DayZ - My hopes for what we will see by Release

[hannibaldaplaya 1095]

This thread contains my hopes for what DayZ will eventually become by release. This is not a thread complaining and ranting about things I want now, it is a thread about what I hope the game becomes by the time it is fully released. I do not expect anything that I talk about in this thread to be added in immediately, or during the alpha, or during the beta. This is a thread about what I want the game to become, not about what I want the next update to make the game into- This is about my long-term dreams for the title.

 

By release, I hope DayZ will be the most harsh survival game on the market.

 

I want this game to become a game where you are constantly worrying about things, and where getting to the point where your stomach is full and you have bullets to spare should be incredibly difficult and should not last for long.

 

This thread will be in sections.

 

Food, Water, Starvation, and Sickness

 

Food should be something you are CONSTANTLY looking for, but to balance this out the time you can survive without food after spawning in needs to be increased. It takes around 30 - 40 in game minutes to basically die of starvation, and that is ridiculous. In real life, you can survive weeks without food, depending on what you are doing. If you are moving, you will not last as long, if you are resting, you will last longer. If you are hydrated, you will last longer, if you aren't you will die a lot quicker. Plus, starvation should make your character malnourished. It should weaken your character, instead of immediately killing it. What I am proposing is that food is a rare commodity and is one of your main concerns but it should not be a short-fused stick of dynamite, but a stick of dynamite with a fuse a mile long, and as the fuse gets shorter and shorter, your character gets weaker and weaker.

 

How do you make it so everyone doesn't slowly starve to death and rage about it here on the forums? We now have hunting, in Experimental. You make it so that the best way to get food is to hunt or forage. Canned goods should be rare- Maybe one or two cans a town, three or so in a city. Finding berries, setting up traps, and hunting big game should be a good, effective alternative to hoping for a can of beans in the town ahead. Basically, hunting should be essential due to a decrease of food that can be scavenged.

 

Water should be easier to find, but should be tedious to purify. You'll either have to boil it, or perhaps find some purification pills. If you don't use one of these methods, you should have a chance to get sick. Plenty of diseases can be implemented into the game that spread through water, and plenty of them should be added, so its hard to diagnose what you have caught and thus harder to cure. Since being hydrated will be essential to surviving starvation, players will have to make sure they have a safe, clean source of water so that they don't succumb to starvation faster then usual due to being dehydrated.

 

Sickness should be devastating if not treated. Antibiotics and medicine from hospitals should be a godsend, just like most things should be in game. Rest, water, and food should help against sickness, but medicine should be the top dog when it comes to curing ailments. Plus, with a lot of diseases, you can have a lot of medicines, meaning self diagnosis can be deadly if it isn't done correctly.

 

Guns, Ammunition, and Weaponry

 

By the time DayZ is released, I hope that bullets are like solid blocks of gold. Ammunition should be one of the most rarest things in game, right next to food. The 75 drum mag for the AKM Should be a total joke. It'll be there, but it should never spawn full, and filling the thing up should take a lot of work, and a lot of luck.

 

Magazines should always be less then half full when they spawn, but to balance this empty magazines should spawn in rifles and pistols that utilize them. Ammo should be rare, though, and most of the time you won't have a magazine on standy. You'll have to make your bullets count, as you will have very little.

 

Since ammo will be so rare it will be like finding a $100 bill in a Walmart parking lot, dispersion needs to be removed. Sway and keeping the gun steady should be the way to portray inaccuracy, and should be able to be controlled. Without dispersion, people will be able to use their shots wisely, without a dice roll.

 

Plus, dispersion is generally unrealistic, and is a crutch for 'balance' in a lot of FPS games, but this is supposed to be an authentic survival game, not a balanced FPS title.

 

The lack of ammunition will increase player interactions, as why waste a bullet if you think you can mug this guy just by having your gun pointed at him, which will make the game a lot more unique and fun to play, as there will be less spray fire at everyone, as you won't be able to afford it.

 

Ammo needs to be as valuable as gold. Now, the guns can be common, as long as they spawn empty and there is a huge variety of them by release. We need more ammo types, too, so finding the bullets for your rifle or pistol or the shells for your shotgun is a lot more difficult. Finding ammunition should be hard, let alone finding a specific type!

