What dayz could have been without zombies

[gibonez 3633]

This cool reddit post shows us what a game like dayz could have become without the gimmick of zombies and a more post apocalyptic survival route.

 

Here is the reddit post .

http://www.reddit.com/r/arma/comments/244w51/the_plague/

 

Pretty cool seeing what could have been. I would play the crap out of that a Survival heavy game where law and order is gone and no gimmicky janky zombies reinforcing old post apocalyptic stereotypes.

 

This feels fresh.

 

 

[Dchil 829]

So go play wasteland then.

[Zedertone 378]

So go play wasteland then.

Do you have something wrong with your brain?

[TheDoctorInDayz 26]

I will agree with you here...toss the zombies all together...lets get more of a "Book of Eli" or "The Warriors" or "Road Warrior" going on.  DayZ was born with the implementation of zombies, that doesn't mean DayZ always has to have them...need to evolve.

Edited April 28, 2014 by TheDoctorInDayz

[gibonez 3633]

So go play wasteland then.

 

Not the same fucking thing.

 

Why do people always associate wasteland with Dayz not even remotely the same thing. I really cannot compehend that line of thought.

 

Wasteland is just a regular pvp team vs team mode + a 3rd team that can target anyone else.

 

This is mixed with randomly spawning in a big map.

 

There are no survival aspects.

 

No looting .

 

none of that exists.

[amiasfree 262]

If there are no zombies, what is there? Just players? NPCs? Some other critters?

[bastins 14]

I agree; a realistic post-apocalypic game would be excellent.

[gibonez 3633]

If there are no zombies, what is there? Just players? NPCs? Some other critters?

 

There could be lots of things.

 

My firm belief is that the Environment itself should be the most dangerous thing in a survial game.

 

Imagine a game where a deadly pandemic killed 90 percent of the world.

 

The lack of law and order caused people to loot murder and pillage. Food sources went scarce.

 

People resulted to cannibalism , and murdering and stealing just to survive.

 

This to me is far scarier and better than ......... zombies the most tired and gimmicky thing in gaming and media soo daam corny man.

 

Imagine a game where the environment was so deadly that most of your in game activity revolved in and around surviving the elements and trying to build a better environment for yourself.

 

Planting crops, building fortifications for your settlement or home to defend against bandits, cannibals and thieves. At the same time building your settlement with friendly players who each took roles and specialized in different things.

 

At the same time you could just live a harder life by becoming a cannibal become a human eating nomad who preys on the weak and unlucky.

 

Scary thing is in real life we are due for a pandemic too. The last one was the 1918 flue pandemic.

 

 

 

 

infected 500 million^[2] people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—three to five percent of the world's population^[3] —making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2014 by gibonez

[hannibaldaplaya 1095]

I'd only support a zombie-less DayZ for a few reasons...

 

Firstly, the engine is not built for such an enemy. Removing them would remove the need to fix the current clunk we see, and would allow the engine to /shine/.

 

Of course, you would then need to somehow up the amount of players to make the game difficult if you don't encounter anyone, or add another threat.

 

Zeds, right now, are just like flies that sometimes make you bleed- They are a minor nuisance. Personally, I don't see how the game will ever get away with this, as the engine was never built for melee or enemies using melee, so its going to require a lot of work.

 

Personally, I'd love a more post apocalyptic setting for DayZ, but we would need some other things to make the game still dangerous. Perhaps make surviving a lot more difficult, by decreasing loot spawns, mainly of food and water, making rounds incredibly valuable, and making it so stuff like keeping warm and not catching deadly diseases are your priority?

 

Perhaps you spawn with barely any clothes, perhaps a hospital gown like in Neo Scavenger, and clothes become valuable, as without them hypothermia is a ticking time bomb for you.

 

Imagine your primary weapon being a crowbar, and imagine your rounds being saved for better things.

 

I'd love that.

[applejaxc 2500]

How are zombies a "Gimmick" when it's a zombie survival game??

[gibonez 3633]

I'd only support a zombie-less DayZ for a few reasons...

 

Firstly, the engine is not built for such an enemy. Removing them would remove the need to fix the current clunk we see, and would allow the engine to /shine/.

This would be the great part.

without zombies taking up huge resources they can focus on increasing the player count and making the game far smoother.

Imagine dayz where the netcode and hit detection is silky smooth each time all because there are no janky zombies wasting resources.

Imagine having a game of dayz where you get good performance and can crank up the view distance due to less strain .

Imagine dayz where there are 150 players on the server each trying their best to survive and most of the deaths are due to the environment.

 

 

Perhaps you spawn with barely any clothes, perhaps a hospital gown like in Neo Scavenger, and clothes become valuable, as without them hypothermia is a ticking time bomb for you.

 

Imagine your primary weapon being a crowbar, and imagine your rounds being saved for better things.

 

 

 

Yea a more survival focused game . Where every bullet is valuable and every encounter is extremely scary just like the road.

