Suggestions for the DayZ standalone - thinking outside of the limitations of an Arma 2 mod.

[Lights Out 141]

I would have to partially disagree as I would like there to be a decent amount of zombies for difficulty's sake. Major areas should have a decent amount, maybe have some attracted to certain areas due to player's firing their weapons, and the occasional rare one in the woods that catches you off guard.

If a town is known for spawning particularly good items it should be quite difficult to even get to it. I don't believe weapons should continuously spawn in the same spot either but that's another issue all together.

All that aside though, something needs to be done in the stand alone to make the zombies a more vital part of the game. They need to become of a much higher threat. Something you really want to avoid or at least handle in a stealthy manner. For an example, using a gun in an area populated by zombies would put you in a very bad situation especially alone. So many would opt to use a blunt weapon to only kill necessary zombies to get to a location...or be heavily backed up by other players to take on the mob of zombies your gunfire is going to draw towards you.

[Askar 177]

I do not know why this is not on the front page of the Suggestions forum. After reading through it, I realized that almost all of the things suggested here are part of my image of the perfect DayZ game.

So, have a bump. This thread needs to stay at the top!

[Xeva 12]

I agree with, well, everything the OP said. However, this does seem a bit complex for a game that's only in it's alpha stages O.o

Still, it's definitely something to look forward to being implemented.

[ruarz 739]

I agree with, well, everything the OP said. However, this does seem a bit complex for a game that's only in it's alpha stages O.o

Still, it's definitely something to look forward to being implemented.

It looks like the development will follow the Minecraft model, which indicates it will start out pretty basic but they'll quickly add a huge range of features as development progresses :)

[Xeva 12]

Sorry, but I can't let an intelligent thread on any forum collect dust.

Have a bump.

[Kawllie 18]

Just a sidenote as a colorblind person, there is no good reason having Red and Dark Red text. Could you please think of something more suitfull for the people having trouble to tell colors apart?

Also i love the pen and paper idea, one of the best ones!

Edited August 20, 2012 by Kawllie

[ruarz 739]

Just a sidenote as a colorblind person, there is no good reason having Red and Dark Red text. Could you please think of something more suitfull for the people having trouble to tell colors apart?

Also i love the pen and paper idea, one of the best ones!

The colour's not too much of a problem as long as you can still make the text out, It still reads well without different coloured headings :)

[jaws4096 77]

Ruarz, this is an outstanding post. Lots of really thoughtful, excellent suggestions.

My advice would be to ignore the trolls who offer nothing but criticism and have no suggestions of their own. Don't even reply to their posts - it just feeds the impression that even though they lack the ability to converse intelligently, their opinions have value... when of course, they don't.

I also think that now, in alpha, is the perfect time to make detailed suggestions. I don't understand the critics who suggest waiting to offer these kinds of suggestions until we know more about the standalone version, since the standalone version will in large part be based upon suggestions in this forum!

Finally, the wall of text is fine. When an poster's suggestions are this thoroughly thought-out, and explained so well, I want to have them all in one place! This post should be a sticky in my opinion.

Thank you!

[selgald 11]

Bumb.

Important Thread.

[suky 0]

Inventory.

In OP post it shows how player is having two primary weapons (one already holding and other one in backpack). I don't like that idea. This might be an accident where OP was just showing and didn't care about being same but still, not a great idea. I don't want a bandit which has a sniper and a full auto gun which gives him ultimate power of defending himself.

But as OP showed, the guns that you hold in your arms and sidearm are not in your inventory which i find a lot more realistic and useful. This way it allows players to store more supplies that they need.

The OP inventory is much more user friendly and it gives it a really nice and simple look but i don't like the grid type of inventory. With this grid type you will end up playing tetris inventory where you would adjust your things inside to make space for something else etc. It should keep spaces like it has now, 1 space = 1 can of food/water/bandage etc.

I noticed how on OP picture there isn't a part where you should see items that you loot. Maybe it's the item list on side. If so then it should only list items that appear in loot not in your inventory.

