Status Report 7 November 2017

[Baty Alquawen 3688]

This week, we have Brian remembering the struggles he experienced during his modding days - and looking forward to how the DayZ Standalone modding will make things a lot easier. Eugen is providing a thorough recap of our recent progress, we're introducing our scripter Boris Vacula and his work on particle effects, and Baty is announcing the winners of our wee Halloween screenshot contest! Let's dig into it, Survivors!

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Contents This Week

• Dev Update/Brian
• Dev Update/Eugen
• Dev Update/Boris
• Community Spotlight

 

Dev Update/Brian

As we approach the entry into the BETA phase of DayZ's development, I am reminded of how things were back in 2012 as we worked on the original Survivor GameZ. Working with Dean to get us early access to upcoming builds of DayZ Mod, and trying to modify the script codebase to match the projects needs. Much like many mod authors back in the day, it was a frustrating experience, trying to create our experience within a framework (Arma 2 scripting code/commands) that was simply not designed for the type of experience we were trying to create.

It is experiences like this that specifically has me so excited for what we'll be able to offer mod authors with DayZ. The project benefits so much from being developed in house by Bohemia Interactive - doing this on in house technology is such a rare opportunity in the grand scheme of things. For both us as developers, mod authors, and you all as passionate advocates of survival in a post apocalyptic world it means a technology base that is designed nearly from the ground up to provide the tools needed to create the experience we've all had our eyes on from day one.

From a more modern and robust animation system offering true layered animations (being able to move and perform an action at the same time, yay!), to a renderer better designed for the large distances and huge amounts of enterable structures and objects drawn at one time, to a more robust and performance conscious scripting language. Making sure that when DayZ leaves principle development and the Early Access program that it provides people in the tradition of all Bohemia titles with tools to tell their own stories is 100% key.

Another thing I wanted to discuss briefly was DayZ's survival mechanics - both in gameplay systems, and in the economy values. I've often received shouts of dismay from both sides of the fence. Things being too easy, and being too hard. Looking at the mechanics we have on the survival side, something we've struggled with often as developers is providing an immersive (sometimes punishingly so) sandbox that has systems that don't frustrate. Paying attention to feedback has been critical, and I don't quite think we've hit the mark just yet with this. 
Far too often, players are forced to manage survival simulation mechanics while trying to engage in the true draw of DayZ, the player interactions. Rather than the survival mechanics serving as a method to drive, and give agency to the player interaction.

In addition to this, the idea of an economy of scarcity should give said agency to players engaging and interacting with each other, but far too frequently, it ends up being a drive to either completely avoid players - or to just destroy them on sight.

I truly hope that as we move into BETA, and begin to see mechanics that give players more of an option and feel of having an impact on the world, that we see the core game loop expand past loot-shoot-survive. As my most memorable experiences in gaming all come from those types of interactions with DayZ, and DayZ Mod.

To achieve this however, we need more than passionate developers. We need to hear from you all. Constructive, and engaging feedback on the systems and mechanics of DayZ that either drive, or hinder player interaction is key - and I hope you all will engage in this more often as we move into BETA. Utilize our official forums, open tickets in the feedback tracker - hell, even post on Reddit and tag Baty. This is as much your game as it is ours.

In closing, I was asked by my partner once: "If you could only play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be?" - and I'll be honest I thought pretty damn hard on this one, but I am proud to say that my answer was a confident "DayZ" - and I hope to still be playing DayZ years from now. Allowing people to tell their own stories, and paint the world with their own brush will help make this a reality.

Much like how development is far more of an orchestra, than one mans solo performance - a strong community is one that gives a voice to the ideas and vision of its members.

Stay safe out there survivors, and remember: mo mic, no life!

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director

 

Dev Update/Eugen

Dear Players,

I'm going to change things up before we continue on our intentions and goals for release. We want to prepare detailed information in a digestible format as far as content and features go that will be available from the get go in the first 0.63 Experimental and BETA. I'm excited about how we can communicate with you in the future.

