DayZ the game. What do you guys think?

[iashford 73]

So we've probably all heard the things from E3 regarding DayZ becoming a standalone game, and some other rumours such as the whole game being on server, and being set in World War II era. What do people think? What would you prefer and what would you want to see? What country would you like it to be set in? Since it's becoming a standalone game, that pretty much means we'll get a new setting which I like!!

I personally like the WWII era, I think it's a great time to be set in because you don't risk the over saturation of technology, plus the general style of everything (clothing, guns, buildings, interior design, etc) I find really intriguing. I like this idea over a modern day or futuristic setting, as I believe they leave too much room for error (such as saying "I should be able to combat this with such and such) and its just been done too many times.

I also hope that we play as just NORMAL people, meaning that clothing and physical options aren't military looking. I'd like to look like a civillian who can find other civillan and military based clothing (as I'm assuming we'll have different clothing options since arma3 has the ability to change your uniform). I think different clothing types should also have different tempreture advantages. Say you find a trenchcoat with long pants and boots, it's going to keep you warmer then, say, a tank top and shorts would.

I'd like to see a more apocolyptic setting. Like ruined, barricaded buildings, random fires, ash clouds, etc. I'd like to see limbless zombies running around, anything that just gives it more of a gruesome, apocolyptic feeling, but still keeping it realistic. With this aspect, I'm not really afraid of it looking terribly realistic, because I much prefer an exaggerated world in chaos, rather then what DayZ currently looks like.

More character aesthetics and features. Like, limping when you're injured enough, carrying other players to help someone move faster, etc. Boosting players up ledges is another feature I think would do well in games like this, it adds a new dynamic to exploring, and coop. Infected being able to grapple and slow down people would also be nice.

I'd also like to see some form of political system, like player owned towns, etc (see my thread in Player suggestions section). It adds a new dynamic and helps keep the game fresh, and gives you a lot more to do then just shoot people. Plus, if it's playing like a simulator, people trying to rebuild would be occuring in a real life situation.

So what are you guys expecting from a DayZ standalone game, and what sort of things would you like to see?

[will.tuff@gmail.com 0]

I like your last point regarding a political system, I was thinking of something similar and would love something like this to be implemented. Also your second point is a good point aswell. All I really want at the moment some group features.

[esaciar 1]

I'd happily pay for a standalone game if, without exception, it maintained its community based roots and survivalist ethos.

I don't want a game to have to lose its soul in order to appeal to the masses. The masses are often catered for all to eagerly these days.

[iashford 73]

I'd happily pay for a standalone game if' date=' without exception, it maintained its community based roots and survivalist ethos.

I don't want a game to have to lose its soul in order to appeal to the masses. The masses are often catered for all to eagerly these days.

[/quote']

With how much of a success DayZ has been so far, I don't think it'll end up becoming CoD or anything like that. Why change a formula that so many people are happy with, and are excited to see expanded upon because it has so much potential?

[esaciar 1]

Indeed I agree and hope that our optimism is well invested. The beauty of this game, the sheer excitement it invokes, is a result of it being so thoroughly entrenched in the community.

We can take very, very little credit for it's conception and design, but the more time we invest in it, we feel very protective and loyal to the process.

That, in no way, should engender an opposition to creativity or change - quite the opposite.

But we should also be careful to maintain the core principals that attracted us to this game in the first place.

I believe this is much more than a game. It has the potential to be a phenomena.

[salty (DayZ) 39]

For some reason I really enjoy DayZ's current setting.

Player run safe havens is definitely something I'd like to see, but I'm not sure about player run towns. I like the idea of players taking over existing towns, but creating their own seems a bit excessive.

[iashford 73]

I like the idea of players taking over existing towns

Thats what I meant :P

[Brewcat 3]

Great ideas, I'd love to see the all of the stuff you are talking about here. This is the sort of thread I like to read on these forums. People looking forward to the future of what is, for me, the best game I have ever played.

[esaciar 1]

Entrenching and protecting a town would be beautiful...

Really excited by that!

[worst2first 71]

I would have to see A LOT more content from the devs before I would even consider purchasing a Day Z game.

I know it's an alpha, but Day Z is currently at about 25% (that's a generous estimate) of what a full game should be. Honestly, it's a buggy, glitchy, unstable mess right now and really isn't worth more than $5 max.

[esaciar 1]

The potential is phenomenal. The sheer scope is vast here. I am truly excited by this and wish to be a positive and active contributor in any way I can.