 

Also, kinetic knockdown I will hope makes it in game. By this I mean players being knocked down when shot - Not knocked unconcious, just knocked down. Even if the bullet doesn't make it past your kevlar or plating, you should still be knocked down, and stunned. In real life, when a bullet hits you, especially in your legs or torso, you are probably going to fall down, or be knocked back, even if you are wearing protection.

 

Melee I hope will be smoother and more responsive. It should also be a bit more in depth, and have a knockdown / stun system against zombies and players.

 

Zombies

 

With the navmesh on the way, the future for zeds look bright. Now all that is needed are hordes, lots of hordes. I don't know what else I can put in that I hope makes it to release, other then hordes, a competent and in depth stealth system, and better hit registration.

 

Base Building

 

I hope base building requires lots of resources, and is mostly focused on barricading and making small camps or crude walls. If inspiration is taken from Zomboid, I'll be a very happy camper.

 

The Map, Atmosphere, and Little Things

 

Chernarus isn't scary. It just isn't scary. Its a bright countryside full of buildings with a few blood stains and some car wrecks, that is about it. The atmosphere is there, but it doesn't look or seem apocalyptic. There isn't much destruction, and the game doesn't feel desolate. The cities look empty, not abandoned, as if everyone just disappeared. The abandoned cars are nice, but, there is not that many small details, and the blood stains they have added to certain buildings and overturned stuff just doesn't do it for me. Some of the newer buildings they are working on are more fitting, but Chernarus needs its cherry summer countryside aspect taken away. It feels like I'm on vacation in rural Europe.

 

I hope for a more desolate, apocalyptic map, basically. I hope for atmosphere, too. There is atmosphere in DayZ, and I especially feel it when I'm sitting around the new campfires or walking near a place lit by a roadflare, or when you are walking through the woods or a town as night falls, but other then that, the map is a quiet, peaceful countryside full of armed people, a few zombies, and a lot of bullets whizzing through the air.

 

I also want hope we get a few little things specifically for the game's atmosphere.

 

Instruments such as guitars would be just plain awesome. Sitting around a campfire in a barricaded complex with your thin, malnourished buddies and playing some tunes on a guitar would be spectacular. It may be something little, and I don't want it now, I just want it by release. It shouldn't be a priority, it should be a nice, final touch when they have nothing else to do.

 

Board games too, another low priority thing I hope we get. Challenge your opponents to a game of chess or gamble bullets and food at a game of poker. You could add a ton of stuff for players to do once they make bases or colonies around the map, and since ammunition will be rare, the chances of one guy coming in and killing everyone would be slim. There could be organized raids, of course, but both the community trying to survive in the place they call home and those there to take it from them will be in a war where every shot have to count.

 

Of course, these are little things I don't want to be prioritized. They are just little touches I hope to see.

 

People will need things to do in the apocalypse, once they've settled down. They'll be always worrying about supplies and passerby and zombies and disease, but whats a better way to kill stress then some campfire songs or a game of chess?

 

Conclusion

 

I will repeat this once again, this is what I hope makes it into the game by release. I want a harsh, unforgiving survival game where you never stop worrying about things.

 

Oh, also, on a side note - Cannibalism, with some sort of negative effect - would be great as it would cause players to hunt others not only for supplies.

 

Thank you for reading, and there is no TL;DR. I wrote this at 1:30 AM, go me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[uberfrag 35]

I think the point you made on zombies would be great, I've always wanted zombie hordes in the game and by hordes I mean huge ammounts of them. It would be great for players to defend off a zombie horde attack on a city where hundreds of zombies (left 4 dead style) are rushing at the players, that could lead to some epic and hilarious gaming moments on a server.

I've also said in previous posts I've made that I'd like to see some more iconic "one off" buildings in the game that have significance and would draw players and zombies in. Ideas I've came up with we're a theme park, prison, ww2 underground missile silo or down near the coast perhaps a submarine base also underground, shopping mall, huge hospital complex, mental asylum. I'd also like to see some mountain regions up in the north with snowy peaks.