Today I will focus on things we are currently dealing with, as far as the internal version goes, and its recent development. I do believe it's important to share the steps we are taking to complete this amazing gameplay experience that is so specific to DayZ as a game. Details are crucial in getting things right. And as I said multiple times already, there is only one way out of this: having a good game.

Before we get into the summary, I'd like to point out we have released a security update on our 0.62 experimental branch. I know it might not seems like that important to test, but on the contrary: it's very much so. To increase the incentive on playing experimental servers, we have been discussing the possibility of making some small changes to how the game behaves, making it more interesting to switch between the branches and find a little bit of relief before the release of BETA. All ideas are welcome and I'll be happy to look into any feedback provided.

From a gameplay standpoint, our focus is still on the player features that you might have seen on the DayZ Player Diagram a couple of Status Reports ago. The main issue we are still very much focused on is the fix for rapid zig-zag movement in PvP combat. We want to have a solution that is both visually appealing and on point when it comes to gameplay. Additional, we are looking into more tweaks regarding how the player camera behaves, and experimentation with its new features.

Besides that, that are two major things coming to internal client that haven't been available in the Gamescom demo, just this month. One being prone ranged combat with proper turning on the back, as you move around with your weapon, and second the expansion on melee combat in the form of evades and blocking mechanics. Be aware that things can always change, but we are happy to start working with these as they get play-tested properly. I'm hopeful we can show some early prototypes soon and share the progress on these specific features as we progress further with their implementation.

From a content standpoint, there has been a couple of sound recordings done and more work on the polish of the data gathered, as well as implementation of specific features that will enable us to fill the game with cues and sounds in right situations. Its an crucial stepping stone for bringing atmosphere and tension into moments and stories you'll experience in the world of Chernarus.

Sound is not the only content we are working heavily on, as our firearms team continues to implement one firearm from our list roughly every two weeks. The list of BETA weapons should be covering various firearms across weapon types, their specific uses, their overall quality and more. We expect some changes to the pace of implementation as we add in more complicated firearm mechanics, but we are very happy with how things are going right now, and we will feel comfortable finalizing and sharing the list with you pretty soon.

In the meantime, artists are looking into all the old assets used in-game, and reworking them into a condition that is fit for year 2017, and also fit for the options that we now have regarding the new renderer. Bringing the visual appeal of Chernarus into this century is the main goal here, as DayZ, while still pretty good-looking overall, is certainly lacking some more up to date finesse in certain places. Speaking of Chernarus, work on tourist trails is ongoing, and I can't be more excited after seeing the first internal results. It adds tons of flavor to an already interesting world. Adam will share more as we get closer to some final-ish state of things.

Last but not least, as always, our concern is performance and stability, and we are going through bugs as they get introduced with new content or features. Its not something we take lightly. As you can see, we are trying to cover a lot of things that this game needs in order to introduce the critical changes all of us want to see.

- Eugen Harton / Lead Producer

 

Dev Update/Boris

Greetings survivors! This is my first Status Report so let me quickly write something about myself. I've joined the DayZ dev team as a member of the Bratislava studio 3 years ago. Since then, I work as a scripter / designer and I wrote various systems (both on SQF and Enforce tech). Today, I would like to show you what I am currently working on in regards to firearms mechanics.

Thanks to the new Enfusion technology, scripters now have better ways to handle particle effects. One of the features that heavily relies on this system are weapon muzzle flashes. In DayZ 0.63 and onward, all firearms will shoot unique particle effects depending on various parameters, such as ammo type fired, weapon type used, muzzle attachments used (suppressors, compensators, muzzle brakes or flash hiders) and the damage state of any of these components.

In addition to that, particles can now be generated coming from multiple parts of the weapon. So for example, in addition to seeing typical muzzle flash coming from the rifle's muzzle, you will also see a patch of smoke escaping from the ejector. Or, if some specific muzzle brake is present, the flash will form a star-shape.

Internally, we're currently at the beginning of creating particle effects for each weapon type and muzzle attachment configuration. This will be a long-term continuous process that will require a lot of tweaking to get right. However, we already have a few rough prototypes that we can show:

This system will be fully moddable and with a few simple tweaks, content creators will be able to achieve quite wild results:

- Boris Vacula / Scripter

 

Community Spotlight

Hello everyone in our lovely community!

