Collectibles - encourage survival

[lolsworth 0]

This might be more suitable for the standalone game, as I’m not sure if it’s possible within the ARMA2 engine. Also I’ll be referring to the original Chernarus map, as that’s what I’m most familiar with.

The Suggestion:

Collectibles

Collectible items that spawn in loot piles.

BUT they’re not collectible just for the sake of it (10/10 yay!)

When you collect all the items (8-10?), something awesome happens. Examples of awesome stuff at the end.

The Details:

Collectibles are player-specific. That is, if I find a collectible in an item pile and don’t pick it up, you won’t find it there (or they automatically pick up). Additionally, if you kill someone and loot their corpse, you won’t find the collectibles they had.

So when you die, all your collectibles are lost.

They would be limited to 1 per small town and 2 per large town. Keep in mind this is per player aka if I find 2 collectibles in Cherno you can still find 2 there also.

They would probably be limited to high value loot spawns eg corner store, fire station etc

A possibility would be a certain number of collectibles per category ie 4 residential, 2 industrial, 2 military.

Another possibility would be the first collectible is a map, and indicates the location of the next collectible (this idea originated as “clues” rather than “collectibles”) and each subsequent collectible indicates the next town. But you still have to find the collectible in the indicated town. This might be too easy though.

Alternatively, the collectible is actually a clue. For example you find a shipping manifest, indicating that the next collectible is in an industrial spawn near the coast.

Regardless, the final collectible will indicate where the awesome thing will happen, if in a specific location.

The Reason:

Some people wonder “what’s the point of DayZ endgame?”, and others describe it as CoD at the airfield. Obviously I’m not saying everyone thinks like this, or even most people. Many enjoy the game in its current state. But consider this: the main game style involves going to a town, rotating through the good loot spawns and gearing up, then heading for one of the military spawns to get some endgame gear.

With collectibles, this essentially would not change. Collectibles would encourage people to rotate through the major loot spawns. And once you find the collectible/s in a town, you move on to the next one, just like people gearing up and then heading off north.

The only thing that would change would be people become more likely to check out the less visited towns.

The large number of collectibles would encourage the survival aspect of the game, since it will take quite some time to search and move between towns looking for collectibles. It would give people (that need it) a purpose, without taking away any of the freedom that people currently enjoy. In no way are people forced to go for collectibles. I expect that finding all the collectibles and reaping the reward would be quite rare and only achieved by skilled players.

Examples of potential rewards/events for collecting all collectibles: Please don’t get too hung up on these but rather focus on the overall idea rather than individual events that may or may not be imbalanced. Feel free to suggest other events etc

*Examples deleted due to people focussing on the balance of the reward rather than the concept of the suggestion itself*

Again, Please don’t get too hung up on these but rather focus on the overall idea rather than individual events that may or may not be imbalanced. Feel free to suggest other events etc

I hope people like this suggestion, I think it’s a 100% positive change, it doesn’t impact anyone who isn’t interested as they can continue playing how they like. For people like me this would make the survival aspect more intense, as you find more collectibles and get closer to some awesome event.

Edited October 6, 2012 by lolsworth

[flower (DayZ) 12]

lmao this is a horrible idea for a first post. The mountain dew is probably the best collectible in game. Welcome to the suggestions forum where lots of people lost their minds and became fools in the process. I believe you don't have to worry about the latter hahaha.

[Riem 164]

lmao this is a horrible idea for a first post. The mountain dew is probably the best collectible in game. Welcome to the suggestions forum where lots of people lost their minds and became fools in the process. I believe you don't have to worry about the latter hahaha.

Way to encourage someone new to the forums. Good job, sir, now any ideas they might have had that were good won't be posted because you're an ass.

Anyway.

I do have to say this wouldn't fit the atmosphere of DayZ, though. Running around getting collectibles for some awesome gamey event happening at the end doesn't suit a zombie survival game. This game is about realism, not what achievements you can get or what bonuses these items will give you.

