Building a new world for DayZ

[Tomibo 2]

Dear community,

In my unending enthusiasm for Rocket & Co's creation, I've been thinking deeply about a possible future environment for DayZ. While Chernarus is gorgeous, there's huge untapped potential in terms of world design, and revision might be warranted: Flying motorways, theme parks, medieval towns, modern skyscrapers, nuclear power plants... think about it!

Raison d'être

Surely, the magic of DayZ lies in its emergent gameplay: Chernarus inspires people to be creative. Our interaction with it generates unique stories: We use the world to our advantage in complex ways that cannot be envisioned by any designer. But such effects can still be amplified in a world that also offers extraordinary visual and functional diversity!

The design process

The real world is a complex web of cultural and natural layers. It emerges from the dance of design and chaos, involving the work of many individuals… Since the scenario of DayZ is rooted in reality, its world can be generated in the same way: chaotic creation (as opposed to deliberately designed elvish fantasy worlds). With the help of DayZ’s creative community, this is an actual possibility!

With over one million players, our community has at least a few hundred able and willing 3D artists who, with clear guidelines, could create props, buildings and ideas in a record amount of time. (Think Google Earth’s 3D cities with a professional quality boost). The DayZ team can use these on a huge geographical plane that might be based on real world data (Perhaps part of the New Zealand south island, as homage to the creator of this mod!). Each new addition may then inspire new ideas for years to come...

In closing…

This could be a great way to create a game world: experimental, community driven and inspired by reality. It’s unorthodox and free flowing, fitting DayZ’s core design philosophy like a glove. There will be problems… but I believe that, with proper communication and quality control, this can be turned into a workable plan.

Thanks for reading… there is much more to be said… but what do you think?

NOTE: In no way do I think this proposition is urgent or essential to DayZ’s success; Chernarus will do just fine; rather, its something to think about for the future of DayZ!

Edited August 23, 2012 by Tomibo

[mrbravo66 26]

I think this sounds like a good idea dude. Although contacting these people will be difficult and working with these people, paying for these 100s of 3D designers unless they volunteer which I doubt they would do unless they lived near so I dunno about it.. but the idea is good I dunno if it is workable and doable

[pfheonix 3]

I think this sounds like a good idea dude. Although contacting these people will be difficult and working with these people, paying for these 100s of 3D designers unless they volunteer which I doubt they would do unless they lived near so I dunno about it.. but the idea is good I dunno if it is workable and doable

Well, the idea here is that they could model it at home, then post it. They could receive compensation based upon polygon count, quality, and low, mid, and high-res models, for distance model switches.

[Tomibo 2]

Indeed, the idea is that people will volunteer from home. Personally, I'd be thrilled to get involved in such a project by sending in 3D props and ideas to evolve the map. Surely, Im not the only one! The modscene as a whole and projects like Google Earth 3D cities prove that people are happy to create content without getting paid; it's all about being part of a unique and fun creative process!

The initial phase of such a process might look something like this: (The idea being, that each step inspires the next one)

Phase 1, initially created by DayZ team (without community involvement)

1) base geography (perhaps based on real-world heightdata)

2) natural layer (texturing, trees, rocks, rivers...)

3) cultural layer (some settlements and roads to start off with)

At this stage, a vast (albeit still rather empty) world is in place. Now, the DayZ team can stand back as creating artists, and take role as directing/managing artists. The creative community will then take role as creating artists:

Phase 2, community-driven, managed by DayZ team

4) volunteering artists can join the ranks; a specialized creative forum for communication must be formed. Moderators must ensure quality control; a design-guide must be released to inform the work of volunteering artists.

5) inspired by the real world ánd the game world, these artists can post their ideas and 3D props on the forum: Concept art/perspectives to present idea's, releasing 3D content.

6) selection & actual placement by DayZ team

Any ideas?

Edited August 23, 2012 by Tomibo

[Tomibo 2]

Id like to quickly add that this process would never work for a stylized fantasy world. Obviously, it'll lead to chaotic compositions and bad color palletes.... which is precisely the point: DayZ must mimick the feel of the real world, and thus perfectly fits such a designprocess.

[Mos1ey 6301]

I think the standalone will feature a kind of Chernaraus+ with new towns added to the map as well as A LOT more of the buildings being made enterable.

[deadman11111 0]

Maybe in future they could add year seasons (winter..) in game, and some forest animals to hunt for surviving..

Edited August 23, 2012 by deadman11111

[Blakbewwy 8]

Definitely liking the idea of more large-scale things like weather. Rain's a great start, as well as lightning (which doesn't actually do anything, in fairness) and could lead onto more interesting weather such as snow; or even more heavy variants of rain making temperature drop a feature to pay attention to. I mean, I'm not sure about other people, but I certainly don't even bother checking my temperature even if it's raining because it's extremely easy to keep yourself warm. In a few weeks of playing, I haven't encountered anyone who's had sickness (which you get from a low temperature or other people) which is a shame because I think it would add quite a nice angle to the game, of survivors being wary of others due to the risk of a virus.

I just realised I strayed off subject a bit... Anyway, I like the idea of contributions from home and it being voluntary. I doubt Rocket has the resources - but correct me if I'm wrong - to pay a few hundred developers. Think of this like the Team Fortress 2 workshop! The devs end up just using the community instead of creating their own stuff, and it works.

[Tomibo 2]

Yes, you're feeling it! The Team Fortress 2 workshop is a good example. Indeed, the entire moddingscene is proof that it works.

An earlier poster (Pfheonix) mentioned distant model switching... I'm not sure how the ARMA engine handles this (?) but there are new engines that dont require it.... quite an important point to make, because only having to send in a single model would greatly benefit the creative process.

In any case, technical guidelines for polycount/texturesize should be released, as well as dimension requirements (most notably for enterable buildings; doors, staircases and such). Preferably, community artists submit 3D models with a specific map location in mind. This is quite important for the final ''feel'' of the game world, because realworld buildings are also (usually!) designed with a location in mind.

When the 3D props flock in by the hundreds, moderators can weed out the unusable stuff from the usable, and the official DayZ team can cherrypick the best props/ideas. Every month, the world gets filled in more and more, inspiring new idea upon new idea, creating a hugely interesting environment!

Any more thoughts?