The Frequency of Updates

[Gobbokirk 546]

20 minutes ago, zemos (DayZ) said:

Not only that @barelyinfected & @Gobbokirk , but(correct me if iam wrong) isnt there alot of documentation that needs to be done and for each change and add things?

(Then again, probably have ppl just for that :S)

 

Best Regards!

Not that I really know much about it, but makes sense that there would be a ton of stuff to keep track of yeah.
Eugen posted this on Reddit not long ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/52lrz3/status_report_13_sept_2016/d7lgbqg
 

[Azeh 4]

On 17.10.2016 at 0:18 AM, Hicks_206 (DayZ) said:

Infact - I will try and pester Eugen tomorrow to jump in on this thread, as the pipeline and update scheduling is a large portion of his job. 

Is he too busy or did you forget it? :P

[zemos (DayZ) 9]

32 minutes ago, Azeh said:

Is he too busy or did you forget it? :P

He still have some time before the clock hits 00.00 ;D

[Cr4cksh0t 6]

 day Zzz! ......... /10char

[Hicks_206 (DayZ) 4297]

On 10/18/2016 at 1:41 PM, Azeh said:

Is he too busy or did you forget it? :P

Apologies Azeh - Eugen has been pretty busy, but I'll keep pestering him!

[General Zod 1118]

On 16/10/2016 at 7:45 PM, OliverPlotTwist said:

I don't understand why people think that because we're not getting lots updates to DayZ it means that the game isn't being developed. It's not the devs job to give us as many updates as possible. It's to get the game to 1.0 in the best way for them.

Now I'm not saying I don't want more updates, I think everyone does. But if giving us an update every other week would slow down development towards an overall finished game, then I'm fine with having less updates.

Sure but it would also be nice to get the game to 1.0 before I'm on the wrong side of 30. 

[eugenharton 1540]

I`m sorry guys, Brian is right on that subject, because of the complexity of the beta goals and merge of the work that has been done for the past few years for some of the modules :), I`m spending insane amount of time analyzing risks, cosnulting with team members and getting ahead of issues we might encounter. 

<3 

[General Zod 1118]

Why are you flipping us off in your avatar picture ? 

[Monty Pylon 0]

They've said it quite a lot yet not many people understand yet - the current patches contain lots of engine modules and mechanics fixes leading up to beta. There is a significant amount of content backlogged up since last year that *cannot* be released until the new engine modules are finished. This is a slower but more rewarded period of DayZ's development and by the end of it we could be seeing beta. To those who might not understand why these things take so long, I implore you get into game development and go try and rewrite an old legacy engine with outdated scripts - it is not an easy task. They can only employ so many new people because the engine is so complicated that it would take too long to have people trained to know how to work with it. Be patient. 

[emuthreat 2837]

13 hours ago, General Zod said:

Why are you flipping us off in your avatar picture ? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gestures  Lots of good information for you here.  It would help to explain many situations where cultural differences affect the meaning of things.  For instance, "bunny ears" might get you some strange looks and giggles in Spain or Italy, or a swift fist to the jaw, depending on the context.

*I used the internet to find this information.

[t h o m 0]

 

1 hour ago, emuthreat said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gestures  Lots of good information for you here.  It would help to explain many situations where cultural differences affect the meaning of things.  For instance, "bunny ears" might get you some strange looks and giggles in Spain or Italy, or a swift fist to the jaw, depending on the context.

*I used the internet to find this information.

Hes not flipping us off, hes giving us the peace sign. very common

[emuthreat 2837]

At risk of sounding pedantic (which the mere use of that word handily achieves) I'd like to point out that the back of the hand is displayed, where the peace sign traditionally has had the palm facing outward, which may cause confusion.

While this gesture is consistent with the vulgar gesture living on as a remnant of taunts made by longbowmen, from whom the draw fingers were commonly amputated when captured, that said "I've still got mine;" in non-Commonwealth  countries it has a much more casual tone.
American usage commonly relates this gesture to "peacing out;" meaning to leave an area or gathering.  But it has taken on an almost meaningless presence when used as a pose for a photograph; much like the ubiquitous usage of the palm-out version by Eastern Asian cultures, especially by females, when being photographed.
The prevalence of the more relaxed "peace" gesture with an inward facing palm can be traced to cultural appropriation and the imperfect mimicry of urban street gang signs, which became "hip" in the '90s.

There, I ruined it for everyone.  Are you happy now?  : P

[General Zod 1118]

11 hours ago, emuthreat said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gestures  Lots of good information for you here.  It would help to explain many situations where cultural differences affect the meaning of things.  For instance, "bunny ears" might get you some strange looks and giggles in Spain or Italy, or a swift fist to the jaw, depending on the context.

*I used the internet to find this information.

 

9 hours ago, t h o m said:

 

Hes not flipping us off, hes giving us the peace sign. very common

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign#As_an_insult

See the problem with gestures is they have different meaning in different places. 

Edited October 27, 2016 by General Zod

[Bororm 1156]

It is starting to feel like the team forgot the "access" part of early access.  I understand the major reworks take time, and I get the concept of not wanting to branch the build too many times.  However, I think the team should really recognize what they're doing to the longevity of the game and its player base.

The majority of people who are going to play DayZ have bought the SA already.  There will be a bit of an influx when 1.0 releases, but up to this point I think the game has gotten the majority of its sales.  Perhaps console release will be a different story, but I hope development isn't based around trying to get a console version out asap simply for sales.

