How to make the map more engaging.

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

TLDR for those who don't want to read my essay:

It's basically a list of real life features (sports fields, aircraft crashes, cinemas, quarries etc.) that should be added to the game in order to make the map engaging and realistic. There are also suggestions for each entry as to how you could make it interesting from a game design perspective.

 

This is a cross post from the general discussion - please add a comment with any additional ideas you might have.

 

I've played for the game and mod since release and have seen it comes leaps and bounds. I think the cities look fantastic now - much more fleshed out and better urban planning. The cars, kiosks, gas stations etc all feel and look great. However, I feel that while it's nice to navigate purely via pre-outbreak existing features (towns, forest, airfields), it would do a lot for my immersion and gaming experience if there were some interesting feature locations to reflect a pseudo backstory in the world. What I really mean by this, is using interesting topography and land features to tell a story, and allow players to tell a story.

 

My other objective here - my main objective - is to make this world feel lived in. At the moment, it feels about halfway towards anything resembling a real human world. 

 

This serves a couple more features on top.

 

1. There will be a myriad of objectives for all players now. While one player might run to get a gun from a military camp, another might try to advance the aesthetics, transport or communication of their character. 

2. The atmosphere and character that the following will create will go towards creating incredible memories/anecdotes and amazing content for both players, streamers and content creators. Instead of being killed by a guy in a motorcycle helmet at x town, you could be sniped from a ferris wheel, beaten to death on a soccer pitch etc.

3. The character of the game will become incredibly unique - both telling a story of what has happened, but also adding to the stories of the players.

 

Rocket has said throughout development that he wants players to decide everything. No NPCs, etc. I completely understand that, and agree. The following features are not NPC gimmicks, but reflections of events that transpired before the player arrived (in the same vein as the abandoned military camps).

 

As we've seen in zombie/apocalypse fiction, the static nature of human progression and development often mean things that would otherwise be temporary (a car crash) become a static landmark. Instead of meeting how players normally do in Day Z (which is like an apocalypse hasn't happened) at map name features, they would meet at interesting landmarks.

 

Here are a couple of ideas I was throwing around:

 

* Heaps of cars abandoned on a highway, similar to The Walking Dead - lots of food/clothing/vehicle spawns

This could easily be on the road between Chern and Balota Airstrip, or more interestingly up near NWAF (now the furthest place from spawn.

 

* Empty, huge refugee camp - this could reflect the final stage of the outbreak. An incredibly gory, bloody refugee camp north of the NWAF (a currently empty area). It could very well be built around a small town. This location should fill people with dread. It could also be a good medical/food/equipment drop.

 

* A 747 wreck site deep in the black forest or above NWAF (massive amount of fuel to loot, lots of mixed loot with some high yield mil spawns) - lots of zombies there. The best idea would be to have a 500m explosion zone that is littered with parts and the ground blown back by the drag as the aircraft hit the forest, so the player must follow the path of destruction before finding the downed boeing. Having the wreckage spread out would also add an element of terror. Imagine being a bambi and coming across a plane seat in the forest, then following the wreckage until you find the body of the plane (and 50 zombies to boot).

 

* A now empty creepily fortified house (similar to the one in the book of Eli) with a dug moat - something a player could take over and roleplay from. The house could be north of NE airfield.

 

* A failed nuclear reactor northwest of Zelenogorsk (perhaps it's super deadly, radiation sickness within 500 meters of it) similar to Chernobyl. You need specific gear to go near it - anti-radiation pills, geiger counter, hazard suit etc. that can only be found in a military research/medic center. If Rocket wanted to go crazy, he could make the Nuclear reactor able to be put into meltdown, or for a player to be able to mend meltdown.

 

* Radio station. It would be great to have a radio network you could broadcast throughout an area (through speakers in cities and from car radios). The radio station could be somewhere relatively central, with a power line up to a hill. You could have to repair the power line in order to start broadcasting. It would be a great place to troll other players from (create your own radio show, play music, talk through or whatever), or to organise a meetup, or to organise an attack, or to basically fight over.

 

* Junk yard. A mazelike scrap yard that would serve as both a place to be fortified, as well as a good place to scavenge automotive and machine parts. Also a chance for vehicles to spawn here.

 

* A prison. Fairly obvious and it's been said before. It would be great if the prison was an island off the very far north eastern point of the map - kind of an end game. It could be an amazing place to fortify and would be a nightmare to take. 

 

* Bus depot. There are buses everywhere. It would be great to be able to find and secure a bus depot. It could have good automotive part spawn points as well as a fuelling station and the chance for buses to spawn. It would be good if this was a pretty reliable spawn point for buses, as it would turn a fairly mundane real life location into something highly valuable, as groups would seek out a bus to drive around in.

 

* Small military spawn areas. I think it would be great to create small areas with military spawns dotted around the map - in towns, in forests and on the road. It would be great to have blown up humvees by the side of the road, small failed checkpoints, perhaps a last stand of soldiers in barns or houses, or perhaps a destroyed encampment in the middle of the black forest. Basically, to incentivise small town exploration and to deepen the knowledge of the map ("let's check the humvee convoy near Polana"). The easter egg nature of stumbling across a military grade sniper would also be incredibly satisfying.

 

* Burned down buildings (suggested by gregor). An obvious effect of the beginning of the outbreak and something that would add texture to the currently pristine buildings.

