DayZ Developer AMA: Chris Torchia

[ChainReactor 922]

So, there's a AMA with Chris on Reddit which didn't make it into the DevTracker here, so i thought it might be worth sharing on the forums.

 

 

A little over a week ago, Chris Torchia, the DayZ Art Lead of DayZ, has done an AMA among the /r/DayZUnderground community. We are now very happy to be able to share it all and thank Chris for making it possible!

Here are his answers to the questions:

 

 

DayZ Related

 

Q By /u/T0NZ

Will we ever see new tree models? Sometimes looking at the trees really breaks immersion for me when they look like paper.

We're looking at the trees now...an analysis is underway by the some of the artists in Bratislava to find opportunities to improve the vegetation.

 

Q By /u/RecluseGamer

Were there any challenge working on DayZ with the already huge mod following?

managing expectations.

For example:

Lots, and lots of people are constantly expressing their frustration about a lack of snip0r weapons that they can use to pickoff newspawns with at 1KM because that was their favorite thing to do in the mod.

We're trying to encourage interaction by making it more difficult to hit somebody at long range due to a lack of such OP weapons. Not everybody likes this.

 

Q By /u/Nihilisst

What is actually your Job? Are you mostly managing the art team, like a middle man between design/project lead and art, or are you part of the former, do you have a say in design decisions?

Thats an interesting question...hmm... Well certainly what I actually do here has little to do with you you'd expect a person with 'Art Lead' to be doing. I'm filling many roles - Art manager, outsourcing manager, PR, Art Director even some occasional design. Many of us on the team are like that. Some of us are more skilled in a particular area but the cool thing about working here is that there's opportunity for you to shine in areas where people might not expect.

 

Q By /u/Nihilisst

As a Belgian, I would really like to see both the FN FAL and the Browning Hi-Power. Any chance you can say something about that?

In the office tour video from Eurogamer, we've seen in the background what's obviously a PSL (looking at space between the mag and trigger guard). However, in the recent status report, Brian Biran mentions the SVD. Does that mean we will see both? Or did someone make a mistake?

FAL - yes, thats on the list. Hi-Power..not so much. Its basically a 1911 if I recall and I don't know if there's much utility in adding it.

PSL? Not sure what that is..but yes, the SVD is still hanging around here. I improved the visuals on it and its mostly ready but I'm holding it pending expansion of how the central economy is being used. Don't want DayZ to become a standoff sim.

 

Q By /u/up_norris (via /u/nvchad2)

Is the C96 in a list of planned weapons and will we ever be able to remove longhorn scope?

Kind of...well tbh we talked about adding a red 9 so that we don't need to add another caliber - which is a lot more difficult of a proposition than adding an additional firearm which takes an existing caliber

Re: longhorn. Not planned. It can't fit on other firearms like the M4 due to the longhorn having a weaver rail, not picatinny

 

Q By /u/CMHQ_Widget

When you have to create a model for some item, do you have precise information like "make a Wilga casette player" or just general "make a casette player"? By the way, I am a little bit excited about this player because it's of Polish production, remind me of my childhood ;).

Well it depends. Sometimes the designers have a very specific idea in mind for what they would like the art team to make and in those cases they will say "make wigla' but other times its more like 'make cassette player'. As long as I have enough info on the intended use from design then its easy enough to figure out what to make and at least it gives us some leeway to be more creative.

 

Q By /u/CMHQ_Widget

If you pick items by yourself, what is your source of inspiration?

So many places - other games, movies, friends. I have a friend who recently got a new backpack which I love so I told her to take pics of it and I'll put it into DayZ. It'll go good with the 'womens clothing' we're adding but sadly, the 1337 snip0rs of dayz will not approve.

 

Q By /u/CMHQ_Widget

Are there any items that you have created because you want them in game or everything has to be approved by the design team?

I am almost always getting input from design as well but...I may have made stuff that I wanted before, because I thought it would fit well. In fact most of the player equipment (weapons, clothing) was done mostly under my purview with input from Dean, Ivan Buchta, and Peter the lead designer.

