Status Report - 30 Oct 2015

[SMoss 2101]

 

Afternoon Survivors,

In this week's Status Report, Lead Producer Brian Hicks will be covering a lot of ground going through several topics such as the Infected, the animation system, soft skills, status on version 0.59, as well as other tasks going on behind the scenes, and Lead Designer Peter Nespesny will be handing us some info on the work ahead regarding user actions.

 

Contents This Week

• Development Board Spotlight
• Dev Update/Hicks
• Dev Update/Peter
• Community Video: The Last Day Of The Chernarus Club

Development Board Spotlight

 

 

Dev Update/Hicks

Greetings Survivors!

 

So, this is the first SR since the change in vocal style and frequency - and it just happens to come on the heels of our Quarterly Review and Beta discussion at PAX Australia. I appreciate everyones patience as I deal with jet lag catching up with me. We have some cool stuff to talk about this week - not as cool as the last Status Report - but cool enough I think.
I'd like to kick off this week with an update on a few key areas of the engine I know everyone is waiting to hear about.

 

Renderer: I touched on this a bit during the PAX Australia presentation (and that audio/slides will be put out as soon as I get back to Prague)

 

- Post Processes: IN PROGRESS
- Water & Ocean Surfaces: IN PROGRESS
- Optimization & Paralellization: IN PROGRESS
Current Status: Actively under testing with internal QA

 

We've made some great progress over the last few weeks. I prefer to manage expectations - so I'm going to say don't get too excited. Issues could pop up in QA over the next few weeks, but morale in the office regarding the renderer is getting high. I'm excited - but keep in mind we don't want it to hit experimental until we're confident in a strong -initial- performance gain.

 

New Animation System: While we've made strong gains on this that has enabled the design team to start working on a complete rewrite of all player actions currently in game (demonstrated in the last SR) we're still working on the last few areas that -must- be completed in order to fully merge the player over to the new player controller. We'll keep you all updated on this.

 

Infected: As we mentioned in the last Status Report - Infected will be making a return in .59 - but as covered in the PAX presentation there are changes we'd like to look into making to the infected, specifically in the area of spawning and distribution that should go miles towards a more rewarding (and scary!) experience when it comes to crawling through cities looking for gear.

 

.59 Experimental: As of the time that I boarded my flight to PAX Aus - the last remaining major blocker towards moving this build to the exp branch was sitting specifically on vehicle position sync. It is critical we at the very least provide a more enjoyable experience with vehicles than on previous builds, especially considering the increased quantities. The gameplay programming team has been working hard on doing just this.

 

Aside from the stuff mentioned above - we do have a few cool things to share with you guys.
As those of you who watched the TwitchCon presentation, you know part of the character progression path we've been working on in addition to soft skills - is the life span of the character. Specifically shown at TwitchCon as beards for male characters. What we didn't share at the time was that we were a bit further along with this than just a few renders of male heads.

 

 

We still need to work on the lifespan impact for female characters - but we do have growth over time functioning on internal builds as seen in the above video. Animations for shaving still need to be completed, but the functionality for choosing to remove said beard as there as well.

 

In the same vein as character life span - I spoke today about how the initial skill set for soft skills was functioning internally (albeit without UI elements allowing you to track said skills).

 

 

In the video above, we have accelerated the growth of the skillset that governs the amount of resources you gain from harvesting. (In this grim case - it happens to be a human body) The more a character performs an action that falls under this skillset, the higher yield the resources he gains from the attempt. In the accelerated video we have a character who very often skins and quarters bodies for meat, bone, and so on. As the character goes through each body, we accelerate the skill gain for the purposes of the video - but you see that with each action/attempt - the yield of meat is increased. 
We want to kick off the character soft skills with base skills in the areas of: Medical, Resource Gathering, Repairing. Once we see how these operate, we can expand upon them further.

 

The little icing on the cake I like about the video is how Peter snuck a little treat in there that you can easily overlook.
As the character skins and quarters the body, his hands and forearms are covered in a bloody mess. The character -can- wash this off should they go to a body of water, or have some on him. Alternatively, he or she could just as easily choose to keep this appearance. 

 

Oh! Before we move on to Peter's bit this week - Things are looking really good for the 75 player servers, I'm excited to see how it plays out on experimental.

