Contaminated Terrain

[klesh 2423]

 

 

 

So Hicks will give some details about the future of Contaminated Terrain at whatever the latest videogame dorkfest conference they're going to.  We have yet to hear much of anything in regards to this previously, as far as I know.  What do you want or expect with regards to this?

 

Will there be various contaminates?  Will it be the zombie disease, or also specific contamination for the various diseases they've added and are going to add? 

 

Should contaminated areas be no-go zones without proper protection - as in certain, swift death - or should one be able to run around for a limited time before being potentially effected; a chance to slip in and out perhaps uncontaminated?

 

Do you want certain areas of the map permanently contaminated?  Perhaps the Military locations, such that it makes going for those top guns even more dangerous without the presence of other players?  What about those piles of refuse laying around, some of them definitely have biohazard labels on them.  Should they be a local source of contamination?

 

Should contamination be flexible, with the chance of any town on the map being contaminated?  Should this be able to spread to nearby towns?  Should swaths of the map be rendered contaminated if given enough time / enough people traveling through it?  Should animals within the contaminated zones also be naturally contaminated?

 

Should there be a way to remove the contamination, based on what type it is?  Hazmat suits and gasmasks etc required to spend time removing a contamination from a given town before its safe to hunker down and establish a safe area within the town.  Should there be more than just a bottle of 409 as your disinfectant tools?

 

 

This is one area of the development that hasn't been discussed much; I'm actually looking forward to hearing their take on what it will eventually be.

 

What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

 

 

 

[VahidkinG 192]

i never actually liked the idea of contaminated ares, still i hope it turns to a good thing because it's either black or white, no grey here if you know what i mean. 

 

first, i hope it will be a server option (which i don't thing they will do it)

for the areas, if there is some very rare stuff there, i think it should be just some towns and hot spots. but i think they should make it with their dynamic event system to make it even cooler. i would not like it to spread to nearby towns for sure and yes i hope animals and zombies can get affected and nope, no remove of contamination. 

 

from what i see it, i hope its something like this:

 

your going around the map and want to enter the city for the truck but there is a Biohazard label on the town sign you go back, find some gasmask and stuff and you enter the town but there is no car there and you want to kill yourself  :D

 

or maybe not see the sign, you go in a random city and you will see the effect when your character is saying "I'm gonna die because of no gas mask on me you bastard player" or something softer.

it would be great. 

 

also, i hope they make Full-Zombie mode on towns, you know?  ;)

[Bororm 1156]

I don't really like the idea personally.  They did this in Rust and it's sorta bleh.  Here it sounds like we're going to need a gas mask at the very least.  The problem with DayZ and stuff like that is inventory is at a premium, I don't want to carry a gas mask around to go to some where like a mil base.

 

I hope these contaminated areas aren't any of the major "hotspots" and it's limited to just a few special areas.  For instances those tunnel/underground areas in the north eastish, that would be a good place to make contaminated and put something in there worth looting.

[edwin3 74]

i'm also futher sceptic about this idea - my gut says it doesnt fit to dayz. but maybe they came across something cool my fantasy could find.

 

lets see.

 

greets

[FrigginTommyNoble 61]

I think it's essential that contaminated areas are part of a dynamic weather/event system, but they should draw you to them, not away. Contaminated areas should force the player to make strong and clear choices, with trade-offs. Any notion that bad RNG "screws you over" would make the system fall down, imo. Players will just log and go to a different server if contamination is prohibitively detrimental to survival without a really strong loot incentive.

 

We have to think about what the gaming purpose of contaminated areas would be. There are a few options:

1. Making high-end loot more reliable to find but harder to obtain (if high-end loot is guaranteed to spawn in contaminated areas)
2. Making travel more difficult (you have to redirect around 10-50 square kms of contamination)
3. Restricting access to resources (contaminated water and/or food)
4. Forcing players to move out of an area quickly (if contamination rolls in like a fairly quick-moving fog)
5. Drawing players to an area to see what's in the contamination
6. Stimulating the item hunt (forcing players to find contamination antidotes)

Now, which of these are right for DayZ? I can only offer my opinion, but I'd say:

 

Do like: 1, 5, 6

Don't like: 2, 3, 4

 

I think, in a game like this, the map and events need to be designed to create action through shared interest and choke points. that's my main gripe with the DayZ map. There are no tactical choke points, like bridges or canyon/mountain passes to encourage player interaction. There's basically just NWAF, but there's nothing interesting about how that part of the map is accessed.