 

Q By /u/DrBigMoney

How hard/easy has it been integrating the Bratislava team? Will they always be in Bratislava?

Its been challenging but rewarding. There are a lot of really tallented people there and they've been a great addition to the team. Still, we're constantly trying to improve it and will see our workflow changing in the coming weeks hopefully for the better.

 

Q By /u/DrBigMoney

How far away from seeing the prison do you think we are? :D

Months

 

Q By /u/DrBigMoney

Any chance of seeing scientist type clothing?

Absolutely!

 

Q By /u/glamotte14

Why do you think DayZ got so popular, and what do you think it spells for the future of the gaming/entertainment industry?

 

we sometimes ask ourselves but I think it always comes back to the fact that its sort of a sandbox experience in a way.

players make their own story, objectives, manner of playing. I think also the way which you can interact with players (both in a good and bad way) is so unique. Its a huge environment to explore and there's always new stuff being added to try (both features and content)

I think, however, keeping players interested is quite a different question.

 

Q By /u/DrBigMoney

What kind of impact are you expecting the new renderer to have on the dayz experience?

 

It will have some impact - I think mostly to the immersion. We'll have much nicer visual effects as well as be able to add some nice features people have been asking for.

I expect client side improvements as well (I hope, I hope)

Q By /u/Tamaster92

Is there any one item you really want to see added eventually?

Barret MRAD. Its a pipe dream and I don't know if it'll ever add it for various reasons but I made a model for it and its my <3

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7947922/MRAD.JPG

 

Q By /u/-OrLoK-

Whats the "average" timescale to get an item/weapon from concept to ingame. Indeed is there an average time?

Well it depends on the weapon, of course but weapons arent being worked on full-time by anyone person in particular. They are generally created by external artist and in many cases, they are working in their free time or in between other projects. Its typically taking 1 month for 1 gun to be delivered by a given external. Then there's some internal polishing and setup which takes place done by me or my Sargent-at-arms, Vespa. Then animations - 1wk+, cfg - 1wk+, sound 1wk+, then release (mind you, animations, sound and design CAN occur simultaneously).

 

Q By /u/-OrLoK-

Is there a large difference working for DAYZ (fun game) compared to VBS (military training tool)?

yeah - VBS is WAY more $ conscience and you don't lift a finger unless a customer says so and because they generally are more interested in function over form, the art budget ...leaves something to be desired. Also VBS projects are always so secretive and details about them often cannot be shared publicly. But it was cool to see it being used in action.

 

Q By /u/-OrLoK-

During my time as a "designer" I have found that many are becoming more spescialised in one area ie lighting, textures, modelling rather than being a Jack of all trades. Are you and your guys multi skilled or do you have specific roles in the "item" pipeline?

yeah sort of. Some guys on the team get better at character art, others hard surface, others on textures. I generally look for people skilled in all these areas. As far as design - Vespa and I are the only two from the art team who really have a minor role in design.

 

Q By /u/dukenPL

Do You plan on increasing the texture quality on models + the ground textures once DX11 and maybe client-side 64 bit support is in?

well yes. Fact is that many, many objects in the game were created before my tenure here and some of them I would like to improve. Its about priorities but generally yes, we are (slowly) improving on older items.

 

Q By /u/DemonGroover

Do you fully expect all players, male and female, to be running around in women's clothing when they are added?

yup...it will happen...it'll open up a whole new level of trolling. Robbing dudes of their gorkas and making them wear a skirt CONFIRMED!

 

Q By /u/gr33ni3

Is there currently any plan to design/implement the DMR / M14 or any variants?

I <3 M14s.

However, no, there are no plans for it currently. A FAL is planned though. I really tried to pick items more likely to be found in Central Europe. Some people assume Chernarus = Russia but its not. We're drawing influence from Ukraine, Georgia, Czech, Poland, etc... You can find a crap-ton of variety in these countries in the equipment they use. Eastern and Western alike.

