DayZ in 2020

[Greensek 349]

Hello Survivors,   The release of the DayZ Livonia DLC, together with Game Update 1.06, was a big moment for DayZ, and we are delighted to see the positive reception so far. We saw a record number of players enjoying the game around the new year, and were pleasantly surprised by your support in the Steam Awards 2019, where DayZ won the "Better With Friends" category. This news has certainly given us a lot of motivation for the new year, and as things are already moving forward fast, it is time we talk about DayZ in 2020. But before delving into that, let's talk about the changes in our development team. As outlined in our Bohemia in 2019 blog post, Enfusion technology will power all of Bohemia Interactive's future titles, and to support it, some team members moved to work fully on it last June, leaving DayZ with a much smaller development team consisting of seasoned developers across various departments. While this change has obviously affected the overall development, make no mistake, the team is full of passionate people who want to make DayZ the best game it can be with the time and resources available. We are happy with what we achieved in 2019, and we are very excited about 2020. So, what about 2020? The most important thing is that we are going to continue with the post-release support of DayZ in 2020. But, as last year's schedule was pretty busy for us, we would like to dedicate more time for each update this year and thus will leave bigger gaps between the updates to make sure we have more time to prepare for all platforms, which leaves us currently at 5 Game Updates planned for this year. This year, the development will focus on stability, bug fixing, and gameplay improvements, along with some new small-scale content. Please keep in mind that our policy on announcing exact release dates – or when a feature is coming – will not change. We will only make said announcements when we are certain we can deliver within a reasonable time frame – which usually means a feature is already well into its production. Stability Last year, we had ups and downs regarding the stability of both clients and servers on all platforms. We will continue to monitor this and take any action necessary to ensure the best possible gameplay experience for our players. Bug fixing DayZ is a complex beast of a game and bug fixing is a constant necessity – therefore, we'll continue our best efforts to squash as many bugs as we can. The last Game Update introduced some major issues with the inventory manipulations, so fixing this is our top priority with the next Game Update. We are also well aware of several issues tied to the vehicle handling (e.g. physics, simulation) in the game, and we are looking into the options we have to tackle these. Gameplay improvements There are several features in DayZ that are in dire need of improvement and/or balancing. We do have a huge library of items and a lot of versatile systems already implemented, but many of them are heavily underused. There is huge potential here as these changes often impact the gameplay in a big way, and so we intend to continue our efforts in going through various systems, focusing strongly on the survival aspect of the game. To give you a few examples of areas we intend to look into: Base Building is a big part of the game for many of you and we intend to focus on fixing most common issues, proceed with the overall balance pass, and perhaps even add some new toys to play with. The impact of the environment on characters is not yet in the state we want it to be, and so we intend to proceed with numerous improvements and balancing changes to make the so called "environment exposure" a much more interesting part of the game. We intend to make several quality-of-life improvements for cooking by, for example, implementing direct cooking slots (grill), adjusting lifetimes of different fireplace stages, and even offering more types of indoor ovens. We also intend to look into the systems surrounding diseases and their symptoms to make sure they are better balanced, utilised, and perhaps even expand them a bit. Modding support Modding is a huge part of the game and we intend to continue supporting the needs of our very creative community. Every Game Update contains several additions or changes to support various community creations. To give you some examples of what are we looking at in terms of modding: We will unlock the server mission folder for full modifications on console community servers. This should give console server owners total control over the Central Economy and the ability to add custom locations to the existing maps. We will release our animation rig in fbx format and p3d samples of male and female character body parts. As teased in our 2019 blog post about the game update, we intend to finalise the full implementation of the server browser with full mod support in the official DayZ Launcher. If all goes through, this launcher update will significantly improve the accessibility to modded servers. New content While we will prioritise stability, bug fixing, and improving/balancing existing features this year, it does not necessarily mean there won't be anything new coming to the game. To keep the Game Updates interesting enough (for both you and us), we need to mix things up from time to time by adding something new between our bug-squashing and system-adjusting efforts. We can provide a few examples, which you can expect in 2020: We intend to continue adding more of the original and/or new firearms into the game. We know how important broken body parts (legs in particular) are to the overall DayZ experience, and we intend to bring this mechanic back to the game. We know how much you like the new vehicle wrecks on Livonia, so we will add them to Chernarus.   And finally, let's take a quick look at the upcoming Game Update 1.07, slated for release this February. This one is a bit lighter than usual, as its primary focus is on delivering much-needed fixes to the inventory issues (introduced with the Game Update 1.06). But it also introduces the first batch of fixes, balancing, and improvements for Base Building. There are also improvements for the nighttime lighting (giving options to server owners), amusement parks on Chernarus, a new weapon, general balancing, bug fixing, and various goodies for our modding community. We have got experimental servers already running the build, so if you own DayZ on PC, please hop on these and let us know how it went on the official forums and the feedback tracker. On behalf of the DayZ team, Adam.