 

I think you should be able to see contaminated areas from 10-20 kms away, and you should know there's either solid loot there, or people with solid loot. But you also know two things: You need to have a reliable supply of contamination antidote, and you need to be ready for hostile enemy contact.

 

If they just make contamination get you sick, and have to run around huge areas because you can't find any anti-rad pills, then that would be a huge design failure worthy of much scorn.

 

Edit: This feature could also create some interesting tactics, like sending "runners" into the contamination to quickly get loot and get out. They'll die of the poisoning, but that's fine, they deliver the loot back to their squad. Then, other squads could see that and try to engage the squad where the loot was delivered. Etc.

Edited September 19, 2015 by FrigginTommyNoble

[Funkmaster Rick 373]

If they do it like Rust, I think it'll end up fairly Meh. If they do it like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I think it'd be pretty badass for DayZ, and really help with the atmosphere.

 

Personally, I don't think the current map we see will quite be what we end up with by release: I picture a lot more detritus, half-finished improvised constructions, and hopefully some fairly vast underground areas, or something like it. A Stalker-type contamination could be quite interesting on top of that sort of atmosphere.

[Weyland Yutani (DayZ) 1159]

1. Making high-end loot more reliable to find but harder to obtain (if high-end loot is guaranteed to spawn in contaminated areas)

Wouldn't that make said loot contaminated?

[Deathlove 2286]

 

 

 

 

whatever the latest videogame whale penisfest conference they're going to.

I had no idea places like that existed! :O

[KenoSkir88 181]

Not really into the contaminated terrain idea atm..

[FrigginTommyNoble 61]

Wouldn't that make said loot contaminated?

 

If it were my design, I would say no. Maybe you can get "sick" from the ambient contamination, and maybe water and food get contaminated, but the loot you grab should be usable without any kind of "cleansing" mechanic.

 

This is kind of the line between realism and gaming, imo. The main drive behind this game is getting better loot. "Uncontaminating" loot is an added step that would be annoying, not challenging. If you make the looting process too tedious, I think you compromise replay value.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

i would love to think about these contaminated areas as being "antigame" areas. basically something completely different as we tend to think.

 

for  example:

 

What if the containment zones didn't have better loot, what if it was worse loot? What if it had more infected?

I would dig a containment zone where the ammo is super scarce, buildings and wells are far apart. What's the reward? More wildlife, and hunting and crafting was a requirement to survive.

The containment zone wouldn't be for bandits or bambis. It would be for hunters and lone wolves. It would be a place to craft and camp

Edited September 20, 2015 by joe_mcentire

[klesh 2423]

Not really into the contaminated terrain idea atm..

 

 

Why not?  We literally don't know anything about it; there isn't anything to dislike at this point.

What ideas about CT do you dislike and hope they don't use? 

 

 

 

If they do it like Rust, I think it'll end up fairly Meh. If they do it like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I think it'd be pretty badass for DayZ, and really help with the atmosphere.

 

 

I've not played either game.  What are the differences and why do you think one is good and one is meh?

[DemonGroover 8836]

Underground areas are often refuge to heavier, poisonous gases. Be nice to have an area where a gas mask is a requirement.

[bfisher 561]

Not really feeling it.  At least, not if you need a Level A hazmat suit to enter some designated death zone.  Maybe "soft" contamination like drinking from a well or eating food from a contaminated area will make you sick (and eventually die).

 

Honestly, we don't need Fallout crap like radiation zones or giant mutants.  Between zombies, starvation, dehydration, hypo- (and hyper-) thermia, food-borne illnesses, lead poisoning and ladder-itis, I think there probably is already enough in the game to kill you once they get it all up and working.