a legendary Enfield, made famous at the slaughter of Vybor and cherished by it's owner for many months. I dunno, my sentence is getting weirder than yours. We can dream can't we?

I'm surprised no one has been discussing the newest addition, being able to actually pick up large objects in the game world to form barricades, that has potential for some interesting scenarios.

that's exactly what we are suggesting for ages now :-) I am not a big fan of underground bases...i think instances could be used for dungeons though

[joe_mcentire 2073]

like those you mean?

[guisho 258]

like those you mean?

Boris Yurlov's weapons, also recognized as the 'warlord of Berezino'. Some people said that those sweeties killed close to 749 zombies and he used the AK to kill a female survivor once.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Guisho

[fluxley 2228]

Gonna find me some yellow paint and start trading counterfeit gold AK's.

[joe_mcentire 2073]

something completely different:

has anyone an idea how eating and drinking will work in the SA? because i had a small idea:

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/139986-sa-husbandry-consumables-with-time-dependent-properties/

i just wanted to know if it would be an asset to more immersion...

[Grief.exe 34]

I wonder if there will be a system further down the line where say a player has modified a weapon with attachments, customizations (like if there will be a system for coloring a gun or attach stuff like mementos to make it unique) and other stuff and then killing a large number of either survivors or infected, making that unique weapon "famous". Like.. saving the "preset" in the database and making it spawn extreeeeemely rarely once the original owner dies.

Very strange sentence. Hope someone gets what I'm trying to say. :P

That is a good idea.

Kill enough people or zombies with a gun, then it becomes 'Grief' AK47.'

Edited June 17, 2013 by Grief.exe

[Donlod 6]

As for a squad UI i don't think that is needed. My Friends and i always used the E and Q keys to lean sideways to identify ourselfs.

Always going like EQ EQ in teamspeak.

And with all the new Animations you can do, for example "put your hands up" I mean you could run through Elektro go into the Supermarket,

and a guy with his weapon raised will be behind you and tells you to put your hands up. Could be awesome for bandits to actually rob you instead of just shooting you.

As long as you do what he tells you to do.

yeah ur right. i like the idea with the armbands a lot, those things are much better than some HUD based alternatives

Edited June 17, 2013 by Donlod

[leviski 2152]

Trading will become a viable option for players on public hives, and trading groups will emerge on a global scale. It'll be great.

Possibly

however I could see alot more "bait" tactics comming into play

"oh come to our trader camp so we can take your stuff"

or vise versa

"Hey he just said he has a camp for trading lets go rob him"

[Katana67 2907]

Trading will become a viable option for players on public hives, and trading groups will emerge on a global scale. It'll be great.

I'm not sure I want it to be though. Unless you mean within the individual servers, not cross-server forum-esque trading.

If you mean cross-server trading, then I really don't want that at all. It just further perpetuates these metagame tendencies that ultimately take me out of the experience and/or short-change gameplay (cross-server persistence and TS/Skype/Vent specifically).

This isn't an entirely related issue, but the map is finite and easily memorized... which in itself, sort of waters down any sort of persistence when one can just respawn on the same server. This is not an easy problem to overcome, but it's the same metagame (circumventing the game itself).

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Hmmm. I've got mixed views on meta-gaming and trading using the forums etc.

Now in the perfect world (or game) we would conduct ourselves entirely within the game "world". We would use our radios to contact others or leave notes etc to try and trade. Now we all know that people will resort to using the forums etc to arrange meets and trade, I simply cannot think of a way of avoiding that and actually IMO it can add to the game so it seems better to embrace it.

Many months ago before private hives became the norm, this forum was bustling with trade. I personally arranged a few trades and they all went very well. In fact I found that instead of detracting from the game it enhanced it. I would log in, arrange to meet with a couple of friends and then cautiously journey towards the meeting point. It would always be a tense affair and afterwards the sense of relief and achievment was like nothing else I've experienced in any other game.

If we consider that the DayZ "economy" is going to have hundreds if not thousands of items and crafting recipies added over the next few months I'm truly looking forward to seeing what happens in terms of people setting up shops, trading dens and so on.

The part of meta-gaming I truly hate though is loot-maps and so on. I really do hope that with the new system there will simply be no way of generating loot maps. Of course some areas should be better known for getting certain types of loot but nothing saddens me more when I see discussions of percentages etc, for me that ruins the game.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Fraggle

[Katana67 2907]

Hmmm. I've got mixed views on meta-gaming and trading using the forums etc.

Now in the perfect world (or game) we would conduct ourselves entirely within the game "world". We would use our radios to contact other or leave notes etc to try and trade. Now we all know that people will resort to using the forums etc to arrange meets and trade, I simply cannot think of a way of avoiding that and actually IMO it can add to the game so it seems better to embrace it.

Many months ago before private hives became the norm, this forum was bustling with trade. I personally arranged a few trades and they all went very well. In fact I found that instead of detracting from the game it enhanced it. I would log in, arrange to meet with a couple of friends and then cautiously journey towards the meeting point. It would always be a tense affair and afterwards the sense of relief and achievment was like nothing else I've experienced in any other game.

