respawn as zombie option (please close)

[oktyabr 53]

EDIT: Informed 10 hours ago on dev-heaven:

The way the virus is in our backstory (Not released) meaning this situation would be impossible.

Could a mod please close this thread? Thanks.

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I imagine something like this is already on the drawing board' date=' after all isn't a major character (or player) supposed to fear changing into the living dead a central plot hook in most shows, books and movies?

But here is a rough outline on how I think it could possibly work:

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[b']IF you disconnect from the server, view changes to third person bird's eye view so you can see a fair distance around your character. A count down timer appears and runs down what, maybe 15-30 seconds, before you actually disconnect taking your stats and gear with you. A delay like this would help derail the "leave to escape" exploit. IF you are fired upon or any other player comes within looting range within that time frame you instantly get the option to jump back into your body for a chance to defend yourself. If no one attacks you or tries to loot you then waiting to disconnect is the only course of action. This would prevent people from using the overhead view as an exploit, disconnecting and then rejoining before the timer runs out. A similar delay upon joining a server (if it's not already inherent in trying to join in the first place) would likewise discourage disconnect/reconnect used as an exploit.

I know it's difficult to force a player to wait to disconnect but perhaps a "hard" disconnect, as we have now, would NOT save the player state to the db server. Want to keep your stuff? Select the optional disconnect method detailed above.

When you die you get the bird's eye view again, perhaps you died while trying to disconnect and are already in the overhead view, the result is the same: A countdown timer gives you perhaps 120 seconds to disconnect and respawn as a live player again OR come back from the grave. This timer is in place of instant zombification which might work out badly if the people who killed you are still looting your body. The over head view is to assure that they aren't just a few feet away waiting for you to rise.

IF someone used "Hide body" on you within that death timer and you select "come back from the grave" you randomly spawn, in zombie form, perhaps within a 200m radius of where your body was.

Player zombies are different from regular players: You loose all your gear and you cannot use any you find (you died... you'd loose all your gear anyway!), in fact the entire mouse wheel menu might be pruned to only "open" and "close" and "climb up" and "climb down". Normal PTT and text chat is blocked, pressing the PTT button only makes you make zombie sounds. Eliminate showing a player's name when you look at them too, to prevent "friendly" zombies. Make a player zombie automatically attack *any* player character that is in range, again, to prevent "friendly" zombies. Player zombies burn food, water and can bleed out just from damage just like normal players. Sprinting burns food and water at an accelerated rate. When they reach critical you are permanently dead and must respawn as normal. Eating fresh, human flesh is the only thing that restores these levels. Disconnecting as a player zombie reverts control to AI, like a normal zombie. "Zombie" is NOT a persistent characteristic. Once you die as a zombie, or disconnect, that is it. All over.

Player zombies are different than AI zombies: They can't use flares, etc. so give player zombies a limited night vision or thermal. Blurry vision (insert favorite special effect here) could simulate the otherwise poor vision that zombies have. Player zombies can take more damage than an AI zombie to prevent a single headshot takedown upon spawning as one in a PVP scenario. To extend that thought player zombies might be given an option of what type of zombie they want to play... a couple basic suggestions would be "The screamer", fast as a fast AI zombie, better eyesight but lower damage capacity (both attack and defend) and "The shambler", slower than the screamer but with higher damage capacity (both attack and defend), etc. Player zombies can press PTT to make loud zombie screams, a call to dinner activating any other nearby zombies as well. Perhaps pressing attack while looking at a player also makes the scream and "shows" the location of them to other nearby zombies. Attacking players as a zombie helps restore fading food, water and blood (which again, I would want the zombies to use much faster than a regular player, especially if running.)

I think this might work and add quite a bit to the game... who wouldn't want to try playing as a zombie, at least once? This is also roughly true to the zombie genre, with dead players possibly coming back from the grave. This makes zombie encounters more unpredictable and dangerous... AI or smart player? The Insurgency co-op mod works similar to this (if I remember correctly) in that the player team is working against an AI team that is enhanced with one or two live players as well.

This concept is also expandable if the players ever find themselves with an "infection" level and a search for "serum" enters the game.

