Things that make me wonder about the whole DayZ deal and idea/direction of the game in general.

[pillock 850]

Judging by the environment you say? What about the rusty cars that could've stood there for 10 years? 

 

The cars are something of an anomaly - the rest of the environment is fairly intact.

 

What about the fresh fruit and vegetables you find lying about? You try putting a tomato out on a table for a week, then come back and tell us if you'd describe it as "pristine". Also:

What about the bales of freshly cut straw in the fields?

What about low level of the grass and undergrowth in gardens and fields?

What about the neat piles of logs stacked by the roadside?

What about the state of the roads, trackways and general infrastructure like telegraph and electricity lines?

What about the still-visible bloodstains inside houses?

What about the partially buried, unrotted corpses?

 

And anyway, the cars are all pretty old models - they were probably rusty before the outbreak (especially the ones in scrap yards, natch). And the totally destroyed ones could be explained by fire and accident damage from the panic of the infection.

 

It's recent, I tell you.

[PongoZ 127]

My take is that this is at most weeks after the event, so many of the structures feel like someone left in a hurry.

Where some place was allready run down, it would be more run down, but where the infastructure was in place it would not have collapsed so quickly.

If we want the game to have gear wear out in the time frame of a game session instead of the weeks it actually takes of intensive use, then there must be a great deal of pristine gear available.

You jump off a 3 foot ledge and it seems to take your boots from pristine to worn or broken. Jump off a 6 foot ledge and it ruins your boots and pants and breaks your leg.

 

Its purely a design decision how fast the attrition of gear happens and therefor how much pristine gear is available to replace it in every restart.

 

Anyway, the event was not a war,or a catastrophe, it was an outbrake apparently and the damage to the environment should reflect a few weeks of anarchy, not years of decay.

[Twixxer 159]

The cars are something of an anomaly - the rest of the environment is fairly intact.

 

What about the fresh fruit and vegetables you find lying about? You try putting a tomato out on a table for a week, then come back and tell us if you'd describe it as "pristine". Also:

What about the bales of freshly cut straw in the fields?

What about low level of the grass and undergrowth in gardens and fields?

What about the neat piles of logs stacked by the roadside?

What about the state of the roads, trackways and general infrastructure like telegraph and electricity lines?

What about the still-visible bloodstains inside houses?

What about the partially buried, unrotted corpses?

 

And anyway, the cars are all pretty old models - they were probably rusty before the outbreak (especially the ones in scrap yards, natch). And the totally destroyed ones could be explained by fire and accident damage from the panic of the infection.

 

It's recent, I tell you.

 

The haybales were there ever since ArmA 2, they just haven't been changed, and they don't decay that fast, it takes up to 5 years.

Soo, grass is supposed to be 2m high just because nobody would mow it? No, not really. Also the devs haven't got around to editing vegetation too much yet.

How would the logs being in a neat pile hint to that shit hit the fan only recently?

The roads are pretty cracked tbh, they changed them from the old ArmA roads which were more clean. Telegraphs and electricity lines wouldn't decay within couple of years.

Maybe the blood-stains are supposed to be recent? Plus they don't just fade in thin air over time.

The bodies could also be recently burried, but that doesn't necessarily mean the apocalypse started recently.

 

Most of the rusty vehicle models are new, such as blue van, the beige van, the GAZ and volga variations aswell, and they're all rusty as hell - meaning that the devs clearly meant them to be laying in those spots for several years without maintence. Same goes for the crashed cargo-ship, it's all rusty - it hasn't just recently crashed there.

[pillock 850]

The haybales were there ever since ArmA 2, they just haven't been changed, and they don't decay that fast, it takes up to 5 years.

Soo, grass is supposed to be 2m high just because nobody would mow it? No, not really. Also the devs haven't got around to editing vegetation too much yet.

How would the logs being in a neat pile hint to that shit hit the fan only recently?

The roads are pretty cracked tbh, they changed them from the old ArmA roads which were more clean. Telegraphs and electricity lines wouldn't decay within couple of years.

Maybe the blood-stains are supposed to be recent? Plus they don't just fade in thin air over time.

The bodies could also be recently burried, but that doesn't necessarily mean the apocalypse started recently.

 

Most of the rusty vehicle models are new, such as blue van, the beige van, the GAZ and volga variations aswell, and they're all rusty as hell - meaning that the devs clearly meant them to be laying in those spots for several years without maintence. Same goes for the crashed cargo-ship, it's all rusty - it hasn't just recently crashed there.

 

I take your point about much of the graphics being left over from Arma 2. Perhaps they are just placeholders, and a more long-term post-apocalypse is in the making. Perhaps. I think it would be better that way, as I said before.

 

But I maintain that judging by the environment we have now, the apocalypse appears to have been recent. Five years to decay a bale of straw? You must be off your head.

