Status Report - 09 Jun 2015

[SMoss 2101]

Greetings Survivors,

 

Work continues on experimental branch as the team keeps hammering away at the next Stable build candidate. It's been a tough wait, we understand, but major issues encountered during development required fixing before the push to Stable branch. This week, Lead Producer Brian Hicks will be dishing out some handy information regarding the Central Loot Economy - what it is, how it's supposed to work, as well as the thought process behind the design choices for the CLE. Also, Lead Designer Peter Nespesny will be telling us about future updates to the vehicles found throughout Chernarus. Peter will go over subjects such as operation, maintenance, as well as the design choices behind these upcoming updates.

 

Lastly, we have a couple of links to the DayZ Trello board and DayZ forums discussion thread related to the new bus animations, and at the end of our Status Report, we have a small feature on one of DayZ's content creators - Barely Infected.

 

Contents This Week

• Development Board Spotlight
• Dev Update/Hicks
• Dev Update/Peter
• Community Video: Barely Infected

 

Development Board Spotlight

Back to Contents

 

Dev Update/Hicks

With 0.57 on the horizon, this week I'd like to take time to talk a bit about player progression across Chernarus, the Central Loot Economy (and its impact on this), and the challenges DayZ faces compared to the Arma 2 Mod experience.

 

First lets go over exactly what the Central Loot Economy is, and what it offers DayZ.

 

- Migration of control over what items spawn from legacy method (script) into a more easily and rapidly updated system
- This means the dev team can rapidly (and without requiring an update to the game) completely change / update the amount of items that spawn
- This is done on both a global, and a per server level - in the future allowing custom server operators fine control over their server and its item spawn quantities without requiring any base modification to the game
- Control over item lifetimes (speed of decay / time to item cleanup)
- Control over how many of each item time is supposed to be present in the world (Min / Max / Nominal)
- Control over item cost (rarity vs spawning methods)

 

Why is the Central Loot Economy critical to DayZ's design - versus the original prototype placeholder loot spawning script? Simply put - the original method was a very rough prototype, designed to start populating the initial memory points for each structure. In order for the design and environment teams to be fully free to create a comprehensive, living breathing world - we first needed to begin to have fine and robust control that can be rapidly pushed to all servers. The original prototype method was very time resource heavy for updating, limited our options to traditional DayZ Mod style building definitions only, and in short pidgeon-holed the team into very limited control.


Photo Credit: Arma2Base.De (DayZ Mod Player Movement / Heatmap)

 

One of the images that has been circulating the DayZ Community over the last week is a map covering player progression across Arma 2's original Chernarus map. The layout of the original Chernarus, as well as the very limited amount of enterable structures, and thus very limited amount of potential spawn points for items meant an inherent flow of player movement across the map. It required very little work on the design side - High end military loot spawned mostly entirely at Barracks structures, Basic Supplies / Weapons at Firestations, Grocery Stores, Barns, and so on, and Medical supplies at Hospitals. The structure of *how* items spawned within the original Chernarus just -fit- the limited scope of that map perfectly.
Moving into DayZ as a standalone project, one of the first tasks undertaken was the decentralization of core resource (points of interest) buildings - and the expansion of Chernarus into a more robust and living world. Nearly every structure was made enter-able, and thus nearly every single building on the map was a potential (or group of potential) points for items to spawn. At first this might not seem like it should have a major impact on the design, and flow of player progression across the map - but when you look at the statistics, it is rather telling.

 

- In DayZ Mod, with vanilla Chernarus - Potential item spawn points number in the thousands (Sub 10k)
- In DayZ Chernarus + the potential locations for items to spawn exceeds 1 Million. 

 

While the intent with DayZ as a finalized product is a higher player count (100+) than originally supported in DayZ Mod, the original spawning prototype system has several major glaring flaws compared against this intent. With basic control, we cannot effectively lay out a path of player progression across the world (without limiting the environment team to the placement of certain structure models *only* in certain regions). This is where the Central Economy Control comes into play - and will enable us to begin moving towards a path of progression that more resembles DayZ Mod - while still embracing the fleshing out of the world, and decentralization of points of interest.

