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Baty Alquawen

Status Report 11 July 2017

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Good afternoon Survivors,

This week, the summer holiday is in full swing in Prague and Bratislava, which means that some of our developers are enjoying a well deserved vacation, while the others are super busy keeping the development process going. This unfortunately means that our Status Report will be rather brief and dry this time, but as always, we managed to come up with some interesting bits and pieces on what's happening behind the scenes. The main topic this week is the much discussed introduction of server browser tabs. Adam and the environment team is looking at all the settlements across Chernarus, and meanwhile, our friends over at the Bohemia mobile team released Mini DAYZ on mobile devices. It was quite the success to say the least! Let's get to it now, shall we?


Contents This Week

  • Dev Update/Hicks
  • Dev Update/Eugen
  • Dev Update/Adam
  • Dev Update/Martin
  • Community Spotlight
     

Dev Update/Hicks

Greetings Survivors!

This Status Report, I had something short and sweet for you. I wanted to take the opportunity to address adaptation to changes, and changes coming forward in general.

I know some of you were confused about the changes to the server browser we mentioned in previous Status Reports, and it raised a small concern for me when it comes to larger changes in the future. The changes to the server browser organization are absolutely vital for the final product of DayZ. I know it might seem confusing now but we, as developers need to look at the bigger picture.

Presenting the new user with the intended, vanilla experience of DayZ is absolutely critical. If a new user hits the play button, they should be paired with the best candidate official server. If a user looks at the server browser, they absolutely should be presented with Official Bohemia Interactive servers. Servers that present the experience we have laid out, and that we know won't be resetting storage, and will all be on the same central infrastructure.

I fully realize that now it might seem confusing to some, and now it might not seem to make sense based off of the current state of the build - but I promise you, it makes sense in the long run. I'm also aware of concerns with regards to some official servers going offline and people losing their camps, and I promise you - this is something that will be looked at, to ensure user progress and protection from unintended player progression loss.

As far as other changes moving forward, the sheer nature of how you interact with the world and the gameplay systems involved in it will inherently change. Simply put, things just flat out operate differently. Not only do all of these extensive changes coming in 0.63 and beyond allow us to bring DayZ to be the experience we want it to be, it also allows us to get rid of nasty pesky issues related to the previous system limitations. Be it addressing the nasty "apple spam" or the frustrating deaths at short heights, or even duplication through abuse of animation system glitches. I'm not saying this will resolve every issue present, but it puts us in a position to be able to more easily, and more stabily resolve these issues.

That's really all I had for you guys for this Status Report, but keep in mind - no one is looking forward to playing 0.63 on Steam more then us, the developers.

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director

 

Dev Update/Eugen

DayZ has always been a bit of a hybrid MMO - a combination of character and world persistence where instances act like shards themselves, and the official set of servers focusing on the "vanilla experience" - with the future expectation of additional variety with customizable modded servers.

By being that open, we closed some doors for us to go full on on that notion of a never-ending progression in an online world - one that games like Destiny or The Division utilize. On the other hand, we still want to keep the idea that allows one player to spend a life of multiple characters across these shards, and have the variety of these different experiences that are consistent with our vision.

As Brian has explained today, and in previous Status Reports, I just want to say that the main idea behind the recent tab separation is to maintain two separate worlds for our players. The "vanilla" one where you can expect a consistent experience, and the community one, where (when the BETA hits) you'll see a large variety of different gameplay and tweaks, with as much information as we can provide on the types of changes you'll experience there.

Our goal is not to hide these community experiences, but only to show and highlight the difference. I understand that majority of people play on private servers nowadays, as there is more of that curation as to what happens there, and the dangers of vanilla where anything can happen might not be suitable for everybody. But we do believe that giving a choice and information about these differences will be crucial going forward when server files are released.