If we consider that the DayZ "economy" is going to have hundreds if not thousands of items and crafting recipies added over the next few months I'm truly looking forward to seeing what happens in terms of people setting up shops, trading dens and so on.

The part of meta-gaming I truly hate though is loot-maps and so on. I really do hope that with the new system there will simply be no way of generating loot maps. Of course some areas should be better known for getting certain types of loot but nothing saddens me more when I see discussions of percentages etc, for me that ruins the game.

That is interesting. I would pose the idea, though, that if cross-server persistence did not exist... there would be no using of the forums to trade, unless servers themselves were given threads and/or their own meta-space to breath. I don't think that'd happen with public servers. This all assumes they completely lock down each character to each server.

I would also suggest that it's not the end-result (which, as you describe, was very rewarding) but the means which were used to achieve that result. The same thing could be achieved through an in-game radio broadcast or somesuch, or even a dead drop with a note in a garbage bin. "If you want a DMR, leave a Coyote Pack in this dumpster at 0200 EST on Sunday June 23rd, I will be watching". The point is that there are in-game means which can be used to have the same experience of trading and/or an in-game economy.

I agree that things like statistics ruin the game. I had always assumed this stuff was self-explanatory, as you head to the barracks for the high-end stuff and that's pretty much it (outside of killing folks or stealing from tents). Or perhaps I am misunderstanding, I haven't heard of this concept. This is related to what I was saying about memorizing the map, which is a hard thing to amend when you're dealing with a finite map.

I think the fundamental issue here, is that the developers and the community need to make up their mind across the board about the direction of the game (with regard to larger population servers and thus, the tolerances of the map) and character persistence.

To me, there isn't really a middle ground between metagaming and playing within the auspices of the game. You're either doing it or you're not. The problem for me, is that there are flat out no in-game substitutes for metagame mechanics, when these could totally work to boost immersion and gameplay if implemented properly or at all.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Katana67

[gummy52 57]

Agreed. I absolutely think there should be high-end military gear in the SA and I'm glad it's going to be there. I also think it should be very rare and it looks like that will be the case too so all in all at this point I'm a happy bunny.

I also agree that DayZ SA should have more, not less, weapons. Rocket is going in the wrong direction with limiting what's available. Civilians in the US / RUS are very heavily armed. That's not even considering the fact that there are MILITARY BASES in Chernarus. I think scavenging the remains of a lost war is plenty interesting and plausible.

The reality is that we want to look badass. I don't want to be myself running around in the apocalypse. I want to be a badass running around in the apocalypse. That's why I also greatly prefer ArmA 2 's movement array. It's not only smoother but it's also more visually exciting to see ourselves moving tactically.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I'm not sure he is limiting what's available? The focus may change slightly but are you referring to the alpha release or the final product because if you mean the initial release then that's not a design decision that's just what will be ready in time.

Weapons will be constantly added to the game along with various attachments as they are developed for many months to come, in fact it's likely that the end result will actually be a much larger and more varied range of weapons and gear, including the high-end military stuff.

Maybe I'm missing your point though :/

Edited June 17, 2013 by Fraggle

[scubaman3d 680]

The weapons wishlist list I put together for is ~30 total but this does not include all possible customization options (i.e. I count AK74 only once, but in reality there can be 10+ permutations possible for this rifle).

I'm not sure what number would satiate the masses but given the resources we have available to us, its a challenging task. Assume it takes ~1 week per weapon on average (in many cases longer), you could see how time gets short, but again, this isn't even accounting for customization which we're dealing with now in lieu of more total weapons. For this reason, the initial release of the SA will have probably 10-15 weapons of all types, but we'll release regular updates with new content as its finished. Deal with it...

[TerribleFate 49]

I am hoping that some time along the road... bayonets could be a possibility? I mean, cause who doesn't like piercing their enemies flesh with a machete? I know I do.

[Katana67 2907]

The weapons wishlist list I put together for is ~30 total but this does not include all possible customization options (i.e. I count AK74 only once, but in reality there can be 10+ permutations possible for this rifle).

I'm not sure what number would satiate the masses but given the resources we have available to us, its a challenging task. Assume it takes ~1 week per weapon on average (in many cases longer), you could see how time gets short, but again, this isn't even accounting for customization which we're dealing with now in lieu of more total weapons. For this reason, the initial release of the SA will have probably 10-15 weapons of all types, but we'll release regular updates with new content as its finished. Deal with it...

So people were originally, it seems, concerned with vague statements being made about trying to marginalize non-civilian weapons and vague statements about limited weapons in the initial release of SA. This clarifies things, not sure the "Deal with it" is necessary, but thanks for clarifying.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Katana67

[roykingtree 125]

Love Matts hair and clean-shaven face.

[scubaman3d 680]

So people were originally, it seems, concerned with vague statements being made about trying to marginalize non-civilian weapons and vague statements about limited weapons in the initial release of SA. This clarifies things, not sure the "Deal with it" is necessary, but thanks for clarifying.

yeah sorry - the sarcasm of the statements never really come off right without a smiley. I wasn't trying to be mean..