[GrosTon1 26]

Congratulations to Adam, happy he's the new Project Lead, he's passionate.

Any news regarding Linux servers ? Is it totally dropped ?

[Xenophon- 18]

Can we expect more console server logs with 1.07? I spoke privately with your twitter handler and they said it was being worked on already. I'm not sure we can wait until 1.08, most of us community owners are a bit fed up with the lack of information surrounding this and other things. 

Edited January 31, 2020 by Xenophon-

[0.64 Freerider 261]

Dear DayZ-enthusiasts (which I'm sure everyone on this forum is),

today we have recieved some official information on what is roughly planned for DayZ Development in the year of 2020. I will quote sections and comment on them but in case you want to read the whole thing for yourself (which I recommend you do) give it a read here https://forums.dayz.com/topic/247543-dayz-in-2020/

Before getting into it though, I want to clarify that the information is quite shocking to me personally and has almost entirely confirmed my worst expectations. But now, let's get into the details:

#1 Starting off...

Quote

As outlined in our Bohemia in 2019 blog post, Enfusion technology will power all of Bohemia Interactive's future titles, and to support it, some team members moved to work fully on it last June, leaving DayZ with much smaller development team consisting of seasoned developers across various departments. While this change has obviously affected the overall development, make no mistake, the team is full of passionate people who want to make DayZ the best game it can be with the time and resources available. We are happy with what we achieved in 2019, and we are very excited about 2020.

Already we start off with a BROKEN PROMISE. What promise? Well, in the status report of November 6th 2018 [https://forums.dayz.com/topic/240625-status-report-6-november-2018] former Lead Producer Eugen Harton promised the following on behalf of Bohemia Interactive:

Quote

Is there any team restructuring going on after the 1.0 release? Are DayZ developers going to be assigned to other teams at Bohemia?

No, we are keeping the same resources as we had this year for the year ahead. To be precise, it's 86 people working on DayZ right now

Now we have learned that the dev team was reduced mid year, in June, to a "much smaller development team".

#2 ...continuing...

Quote

So, what about 2020? The most important thing is that we are going to continue with the post-release support of DayZ in 2020. But, as last year's schedule was pretty busy for us, we would like to dedicate more time for each update this year and thus will leave bigger gaps between the updates to make sure we have more time to prepare for all platforms, which leaves us currently at 5 Game Updates planned for this year.

"Post-release support". I'm sure, that every true DayZ fan who has been with this game for years and years is sick and tired of this phrasing. But in fact you don't even have to be a die hard fan of the game concept for that. Because it should be clear to anyone that what they did is ridiculous: They release an unfinished, featurewise barebones and in many ways non-functional game. Then they call it 1.0 as in "finished", scaring off any returning players in the process. And then they call the continuation of development "support". It is ridiculous and it makes me want to puke.

#3...going on...

Quote

This year, the development will focus on stability, bug fixing, and gameplay improvements, along with some new small-scale content. Please keep in mind that our policy on announcing exact release dates – or when a feature is coming – will not change. We will only make said announcements when we are certain we can deliver within a reasonable time frame – which usually means a feature is already well into its production.