Also pockets in your torso and pants should be combined.

Health.

Lets be healthy, drink a lot of water, watch what you eat and go to gym LOL.

Health system as it is posted here seems too much. If it would have all that it would become frustrating, too realistic and just unplayable. I do like how there would be some diseases like a cold or fever, but that's as far as i would go. Having some life threatening diseases would need you to either team up with someone who could get you necessary stuff or you could just die from it because you are in no shape to get your supplies. And seriously this whole energy thing is load of crap. It would complicate things too much and honestly, you are in a period of apocalypse, if you're hungry you don't have time to watch what will give you more energy or whatever. Also the whole organs thing is also too much. Its like saying don't drink the most found drink in the game (sodas) because your liver will fail after some time.

Wounds system seems good but as you said it it makes it too complicate. It would be nice to see it ingame but you should be able to heal your wounds on some easier way and shouldn't be like you could lose your limb (game over). Bruise is useless because if you have a bruise on lets say your leg because somehow you were clumsy ingame and you bumped yourself somewhere (oh god imagine that), even if you have one the pain wont last more than some 5-10 minutes, unless you were so unlucky ingame that your whole leg is blue because you are one big clumsy idiot.

You basically made 90% of your inventory only medical supplies because you never know if you gonna bump yourself somewhere or catch a cold or lose a limb....

Health system should be separated from blood but blood amount should depend on your health. For example, 12000 blood = 100% health, if your blood level drops real bad to lets say 4000 or less, your health starts to decrease slowly and you need to find some way to get your blood back to normal level.

Zombies and their behavior.

I like the idea of zombie herds. The idea of a herd of 50 zombies just appears at your place and attacks you is just mind blowing. As it seems like a good idea still, they shouldn't go through woods. I really like that woods are like a safe zone from zombies, i can then take my time to see if i need something, make a fire, rest a bit from madness that is out there.

I also like the idea of different types of zombies with an exception that the "infected" ones which are fast and aggressive still shouldn't be faster than you.

Trading.

Barely useless because you can have some bandit who wants to trade and he can just shoot you and you lose all your stuff in end.

Map.

Definitely a bigger map. Leave the map as it is now but add more. Cherarus+ as some people say. Add some modern cities with supermarkets and police stations. Maybe some islands.

Underground parts like caves, bases old overrun quarantines. Also there should be like wrecked ambulance vehicles where you can find medical supplies.

Weather and seasons.

I saw that there is a section about clothing and it would be really good if there would be seasons. If you would be able to change clothes it would be good if you pick up a coat or some warmer clothes because winter is nearing.

On winter time players and zombies should be much slower because of snow and it would force players to start making a fireplace in the woods near city and go from time to time for required supplies like food and water. This might sound boring but if you have warm clothes then you can still go around but your body temperature will drop slowly.

Looking forward to a standalone DayZ, so far game is amazing and fun even tho its in alpha and has a lot of bugs.

TL;DR

Most of the OP stuff is good but health is too complicated.

[TheJackal_112 3]

Awesome ideas here - an impressive post - I like the inventory system - I was wondering if Dean Hall is thinking of developing a more realistic inventory system with a minimalist HUD, one that doesn't say how many bullets you have exactly or the exact weights of items and backpacks, and maybe he will go with a more trail-and-error system where you figure out for yourself the capacity of a bag

Also the pen and paper idea is great, nice work, and the health system is well thought out

[Photolysis 25]

Inventory.

In OP post it shows how player is having two primary weapons (one already holding and other one in backpack). I don't like that idea. This might be an accident where OP was just showing and didn't care about being same but still, not a great idea. I don't want a bandit which has a sniper and a full auto gun which gives him ultimate power of defending himself.

If the inventory system/fatigue system were based on weight, carrying multiple weapons around would result in penalties. You'd have a tradeoff between firepower, mobility, and endurance.

Space-wise, there's no reason why you couldn't carry around several weapons in a massive backpack (you should see how much kit SAS soldiers will carry for example). Space isn't the main issue, weight is.