It was creative, however, and it could be implemented along a different set of lines, like finding scraps from someone's journal, whether that journal be made by a player or is an item in the loot tables that you can find. Say you find a journal entry from Sergei Ivanovich, random survivor who's made it through all these years. In whatever the entry contains, there's a small memo about him needing to visit such and such a city, where you could find the next note.

Anyway, keep trying, but keep in mind this 'game' is about realism and the tools we use or make to survive.

[enforcer1975 1111]

I would like some vintage playboy magazines to jerk off to while camping in a bush with my wookie suit :D

[lolsworth 0]

Way to encourage someone new to the forums. Good job, sir, now any ideas they might have had that were good won't be posted because you're an ass.

Anyway.

I do have to say this wouldn't fit the atmosphere of DayZ, though. Running around getting collectibles for some awesome gamey event happening at the end doesn't suit a zombie survival game. This game is about realism, not what achievements you can get or what bonuses these items will give you.

It was creative, however, and it could be implemented along a different set of lines, like finding scraps from someone's journal, whether that journal be made by a player or is an item in the loot tables that you can find. Say you find a journal entry from Sergei Ivanovich, random survivor who's made it through all these years. In whatever the entry contains, there's a small memo about him needing to visit such and such a city, where you could find the next note.

Anyway, keep trying, but keep in mind this 'game' is about realism and the tools we use or make to survive.

Don' worry, trolls are easily ignored.

As I tried to make clear before and after listing possible events, try not to get hung up on the events I thought up. They're pretty extreme but just the result of me brainstorming not actually theorycrafting or considering balance at all.

I really don't understand at all how you can say this wouldn't fit the atmosphere of DayZ.

Running around getting items (and trying to survive) is the entire game!

"This game is about realism, not what achievements you can get or what bonuses these items will give you." Just think about this for a moment... map, compass, hunting knife, matches: all items you collect and that give you bonuses. The only difference between this and what I've suggested is that the "bonus" doesn't happen until you collect enough.

Further, in a "real" zombie apocalypse, people will be looking for clues to try and find out what happened/where the military went/where people stashed their stuff.

I've heard the journal idea thrown around and sure it might be cool for a bit but are you really going to stop and read some random text after the first couple of times? There has to be some reason to it. If pages from the journal led you from town to town, and then to a stash, that would be awesome.

I'll say it again. Don't focus on the (somewhat ridiculous) events I randomly brainstormed, try and think about the idea itself.

[flower (DayZ) 12]

The idea is horrible that's what your idea implies, nothing else.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

I really don't understand at all how you can say this wouldn't fit the atmosphere of DayZ.

Running around getting items (and trying to survive) is the entire game!

The theme of DayZ is one of survival, acting out of necessity. All the "collectibles" are items which serve a purpose in your struggle to survive.

If there are a set of items scattered across the country, the purpose these items will serve once you collect them all should be the reason for them existing. We already have vehicles as a prime example.

Maybe there could be many components to build a radio? Which could broadcast chopper crash locations, or allow long distance VoIP.

Unless, like Riem mentioned, they're scraps torn from a diary, or newspaper articles alluding to events leading up to DayZ. Something to add to the apocalyptic feel without ruining the sense of mystery.

It's hard for me to explain without sounding like a complete chode.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

@ Redtonic - Stop trolling this thread or you'll receive a posting ban.

Edited October 4, 2012 by Fraggle

[lolsworth 0]

The theme of DayZ is one of survival, acting out of necessity. All the "collectibles" are items which serve a purpose in your struggle to survive.

If there are a set of items scattered across the country, the purpose these items will serve once you collect them all should be the reason for them existing. We already have vehicles as a prime example.

Maybe there could be many components to build a radio? Which could broadcast chopper crash locations, or allow long distance VoIP.

Unless, like Riem mentioned, they're scraps torn from a diary, or newspaper articles alluding to events leading up to DayZ. Something to add to the apocalyptic feel without ruining the sense of mystery.

It's hard for me to explain without sounding like a complete chode.

