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

[twinturbonet (DayZ) 294]

I loved Stalker. Aside from the stupid AI and some of the physics in the game, the game was great. I loved the music and sounds in the game, it went so well with the fact that you can go wherever you want and end up "lost". Instead of making STALKER online, some of the devs went with another game called Survarium. They asked on Facebook what the users would like to see in Survarium and I basically said... "Music from STALKER, the rest of the game should be like DAYZ!" lol.

Anyway, sorry to drone off topic :)

[Dreygar (DayZ) 178]

A lot of great suggestions, and because of its popularity we'll see if any have been read/considered/implemented in the Standalone.

[zZz13 4]

I loved Stalker. Aside from the stupid AI and some of the physics in the game, the game was great. I loved the music and sounds in the game, it went so well with the fact that you can go wherever you want and end up "lost". Instead of making STALKER online, some of the devs went with another game called Survarium. They asked on Facebook what the users would like to see in Survarium and I basically said... "Music from STALKER, the rest of the game should be like DAYZ!" lol.

Anyway, sorry to drone off topic :)

I agree with you, the ambience created in STALKER is legendary. They absolutely nailed the atmosphere. Rocket, incorporate some features seen in S.T.A.L.K.E.R into DayZ. And don't forget about the atmosphere ambience of music. It's paramount to creating the tone of the game but I'm sure you are already way ahead of us on that. ;)

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[/media] Edited November 8, 2012 by zZz13

[shanewalsh 3]

You know those stories that claim that Green mountain is haunted?

You know those halloween events many games have?

I think we should get some paranormal stuff (during halloween only)

Also, Rocket said that he will have some narrative, but not too much, he doesn't want to force it on the player.

I think at the start you should get some general info about Chernarus and then try to find out what REALLY happened through audio logs, hidden documents etc.

Kinda like what L4D has. At the start you know: 4 survivors are trying to get the fuck outta here. Later you find out (if you observe the scribblings in the safe rooms and look out for comics that Valve puts out) where and how the outbreak started, you start figuring out how the disease works, you learn that all those times the escape vehicle crashed it was your fault - you infected the driver, and finally you learn that you are a carrier!

What I am saying is: give people basic narrative whenever you feel like it and hide the clues for more backstory in some basements, labs etc. I think it would be cool to have lots of people on the forums speculate what really happened and why (Rocket should not confirm anything, he should leave it to the players to gradually discover)

I like this, but as a non-US player I don't even know when halloween is. Maybe there is a relevant greek date that could be used?

[babyfell 28]

i want girl faces for the female to choose from and more clothes for her would be nice.

[Looter (DayZ) 22]

i want girl faces for the female to choose from and more clothes for her would be nice.

... and this does neatly fit to the request for more shoes ... aah... different boots I think :lol:

(SCNR -> no offense ;) )

[zZz13 4]

Rocket, include Landmarks on the map. We need Landmarks i.e - easily recognisable areas to dot Chernarus and keep with the setting such as these gems:

Human Sanctuary

[gravatrax 4]

I retract my idea about PVE servers as much I can't stand morons who shoot people who are obviously not a threat, I still enjoy shooting at the people who do engage in those types of noobish activities.

I was a little disgruntled when they took out the side channel. Realism or not it it just doesn't seem necessary. I doubt it will be put back in, but there should be things that will allow for longer range communication. In the form of a tool perhaps a multiband radio that will allow communicate with players text/voice over longer distances. You see a person in a distance maybe across town, if you have a radio you could get on it to attempt to see if they may be friendlies or there is something you can do to help out, trade stuff, warn them of danger, warn them that you'll shoot them, that kind of stuff. I'd say such a feature would fit in well with the lore of dayz, and while it's not a global chat, it can help establish communication over longer distances. With that being said perhaps add some animations that allow you to signal to other players to tune into a certain channel, The chat itself would be not much different from direct communication except with an extended range. Not sure exactly what the range would be, perhaps there would be different grades of radios that would allow for varying ranges. It may also make things interested if more powerful radios could transmit to weaker radios even if the weaker ones would not be able to reply unless they got in range of said radio's range.

To add on to the idea of storage perhaps there could be grenade belts to allow for additional storage of grenades and throwables, I use smoke grenades quite often and it would be nice if they in some way could be stackable.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Chernarus landscape carved out to make for some sort of river network to make boats more effective. And on that note the boats should all have some sort of storage capacity. More boat focused, water focused maps sort of like the private hive maps may also take advantage of this.