[iashford 73]

I would have to see A LOT more content from the devs before I would even consider purchasing a Day Z game.

I know it's an alpha' date=' but Day Z is currently at about 25% (that's a generous estimate) of what a full game should be. Honestly, it's a buggy, glitchy, unstable mess right now and really isn't worth more than $5 max.

[/quote']

You have to realise that in its current state, this is a MOD by ONE guy. A mod in alpha, may I add. Since the mod is going to be turned into a standalone FULLY FLEDGED GAME with a team of qualified people. We're looking at a whole new game here, so there's going to be loads more content, whole new aesthetics, such as the map, etc. and new features. And yes, the bugs will of course be smoothed out. What you see now is nothing as to what you'll see with an actual developed game.

[Deuzerre 64]

I'd love a cold war ear. The reasons are rather simple:

- High tech is rather limited. It's an interesting period where many of the things that are common nowadays were really rare. No GPS and stuff, more gritty. Night vison was limited, things like that.

- Weapons looked better and different.

- Still rather unused compared to the overused WW2 setting.

- Can be on many different places.

The country could be an eastern, ex USSR setting, that would represent the availability of the weapons, and add a more "unique" feel to it. Or a big island like Malta.

For the features: We still haven't seen what the Alpha has to offer, so I don't really know. I'd love to have more realistic things (Weapon jam, per bullet ammo count, etc...) without not so useful features (fever...), maybe a F2P clothes shop for people to change their looks at respawn but absolutely not a monthly fee (god no!) while still paying for the retail version.

I hope there WON'T be any funky zombies like in L4D. For the moment, they remained "human" and that's great. Big hulks of flesh are just making me feel like it's a game, and not a post apocalyptic experience. It doesn't feel as "possible" than your standard walker, brainbugged monkey, or crawler. Other behaviours could be added though, like "fake dead" that say "oh hai der" when you get close to loot them.

Also, a real morality/humanity system that's more thought of than the bandits skin. Varied interactions by making it a harder decision to kill someone is what is needed right now.

[Katana67 2907]

Modern American setting.

This is where most of the zombie lore is propagated, only fair to deliver to the masses of firearm owners who pine for a zombie apocalypse.

Post-Soviet and European apocalpyse settings are becoming FAR too cliche, with games like the Metro series, the STALKER series, and now Day Z by proxy in Chernarus. Asian ones don't really interest me outside of maybe a South East Asian setting, but seem fairly gimmicky a la Dead Island and WaW Zombie mode. Middle Eastern setting might be interesting, probably in the Levant or North Africa rather than the typical Afghanistan/Iraq/Generic Saudi Arabia setting.

Other time periods don't interest me in the slightest, WWII is boring... we did that dance in the late nineties and early 21st. Modern settings provide for much more diversity in storytelling and weapons.

Day Z's setting in Chernarus will likely be seen as a root to be expanded upon, not reduced. Realism and gritty survival should not be compromised by gimmicky WWII settings and flashy tongue-in-cheek zombie lore. There's nothing gimmicky about a modern setting to me, as it's just emulating current circumstances. Day Z is all about the experience, as in, it's putting YOU in a simulated zombie apocalypse and leaving you to your own devices. It's not putting you in your grandfather's zombie apocalypse as it were.

I could care less about "innovation" in terms of settings, Day Z's current setting is profoundly -not- about giving the player a new experience for the sake of giving them a new experience. The experience is garnered *gasp*, FROM THE PLAYER'S ACTUAL EXPERIENCE IN GAME! Not the setting.

Unsure as to what the map should look like. In keeping with a pure "open world" theme, I think the map should be massive... and player count increased to 200. Seems to be what's ideal in ARMA III. The map should have some variance in climate, warmer on the coast/south. Temperate forests, and some snow environments thrown in.

Increased scavenging and all buildings accessed, plus a player settlement mechanic. All of these are suggestions that people have proposed for Day Z that would be easier to implement if they just used a different engine.

On the subject of weapons, attachments need to be implemented in the full game should it arise. This is why a realistic WWII setting wouldn't work for me, because most weapons are not able to mount any type of attachment without becoming LUDICROUSLY anachronistic. The only suppressed weapon I can think of in the WWII era off hand is the Welrod and I think they made a Sten integrally suppressed.

You'd be incredibly limited in terms of weapon variety, which is something huge in Day Z and should not be minimized to any degree. In order to make this, and the Cold War setting work, you'd have to take MASSIVE creative license with the weapons and sacrifice a portion of the "realistic/simulation" aspect of Day Z, which shouldn't be done under any circumstances.

