More in depth immersion ideas and other stuff.

[Hax (DayZ) 5]

So i got this game a week ago and i really love it. It truly is a story game where you live out your own second life. However, I think its still lacking a few things that would really put your real self in the hellish landscape of Chernarus. Ill just make a list of things that i think would really fit well.

- Instead of using that "study body" command on a corpse that doesnt do anything, how about putting actual marks on the body that would correspond with how the survivor got killed. If it was by gunshot wound there would be a few bloody holes around their chest and maybe some blood soak. If it were possible to place them where the bullets actually hit that would be even better. Also if they were eaten by zombies maybe a missing limb, or two, or four and just a blood stained carnage mess along with their backpack and select loot left behind. This would really put the realism back in the game in numerous ways. It'd add to the role playing aspect heavily and also serve as a sign of areas with bandit activity going on. Imagine walking up on three bodies in a short distance of each other all bullet ridden, you'd know to start running the other way. Or you could be walking through Pusta on your quick food loot on your way north and see a house with multiple dead zombies leading to the door and then find a group of "dismebowlings" along with a back pack and think of what a struggle that guy was going to survive. Maybe he had an as50 he just didnt want to lose, or he could have been on the verge of starving to death. Who knows...

TL;DR- Show a more realistic cause of death for players. Bullet holes if they got shot to death, a mutilated corpse if they were eaten by zombies.

-Which brings me to my second point. Diaries. They could be a tool that you always spawn with and its your choice to keep it or not. It'd be a very simple item, just letting you write in it for each day, hour, minute... that you've survived. I feel itd be fine to let the person write in it whenever they want, taking notes and such or just a diary for what they did that day. A crucial mechanic i think that would make it really cool would be if when you died you had a chance to write one last entry if you so chose. You could write your own story and leave it behind so someone may relive your legacy battling zombies all the way to the NW airfield, only to be mowed down by some bandit in Stary. Over all i feel like it would be a cool feature people would really enjoy.

- I feel like the actual environment of Chernarus could use a little horror-movie make up. Fog surrounding those northwest loot sites with some ambient wind and other creepy military base sounds and maybe more carnage would be great. I feel like the country side needs a radioactive reason to why so many zombies lurk its grounds. So far all we know is that everyone is dead, and the military failed at killing some sort of zombie outbreak. No signs, no fliers, no streets littered with airdrop pamphlets warning of infection, no strange military check points on major roads in between cities(which would make perfect low tier loot sites and could be random like helicopter crashes.) and no real signs of escape other than blown up cars and stuff.

- And lastly making markers or spray paint that could create a "spray" chosen from a variety of different symbols meaning different things. Kinda like hobo signs; so there would be a symbol for bandits, one for food or water, one for a building with a gun or ammo in it or a general "back off" sign. I think would motivate players to be a little more friendly and trust worthy with each other. Maybe to enhance that and make sure the signs have a way of being totally abused it would show the players name below the sign as a signature. That way people could tell if there was someone that would always post resources signs just to lure others in for a cheap kill.

So those are just my ideas, idk if theyre all feasible but theyre there!

[CarloNord 29]

1. I like it.

2. No one would use them, unless they were leaving a message or were making a series with a story on a private server.

3. Sure.

4. No.

[liquidcactus 719]

1. I like it.

2. No one would use them, unless they were leaving a message or were making a series with a story on a private server.

3. Sure.

4. No.

lolz

[esteban_haas@hotmail.com 4]

Point 1. I like the idea, would make the game much more interesting! cuz i really would like to check every single corpse i find to know how bad the area is at the moment

Point 2. Sorry man but im really not interested in writting a diary or would be interested in reading someone else diary, so i pass!

Point 3. Awesome idea, i like the part of changing the enviroment a lot! make it more scary, foggy and unpredictable! some places should be more messed up! and it should change a lot so it would make traveling around the map harder since your points of view might vary at some moments because of the enviroments.

Point 4. its a nice try to make the game more... social but i rather just wait for the radio communicators mess when they are applied, maybe your idea would need a little more tweaking, perhaps it can be applied in a smarter way, avoiding some kind of abuse, maybe you should be able to leave like carved notes in trees with your knife or so, sounds more realistic and harder to find those marks so it wouldnt look like a mess

Edited July 28, 2012 by Reino

[Hax (DayZ) 5]

Point 1. I like the idea, would make the game much more interesting! cuz i really would like to check every single corpse i find to know how bad the area is at the moment

Point 2. Sorry man but im really not interested in writting a diary or would be interested in reading someone else diary, so i pass!

Point 3. Awesome idea, i like the part of changing the enviroment a lot! make it more scary, foggy and unpredictable! some places should be more messed up! and it should change a lot so it would make traveling around the map harder since your points of view might vary at some moments because of the enviroments.

Point 4. its a nice try to make the game more... social but i rather just wait for the radio communicators mess when they are applied, maybe your idea would need a little more tweaking, perhaps it can be applied in a smarter way, avoiding some kind of abuse, maybe you should be able to leave like carved notes in trees with your knife or so, sounds more realistic and harder to find those marks so it wouldnt look like a mess

I think i'd like the diaries a little more than other people haha. I seem to forget not everyone likes writing stories.

But very true with your reply to point 4, the knife carving idea is a pretty good one. I could see it being a feature where people make small carvings kinda like those ones you see in skyrim on the side of trees or buildings. I see know how it could be very griefer prone too lol.

[Conrad (DayZ) 7]

Knife carving is a good idea, the spray paint isn't all that bad of an Idea. If anyone has every played dark souls you can leave notes for other players. It's more realistic to be able to leave a note for someone saying, take what you wish from this tent or store or whatever. It would be sweet to see gang signs and gang wars I think it would add just that much more to the game. Because think about it, in a zombie survival situation a group of people would try and conquer a spot of land or area and would run that until they need to move to find more food. I also think the ability to spraypaint your tent for quick reference would be nice too. I personally divide my items in my tent by food, weapons, ammo, etc. and often forget what is in what tent.

But I do really think the Diary thing is a great Idea. That would also open up more threads on "Funny stuff I've found in diaries" and add more to the community. i mean look how much we use beans and it started as such a small thing. Perhaps it could also be an automated diary that kept record of who killed who or something like that.

[necroslord 73]

I approve on death signs, I approve on envroment makeup, spray logos don't seem very appealing to me.

Also about that diary, I don't think many people would keep a diary. I know I wouldn't. But I would use a notepad, which is basically the same concept. I know I can take notes on paper outside the game. But a notepad ingame would be more convenient.