 

* Mass graves (suggested by gregor). A great natural horror feature that would reveal the true side to the apocalypse. It could be surrounded by zombie hordes and would be an amazing point to discover (perhaps in the middle of the forest, complete with trucks that transported the eventual victims). They could also be featured just out of towns and settlements. It would also be interesting to be able to set them on fire - creating huge clouds of black smoke. It could also give you risk of infection. 

 

* I personally would like it if Balota airfield was converted into a civilian airport, with the hangars/barracks replaced with a civilian terminal. It would add a great sense of history to why the military camp/checkpoint was beside it, and would also explain the proximity to Chern. Would be a great place for civilian cessna's to spawn. It would also be fun to fortify a Soviet airport terminal.

 

* Inland railway. People have already spoken at length about handcarts, but it'd be great to be able to start up an old diesel engine in Berenzino port and use it as a group transport. You could have to fuel it with an insane amount of petrol. 

 

* Have orchards actually spawn their relative fruit on the ground.

 

* An ashen wasteland and lots of burned cars (similar to the one in Iraq) to signify the militaries drastic response to the outbreak. Again, big craters, dirt, downed trees and carnage would go a long way to creating a unique landmark for players to meet at or visit. I feel like the current map doesn't reflect the carnage of military + zombie outbreak. Creating vast differences like scorched earth would go a long way towards this. We already have the ruined village south east of Novy Sobor, why not add to it/really scar it up.

 

* Motorbike/Bike shop. There could be two or three on the entire map, and it could resupply the necessities for keeping a bike (and obviously be a bike spawn). 

 

* Clothing shop. Sure, a lot of people in the apocalypse like to play as serious Sam, and wear only survival gear, but I'd like to kit my character out so he best resembles a freak. You know, ill fitting tee shirts, short shorts, sandals, mickey mouse ears, that sort of thing. You could put 3-4 of these clothing shops around, and the spawns could be very, very rare for the more crazy looking things. I'd also throw the masks into these shops (and maybe have wearable bandanas be the going look for bandits). It would mean that as opposed to every player running straight to get guns at mil spawns, a lot of people would search these shops for cool looking gear, or certain things to roleplay a character.

 

* Manor House. In a similar vein to 28 Days Later, a manor house with a wall/grounds would be a really nice break to the otherwise untamed wilderness. Manicured lawns inside the relative safety of the wall, and then the manor itself would provide a great base, and a great landmark. 

 

* A wall. I can imagine the armed forces attempting to erect a wall to try to contain the zombie outbreak. It wouldn't need to be complete at all (because it failed), but perhaps 300m-1km long. It could be a cool military spawn, as well as adding some flavour to the game, and a landmark. I want to make clear that it wouldn't be a functional wall, it would be merely a landmark, mil spawn area and point of interest.

 

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSMOXVoXqesQd6LwUo1ZUGAUvr7na-hInhBfE7gdagDUEFDg7i0ow

 

* A shopping center. It would look like a proper Soviet era shopping center (I've provided an example below), and would typically be in a city large enough - like Zelenogorsk or Chern, or perhaps a NW city. It could have a plethora of different item spawns, and could be easily fortified. The car park could feature as a good civilian vehicle spawn (with the possibility to spawn an army issue vehicle). It would be good if the exterior was slightly damaged already, or graffitied. 

 

http://us.123rf.com/450wm/demerzel21/demerzel211311/demerzel21131100169/23850827-ulan-ude-buryatia-russia--september-9-2013-typical-buryat-walking-across-a-soviet-style-mall--centra.jpg

 

* Rolled oil tanker. You could have some skidmarks, a broken barrier, roll marks and then a giant oil tanker down in a ditch. People could stop by it to siphon fuel for their vehicles.

 

* Theme park. This could be great for atmosphere. It could be somewhere east of Zelenogorsk in the flat open lands. A nice ferris wheel people could snipe from, a chance to find Hoxton masks and clown/mascot suits, soda, .22 rifles and there could be a PA system that when turned on, broadcasts a very creepy funfair sound through the nearby city. People nearby would be very freaked out to hear it start up. There are also a heap of reference images to use for this.

 

* Mine field. This could be a fantastic addition to the game, as one of the first things the military could have done was try to area deny the zombies. A stretch of land with pressure triggered mines (much like the North/South Korea DMZ) could be an amazing feature in the game, as you either pick your way through it, or go around it entirely. There could be barbed wire and signs up warning of the danger ahead. I imagine myself being chased by bandits and picking a path I've memorised before as I run through it. I also think it would be relatively easy to implement as it would be some already implemented signs of wreckage/craters, signs, and Arma trip mines (reskinned). You would only really need 2 for every 25m square, and then spread that out so that it's a 1km square area.

 

* Sports arena - perhaps a melted ice hockey stadium. You could even put a military camp inside. I think it would be a great location to fortify, and if it's open topped, it could potentially be a spawn point of a military huey (thinking 28 days later evac). 

 

* Monument. A big war monument (to the second world war) placed on a significant hill in the countryside would present a formidable vantage point/point of interest. The Soviet's built a whole heap of them, and it would be good to see a large structure to this effect. Similarly, you can imagine bandits and the like transforming a monument of peace into a place of death.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Berl%C3%ADn%2C_Tiergarten%2C_sov%C4%9Btsk%C3%BD_pam%C3%A1tn%C3%ADk.jpg/800px-Berl%C3%ADn%2C_Tiergarten%2C_sov%C4%9Btsk%C3%BD_pam%C3%A1tn%C3%ADk.jpg

 

* Zombie horde. A horde of 50-100 zombies that roamed a path until disturbed. Would present a formidable challenge to any player who stumbles into them.