 

While this system right now only controls the details listed above - the future iterations are aimed at allowing us the "next step" in the Central Loot Economy:

 

- Per building quantity controls (Min / Max / Nominal) allowing us to ensure an event spread across Chernarus, as well as to prioritize point-of-interest structures such as the Grocery Store, Medical Center, and so on
- Region control (Restricting item rarity levels to certain regions of the map)


Previsualization of intended initial region support - NOT FINAL

Breaking Chernarus + into defined regions based upon item rarity and classification type is the first and most critical step into allowing us to layout a natural path of progression for players across the map - and begin to move us closer to that familiar and well known flow across DayZ Mod.

 

Lastly - as development with 0.57 wraps up, the current iteration of the Central Loot Economy will have loot persistence (the saving of spawned and dropped loot, as well as tents) disabled - while the programming team resolves the blocking issues with item cleanup, and rolls out support for per-building quantity controls to ensure an even spread of loot across the world (slaying those pesky loot splosions). This means that when servers restart, fresh loot will be respawned to ensure an enjoyable experience on stable branch.
That said - the following persistence options are unaffected and will remain enabled:

- Vehicle Persistence
- Server Time Persistence (The saving of server time on restart)

 

I hope this helps you all understand the intent of the Central Loot Economy, where it is now - and where we want it to be in the coming months.

Curious about this report? Want to discuss anything contained in it with the developers? Head over to the Developer Discussion Forums and let your voice be heard!

See you all in Chernarus!
- Brian Hicks / Lead Producer

Back to Contents

 

Dev Update/Peter

Let me talk a bit about vehicles and their functionality. Of course any functional vehicle by itself is an amazing piece for the gameplay but what will they be without their parts? They will become just an instant object used by survivors to traverse the long distances and that's about it. I believe that without any depth to the maintenance of vehicles, nobody will create any kind of relationship with exactly that truck they are driving for a few days across the land of Chernarus. On the other side, with plenty of different vehicle parts your approach to a vehicle will be different every time you encounter one.

 

I want to see many vehicles across the map in different states, so you can run into a vehicle which just needs the spark plugs to be added in or a nearly completely stripped one but with a last wheel you need to put on yours. I favor such possibilities which offer strong emergent gameplay based on player choices and consequences they bring. One can try to find missing parts alone or group up with friends or strangers to get all the remaining parts for that fabulous bus and run a bus line together. It will spruce up the planning, imagination and strengthen interactions with both players and environment.

 

Implementation of such advanced mechanics of vehicles that use different vital and optional parts has been ongoing for some time now. In the current state we have some of the vital parts functional already; without spark plugs or a battery you simply can't start the engine at all. However more interesting are wheels themselves. Wheels can be detached or destroyed while on the vehicle and physics simulation is responding properly in such situations by inclination of the given vehicle to the side of the missing wheel and adaptively changing the simulated wheel radius and friction. Such dramatic changes, of course, have direct impact on the handling of the vehicle.  But, nothing is lost in such case as the spare wheels can be mounted back on the wheel hub and get controlling of the vehicle back on track. From the optional parts there is detachable/interchangeable hood and doors now that while obviously don't affect the vehicle behavior at all add variety to its visual representation. I'm looking forward to see such advance features finally in game providing more unique perception of vehicles and their involvement in the gameplay.
 
Keep some spare parts at hand... see you in Chernarus folks!

 

- Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer

Back to Contents

 

Community Spotlight: Barely Infected

Hey folks,

 

Another week is upon us and the lurking around on Youtube and Twitch continues. In that regard; the focus on content creators keeps chugging along. This time around we'll have a look at the creations made by:

 

Barely Infected seems to take more to the Hero style of gameplay and most often prefers to speak to and help players that he meets. However, when running into armed and hostile players, he definitely isn't shy of picking up a good fight. When not running around on his own, Barely Infected tends to hang out with other content creators such as TheRunningManZ and Superftlol for example.

