Companion animals (endgame mechanic)

[charliepow 100]

On the topic of harming in-game animals, I understand both sides. On one hand, there is opportunity for abuse of in-game animals...

But on the other hand, we are already able to handcuff, strip and torture human players.

 

I also think the potential death of an in-game companion animal adds to the "Hardcore" nature of the game. It's an added incentive to stay alive and keep your companion alive.

 

Obviously it would have to be implemented tastefully, but the vision of the game is to be an "open world survival simulator", meaning if it's possible in real life, it should be possible in game. The more morals that are questioned, the more immersion people will feel in the game and the more careful they will be not to die.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

Oh, going straight for the troll, welcome to ignore

I'm sorry?

[liquidcactus 719]

Oh, going straight for the troll, welcome to ignore

I kind of agree with Kyrah.. if dogs are introduced you do realize they are going to be able to be killed etc etc. There wont be any no damage bonus for the dogs

[liquidcactus 719]

Arma had farm animals and dogs before, so far i havent seen anyone whine when they get killed.

 

And you can be as heyneous as you want against pixel characters, they dont exist.

I kind of agree with Kyrah.. if dogs are introduced you do realize they are going to be able to be killed etc etc. There wont be any no damage bonus for the dogs

 

oops at double post i clicked on the edit button how strange

Edited May 11, 2014 by liquidcactus

[barnabus 1708]

On the topic of harming in-game animals, I understand both sides. On one hand, there is opportunity for abuse of in-game animals...

But on the other hand, we are already able to handcuff, strip and torture human players.

 

I also think the potential death of an in-game companion animal adds to the "Hardcore" nature of the game. It's an added incentive to stay alive and keep your companion alive.

 

Obviously it would have to be implemented tastefully, but the vision of the game is to be an "open world survival simulator", meaning if it's possible in real life, it should be possible in game. The more morals that are questioned, the more immersion people will feel in the game and the more careful they will be not to die.

I have seen it suggested that what we can do now as far as torture just isn't enough for some people.  They want to be able to cut off fingers and actually commit rape, which I would NOT EVER like to see in game.  What we do now is pretty tame compared to that.  Someone using a hacksaw on a live dog or chasing and beating a dog to death with a bat is what you will see, with fire coming you may even see people setting dogs on fire just for fun.  Count me out of that but......  You want to see a rise in KoS?  Count me in as KoSing anyone I see chasing a dog with a bat or doing any of the above.

Edited May 11, 2014 by Barnabus

[charliepow 100]

I have seen it suggested that what we can do now as far as torture just isn't enough for some people.  They want to be able to cut off fingers and actually commit rape, which I would NOT EVER like to see in game.  What we do now is pretty tame compared to that.  Someone using a hacksaw on a live dog or chasing and beating a dog to death with a bat is what you will see, with fire coming you may even see people setting dogs on fire just for fun.  Count me out of that but......  You want to see a rise in KoS?  Count me in as KoSing anyone I see chasing a dog with a bat or doing any of the above.

 

 

Agreed, and I don't think Dean will allow any torture mechanics that don't add any gameplay features to the game such as cutting off limbs etc. I do believe that the corpses of dogs (and potentially humans) will be able to be prepared into meat to cook/eat as it's a realistic survival option.

[degude 133]

They are actually already confirmed

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeCUKhI9Kq8

[SteenRNS 35]

It scares me that people are willing to kill and torture eachother ,but when a cuddly furball gets killed everyone looses their minds. How about a tarantula follower? Everyone hates spiders right? Seriously though. Cats should be added. Housecats

[barnabus 1708]

It scares me that people are willing to kill and torture eachother ,but when a cuddly furball gets killed everyone looses their minds. How about a tarantula follower? Everyone hates spiders right? Seriously though. Cats should be added. Housecats

That says more about you than you might think. You must have missed the whole "don't want to see rape and removal of limbs" things.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

I just don't want them to become the "wow mounts" of dayz, that come with advantages and zero inconveniences.

[SteenRNS 35]

That says more about you than you might think. You must have missed the whole "don't want to see rape and removal of limbs" things.

weren't we talking about adding invincible dogs? I'd love more gore in dayz. Gun wounds and blood splatter for example. Rape however won't ever happen. To controversial. Don't even see any reason to discuss that. Won't happen.

[Captain Swag 2]

The artwork is amazing thumbs up for the idea

[xalienax 621]

The only reason I disagree with this is as I have stated before. Some sick bastards will use that as an opportunity to do heinous things to virtual animals and post it on YouTube. That could bring some serious negative blow back. So far the game is under the radar, better to keep it that way rather get the rep that some other games already have.

I like the idea of your animal being it's own being. Gives them a personality. Some of my best dogs were disobedient as all hell. still loved me and still, did pretty much what I told them to do, but sometimes, revenge poop and revenge pee are best served cold. Miss that feisty little harbor dog. Sigh...

I can certainly understand your concerns, but bottom line is it IS a game, nothing we do to these virtual representations is real- nor are the characters them selves. Don't get me wrong i generally like animals more then people- Heck i would care more about an animal shelter burning down and killing the animals then i would about a bus full of tourists going off a bridge.