 

* Cinema. It would be nice if a couple of the big cities had a silver screen, old-style theatre. Looting them for soft drink/food etc would be fun, and it'd be a cool location to fortify.

 

* Logging camp. Would be great to have in the northern reaches of the map. The top could be a great spot to fortify, and there could numerous things - fuel, industrial parts, perhaps a giant tree felling vehicle with a buzz saw.

 

* Mine. Directly north of Olsha (to utilise the port nearby), this could provide a great place to fortify, explore, as well as loot for explosives. Plus, soviet mines are atmospherically fantastic.

 

* Quarry. This could be in the far north west part of the map, much beyond the NWAF. It could provide a great environment to find explosives, fortify, land helos, find big trucks, etc. Also a great topical point of interest. You could also broadcast over the quarry PA system. 

 

* Soccer field/archery range/gun range/golf course. It's pretty common for each village to have a soccer field in rural Europe. It would be a pretty simple thing to add and just give some texture to the game. You could have players find arrows and bows at the archery range, and rifles at the gun range. You wouldn't have to have many of these (you don't want it to be unrealistic), but it'd fit in with what many of the population did with their leisure time. Golf clubs could be a melee weapon, and there could be a chance for a golf cart to spawn. Of course, you don't want it to be too ridiculous, but I think a golf cart would actually make for a novel sight in the game and would be quite a handy vehicle in a zombie apocalypse.  

 

* Substantial inland river. I mean a river that would travel far inland and is wide enough to allow moderate sized vessels to traverse it. It would be fantastic to divide the land up (create chokepoints at bridges), as well as allow for players to use boats to move inland. It would also create some amazing firefights as bandits attack boats from the shore. In addition to this, it would be great if a town could be built across the river, with a couple of bridges across the water, similar to something like the following:

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mracJtOHd0/TrVTfws_4BI/AAAAAAAAAPo/mWfbGkAsna8/s1600/Bradford.4Nov2011%2B002.JPG

 

* Bridges across valleys/rivers. I don't mean footbridges or tiny little bridges, I mean big, two lane stone arches that could cross steep areas of valley around the three valleys or elsewhere. You could have barbwire and wrecks on it - a former military checkpoint, and it'd add some interesting height difference to the inner parts of the map (where there are no tall structures besides green mountain). You can imagine bandits establishing a toll/check point or fortifying it. Incidentally, can we please have the ability to blow up bridges in order to ambush convoys or effectively deny areas?

 

https://encrypted-tb...lIE19lDceej8Pmg

 

* Goat trails/cliffs. Topographically, it would be really nice to see some proper clifftop roads similar to the roads that cross through the alps. I'm well aware that the southern areas of the map may not support this, but I don't see why the northern reaches couldn't be comprised of alp roads and sheer cliff faces. It'd be great to create checkpoints and for zonal control. It would also create a natural end to the north of the map.

 

http://www.ski-epic....ad1280x1024.jpg

 

* University/school. Apart from obviously stealing faculty cars, it could be cool to have a large atrium library - the big old school types where you could find books etc. It could also be good to have a big empty indoor swimming pool to fortify.

 

* Last but not least from me, I'd love to see a city in comparable size to Chern/Zelen up in the NW corner of the map. It would balance the entire map out, and create a real sense of distance within the current map. The idea of running from spawn to this city would make the map seem huge, with so many interesting things to encounter along the way. You could add the arena/funpark/radio station to this city and all of a sudden it's a big hotspot for high intensity encounters.

 

 

There are hundreds of unique features that would go a long way towards creating an incredible experience. Please add yours below and I'll continue to compile the list.

Edited January 30, 2014 by MR DELICIOUS

[DropBearChick 1216]

add caves as well but i love all your ideas, maybe 2 or 3 l00+ hordes, and a prison as well but i agree the only apocalypse style stuff is the military camps and the car wrecks. also a gun shop and a fruit store and a pharmacy would plz me a lot, plus i noticed up north the roads are really random, congested and not much around them so maybe he planning something up north. oh ad running streams with waterfalls. and maybe an offshore aircraft carrier were the populus was evacuated but one was infected good place for all loot inclusing high end military. and military vehicles

Edited January 7, 2014 by spartan54820

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

One can only dream, I am a huge fan of map additions for immersion.  Our old Mod servers used to be highly geared towards points of interest and exploration, new players would come on and spend hours just searching new areas they found on the map.

 

This is the old promo video with the areas.

 

Edited January 7, 2014 by Steak and Potatoes

[DropBearChick 1216]

ahhhh i remember the days of creating custom map contenet, can't wait for that in SA

[Griz2 77]

I think you have some pretty fantastic ideas here. I especially like the idea of a wandering zombie horde that could perhaps be baited into a larger group of players to kill them or just cause a little chaos or a distraction. I also like the idea of static landmarks. Fallout was one game that I remember having some interesting static landmarks (though too few in my opinion). Lastly I like your idea of more varied/unique places. I personally would like to see guns and other weapons spawn in a more dispersed manner. After all, there are plenty of gun nuts and just good old fashioned county folk who have full and semi auto weapons and stuff under their beds (at least in the U.S., anyways.).

 

Great ideas. I would love to see at least a few of these implemented.

