Random Foot Prints (might be only for bandits)

[KaB 0]

Hello,

I don't know if you guys here know this amazong free-to-play game called The Hunter ? Well I thought it would be nice to take a leaf out of one of its features, as the foot prints.

In The Hunter the foot prints are actually droped by the animals, and when the player finds one of it, his gps let him know what was the direction of the animal when he droped it, and since how long it has been droped.

Ok now let's see how could it belong to DayZ :

How ?

Firstly, the foot prints would be represented as objects stuck on the ground (cannot take it).

When a player finds one, an action appears called "study foot prints". So, as the "study body" action, it will only display a short message telling since how long it has been droped. In this way, if the owner droped it 5 mins ago, the message displayed will be : "Someone walked here 5 mins ago".

As we don't have any gps in DayZ, the player won't be informed about the direction of the foot prints. It means he will have to check it out on its own watching the foot prints. Easy.

The foot prints would be randomly droped by the players and ONLY on the grass/sand/dirt etc. Not on the roads. The owners are the ONLY ONE who CAN'T see their own foot prints.

One another possible action would be "hide foot prints", in the case where you're playing with friends and/or in a band.

Now the last idea was to add this feature only on bandits. Why ? Because bandits are the only bad guys we want to hunt down :)

You will also think twice before you decide to become a bandit.

Thanks for reading this, now if you want to add a new awesome idea for the foot prints feature, or if you want to rectify something, or just say the foot prints is a f*cking good idea, or say it's totally sh*t, feel free to do it !

[Bernardusaurus 2]

I think that if this feature were added, it would have to be universal. Everyone can leave footprints and everyone can see their own. Being a bandit is a preferred playingstyle of many. Shocker here, but not all bandits do it just to be assholes. You feel like they're assholes if they kill you, but that's how they choose to survive in this wasteland.

[Astral (DayZ) 2]

The main issue I can see is that an increase in the amount of objects created, depending on the number of players emitting them, would decrease server stability by a good amount. Things such as terrain differences could also create some wonky effects when placing footprints, specifically on inclines: you might see vertical prints, or prints that disappear halfway into terrain.

I like the idea, though. It would make tracking players more interesting than "hey, I saw that guy, lets just run after him for a half hour."

Also as a side note, you can find a GPS, but they appear to be fairly rare. I haven't even found one, so I'm not sure how it would work, but they are there in the loot tables, and I have heard them referenced by other players.

[Bernardusaurus 2]

Also as a side note' date=' you can find a GPS, but they appear to be fairly rare. I haven't even found one, so I'm not sure how it would work, but they are there in the loot tables, and I have heard them referenced by other players.

[/quote']

In the full game, the GPS tells you your current map coordinations and your altitude.

[KaB 0]

Reserve this feature for the bandits would be a good way to evoid the over presence of foot prints, and the lag/stability. But quite unfaire I admit it.

Another thing I forgot to precise would be the life duration of foot prints. I thought one hour would be ok.

[tajin 17]

The main issue I can see is that an increase in the amount of objects created' date=' depending on the number of players emitting them, would decrease server stability by a good amount. Things such as terrain differences could also create some wonky effects when placing footprints, specifically on inclines: you might see vertical prints, or prints that disappear halfway into terrain.[/quote']

I agree, there are some ways to optimize them but I'm not sure if thats enough.:

Footprint generation could be handled clientside and happen only when other players are within a certain distance. However it would still increase the number of dynamic objects, which have to be synced every time someone joins.

Alternately instead of using visible footprints, an action to check for nearby footprints could be implemented (~10m radius -which should take maybe half a minute)

Footprints would be stored in variables on the server, and checked only on demand, so the performance impact is next to none.

In case of success you'd get messages like this (depending on the age of the tracks and a random factor):

"You've found foodprints heading to your 5 o'clock."

"You've found fresh foodprints heading to your 12 o'clock."

"You've found old foodprints heading to your 3 o'clock."

"You've found some foodprints but you cant make out their direction."

[KaB 0]

In case of success you'd get messages like this (depending on the age of the tracks and a random factor):

"You've found foodprints heading to your 5 o'clock."

"You've found fresh foodprints heading to your 12 o'clock."

"You've found old foodprints heading to your 3 o'clock."

"You've found some foodprints but you cant make out their direction."

Nice ! The last sentence could be used for the foot prints going past half an hour of life time.