Interesting, that a game that is now only getting so called "Post-release support" needs stability, bug fixing and gameplay improvements, isn't it?! "Some new small-scale content." is what we are being told is planned for 2020. I'm not going to list to you the many features and the vast amount of content missing from the game. Alot of people have done that on these forums.

But what I will point you to, is the "The OFFICIAL list of PROMISED FEATURES as of 2018" which I have made a post about, give it a read here if you like, but I have quoted the important section below: https://forums.dayz.com/topic/245310-the-official-list-of-promised-features-as-of-2018a-reminder/

Here are the features that were officially planned for the game:

Quote

EXCERPT FROM OFFICIAL STATUS REPORT "Status Report - 23 October 2018" [https://forums.dayz.com/topic/240439-status-report-23-october-2018/]

Features and improvements planned for BETA/1.0, or originally in 0.62, but moved post 1.0

• Helicopters 🔲
  • we've arrived at the decision that base building implementation will provide enough of an end goal for players, so helicopters can be added later on
• Climbing over obstacles ✅
  •  this feature required additional programming and animation support that we've decided to invest more effectively into other parts of the game 
• Throwing items ✅
  • throwing requires a lot of additional specialist work on physics and network synchronization, and we'd rather invest that into vehicles and other features
  • this includes throwable weapons like grenades or smoke grenades
• Bows 🔲
  • the implementation of bows means an introduction of a completely new weapon type on 0.63 and was always a risky goal, in the end unfortunately not achievable in 2018; we've invested the programming time into gun play, melee combat, vehicles and other core features that were more important
• Character and infected ragdoll 🔲
  • unfortunately, there are many network synchronization cases that we need to resolve and implementing ragdolls in combination with death animations will require more time and resources
• Two-way doors 🔲
  • while a huge quality of life improvement, changing the doors to two way opening will require additional rework of some of the assets, and is not achievable in 2018
• Fishing and fish traps 🔲, decaying bodies ✅, carrying characters 🔲, contaminated areas 🔲, item coloring 🔲 etc.  
  • these are considered flavor features and for now, work on core gameplay features was prioritized instead

 

As we can see, some of these feature goals have been met in 2019, but the scary thing is that there is no mention of developing any of those in 2020. We now know, that the development team for DayZ has been significantly reduced in size

#4 ...last but not least.

Quote

New content

While we will prioritise stability, bug fixing, and improving/balancing existing features this year, it does not necessarily mean there won't be anything new coming to the game. To keep the Game Updates interesting enough (for both you and us), we need to mix things up from time to time by adding something new between our bug-squashing and system-adjusting efforts. We can provide a few examples, which you can expect in 2020:

• We intend to continue adding more of the original and/or new firearms into the game.
• We know how important broken body parts (legs in particular) are to the overall DayZ experience, and we intend to bring this mechanic back to the game.
• We know how much you like the new vehicle wrecks on Livonia, so we will add them to Chernarus.

You've read correctly, that is the COMPLETE quote of the "New content" section in this post. They "intend" to add more firearms. They "intend" to bring back broken body parts and they will bring over vehicle wrecks to Chernarus. That's it. Take your time and digest this. This is all we get for planned new content in 2020.

All I have left is the hope, that someone will come out and just tell me reading this "DayZ in 2020" was a bad dream and that they plan to fulfill their goals and bring back all of the features on the list, if not more in 2020. But think of it. If this is what they set as a goal for 2020, then what is 2021 going to look like...?

In short, here's what it looks like to me. After the release of Livonia, DayZ is not going to make them anymore big time money. They reduce the DayZ staff, so it survives barely on life support. They release a plan for 2020 with some "goals" that nobody can track as to when it's achieved. They pull the plug end of 2020.

Edited January 31, 2020 by 0.64 Freerider

[Gobbokirk 546]

We know how important broken body parts (legs in particular) are to the overall DayZ experience, and we intend to bring this mechanic back to the game.