[aodqw97 78]

I can think of a football field, a quarry and always bus crash (not plane though) already in the map. They can't in too mad with stuff it would be unrealistic to the region. This map generally depicts quite a modest to slightly deprived area so I don't think higher value recreation would be that plentiful .

[Pendulum Effect 15]

I typed this up on my phone, so I'll have to come back and finish/edit this post when I get to the computer. Sorry ahead of time!

 

[Post edited: 0550 CST 1/7/2014]

 

TO THE ACTUAL POST!

 

I agree with all of these suggestions. I'm a relative purist when it comes to DayZ and I hate when people insist on the inclusion of leveled skills, NPCs and general arcade type implements. The world of DayZ is supposed to be static and desolate due to the nature of post apocalypse devastation, but it is rather cookie cutter at the moment. I have played the Wasteland mod for ARMA, so triggered events are a good way to keep the map from becoming uninteresting and player-based static. As it stands now the map had very few interesting places to explore and has very predictable hot spots, regardless of some inclusions.

I'm all for the inclusion for the aforementioned locales and player driven events. I don't feel as if they are "too far-fetched" or "non-representational of the area." In my mind, this argument holds little water, as Chenarus doesn't have to be exactly the way it is in present time. It could take place in 2020 for all we know. Why not add fun locales to explore. We've already pored over this map for years between DayZ and ArmA II. Variety isn't bad, as long as it follows the same art style and aesthetic of the surroundings. Here is my list of items to include. I will separate it into two sections; live and static.

LIVE:

-Aircraft: I'd like to see the inclusion of mysterious aircraft, on random spawn timers, unaffected by server restarts. These aircraft can fly overhead and drop supplies, crash, or possibly land. The AI controlling these vehicles will instantly despawn if they land (or perhaps just die in the cockpit due to injuries sustained). Crashes and landed aircraft will be home to zombies roaming. This could get people to follow aircraft in the hopes of stealing supplies or even the vehicle itself. This could also make for interesting PvP or friendly player encounters. The origin of these aircraft is unknown, but players can RP that the military is sending supplies, reconing the area for potential incursion or research.

-Randomly spawned bases: Now this can be a bit of a problem as bases are more static and immovable. For vehicles, they would either be destroyed by the flames or stolen for people to use, thus creating a convenient way for these objects to disappear from the map after a set amount of time. Bases, however, can be tricky to remove from the map, or even add. It can be immersion breaking if done incorrectly. My current idea is that these bases would spawn in a similar manner to Wasteland (in areas that are unoccupied by survivors and are out of line of sight), the materials can be used for building bases of your own, or be entirely taken over if one wishes. This would be a great way to attract other players for the possibility of loot, building supplies, vehicles and zombie killing. There would be NO NPCs, only zombies.These would be heavily fortified bases. It's defenses could be turned on other survivors. To add a twist as well as functionality: the bases are on self-destruction timers. A survivor has a set amount of time to find a base after it spawns or the self destruct protocol kicks in. It is possible to delay it via a computer terminal or by adding more fuel to the generator, but do you take the risk going in if it could explode at any moment? It makes sense that the military would have such a feature, in case the base was overrun or unguarded after a certain amount of time. The explosion would destroy the base and clear it from the map, cutting back on server resource allocation. Could also be home to zombies that are more durable; body armor and helmets make them more difficult to take down. Think of the riot gear zombie from Walking Dead.

-Island Raids: Now before you bash me and say that this is not World of Warcraft and such, hear me out. This has the MOST potential out of anything. Currently there is little reason to head to the islands other than to make bases or camps that are more difficult for other survivors to take over. I for one would like to see them utilized for something really epic and in layman's terms, end game content. In one of the versions of the DayZ mod there was an aircraft carrier outside of Chernogorsk. What if one of islands was home to a giant military base/harbor, much like Pearl Harbor. This base could have an aircraft carrier docked, but eerily abandoned. Why? This was the place they ferried thousands of survivors in the final hours of the outbreak in the hopes to sail somewhere unaffected by the plague. However, things went horribly wrong and obviously some of the infected made it over. A massacre ensued, leaving the entire Island infested by zombies. The real twist here is that currently the objective of the game is to travel North after gathering supplies in the South. After that, the game stagnates and becomes about killing other players so they don't kill you for your gear. This game mechanic would force people to gather supplies for the trek North, build a base, fix a car and then ultimately head back South, brave the gauntlet of new players (Bambies) looking for highly geared players to kill and then go to this military Island. You could acquire a speed boat for this trek, you could eventually get a ferry complete with spots for vehicles, or you could spend time swimming. This island is home to a myriad of zombie types (based on the zombie life cycle), just like Dean Hall has envisioned for his game. In addition to regular zombies of the life cycle, Alpha zombies, a faster and deadlier version of what's on the main land. To enforce the notion that thousands of people were trying to evacuate this area, there will be a pool of as many zombies as they can comfortably spawn in this location. But they will respawn if killed. This will present a highly significant challenge as wave after wave of zombies will throw themselves at you, but really only if you make too much noise. Going it alone is doable, but you must be highly skilled and bring a lot of ammo, but you will probably die 99% of the time. This also presents an opportunity: cooperation! Being so difficult, you would most likely need to find a group of people to take over in order to survive. You could attack at day. Or you could attack at night with night vision! You could take a group of four, equipped with suppressed weapons and stealth your way across the island, looting as you go. You could take a group of 10, going a hybrid of stealth and loud. You could place snipers on the roofs of several buildings, giving cover to the rest of the group. Or you could go with 20-30 people, create a massive assault on the base where you clear the base moving as if you were a wildfire. Friendly fire could ensue. People could be picked off by zombies and you could watch your numbers slowly dwindle until you find yourself alone or scattered, being swarmed. You could finally finish sweeping the entire base (this would be an hours long task, with mid to high end military loot) with your group, finally ending at the air craft carrier at the far end (Ultra high quality military loot and the jackpot of all loot spawns), only to turn on each other. Or you could agree to meet up for another run at a later date, keeping a cooperative spirit that would last. Do you kill on sight now? You could be killing the same guy you raided with earlier. Now he's devoid of gear and won't show up to the next raid. You're shit out of luck, because he was the one with the keys to the Ferry you used to get your armored Humvee to that island. You need to find another group now, Champ. Do you kill Bambies, or do you go to the South to help them survive, nurture them and groom them to become a part of your team to raid this island? This would help enforce communities and even servers where people will tend to logon to most often in the hopes of finding people they played with once. I must also point out that, by design, server hopping would be entirely impossible on this island due to the massive amount of zombies respawning. If you were to spawn anywhere on this island, you would be overrun and mauled within seconds. Zombies would even spawn in buildings. It would probably be best, too, if stashes were implemented before this, as people would want to hoard as much weapons and supplies as they can, just in case they die. Also, if going to do this island raid, you will most likely want to stash everything but medical supplies and magazines for your weapons. Explosives may be necessary. Include an option to pull the pin on the grenade and blow yourself up, just in case you get trapped. Like C.J. from Dawn of the Dead (2004) with his propane tank in the van. Martyrdom at its finest.