[CaptainWhappin 3]

^There is pretty much no other engine that could perform the tasks you want that I know of.

[Katana67 2907]

^There is pretty much no other engine that could perform the tasks you want that I know of.

ARMA 3 engine has attachments, all-enterable structures. And, though it may be based off of the ARMA 2 engine, is much more efficient in handling the stuff that ARMA 2 is having trouble with.

CryEngine 3 has the capability for all of the above, as well as easily-placed player items.

[Xterminator (DayZ) 2]

The game is amazing, I'm currently on a guy that has lived for 8 hours, looted all the airfields and alot of northern towns, I play with a group and we have been hunting, stalking other players, looting some players tents, and just having a good time.

The paranoia in this game is unreal. We had just looted the NW airfield and was headed out of the area, when all the sudden a car came speeding over the hill, we all went proned and waited for it to pass. The next 2 hours we were paranoid and was on constant lookout for other players.

[WildGunsTomcat 78]

I absolutely LOATHE the WW2 era idea.

I'm so sick of 1940's era stuff....

I like the idea of a FUTURE setting. Or even a late 90's setting.

[bovine3dom 0]

Modern American setting.

This is where most of the zombie lore is propagated' date=' only fair to deliver to the masses of firearm owners who pine for a zombie apocalypse.

Post-Soviet and European apocalpyse settings are becoming FAR too cliche, with games like the Metro series, the STALKER series, and now Day Z by proxy in Chernarus. Asian ones don't really interest me outside of maybe a South East Asian setting, but seem fairly gimmicky a la Dead Island and WaW Zombie mode. Middle Eastern setting might be interesting, probably in the Levant or North Africa rather than the typical Afghanistan/Iraq/Generic Saudi Arabia setting.

[/quote']

I'd love it to be set in the UK / Western Europe. America is too sparsely populated and the cities are too easy to navigate - https://maps.google.com/?ll=37.078942,-88.614264&spn=0.060944,0.132093&t=m&z=14 vs https://maps.google.com/?ll=52.414933,0.754838&spn=0.023296,0.066047&t=m&z=15 and America has been done to death. Very, very, very few games are substantially set in the UK. I'm struggling to think of any other than the Getaway / GTA: London 1969/1.

Then again, nobody has guns over here so I'm not sure how practical it would be.

That said, I love the Eastern-European setting. There's something so delightfully alien yet familiar about the Cyrillic alphabet - though I'm sure it's a different story if you're a native.

[WildGunsTomcat 78]

Modern American setting.

This is where most of the zombie lore is propagated' date=' only fair to deliver to the masses of firearm owners who pine for a zombie apocalypse.

Post-Soviet and European apocalpyse settings are becoming FAR too cliche, with games like the Metro series, the STALKER series, and now Day Z by proxy in Chernarus. Asian ones don't really interest me outside of maybe a South East Asian setting, but seem fairly gimmicky a la Dead Island and WaW Zombie mode. Middle Eastern setting might be interesting, probably in the Levant or North Africa rather than the typical Afghanistan/Iraq/Generic Saudi Arabia setting.

[/quote']

I'd love it to be set in the UK / Western Europe. America is too sparsely populated and the cities are too easy to navigate - https://maps.google.com/?ll=37.078942,-88.614264&spn=0.060944,0.132093&t=m&z=14 vs https://maps.google.com/?ll=52.414933,0.754838&spn=0.023296,0.066047&t=m&z=15 and America has been done to death. Very, very, very few games are substantially set in the UK. I'm struggling to think of any other than the Getaway / GTA: London 1969/1.

Then again, nobody has guns over here so I'm not sure how practical it would be.

That said, I love the Eastern-European setting. There's something so delightfully alien yet familiar about the Cyrillic alphabet - though I'm sure it's a different story if you're a native.

I'd like to see one set in Canada/Alaska.

I'm American btw....I realize Alaska is technically America...but it is so far removed as to be a foreign country.

The lower 48 states have been done to death in video games.

[joecheeze 0]

Personally I feel more comfortable with the idea of the Z apocalypse in current day/future scenario. This constitutes a a looming possible failed future with overpopulation/technology abuse being the root for our short sightedness as humans. Plus, when there is such a disaster/extinction level event, the technological adept culture has more of a shock as there is no longer instant communication. It kinda like going from todays tech to ww2 era tech. however when the time period is in 1942 then what does that do in terms of a culture shock/technology step back? muskets and swords. I think I would rather enjoy a future gone horribly wrong. with modern tech the prize and human salvation the gift.