We are back after two weeks and you have created plenty of awesome community content again!

If you read the latest Status Report, you had two chances to participate in some of our official community activities.

The first thing was an event - The Big Pumpkin Hunt. 50 players split into 4 groups and were tasked to find as many pumpkins as possible in Chernogorsk. The only permitted way to fight was with bare hands and additionally to all that, there were creepy devs running around, scaring and killing the players. The event was quite successful and I am so proud everything was ready in time. I wanted to show you the kill log, but it has more than 5000 lines and I didn't have enough time for it. It should be ready this week though!

The winning PINK team collected 80 pumpkins. Congratulations again!

Fun fact for you - we have placed more than 200 pumpkins around all Chernogorsk in-game, all done by hand. The placement was not scripted at all!

We had several content creators there and they have some screenshots and videos for you.

TRMZ and CamCANTRUN made edits from the event, so you don't need to see the whole thing, just the interesting parts:

But if you want to see everything without any cuts, here is a Twitch VOD by McBaiin.

Watch The Big Pumpkin Hunt - Halloween Event from McBaiin on www.twitch.tv

And we need some screenshots of course. These are by Baroness from the Yellow team:

I really enjoyed the event and I am planning another one, so stay tuned and read the Status Reports for more information.

 

DayZ Noob has a community event for you, it will be a fist fight in Kamy and it sounds awesome, so check it out!

If you have an event coming up as well in the future, just let us know via our DayZ Twitter or Twitter and we'll help to spread the word.

The second thing you could have participated in was a Halloween screenshot competition. And you sent us tons of really amazing screenshots! I was sad we can only choose three winners. I collected 63 votes around the team and we made a decision. So…. The winners are: 

1. DrDeSync

2. PrincessRobotB

 

3. Tsch0sy

Devs chose DrDeSync's screenshot because of the story behind this picture. Group of survivors are resting peacefully around a fire, but there is a creepy killer hiding behind a tree, waiting for the right time to attack. 

I want to thank you all for your nice screenshots, I love all of them. Thank you! 
I will contact the winners this week

 

Now - time for more videos from you!

This one is really great. TiKTac'tical made an amazing cinematic video. You need to see it. Really. Here:

 

Another video is by Axel Hjelmqvist and it will cost you only 1 minute of your time to see it. It is about morning routine of just about every survivor. Wake up, eat some food, drink some water, choose a weapon, kill some zombies and try to survive.

 

And here is an experiment!

Rustycaddy made probably the biggest farm in DayZ ever! 10 random people helped him on a public server, which is amazing! Good people still exist.

 

Do you know Boydy? He is a YouTuber from Australia and he makes interviews with DayZ content creators. This time, it was my turn. Maybe you will be interested. And thank you again Boydy! 

Here comes the riddle time again! 
First, the wall of fame from the last Status Reports riddle, good job: 

• IMT 
• THE MAX BRAND‏  
• Harold Palmer 

 
The next riddle: 
Do you know the name of this camp? 

Answer on our Twitter profile and you can be on the wall of fame next time

 

And that is all from me, I am looking forward to see you in two weeks!

Header image by proxy.

- Baty / Community Manager

 

[odin_lowe 3686]

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Looking forward to 0.63 on experimental!! Keep it up Devs and thanks for everything!!

[kopo79 426]

first...im happy that you want contribute with us with things.....
its a sauna day so i cant really thought this status report completively but...
experimental server with winter theme...no apples...make chickens faster that you cant kill them with your axe....but bow will do it...or gun.
firedrillkit firemaking make it harder....but add lighter to game...(or make matches 20% more common)
and if its not good that chickens is faster...then just make them live in wild randomly.


and player interactions...there is only one change to test it....more infecteds.

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by kopo79

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Thanks devs, all!

Beta gonna be beefy, sweet. :)

[IMT 3190]

Another very information filled Status Report, thank you. What might be a good thing to do is release more video's of new features when you guys feel like it is to a point it's ready for public. By this way you can receive feedback like you guys got from the Gamescom demo. I think that will give beta more positive feedback rather than people get mad or disappointed because they don't like something.