 

STATIC:

 

-Shopping Malls: Okay, for this one, we'd only really need one shopping mall. I'm talking a two-three story mall with, for example, 36 different shops. Could be anything from gun stores, clothing stores, electronic stores and hunting supplies. Could even have some food court options. Most of it would be picked over, I'm sure, but you could spawn in some interesting things there. It would be a hotspot for activity and would make for some fun cat and mouse games for both survivors and zombies alike. Mess with the PA system and taunt other survivors, for extra creepiness. Have a lot of zombies in here for some Dead Rising type fun. Not as arcade, but still fun if you want to blow of steam by shooting a ton of zombies.

 

-Super Mart: In an age of Wal-Marts and such, is it really too far fetched that there could be one of these somewhere? Could make for some interesting loot and encounters.

 

-Destructable Gas Stations: A survivor is holed up in a gas station, just shoot the tank for maximum prejudice. Or maybe you're trapped and you want to send a message to the guy who's keeping you in there. "You may kill me, but you'll never have my gear!"

 

 

 

So, there's my list. I'll come back to it if I come up with more ideas, but as it stands, these are the most interesting (in my opinion) ideas to keep the game fresh and interesting, especially after you've done all you can in the game as it is right now. Feel free to amend, add to or even use my ideas as a template for further endeavors. I'll follow this post. I hope it gets attention from both the community and the dev team.

Edited January 7, 2014 by Pendulum Effect

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

I typed this up on my phone, so I'll have to come back and finish/edit this post when I get to the computer. Sorry ahead of time!

 

[Post edited: 0550 CST 1/7/2014]

 

TO THE ACTUAL POST!

 

I agree with all of these suggestions. I'm a relative purist when it comes to DayZ and I hate when people insist on the inclusion of leveled skills, NPCs and general arcade type implements. The world of DayZ is supposed to be static and desolate due to the nature of post apocalypse devastation, but it is rather cookie cutter at the moment. I have played the Wasteland mod for ARMA, so triggered events are a good way to keep the map from becoming uninteresting and player-based static. As it stands now the map had very few interesting places to explore and has very predictable hot spots, regardless of some inclusions.

I'm all for the inclusion for the aforementioned locales and player driven events. I don't feel as if they are "too far-fetched" or "non-representational of the area." In my mind, this argument holds little water, as Chenarus doesn't have to be exactly the way it is in present time. It could take place in 2020 for all we know. Why not add fun locales to explore. We've already pored over this map for years between DayZ and ArmA II. Variety isn't bad, as long as it follows the same art style and aesthetic of the surroundings. Here is my list of items to include. I will separate it into two sections; live and static.

LIVE:

-Aircraft: I'd like to see the inclusion of mysterious aircraft, on random spawn timers, unaffected by server restarts. These aircraft can fly overhead and drop supplies, crash, or possibly land. The AI controlling these vehicles will instantly despawn if they land (or perhaps just die in the cockpit due to injuries sustained). Crashes and landed aircraft will be home to zombies roaming. This could get people to follow aircraft in the hopes of stealing supplies or even the vehicle itself. This could also make for interesting PvP or friendly player encounters. The origin of these aircraft is unknown, but players can RP that the military is sending supplies, reconing the area for potential incursion or research.