Thank you!!!

[SuperOneFire 6]

where are the fucking helicopters?

[HowsMyShot 20]

Modding is something everyone looking forward

[Gadget_97 28]

I feel like the higher-ups at BI (Marek Španěl...) must be laughing at us. Believers of the first promises, no one can deny it anymore, we have been bamboozled. 

Thanks for telling us the truth though. 

Edited January 31, 2020 by Gadget_97

[Cravez 21]

Firstly, congrats to Adam, definitely the right man for the job, has been involved with DayZ since the OG days, I hope the pressure won't be too much! Secondly, I'm happy to at least see a plan laid out, especially with broken limbs going to make a return. However it was said that all remaining old and planned new content and features in scope of the original roadmaps were to be re-added over the next two years after the 1.0 release, with 1.0 being a push out of Early Access and the game on a more stable platform but still unfinished, then the first year (2019) was meant to be primarily stability, bug fixing and optimizations with 2020 being the feature/content heavy year. But it seems 2020 is again going to focus on stability, bug fixing and optimizations with not much news on remaining features/content.

I think it would be good to know if:

• Are air vehicles (helicopter/plane) hopefully planned this year?
• Are single track vehicles such as bicycles and motorcycles hopefully planned this year?
• Are bows and crossbows hopefully returning this year?
• Non-lethal weapons? (tasers, dart gun)
• Environmental Exposures (Radiation)?
• Barricading?
• Infected breaking down doors?

Also are there further plans along with the broken bodyparts if the health system and ballistic damages will be overhauled to be more simulated rather than "gamey" as it is currently?

I want this post to sound as constructive as possible, a year of content/feature drought especially for those that were originally in the game will make it a slow year for many, annoying for some. I think being a bit more forthward about issues of feature/content delivery, even if it's not in layman's terms, would help at least reassure the community that such features/content are at the very least on the radar.

[0.64 Freerider 261]

This post was my post you may have read above. It was moved here because I wasn't allowed to have my own discussion about this subject.

Edited January 31, 2020 by 0.64 Freerider

[wype 13]

9 minutes ago, SuperOneFire said:

where are the fucking helicopters?

word by wordy the first thing that came to mind after reading the article.

 

But after letting the article sink in for a moment, i have a points to talk about.

The december article kinda raised my hope for 2020 when it said

Quote

With 2020 around the corner, we are finishing our new roadmap, and we will share our goals, highlight the key updates, and talk a bit about this second year of post-release support

Sounded promising. But then...

Quote

So, what about 2020? The most important thing is that we are going to continue with the post-release support of DayZ in 2020.

That is the most important thing about 2020? To mention that the support will continue... well... 
The PC release was a little over a year ago, followed by the final console relase in may. Given the amount of basic things that are still missing or heavily bugged, i never considered that post-release support would be stopped anyway.
At least inventory, vehicles (air vehicles in particular) and basic medical systems like broken bones should be in a working condition before the development cycle ends. That's just the bare minimum this game should offer, or does anyone see this different?

I was kinda looking forward to see a new roadmap or at least to read about upcoming updates. But there was almost nothing to look forward to in the whole article.
The topics "Stability" and "Bug fixing" can be summed up with "we will try to fix the most obvious problems" - that was to be expected.
"Gameplay improvements" can simplified to slight improvements about basebuilding, diseases, cooking and vague hints about "environment exposure".

"Modding support" is actually a nice thing to hear, i got nothing to complain about this section of the article.

And then finally "New content" ! *drumroll* We will get "more of the original and/or new firearms", broken bones and "new vehicle wrecks on Livonia".

So when my friends ask me "whats gonna happen to DayZ in 2020?" i can tell em "They will try to fix stuff and add Livonia car wrecks to Chernarus. Basebuilding, diseases and cooking might get some love aswell".
Everything else was to be expected. Fixing stuff and continuing to add stuff that was already in the game at some point (like guns and broken bones).
 