Perhaps most importantly this could be used to help curb wanton PK'ing and also leave PK'd players a chance for revenge. I think PK would happen a bit less if the PK'er had to consider the possibility of a smart zombie coming after him minutes later. This might even be a plausible replacement for the current bandit skin/humanity system.

Thoughts?

[SSG Izo 4]

No, playing as a zombie doesnt belong in this mod.

[oktyabr 53]

No' date=' playing as a zombie doesnt belong in this mod.

[/quote']

I appreciate feedback but just saying "no" without explaining yourself really isn't feedback, is it...

Isn't that at the heart of every good zombie book, show and movie? The looming threat that if you die you might come back as one of the walking dead? I disagree with you sir, I think it very much belongs in this mod or any zombie game for that matter.

Understand I'm not suggesting it as a permenant long time role... just an option to play as one for a short time once you are dead. This, coincidentally may also be an idea worth considering instead of the current bandit/humanity thing as it would basically accomplish the same goal, discouraging wanton PK'ing by giving players a chance for revenge.

[Derranged 2]

In my opinion this probably isn't the best of the ideas. The mod is revolving around survival and re-spawning as a zombie just doesn't fit the mod.

In a way, the game would become unbalanced. People would "attempt" to sneak past a random zombie and then all of a sudden one comes screaming over without the player even startling it.

So overall, you will be copping a lot of flak about this suggestion.

~Derranged

[RoaR (DayZ) 0]

I dislike this idea - I think zombies should stay dumb.

Fighting zombies right now is a good experience. You need to be careful but if your skills and drills are good then you should be ok. I think if we start bringing in player zombies who're really smart and tricky and do unzombie-like stuff then it will ruin alot of the atmosphere.

I like the feeling of 'us' against 'them' with the zombies - even if many survivors are just as much, if not more than a threat than the zombies, it still feels very much like the zombies are a sort of 'faceless' enemy.

Also, the idea of having to play a zombie would really, really spoil it. Not something I want to do. At all!

Oh - and if you want revenge on PK'ers, PK them!

[Samsquanch (DayZ) 8]

The dead need to stay in the hands of AI. With people you would get too much sneaking around and collaboration of large groups of dead.

The only way I see it working would be limiting the users actions. This might just end up being a lot of wasted programming, which could cause a significant hit to the servers (from experience).

I'm sure they're will be variations of zombies coming in the future, so we will have more things to worry about lurking in the dark corners.

[{Op4}Mcface 0]

not a good idea IMO.

like someone else said, zombies are supposed to be dumb, hunger driven things.

the last thing we need is for a group of 4 or 5 people setting up a complex ambush while hiding, waiting for a player to walk by, then coming at him from 5 directions. it would be a death sentence every time, and zombie's aren't supposed to be that smart.

it also opens the door to zombies wandering around with their still living buddies, giving them a massively unfair advantage in fights with other zombies or survivors.

not really fair if you guy a zombie buddy to scout ahead and tell you if an area is clear or not.

[oktyabr 53]

I appreciate the attempts at solid feedback instead of just "No" or "Yes" but hey, how about actually reading the whole suggestion instead of just assuming things from the title?

Here, let me recap:

Player zombies are short lived. Some human flesh might keep them going a bit longer but for the most part they are only going to be on for a minute or two before they die a second time (from accelorated use of food/water/blood levels). This also reflects the "hunger". Then you respawn as normal.

They are also meant to be an *option*. No one HAS to play a zombie. Just respawn as normal if you like.

They DO have poor eyesight (imagine how YOU would like the player zombie's vision to look) and CANNOT communicate. They can't even read the name of the player they are attacking! And they *automatically* attack anything within arm's reach so no "friendly" zombies will ever exist. A player group of zombies will NEVER happen, the way I described it in my first post.

I didn't say a player in a zombie suit! Think more like a player getting to sort of remote control one of the AI for a short bit with no communication and terrible eyesight.