As well, the dynamic crash sites open up even more opportunity for variety due to the prospect of foreign elements being involved. So, to that end, there may end up some really HSLD tacticool stuff from both east and west but right now, the 1.0 list is fairly tame.

 

Q By /u/nvchad2

What is your favorite thing about DayZ and working with the rest of the team?

its very rewarding to see people enjoying your work and using it in ways you never thought of. I love reading feedback from people and I'm always trying to find ways to improve visuals.

The team is a good bunch of guys and we have 'serious fun' while at work. We get the job done but that doesn't mean we don't throw stuff at each other in the interim.

 

Unrelated to DayZ

 

Q By /u/DrBigMoney

After reading you play guitar, what kind of music are you into?

classic rock

rolling stones, Dylan, eagles, skynard, zeppelin, beatles

new stuff: folk i.e. shovels and rope, lumineers, mumford and sons, nickel creek

 

Q By /u/T0NZ

Like all native Buffalo residents do you love the Buffalo Sabres despite them being a constant let down? Also, when will we have some good old fashioned battles with you CS boys again?

Go Sabes! Go Bills!

Can't wait to come home for Christmas this year!

 

Q By /u/DrBigMoney

Been missing home much? New York right? :D

Totally. My family, friends, and MEXICAN FOOD! I miss hanging out in the man-cave with my friends and watching the fights with a glass of whisky and a cigar.

 

Q By /u/-OrLoK-

Whats your biggest bugbear/gripe in the world of art/3d?

The only thing which comes to mind is that artists can be slightly challenging to manage and few are comfortable in leadership roles. I want to find my replacement dang it!

 

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/2l93uf/dayz_developer_ama_chris_torchia_art_lead/

 

 

I find it kinda funny that he says they try to encourage interaction by not giving players many kickass longrange sniper weapons but when asked about an item he really wants to see ingame, he posts a ( really beautiful ) model of a kickass longrange sniper rifle :P

 

Anyway, your thoughts on this ?

Edited November 4, 2014 by ChainReactor

[stielhandgranate 480]

Reddit could have asked better questions like "Will we see an expanded map","Will we see German/British/American uniforms soon","When will diseases be implemented" or the most hard hitting and critical question of them all: "Why is the UK assault vest more common than the SMERSH vest?".

 

The best thing I got from that quote was: "Some people assume Chernarus = Russia but its not." That ought to settle some arguments with the simpletons that think since it sounds like Russia, Chernarus must be Russia.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Dale Gribble

[Deathlove 2286]

Reddit could have asked better questions like "Will we see an expanded map","Will we see German/British/American uniforms soon","When will diseases be implemented" or the most hard hitting and critical question of them all: "Why is the UK assault vest more common than the SMERSH vest?".

 

The best thing I got from that quote was: "Some people assume Chernarus = Russia but its not." That ought to settle some arguments with the simpiletons that thin since it sounds like Russia, Chernarus must be Russia.

I thought the green tactical shirt had a backwards American flag on it? Did they change it?

 

 

Lots, and lots of people are constantly expressing their frustration about a lack of snip0r weapons that they can use to pickoff newspawns with at 1KM because that was their favorite thing to do in the mod.

We're trying to encourage interaction by making it more difficult to hit somebody at long range due to a lack of such OP weapons. Not everybody likes this.

 

Also the lack of sniper weapons response was a bit retarded. Not EVERYONE likes to fucking pick on the weak with these guns. Some ppl like me actually like using the guns on other geared players or just even shooting zombies. Using new spawns excuse as a scapegoat for not having a better variety in sniper artillery is rather silly.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Deathlove

[ChainReactor 922]

Reddit could have asked better questions like "Will we see an expanded map","Will we see German/British/American uniforms soon","When will diseases be implemented" or the most hard hitting and critical question of them all: "Why is the UK assault vest more common than the SMERSH vest?".

 

Keep in mind that Chris Torchia is the Art Lead, so diseases and loot table questions are not really stuff that he could answer.

[stielhandgranate 480]

I thought the green tactical shirt had a backwards American flag on it? Did they change it?

