Tracking

[rocu 24]

That's right, tracking. I think this feature should be in DayZ and would definitely fit the environment. What am I talking about you ask? Well, if any of you has played a hunting game before like Deer Hunter knows what I'm talking about (yes, deer hunter, stop judging me).

Who has never thought of a way of track down your enemy without simply having to SEE him? Surely there can be clues all over the place like dead zombies, dropped junk, used fireplaces and so on... But is that really enough to track a player down? I think DayZ should have a bit more complex and versatile tracking system. It should be something where you can track people down with a little work if you want it to. But if you're not really searching for any traces then you won't find some either. But then again, one day you go into the forrest at sunrise, light up a fire, cook ur meat and then suddenly realize that there are tracks all around you in which case panic kicks in and your survival instinct starts working...or u just get shot in the face.

I'm not trying to suggest making this a hunting game, no not at all. Since this game is about realism and anti-gaming for that matter I think this would be a very nice addition.

Just to clarify things I'm going to bring out some actual examples:

• Blood trails when players are bleeding (has been suggested before, many times)
  
• Clear footprints
  
• Cracked or smashed bushes / grass / small trees where survivors run past
  
• Oil/fuel leaks produced by vehicles
  
• Tire tracks produced by vehicles
  
• Food remains / empty cans after eating
  
• Empty soda cans after drinking
  
• Empty bullet shells on the ground
  
• Different terrain blending - like leaving muddy footprints in a city when you've come straight from a forrest
  

Also since this game has a very diverse weather, daylight and environtment system I think those should play a very big role in tracking. Some more examples:

Raining:

• Very clear wet footprints can be seen indoors
  
• Footprints disappear quickly
  
• Bloodtrails disappear quickly
  
• Oil/fuel leaks disappear quickly
  

Clear and sunny day:

• Highlight of tracking - most traces are much more visible then in any other weather or time of the day
  
• Indoor/urban environment tracking very difficult (unless muddy footprints or bloodtrails)
  
• Campfire smoke visible from much greater distances
  

At night:

• Bloodtrail and footprints tracking very difficult, even with NVG (unless a light source is provided)
  
• Empty used flairs on the ground
  
• Much better hearing
  
• Terrain blending much less effective due to the decrease of temperature
  

Note: these are just some of the suggestions that I just thought of from the top of my head. Feel free to add more.

Also I think that a very important part of tracking is that traces disappear relatively quickly. Mainly for two reasons: if only fresh traces are provided (that don't last very long), it is much harder to track down your enemy ; massive increase in bandwidth.

The bandwidth or server capacity or whatever you call it, is actually very important. From a programmer standpoint of view I know exactly how stressful this can be for the game engine and servers. Mainly because every single player in the server is going to leave a massive trace of instances behind them anywhere they go. I understand this can be an issue with this suggestion but truthfully this topic is just for an idea not the consequences. Maybe this could be in the future stand-alone DayZ who knows.

Anyway, feel free to post your suggestions. If I get enough feedback from this suggestion I can start photoshoping some examples from the game :) .

Edit// sry for my English, it's not really my native language.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Rocu

[Firemac 41]

Very interesting suggestions. I would love to see this intruduced when the game is alot further than it is now :)

[kaeus3@gmail.com 8]

I've seen (at least locally to me) footprints of people/myself that are running with me, as well as tracks from vehicles. I'm thinking this would be something easier done in a standalone as the way for it to be expanded upon.

[Obsolescence 129]

I'd love to see something like this, but I think leaving textures and all might be kinda stressful for the servers which are already stretched atm. Anyway, if it is possible I agree and would love to see this in one form or another.

[Bobcomss 189]

This would be awsome and shouldnt be too hard too do!

After rain the footprints stay on concrete for a couple seconds...not sure how easy it would be to add to affect grass and leaves!

great idea though!

AJ

[rocu 24]

Thanks for the feedback.

Also I agree with you Obsolescence and kaeus3 that it might be better off pushed into the standalone version. But one thing that has caught my eye is when you prone and crawl around in the game, the grass sort of folds around you. Now this something very similar can be used to create those trace marks + that grass folding is already in the game so I guess if we'd use similar mechanics and implement it a little differently there would be a way of doing this in the mod not just the standalone game.

[Slartybartfast 76]

Was thinking of this verysame idea.. Good one, aaaannnndddd;

Now that the stand alone is a fact... UP!