 

And, as I also said originally, the game is called "DayZ", which carries implications, for me at least, of it being the first day of the new situation.

[JokersWarPig 16]

The world definitely  needs to be dirtied up a bit more, but I figure that'll be added as time goes on and more towns and cities are added.

They'll probably do it in one big sweep once all of the stuff they want in the world is placed.

[Whyherro123 2283]

The haybales were there ever since ArmA 2, they just haven't been changed, and they don't decay that fast, it takes up to 5 years.

Soo, grass is supposed to be 2m high just because nobody would mow it? No, not really. Also the devs haven't got around to editing vegetation too much yet.

How would the logs being in a neat pile hint to that shit hit the fan only recently?

The roads are pretty cracked tbh, they changed them from the old ArmA roads which were more clean. Telegraphs and electricity lines wouldn't decay within couple of years.

Maybe the blood-stains are supposed to be recent? Plus they don't just fade in thin air over time.

The bodies could also be recently burried, but that doesn't necessarily mean the apocalypse started recently.

 

Most of the rusty vehicle models are new, such as blue van, the beige van, the GAZ and volga variations aswell, and they're all rusty as hell - meaning that the devs clearly meant them to be laying in those spots for several years without maintence. Same goes for the crashed cargo-ship, it's all rusty - it hasn't just recently crashed there.

Mate, I live in an urban section of New England, and the roads around here are fucking awful. Ever hear of "frost heaves"? Asphalt roads get DESTROYED quickly by the environment if there isn't maintenance done regularly, and Chernarus seems poor-er than my city. Also, don't forget; in cities, the degradation of infrastructure would happen EXTREMELY fast due to the flooding of sewer systems (without electricity, the pumps would fail. Realistically, Novo should be under water), and the subsequent collapse of water mains.

 

Also, powerlines are not made of titanium. Around here, all you need is a good windstorm (not even downed trees, necessarily) and you can get lines ripped from the poles.

 

Finally, 10 minutes down my street, and you are surrounded by farms, Deliverance-style. They have a SHIT-TON of rusting equipment (scrap metal, cars, tractors) littering the yard. Come to think of it, some of the places by me look far worse than Chernarus, and we haven't had a zombie apocalypse!

[Twixxer 159]

Mate, I live in an urban section of New England, and the roads around here are fucking awful. Ever hear of "frost heaves"? Asphalt roads get DESTROYED quickly by the environment if there isn't maintenance done regularly, and Chernarus seems poor-er than my city. Also, don't forget; in cities, the degradation of infrastructure would happen EXTREMELY fast due to the flooding of sewer systems (without electricity, the pumps would fail. Realistically, Novo should be under water), and the subsequent collapse of water mains.

 

Also, powerlines are not made of titanium. Around here, all you need is a good windstorm (not even downed trees, necessarily) and you can get lines ripped from the poles.

 

Finally, 10 minutes down my street, and you are surrounded by farms, Deliverance-style. They have a SHIT-TON of rusting equipment (scrap metal, cars, tractors) littering the yard. Come to think of it, some of the places by me look far worse than Chernarus, and we haven't had a zombie apocalypse!

 

Well, Chernarus isn't New England, and most of the stuff are placeholders. If you want to judge how long after shit hit the fan the game is set, you must judge it by the new assets that developers are adding to already existing ArmA 2 world - in this case, car wrecks, new buildings and the shipwreck:

[pillock 850]

Well, Chernarus isn't New England, and most of the stuff are placeholders. If you want to judge how long after shit hit the fan the game is set, you must judge it by the new assets that developers are adding to already existing ArmA 2 world - in this case, car wrecks, new buildings and the shipwreck:

 

That's fair comment. While I'd argue that the buildings don't look particularly badly decayed, and that ships often show a fair amount of rust and wear while still in use, that car really does look like it's been sitting there for a while - notably from the green mossy stuff growing on the wheels. I'd say months rather than years, though.

 

The problem of the fresh fruit and veg remains, however. And the reclamation of man-made structures by nature should be much more pronounced in order to fit with those newly added game assets you mention - the game is very out-of-step with itself as is.

[PongoZ 127]

ships look weathered, and cars do to if they started old and then you burn them a bit, like that one seems to be. no idea how the tire survive a burn but...

[Whyherro123 2283]

Well, Chernarus isn't New England, and most of the stuff are placeholders. If you want to judge how long after shit hit the fan the game is set, you must judge it by the new assets that developers are adding to already existing ArmA 2 world - in this case, car wrecks, new buildings and the shipwreck:

New England is on a similar latitude, with roughly analogous terrain, ecosystems, and geophysical figures (seas, coastlines, mountains, etc). Hell, even the same crops are grown in Chernarus as in New England! They are so analogous, that is why I am able to compare the two.