With that said, I think the team could do better to realize we are essentially playing the released version.  There will be no drastic difference for us between .99 and 1.0.  Let's not forget the team has said multiple times that development will continue past 1.0 as well.  Hicks has said himself they are just numbers.

Large changes obviously take time and cause unforeseen consequences, but why can't we get minor content updates (clothing, food etc) and begin some balance tweaks (pvp is a mess.  the CLE is out of wack) in the interim to make everyone's life better as we wait?  Even if it extends that wait for the major updates.  Otherwise you're just going to have spikes in population with each major update which quickly dwindle, which will become less and less large as time goes on and people realize they waited 6-12 months for something that doesn't actually change gameplay drastically.  On that last point, it's not a complaint about engine upgrades, it's just that things like the renderer are fantastic for performance (extremely important obviously) but at the end of the day nothing really changes in terms of how the game is played and players become bored.

[General Zod 1118]

This man, this man above me, he speaks the truth, give this man a beer. 

[OliverPlotTwist 458]

On 10/27/2016 at 9:05 PM, Bororm said:

-snip-

Hicks gave a good answer to a similar point in a Q&A:

https://youtu.be/6UsvemwcRQ8?t=3245

 

Edited October 29, 2016 by OliverPlotTwist

[Funkmaster Rick 373]

On 27/10/2016 at 4:05 PM, Bororm said:

However, I think the team should really recognize what they're doing to the longevity of the game and its player base.

...

Large changes obviously take time and cause unforeseen consequences, but why can't we get minor content updates (clothing, food etc) and begin some balance tweaks (pvp is a mess.  the CLE is out of wack) in the interim to make everyone's life better as we wait?

When they were putting out clothing and weapon updates very frequently, the community cried out in anger because the big things weren't changing. When the big things change, the community cries out in anger at the lack of little things coming in.

[HarmattanAssassin 2]

Personally I think they bit off more than they could chew with this game. It has been in Alpha now for over 3 years (depending on which release date you look at), and still only 60% of the way to 1.0.

There's nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, as long as the technology exists to get there... but with this game, we haven't even left the planet yet (and certainly haven't even reached the moon, or left the solar system). Every year or so they're having to completely redo everything due to technology/software/hardware changes because the end target is too far off. Quite frankly I'd be surprised if 1.0 comes out before 2020 at this rate.

I have participated in many alphas. Normally a game is released as an alpha, a few months later comes the beta, 6 months later = full release. But this has been in alpha for over 3 yrs and is still YEARS away from full release. Meanwhile people are paying money for a game (correctly advertised as an alpha), but expecting that a full game will be released in a reasonable amount of time. I'm sorry, but that isn't happening. Paying for an unfinished product that in all likelihood may never be finished?

I've uninstalled this game several times since 2013, then came back to see how much progress has been made - only to uninstall it again. It is time to decide if what the designers want the game to be is even possible, and if possible is it realistic to accomplish in a reasonable amount of time, or have they simply bitten off too much for them to chew and time to scrap the whole thing. But continuing to encourage people to buy into a product with no end in sight borders on unethical.

Just my 2.4 cents on the issue (let the flame throwing begin).

Edited October 29, 2016 by HarmattanAssassin

[emuthreat 2837]

As far as I can tell, the team is masticating the hell outta this development.  Would you prefer that they chew with their mouths open?

[Bororm 1156]

11 hours ago, OliverPlotTwist said:

Hicks gave a good answer to a similar point in a Q&A:

https://youtu.be/6UsvemwcRQ8?t=3245

 

Thanks for the video but that's my point.  I think they should change their attitude because their attitude is "we want to get it done, we don't care about the players in the mean time."  I think that attitude was more valid very early on, when the game was in its infancy.  I think 2+ years in, it's time to realize, like I've said, the majority of players (consoles aside) have already bought the game and are playing it.  The game is not going to be drastically different for us participating between each patch and 1.0.  Hicks himself repeats the arbitrary nature of patch release numbers.  So I think the attitude should change, or like I've said above, the game will just spark and wither with each update until fewer and fewer people return.

The only reason for the current development strategy is from a business standpoint.  They want to get 1.0 done so they can 1) use the engine for future projects 2) release to consoles 3) spike sales one more time. The only saving grace there will be that modders will fill the gap and reinvigorate DayZ SA itself.  I personally feel that's a shit goal if they actually care about the game and want it to succeed on its own and not just become a platform for other projects.

 

4 hours ago, Funkmaster Rick said:

When they were putting out clothing and weapon updates very frequently, the community cried out in anger because the big things weren't changing. When the big things change, the community cries out in anger at the lack of little things coming in.

What's the point of this statement, because it doesn't apply to me.  This is the response I often get when I bring up this topic, and it doesn't make sense.  Those people who didn't want content were wrong.  Largely the developers responsible for creating content are separate from the core programmers working on the major changes.  Artists aren't programmers by and large.  I also again think the attitude should change, and it is worth taking some programmers off the large changes for a short period to bang out that side of something like adding new weapons or items.

The other thing to note is that we get those content changes with the large updates.  The work is being done on them regardless, so why not release them in the interim.  The trello is a current backlog of unimplemented content.

[boneboys 7988]

Biting off less than can be chewed and/or attitudes that need changing will not make updates more frequent.
The game is not being built with attitudes or an existing Devkit (SDK), as to where the 60% came from is a mystery, and there is certainly not more than one release date, no matter which one you choose to look at...  !ôô! 

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