 

For a bit of team based play footage; here's a couple of good examples of the guys hanging out around Chernarus.

It's nice to see the way that those guys don't get affected when encountering hostile players.

 

In Barely Infected's solo videos, the same calmness shines through as well, as he encounters players no matter if they are friendly or hostile. His way of conducting himself seems to rarely change much regardless of the situation:

 

All in all, I enjoy watching his videos, and it's nice to see that he is not afraid to also show those odd instances when things go pear shaped:

 

As always, if interested in more, please feel free to follow Barely Infected via the following social media accounts:

• http://twitter.com/barelyinfected

• http://www.youtube.com/user/BarelyInfected

• http://www.twitch.tv/barelyinfected

• http://www.facebook.com/barelyinfected

 

Header image credit: TamDaSwede

 

- Michael aka SMoss / Community Manager

Back to Contents

[Hicks_206 (DayZ) 4297]

First.

[Rags! 1966]

That doesn't count and you bloody well know it. 

[PaniXx 34]

thanks for the status report!! :) @SMoss @Hicks_206 @PeterNespesny

Edited June 9, 2015 by PaniXx

[Red_Ensign 990]

I'm good with no persistence, if that's what it takes to make loot work.

[freethink 984]

 

a higher player count (100+)

 

most excited about this.

 

Not sure on the end goal being the nwaf. tbh I got a bit bored with it whereas I still feel nostalgia for the old (sa) days at the neaf.

 

Some great places in zone two also - zelen mil base and pavlovo. The zones seems a bit arbitrary tbh. Why would a mil barracks at pavlovo be less likely to spawn something thav veresnik?

 

I like the zone Idea but I think maybe spawn zone and then the rest of the map is enough. Then it's about individual buildings.

 

Enjoyed the report though.

Edited June 9, 2015 by freethink

[tux (DayZ) 325]

Lastly - as development with 0.57 wraps up, the current iteration of the Central Loot Economy will have loot persistence (the saving of spawned and dropped loot, as well as tents) disabled - while the programming team resolves the blocking issues with item cleanup, and rolls out support for per-building quantity controls to ensure an even spread of loot across the world (slaying those pesky loot splosions). This means that when servers restart, fresh loot will be respawned to ensure an enjoyable experience on stable branch.

 

Glad the CLE/persistence issues have been addressed.

 

I'm really excited for vehicle maintenance. Sounds like it has very complex mechanics in place.

 

I'm wondering whether zombies and/or animals will be omitted from the stable release? I wouldn't care that much if zombies were left out, but I'm really starting to enjoy the "live off the land" play style, as there are so many new crafting options out there, and animals are pretty essential to facilitate this style.

Edited June 9, 2015 by tux

[Jagerbomber (DayZ) 1]

most excited about this.

 

Not sure on the end goal being the nwaf. tbh I got a bit bored with it whereas I still feel nostalgia for the old (sa) days at the neaf.

 

Some great places in zone two also - zelen mil base and pavlovo. The zones seems a bit arbitrary tbh. Why would a mil barracks at pavlovo be less likely to spawn something thav veresnik?

 

I like the zone Idea but I think maybe spawn zone and then the rest of the map is enough.

 

 

Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing... I'm fine with the shoreline not having good loot.  But I'm not sure that I like the continued focus on the NW airfield.  This game was meant to be all about "your story" and I just feel like this puts too much incentive on the airfield being your main target and everyone's main target all the time.  I think I kinda prefer the idea of lousy loot by the spawns and a more "I have no idea what I'm going to find, but I could find anything available in the game" around the entirety of the rest of the map.  I don't need to go to one specific spot to find the best of the best gear.  Gear rarity is good, but generally focusing to one area is... not so much, imho.

