Increasing Player Interactions outside of Towns.

[Booter 6]

Ok the goal of this idea is to increase the odds of player interaction (for the most part) out in the wilderness of Chernarus.
Currently it's quite rare to run into other players outside of towns/hotspots etc.

Assuming the Arma3 audio has been fully implemented, which will help nearby players hear gunshots/explosions/vehicles etc. And allow players to more easily pinpoint a direction from where the sound came from. (Can't wait for this!).

This idea goes beyond the hearing distance/radius of a player.
Events and Actions being performed by players in your 'general' vicinity (but beyond your hearing range) can be indicated to you via a very subtle onscreen indicator. This concept will give you 'clue' that some kind of player activity is occurring nearby and would provide a rough direction from where the event is occurring.

Some examples of a very quick subtle visual clue that I can think of might be.

• A quick Arma2 style Peripheral Dot flash / or mini Directional Screen flash (using colours to estimate distance).
• A simple one time message via the status message system ("I sense voices on the wind somewhere to my North" or "I sense startled animals in the grasslands to the East" or "I smell smoke/(death?) on the wind from the West").
• A player idle animation, 'Head Turning that Listens towards a direction' that only occurs when you stop and stand still for a moment (or sitting at camp etc.)
• Perhaps it's an Audio clue or some type? (A buzzing in your head / a spidey sense?).

To go with this, the longer your player has survived, the more attune they become to their environment. These clues might become easier to recognise with your character age/experience. This adds more incentive to care about your player (it becomes like a learned 'soft skill' mentioned by the devs).

This idea is not to be implemented immediately with fresh spawns on the coast, it starts very subtly once your player has survived for a set period of time (a few days or more / perhaps gained some kind of experience / up to full health etc.).

To be totally clear, I am all for immersion! This method of relaying the information to the player needs to be very clever / hard to catch, and only recognisable by the experienced Dayz survivor.
I'm not for cluttering the interface, hand holding or spamming the player with visual indicators etc.

Some of the most intense / long lasting / life threatening etc. interactions I have had, have been out in the Wilds of Chernarus!
I just wish they occurred more often, and I think it's so rare (for me anyway) because it's so hard to find players when your away from towns/etc.

It's just an idea, anyone care to add to this ?

[Troll_Hunter 54]

I don't like the artificial presentation of 'hints'.

All hints should be natural.

Audio hints:

• People stepping on fallen branches.
• Birds alerting.
• Birds flying away.
• Scavenger birds (crows, seagulls) circling the dead, or near dead players, feasting on bodies.
• Animals fleeing.
• Wolves hunting.
• People who chop wood, hammer, saw. make a very distinct sound.
• irritated restless infected roaming the woods looking for food, hunting and attacking ones make lots of noise, growls and screams.
• Cold fires, made with wed wood, should produce a lot of smoke, and the crackle sound carries about 40 m.

The increased awareness soft skill idea I like. I would make it so that those environment sounds carry over significant longer distances with ageing older characters. Making life and old characters more valuable.

Text hints:

Since our pc's have no smell, I would like the game to tell us about distinct odours and the direction they come from. Piles of bodies, unwashed infected, smoke, petrol, sea-air. Ageing also improves this ability.

[Parazight 1594]

On ‎6‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 3:05 PM, Troll_Hunter said:

I would like the game to tell us about distinct odours and the direction they come from.

I'm rapidly cooling off.

I'm rapidly cooling off.

I'm overheating.

Billy smells like Old Spice.

I'm rapidly cooling off.

I'm overheating.

 

[eno 1049]

I've always thought the idea of resting flocks of birds launching into the air when disturbed would be a great addition- whether to betray snipers or zombies or just players passing through. 

Tents / barrels storing perishable food- particularly meat- would increase zombie / animal interest. Leaving bodies in your wake (without hiding) would also be a natural draw on a variety of different creatures. I know if I'm patrolling a certain area and I see some birds circling in the distance my alarum bells would be ringing... to investigate or not to investigate- check weapons status and bowels. 

I'm interested in seeing how they implement the predators... It will definitely add a unique component to the game and may help to control / adjust the use of unprotected tents and barrels to store food items long term. 

[schwaBAM 200]

27 minutes ago, eno said:

I've always thought the idea of resting flocks of birds launching into the air when disturbed would be a great addition- whether to betray snipers or zombies or just players passing through. 

Tents / barrels storing perishable food- particularly meat- would increase zombie / animal interest. Leaving bodies in your wake (without hiding) would also be a natural draw on a variety of different creatures. I know if I'm patrolling a certain area and I see some birds circling in the distance my alarum bells would be ringing... to investigate or not to investigate- check weapons status and bowels. 

I'm interested in seeing how they implement the predators... It will definitely add a unique component to the game and may help to control / adjust the use of unprotected tents and barrels to store food items long term. 

YES.  Those ideas are awesome.

[eno 1049]

5 minutes ago, schwaBAM said:

YES.  Those ideas are awesome.

Well duh.

[schwaBAM 200]

I unliked your post.

[eno 1049]

51 minutes ago, schwaBAM said:

I liked your post.

QFT!