You'll get a large variety of gameplay and setups, and less of a curated community vanilla experience that we at Bohemia will focus on. We expect that community will supply different maps, PvP modes, roleplay, and more. DayZ mod is a good experience to look back on as it has spawned multiple mods and changes, while vanilla experience attracted less and less of the player focus over time - which is understandable. As you spend hundreds of hours there, and want to try new things in this never ending world. We want to see the same thing with less hassle around doing so. You want to play a mod, we want you to see what that mod is, make the flow of playing without any obstruction, and we want to highlight these different experiences for players seeking them.

I also want to touch upon the subject of 0.62 development, as it's slowly closing up with a last couple of critical fixes getting merged in, such as crash fixes. When we move on, we want to be sure that your experience is as stable as it can be, within the limits of knowing that everything is going to change when BETA hits. All these small things will help us with this huge transition.

As I have said multiple times, we believe that we have something great ahead of us that will realize the vision all of us had for what sometimes feels as forever. So yes, we are now focusing on combat first and foremost in our internal version - and we want to share that with you as soon as possible. There are multiple build reviews every week, as we march towards this long awaited goal.

To give a glance at the currently open development items in our teams:

 

Programmers

  • Vehicle controller refactor
  • New animation system for infected
  • Animation events for player
  • Communication systems optimization
  • Mosin 1930 basic state machine and script class
  • MP 133 basic state machine and script class
  • MP5 basic state machine and script class
  • CLE (Central Loot Economy) tweaks
  • Physics and optimization tweaks
  • Bug fixing

 

Animators

  • M4A1 animations
  • Player turns for pistols
  • Unarmed & one hit reactions
  • Player graph fixes
  • IK (Inverse Kinematics) poses

 

Designers

  • New player and item spawn definition
  • Player action targeting and floating cursor
  • User actions in multiplayer
  • Advanced placing system
  • Inventory UI refactor (crafting, character)
  • Aiming model
  • Melee combat targeting
  • Traps with grenades
  • Weapons handling

 

Audio

  • Bug fixing
  • Sounds for animals

 

QA

  • Playtesting the 0.62 update
  • 0.62 feature testing
  • Internal client stabilization
  • CLE testing

 

Art

  • Old assets rework
  • Detailed object layout for western border (locations west of Lopatino)
  • NWAF overhaul
  • Location names revision

 

- Eugen Harton / Lead Producer

 

Dev Update/Adam

With .62 update being on stable branch for over a month now, we have pretty much transitioned strictly to goals for the update 0.63 and onward. Primary focus being the overhaul of the North West Airfield, finalisation of tourist trails and additional locations on the western border of Chernarus (along with overall tweaks to the area).

In this status report, I would like touch a bit on the topic of the plans on western border - where we are going with the changes and additions that we work on now. Our aim is to preserve its wilderness look. We wont be populating this part of the map with lots of settlements like we did on north. Instead of that, we are focusing on adding more lonely locations such as lodges, tourist destinations (tourist trails will be extended to western border) and industrial/farm locations.

That being said, western border is quite a huge area by itself, and so it would be a shame to not to include anything that would resemble a settlement. There are currently three tiny settlements in the works, most of them composed of few houses scattered around without some structures like you are used to in the mainland of South Zagoria. Following pictures show one particular settlement located just south of the new castle that has been added in update 0.62 (and already received more details and polish now!).

Please keep in mind that these pictures show work-in-progress content:

xL1yVkA.jpg

aeDr51U.jpg

And just to give you an idea, how we imagine some lonely locations, here is a screenshot of lonely lodge somewhere on the western border:

9IqaEjQ.jpg

Now I would like to give you some names instead of using "new castle" or "new settlement", but the truth is that we have to yet figure out some proper names. This is particularly important for the finalization of tourist trails task, and so in addition to mentioned map tasks, we are also in the process of revisiting all location names that are currently used on Chernarus, along with figuring out names for new locations or locations that are worth naming and were not yet named.

Goal of this revision is to also make sure names are somewhat consistent between each other and fit the overall theme of Chernarus. There are over 230 entries (names for settlements, terrain features,..) that we currently work with, but luckily, we've got help from Ivan Buchta - one of the key members of the team behind the Chernarus for Arma 2, to make sure we do not deviate from the original naming rules and that you all will be able to call parts of the map with proper local names :).