 

(Also, a little surprised that Green Mountain isn't in Zone 3, but whatever.)

Edited June 9, 2015 by Jagerbomber

[Hicks_206 (DayZ) 4297]

I'm good with no persistence, if that's what it takes to make loot work.

 

Its only temporary - per building item limits, as well as proper cleanup and separation of loot persistence from static objects, containers, and so on will bring it back.

most excited about this.

 

Not sure on the end goal being the nwaf. tbh I got a bit bored with it whereas I still feel nostalgia for the old (sa) days at the neaf.

 

Some great places in zone two also - zelen mil base and pavlovo. The zones seems a bit arbitrary tbh. Why would a mil barracks at pavlovo be less likely to spawn something thav veresnik?

 

I like the zone Idea but I think maybe spawn zone and then the rest of the map is enough. Then it's about individual buildings.

 

Enjoyed the report though.

 

Keep in mind that image is a rough previs - far from final. Just to illustrate the intent of the technology.

Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing... I'm fine with the shoreline not having good loot.  But I'm not sure that I like the continued focus on the NW airfield.  This game was meant to be all about "your story" and I just feel like this puts too much incentive on the airfield being your main target and everyone's main target all the time.  I think I kinda prefer the idea of lousy loot by the spawns and a more "I have no idea what I'm going to find, but I could find anything available in the game" around the entirety of the rest of the map.  I don't need to go to one specific spot to find the best of the best gear.  Gear rarity is good, but generally focusing to one area is... not so much, imho.

 

Region 4 is really only the "end game" for those who want the rarest of high end military loot - and even then, the region areas in the image are far from final and don't include areas we have yet to add to Chernarus.

[Zboub le météor 250]

i'm very glad to read more informations about the CLE, thanks :) !

 

the map showing the different zones is very interesting. i support this idea, but as freethink said, the triangle of pavlovo military base - zeleno - myshkino might deserve an upgrade to zone 3 (i understand it's still a WIP ;) ).

 

one thing that bother me is heli crash locations. currently on 0.57 exp all crashes are located at the NWAF and it seems to be meant to be like this (map on previous SR). i greatly enjoyed hunting helicrashes all across the west side of the map on 0.54. i still remember the adrenaline rush after seeing smoke far away :D .  having them "static" on the NWAF is quite boring form me :( .

 

edit : got sniped by mr Hicks !

Edited June 9, 2015 by Zboub le météor

[Hicks_206 (DayZ) 4297]

Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing... I'm fine with the shoreline not having good loot.  But I'm not sure that I like the continued focus on the NW airfield.  This game was meant to be all about "your story" and I just feel like this puts too much incentive on the airfield being your main target and everyone's main target all the time.  I think I kinda prefer the idea of lousy loot by the spawns and a more "I have no idea what I'm going to find, but I could find anything available in the game" around the entirety of the rest of the map.  I don't need to go to one specific spot to find the best of the best gear.  Gear rarity is good, but generally focusing to one area is... not so much, imho.

 

(Also, a little surprised that Green Mountain isn't in Zone 3, but whatever.)

 

Something else the region control gives us is region spawn rate - so we can ensure a slightly higher spawn rate of the essentials in phase one - and so on.

As well, the region control does not omit the random chance factor - you still stand a chance finding cool random stuff - the aim here is just to make the experience a *wee* bit more understandable - the incentive will still be there for folks who want to scavenge and explore.

i'm very glad to read more informations about the CLE, thanks :) !

 

the map showing the different zones is very interesting. i support this idea, but as freethink said, the triangle of pavlovo military base - zeleno - myshkino might deserve an upgrade to zone 3 (i understand it's still a WIP ;) ).

 

one thing that bother me is heli crash locations. currently on 0.57 exp all crashes are located at the NWAF and it seems to be meant to be like this (map on previous SR). i greatly enjoyed hunting helicrashes all across the west side of the map on 0.54. i still remember the adrenaline rush after seeing smoke far away :D .  having them "static" on the NWAF is quite boring form me :( .