I'll just throw a number out there... Let's suppose you come back as a zombie and your food/water/blood meters start moving down already. Run and they move down even faster. Don't eat a human within say 100 seconds and *poof*!!! "Your" zombie is now just another AI zombie and you are respawning again as a human. Catch a human each chunk of damage might buy you another 15 seconds of life as a zombie. Quickly kill and eat a human, you just bought yourself maybe another 45 seconds. Tweak these numbers until they work.

Lastly you are no longer quite as bored just crouch-walking through a town because who knows, there is a slight chance that there might be a player zombie around. With 50 players on a server and maybe 5 of them dead at any given time and a zombie life span of maybe two minutes, how many player zombies do you think you will ever meet? Probably none, but you have to be extra careful... JUST IN CASE.

I'm just trying to suggest a way to kill three birds with one stone:

Bandits are ticked because people are hard d/c'ing to escape robbery. Suggestion: Put a delay in the game that keeps your body (and gear) in game for a short while. This in turn ticks off players like me who don't want to just loose all their stuff! Suggestion: If you get attacked or looted while you are waiting to disconnect you get a chance to fight back. Some bandits are ticked about the skin thing and humanity. Suggestion: Balance the the PK some other way (and remove the bandit skin), maybe by giving a dead guy a chance to get a little revenge. And as a bonus you are adding in a little bit more uncertainty and excitement.

Oh, and I wouldn't mind playing a zombie for a minute, now and then!

[Deviant (DayZ) 43]

Who would actually want to become a zombie after they die?

You would have to only be able to go to cherno, or stalk the southern coast for noobies to find people.

[oktyabr 53]

Who would actually want to become a zombie after they die?

You would have to only be able to go to cherno' date=' or stalk the southern coast for noobies to find people.

[/quote']

For a minute or two, like I described, I would, especially if I got to spend that minute or two maybe chasing the guy(s) that made me that way in the first place.

There wouldn't be any stalking because your very inefficient zombie metabolism means you eat very soon or you "die" a second time and respawn as normal. Like wise you aren't really going anywhere for the same reasons, plus you can't see very good. Super short lived player zombies, not super fast bullet proof werewolves ;)

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I'm curious what people think... how do you think zombies see the world?

[oktyabr 53]

Just a quick rough to demonstrate:

What YOU see as a player:

What YOU might see as a zombie:

[Jedimushroom 1]

I think people are being dismissive of your idea because they disagree with the concept in principle, or think that it is contrary to the style and ethos of the mod. It seems to me that these are pretty good ideas about how one would implement a zombie respawn system.

Unfortunately, I just don't think that a U-turn in player goals that significant would work well with the style of the modification, or be conducive to good gameplay.

[oktyabr 53]

Thanks for the response and taking the time to read my work.

I understand why some people might be dismissive of my suggestions but what it really comes down to is my empathizing with what I perceive as some common complaints and trying to come up with potential solutions.

Don't want people "hard" disconnecting to escape you? Well, there you go. It's in paragraph one of my first post.

Don't like the idea of having to wait to disconnect? Third sentence of the the same paragraph.

Angry that you won't be able to escape death by hard disconnecting? My zombie suggestion is tailored just for you.

Don't like having a bandit skin and "humanity" to deal with? With the player zombie suggestion player killing carries a much higher risk of revenge and thus should make players rethink their action before they commit to it. Wanton murder and robbery would become a less frequent event without removing PVP entirely. I hope that this could be made to work to offer an alternative to the skin and humanity system as it should accomplish the same goal.

I'd like to hear others suggestions if they don't like mine?

[Mandatory 0]

The idea itself doesnt seem doable, even if its only a suggestion, the work spent on making something like this would take a very long time for 2 or 3 minutes of gameplay benefit, effectively a gimmick.

Id rather time be spent ironing out problems, adding new loot, weapons, storage, group functions rather than adding something that the minority will use, even less enjoy.

That is what the replies you are getting speaks in lengths, not just a rash disagreement by a 13 year old kid like you play them out to be.

[Rumiac 0]

What I want to know is how this is gonna make any sense with the game scale. You get a minute or two as a zombie in a game that can take several minutes or even hours to get where you're going to?

It's a lot of work for a feature that in effect, does nothing. And in the end is revenge killing even that big a deal? If someone shoots you just shrug and move on.