 

The shirt itself isn't a uniform in use with the US military. Those particular clothes are popular with civilian contractors but not issued to military personnel.

[kakysas666 191]

so no sniper weapons? Ok I think I did a good choice of buying Arma 3 and fully migrated to this game. Goodbye Dayz and your fashion gameplay.

[svisketyggeren 662]

what a nice talk about guns... <_<

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

The butthurt is strong in this thread

[dedoolb 157]

Using new spawns excuse as a scapegoat for not having a better variety in sniper artillery is rather silly.

It's probably a decision based on numbers instead of an excuse. That said, I'd like to see a wide variety of incredibly rare long range rifles, submachine guns, and LMGs.

[blackberrygoo 1416]

The butthurt is strong in this thread

Lol yes it is ... C'mon guys don't get so butthurt over sniper rifles , he never said they weren't ever going to add them , he said their focus was to get away from that and that the weapon list leading up to the 1.0 full release is pretty tame but that's no indication of what they will add after (and I'm sure it will come in the form of free patches , not purchasable dlc so all of us will eventually have "awesome leet sniperz" even though all you really need is a moisin any ways =P ).

And for people who only care about snipes please stick with arma 3 because a survival simulator is not for you if you're ready to throw away the whole game simply because a high powered sniper won't be added (although Svd is being added , not so "high power" but it IS more variety).

Give hope a chance ploxorz ?

[purepassion 383]

Reddit could have asked better questions like "Will we see an expanded map","Will we see German/British/American uniforms soon","When will diseases be implemented" or the most hard hitting and critical question of them all: "Why is the UK assault vest more common than the SMERSH vest?".

 

The best thing I got from that quote was: "Some people assume Chernarus = Russia but its not." That ought to settle some arguments with the simpletons that think since it sounds like Russia, Chernarus must be Russia.

 

Hey Dale,

 

keep in mind that Chris is a developer assigned to a very specific part of the development and can't comment on design questions or other stuff he doesn't work on.

 

Though to answer your first question, the Chernarus+ map is most likely to almost definitely not going to be expanded in size. Such changes at this late stage would bring a heap of problems with floating point precision etc. The work required to "fix" the results of such changes is not feasible. Though as currently evident, the map will continue to be improved and reworked.

 

Regarding Chernarus not being in Russia, that should be common knowledge :p It is located in the fictional South Zagoria state of Chernarus and based on the real geographic data of the Usti nad Labem Region in the Czech Republic :)

[Deathlove 2286]

It's probably a decision based on numbers instead of an excuse. That said, I'd like to see a wide variety of incredibly rare long range rifles, submachine guns, and LMGs.

True but the same could be said for rocket launchers and landmines though as well. You still leaving out a huge family of weapons variety.

 

The AKs are a nice start but lets get more variety in the AR family to as well.

[danceswithzeds 22]

Thanks for posting but a little depressing to only read about new trees and pistols.

Is there a link for any interviews with the people doing the game engine work or working on the network between clients and servers?

I'd give a handjob to the first dude to ask honest questions to those people (and post it for the public).

[Deathlove 2286]

Lol yes it is ... C'mon guys don't get so butthurt over sniper rifles , he never said they weren't ever going to add them , he said their focus was to get away from that and that the weapon list leading up to the 1.0 full release is pretty tame but that's no indication of what they will add after (and I'm sure it will come in the form of free patches , not purchasable dlc so all of us will eventually have "awesome leet sniperz" even though all you really need is a moisin any ways =P ).

And for people who only care about snipes please stick with arma 3 because a survival simulator is not for you if you're ready to throw away the whole game simply because a high powered sniper won't be added (although Svd is being added , not so "high power" but it IS more variety).

Give hope a chance ploxorz ?

Personally i like allot of the Winchester sniper models that are scattered through out ARMA 3 Breaking Point. They vary in power, barrels, scopes and skill and i don't think would be TO immersion breaking to Dayz. The ammo varies for those guns as well.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Deathlove

[kichilron 8550]

 

 

 

Look who it is. :)

 

Remember, everyone: there would have been a chance for anyone to take part and ask their own questions. Don't blame others for not asking those questions. Please don't get caught up in "What if's".