[paradox. 12]

|

EVERY IDEA WAS SO GOOD +1 +1 +1.

[ruarz 739]

Awesome ideas here - an impressive post - I like the inventory system - I was wondering if Dean Hall is thinking of developing a more realistic inventory system with a minimalist HUD, one that doesn't say how many bullets you have exactly or the exact weights of items and backpacks, and maybe he will go with a more trail-and-error system where you figure out for yourself the capacity of a bag

Also the pen and paper idea is great, nice work, and the health system is well thought out

Minimalist HUD sounds good but the inventory system needs to be detailed :)

[trylan 25]

molotov cocktails

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

Post this once the game is actually on track to be standalone, and not while it's still in alpha. You're jumping the gun kind of a lot.

What now? Rocket himself pointed everyone to this thread to post suggestions.

[sveinungchr@gmail.com 11]

1. Presistan zeds in ALL towns

2. Zed Hoards roming the country site/forrest

3.Viewdistance more then 1K...

4. Less fog.. No where is the world do you find as mush fog as in dayz(<-- huge sniper fan).

5. No termal/tws sights.

6. Nightvision should run on batterys.

7. Shit break down.. Everything should have a limited usability and need to be fixed/replaced.. This would force more movement around the map. and bring the solo players out of the woods more.

8. Every town should have some thing differnet you need.. Would also force more moving on the map.

9.I know this will never happen. But using High cal snipers to kill people in the starting areay should make the shooter get trown out in to the sea.. ( yea i know its carebear talk but i still hate it..)

10.Less ammo in the world.

11. More bicycles.

12. Possibility to clear a town of zeds, Have them slowly migrate back to the area from other places.

My top 12 wishlist

[Criddler 1]

Car keys.

If you want to drive the car you need the key for this car. If you want to steal the car you must manage to get the key -> killing the owner or stealing the key out of his tent or inventory maybe you can just ask him friendly ;D

Char bound to Server

Its much more fun to work for your stuff on just one server instead of jumping from one server to another an looting camps. And if its night time you have to deal with it instead of switching to a more sunny place.

Fishing from boats

I think its fun taking one of the boats for a nice fishing trip on the sea.

[Scott Pilgrim 65]

Here's some ideas I've quickly thought about.

Perhaps some form of Stamina System.

- The weight of things your carry can affect your stamina and speed.

- You can't run forever, eventually you'll come to a slow jog or walk. Or if you push it too much you'll pass out from exhaustion.

Can't think of much about the stamina system at the moment, I'm pretty tired.

With a lot more enterable buildings, I'd like to be able to lock the door/block the door from being opened, and putting up planks on windows to temporarily stop zeds from coming in.

Female zombies.

Various zombie speeds maybe? They should also be very persistent, even more when you're bleeding..

Customize the look of your player so that we don't all look like. Like clothes and accessories.

More zeds in cities, they should be filling the streets.

Vary the amount of zeds at towns as well.

That's all I can think of for now.. I'll see if I can think of more later when I'm not so tired.

[Excession (DayZ) 7]

Have ammunition actually be loaded into a gun properly. Currently in the mod, lets say you have an M4 SD, and 4 x Stanag SD mags in your inventory.

What happens is, you load your M4 SD, so it now has 30 rounds in it, but you still have 4 x Stanag SD mags in your inventory, when you should only have 3x Stanag SD mags in there.

It is the same for every gun, and every type of ammunition.

If you are making a stand alone game, do it properly, make loading ammo into a gun actually load ammo into it.

