Why Are DayZ Mods Better Than Official Content?

[Allan Barcelos 1]

How does Bohemia Interactive justify the lack of developers as talented and dedicated to DayZ as the community’s mod creators? Why does the company continue to release underwhelming updates, while the community consistently delivers far more diverse and engaging content than the developers of the game themselves?

[Sid Debian 152]

10 hours ago, Allan Barcelos said:

How does Bohemia Interactive justify the lack of developers as talented and dedicated to DayZ as the community’s mod creators? Why does the company continue to release underwhelming updates, while the community consistently delivers far more diverse and engaging content than the developers of the game themselves?

Because mods is about to make your desires to life (inside the game), when game dev is about: write tonns of white spaces at the end of the file to get more longer source code for better salary.

Game dev isn't about perfection it's only about the money, that's why you can make the Vsrakal and ask about 2/3 of the game price when map is about only the terrain with few buildings and future states like Limonia (will be thrown away for basically 'free' cost which is not a free (game license increased almost on the cost of Limonia addon).

 

And you will draw your own conclusions.

[Riddick_2K 193]

@Allan Barcelos

And given the way that they (often) manage this game... I think the less they mess with it, the better.
They've already changed it for the worse too many times and too few times I've seen truly useful changes.
If I could go back to when I started (2020), despite some good things done after, I'd prefer to go back to that game as it was and rely solely on mods. Which are many, most of them absurd and useless... but you can choose IF and Which ones to put.
I remain of the opinion that this game is so successful mainly for the universe of mods that revolves around it, and these programmers should mainly help and favor this world... also allowing (fuck STEAM) to use old versions of the game and the mods themselves... without "forcing" forced updates.
I've always wondered why no one publicly complains about this... especially those who manage a server (updates are always a pain in the ass, both for the game and the mods).
My 5 cents, obviously.

[dannyboyle 15]

For Bohemia I think that DayZ was never their priority until recently, and even now they continue to prioritize ARMA over DayZ, knowing that DayZ is the goose that lays the golden eggs. Bohemia isn't that big and they manage several games, Vigor shouldn't have existed either, they're diversifying too much when they should be betting everything on DayZ, and ARMA in second place.

Diversification is very important in business, because you never know if your core product could be superseded at any moment by other company, but in an industry like video games where it takes many years to sustain itself and release a decent product I don't think it works that way. If you look at many companies that used to diversify, they've ended up doing the exact opposite; look for example at Rockstar Games, they used to make all kinds of games in 2000s (Manhunt, bully, the warriors, state of emergency, Midnight Club), but they ended up working on very specific IPs for a long time, the most successful, GTA/ONLINE + aditional IP (RDR2 - any new), In addition, they will ensure that what is done in the next IP the old one material will be used in the future for improvements in the engine of the next game that comes, they will have to tweak certain systems that have already been created previously.

This is a good thing about both ARMA and DayZ, because DayZ can draw on systems created for ARMA and vice versa. ARMA maps can even be used in DayZ, and vice versa. For example, programming human NPC AI for ARMA can be used to implement NPCs in DayZ and thus achieve better PvE. ARMA vehicle upgrades can be used in DayZ ¿You see? There's a connection between the two games, there is a symbiosis between both.

Some studios know there's no competition if they only focus on one or two IPs, taking them to the extremes of simulation because that's what they're dedicated to. Plus, they've chosen the ones that work best. Nowadays, an infected apocalypse with the high quality and detail of DayZ could be much more successful than DayZ is today, but much more, remember when GTA didn't usually sell more than 30 million units, same can happen with DayZ if the product gets better.

I don't know if Bohemia is aware of that, because they had to see it with The Day Before being a scam, how a game that looked a mile away mediocre and a scam could have caused such a stir, it's because people love these kinds of games and they are hungry for better systems and graphics, now, Bohemia is not playing its cards well or is playing them in a very calm way, maybe they are hiding more from us than we think and are just keeping an ace up their sleeve. What happens is that people want a high level of quality and DayZ, in terms of technical level, leaves a lot to be desired, tomorrow a studio could come out and copy their concept, even a Chinese studio, they are learning a lot and fast from Western studios, in fact, Tencent has stakes in Bohemia.

Look at the creator of Mafia, who's also from the Czech Republic, Daniel Vávra. He's been in the industry for many years and isn't stupid. He released an original medieval game, KCD, and the sequel is nothing more than an improvement on the first one with new and more expanded systems, basically an improved simulation. He knows that making a completely different game of that magnitude is suicidal, It's either focus on something or die.

For example, I love Obsidian's Grounded game ¿Why go all out on crazy, different stuff if you have an original, brutal concept with Grounded that you can take to the next level? Why make completely different games if you know you're not going to be able to give it your all? Wasn't it better to make a sequel to Grounded, but better? A bigger improved open world with all the previous systems created, a neighborhood with multiple gardens, more animals, human NPCs, a giant bad guy who runs around the neighborhood shrinking people with a shrink gun ¿Why leave that aside and make a magic fantasy RPG game that has nothing to do with the concept of Grounded?

Avowed is a generic magic game—there are many like it—but Grounded is a unique multiplayer concept, and multiplayer sells a lot, even though it's co-op. To ignore that and focus on 5 different games seems like a mistake to me, and even more so considering that Grounded is the one that has generated the most sales of all their games, It's like turning your back on someone who has helped you a lot.The problem is that if you change IPs so often, you run the risk of losing the engagement you had previously achieved with the loyal audience that knows your product and the company, who could go elsewhere if you no longer make the product you were making before. On the other hand, if you change IPs so often, you're rarely going to achieve a quality game with depth; it's very difficult. On the other hand, if you work on the same thing, there's always room for improvement, and even more so in open worlds where it's about improving the world simulation, something that rarely ends. It's a ceiling that's hard to reach, and as a decade goes by, you see that there's much room for improvement.

 

If I've learned anything in this industry, it's that the most relevant studios end up specializing in one or two IPs and no more, especially when it comes to open worlds or multiplayers. Not doing so can be a mistake and can end in failure.

Back to the topic, I think Bohemia is allocating a large part of its staff to developing the graphics engine for the future games and that if for some reason DayZ 2 is in development, I mean abandoning the game with a hybrid engine, they are hiding it, I don't think we will see that until 2028-2030 unfortunately, They don't seem to be in a hurry to launch anything because they have no competitors at the moment, only ARMA 4 has an official release for 2027 and I think It goes first. A lot of modders were hired by the studio, still I think DayZ has a lot of limitations if almost all or most of the modded maps look the same, even the most reputable ones,  I think it would be great if external assets could be imported very easily and without having to make crazy conversions, especially considering how photogrammetry has advanced in recent years.

 

There are some amazing mods made by the community, but I think the hybrid engine is very limiting. Mods are also partly what gives the game a loyal community that feels part of the studio, and that makes the game grow. This happens with Bethesda and many others. Bohemia should provide easy-to-use tools and systems, even on consoles, so that people can create and generate content about the game, It would be great if ARMA REGORGER's Game Master mode could be used in DayZ 2 for this purpose as well as providing a marketplace with assets and things like that that modders can create and can sell if they want, while Bohemia can get a percentage of it would be a good way to monetize.

 

 

Edited May 5 by dannyboyle