- Adam Franců / Senior map designer

 

Dev Update/Martin

While we're still very much on hold with pushing any release buttons for DayZ on PC and consoles (as the development is breezing towards BETA), I'm more than happy to share some of the excitment that's currently flowing through the veins of everyone at the Bohemia mobile team. On July 3rd, after some time of soft launch testing, they finally launched the iOS and Android versions of Mini DAYZ worldwide! 

Being 100% free to play (there's no catch, no in-app purchases or hidden transactions - it's just free, plain and simple!), Mini DAYZ stays true to the survival heritage of DayZ standalone (and the mod) by being incredibly unforgiving. It's something that I personally find very refreshing, especially on the mobile games market, which somehow always leans towards very casual and clichéd genres. 

The good thing is, I am probably not alone, as Mini DAYZ has been occupying top positions in appstore charts across the worold ever since it launched on July 3 - which is well, well deserved, even more so when you realize that Mini DAYZ was originally just a fan made project! Hats off to our mobile team, and especially to Mike Azovskikh, the original creator of Mini DAYZ for web browsers who spearheded the development of mobile versions here at Bohemia!

I encourage you to download Mini DAYZ on AppStore or Google Play - for now, it's single player only, but still offers a very entertaining balance of healthy frustration and fun :).

Well, that's it from me today - the next time I'm doing a Status Report, it will actually be related to that one DayZ that you all really care about. Gamescom is getting very close... but for now, let's see what Baty has for you this week!

- Martin Čulák / Brand Manager

 

Community Spotlight

Hello Survivors!

First thing I would like to address today is the new server browser. It seemed to confuse you a bit, because a lot of you were struggling to find your favorite community servers.

z0foNrq.gif

When you launch DayZ and open the server browser, you will find yourselves on the Official servers tab. If you select the „favorited“ checkbox, only the official servers which you have added to your favourites will be displayed. If you change to Community tab and select „favorited“, you will see your favorite Community servers only.

It's so simple!

KJ1gCVi.jpg

 

And now, we will look at two of your videos. Wobo did a couple of tests and prepared 30 tips for update 0.62, which you may have not heard about previously. Make sure to check it out, you could be surprised.

 

Some of you will surely be familiar with the name TheLonelyBandit. Last year, he decided to create a challenge video, where he was getting food and water only from people he mugged. He returned to it now and his video where he attacked a really nice guy entertained me a lot. Watch him survive without the usual supply of food a water!

 

A lot of interesting stories develop on the DayZUnderground servers thanks to organic role-play without rules. Stories of ordinary people trying to survive, as well as faction members who are not afraid to take your possessions and your life. Short articles "Humans of Chernarus" will allow you to look inside the mind of such people.

JwWCMwA.jpg

 

And again, we have another peak into our office:

tOhm0pI.jpg

 

That is all from me and as always, if you have any interesting content, which you would like to share with us, tweet it on our official Twitter profile.

Header image by ThatOneKidBowen.

 

- Baty / Community Manager

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18 minutes ago, Baty Alquawen said:

basic state machine

Any deeper info on what a "Basic State Machine" is? Is it the code that describes how each firearm operates _and_ how it fits into the animation system?

Edit: A diagram of the MP5 Basic State Machine could help, if there is one?

Edited by Five_Seven_Clown
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Quote

Old assets rework

Will we be seeing any more details about this? :)

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30 minutes ago, Five_Seven_Clown said:

Any deeper info on what a "Basic State Machine" is? Is it the code that describes how each firearm operates _and_ how it fits into the animation system?

Edit: A diagram of the MP5 Basic State Machine could help, if there is one?

My assumption based on the definition of the word and some googling (and some background in IT) is that its basically a system that handles every single state and event of the object. eg. states: empty, scope_attached, loaded_scope_attached, loaded_ads_scope_attached etc. NOTE: I COULD BE ENTIRELY WRONG.

@Tatanko I think the old assets are like the old bushes and trees. They might replace them with newer, updated models i think.