From what I here Chernarus will be expanded in the final version and as result I think vehicles spawns need to be just a little bit more significant, I really don't want to see any armored vehicles so to speak but perhaps a wider variety, honestly though the current vehicle selection does make logical sense and can't think of too many more from the Arma game that should be included otherwise it may makes get out of balance fast. The exception of the luxury suv,bring that nice looking thing into the game.

This is without a doubt been stated but the crossbow needs a quiver. It'd be nice to see compound bow systems, as well as a basic bow, placed into the game as well. The ability to forge arrows and the like would be a nice addition to some sort of crafting system.

Steyr AUG Para Sub Machine Gun, probably would be a Rare gun, maybe even more so rare with a silencer or something of that nature attached. I do believe there is a LMG Variant of the Steyr Aug, I will have to look it up though.

I think there needs to be way to switch out weapons from the backpack a little more quickly and with the press of a button or use the mouth scroll wheel. Obviously you would not take it out isntantly but a way to program what gun it would swap out and the ammo it would trade off as well would be a cool feature to have. I think you should be able to move and do this however the animation would last 3-5 seconds for switching primary guns out. The same should apply to sidearms well not the animation lasting 5 seconds it should be done fairly quickly, but you should be able to do it on the move. I realize this is an Arma thing not necessarily at the fault of the DayZ team.

Similar to the idea of adding notes to the game I think the game would also benefit from the ability to place signs of some kind. You could write whatever you want. Ceasefire zone, trading post, keep out signs whatever it may be.

Server power needs to be handed back to the hosts and admins of said servers, none of this it's my mod it's my server nonsense. I think that's completely ridiculous. If server admins feel they have reasonable belief that someone is hacking they reserve the right to ban/kick said person without having to constantly ask for permission, of course such info should be relayed back to the DayZ team for further investigating. If someone feels that they have been kicked, banned etc. etc. wrongfully there should be a way to appeal to that. But this is the only mod/game in my gaming history that has exercised such scrutiny over matters that involve people that are obviously exploiting or hacking. Not all the guidelines for having an official dayz server are unreasonable however, but as I said server power should be in the hands of the admins/hosts. As someone who wants to potentially rent and use personal funds to further expand the games playing capacity this is an issue that's personal to me.

Edited November 10, 2012 by gravatrax

[grand.angus 1]

This isn't directly related to the in-game content side of the DayZ standalone, but I really hope it is available through Steam. Just a thought.

[terrvik 2409]

This isn't directly related to the in-game content side of the DayZ standalone, but I really hope it is available through Steam. Just a thought.

It will be.

[SuperDaveKyle 3]

I was thinking it would be great to be able to fortify an area beyond the capabilities of Wire fencing, Sandbags and Tank traps. Maybe be able to collect a lot of supplies and build sections of a makeshift wall or even find a proper fence that you could erect to try and fortify a house or something a long those lines and make a base for you and your friends to setup camp.

Had the idea when playing with some friends earlier this evening and stumbling across a villa sitting on it's own on a hill looking over a town on the Lingor map. The idea that you could put A LOT of effort in to build up a base, secure it with a wall and possibly some sort of gate and a fence. Somewhere to keep vehicles and supplies when you log off and hope that they can be kept safe. Obviously they wouldn't be impenetrable, that would be a little unfair but they would definitely be difficult to penetrate, needing a specialty item maybe harder to find than a toolbox. The walls would take a lot of supplies to even build a small section so it would take an incredible amount of effort but of course the rewards would be vast.

It would take a lot to perfect the idea and it is more geared towards keeping other players out but maybe if zombies were about they could "Attack" the walls and cause damage to them slowly taking them down to force their way in to the camp and get to you. This would be even more effective if the idea of "Random Roaming Herds" was introduced.

[puydor 0]

I have a simple suggestion.

Nighttime and darkness should be a big important point in the game; I think it makes the game scarier.

So there should be NO way to turn up the gamma and the brightness, because for me, this is cheating.

When DayZ was new, nobody turned up the brightness and everybody played at night. Today, nightservers are just empty :(

So please, lock those functions!

Players should use the flashlight, the flares, the chemlights !!!