 

Questions? Suggestions? Make sure to head over to the official DayZ Forums and join the Status Report discussion thread for this week.

 

- Brian Hicks / Lead Producer

 

 

Dev Update/Peter

 

In the last status report, there was a nice showcase of new implementations of user actions which are currently work in progress. There was an idea back in the day (and I mean it was a really long time ago, more then year and a half) about simplifying of how user actions operate and streamlining controls in general.

 

User actions as we know them are great as they are very robust and allow usage of anything in any way you like, which leads for such a great ArmA 2 mod as DayZ to happen. Imagine if there were only shooting and door opening - such a situation would leave you with a very limited possibility for application of your creativity as designer. On the other hand user actions are also known for their not so friendly behavior like scrolling menu, issues with precision and our underlying implementation of actions on own character and others in SQF paired with old and limited animation system led to many problematic situations, to mention some, no elegant way to cancel action, spamming actions or serious ones like duping.

 

New user actions and controls are designed to be modern, user friendly and of course to address all issues which we run into with the old system. Actions will be contextual, for example performing same eat action will feed yourself, or your friend when you are looking at him. They can behave as single event or can be performed continuously, think of flipping the switch by clicking the use button or drinking from a water bottle while holding it. You can perform them during other animations, so you will be able to eat while traversing countryside. Canceling continuous action can be simply done by releasing the use button. All this and more means that scrolling menu will become redundant in the end as all possible situations are covered through different usage, based on context and duration of action.

 

Every item can be used as melee weapon, and with redesigned controls comes a fresh breeze to melee fights as there is a difference between one click which performs quick attack and continuously charged heavy attack which is performed by releasing the melee button. This allowed us to finally use firearms as melee weapons - bayonet stabs, buttstock hits or pistol whips. Best of it all is that we removed so called aggressive stance which was mandatory to attack with melee or shoot from firearms and it felt forced as it was too static. Now readying the firearm for shooting is a continuous action so once you release use button your firearm is lowered to waist level. Prone position and bipod can make your life easier as far as keeping your firearm ready, also we would like to examine weapons resting in the future. Items can be dropped, rolled or thrown which is especially useful for grenades.

 

I'm convinced that with new user actions and controls coupled with new animation system and physically based character, DayZ will become a fluid, modern and pleasant experience. I'm looking forward to this day, as with these changes it will feel more like DayZ 2.0 than with any others.

 

See you in Chernarus folks!

 

- Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer

 

 

Community Video/ The Last Day Of The Chernarus Club

Hey everyone,

 

The following video showing the "story about a group of friends that have always been together", as described, turned up in our gallery. To begin with I wasn't too sure if there was an event going on, if there was supposed to be a story line going through the video, or whatever else the deal was. Any which way, as it turns out, it seems like it's just exactly as described - a group of friends having fun together in Chernarus.

 

 

On top of showing some nice positive attitude during combat, the intro/outro for the video is quite well made. Thanks for the entertainment guys!

 

As always, if you guys out there have a nice video containing DayZ footage you'd like to share, or if you have come across some DayZ footage from other content creators, just post it in the Gallery section of the DayZ forums and we'll happily have a look.

 

Header image credit: TiMo

 

- Michael aka SMoss / Community Manager

[Arthur Dubrovka 376]

 

Every item can be used as melee weapon, and with redesigned controls comes a fresh breeze to melee fights as there is a difference between one click which performs quick attack and continuously charged heavy attack which is performed by releasing the melee button. This allowed us to finally use firearms as melee weapons - bayonet stabs, buttstock hits or pistol whips. Best of it all is that we removed so called aggressive stance which was mandatory to attack with melee or shoot from firearms and it felt forced as it was too static. Now readying the firearm for shooting is a continuous action so once you release use button your firearm is lowered to waist level. Prone position and bipod can make your life easier as far as keeping your firearm ready, also we would like to examine weapons resting in the future. Items can be dropped, rolled or thrown which is especially useful for grenades.

 

 

 

 

THIS sounds really great!

[Coheed_IV 381]

paging Avant-Garde.....paging Avant-Garde.....your needed in the melee department

 

 

 

 

All this and more means that scrolling menu will become redundant in the end as all possible situations are covered through different usage, based on context and duration of action.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Coheed_IV

[IMT 3190]

THIS sounds really great!