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Thank you for the SR.

There will be much discussed about the topic "Vanilla" and about the modding. It sounds to me almost so that the "Vanilla" is nothing for light PVP, no, for me it sounds like a version in which one must have "eggs of steel" in order to exist. I like to take a challenge.

we will see.

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1 hour ago, Baty Alquawen said:

we have to yet figure out some proper names.

Some obvious possibilities?

Castle Starý Západ

Castle Yar

Castle Starý Čechy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for the info!

Enjoy your vacations! :D

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Lot of new exciting things coming up!
Especially looking forward to more crashes being fixed! 

Also appreciate that shout out guys! <3 

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Another great report!  Although I did have to google what the heck Inverse Kinematics was.

 

and whoever created this work of genius

z0foNrq.gif

 

I would gladly buy you a beer.

Edited by GaryWalnuts
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4 hours ago, Baty Alquawen said:

...along with figuring out names for new locations or locations that are worth naming and were not yet named.

Name proposition for this village -> http://www.dayztv.com/map/#6.081.038

Diddylevka

a RDiddyAU original name, it's one of his favorite villages so he claimed it for him self :D

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4 hours ago, Baty Alquawen said:

When you launch DayZ and open the server browser, you will find yourselves on the Official servers tab. If you select the „favorited“ checkbox, only the official servers which you have added to your favourites will be displayed. If you change to Community tab and select „favorited“, you will see your favorite Community servers only.

 

I find this only an irritation, as I'm not interested in playing on the official servers. Ghosting, server hopping, no maintained ban lists, no active admins and no regular server community. Woo. I'd rather have the option to list either official, community, or all server types, all on the same tab.

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     Is there an estimated time for .63? What kinds of progress has there been with the new team structure on .63? What tech can we rest assured will be in the earliest iterations of .63?

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@Baty Alquawen

Epic!

You must be the Uber Girl I hoped you were....

Vincent Vega in your SR this week?

I think I will go ahead and buy another DayZ SA License...just because you did that.

Love It!

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Love to see people fail to read at the serverbrowser to find their servers while knowing all sorts of tricks and glitches ingame! (saw me struggeling too)

I personly started my DayZ's in November last year and i wished the Serverbrowser was there back then. As a NoobBambi i was standing in front of a wall of 1000's Servers. You know, i spent weeks to find out where to go (servers) and how its ment to be played beside my stumbleing and laughing about "how silly i could die".

As a BambiNoob you will first see a handfull of official servers an you take one with good Ping and propper poupulation. Hard enough for the first dayz. If that gets you bored, you will find other servers in the "hidden" tabs. Many servers are too insane to start off with. I personly hope to see more freaky servers espezialy when modding comes in! 

I want:

1 Harcore-survival-server-without weapons / for the harcore survival.

1 Arcade-deathmatch-spawnwithgear server / for short sessions

X Modded servers / for exploring new maps

X Awsome servers i cannot imagine yet

The filter is one thing, but the tabs make clear on what servers you can share your Toon!

I personly would like to see :

---Offline---Official---Public---Private---Modded---another absolute crazy stuff i could not imagine yet!---

 

P.s.: The sound got even better specialy the static soundeffects bound to trees and branches knocking. Scary sht when playing with 7.1Headphones. I have to turn 7.1 off from time to time to get my heartbeat a little down. The overlaping of sounds from different areas needs to be tweaked.

Got serious problems with cars driving on railroad tracks and forrest-roads in the west. There are invisible rocks which are only effects AI's and cars. I crshed so many cars because of that. Same like in Pustoshka next to the shop.

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On 7/11/2017 at 6:40 PM, Five_Seven_Clown said:

Any deeper info on what a "Basic State Machine" is? Is it the code that describes how each firearm operates _and_ how it fits into the animation system?

Edit: A diagram of the MP5 Basic State Machine could help, if there is one?

 

On 7/11/2017 at 7:16 PM, Tatanko said:

Will we be seeing any more details about this? :)

I can't tell you more now guys.

