First Time Feedback and Suggestions/Ideas for the Future of the SA

[ZeGentleman 3]

*DISCLAIMER*

I am 100% aware of the alpha status of the game, I have only played the SA and am sure much of this will already be in the works, thank you!

 

Initial Reaction and Feedback:

Yesterday was my first experience in DayZ (SA or Mod). I had a few heart-pounding moments, few frustrating moments, had my life taken numerous times, and took a few myself. Player interaction seems to be well involved and often at times escalating very quickly into some intense moments, which I didn't mind in the slightest. Playing in first-person I truly felt immersed in the extreme survival experience and I have to say my time in game was genuinely enjoyable.

 

Now, with that said I'd like to go into a little more detail with some feedback/suggestions for future implementation. I will start by giving a brief list of things in DayZ that are game breaking. 

 

Game Breaking:

 

-Server Hopping (This is an easy fix I'm sure, but is the biggest issue I have with the game.)

 

-Night Time (Night can be completely avoided by simply sliding gamma and brightness all the way up, making the game a black and white day time just about.)

 

-Fall Damage (Much too dramatic, 3 feet should not break my legs)

 

-Most Melee vs Zombies (Im not asking for a one hit kill with every melee weapon, but I feel I should be able to stab a Zed in the head with a kitchen knife at the very least...oh and if I'm empty handed, when a Zed gets knocked to the ground I should be able to stomp its head in)

 

-Zombie Audio (This is a big immersion factor, I should't hear Zed audio from a rabbit or trash can.)

 

Ok, lets delve a little deeper into the game with systems, mechanics, and UI...

 

HUD/UI:

-HUD(The minimalist HUD is definitely a keeper, what needs to be added are more audio and visual references to players status. The fading of color and blurred vision are a start, but can be improved by leaps and bounds.)

 

-User Interface(I'm sure is a place-holder, inventory system could use some work but more on that later.)

 

Systems/Mechanics:

 

-Item Degradation(A must have in any realistic survival game, but I have issues with the current implementation which ties into the inventory system and the hitbox mechanics they use.)

• Items should decay over time and use, but never perma-break
  
• Not every item on a piece of gear should be destroyed if said gear takes damage in a finite area (Example: If a player is shot in the shoulder and dies only the items in the pockets around that area should be affected.)
  
• Must be a way to repair gear with loot-able materials and/or clean firearms with loot-able gun cleaning kits.
  
• The visual degradation of the items are awesome and needs to be expanded on.
  

-Inventory Systems(A great start to say the least, needs work and I have a few idea that could make the realism stand out a bit more)

• To tie into the item degradation, each piece of gear should have left, right, and back pockets, with each having a corresponding hit box. Also, to elaborate a bit, if the gear is pants for example, the back pockets should only be able to fit items that could normally be stored in pant back pockets. I should not be able to carry a mosin in my pocket.
  
• Encumbrance, which calls for items to have weight associated with them.
  
• "Hands", an inventory feature that could be extremely useful for "end-game"(lack of a better word) content. I believe it would be beneficial to seperate the "hands" and make a "left-hand" and "right-hand" slot. This way Devs could add carry-able bags, such as sports bags or suitcases. (Imagine running to a town with two 50 pocket duffle bags, packing them full of supplies and sprinting back to camp as fast as possible, all the while you cant defend yourself unless you drop your loot and pull out a weapon.)
  
• To elaborate on the Handgun "chest holster", possible multi-gun holsters, back holster, waist holster, or even an ankle holster.
  

-Movement Mechanics/Animations(Basic movement; W,A,S,D, crouch/prone, sprinting, and evasive maneuvering all seem pretty on key and responsive. Along with the added Head movement mechanic. Climbing and the vault/jump mechanic not so much, I will just assume they are place-holders.)

• I hope to see the vault/jump mechanic have many added features such as grabbing the edge of boxes/walls/fences, maybe a vault over cars while sprinting. Im sure animations will be touched up later down the line.
  
• Broken legs should be noticeable to the player which leg is injured via animations (while in crawling animation: Right leg not moving but left is = Broken right leg, opposite with the left, and no legs moving means you have broken both legs.)
  
• Climbing in general needs much work, I personally have fallen to my death 3 times in my short 10 hours logged because of poor climbing mechanics.
  
• Maybe evasive maneuvering could perform a roll while sprinting, unless of course that mechanic is already in the game somewhere else, I am still a rookie.  
  