 

It is so similar, in fact, if the signs weren't in Cyrillic, and if I didn't know otherwise, I would've placed the game on the northern Maine seacoast.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Whyherro123

[Jamz 253]

Surely an easy way to give a more weathered atmosphere would be to just change the colours used on the map a bit? I'm sure that could be cleverly done to give a more weathered look to the environment with no performance hit.

 

Personally I completely agree with Hetstaine  though and will add that there is not enough evidence of the infection either (ie general mess in the streets/buildings, ambulances). The whole place does seem too clean. The environment is the single most important aspect for encouraging immersion. Without immersion, it's just a shooter.

[r.pitura@live.com.au 12]

Tbh i dont think the engine could handle that,from what ive seen...

As to it being better after the renderer comes in and fix issues,this cant be fixed with it...

It would be massive on the back end and servers,to have a true grow cycle along with everything else in game as well.

What your talking about is at least 10years away to have a nice smooth running game with it all in there..

Then there is restarts,do you restart the cycle or just restart the server?

I would love nothing more to see this happen in game,because it would be a massive leap forward..

[Deathlove 2286]

tjdr..yep.

Apocalyptic world.

Start off alone, thirsty, cold, hungry.

No camp, no supplies, no place to call home, no friends.

Yet..we are fit, toned, basically super healthy..just need a drink and a few cans of food.

The environment looks like a streetsweeper just went through yesterday.

The world is cleaner than it has ever been, minimal rubbish, decay, destruction..a severe lack of any nature takeover of any sort.

Don't mow your lawn or clean your house for two months and see how you roll..place looks worse than a dump. Damn, if i don't water my plants for a few days or clean my loungeroom for a week it looks like the world ended.

Yet in dayz i am running around on polished wooden floors and entering most places that look like the cleaner just left three days ago.

Imagine what a even a small shithole of a town would look like after a few months with nobody maintaining it.

Hoping there will some ..even some minimum focus on the actual environment in dayz besides just the addition of just another new joint, or a new dam or some dressing up with new buildings in an existing town.

Of course i realise there has been some work done with some blood splattery action..and then some random ancient world war two looking bombed out buildings that don't seem to fit with the rest of the town surrounding it..and we always have that broken tile in the barracks..what about the nature factor ? nature don't fuck around..ask my lawn.

Love the game like mad, love the concept since day 1, but i have always felt a real lack of the actual feeling and immersion- a disconnect with a world gone peopleless for an extended period of time.

Where is the part of this game where you feel like you are struggling in a cold hard broken down world , the actual feel of DayZ ? Easy enough to capture in a nicely edited video with cinematic music and a super sexy deep voiced narrative..not so easy to actually recreate the experience in game.

Namalsk would have to be the mod closest to the apoc feel because of the elemental factor and the blustery winds and worrying cold .. the environment fucked you up and made you feel the cold and desperation of needing warmth/supplies/shelter..i remember worrying about that more than anything else in my Namalsk treks rather than wondering about whether i needed a bigger backpack to fit my 160 rounds of sks or which gun i should select out of the so many options available to me.

Spending more time shuffling clothes to look good like a GTA game or painting an item because i am bored and i need to do something ...because actual survival has been so easy in the SA it is null and void. Where is the worry that i am a struggling person in a world gone to shit ? Bandits ? KoS ? That's all part of any game with guns...where is the DayZ struggle ?

Even something as basic as THIS is a start regards environment. I've walked down streets like that in my home town of Brisbane on a bright and sunny day in suburbia and shook my head and wondered what the hell. DayZ being a post apoc type world can't even compete with what i see in a modern, first world countries major city outer suburb.

 

I have always been a pretty massive proponent of DayZ, i fucking love the whole idea, i like Deanos attitude..especially his early mod passion and aggressiveness but it seems to have just got far far easier as time goes by and focused more on the whole guns and items deal than any sort of immersion for the player. Sure..items are cool, new joints are cool, new gun attachments are cool..but where is the environment at all ? besides the you are are cooling off yadda yadda stuff..which is also far to easy to get past..and doesn't gel with the environment at all in any sensible way.

Im struggling to find a decent spray paint color besides fucking black and green. That is MY Dayz struggle so far. XD

 

Also i don't really have to go far to see what a fallen town or city can look like. lol

 

Edited October 8, 2014 by Deathlove

[Cap'n (DayZ) 1827]

Hetstaine, on 03 Oct 2014 - 08:43 AM, said:

The world is cleaner than it has ever been, minimal rubbish, decay, destruction..a severe lack of any nature takeover of any sort.

 

 

No.

 

It's not.

 

I doubt pasting all the trash pile decals and more burned husks would make anything better.

 

Besides, it's Chernarus. No one other than Bohemia (more specifically, Ivan Buchta), has authority to say what Chernarus should be. Actually, the fact that Ivan Buchta isn't involved with map design has really grinded my gears. Thinking of giving it a throw in a rage thread, but I don't know. Honestly, I don't. Really.