Yeah, I hardly can't wait until DayZ is finished.

It will be a game which doesn't get bored that quick because there are so many ways you can play the game.

Let's hope for 0.59 experimental soon.

[VVarhead 185]

I have to say I'm a little disappointed, expected some more, but nevermind. I hope the focus lies still on the return of the zeds and fixing sync problems.

 

I'm intruiged by the new gun and use mechanics, though. I sincerely hope environment stuff (woods, night, lightning, rain, thunder) will get worked on after the new renderer is in.

 

Can we expect a reset once 0.59 (I want to believe) hits stable? Duping and loot explosions still aren't fixed, makes persistence obsolete since everyone is hoarding everything anyway.

[Tatanko 5591]

I have to say I'm a little disappointed, expected some more, but nevermind.

What were you expecting that you didn't get? If you don't tell them, they can't know, and they'll probably continue to fail at meeting your expectations as they go on their merry way. Do yourself a favor and elaborate ;)

 

 

 

Great Status Report, Brian. I'm super tired today from getting up in the middle of the night to watch the presentation -- but I don't regret it. It was informative. Good on you for getting this out while being completely zombified yourself!

[gannon46 788]

blood on the hands fuck yes sry for the foul language but FUCK YES.

[koya 0]

Nice status report, thanks.

 

If you will answer questions, i just have some about gathering, medicins and snow. I've tried last time but there were too many questions.

1. Is it still plan to have a herbs gathering system (can't wait to farm mushrooms & stuff)? If so, will we have a chance to enjoy it in 0.59 or 0.60?

 

2. There was a cannabis and psilo mushroom models from the gamefiles a few months ago. Is it plan to implement them? And if so, what will be the point? Medicinal or just getting high?

3. Is it still plan to have a snowy area?


Thanks and keep up the good work!

Edited October 30, 2015 by Johnny LaTruite

[Gadget_97 28]

Great status report Hicks!

At the last Q/A you said:

1) Infected Damage values is something that will be tweaked off an on throughout development. Of course, a proper balancing pass will most certainly be done prior to leaving Early Access. 2) Well, at a certain point the reality that this is a video game has to come into play. You rarely will have a crowd of angry screaming players chasing after you - but ideally you would with infected. They need to be -somewhat- manageable. That said, see the above answer. 3) On what scale? o_O I have been very clear about this - and I'm not a huge fan of repeating myself on it, but for the sake of clarity: It does not matter how amazing or complex your Artifical Intelligence is. It will -NEVER- be as dangerous or unpredictable as being at the mercy of another -HUMAN-.

1) Which level of threat will represent the zombies into 1.0 on a scale of 1 to 10? (1 without any difficulty and 10 extremely dangerous, without comparing with players).

Humans remain biggest threat (because they're unpredictable,...), I'm totally agree with that. But i would like to be kill by infected sometimes.

If I run in a street, I want die. If I fight against 4 infected with an axe, I want die. If I shoot without suppressor in a town, I want die. We don't want to be invincible with an ak. We want to crawl or make alliances to take the control of a city. We want to be scared by infected.

Moreover zombies very dangerous/powerful mean more stress, more cooperation between players, more bandit's strategies...

What do you think? (2)

3) Doors will be break down by zombies?

Edited October 30, 2015 by Gadget_97

[buddy_cassino 69]

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it,
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Thanks to devs/all for their hard work.

 

I'm glad you are keeping to a higher standard for release candidates but the wait for a patch is absolute torture!

 

Is there a model for infected Rocket yet?

 

Please confirm plans for the M-79 grenade launcher (takes same rounds as M4 launcher I believe).

 

 

Molotov cocktails? (After renderer?)

 

Empty cans? (so many uses!)

 

What will our options be for cannabis consumption in the game? (papers, pipes, bongs, infused cooking oils/fats for edibles)

 

Herds always face North/South when grazing together unless thrown off by magnetic fields from power lines.