[Katana67 2907]

Modern American setting.

This is where most of the zombie lore is propagated' date=' only fair to deliver to the masses of firearm owners who pine for a zombie apocalypse.

Post-Soviet and European apocalpyse settings are becoming FAR too cliche, with games like the Metro series, the STALKER series, and now Day Z by proxy in Chernarus. Asian ones don't really interest me outside of maybe a South East Asian setting, but seem fairly gimmicky a la Dead Island and WaW Zombie mode. Middle Eastern setting might be interesting, probably in the Levant or North Africa rather than the typical Afghanistan/Iraq/Generic Saudi Arabia setting.

[/quote']

I'd love it to be set in the UK / Western Europe. America is too sparsely populated and the cities are too easy to navigate - https://maps.google.com/?ll=37.078942,-88.614264&spn=0.060944,0.132093&t=m&z=14 vs https://maps.google.com/?ll=52.414933,0.754838&spn=0.023296,0.066047&t=m&z=15 and America has been done to death. Very, very, very few games are substantially set in the UK. I'm struggling to think of any other than the Getaway / GTA: London 1969/1.

Then again, nobody has guns over here so I'm not sure how practical it would be.

That said, I love the Eastern-European setting. There's something so delightfully alien yet familiar about the Cyrillic alphabet - though I'm sure it's a different story if you're a native.

I lived in the United Kingdom for three years, father was stationed there. I'm not sure it would be that different from what we've got now, and I don't think America is too "sparsely" populated. Also, consider that 28 Days Later, which has a heavy influence on the moods and zombies in this game... is set in the UK. A hefty amount of zombie/infected lore is derived from the UK in that franchise.

The United Kingdom would be an interesting choice, no doubt. But, now that I think about it, we should probably be looking at post-apocalyptic "open world" games... rather than zombie games. Because the only thing L4D has in common with Day Z is that they both feature weapons and zombies, that's about it. Dead Island is pseudo-Papua New Guinea I think??, STALKER's in Ukraine and all that jazz, Fallout of recent memory is DC area.

I don't know, I enjoy American settings and always dreamed of an open-world zombie game in America. Would serve to placate the masses of zombie-fans and paranoid firearm owners. Plus, the United States is one of the few countries with open firearm laws... so weapon variety would be a plus. If it were in the UK, weapon variety would be fairly low and/or reserved to police/military spawns.

I live in New England, and we've got a very nice mix of rural/urban around Boston. It is by no means, sparsely populated. Chernarus, is fucking -sparsely- populated. Five houses in a town? Give me a break, that's 15th century right there and it works well enough.

But, perhaps debating over a SPECIFIC location is sort of superfluous. Perhaps it will be a fictional location, like Chernarus, but based off a real-world location. I do think there should be far more difference in terrain. Wilderness should make up a big portion, as should suburban/rural farmland, cities should be far larger with actual high-rises.

[iashford 73]

I wouldn't mind seeing London/surrounding rural area as the setting tbh. I really would just like to see at least 1 or 2 big cities (actual cities. Cherno and elektro are just big towns to me)

[iashford 73]

I'd like to be able to hide in ruined buses, vans, etc, have doors be able to break down from infected and barricaded, and climbing thru windows as well

[Kageru 18]

The game currently is flawed because there's no progression. The initial moments are scary but once you find a map with the spawn points of loot, understand zombie mechanics, and have geared up it ceases to become a zombie mod. The only serious threat after that is other player and the only challenge is hunting other players so the whole thing descends into a death-match / campathon.

This is a genre problem (what is the end of a zombie story.. escape or die?)

It would be better to fix that in the mod environment before the full game happens, where you can try mechanics and the players accept balance being awry. How can you make zombies challenging to a geared player in a secured environment with a silenced weapon? Sniper weapons are a balance nightmare too. What is the co-operative progression? The spawn system means there's actually a small number of high value locations that become campathons and a lot of the map has zero value.

Once you get over the ambience, shock of being a new player in a vast map and scavenging (which is excellent) there is not much game left. And the current PvP focus is niche gameplay.

Though, ultimately, whatever. I bought ARMA for the fun of watching where it evolves too, so whatever the developer wants to do is fine. Even if it ends up not being my sort of game.