The locations on the helicopter events for the dynamic event system were only temporarily restricted to the airfield - so the designers could properly triage issues we were having. Rest assured they will return to their 100+ possible location configuration.

[VahidkinG 192]

i honestly don't like the zones idea. this will be like go to NWAF to get loots again. why not instead of one big red zone, we have two small ones ? i think that would spread players. any way your choice and i can live with that but honestly don't like it. 

 

i love where the vehicles design are going thought, it's awesome, i'm gonna name my vehicle and possibly paint it blue and pink, why not (if possible in future) why not ?:D

 

i don't like how you don't spread a word about new renderer, this is suck... Q1 goal is being a Q3 i think :(

[Zboub le météor 250]

that sound amazing, thanks for the answers !

[joe_mcentire 2074]

also ideas to spawn some literally unique items? e.g. one magnum bottle of chernarussian sparkling wine or vac-packed coffee only one to be found at a time on a server?

Edited June 9, 2015 by joe_mcentire

[odin_lowe 3686]

Looking fantastic!! This is great information there. Thanks for clearing some things up, and keep up the good work!!  :thumbsup:

[Hicks_206 (DayZ) 4297]

i honestly don't like the zones idea. this will be like go to NWAF to get loots again. why not instead of one big red zone, we have two small ones ? i think that would spread players. any way your choice and i can live with that but honestly don't like it. 

 

i love where the vehicles design are going thought, it's awesome, i'm gonna name my vehicle and possibly paint it blue and pink, why not (if possible in future) why not ? :D

 

i don't like how you don't spread a word about new renderer, this is suck... Q1 goal is being a Q3 i think :(

 

I firmly don't believe in talking about something until there is something new to share or it is ready to be spoken about. Nothing news worthy has changed - the programming team is still cracking away at it - and this is not a task we can show screenshots of like a model, or design concept changes. Showing screenshots of raw code tells no one anything either.

As soon as we have something we can show folks, rest assured it will be in the Status Report. 

Also, be careful over hyping the rendering module to yourself - we've mentioned many times, the initial deployment is aimed at parity with the existing renderer. There won't be any sudden crazy change to how DayZ looks, or operates. Like anything else, it is an iterative process.

also ideas to spawn some literally unique items? e.g. one magnum bottle of chernarussian sparkling wine or vac-packed coffee only one to be found at a time on a server?

Could do that *right* now if we wanted to, thanks to the CLE. 

Incoming 1 Ushanka per server!

 

(Just kidding =P)

[joe_mcentire 2074]

i honestly don't like the zones idea. this will be like go to NWAF to get loots again. why not instead of one big red zone, we have two small ones ? i think that would spread players. any way your choice and i can live with that but honestly don't like it. 

 

i love where the vehicles design are going thought, it's awesome, i'm gonna name my vehicle and possibly paint it blue and pink, why not (if possible in future) why not ? :D

 

i don't like how you don't spread a word about new renderer, this is suck... Q1 goal is being a Q3 i think :(

i would see it more as: Berezino famous for their apples and cider. Cherno for industry and the huge loads of diverse tools and/or parts for cars, Skalisty for their extensive amounts of fishing equipment.... etc.

 

i honestly think that would be a reasonable idea of how to make use of such zones. i need item A, better wander off to place X to look for it, chances are high there.

Edited June 9, 2015 by joe_mcentire

[St. Jimmy 1631]

i honestly don't like the zones idea. this will be like go to NWAF to get loots again. why not instead of one big red zone, we have two small ones ? i think that would spread players. any way your choice and i can live with that but honestly don't like it. 

 

i love where the vehicles design are going thought, it's awesome, i'm gonna name my vehicle and possibly paint it blue and pink, why not (if possible in future) why not ? :D

 

i don't like how you don't spread a word about new renderer, this is suck... Q1 goal is being a Q3 i think :(

I very much believe the red zone won't be that generic big red one but maybe couple spreaded small zones on some N&W&NW military places.