-Randomly spawned bases: Now this can be a bit of a problem as bases are more static and immovable. For vehicles, they would either be destroyed by the flames or stolen for people to use, thus creating a convenient way for these objects to disappear from the map after a set amount of time. Bases, however, can be tricky to remove from the map, or even add. It can be immersion breaking if done incorrectly. My current idea is that these bases would spawn in a similar manner to Wasteland (in areas that are unoccupied by survivors and are out of line of sight), the materials can be used for building bases of your own, or be entirely taken over if one wishes. This would be a great way to attract other players for the possibility of loot, building supplies, vehicles and zombie killing. There would be NO NPCs, only zombies.These would be heavily fortified bases. It's defenses could be turned on other survivors. To add a twist as well as functionality: the bases are on self-destruction timers. A survivor has a set amount of time to find a base after it spawns or the self destruct protocol kicks in. It is possible to delay it via a computer terminal or by adding more fuel to the generator, but do you take the risk going in if it could explode at any moment? It makes sense that the military would have such a feature, in case the base was overrun or unguarded after a certain amount of time. The explosion would destroy the base and clear it from the map, cutting back on server resource allocation. Could also be home to zombies that are more durable; body armor and helmets make them more difficult to take down. Think of the riot gear zombie from Walking Dead.

-Island Raids: Now before you bash me and say that this is not World of Warcraft and such, hear me out. This has the MOST potential out of anything. Currently there is little reason to head to the islands other than to make bases or camps that are more difficult for other survivors to take over. I for one would like to see them utilized for something really epic and in layman's terms, end game content. In one of the versions of the DayZ mod there was an aircraft carrier outside of Chernogorsk. What if one of islands was home to a giant military base/harbor, much like Pearl Harbor. This base could have an aircraft carrier docked, but eerily abandoned. Why? This was the place they ferried thousands of survivors in the final hours of the outbreak in the hopes to sail somewhere unaffected by the plague. However, things went horribly wrong and obviously some of the infected made it over. A massacre ensued, leaving the entire Island infested by zombies. The real twist here is that currently the objective of the game is to travel North after gathering supplies in the South. After that, the game stagnates and becomes about killing other players so they don't kill you for your gear. This game mechanic would force people to gather supplies for the trek North, build a base, fix a car and then ultimately head back South, brave the gauntlet of new players (Bambies) looking for highly geared players to kill and then go to this military Island. You could acquire a speed boat for this trek, you could eventually get a ferry complete with spots for vehicles, or you could spend time swimming. This island is home to a myriad of zombie types (based on the zombie life cycle), just like Dean Hall has envisioned for his game. In addition to regular zombies of the life cycle, Alpha zombies, a faster and deadlier version of what's on the main land. To enforce the notion that thousands of people were trying to evacuate this area, there will be a pool of as many zombies as they can comfortably spawn in this location. But they will respawn if killed. This will present a highly significant challenge as wave after wave of zombies will throw themselves at you, but really only if you make too much noise. Going it alone is doable, but you must be highly skilled and bring a lot of ammo, but you will probably die 99% of the time. This also presents an opportunity: cooperation! Being so difficult, you would most likely need to find a group of people to take over in order to survive. You could attack at day. Or you could attack at night with night vision! You could take a group of four, equipped with suppressed weapons and stealth your way across the island, looting as you go. You could take a group of 10, going a hybrid of stealth and loud. You could place snipers on the roofs of several buildings, giving cover to the rest of the group. Or you could go with 20-30 people, create a massive assault on the base where you clear the base moving as if you were a wildfire. Friendly fire could ensue. People could be picked off by zombies and you could watch your numbers slowly dwindle until you find yourself alone or scattered, being swarmed. You could finally finish sweeping the entire base (this would be an hours long task, with mid to high end military loot) with your group, finally ending at the air craft carrier at the far end (Ultra high quality military loot and the jackpot of all loot spawns), only to turn on each other. Or you could agree to meet up for another run at a later date, keeping a cooperative spirit that would last. Do you kill on sight now? You could be killing the same guy you raided with earlier. Now he's devoid of gear and won't show up to the next raid. You're shit out of luck, because he was the one with the keys to the Ferry you used to get your armored Humvee to that island. You need to find another group now, Champ. Do you kill Bambies, or do you go to the South to help them survive, nurture them and groom them to become a part of your team to raid this island? This would help enforce communities and even servers where people will tend to logon to most often in the hopes of finding people they played with once. I must also point out that, by design, server hopping would be entirely impossible on this island due to the massive amount of zombies respawning. If you were to spawn anywhere on this island, you would be overrun and mauled within seconds. Zombies would even spawn in buildings. It would probably be best, too, if stashes were implemented before this, as people would want to hoard as much weapons and supplies as they can, just in case they die. Also, if going to do this island raid, you will most likely want to stash everything but medical supplies and magazines for your weapons. Explosives may be necessary. Include an option to pull the pin on the grenade and blow yourself up, just in case you get trapped. Like C.J. from Dawn of the Dead (2004) with his propane tank in the van. Martyrdom at its finest.

 

STATIC:

 

-Shopping Malls: Okay, for this one, we'd only really need one shopping mall. I'm talking a two-three story mall with, for example, 36 different shops. Could be anything from gun stores, clothing stores, electronic stores and hunting supplies. Could even have some food court options. Most of it would be picked over, I'm sure, but you could spawn in some interesting things there. It would be a hotspot for activity and would make for some fun cat and mouse games for both survivors and zombies alike. Mess with the PA system and taunt other survivors, for extra creepiness. Have a lot of zombies in here for some Dead Rising type fun. Not as arcade, but still fun if you want to blow of steam by shooting a ton of zombies.

 

-Super Mart: In an age of Wal-Marts and such, is it really too far fetched that there could be one of these somewhere? Could make for some interesting loot and encounters.