 

 

On 7/11/2017 at 9:12 PM, GaryWalnuts said:

Another great report!  Although I did have to google what the heck Inverse Kinematics was.

  Hide contents

and whoever created this work of genius

z0foNrq.gif

 

I would gladly buy you a beer.

I am looking forward to a beer from you! :D

 

 

On 7/11/2017 at 11:18 PM, koffeekage said:

     Is there an estimated time for .63? What kinds of progress has there been with the new team structure on .63? What tech can we rest assured will be in the earliest iterations of .63?

We're not providing estimates. I can't tell you more about 0.63. You need to wait for future Status Reports. 

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On 11.07.2017 at 6:22 PM, Baty Alquawen said:

tourist trails

Does that mean we will get something like this:

Szczecin-Kleskowo_PTTK_trails_2006.jpg

would be cool to have tourist / hiking / bike trails with markings like this throughout Chernarus that guide you to different locations.

Edited by Drake84pl
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41 minutes ago, Drake84pl said:

would be cool to have tourist / hiking / bike trails with markings like this throughout Chernarus that guide you to different locations.

Trail markers for forest navigation!   +1

You should definitely put that in the suggestion forum 

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58 minutes ago, Drake84pl said:

would be cool to have tourist / hiking / bike trails with markings like this throughout Chernarus that guide you to different locations.

Yes please. The less I need to consult a map, the more immersed I feel.

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6 hours ago, GaryWalnuts said:

Trail markers for forest navigation!   +1

You should definitely put that in the suggestion forum 

Hmm...Yeah, that would be pretty sweet...

But then I think you would see a less formidable wilderness. Players would be less likely to get lost or turned around and let's face it....the KOS Campers out there would LOVE to have a designated trail to pick off explorers.

For those reasons I would vote no on additional way finding in the forests.

I do, though, really hope we will be able to use nails to post notes on trees! Players can remove them, of course...but it might kick-start the more widespread use of notes!

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25 minutes ago, philbur said:

I do, though, really hope we will be able to use nails to post notes on trees! Players can remove them, of course...but it might kick-start the more widespread use of notes!

I also hope they get that working again soon, for a while there we could throw paper against trees and it would stick but sadly would get reclaimed by the CLE rather quickly.  On that note I'd also like to see a slightly different or darker icon for paper that has been written on, so it can be distinguished from spawned paper or ammo paper.

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11 hours ago, GaryWalnuts said:

I also hope they get that working again soon, for a while there we could throw paper against trees and it would stick but sadly would get reclaimed by the CLE rather quickly.  On that note I'd also like to see a slightly different or darker icon for paper that has been written on, so it can be distinguished from spawned paper or ammo paper.

"On that note", ha the pun, nice one! And yes we definitely need this in our camp. We needs signs or something. It gets annoying if you need to run in all the tents all the time to see where you can put something away.

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I think the new official servers were a wise move and I feel much more comfortable about the prospect of modding in the future, knowing that the vanilla servers will always be available. This has adressed a concern many veterans have had about the future of dayz for a long time. Great job guys. 

Edited by Solopopo

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On ‎2017‎-‎07‎-‎13 at 7:56 PM, GaryWalnuts said:

I also hope they get that working again soon, for a while there we could throw paper against trees and it would stick but sadly would get reclaimed by the CLE rather quickly.  On that note I'd also like to see a slightly different or darker icon for paper that has been written on, so it can be distinguished from spawned paper or ammo paper.

That has to be one of the upcoming item tweaks...really.

The idea that you can spot if a note has a message on it is just plain cool.

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1 hour ago, Trnc84 said:

Off Topic: @Baty Alquawen will BI have an exhibit at Gamescom next month?

Yes. I will give you more information next Tuesday :).

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On 7/13/2017 at 6:23 PM, Drake84pl said:

Does that mean we will get something like this:

Szczecin-Kleskowo_PTTK_trails_2006.jpg

would be cool to have tourist / hiking / bike trails with markings like this throughout Chernarus that guide you to different locations.

Tourist trails are confirmed.

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