[soppa 39]

Zombies are stupid.. I'm not saying that all human players are smart, but I dont want to see any sneaky zombies around as there is enough bandits to watch out.

So I definitely say NO for smart human zombies. They need to be brainless even some human players could be good in this too ;)

[griffinz 2816]

I can put a backstory to why we should not turn in to zombies if you like...

After 1 year of the strange 'Z' virus ravaging the world, small pockets of survivors began emerging. It had become apparent that about 10% of the world's population had an inherent immunity, and initially were not infected by the airborne virus. Eventually survivors were being bitten and scratched by the infected, causing them to eventually turn at a much faster rate. Of the 10%, only 2% survived the day-to-day encounters with the infected, and were not effected by bites or scratches.

From a population of 7 billion, only 14 million remained world-wide after 3 short years.

:)

[sgtsnug 26]

Sorry but this idea has no place in the mod in my opinion, sure you could invent the story to go behind it but it would require lots of work to implement which could be spent on survivor related updates.

It just seems like a method of griefing other players the extra mile and so it doesn't gain my support.

Aside where is the incentive to kill players as a zombie? you get no loot out of it? revenge? you rarely die by gunfire unless you hang around the main cities anyhow, and even then you could be munching an innocent who just passed by and would be taken down by 1 bullet like any other zombie.

It isn't worth the workload or time to invest.

[Midaychi 9]

Tl;dr:

Would you spawn in as a creeper in multiplayer minecraft if you could and had infinite, albeit random spawns?

Would other players appreciate the upgrade in ai?

[oktyabr 53]

Good morning! I see at least some people are reading the *suggestions* (there really needs to be more of these). Again, I'm not suggesting these because I want to run around as a zombie... it will probably get used very little. But that's part of the whole idea! It's not the player zombies you should be afraid of, it's the chance that there might be one out there that will make you more careful, reintroduce tension into crossing a city at night (besides some bandit with NVGs and an assault rifle). As I said you are very unlikely to ever run into a player zombie since at any given time only a few players on 50 player server are going to be dead, the first requirement, that being a player zombie is an option (and it's obvious very few people would take it), and lastly, the player zombies just don't live long enough to be that big a threat. But you would never be sure would you? You have to treat every town and every zombie as the potential "smart" threat that it *could* be. And that's the whole idea.

The idea itself doesnt seem doable' date=' even if its only a suggestion, the work spent on making something like this would take a very long time for 2 or 3 minutes of gameplay benefit[/quote']

I have respect for this teams abilities! They've already done custom models, custom animations, custom sounds, etc. Scripting something that is basically already in the game is surely within their powers ;)

Id rather time be spent ironing out problems

Do you think any of what I have said, hard d/c exploit, bandit skin, etc. are problems currently? What do YOU suggest?

Everyone has these half baked reasons why my solutions won't work but I don't see any of them posting solutions of their own.

What I want to know is how this is gonna make any sense with the game scale. You get a minute or two as a zombie in a game that can take several minutes or even hours to get where you're going to?

It would really be used mostly in the case of PK to help discourage it. As it stands now you might shoot another player for a can of beans or maybe that high end rifle he spent hours getting up at the airfield. Your "punishment"? A bandit skin that looks cool (in the daylight). Knowing that guy has a couple of minutes to come back as a zombie will increase the risk and thus lower the "crime rate". The guy with the rifle is still going to die but the n00b who just spent $30 to get shot for a can of beans might live a little longer. Viola! No more bandit skin needed!

I can put a backstory to why we should not turn in to zombies if you like...

Nice one Griff :) But don't get me started writing story lines too! I like to write! After three years the ammo' date=' petrol, medical supplies and canned foods would all be gone anyway. I get this feeling that DayZ isn't that far after the infection ;)

Would you spawn in as a creeper in multiplayer minecraft if you could and had infinite, albeit random spawns?

Would other players appreciate the upgrade in ai?

Well, this isn't Minecraft, is it? But you had good questions that honestly made me think before typing this so here is my honest answer. No. And No. But again, this isn't Minecraft. I just wanted to suggest a way to help curb PK without the use of bandit skins or a complex humanity system.