 

Personally, I'd love a more post apocalyptic setting for DayZ, but we would need some other things to make the game still dangerous. Perhaps make surviving a lot more difficult, by decreasing loot spawns, mainly of food and water, making rounds incredibly valuable, and making it so stuff like keeping warm and not catching deadly diseases are your priority?

 

 

They can achieve that with a far more realistic health and disease system. They could also make crafting an almost essential thing to survive such as needing to build camp fires or shelter to survive the extreme cold in the nights. could work well with an accelerated day and night cycle like rust where day is about 3 to 4 times longer than night but night is super scary if you dont make it home in time.

 

 

[hannibaldaplaya 1095]

How are zombies a "Gimmick" when it's a zombie survival game??

 

I guess they could be considered a gimmick as (CURRENTLY) they barely add anything to the game, once they are polished enough (if they are polished) will be a threat and will actually add something to DayZ.

[gibonez 3633]

How are zombies a "Gimmick" when it's a zombie survival game??

 

Zombies are a gimmick and a trope in any genre now.

 

They are something that has been done to death for over 30 years. There is nothing original or redeeming about zombies.

 

zombies have come to become the lazy enemy in any movie, video game or piece of media.

 

Just cornball enemies.

[The_Monk 320]

DayZ without zombies would be pretty pointless.

 

You'd have to call it Day.

[gibonez 3633]

If anyone has not yet seen it or read the book I highly recommend The Road.

 

 

The road is by far the scariest post apocalyptic film I have ever seen and no it does not feature any of the tired old tropes of the Genre.

 

There are no zombies, no fast zombies, no mutants, no vampires no ghouls and no aliens.

 

The  film and the book prove that the scariest thing in a post apocalyptic environment is the lack of hope and the monstrosity of human nature.

 

Nothing for me has come close to being as scary as the cannibals in the movie and book I mean nothing.

 

The sheer thought of people losing all of their humanity and succuming to eating other living breathing humans as a means to survive should be bone chilling for everyone. The reason why this is so horrifying is because it is so surreal , these monsters could be anyone, they could be your friendly neighbor , your mail man that nice cashier at the super market.

 

This inner beast exists in each and everyone of us and because of this it is so terrifying.

Edited April 29, 2014 by gibonez

[Pandafish 60]

zombieless dayz would be cool

i only have played sa so all i know is them being broken and phasing through walls

i can see how the world fell in the first place.. the only safe place would be high ground because they clip through the stairs!

[ispecter 55]

Dayz has paved the way for many open world games. Though I like the zombies it adds flavour too the game. There's nothing Better then finding a player that has draw. Zombie agro.

[Murlough 192]

Id play it. An open-world apocalypse game without zombies would be pretty refreshing.

The only thing i could see there being a problem with is the player base. I can't see people banding together to survive.

I would imagine it would be very similar to DayZ now except LITERALLY without the zombies.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Murlough

[victusmortuus 1074]

If the zombies were good there would be no need for this suggestion, however...they're beyond repair unfortunately.

[Element47 2481]

meh, i'd argue that zombies are the most overused trope of popular culture.

 

what about aliens, robots or nazis?

[applejaxc 2500]

Zombies are a gimmick and a trope in any genre now.

Zombies are a trope in the zombie genre.

 

That's like saying humans are a cliche in a romantic comedy. >.>

[gibonez 3633]

meh, i'd argue that zombies are the most overused trope of popular culture.

 

what about aliens, robots or nazis?

 

Zombies indeed are overused.

 

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?keywords=zombie&sort=moviemeter%2Casc&title_type=feature&year=2013%2C2013

 

There were 66 films alone last year that featured zombies. although that midget zombie has potential.

[Katana67 2907]

No offense gibonez, but one thing that I've noticed in our discussions, is that you're good at making an argument... but tend to be a bit inflammatory with your OP's.

 

You can just say "Here's a neat thread on Reddit, interesting thought exercise on post-apocalyptic X, perhaps this could be applied to DayZ". But instead you chose to insert vitriol surrounding the "gimmick" of zombies. While I appreciate the sentiment, it is just inflammatory as presented in the OP.

 

There's nothing fresh about an apocalypse without zombies, it's a tale as old as time.

[victusmortuus 1074]

Zombies indeed are overused.

 

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?keywords=zombie&sort=moviemeter%2Casc&title_type=feature&year=2013%2C2013

 

There were 66 films alone last year that featured zombies. although that midget zombie has potential.

 

Most of the releases in the zombie genre are either B-movies (Zombie strippers), Poor and make no sense (World War Z) or a cash grab and a poor game (WarZ). The zombie genre only feels overused because there is nothing of note apart from Dawn, Day, Night and The Walking Dead, if the zombies in Dayz were scary and actually worked then there wouldn't really be a problem. 

 

-By scary I mean numerous and feared in numbers- 

[darth_vaizard 42]

I don't understand why we can't have both.  Sure, you can't go add zombies to something like The Road and expect it to turn out better but why is it completely out of the question to have humanity at it's own throat WITH the threat of a zombie apocalypse?  Only reason I see people complaining about zombies is because they're glitchy as hell and don't work as they should yet.

I'd like a threat with another, larger threat looming over everything.