-Player Interaction(Hands down, is my favorite part of this game. This game is revolutionizing the survival genre with its potential to completely obliterate the KoS mentality. Yes, it may be far off still from the alpha, but with what I've witnessed so far in game and then the videos I had to watch immediately after, I have hope...and ideas!)

• Being able to locally talk is a key feature in many survival games, but what if we could get whistles, horns, firecrackers, or other noise making items for player, and in some cases zombie, interaction.
  
• The ability to bind other players is pure awesomeness. What makes this mechanic so good though is that if you're bound you can struggle your way free if left alone too long. Which then makes me to think, "Hey, I have rope, why can't I bind people with this." Just makes sense  to me.
  
• Hopefully, for the games sake, the Devs can implement a hot key voice over for those few players that have no mics. This way if they are a slow typer people wont bloody their face after a 3 seconds silence.
  
• I believe some system needs to be in place for bartering, more than, you throw your shit I'll throw mine while our buddies watch our  backs.
  
• Tracking would be something that would bring so much immersion into player interaction and later down the line hunting when it gets implemented. Simply, if you are walking on a surface other then asphalt or concrete, you leave a trail of subtle footprints that vanish after while. Or if you are bleeding and don't tend to it you leave trails of blood behind.
  

 

I could probably continue to ramble on about whats good, what needs work, and ideas/suggestions for pages, but I'll save you guys the eye strain and just conclude with a list of ideas for future implementation.

 

Future Implementation Suggestions:

 

-Beard growing/shaving mechanic(Give players the ability to grow their beards out the longer they survive, but also for players that want that clean cut look they can find a "razor" as loot to shave.)

 

-Spray Paint/Graffiti(Being able to find cans of spray paint to either paint weapons and equipment or since this world is lawless tag up some walls with graffiti. Also, the idea of marking trees to find your way back to your forest camp came to mind.)

 

-Transportation(I know that vehicles are coming and horses have been mentioned multiple times, but how about some alternatives such as; road bicycle, mountain bicycle, skateboard, mountain board, scooter.)

 

-Farming(I'm sure this in coming anyways, but I thought I would mention it for discussion purposes and to use as a segue to my next idea.)

 

-Mind/Body Altering Substances(The truth of the matter is, when the world has gone to shit and there really isnt much going on, you're going crazy of the same thing day to day, you and some buddies might want to sit by the camp fire and "unwind" as your moms might call it. Maybe, get cross-faded as hell and run into masses of Zeds swinging your fire axe like a mad man. Or grow it just for something to barter if seeds are that scarce. Regardless of what you do with the stuff, Its safe to say it can go a long way in this game...here's a quick list.)

• Alcohol- Blurred vision, loss of accuracy, increased energy/stamina, thin blood, etc.
  
• Marijuana- Increased accuracy, loss of energy/stamina, decreased mouse sensitivity for a slow-like effect. etc.
  
• Opiates- Loss of energy/stamina, possible loss of consciousness, etc.
  
• Cocaine- Short burst of increased energy, etc.
  
• Mushrooms- You can find all kinds of mushrooms across the map, some are poison, some psychedelic, and some edible. Players have to find "spore testing" loot item to identify them.
  
• LSD/Acid- Possibly be made in game, the effects of these and the shrooms would be pretty intense I would assume.
  
• Amphetamines- Can't sleep? Never tired or hungry? Much higher chance of sickness.
  

-Identification(I read a post where someone suggested ID cards on survivors where you could collect them from players you kill or to just identify a corpse. I would like to expand upon it a little. First, if we were to get ID cards, they should be defaulted into one of the small pockets as I suggested above in the 1st bullet point under inventory systems. Next, if you are a bandit and/or a collector you have the option to loot some items (string and a hole punch) to store the ID cards free of inventory.... or slightly more elaborate, Dog-tags. A player could find a ball-bearing chain, metal scrap, engraver, and battery to "craft" Dog-tags. Other players that already have Dog-tags or ball-bearing chain can then collect tags and add to the chain.)

 

I apologize for such a long drawn out post, I hope the structuring helped a little for those that read it, thanks, can't wait for the future of the DayZ SA.

 

EDIT: Forgot one of the ideas I had. I've noticed many books throughout my wandering, what came to mind is to have small tutorial guides for players as some of the loot-able reading material (survival tactics, farming guide, "crafting" guide, and miscellaneous tips.)