I can't believe we didn't come up with making such a large pumpkin farm, it's so simple yet hard to come up with.

39 minutes ago, Baty Alquawen said:

We need to hear from you all. Constructive, and engaging feedback on the systems and mechanics of DayZ that either drive, or hinder player interaction is key - and I hope you all will engage in this more often as we move into BETA. Utilize our official forums, open tickets in the feedback tracker - hell, even post on Reddit and tag Baty. This is as much your game as it is ours.

I will most certainly give my feedback when the game moves into beta. It's an hard thing to get right because you will have two sides. Getting it right is important so I hope everyone will give their feedback and we will get to a point which follows the game vision but also satisfies the players.

41 minutes ago, Baty Alquawen said:

Before we get into the summary, I'd like to point out we have released a security update on our 0.62 experimental branch. I know it might not seems like that important to test, but on the contrary: it's very much so. To increase the incentive on playing experimental servers, we have been discussing the possibility of making some small changes to how the game behaves, making it more interesting to switch between the branches and find a little bit of relief before the release of BETA. All ideas are welcome and I'll be happy to look into any feedback provided

Other than new content, fixes, etc. you could experiment with some variables. You can release a patch where you change the CLE in certain ways, the environment (like that rain only server) or some other variables you guys want to test out. This will probably interest a few players in testing out these changes.

[Sqeezorz 839]

Thanks for this SR, and @devs thanks, I know that you do not like to let us wait ... it's hard for everyone.

In this SR, the community part entertained me a lot. Beanz for all who contributed.

31 minutes ago, IMT said:

Other than new content, fixes, etc. you could experiment with some variables. You can release a patch where you change the CLE in certain ways, the environment (like that rain only server) or some other variables you guys want to test out. This will probably interest a few players in testing out these changes.

Yes... its after Halloween...give us the pur horror from Infected... not with legs from Usain Bolt, but with two overpowered fists from Mike Tyson... save your life and keep away.

or (for this idea, I will certainly from all players KoS) , --->  AppleTree_Find_Item =FALSE or 0% 

Edited November 7, 2017 by Sqeezorz
Add/add

[Nebulae3 422]

@Boris (DayZ)It`s too much smoke one the last gun animation video - u need to see what u aim at - otherwise I like the particle effects! 

[Tareek_Lb 0]

Sorry for my English in advance.

I have a question about weapons: How many weapons are ready for 0.63? 

Moreover, I think that certainly there are interesting things about this status report but I have the impression that you recycle, you talk to us all the time modding for example. And also Boris tells us about what Peter has already shown us, I'm really disappointed.

Whilewe see improvements, but I liked better the status report where you give us your goals to reach the 0.63, as the status report of June 13 and May 30, for example. I come back from what I said about weapons, we are told that every two weeks a weapon is ready, but at the last news, we know that there is the FNX, CR 75, Makarov, and the UMP45 ( status report of 24 October). Can we have more information? There are about forty weapons that are present on DayZ and if there are only ten that are ready we are still there until the end of 2018.

[Nebulae3 422]

Yeah, we need to speed up weapon implementation - if that is what we`re waiting on for beta. I took a calculator and did some quick math and if we have 20 weapons to implement in the beta 14 days pr weapon *20 = 280 work days.

I`m curious where we are concerning start of base building, UI, sound system, core systems that is essential in the beta client, improved networking concerning desync, because it need to be fluid - no one like desync isssues as we  have in the legacy code.

And most importantly we don`t need all the weapons implemented to start the beta on the experimental branch. 

  

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Nebulae3

[Baroness 462]

@Baty Alquawen thanks for ANOTHER shout out AND for all this dev love to the  content creators of The Village.

 

#1 server worldwide for so many reasons. i love these guys to death!. 

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

Are you saying the MP5-K isn't going to behave like that last gif in the base game? Heresy!

[DannyDog 532]

39 minutes ago, Dancing.Russian.Man said:

Are you saying the MP5-K isn't going to behave like that last gif in the base game? Heresy!

