Why is development time being poured into more new towns?

[blunce 991]

Oh my god! Somebody who listens lol your a rare specimen these days. Its a HUGE job and will take a lot of work which is why they have another team working purely on ai pathfinding for zeds and animals. Ive played around with navmeshes before and it can be an absolute nightmare.

Of course my friend, where's the sense in speaking on behalf of something that you're completely unknowledgable about ;)

 

& also, I have absolutely no experience in coding/game development. So I could only imagine the headaches

[p4triot 207]

Right now...I think the biggest problem is the zombies going through walls. THE biggest problem. Totally ruins the game. I know it's in Alpha but why not focus most of the efforts on that huge problem? The amount of towns right now is good! Maybe one far north, center of the map would be good. But then that's it.

 

Because until all the map is finished they can't start working on the zombie pathfinding, since obviously it depends on the map.

[UltimateGentleman 355]

I agree we don't really need new towns right now, there's only a few buildings worth visiting in each town there's nothing really unique in places except the one crashed ship.

 

In my opinion what it badly needs, as far as world design goes is unique places like a prison or as in a topic I mad, some gore, more blood around the place.

Essentially what we need is things to add to the desolate and creepy atmosphere not forgettable looking towns with one of those blue clinics, a police station and one of those big white buildings that almost always have an SKS in them.

 

I like to explore but there's no real value to it once you know what buildings are going to have food or ammo in them it's pointless.

 

 

A prison or underground area would be fantastic for fights and exploration, especially underground since it forces you to use light sources it would be very scary to go through alone.

So I think the map part of the team need to work on aesthetics right now rather than adding stuff(other than prison or underground area)

 

In real life what two houses look the same inside? Give us some different furniture, toppled over furniture, more blood stains maybe even a few bones here and there.

Just some more variety, adding more towns adds to how long that will take.

[zeroy 240]

Ok im a little lost on this one and I hoped maybe people could help me understand the logic on what the developers are thinking with spending their time on making more new towns in the game.

 

The Level Designers are spending time one this. Level Designers do not work on fixing issues with game code. Got it? Good. Moving on.... :D

[stryker007 39]

I would of guessed more towns are added because its not work done by the coding dev team but more the art team... am I on the right track? I'd assume the team is divided into functional groups?  I'd rather more towns than having some guys sitting on their butts picking their collective noses

 

[Edit] ah... see the dude above has said as much :-)

Edited May 2, 2014 by stryker007

[Katana67 2907]

Meh, essentially what you're asking for is more variety in buildings, rather than a re-allocation of resources to make fewer towns.

 

Sure, I'd love that.

 

But the main issue for me, is the wilderness. It's become insanely marginalized. And I think once they implement persistent storage (even if it's just packs, not tents) and player construction, they're going to really feel the detriment of having such a limited wilderness. I'd rather they devote more resources to adding a proper mountain range, streams, rivers, cliffs, all that jazz.

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/185396-save-the-trees-man-marginalized-wilderness/

Edited May 2, 2014 by Katana67

[s20 1]

It makes sense to me, to first take care of some basic things first, and then move up to more complex ones, such as abandoned theme parks etc etc.

 

 

They haven't sorting the basic things out, which again makes one wonder, why work on less important matters?

[cpthiner 6]

Another topic by someone who has no idea how development works. 

[Katana67 2907]

They haven't sorting the basic things out, which again makes one wonder, why work on less important matters?

 

Like what? What could SenChii (the map designer) offer? Other than map design...

[liquidsnake 275]

Unique buildings are a must. You can't draw attention away from airfields without adding other military complexes or uniques locales like the sunken freight carrier. There has to be a proper reason to go there and that won't be accomplished by more standard towns. Those are just a waste of forest in my eyes

[Ken Bean 175]

i am really torn on the topic. due to the higher run speed and all the additional buildings, i miss that feeling of being lost in the woods. on the other hand, more settlements means more loot spawns, so the scavenging (and associated interaction with other players) gets spread out instead of having three major hotspots, which isnt a bad thing...

 

ah well.. i wont judge it before its finished..

Me too. I love the vast wood areas. On the other hand they are aiming for 100 player server with 1000s of zeds, I believe. So only having a few hotspots would be a true mass sloughter house.

Idk how this is going to be. Think about helicopers and vehicles in general...

Isn't the map too small for such an ammount of hostile player + zeds?

Anyway, besides of all presuming, we'll see how that works.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Ken Bean

[acdc_bag 32]

Ok im a little lost on this one and I hoped maybe people could help me understand the logic on what the developers are thinking with spending their time on making more new towns in the game.

 

When I currently look at the map I see LOTS of towns already, where is the need for adding more of them?  I could perhaps understand adding another large capital city somewhere in the north part of the map but just more run of the mill towns with run of the mill buildings all acting as nothing more than loot spawn locations seems like total nonsense to me even in the grander scheme of things.