Edited December 23, 2013 by ZeGentleman

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

 

-Mind/Body Altering Substances(The truth of the matter is, when the world has gone to shit and there really isnt much going on, you're going crazy of the same thing day to day, you and some buddies might want to sit by the camp fire and "unwind" as your moms might call it. Maybe, get cross-faded as hell and run into masses of Zeds swinging your fire axe like a mad man. Or grow it just for something to barter if seeds are that scarce. Regardless of what you do with the stuff, Its safe to say it can go a long way in this game...here's a quick list.)

• Alcohol- Blurred vision, loss of accuracy, increased energy/stamina, thin blood, etc.
• Marijuana- Increased accuracy, loss of energy/stamina, decreased mouse sensitivity for a slow-like effect. etc.
• Opiates- Loss of energy/stamina, possible loss of consciousness, etc.
• Cocaine- Short burst of increased energy, etc.
• Mushrooms- You can find all kinds of mushrooms across the map, some are poison, some psychedelic, and some edible. Players have to find "spore testing" loot item to identify them.
• LSD/Acid- Possibly be made in game, the effects of these and the shrooms would be pretty intense I would assume.
• Amphetamines- Can't sleep? Never tired or hungry? Much higher chance of sickness.

-Identification(I read a post where someone suggested ID cards on survivors where you could collect them from players you kill or to just identify a corpse. I think this is an awesome idea and would like to expand upon it a little. First, they should be defaulted into one of the small pockets as I suggested above, next, if you are a bandit and a collector you have the option to loot some string and a hole punch to store the ID cards free of inventory.... or slightly more elaborate, Dog-tags. A player could find a ball-bearing chain, metal scrap, engraver, and battery and "craft" Dog-tags. Other players that already have Dog-tags or ball-bearing chain can then collect tags and add to the chain.)

 

I apologize for such a long drawn out post, I hope the structuring helped a little for those that read it, thanks, can't wait for the future of the DayZ SA.

 

 

 

All good suggestions and insight, I however had to read the bottom about 3 times to grasp it.

[ZeGentleman 3]

however had to read the bottom about 3 times to grasp it.

Sorry, I edited the post a bit for more clarity. Started losing focus at the end. 

Edited December 23, 2013 by ZeGentleman

[Stackint 0]

Why doesnt this have more comment and views. These are all amazing ideas. BUMP DIS SHIT 

[Stackint 0]

 

 

-Beard growing/shaving mechanic(Give players the ability to grow their beards out the longer they survive, but also for players that want that clean cut look they can find a "razor" as loot to shave.)

 

 

This idea is amazing, branching from this, knowing you can capture other players we should have the ability to cut their beards off.

[PhilB 230]

Ha, welcome and all that.

 

Great post, however you are right. Just about everything you mentioned has been discussed ad nauseam. But it's all good cuz it is correct stuff and good to see you gotz your DayZ head on straight.

 

The voice over hot key for players with no mic is a great idea. Can't say I've seen anyone else propose that yet.

 

Not to dismiss the whole thing, cuz I am more stoked than anybody for all the imminent features, but what makes the project credible is Dean's commitment to providing adequate security. I think we can expect a substantial dry period in the next month with regard to new stuffz because security will become a key focus. You'll thank Dean "Dean Hall" Hall in the end. 

[ZeGentleman 3]

This idea is amazing, branching from this, knowing you can capture other players we should have the ability to cut their beards off.

I actually can not take full credit as I had heard someone mention it on a video, but the player interaction part you added is just brilliant!

 

Ha, welcome and all that.

 

Great post, however you are right. Just about everything you mentioned has been discussed ad nauseam. But it's all good cuz it is correct stuff and good to see you gotz your DayZ head on straight.

 

The voice over hot key for players with no mic is a great idea. Can't say I've seen anyone else propose that yet.

 

Not to dismiss the whole thing, cuz I am more stoked than anybody for all the imminent features, but what makes the project credible is Dean's commitment to providing adequate security. I think we can expect a substantial dry period in the next month with regard to new stuffz because security will become a key focus. You'll thank Dean "Dean Hall" Hall in the end. 

Well thank you, I'm glad that I can see eye to eye with the Vets of the game, hopefully that means this game will be something I enjoy for months to come. From what I've gathered from my minimal research, "Rocket" seems to be taking this project in the right direction. All I can do now is bug report and suggest ideas here, they already have my financial support.  :)