Oh and lastly I'd love to see more Easter eggs in the game, think a dayz version of slender man built into the folk lore of the game, I'd love for the game to have a slight survival horror edge to it like amnesia...almost as in a side game, think how cool a creepy old mansion up in the hills may be that has haunted folk lore up there.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Fragga

[Aussie Connor 3]

I agree with most of your points. I think also eventually they should add some type of farming system so you can grow crops, but so it's balanced the plants have a chance of being eating by pests, and maybe adding  pesticide which you find in barns and farm areas to counter that. 

[Etherious 907]

 

Conclusion

 

I will repeat this once again, this is what I hope makes it into the game by release. I want a harsh, unforgiving survival game where you never stop worrying about things.

 

Oh, also, on a side note - Cannibalism, with some sort of negative effect - would be great as it would cause players to hunt others not only for supplies.

 

Thank you for reading, and there is no TL;DR. I wrote this at 1:30 AM, go me.

:beans:

 

I think the point you made on zombies would be great, I've always wanted zombie hordes in the game and by hordes I mean huge ammounts of them. It would be great for players to defend off a zombie horde attack on a city where hundreds of zombies (left 4 dead style) are rushing at the players, that could lead to some epic and hilarious gaming moments on a server.

I've also said in previous posts I've made that I'd like to see some more iconic "one off" buildings in the game that have significance and would draw players and zombies in. Ideas I've came up with we're a theme park, prison, ww2 underground missile silo or down near the coast perhaps a submarine base also underground, shopping mall, huge hospital complex, mental asylum. I'd also like to see some mountain regions up in the north with snowy peaks.

Oh and lastly I'd love to see more Easter eggs in the game, think a dayz version of slender man built into the folk lore of the game, I'd love for the game to have a slight survival horror edge to it like amnesia...almost as in a side game, think how cool a creepy old mansion up in the hills may be that has haunted folk lore up there.

I'm sorry but not even with the most badass optimization will you ever see "hundreds" of zombies like in L4D. It's just impossible UNLESS you mean hundreds at one time then ok but hundreds in each player area....ummm yea no never gonna happen.

Edited May 25, 2014 by DJ SGTHornet

[svisketyggeren 662]

Although u can survive for some while without food, most players seem to forget that we are almost running all the time with our characters (sometimes with a huge backpack that could weigh 20 kg). With all the running around it would burn energy at a much faster rate. And secondly if u havent eaten for a couple days u wouldnt even have the energy to run around like we do in game. So I dont think the food/drink system is to unrealistic at all.

Edited May 25, 2014 by svisketyggeren

[FrostDMG 398]

:beans:

I'm sorry but not even with the most badass optimization will you ever see "hundreds" of zombies like in L4D. It's just impossible UNLESS you mean hundreds at one time then ok but hundreds in each player area....ummm yea no never gonna happen.

Why do you feel the need to quote the entire wall of text??????

Also time to starve after spawning takes long enough, no need to making it even easier. 40 minutes is plenty of time to find food.

[TheWanderingMan 170]

You'll be waiting for a LONG time for a game like that, never going to happen in dayz imo.

 

I'd be happy with stable servers that allow you to join first attempt not the 20th.

 

Also hand-bags and flip-flops next update please devs.

[energeticsheep 95]

The idea of a Kinetic Knockdown effect pleases me, and it's most definitely something I would love to see in the game, I'm sure it would work especially well with the new Ragdoll Effects coming into the game too.

 

Onto the subject of water diseases, I'm sure some of you have hard about the leaked game files which evidently show the animation for taking a dump and the pile of shit itself, so I'm guessing that perhaps if you added water diseases then Diarrhea wouldn't be that bad of a thing to add either; although that would be reaaaal messy. 

[Nesuma (DayZ) 108]

 

The lack of ammunition will increase player interactions, as why waste a bullet if you think you can mug this guy just by having your gun pointed at him, which will make the game a lot more unique and fun to play, as there will be less spray fire at everyone, as you won't be able to afford it.

 

Ammo needs to be as valuable as gold. Now, the guns can be common, as long as they spawn empty and there is a huge variety of them by release. We need more ammo types, too, so finding the bullets for your rifle or pistol or the shells for your shotgun is a lot more difficult. Finding ammunition should be hard, let alone finding a specific type!