 

With that in mind, i dont think in a game that seeks to portray a hard edge/brutal world in which your decisions are guided by staying alive for one more day we should be exempting anything. Eating the family pet, or even group members you deem more a liabiltiy then an asset would be a real consideration in a post-apocalyptic world- and when/If the time comes that loot is greately reduced i dont think these things should be excluded simpyl for being taboo if they fit withing the theme and add to gameplay.

 

Eg. I have this pet i found and tamed, fed and took care of for some time; but my character is on the verge of starvation. ive been thru several towns with no food in sight.... I may soon have to make a hard decision between dieing (and thus start over, loosing everything) or perhaps looking to one of my companion animals as a food source.

[Redstar Payne 54]

Hi everybody,

Although there are different topics about related themes, I couldn't find any posts about this particular mechanic I  want to talk about. Anyway I will provide relevant links at the end of this post. If I have overlooked something important, please merge my post with the existing content.

 

What I am suggesting is an endgame mechanic. Pleas keep this in mind while reading. If you are not sure what "endgame" means here a link for an example: http://www.wowwiki.com/End-game

 

 

 

 

I love a lot of things said in your post, it makes sense that these animals would be looked to in these times but my one worry is the hawks although wonderful idea I must say. They seem too faulty to add to game, I mean one you have to pack them away to do anything with them, two you have to have a special glove and three it seems way too much has to go into them to even care about. Smart player won't even go for hawks even though scouting is nice, they just seem to take too long and we all know we will just die to even have them play a big part (unless of course the player is OP). Horses and dogs on the other hand have a huge roll on why players would need them, Hawks just don't fit to me. All in all I love the post and believe you have hit dead on with what you were going for, A+ in my opinion, and if hawks are implemented then bravo I just can't see myself using them is all, players may differ from my opinion. Beans bro ... all Beans.

[dominykaskinderis 6]

it would be great if a different animal would be harder to catch but it would have better uses. for example if you catch a dog you could use it to kill zombies and attack players from the back (just melee) and say if you catch a eagle which you could send to the sky and it could tell you the general location of other players within a 1000m radius or so. it would also be cool if you could find or make animal cloths so if your player is all camo, your dog can be camo aswell so others dont spot you

[arvinzd 10]

1+ for bored well geared player

[Rats In Your Milk 4]

horse and dog, fuck yeah

[irishroy 1347]

bump

[koffeekage 322]

cat companions would be great, especially if i had like 6 or 7 all gathering me dead birds or mice. the tactical legitamacy of cats is outlined in this episode of doomsday preppers scrub to 8:33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quQlOpxwSdU. the prefered cat companion would be the norwegian forest cat, again follow this link to google images: http://purrfectcatbreeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/norwegianforestcat9.jpg

[snwh 24]

Well, Dogs and Horses are pretty much the two most likely animals to make it in if the devs decided to add in tamable animals. And they did decide to add them. Dogs are already confirmed.

 

That being said... Hawks! omg, that's a brilliant idea! I'm not 100% sure I like the spotting mechanic, (and I really don't like the backpack mechanic) but w/e, Hawks!

 

I hadn't thought about that at all, never crossed my mind. That has got to be the coolest animal companion you could have in DayZ, I really hope they add them. The picture with the hawk is pretty inspiring too. Nice work. Did you draw them yourself?

[Maximux 1]

I think horse is a great idea. But they should be very hard o catch, and feed.Maybe even that you need min 2 people to catch one. They should use a lot of water. Be very fast but not all the time (stamina). And they should be tied down, unless they get away. And they should have gear on them. They could be killed. They should be noisy on the roads. Would be great to wonder around like in Skyrim. It would improve gameplay a lot! Of course that shooting  from  a horse should be very difficult but melee should be great :) 

[kitlope04@yahoo.com 3]

Definitely need a few housecats thrown into villages, towns and cities.

[cobaas@live.ie 62]

Definitely need a few housecats thrown into villages, towns and cities.

Just housecats in general, need to put my cat into the game!

 

Cleocatra!

[S3V3N 1402]

I think it would be great to give the dogs certain abilities that fight game abusers. For example, imagine yourself on prison island with your dog, when it suddenly starts barking. This announces that another player spawned near you. It could be made so the dog is only audible for you, or it could be audible to both (if they are close enough). In any case, the dog will give a warning - perhaps it could be trained to give you a silent warning later - and you will know someone is spawning on you.

 

I'd also like to train the dog for hunting, so it can be used to go hunting geese flocks, or something similar. 

 

Hawks and other bird companions seem interesting, but pretty difficult to observe and handle. Imagine someone put their settings to low and distance to 400 meters. They might lose sight of their own bird. And if the bird just circles over your head (or nearby) it will be much more of an advantage to other players than yourself. After all, what can you do with a few small rodents, etc. when alternatively you can club a chicken to death or kill some cows, easily. Also, the bird does a lot of the things that dog is supposed to do, except the dog is more versatile. We should go with the stuff that is the most useful now and that would be mules and dogs to me. Horses, I don't really know. Too big, too fragile. Better give us some donkeys or mules, instead :)   

Edited April 7, 2015 by S3V3N

[thefriendlydutchman 160]

dogs should be able to be killed ofcourse don't forget that bohemia is a simulator company getting god dogs would be ridicilous, however the chance of a dog attacking you should be very small unless very hungry when hungry they will growl differently to let you know to back off or face the consequences, dog against dog should not be allowed, my dog should be able to alert the presence of other players but I as a player should not be allowed to target another dog with my dog,