Basically the current breakdown, which, of course, is subject to change, calls for roughly 50/50 mil:civilian arms (note I'm lumping old service rifles like Mauser and SKS in the civilian category, although technically speaking they're military). The difference is that the rarity of the military weapons compared to civilian will probably have the effect of causing civilian weapons to play a larger role in the game. I don't this is very different than the mod but correct me if I'm wrong...

Since I knew the Chernarus terrain and back story was heavily influenced by the studio's association with the Czech Republic (CR), I conducted some research into gun ownership statistics among civilians vs the known number of military and police (M&P) in CR as a basis for the types of weapons and their estimated relative prevalence. I discovered there were about 5 armed civilians per 1 M&P. The approach, results, and subsequent wishlist of weapons (which is a rather eclectic collection if I say so) was agreed upon with Ivan Buchta, the ambassador to Chernarus.

Right now we aren't in a position to continue to expand the amount of weapons simply because we need to codify the design requirements associated with the attachment/crafting system. Expanding the list prematurely may result in a great deal of wasted efforts if we find out in a few weeks that the data structure, models, or textures needed to have been prepared or arranged differently.

Believe me, I get it. People hang on every word being said and when an un-elaborated statement made in passing designed to emphasize a point you probably already agree with during a 10min interview with the 200th person you talked to at E3 that day, it threatens the persons idea of what the game they care very much about SHOULD be. But imagine if we had to create a lengthy explanation like this on every design decision made during the course of development, each time its raised. It would be simply exhausting.

[joe_mcentire 2073]

i cannot really comprehend that stiff focus on weapons all the time imho...

edit:

Love Matts hair and clean-shaven face.

he promised to grow himself a long ugly beard....you let me down Matt...

edit: guys feel free to visit this compressed thread with all news regarding the SA!

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/139908-all-about-dayz-standalone-in-one-thread-picsvids-and-posts/

could be used as reference for newbie-questions as well ;)

Edited June 18, 2013 by joe_mcentire

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Well Scubaman, cheers for clarifying. If at any point you get bored and feel like uploading a sneak peek of a new gun for our loyal members to have a look at don't let me stop you.

[Katana67 2907]

yeah sorry - the sarcasm of the statements never really come off right without a smiley. I wasn't trying to be mean..

Basically the current breakdown, which, of course, is subject to change, calls for roughly 50/50 mil:civilian arms (note I'm lumping old service rifles like Mauser and SKS in the civilian category, although technically speaking they're military). The difference is that the rarity of the military weapons compared to civilian will probably have the effect of causing civilian weapons to play a larger role in the game. I don't this is very different than the mod but correct me if I'm wrong...

Since I knew the Chernarus terrain and back story was heavily influenced by the studio's association with the Czech Republic (CR), I conducted some research into gun ownership statistics among civilians vs the known number of military and police (M&P) in CR as a basis for the types of weapons and their estimated relative prevalence. I discovered there were about 5 armed civilians per 1 M&P. The approach, results, and subsequent wishlist of weapons (which is a rather eclectic collection if I say so) was agreed upon with Ivan Buchta, the ambassador to Chernarus.

Right now we aren't in a position to continue to expand the amount of weapons simply because we need to codify the design requirements associated with the attachment/crafting system. Expanding the list prematurely may result in a great deal of wasted efforts if we find out in a few weeks that the data structure, models, or textures needed to have been prepared or arranged differently.

Believe me, I get it. People hang on every word being said and when an un-elaborated statement made in passing designed to emphasize a point you probably already agree with during a 10min interview with the 200th person you talked to at E3 that day, it threatens the persons idea of what the game they care very much about SHOULD be.

To your first statement about 50/50 weapons. This seems ideal to me, though I can't speak for the rest of these jokers... I have always thought there was a pretty rapid turnover of weapons in DayZ, meaning that one finds a SMLE and within fifteen minutes... one has already found an AR or somesuch. I really wouldn't mind hanging on to that SMLE for longer (or even hanging on to it indefinitely if one could mount a suppressor/scope) due to increased military weapon rarity, would probably do some good on evening the playing field for bandits and new spawns alike.

To the point about expanding weapons, absolutely. That makes sense, and with the number of ~30 you gave, it seems like we'll have a lot to enjoy (with attachment permutations and all that).

But imagine if we had to create a lengthy explanation like this on every design decision made during the course of development, each time its raised. It would be simply exhausting.

But look how happy you've made us (me)! And all you really had to say was "There'll be roughly 30 weapons with various attachment permutations initially, roughly half will be civilian and the other half "military", and we have based our weapon rarity on the real-life Chernarus". Boom, E3 interview, complete. Katana67, satiated.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Katana67

[anorexy 47]

Blah blah blah.... where is the game?

[joe_mcentire 2073]

i woud be happy if they had announced "There'll be roughly 30 MELEE weapons with various permutations initially, roughly half will be real weapons and the other half "alienated", and we have based our weapon rarity on the real-life Chernarus" ;)

Edited June 18, 2013 by joe_mcentire