 

I've seen some great ideas in terms of new areas to be developed which fit in the current theme of things such as an abandoned prison, larger hospital complex, abandoned theme park, underground complex such as an abandoned nuclear silo or an abandoned mall of some kind...I mean the options are endless in terms of would could be added and they would make great locations on the map to drag people into other areas outside the coast. 

 

So where is the thinking from the dev team here? I know they rarely give answers directly to these questions so what is the community view?

 

Nah, you're right.  Let's just leave 190km^2 out of the 225km^2 unpopulated and virtually no reason to ever be there unless you want to set up a camp out in the middle of no where.  If they don't populate the inland map, there will never be ANY reason for people to move inland.  Right now the only reason to move off of the East coast is to get weapon attachments for your M4.  Long Range scopes, PU scopes, magazines, everything for guns except parts for the M4 can be found without being at a military installation.

 

So in your post, you blast the devs for spending time (not much to be honest), of laying out new cities/towns, and using existing models already available to them, which already have loot locations programmed in; yet you want the building/design devs to spend MUCH more time building amusement parks, nuclear power plants, prisons, whatever you can come up with most likely from scratch, and you really don't see the irony here?

 

WHY ARE YOU GUYS SPENDING TIME BUILDING THE MAP?!!! YOU SHOULD BE SPENDING MORE TIME BUILDING THE MAP!!!!!!!

Edited May 2, 2014 by acdc_bag

[real meatshield 424]

Randomizing spawns to be map-wide would instantly out people in a mood to travel to those other, inland towns. Back in the day when Novy and Stary were spawn points, there were people all over the damn place.That doesn't get them the focused testing they want and need, however, which is why spawns are localized. If they force spawns in the NE, then people are going to have no choice but to play in that area, if only for a brief time. Svetlo and the other new town just so happen to be in the NE...

 

There are separate teams developing entirely separate systems and mechanics, that do not, CANNOT follow the same timeline. People keep bitching that there are new clothing items (one team) but nobody hardly bitches at all about new weapons (another team) , while almost everyone bitches about zombies (yet another whole team). There are so many interconnected facets to the development but they do not and cannot all bring updates simultaneously. It just doesn't work like that.

 

I honestly can't wait for the new zombies. I can't wait for them to fix the pathing issues. I can't wait to see a new sniper rifle, vehicles, persistent storage, and private hives. But I also realize this is in alpha and that these things all won't magically appear next wednesday just because I spent 30 bucks and DAMMIT FIX THE FUCKING GAME!!!!!

[Katana67 2907]

People act as if we can't have a populous inland AND a robust wilderness.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Katana67

[horrorview 56]

What most people seem to forget is that they've put a lot of research into Chernarus to make it feel authentic. Polluting the map with buildings that really don't belong there break the immersion. Which is why the mod often felt a little incoherent. Although I'm all for adding new eyecatching authentic objects in the game.

 

Quite honestly, I wish they had a little more vast wilderness with things to do there that don't require buildings. For example, spawning certain animals that drop rare meat or fur to make clothes of.

 

Exactly this. I'd love to see more reasons to venture off into the forests. I know they can't do underground structures (yet), but there are plenty of raised mountainous areas where they could add a few small caves or "bug out" houses where you can find hidden arms stashes, food, etc. I'd also love to see some more glorious bits of nature, like waterfalls (not sure if possible, but would look dynamite), hot springs, swampland, tall grasslands, etc. Throw a few ramshackle log cabins out there and maybe an abandoned campground or two. 

[Ken Bean 175]

I honestly can't wait for the new zombies. I can't wait for them to fix the pathing issues. I can't wait to see a new sniper rifle, vehicles, persistent storage, and private hives. But I also realize this is in alpha and that these things all won't magically appear next wednesday just because I spent 30 bucks and DAMMIT FIX THE FUCKING GAME!!!!!

I wonder how they are doing it. If they need to do it in such a way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztzoEXTDrYk

Then it might take a bit. However, the Creation engine is completely different. What you see here is an interior cell, sth what doesn't even exist in DayZ.

 

But it may illustrate that things really can take loads of time.

[makomachine 263]

Key is more diversity in everything. Easy to ask for, harder to deliver. I want more towns, so that's not a problem - i also want more buildings and structures (theme park is cool), more natural diversity (caves, grasses, bushes, waterfalls, trees, etc.), and more animal diversity. It's a big map - we just got to give development time to work on these things. It's come a long way from where it was when I bought it and it's still in its infancy.

[cuddly_rabbit 102]

Ok im a little lost on this one and I hoped maybe people could help me understand the logic on what the developers are thinking with spending their time on making more new towns in the game.

 

When I currently look at the map I see LOTS of towns already, where is the need for adding more of them?  I could perhaps understand adding another large capital city somewhere in the north part of the map but just more run of the mill towns with run of the mill buildings all acting as nothing more than loot spawn locations seems like total nonsense to me even in the grander scheme of things.