 

-Destructable Gas Stations: A survivor is holed up in a gas station, just shoot the tank for maximum prejudice. Or maybe you're trapped and you want to send a message to the guy who's keeping you in there. "You may kill me, but you'll never have my gear!"

 

 

 

So, there's my list. I'll come back to it if I come up with more ideas, but as it stands, these are the most interesting (in my opinion) ideas to keep the game fresh and interesting, especially after you've done all you can in the game as it is right now. Feel free to amend, add to or even use my ideas as a template for further endeavors. I'll follow this post. I hope it gets attention from both the community and the dev team.

 

Nice ideas.

 

I've added them to the OP. 

[Ymath 30]

Wow OP, that was quiet a read.

I have to say, I couldn't find a single idea up there I didn't like, I really hope some / all of these get added.

Bump for you.

[doublebrain 255]

Yes to civiloan airports. Ofc they should fit into Chernarus. No big terminal building or something. Maybe a bunch of buldings next to it like a motel, a small terminal and next to it a service building or something like that, maybe with a security room where you could find pistols and light bulletproof vests. It would still make the airport something special with a little better loot than the stuff you would find in regular houses. But it would not make it the OP loot area it is right now.

[Death_Dealer 3155]

All of this. 

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

Yes to civiloan airports. Ofc they should fit into Chernarus. No big terminal building or something. Maybe a bunch of buldings next to it like a motel, a small terminal and next to it a service building or something like that, maybe with a security room where you could find pistols and light bulletproof vests. It would still make the airport something special with a little better loot than the stuff you would find in regular houses. But it would not make it the OP loot area it is right now.

 

 

Yeah, nothing massive, but something like this:

 

http://jp.olympia-reisen.ru/assets/images/novosibirsk%20guide/Novosibirsk%20in%20the%20past/Airport%20at%20Soviet%20times.jpg

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

Updated OP.

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

Updated OP yet again. 

[Gezus 5]

Quite possibly the most educated [suggestion] I have read in weeks. 

 

I love all of this.

 

I feel like this + smarter item spawns would make this game perfect..

 

When I read your soccer idea I immediately thought how cool would it be if you came across a soccer pitch and there was actually a bunch of survivors playing soccer.. The reason everyone kills is because really.. its all there is right now.. imagine if you could join an actual colony.. 

 

as for the smarter item spawns all I mean is... I shouldn't be finding an M4 in a kitchen in some isolated town.. however.. finding a hunting rifle in a barn seems legit. 

 

I also think that weapons need to be rarer. doesn't make sense to me that a large % of the population is running around in military grade clothing and carrying an m4 fully stocked with military grade attachments... also .. ammo .. there is WAY to much.. we should have to really think about wasting our last 4 bullets on a zombie or random stranger that just happens to be running by. Would FORCE more NON combat interaction.. 

[samwalker1995@live.co.uk 17]

Really really like all of the posts on here so far, the games going to be a masterpiece thanks to the community. 

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

Quite possibly the most educated [suggestion] I have read in weeks. 

 

I love all of this.

 

I feel like this + smarter item spawns would make this game perfect..

 

When I read your soccer idea I immediately thought how cool would it be if you came across a soccer pitch and there was actually a bunch of survivors playing soccer.. The reason everyone kills is because really.. its all there is right now.. imagine if you could join an actual colony.. 

 

as for the smarter item spawns all I mean is... I shouldn't be finding an M4 in a kitchen in some isolated town.. however.. finding a hunting rifle in a barn seems legit. 

 

I also think that weapons need to be rarer. doesn't make sense to me that a large % of the population is running around in military grade clothing and carrying an m4 fully stocked with military grade attachments... also .. ammo .. there is WAY to much.. we should have to really think about wasting our last 4 bullets on a zombie or random stranger that just happens to be running by. Would FORCE more NON combat interaction.. 

 

 

I definately agree regarding the limited availability of M4 spawns. I think that it would be good if there was a slight chance of spawn in contextually appropriate areas - such as in random towns or by random "after action scenarios". For instance, if there was a small military camp (a couple of tents complete with gored soldier corpses), or maybe a destroyed 2 humvee convoy on a road. I want it to simulate the idea that you never know what you could get, and that you should explore everything you find. It would ever be cool to find a random soldier corpse (perhaps making a last stand) in a barn, or somewhere else that you wouldn't immediately think to look. While everyone believes that you can only be rewarded for going to airfields or mil bases, I think this would be a good way of making small town exploring exciting.

[FBI 17]

Hmmm, Malls and Wal-marts... not sure, I came from a ex-Soviet country and can tell you that its just not what would happen. BUT... how about simple village markets:

 

http://vernoye-almaty.kz/a-z/z2-2.jpg

 

 

- What I would love to see are different environment areas. for example... in Namalsk Mod for DayZ Mod it was winter... you had snow... you could freeze to death.. here you don't die of hypothermia. So perhaps a mountain range with snow? Just like nuclear power stations you would need a specific gear (just less rear than HAZMAT suit) so warm jacket, snow shoes, winter gloves, winter hats (most of which already IN DayZ SA)

 

- Also I have to agree with you, more "Public" buildings... like Schools, Kindergartens, Courts of Law, Village\Town\City Halls... etc etc. I feel like in EVERY game none of the developers actually though of how this world would have worked if the War/apocalypse/etc would have happened. DayZ is the only game I know that actually came close(er) to functional society. BUT people need to work... where do they work? Offices, factories, communal farms... People have to eat and drink... shops, markets, cafe, bars... people need to sleep... is there enough housing for proposed population? you can't have 1000 office blocks and 2 residential houses...  (like in old WARZ they had a town of 2 small houses, post office, supermarket and HUGE office blocks...it just wouldh't have happened) Also people in the world would have had kids... so educational establishments would be needed....