 

Also this:

 

Wild aurochs-like cattle reintroduced in Czech Republic

 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/25eb1b808274456a8f2ff4be0a8da947/wild-aurochs-cattle-reintroduced-czech-republic

 

And of course, this:

 

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ GIVE SA 0.59 Experimental

Edited October 30, 2015 by BioHaze

[ImageCtrl 719]

hot hot... :beans: :beans: :beans:

[VIPEREYE1 17]

NO way! They are actually changing the aggressive stance! I had filled a ticket about "toggle raise weapon" conflicting with "raise weapon" control's

 

"raise weapon" Conflicts if you decide to remove "toggle raise weapon" from your key bind, You find yourself in the situation that if you right click to aim down your iron sights you become stuck as there is no way to un toggle that view, Yes you could leave Toggle raise weapon bound to your keys but's it's annoying thing to have to micro manage.

 

My favorite part of the Status report was: "but as covered in the PAX presentation there are changes we'd like to look into making to the infected, specifically in the area of spawning and distribution that should go miles towards a more rewarding (and scary!) experience when it comes to crawling through cities looking for gear."

 

Just seeing the word (Scary) made me very excited, i have lamented on and on about how the Zombies are key to a strong Dayz experience throughout Early game, mid game, end game. Hard to say if any of it was seen by the development team but i have been holding my breath for news on zombie behavior

 

:')

[GaryWalnuts 1680]

Every item can be used as melee weapon

 

- Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer

 

Can we get the oil barrel to make a gongggg sound  :lol:

[Woody1888 22]

so we have textures of beards....... blood on hands when cutting up bodies and the more things you gut the more meat and guts your get??? 

 

I get the feeling the SR's are rushed and the devs cant be bothered with them. 

[A.N.Ttbr 2]

so we have textures of beards....... blood on hands when cutting up bodies and the more things you gut the more meat and guts your get???

I get the feeling the SR's are rushed and the devs cant be bothered with them.

There's always one!

[joe_mcentire 2073]

regarding the skill system, what kind of counter/anti-grind mechanics are we going to see? are they planned as well? level-caps per day/hour, fair balancing between skills (better in A means worse in B ) or something similar?

Edited October 30, 2015 by joe_mcentire

[Arthur Dubrovka 376]

relasepoint59...releasepoint59...releasepoint59

 

... if am I typing it again and again maybe it gets real?!?

 

*psycho gigglin´*

 

Patience!!!

[Arthur Dubrovka 376]

regarding the skill system, what kind of counter/anti-grind mechanics are we going to see? are they planned as well? level-caps per day/hour, fair balancing between skills (better in A means worse in B ) or something similar?

 

Maybe cooldowns are enough? I think the improvement should be very slow.

[bingo_fuel 205]

Do we already know if learned soft skills get reset when you die?

Edited October 30, 2015 by bingo_fuel

[ImageCtrl 719]

Do we already know if learned soft skills get reset when you die?

Of course it will reset.

[St. Jimmy 1631]

In the first video is that Ambient Occulsion from the engine or from Nvidia? If it's in the engine I can understand but if it's Nvidia turn it off :D

 

Great to hear about the user actions and controls. Can't wait for those. Takes little time to get used to the use button but it sounds freaking great!

[Coheed_IV 381]

Infected: As we mentioned in the last Status Report - Infected will be making a return in .59 - but as covered in the PAX presentation there are changes we'd like to look into making to the infected, specifically in the area of spawning and distribution that should go miles towards a more rewarding (and scary!) experience when it comes to crawling through cities looking for gear.

Question about this after listening to the PAX Presentation.

 

So lets say the global max spawn is x infected distributed across the map. But, only half are awake in player bubbles. To use the max number more efficiently, is the idea to spawn the remaining in player areas?

 

From player perspective how will the infected move or spawn into that area? (like from outside town and out of sight?) (or within town?)

How will the number get resolved to allow for other players moving elsewhere?

Are these additionally spawned infected still server side?

What are the infected goals that need to be meet for moving to beta?

Edited October 30, 2015 by Coheed_IV

[Roshi (DayZ) 396]

Blood on clothes could be cool too...

Happy to hear about improved water :)

Edited October 30, 2015 by Roshi

[moeb1us 91]

Could someone please further explain how the vision Peter described with the raising weapon works exactly? How will it interact with aiming down sights? How many fingers will we need in the end? What about the movement/strafing/stance/leaning/hold breath? Sounds like it's a bit much tbh...