[tux (DayZ) 325]

i would see it more as: Berezino famous for their apples and cider. Cherno for industry and the huge loads of diverse tools and or parts for cars, Skalisty for their extensive amounts fishing equipment.... etc

 

Town specific loot would be pretty cool. I'm hoping that with a larger variety of buildings being implemented, maybe certain buildings would only appear once in a specific town. I think that would give a lot more personality to the cities of Chernarus+, instead of every town being a different configuration of the same buildings over and over again.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

Town specific loot would be pretty cool. I'm hoping that with a larger variety of buildings being implemented, maybe certain buildings would only appear once in a specific town. I think that would give a lot more personality to the cities of Chernarus+, instead of every town being a different configuration of the same buildings over and over again.

i would love to see an overhaul of Berezino and an install of props to make it look as if there were plans to host an Oktoberfest: beer-tables and benches, some carnival marquees, bars in the open to tap beer or cider from. banners, bales of straw, (broken) bottles and jugs all over the place...etc.

Edited June 9, 2015 by joe_mcentire

[freethink 984]

Keep in mind that image is a rough previs - far from final. Just to illustrate the intent of the technology.

 

Yep. Just providing feedback here. I noticed in exp hardly any backpacks on the coast near spawn points but quite a lot of burlap and rope (often together) and it was one of the best ideas imo. It's defines crafting/improvising as something you have to do. That was a case of the zones working. But I think someone should be able to get a gun and ammo with a bit of work even if they don't leave the coast. Say going Berezino to Balota. If you start to define zones then you are kind of taking away player choice and saying ok the game is you spawn at the coast and run inland and basically towards the nwaf. I played on Old School Dayz up until .55 (and will return) but that's all we did and tbh I found having a goal like that got a bit boring. 

 

Also the nwaf was just camped by large groups who hoovered up all the gear. Even if you killed a few of them their friends would strip the body and the dead guys would be back fully geared in 30 mins or so.

 

Just food for thought. I appreciate the work and thinking you guys are putting into the game.

[Hicks_206 (DayZ) 4297]

Yep. Just providing feedback here. I noticed in exp hardly any backpacks on the coast near spawn points but quite a lot of burlap and rope (often together) and it was one of the best ideas imo. It's defines crafting/improvising as something you have to do. That was a case of the zones working. But I think someone should be able to get a gun and ammo with a bit of work even if they don't leave the coast. Say going Berezino to Balota. If you start to define zones then you are kind of taking away player choice and saying ok the game is you spawn at the coast and run inland and basically towards the nwaf. I played on Old School Dayz up until .55 (and will return) but that's all we did and tbh I found having a goal like that got a bit boring. 

 

Also the nwaf was just camped by large groups who hoovered up all the gear. Even if you killed a few of them their friends would strip the body and the dead guys would be back fully geared in 30 mins or so.

 

Just food for thought. I appreciate the work and thinking you guys are putting into the game.

 

Just to be clear - region control does not exist yet, so the rope + sack combo is a happy accident.

[tux (DayZ) 325]

Just to be clear - region control does not exist yet, so the rope + sack combo is a happy accident.

 

No way! Could've sworn it was done on purpose. I can't recall a time (in this exp patch) where there wasn't a rope right next to every burlap sack I've come across.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

are there plans to make "generic survivor"-sets for loot. e.g. two cans of beans, an opener and a pan, or a hatchet and five wooden sticks or two rags, painkillers and alcohol tincture aso.

 

One (ore more sets) could spawn then deliberately all across the server to suggest that there once were former, other survivors.

 

 

...hm...kinda like the idea of CLE and italic scripting

Edited June 9, 2015 by joe_mcentire

[Tatanko 5591]

I'm wondering whether zombies and/or animals will be omitted from the stable release?

Hoping for an answer about animals also. I understand that zombies will be present in limited numbers (per the SR), but what about animals?