Greetz

[Dalfryth 2]

I have a simple suggestion.

Nighttime and darkness should be a big important point in the game; I think it makes the game scarier.

So there should be NO way to turn up the gamma and the brightness, because for me, this is cheating.

When DayZ was new, nobody turned up the brightness and everybody played at night. Today, nightservers are just empty :(

So please, lock those functions!

Players should use the flashlight, the flares, the chemlights !!!

Greetz

main problem with this is that different monitors require different gamma settings to have the same levels displayed on screen... possibly have a settings/setup screen that you set the gamma on before you log in... (gray boxes etc) and once its set it locks to a set margin that would mean you can tweak it in game but not set it to max at night and normal in the day

just my 2 pence :P

[Shadow Man 142]

I was a little disgruntled when they took out the side channel. Realism or not it it just doesn't seem necessary. I doubt it will be put back in, but there should be things that will allow for longer range communication. In the form of a tool perhaps a multiband radio that will allow communicate with players text/voice over longer distances. You see a person in a distance maybe across town, if you have a radio you could get on it to attempt to see if they may be friendlies or there is something you can do to help out, trade stuff, warn them of danger, warn them that you'll shoot them, that kind of stuff. I'd say such a feature would fit in well with the lore of dayz, and while it's not a global chat, it can help establish communication over longer distances. With that being said perhaps add some animations that allow you to signal to other players to tune into a certain channel, The chat itself would be not much different from direct communication except with an extended range. Not sure exactly what the range would be, perhaps there would be different grades of radios that would allow for varying ranges. It may also make things interested if more powerful radios could transmit to weaker radios even if the weaker ones would not be able to reply unless they got in range of said radio's range.

Although I understand entirely the desire for global chat(or similar), it boils down to what sort of experience you want DayZ to be. For it to be realistic, you cant be able to make long range contact with someone you haven't met. Unless its believable. Like a loudhailer or something. You could implement walky talkies, so you could talk to team mates but to be honest thats already done in teamspeak.

From what I've seen of interviews with Rocket, he's not too interested in making the game convenient for the player. He wants it to be a struggle. Personally I think removing global and side couldn't come soon enough. There are plenty of mmo's with global chat, why not embrace the change and see the game for what its meant to be not what you want it to be?

I'm not hating btw. Friendly! Friendly!

[jamesmaax 0]

make it so any computer can run it

make the graphic settings to where it range from (arma 1 lowest graphics) to (arma 2 highest graphics or arma 3)

so bad computers could put it on arma 1 lowest graphics and play it (like me) while people with good computers can enjoy the good graphics

its really simple, just make more graphics choices and more players with bad computers can play it as well

[DragoKnight 5]

Here is just a funny suggestion. What about holiday things like for Halloween you can put slender to scare the %#^@ out of people for October, and Christmas Santa zombies that drop epic loot but are rare, and Easter Rabbit Costume zombies that drop easter eggs. just examples and for a bit of fun.

Edited November 11, 2012 by DragoKnight

[memphislegion95 14]

make it so any computer can run it

make the graphic settings to where it range from (arma 1 lowest graphics) to (arma 2 highest graphics or arma 3)

so bad computers could put it on arma 1 lowest graphics and play it (like me) while people with good computers can enjoy the good graphics

its really simple, just make more graphics choices and more players with bad computers can play it as well

Dude you can't if the standalone is on a new engine... simple.

[Jedit-Ojanen of Efrava 0]

I think that besides the main protagonist of DayZ being the environment and the zombies, I find that myself and others included find themselves wanting for some other kind of 'purpose'. There doesn't seem to be much incentive (right now anyway) to leave Cherno or Elektro, gear up and PvP.

As I'm sure that the developers are aware of this and take it into consideration when developing the standalone, if the basic 'premise' of the game remains somewhat unchanged, I find that there will be little improvement with regards to purpose, and just an increase in difficulty of survival.

So, coming to my suggestion now, I find that they way to overcome this, is to give players and incentive to journey through the map or at least have some other purpose than gear and PvP.

So I would suggest this:

• Give the players the capacity to restore power or electricity to buildings and appliances
  
• This might come in the form of collecting certain parts to restore a power generator, relevant parts to repair a heater, you could even make it a more ambitious project to be able to restore electricity and flowing water to whole cities. Such a thing I suppose would be immensely difficult to develop, but it would also be extremely difficult for players to accomplish also.
  