It looks so cool doesn't it?! Imagine applying that to a fire extinguisher. Spraying people down with dry chemicals or shooting holes into it causing large vision obstruction!

@Nebulae3 Also i sorta agree, a weapon roughly every 2 weeks is a bit disconcerting. Though hopefully like you said they don't have to implement all of them straight away.

edit: just realized how funny it is that last status report people got the impression that .63 was coming soon with all the talks about experimental in it, now it's like it'll come next year.

Just found that funny.

Edited November 8, 2017 by DannyDog

[kopo79 426]

Ok...now i managed to read the whole report through and im pleased.im just hoping that discussion here its not gonna be one sided.please devs...stay with us if we are brainstorming the new ideas to experimental servers...

I dont know what is doable and what are the little changes what was on report...but really...some hardcore experimental server could be the one i would like to test.

Changes in this server could be:

No apples at all,because its the winter in chernarus.

Firedrill firemaking to harder.give just 10% change to make fire but make matches a little bit common,just a little.

Chickenz:make them faster that you cannot kill them with melee weapon,you should use bow to hunt them...maybe better change to chickens would be to make them live in wild.

Stoneknife is too powerfull.i have tested it and butchers cleaver gives you less meat compared to stoneknife when skinning the animal...and stoneknife should go ruined quite easily...but it could be easy to find because in enviroment,there should be pieces of glass and metal what you could use as a cutting tool.

Is it hardcore yet??no?

Ok,lets make it a little bit more.

Because winter, its very cold there.

With damaged,non cold resistance clothes you should suffer coldness more easily.casual firemaking,heatpacks and proper winter clothing should be needed.and staying at fire should give you a big warm bonus but it should depend what kind of fire you have.lowest bonus comes from small fireplace at outside.inside houses and craftable stone-fireplace could give biggest and longest lasting warm bonus.

And last one...stop bleeding with rags versus bandages.make it that shirt gives you two rags.but stop bleeding you need to use four rags.bandage usage is just one.

Everyone spawns without any statuses,no hungry,no thirsty.start kit would be road flare and four rags.now you have time to search crucial items for your survival.with roadflare you can lit the fireplace and with four rags you can cure bleeding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by kopo79

[Trnc84 50]

Thanks again Devs for another status report. Things are looking pretty good so far and I'm happy to see a mention of adressing the graphical side of things.

I think that we can all agree that Chernarus is beautiful the way it is but in order to keep up with the times a graphical update would not be out of place.

Also i have to admit that the last gif showcasing the muzzlebrake in star pattern was a little over the top, but I'm sure it will all get tweaked soon.

Beta can't come soon enough!

 

[DannyDog 532]

22 minutes ago, Trnc84 said:

Also i have to admit that the last gif showcasing the muzzlebrake in star pattern was a little over the top, but I'm sure it will all get tweaked soon.

It was meant to be a joke showing the capability of someone going ham on tweaking those values.

[Trnc84 50]

15 minutes ago, DannyDog said:

It was meant to be a joke showing the capability of someone going ham on tweaking those values.

Oh my bad, I seem to have missed the line stating content creators having the ability to achieve wild results.

Well that's good to know because ham they did go lol

Edited November 8, 2017 by Trnc84

[exacomvm 101]

Zig-Zags:
"We want to have a solution that is both visually appealing and on point when it comes to gameplay."

Imo best solution would be to make it realistic maybe in some accelerated way.
Sprinting: if camera moved to a side like 0-90degress the character leans a bit to a side of camera direction. If mouse moved 90-180degrees the character quickly turns around like in this video.
Running: same as sprinting just if camera moved 180degress the character probs turns around while jogging backwards a bit for a sec and starts running normally right before he fully stops.
Walking: I think its done.

 

[GaryWalnuts 1680]

Another great status report!  I'm looking forward to seeing all of the changes in .63 and also seeing some of the old crew again (and some newcomers).

19 hours ago, Baty Alquawen said:

To increase the incentive on playing experimental servers, we have been discussing the possibility of making some small changes to how the game behaves, making it more interesting to switch between the branches and find a little bit of relief before the release of BETA. All ideas are welcome and I'll be happy to look into any feedback provided.

