The development plan...

[Jaffster 10]

First of all, hello to the DayZ community. I played the DayZ mod a little, I put it down about 9-12 months ago and thought I'd wait until the bugs were flattened out before making a return. I saw the potential, a proper PC game. Not a shit console port that is dumbed down for the masses with a glorious rainbow coloured HUD, world ending weapons and an achievement system that would make the PC gaming elite have some kind of emotional breakdown.

 

I heard about the SA, bought it straight away and started playing. This is far better than the mod was 12 months ago. So - for that - well done Bohemia Interactive. I was, however, slightly frustrated that the zombies were actually more stupid/bugged than I remember them being 12 months ago. Be it seeing through walls, chasing you beyond line of sight, running through walls or being axed in the face several times and still refusing to die - I felt like turning into a green monster (You will not like me when I'm angry) and snapping my keyboard in half. I thought to myself "This is Alpha, I'm sure it'll be quite high on their priorities to fix this".

 

How wrong I was. I snooped around the forum, read the 'official' posts regarding immediate development plans and nowhere does it mention fixing the bugged zombies. It just mentions optimizing the servers so that it can support MORE zombies. So, instead of running away from 2 zombies (ducking into a building with the plan to break line of sight, crouching in a corner with your weapon aimed on the doorway..... to then start being attacked through the wall by said zombies) I'll now be doing the exact same thing with 4 or 5 zombies. Fantastic.

 

The most broken part of this game is the zombies. This should be the #1 priority. Not adding in hunting or cooking, not adding in a Magnum Revolver. What's the point in having all these great things if you can't escape from zombies to actually get out and find these items? 

 

I mean, you've obviously already done work on them. 12 months ago I couldn't sneak behind a zombie, they seemed to have 360 vision. I actually managed to sneak right up on a zombie with an axe a few days ago. I "missed" apparently (melee combat being #2 priority on my list of gripes, especially considering the first 30 minutes of life usually involves surviving with a baseball bat or wrench) and it took at least 3 or 4 swipes to actually register a hit.

 

Please re-asses your 'development to-do list' and fix the basics before adding more functionality and 'things to do'. Afterall, this IS Alpha, this is where you're supposed to fix the basics to create a playable, relatively stable game for Beta.

 

Also, before somebody points out that this is Alpha.. I know this is Alpha. I completely accept that this game needs work. I would just like Bohemia to focus on the basics rather than flirting with complex development ideas.

 

TL;DR - Stop adding functionality & new items. Fix the basics.

[Aussie Bogan 350]

 

TL;DR - Stop adding functionality & new items. Fix the basics.

 

Winner! Beans sir

 

I think the Dev's are well aware of this... Atl east i hope so ;)

Edited December 30, 2013 by Aussie Bogan

[OrLoK 16182]

Hello there

 

If you had a good snuffle around you would know that the Infected are really mostly a placeholder at the moment.

 

Part of the team will be looking at that, however this will not stop the rest of the team continuing to create other content.

 

Remember the alpa was released just before xmas and we still have new year to go, give them a chance.

 

Rdgs

 

LoK

[mzltv 2281]

They've not really started yet.

I think most people are entitled to a Christmas break... let alone if you've been working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

[DemonGroover 8836]

I am quite certain the devs know the issues and yes, the zombies are a problem atm.  Remember the Standalone isn't just one person anymore - there is a team at work, from sound guys to mapmakers through to animators...they haven't all stopped work and what they have done/are doing is probably yet to be added fully.

 

Give it time and i am sure we will see some major improvements.

[Jaffster 10]

Thanks for the quick responses from the Forum Team.

 

Do you have any links to said pages which say that the zombies are placeholders at the minute? I'd be interested to read.

 

Also, you'll have to forgive me if this thread is not etiquette but I've never really participated (at least not actively) in an Alpha before.

 

Have Bohemia bought the rights to DayZ from its original developers (the mod developers, that is)? Are the original developers still involved? I find it quite re-assuring to know that we'll hopefully be seeing some quick progress.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Jaffster

[IcyBlade 48]

Two twitch streams he did that were both very informative, provide a good understanding of what will be coming up for the future of the game.

 

http://www.twitch.tv/rocket2guns/profile/pastBroadcasts

 

The most recent one was the most informative, both are quite long, but if you haven't played yet its also gives a good representation of game play so you can see what its like before potentially buying.

[Karmaterror 982]

Id say there isnt too much point investing too much time in zeds just now. Imagine if they got them all fixed, then went to implement it....but doh the servers carnt handle the new scripting , or increacing there numbers makes servers crash. Servers and there stability should be top priority, need a good foundation to progress on.

[Abi (DayZ) 68]

I once had a zombie chase me from novy sobor to mogilevka. I would run far away, and when I thought I had gotten away and started to loot buildings, boom, she was right on me again. It was quite funny. I gave her a name. In mogilevka, I found a melee weapont and killed it..

[badman85@gmail.com 14]

I once had a zombie chase me from novy sobor to mogilevka. I would run far away, and when I thought I had gotten away and started to loot buildings, boom, she was right on me again. It was quite funny. I gave her a name. In mogilevka, I found a melee weapont and killed it..

some time back on the mod i  had a jogging buddy , every time he would give up on me and stop running " id go back & tell him you can do it " & we would run some more , always screaming & complaining .

eventually he dropped to the ground " dead'ered " ? from exhaustion ?? the old Z's had some character whaling while they serpentine your bullets . give it time & imagin what the new ones will be like !!! 

 

my buddys name was Bob .

[deebz1234 243]

well said!
 

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

TL;DR - Stop adding functionality & new items. Fix the basics.

 

They have more than one developer; they are capable of doing both of these things at once. While developers have teams, most development tasks are basically a solo effort because two developers working on the same problem are basically going to step on each others toes, duplicate work, overwrite code changes with source control check-ins, and generally make a mess. It's like asking two guitar players to play a song on the same guitar. Sure, they might figure it out, but it's not optimal. Once you have one person working on "zombie pathing" you're not putting other people on that, so they can go work on other things.

 

TL;DR if they don't have enough development muscle at this point to work on "the basics" in addition to new features, then we're all fucked anyway. They won't be finishing this game for years.