And after writing all this, the quote i started with keeps popping up in my head again 😅

[Crowdolskee 26]

Can someone explain what this part means to a console scrub:

"We will release our animation rig in fbx format and p3d samples of male and female character body parts."

[wype 13]

Just now, Crowdolskee said:

Can someone explain what this part means to a console scrub:

"We will release our animation rig in fbx format and p3d samples of male and female character body parts."

Mod creators can use sample files to create more modded stuff.

[Undeceived 22]

I'm sorry but "post-release support" just feels out of place and totally wrong. Instead I'd say that you're still completing the release.

With that said it's really sad to see the priority (ressources) going elsewhere. This is really disappointing and feels like a partly abandonment - certainly not full commitment as it should be (remembering the promises and seeing what is still missing in the game). Instead we read about intentions, like if you aren't sure you can do it. So you try to reduce the expectations.

Sorry to say that, but as a die-hard BI fanboy since OFP this report just feels frustrating...

 

EDIT:

I hope that you prove me wrong, but seeing the facts you write (ressource shifting + "small scale content") I feel pessimistic. How long shall your customers wait for the game to be complete?

Edited January 31, 2020 by Undeceived

[Crowdolskee 26]

so nothing about increased crafting options? Dying, spray painting...etc? The ability to craft clothes, and makeshift items? More vehicles? Bow and arrow? Why are they reducing the dev team when this game needs so much work, and it has so much potential! Take a risk on DayZ, BI...if you invested some more in to this game you could make it really amazing, and make even more money on it. 

Edited January 31, 2020 by Crowdolskee

[Undeceived 22]

I read the article again and this time this quote really left a bad taste...

Quote

While this change has obviously affected the overall development, make no mistake, the team is full of passionate people who want to make DayZ the best game it can be with the time and resources available.

As if you wanted to write "with the time and resources left", but weren't allowed.

 

Sorry, this might be unfair, but reading this article with the whole year still ahead of us it pretty much knocked me out... 😒

[Kirov (DayZ) 585]

"Post-release support"?? "Some new small-scale content"??

So, just to make it straight - goodbye to leather clothes, trucks and bikes? New ovens but no tea/coffee/rice? No overhaul of AI behaviour (from door bashing zeds to interesting hunting options)? No overhaul of soft skills?

2019 was not that bad, all things considered, but this 'roadmap' is really soul-crushing to me. I haven't been worried this much about DayZ since December 2018, or what the team apparently refer to as 'the release'.

 

BI, at least please knock it off with that 'post-release' joke, you basically rub salt in open wounds.

[juggernaut9631 2]

dayz in 2020 is still behind arma 2 mod... AMAZING GET ON THE HYPE TRAIN GUYS WE'RE GETTING 8 YEARS OLD STUFF NOW WOOOOHOOOOO

Spoiler

still no word on vehicle fixes and aerial vehicles gg

 

[IMT 3190]

Ah yes, the 2020 roadmap. Except this isn't really a roadmap. Perhaps you guys at BI need to do some research as to what a roadmap is. And on top of that, it's extremely disappointing. Plus you also admitted that you've lied to us. Also, post-release support usually means fixing a few bugs already present but mainly concentrate on adding new content, you guys are doing the exact opposite.

What a joke. DayZ Development: Lies and Deceptions, it's a new book written by BI, now available in your local bookshop.

Edited January 31, 2020 by IMT

[juggernaut9631 2]

7 minutes ago, Kirov (DayZ) said:

"Post-release support"?? "Some new small-scale content"??

So, just to make it straight - goodbye to leather clothes, trucks and bikes? New ovens but no tea/coffee/rice? No overhaul of AI behaviour (from door bashing zeds to interesting hunting options)? No overhaul of soft skills?

2019 was not that bad, all things considered, but this 'roadmap' is really soul-crushing to me. I haven't been worried this much about DayZ since December 2018, or what the team apparently refer to as 'the release'.