Since .62 experimental is going the way of the dinosaur soon(tm) and the devs still have their data to collect,  why not spice it up a little?  Most of those servers are pretty low-pop anyway now.  It would be interesting to see the devs take one or two servers and load them up with some gimmickery.   Just to draw some curious players in that's all and fill up a server or two.  I'm sure the devs have had conversations along the lines of "imagine what would happen if we did xyz?  the playerbase would outrage!"  Well here's an opportunity to try it.  It's only experimental, it's not going to ruin anyone's stable character, and it's coming to the end of it's life-cycle anyway.

As @kopo79 said, and as a many of the experimental players have eluded to in the past, I'd also be in favor of harsher conditions.

* rainy weather, of course

* remove all canned or prepackaged foods - we have to hunt, farm, or fish for what we eat (and trap too, bring back wire!)

* turn up deer and animal populations a bit to support this (and bring back boars!)

* turn up the zed sensitivity and aggression 

* turn up the possibility of cholera and infections

Basically, do your worst (or best) to keep us on the coast!

[Tigermonk 140]

it takes a couple of more months basically.... 

well as soon as soon as modding becomes a legit thing... and the community brains have a crack at dayz.. content generation will go into overdrive
a mod every 2 weeks with full on functioning features/upgrades both visual and mechanics
because believe it or not folks... we actually have people in this community that worked their asses off well before beta was a thing.. 
and where the devs most certainly got (stole) a few ideas of... 

examples from the mod we had on our dayz mod server.. 



crash site/pile up



^
my home base on our dayz mod server "hippie camp" out in the woods near zelenogorsk 


^
operation 'schoolyard' in cherno after the breakdown of society the militairy took a last stand in one of the school/office buildings in cherno before they abandoned the country for good

lets see if the mods are 100% more epic then these ideas we had back in 2011-2012 with the mod

what do you guys think?

Edited November 8, 2017 by Tigermonk

[pilgrim* 3514]

6 hours ago, kopo79 said:

Chickenz:make them faster that you cannot kill them with melee weapon,you should use bow to hunt them...maybe better change to chickens would be to make them live in wild.

You mean IRL you really never-ever killed a chicken with a machete or a garden hoe or even a spade ? - wow, you've just never lived !!  

(note:  chickens don't live in the wild - you're thinking of pigeons and  snakes and crows and squirrels and woodpeckers and stuff .. )

[St. Jimmy 1631]

First thing I would do is to disable stamina from zombies and increase their running speed to be the same or very close as naked player running. Another thing in my mind is to slow player down when hit bit like in L4D so you can't escape without fighting the zombies around you.

Those things kind of were in the mod already. Something needs to be done in standalone so the player gets tied in combat with the zombies and those two things I mentioned earlier would be step in the right direction.

[kopo79 426]

2 minutes ago, pilgrim* said:

You mean IRL you really never-ever killed a chicken with a machete or a garden hoe or even a spade ? - wow, you've just never lived !!  

(note:  chickens don't live in the wild - you're thinking of pigeons and  snakes and crows and squirrels and woodpeckers and stuff .. )

nope,havent killed chicken ever...just watched too much rocky movies i guess:)

i just thought that maybe chickens would go and leave the villages after when food are out...thats why i thought that maybe you could only find chickens in random places wandering.
 

[pilgrim* 3514]

49 minutes ago, Tigermonk said:

it takes a couple of more months basically....


 

I like the way someone dragged a railway wagon out into the middle of an earth field, did you pull it through the trees? - did that take a whole gang of quads with ropes?
At least you know no one's going to drive off with it, ever.

[Baz88 4]

49 minutes ago, Tigermonk said:

@Tigermonkyou forgot this one. the train tracks heading up north it was in early stage but we made really progress there :D

[Baz88 4]

17 minutes ago, pilgrim* said:

I like the way someone dragged a railway wagon out into the middle of an earth field, did you pull it through the trees? - did that take a whole gang of quads with ropes?
At least you know no one's going to drive off with it, ever.

there was a train track nearby so that explains it and it was an awesome camp that was never found btw :P

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Baz88
misread the statement