 

For the time being let's remember that this is giving us a good insight of what's going on and that it was a good thing Chris did.

[Tashtego 14]

@ MaxRain...Can I have your stuff?

[call him Steve 46]

Good find, dude. thank you 

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

@ MaxRain...Can I have your stuff?

Dibs on his tears.  My canteen is getting empty

[danceswithzeds 22]

The butthurt is strong in this thread

Only butthurt if we want to hear news about progress with game mechanics, server to client networking, and the game engine.

But I agree with you that people should not be upset with no more sniper rifles. I don't get their cyring over that.

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

But I agree with you that people should not be upset with no more sniper rifles. I don't get their cyring over that.

It's simple, they want to play army soldier in a game that's not about that.  They can't cope with the fact this game is not ARMA.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Caboose187

[OrLoK 16185]

Thanks for posting but a little depressing to only read about new trees and pistols.

Is there a link for any interviews with the people doing the game engine work or working on the network between clients and servers?

I'd give a handjob to the first dude to ask honest questions to those people (and post it for the public).

Hello there

 

What do you think we are hiding? I asked him "honest" questions that appealed to my interests, mainly about his role. Do I get a reward? Also, if you have a legitimate concern why not make a thread on it?

 

Also, the Q&A was open to everyone, I found out about it when a mate let me know. It wasnt an inhouse venture.

 

I would like to see these events flagged up a while beforehand in future but who knows on what short timescale it happened?

 

Rgds

 

LoK

[terrvik 2409]

Thanks for posting but a little depressing to only read about new trees and pistols.

Is there a link for any interviews with the people doing the game engine work or working on the network between clients and servers?

I'd give a handjob to the first dude to ask honest questions to those people (and post it for the public).

 

Remember that this wasn't really an "official interview", at least not to my understanding. Chris was kind enough to take some of his free time to answer questions when asked to do so by a hard working community member. The questions asked was what that group of people was interested in knowing.

 

Just a shame that such a nice gesture (by several people) causes such moaning.

[Deathlove 2286]

Remember that this wasn't really an "official interview", at least not to my understanding. Chris was kind enough to take some of his free time to answer questions when asked to do so by a hard working community member. The questions asked was what that group of people was interested in knowing.

 

Just a shame that such a nice gesture (by several people) causes such moaning.

This was expected though as you see there are quite a few people interested in sniper rifles and its family of guns in general.

[Bororm 1156]

The point of a sandbox is freedom of choice and I think when the devs introduce personal bias it suffers a bit.  There's obviously some bias here considering the language he's using of 1337 snipx0rz or whatever, and their decision to exclude long range sniper rifles is a bummer for a lot of people.  Regardless of people's personal feelings, it's a valid playstyle and one that offers a fun challenge to a lot of people.

 

When Rocket made the mod he seemed to hardly play (he still hardly plays the SA as far as I can tell) and he admitted to only ever having killed a single person.  I always found that sorta funny considering how pvp focused the game is, but it was also something that I thought made Rocket a great designer.  Even though it wasn't his cup of tea, he allowed open pvp because he recognized the value of the experiences it creates.  This is true of sniping as well, it's not all just shooting fresh spawns.

 

You can shoot fresh spawns with any gun.  We're also limited now to 1km shots maximum due to the network bubble.  I think 75 round drum mags are more detrimental to fresh spawns than a guy 1km away who's probably going to miss the majority of his shots on any moving target.

 

Pretty disappointing if they hold to that decision.

[ChainReactor 922]

The point of a sandbox is freedom of choice and I think when the devs introduce personal bias it suffers a bit.

 

Have to disagree. Sure it's a sandbox, but the devs still can have a vision of the game and try to encourage this vision with their descisions on gameplay. Chris even explained why they dont throw many sniper rifles in the game - to enforce player interaction ( which still can be hostile! ). Sniping/getting sniped from 1km away is hardly any interaction, and i understand that point.

Edited November 4, 2014 by ChainReactor