[Chimaera 68]

1: Ability to drink with cupped hands from water sources (slower and more risk because it takes longer etc)

2: Ability to plant explosives under vehicles (sabotage)

3: Get rid of the silly high tech weapons make it a better balance ( personally go back in time a few years where heat vision doesn't exist etc) <== not going to be popular i know

4: Stop the duping as its a game breaker

5: Make tents like backpacks so you can see how much is in them

6: Stop the getting up animation so you can bandage lying down when in a fight

7: Add military camps where you can fight against forces for better goodies (left over remants of miltary that have banded together to survive)

8: Use the same system as the underground stuff where its not part of the sheet cant remember what its called to create healing areas and trading areas with no active weapons (or toolz to do so)

9: Get something in the game to make people want to work together sometimes as apposed to killing each other like it is atm

10: Boards for kill for profit for bad people or good ones :P

11: Maybe some kind of simple banking system storage / lockbox perhaps that the reward is put into for the job and the player can access after the job is complete.

12 Roving military camps 3 vehicles 25 men that are in a different position everyday (for suprise attacks)

13: Cookpot option and item to be able to cook higher value food recovery

14: More food options plants vegetables nicked from fields etc ( Low health gain individually unless added to number 13)

15: Reduce animal food benefits to force people to use campires and cookpots (more risk for reward)

16: Login arrival check that wont allow near another player bumps them 300 yards away or some something to stop them running behind you and coming back in sheet and killing you.

17: Seasonal weather changes surprise snow storms in winter to make the ghillie boys stand out :)

18: Frosty Ground, noise carrys further

19: Sort the zombies out please and increase the speed in houses and make them more of a threat ( we should be scared of the zombies and terrified of players) the only real threat is players atm

20: Women Kids OAP zombies just all types, its supposed to be real remember

21: Some kind of team mechanic/benefit that by joining together we get increased ammo spawns maybe or food spawns or some kind of team benefit for being a survival team

22: some kind of entry map like Lingor for eg where low value stuff can be found then board a ferryboat (weapons disabled) or network of tunnels you have to survive to get to the main area chernarus where the better stuff is. This will give noobs the better learning curve before they experience full on death

23: Make cheranus bigger prob x3 if possible we should not be able to run all the helicopter crashes in one night on foot

24: Heli crashes should be more varied too same old same old atm

25: No camping or vehicles of map ever..

26: More possible places to hide tents rock formations, clumps of trees etc (its not bad atm but could be a little better) then it would be a challenge to find the best tents

27: Attacked by zombie dogs on farms etc (make it apply to animals as well ) being attacked by a zombie chicken would be funny :P

28: make zombies appear at a greater distance from the player so we cant use them for player detection

29: Make zombies hunt in packs in the large towns and maybe travelling packs/herds of zombies in the woods etc

30: Make item spawns be spawned way before we get there often not spawned if you rock up on a vehicle

31: Make sleeping in tents an option to recover health (risk/reward)

32: Blood injectors gives 2000 short fix (simple syringe) Or

33: Blood bags usable on yourself but only gives half the blood or maybe 4000

34: Barbed wire cannot be used in doorways of buildings

35: Make pliers available as an item so you can do basic stuff like cut the wire (toolboxes for the more advanced stuff like remove the wire or build it)

36: Limit the amount of weapons that can be stored in a vehicle a little( players should be concerned about survival not having 6 AS50 spares)

I'm sure there's a load more but that's a few for now.

One more thought about having an entry sheet before the main sheet it would keep chernarus really hard which is what we want, a zombie aftermath like this would be incredibly difficult and that's how it should be.

Make this game as realistic as you possibly can within the boundaries of the code and whats possible, but don't allow the silliness with people having 50 AS50s stashed in trucks etc make the high end guns incredibly rare which will encourage people to use whatever is available, imho the duping has really spoiled the mod as there is no challenge, every tent you come across has tons of stuff in it.

Here's hoping the game will be very hard and very pleasurable to play.

Chimaera

Edited August 22, 2012 by Chimaera

[Nahj13 4]

a big ass shopping mall would be cool.

And larger cities with more enterable buildings.

more variety in buildings

gun shops

police stations

bars

grocery stores

prison would be cool too.