 

BI, at least please knock it off with that 'post-release' joke, you basically rub salt in open wounds.

mate everyone who worked on dayz when it was great and they had ideas is gone now brian eugene peter all gone the game is f*cked what they talked about years ago aint happening they are out of money (look at livonia dlc recycled a3 map) and lead devs knew that shit is going to be bad so they left. for how many years they hyped up "we can't wait till engine work is done so we can finally start making the game" and once engine is "done" they all leave BI hmmm 🤔

its lost cause and not even mods can make this game great, they can improve it for sure but it will never be better than the mod

[Fixthegame 14]

This one is a bit lighter than usual, as its primary focus is on delivering much-needed fixes to the inventory issues (introduced with the Game Update 1.06)

Modding support console

Thanks

 

[Kirov (DayZ) 585]

17 minutes ago, juggernaut9631 said:

mate everyone who worked on dayz when it was great and they had ideas is gone now brian eugene peter all gone the game is f*cked what they talked about years ago aint happening they are out of money (look at livonia dlc recycled a3 map) and lead devs knew that shit is going to be bad so they left. for how many years they hyped up "we can't wait till engine work is done so we can finally start making the game" and once engine is "done" they all leave BI hmmm 🤔

its lost cause and not even mods can make this game great, they can improve it for sure but it will never be better than the mod

Between bears, fishing, storms, some interesting work on the medical system, as well as high hopes for tanning, bows, notes and better zeds, I kept what you can call 'cautious optimism' towards the further development. And I saw little point in constant shitting on the devs' heads, for that matter. But now... now I need a drink.

Have a nice Friday night, survivors.

[Asmondian 359]

I think this confirms what many of us have suspected for over a year:

• The development team was decimated long ago. They've lied to us numerous times about this (BI and the Devs).
• The project development probably already has an end date ("with the time and resources left")
• Dayz is just a residual product of a Company Engine development. A forever WIP hybrid game with a full-release label on it. 
• The game financed this Engine and diverted its resources to this overall goal, using fake roadmaps ("little bird = Definetly for 1.0") and disguising misleading advertising on the grounds of "developmental unpredictability" to maintain the source of income (Dayz players).
• We are going to keep hearing euphemisms such as "Post-release support" when the game is no even a BETA on its core (Engine). It's ridiculous.
• Using the "we intend" is just another way to cover liabilities when this does not happen in the future. Broken bones was intended in 2019 too.
• Less devs and less resources will limit the ability to create any new content (Helicopters, bows...). This will also delay the updates and the game will enter into a life support mode.
• Not a very exiting year for content creators either because of the lack of - actual - new content. They will probably migrate to other games and and it will no longer be economically profitable paying some of them for advertising.
• After the Livonia DLC, there aren't too many alternatives to keep getting money from Dayz.
• Modding continues to be the main resource for adding that essential " flavour " that they used to underestimated in the face of a very week vanilla experience. Console players think they would be able to have all the modded content that they see in PC players streams when its actually server side scripting (Lets expect more deathmatch kind of servers to further enhance the Dayz experience s/)
• There is no roadmap in this article, but what would be the point?

Anyway, the game had its high points and I personally enjoyed it at the time. It's just sad to see this increasingly common phenomenon of the video game industry (companies) laughing in the face of its players and using rather reprehensible methods of financing and false advertising.

Edited January 31, 2020 by Asmondian

[FunkInYourTrunk 354]

it is a sad day for me to read the 2020 roadmap andnot see the word bow anywhere.  craftable weapons are a favorite of mine and all we have now is a stone knife

 

im so dissapointed

[juggernaut9631 2]

dayz is waste of resources for BI their staff has been reduced (dont tell me 60 people cant get more than 2 guns per update in and other content) the engine switch was huge mistake they lost tons of money, time and got subpar game engine in result

now im just waiting whats up with arma 4 because this pos engine cant handle 5 fucking cars how will it work with 150 vehicles on the map and ai

i used to defend dayz too but once i saw .63 i knew it was gg from that moment on