 

 

Magazines should always spawn empty, and never inside of a weapon or next to it. Bullets shouldn't spawn in groups of 1-7 instead of a 20 bullet box. These boxes should be availabe but very rare. And weapons should stay very rare too, because if there's a gun everywhere it tooks less time to find the right weapon for your ammunition. And jeah everything will be less anyway, right now I only need 3 bullets in my inventory, i don't need more to kill a player and who the hell shoots on zombies .... So jeah from the point when you found your first box of bullets your problems stop forever. Not okay.

And I like your hopes for the food, too. I don't think that the energized status should be something extreme rare because you should find enough food in the woods, not in the cities.

[terminal_boy 860]

I'm hoping for different types of poop.

From fizzy arse gravy when my character has eaten rotten fruit to an uber turd you can't break with a fireman's axe after a week of eating Tactical Bacon.

[Etherious 907]

Why do you feel the need to quote the entire wall of text??????

Also time to starve after spawning takes long enough, no need to making it even easier. 40 minutes is plenty of time to find food.

Because I can. But, ehhh I eliminated the "wall of text" for you. 

 

[FrostDMG 398]

Because I can. But, ehhh I eliminated the "wall of text" for you. 

 

 

 

Doesn't mean you should...

[Etherious 907]

Doesn't mean you should...

And? I didn't see a mod get mad at me for it, so I am gonna not care. 

[Whyherro123 2283]

Let me lay this out here right now: in the short term, Chernarus would not be that difficult to survive in, at least for the short "Wilderness Survival" term.

 

Essentially, there are three major stages to survival, and they all involve different skillsets and mindsets. ( I am projecting this from the view that the world hasn't gone to shit, because this was how I was trained, and how I train others)

1. Wilderness Survival: Up to one week. You shelter in place, move as little as possible in order to conserve energy. You are assuming people are looking for you. You strip the area around your camp for food, bedding, and shelter materials. Need good shelterbuilding, water treatment, foraging, and firebuilding skills.
2. Bushcraft. 1 week to 4 weeks. You start to move from area to area, trying to find some human activity (a road, powerlines, etc) you essentially become a hunter-gatherer, taking resources from the area you move through. Need good land navigation, overland travel, on-the-move water and food procurement skills (especially since you can't really preserve food).
3. Homesteading. 1 month on. You assume searches have ended. You build a more permanent shelter, and start gathering plant sources to grow later on (essentially, primitve agriculture). Need EXTENSIVE shelterbuilding skills, agriculture, and hunting (big-game) skills. This is the "classical Survivalist" people think about.

 

1. The area has a temperate oceanic climate, which means the temperatures and weather would shift with the seasons, but remain relatively stable year round, being moderated by the ocean nearby (look up climate types for a more in-depth explanation)
2. Extremely abundant water sources. I can't travel more than half a mile before stumbling across some podunk pond in the middle of the woods.
   1. Yes, untreated water should definitely make you sick. However, treating your water is almost comically simple if you know what you are doing. Boil it all before drinking, then sieve it through a soda bottle filled with crushed charcoal. Perfectly safe, and you can set up a lot of these bottles to collect rainwater 
3. Abundant plant and animal sources. Plenty of agricultural plots (almost every house I see in-game has some sort of garden, even in the cities) suggests that the soil of Chernarus is good for growing. Plus, the temperate climate suggests there are a lot of edible plants about.
   1. The only issue with this is the fact that relying on wild sources for food essentially forces the player to become a hunter-gatherer, which would strip the land of resources EXTREMELY quickly. This isn't only food and animals, but firewood, available shelter materials, etc.

I would like to see  more of a focus on Bushcraft and Homesteading than pure Wilderness Survival. people growing their own food, reloading their ammunition, etc. There is just so much more depth possible exploring those areas than just Wilderness Survival.

[randomspawn 215]

FYI, if you have to spend an entire paragraph at the beginning of your post explaining why it's not a rant, then, IT IS A RANT. 

 

carry on...

[VonHoth 3]

If you want boardgames and stuff cause where you can wager bullets....

I want to take it further. Can I start a brothel with the female characters who want protection from KOS?

Hell yeah. Johns can pay in bullets, gear, food.......

I will create a huge barricaded complex and call it " Ass for Beans"