 

- I am Against Plane idea, for one simple reason... every other Zombie game has a crash-landed/crashed plane... its not original.. its not new.

 

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/d9GUcmqdsmg/maxresdefault.jpg

 

http://www.xboxachievements.com/images/screenshots/2390/med_dead-island-rip-jVg3w.jpg

 

http://orcz.com/images/thumb/2/27/Dr3crashedplane.PNG/400px-Dr3crashedplane.PNG

 

*** how ever a crashed Fighter Jet... could be an option... no/very little loot. but just a way point.

[King of kong 1117]

I'm just about to post my own idea regarding immersion. very nice, OP

[xTITANx 25]

All of this stuff is great. One of my main gripes is that people don't seem to understand that the game lacks a lived in feel. I point this out when they bitch about guns only spawning in certain places. People should be dead. EVERYWHERE. There needs to be corpses lying around, military road blocks and crashes should be everywhere. The buildings that I can't go in should be boarded up like someone might be hiding inside. 

 

One of the main misconceptions I see is that everything should spawn or "BE" exactly where it should be. Like a jacket should be in a closet or medical supplies should only be at the hospital. Why?? People would have scavenged all of that stuff and spread it out during their survival. Like the M4 spawning in barracks. Why?? Think about your own survival. You went to a base to get a gun. Do you only die in the barracks??

 

Another great idea the OP has is the zombie horde. This is needed. Right now there is no real threat to a player except other players. By having massive hordes of zombies to deal with on occasion (random roaming mobs would be awesome) but at key points would be great too. I would love to see the NWAF just be a zombie field. You should need a team to get through it and that would create good reasons to cooperate. Instead of KOS, you might actually want to interact with a stranger because he can now help you. 

 

Imagine you are running west, you've scraped together a small backpack and a hoodie, a few cans of food and you filled up on water from a well. You managed to find a good fire axe so you feel safe to head towards the bigger cities. The birds are chirping and the sun is shining as you run through the woods. The air is crips and your breath steams and floats away as you stop to catch your breath.. wait what happened to the birds... it's so quiet.. Is that movement?? Is that a zombie in the forest????!? NO.. It's fifty zombies. And they want to eat you.

Edited January 18, 2014 by xTITANx

[gregor (DayZ) 95]

First what come to mind, is too little evidence of the panic, disaster, the attempts to evacuating.  Furthermore, seems believable that many people will be mentally broken. They lost its family, friends etc. Not all will have purport, to fight further.

  Consequently, apparently we should see the aftermath of many suicidal acts. In addition people who hanged themselves, when they had felt first symptoms of an infection.

 

One more thing.
The DayZ world needs, imho, the burned-down houses. Somewhere maybe even the district of the burned-down houses.

 

 

[xTITANx 25]

I like the hanging idea because if you killed yourself you would come back as a zombie. I like that we would find zombies hanging by their necks around the rural areas.. that would be funny cause they couldn't chase you but would hang there squirming and growling at you.

Edited January 20, 2014 by xTITANx

[gregor (DayZ) 95]

In addition, some quarries and trenches, in various stages of readiness, for burial of the dead.

 

 

[dickflip 15]

All of this stuff is great. One of my main gripes is that people don't seem to understand that the game lacks a lived in feel. I point this out when they bitch about guns only spawning in certain places. People should be dead. EVERYWHERE. There needs to be corpses lying around, military road blocks and crashes should be everywhere. The buildings that I can't go in should be boarded up like someone might be hiding inside. 

 

One of the main misconceptions I see is that everything should spawn or "BE" exactly where it should be. Like a jacket should be in a closet or medical supplies should only be at the hospital. Why?? People would have scavenged all of that stuff and spread it out during their survival. Like the M4 spawning in barracks. Why?? Think about your own survival. You went to a base to get a gun. Do you only die in the barracks??

 

 IKR? It's literally like you and the people in the server have just arrived in the country all at the exact same time, and the Chernarussians who lived here all simultaneously transformed into zombies at the beginning of the outbreak, leaving every piece of useable loot in the exact same spot it was at the start of the apocalypse.

 

 I find that there should also be more military weapons as well, I mean, wouldn't each government have been rallying its armies to counter the zombie hordes? They should've been, but where is the Chernarussian Armed Forces now? They aren't hiding out in the country anywhere, and they would've had to have had some casualties, whose weapons and gear would've been left behind under the stampede of undead. Seeing as Chernarus is based off real life places in the Czech republic, maybe we should be seeing more Sa-58s and variants lying around? Maybe even the new CZ-805 should replace the M4?

 

With the zombie horde, I don't think it should be any random place like in the woods, but more urban-centred. Zombies aren't roamers, they're too brain-dead to think beyond violent cannibalistic instinct. Zombies can be problematic in tight spaces and at times that you aren't prepared for them, but when you are just wandering through a town and there are almost no zombies, it does get kind of dull. I have an idea to fix this but I'm gonna put it in another post.

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

In addition, some quarries and trenches, in various stages of readiness, for burial of the dead.

 

 

 

Great ideas gregor. I've added these to the OP.