Moving dayz away from arma and really making it its own game

[Matthew Bower 10]

I think this has been the focus of the devs for a long while now. Alot of people don't understand how that goal and having to reinvent/script every aspect of a game can stall out content creation. They are hard at work I am sure. Just a quick shout out to the people making this game what it is. Keep it moving. I have a few suggestions that I feel are right in line with the games current direction. Things that would change the way the game is played.

First things

Journals. Personal to every survivor. Log your adventures in your downtime. Can only be looted and read when you kill a player. When used correctly it will give players insight into the routines and patterns of other survivors. If you collect journals from players they are saved and again lootable when you die. Almost comparable to a dogtag.

Cameras. Some sort of polaroid or similar camera to take pictures in game. Can be added to the journal entries.

Maps. Let us mark and write on maps also can be clipped and added to journal entries. Ruins map.

Now i know there used to be pens and i think graphitti. Feel like doing something more focused towards telling our stories would be neat for the game as opposed to just writing vulgar notes and painting penis's everywhere. 

 

Doors. Would love to see doors swing both ways. Warzone had the doors done nice with that peak function and leaving doors open and free swinging. Feel like this is def a feature we could use in dayz. 

Cars/trucks. Make them despawn after being untouched for (x) dayz. Prevent people from hoarding them and leaving them rotting in bases. Would love to see a mechanic that lets you lock a car thats fully assembled and secured. Of course make it so it can be broken into but atleast this way we would have safe guards against someone trying to stealthily steal your ride.

Infected. I think they should respond to gunshots at much greater distances. If i hear the gun shots I feel like every infected should too. Make them all gravitate back to their spawn location after a short time. Think part of this is they aren't moving very fast. They are neandering towards the gunfire not rushing to it. Feel like this would make for some good fun. Forming small hordes and they would disperse eventually returning home. Make them run straight to the location the heard the shot come from. Hearing another shot resets their timer to return home. 

Birds. Static birds flying out of trees and flying away when players disturb bushes. Randomly populates bushes with these events. Not too much but just for fun i think this would be good. Seeing a swarm of birds flying away from trees in the distance after hearing a gun shot. Could be neat. I know people are saying they should add huntable birds to go with the sounds in the forests. This would be better i think.

Adding any items to the game just makes other items spawning less likely. So any new craftable items would be great in the sense that it wouldn't put more strain on item spawning probabilities. Crafting on here is great we need alot more of it.

Bows bikes crossbows slingshots motobikes boats. All good ideas i see alot of talk about. 

I wish we could throw certain items as weapons (spears/stones/knives)

Anyways keep up the good work hoping to see great things.

[General Zod 1118]

4 hours ago, Matthew Bower said:

Doors. Would love to see doors swing both ways. Warzone had the doors done nice with that peak function and leaving doors open and free swinging. Feel like this is def a feature we could use in dayz. 

Most door don't swing both ways and I don't see a reason why they should in game.

4 hours ago, Matthew Bower said:

Infected. I think they should respond to gunshots at much greater distances. If i hear the gun shots I feel like every infected should too. Make them all gravitate back to their spawn location after a short time. Think part of this is they aren't moving very fast. They are neandering towards the gunfire not rushing to it. Feel like this would make for some good fun. Forming small hordes and they would disperse eventually returning home. Make them run straight to the location the heard the shot come from. Hearing another shot resets their timer to return home. 

Yes, there has been so many times when I saw infected ignore firefights that any player would consider dangerously close. 

4 hours ago, Matthew Bower said:

Birds. Static birds flying out of trees and flying away when players disturb bushes. Randomly populates bushes with these events. Not too much but just for fun i think this would be good. Seeing a swarm of birds flying away from trees in the distance after hearing a gun shot. Could be neat. I know people are saying they should add huntable birds to go with the sounds in the forests. This would be better i think.

They already make noise when a player passes nearby. 

 

I'm not sold on the journal idea, I highly doubt most players would devote time to sit down and start typing in game memoirs. And no one would go ahead and write down the paths they travel through because that's asking for someone to ambush you. Not that the map is so big to have many unused paths anyway, most people travel via the shortest and safest route possible, there isn't that much variation possible. 

[Matthew Bower 10]

What I meant with birds flying out of bushes and tree. Not actually birds one could shoot interact with in anyway. I mean a special effect that would be able to be seen by anyone. A very rare chance when sprinting through bushes for example. When shooting firearms a slightly higher chance to triggers flocks on the tall trees very close to the source of the gunshot. (You hear a gunshot and look off in the distance towards the sounds. see a very brief special effect in the general area of the gunshot birds scattering from the trees.)

I feel this sort of random visual/audio would really add to the environment. Players knowing this might take care to not disturb bushes too much while avoiding players. Players would have new ways to track players thus increasing player-player  engagement.

I already feel like wolves spawn in at the most inopportune moments. Part of this game is surviving the world. Little give aways that someone is nearby. Not being limited to footsteps, gunfire, and voice. Could be a whole lot of fun.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Matthew Bower

[General Zod 1118]

I figured, it's a good idea, but considering potato like performance of the server and the sheer amount of gunfights in this game I'm not sure how that would affect performance. 

[Matthew Bower 10]

2 hours ago, General Zod said:

I figured, it's a good idea, but considering potato like performance of the server and the sheer amount of gunfights in this game I'm not sure how that would affect performance. 

That's why I think it needs to be a very rare instance. like 5%. Shoot a gun 5% chance tall trees within 50 meters would have a chance to play the sounds and animate the flock of birds scattering from the tree with a long cooldown. Running through the forest skirting the edge of a town. You would be fine crouch walking/running, but sprinting through bushes would have abuse the same chance to cause a disturbance and possibly alerting nearby players by sound or visual effect. Also above everything else. Why this is a great idea. Because all the anxiety it would cause players. Also I feel like with all the gunfights and explosions a simple static visual effect like birds shouldn't be to demanding on servers and game performance. Sounds don't cause much lag right? With a cool down on trees playing the effect it wouldnt cause too much spam of birds. Maybe not a timer for when the tree triggers the effect/sound but from the trees roll on playing them. Cooldown regardless of whether it plays or not. Would be balanced and realistic non game breaking avoidable immersive. 

Edit: They could make random branches snap while creeping in the woods and I would be all for it. I'm in the game for the realism.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Matthew Bower

[General Zod 1118]

So I just did some google searching, and it turns out other players can't hear the bird noises you trigger while walking around. What sort of stupidity is this. 

[Matthew Bower 10]

6 hours ago, General Zod said:

So I just did some google searching, and it turns out other players can't hear the bird noises you trigger while walking around. What sort of stupidity is this. 

Yeah I know that's such a shame but understandable as it is supposed to just be like a touch of detail to the game. Having player triggered event like birds flying away trigs and branches randomly snapping and crap. It could be really neat and give this game such an amazing look and feel.

[Former Echo Trooper 8]

I like the idea of a covey of quail flushing out of the bush you’re walking through. IRL this can cause quite a jump scare. Same when a flock of turkeys are pushed off the tree they’re roosting in. As for the cracking branches, squirrels sound HUGE in the woods.