 

I've seen some great ideas in terms of new areas to be developed which fit in the current theme of things such as an abandoned prison, larger hospital complex, abandoned theme park, underground complex such as an abandoned nuclear silo or an abandoned mall of some kind...I mean the options are endless in terms of would could be added and they would make great locations on the map to drag people into other areas outside the coast. 

 

So where is the thinking from the dev team here? I know they rarely give answers directly to these questions so what is the community view?

I'd also prefer if they stopped adding new empty space to an already too big map.

The challenges should be:

> Filling that alreay existing empty space with interesting things.

> Making the places feel unique

> Attracting players to play there (and not in the known hotspots)

 

Adding new cities/villages at the moment just adds new, empty safe loot locations and more time wasted on "The Jogging Simulator".

[Irish. 4886]

Personally, I think they have done an amazing job when you compare the map to the mods or arma 2. I mean take Zelenogorsk for example, the place was just a carbon copy of any other town in DayZ just about before, but now.. its overgrown and decaying. It give the impression that this was ground zero or in the least where the outbreak hit hardest early on. I love it. You could even miss it if you skirt the town on the west edge.. so its something you have to explore to truly discover.

 

I hope they keep it up, I see their plan laid out simply by looking at the new roads and infrastructure added on the map already. They are bringing new buildings about 1 every few months, some large some tiny. But its all going well, and I cant wait to find a bike or a truck and take a nice long ride/drive around Chernarus. Ill try to make it around sunrise or sunset to truly take in all her beauty. 

[PongoZ 127]

This thread is the equivalent of saying

why are we re sampling the sounds for the Mosin when zombies can swing through buildings?

 

the two activities likely have zero overlap in resourcing. 30 million lets you flesh out the team into specialists on parallel streams of effort.

[Irish. 4886]

This thread is the equivalent of saying

why are we re sampling the sounds for the Mosin when zombies can swing through buildings?

 

the two activities likely have zero overlap in resourcing. 30 million lets you flesh out the team into specialists on parallel streams of effort.

You didnt actually read it did you. Go read it and then apply that hand right there in front of you.. to your face. Slowly, dont get hurt doing it.

[Esolu 320]

So they hired some people to make more towns... That was their expertise and why they were hired to make more towns.

So they hired some people to make more in-game items... That was their expertise and they were hired to make more in-game items.

So they hired a whole team of 25 people for hunting and zombie pathfinding... Straight up outsourced it all to a bunch of people who have made animal AI and pathfinding successfully in other games...

So they hired...

So they hired...

Really, do you think there is only one team working on one thing at one time? The in-game item makers don't go making new towns, and the new town makers don't go messing with zombie pathfinding and animal AI, and the zombie pathfinding and animal AI experts fuck around with the game's architecture...

Each department has a job, and they are most likely all working their asses off. If the artists and town makers can pump out content that fast, just imagine how the programmers are doing... 

[qww 287]

i am happy that more villages or town will be added

[PongoZ 127]

You didnt actually read it did you. Go read it and then apply that hand right there in front of you.. to your face. Slowly, dont get hurt doing it.

Yes I read it, you must not have meant what you think you meant. There is no harm in them having teams that work on different priorities. Doing one thing doesnt mean they are not doing other things.

Just keep whining if you prefer.

[bodybagger2430 59]

Without skimming the whole thread I like to think of this, a small exercise in how such a small thing as a single amusement park could help immersion:

 

You walk into a town, think that famous photo of Pripyat in the zone (posted on the first page, actually) you walk into the area, see the Ferris wheel falling apart, you approach it out of curiosity, a body is inside the lower car, horribly maimed, and huddled over something, no indication of what it was, just a torn and destroyed teddy bear laying inside, a blood streak leading from the car Ferris wheel car, lighting strikes somewhere as you follow the streak to a pair of corpses, one is a cop with a pistol, a female zombies body is draped over him with a gouge out of his neck you turn, another cop zombie lunges at you, you swing with your bat and knock him down, again, down for the count, you move on, you see a strong man game, broken and in shambles, the hammer snapped in half, and near a body of a man, another body nearby of a woman frozen in time where she died, the owner of the strong man game draped over her, possibly he turned from the infection and grabbed her, the broken half of the hammer lies near him, it seems a man tried to save the woman by striking the worker with the hammer from the game. as you stand staring and contemplating this, it begins to rain, your attention is drawn to the bumper cars, the grisly scene is much the same, the aftermath of a zombie pulling a man out of a car as he turned and beginning to chow down can clearly be seen here. As you stop to look at the bodies and contemplate what happened, a raider nearby fires a single shot and you join the ranks of the dead in this forsaken world that once brought brief happiness to those who were worked to the bone, trying to make a living and leave a better world for their kids.