• A man powered (or perhaps some other kind of powered) tram or train. I'm not sure what they're called but you know the one cart trams that are powered by 2 guys moving a 'sea-saw' like thing up and down? If the tram or train is not man powered, players should be able to collect parts and perhaps even have some basic knowledge of circuitry to be able to restore power to the trains and trams.
  
• I think this would give players a real incentive to go to other places but at the same time does not remove the risk involved as they'd be quite exposed.
  
• Implement fish into ponds
  Simple, you're in a pond, so you can catch a fish, and be able to fillet it with a hunting knife. Should be able to be eaten raw
  
• Knife Melee attack
  Must be directly behind a person to be able to initiate and must obviously have a knife 'in hand' to activate. Should be a one hit kill. The risk / reward ratio is fitting I think
  
• Zombies should be susceptible to bone breaks and relevant bodily trauma
  
• Simple, if they get should in the leg, make them limp. Shots to the chest should stagger depending on the calibre of the bullet that hit them. I think that all shots to the head should always kilI
  

I hope you guys like these suggestions,

sph|nx

[decoman 45]

I see that having players act like "ragdoll" is wanted, I cannot understand this need. I most definitely don't want some kind of awkward looking ragdoll animation for people being shot. I currently view ragdoll physics as an immersion killer.

At the very least, I would like to see a direct comparison made of how the different animations actually look for any entity falling to the ground.

What is the point of having ragdoll "animations"?

Edited November 12, 2012 by Treehugger

[codeakira 0]

do these trading post require humanity points and need to deposit firearms?

[codeakira 0]

i don't know if this was mentioned before, the grass please. make me think its all good coz im hidden with all these bushes, in a distant, more of a lying duck waiting to get shot at. with all the concealment suggestions, its only natural rendering of grass should follow.

Edited November 12, 2012 by codeakira

[ProjectMile 1]

I agree with codeakira, a higher variation of grass would be great.

Customization of player's face maybe.

Creating weapons out of wood or scrap metals/things (example: creating a spear out of wood(arrow would be also great)

Able to collect water when it rains, by using buckets.

Items that could be used to upgrade vehicle's storage (exampel: upgrading storage by 25% or 30%. NOT players storage)

Throw rocks to nearby players, maybe :P

Not sure if every of my suggestions is already mentioned.

[Bakst 98]

There doesn't seem to be much incentive (right now anyway) to leave Cherno or Elektro, gear up and PvP.

Really dude? I rarely even venture into Cherno or Elektro these days, as I prefer to gear up elsewhere across the map. On a moderately busy server you're always likely to encounter PvP action in any of the northern cities -- Zeleno, Stary, Berezino, etc. -- not to mention the "wild" way up north between the airfields, where especially on veteran servers you'll find yourself doing battle with entire squads looking to protect their camps or whatever. So, I don't really see where you're going with this.

Zombies should be susceptible to bone breaks and relevant bodily trauma

Your other suggestions have all been made before on this thread and elsewhere on the forums, but as for the one above... well it's probably also been said before, but personally I haven't seen it yet and I think it's a great idea. Maybe even make the zombies especially susceptible to physical trauma, since they're really just rotting corpses that happen to be alive :)

I see that having players act like "ragdoll" is wanted, I cannot understand this need. I most definitely don't want some kind of awkward looking ragdoll animation for people being shot. I currently view ragdoll physics as an immersion killer.

I totally agree. I get the feeling that the gaming industry is generally speaking pretty psyched about ragdoll physics, but imo the resulting animations look silly. When a body falls from impact it tends to slide unnaturally across the ground as if friction didn't matter, or it will go flying across the room from a mere arrow to the chest, limbs flailing like... well, a rag doll! It just doesn't look natural or authentic to me.

[A.Williams 17]

I hope in the stand alone your character will loose blood if your character doesn't use an out house or and entrenching tool or toilet paper in the woods. that really would add the last bit of icing on the cake for realism

[Bakst 98]

I hope in the stand alone your character will loose blood if your character doesn't use an out house or and entrenching tool or toilet paper in the woods. that really would add the last bit of icing on the cake for realism

the focus is on authenticity, not realism. rocket's words. bowel movements don't really figure into that.