[yimmy 0]

With all the suggestions going on i am already afraid that the sandbox will be pee´d in... :P

Anyway back on topic,

All I need to see in DayZ Standalone is:

Mods (Full Mod Support)

[deadlyquasar 0]

Along the same line as the bases suggestions, and with suggestions of adding dangerous wildlife to the wilderness as well as enhanced vehicle damage/repair there are a few things I'd like to see.

Buildings in towns currently only serve as spawn points for various loots, you wouldn't want to stay in them for long. If you could close the doors (assuming you entered with no aggro) and then have that building be for the most part safe they could easily become urban camps. Currently people barricade buildings with sandbags and razor wire anyway, maybe an included storage system and improved line of sight/zombie collision would be enticing. This would be especially interesting if an unprotected camp in the woods could attract unfriendly creatures, such as the suggested bears and wolves.

Along with this two new items to the vehicle repair system could be interesting, keys and something for hot wiring such as just a wire, or perhaps a tool kit of some sort would make more sense. The system could be implemented so you could find a key and it goes in your tool belt, then if your the first person to a car your key is the only one that works. It could be transferable so if you were killed it could be looted or you could trade it. On the flip side if you had a tool kit you could hot wire an already accessed car or a car that still needs a key and take it but it would take a few moments to start every time. Both of these items could be added to the possible loot just like repair parts.

[ACow 102]

Alot of suggestions so far, some really good...some others well...yeah.

In the interest of trying to supply something unique, interesting, debatable and different: Black Swan Events, delivery of a loose indirect narrative through said in-game events, and the issue of resets/partial levelling of the playing field events or things which change up the balance, but in a believable way.

Games can tend to get a bit slow as people bunker down, people get bored and complain of a lack of "end-game", and a heirachy can quickly establish itself based on the amount of gear people have and how long they've been playing the game. Clearly, one doesn't want to eliminate gear/benefits, but on the other extreme, one doesn't want a system that reaches a static equilibrium quickly and then never moves. This leads to quick game-fatigue. Plus, certain mechanics have logical problems end points: What happens when there's too many tents? What happens for exploration when the maximum number of vehicles have already spawned and they're all collected? Can people ever really be absolutely independent of the towns and civilisation?

Hence the suggestion of some black-swan events, or injections or game mechanics designed to provide events of a "narrative-like-nature-but-not-actually-a-narrative". The player still interprets how they react to these events, and they don't provide a story but lets the player project their narrative on to them. Like all of these things, they rely on being implimented in a psychologically effective way. Some people have already, unknowingly, suggested some of them:

-randomly venturing zombie packs every now and then outside of towns.

-radio chatter

-crashed choppers/washed up boats

Perhaps some extra random ideas (and as far as I'm concerned, all should be exceptionally rare and appear practically random, but not frequent):

-Extreme weather events (wind/rain/lightning/heat/cold beyond what we have now)

-Infection events (i.e. new-strains/effects/sudden rebalancing of the zombie population tables)

-Diaries/notes

-Droughts/Famines/sanitary outbreaks in localised areas

-Random small hostile well-armed paramilitary groups moving into/inhabiting/through an area

-Chopper flying overhead

-Rare or strange animal behaviour (lots of dead animals around a water hole, animals moving in a pack/pattern, rare/strange/dangerous animal).

-Discovering a "safe-room"/signs of previous inhabitation

-Gas/Petrol explosion (as in, in the distance).

-Fires/smoke

-Something which gets some nice rumours/old wives tales going round...

In these kind of games, you don't want to supply a narrative straight up, but you've got to do three things to keep the humans interested.

1. No one, NO ONE, can ever feel perfectly safe. SafER, yes, but never safe.

2. To balance out the quitters who will leave because they can never feel perfectly safe, you have to make sure you supply hope/desire/curiosity/change.

3. You have to do it in such a way that people believe that its happening in the world, that it isn't at the behest of some unfair intelligence targetting them specifically just to level the playing field. It has to be reasonable, random, rare, and unpredictable.

I suggest if you can work these kinds of things into the mechanics of the game/engine/environment skillfully, you'll have the psychological equivalent of gaming crack.