I like the radio idea, that's the kind of vibe I was going for, where you get something really special after going lots of places and finding multiple pieces. And I guess finding vehicle parts kind of fits what I had in mind now that I think about it. But I was going for something more... unique for lack of a better word. More personal even. (I just want to make something clear, these collectibles wouldn't be something that just sits in your inventory. One of the reasons I don't know if this would fit into the ARMA2 engine is because having useless items would suck, so ideally there would be an indicator of how many "clues" you've found - in a journal or a keepsakes box or something like that, they're not actually items in your inventory, if you get what I'm trying to say.)

There could be multiple different types of these kinds of things. Item clues like I suggested, diary pages, newspaper articles, notes left by people, etc. Each with different kinds of things that they lead to. For example

A note left in someone's house says they'll wait at the train station in Solnichny (player specific - only visible to you). At the station in Solnichny someone scratched into a bench they couldn't wait any longer and had to go to Berezino to take care of something very important (player-specific and only spawns if you read the previous note). In the military camp you find the guy's diary where he said he couldn't wait any longer, that he had to come to the camp to do something, but it was too late and he couldn't go through with it, he came back from the woods and noone was even left to be ashamed of him. You go out in the woods and find a building. It's only enterable if you found all the previous notes. In the building is a console with nuclear launch commands, still stuck on the Confirm launch Y/N? screen. You can press yes or no. Maybe Chernarus gets nuked and everyone dies. Maybe nothing happens. Maybe there's just supplies and military grade gear in the building. But imagine how pissed off you'd be if you got sniped coming out of the military camp in Berezino. You wanna survive to follow the clues, rather than just surviving to keep your gear.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

But if you're playing as a group, the way you're describing it (individual clues per player) would get terribly complicated. Everyone would want to follow their own trail of clues.

Not to mention that every single combination of clues would have to be scripted and coded, and within a day I guarantee, every outcome possible would be posted on this here forum rendering it pointless again.

I'm not simply meaning to bash your idea, it's just that the logistics of what you're suggesting are almost impossible for a game of this scale, with a community like we have.

And you would get your ass chewed out big time if a trail of breadcrumbs led you to dropping a nuke on the whole server! Funny as it would be.

[Riem 164]

Oh, I plan to be dropping random notes around servers to mess with people.

Who knows? I might reward someone if they can bring me the entirety of my musings.

[Delta Smoke 01 765]

Honestly cant believe i read most of that.

[AddetterUS 7]

Well. A collectable pictures of some models (Mafia 2 style) would be cool and appriciated by the majority of players. Put em in item list, sort off like map, except, you know, this ones more....male friendly.

Also, guns getting outworn based on shots fired would be cool beans.(Farcry 2 style)

Would encourage people to keep em eastern weapons over the western ones, also to bother to shearch for new weapons.

Imagine the big question: Old M107 or a new M24? New M4A1 that last shorter or the long lasting AKM?

Is this thread a joke by the way, I honestly cant tell. :P

Edited October 5, 2012 by Addetter

[Hetstaine 10852]

I am not really looking for a quest type game.

Every single event you listed comes off as extremely kiddy gamey to me sorry , i know you said they were just ideas..but still , there is not one in there that doesnt make me go..ugh :) Maybe if an offline mode ? but online ..uh uh. It sounds worse than Borderlands..if that is possible.

Top tier military gear

Perfect condition vehicle inc. aircraft

Kill all other players

Knock all players unconscious

Break all other players legs

Kill all zombies

Turn all zombies into slow zombies

Zombie strength/speed increased

Foreign aid supply drop – low-grade/survival loot drops in various locations on map eg parachute supply crate style

Military supply drop – low-grade/survival loot drops in various locations on map eg parachute supply crate style

All primary weapons stop working for x amount of time (might be too farfetched)

Game becomes one shot one kill for x amount of time including zombie hits (might be too farfetched - could be explained by a weakening pathogen released)

For x amount of time, if someone is hit by a zombie they become infected, and die after a time if they don't take antibiotics

Special items – can’t be looted off corpse

Body armour

Zombie repellent - invisibility to zombies (for a time)

Aegis (after a delay, revives you on death)

Marauder’s Map aka radar (shows players on map)

Air strike summoner (aim at a location, it gets bombed)

[lolsworth 0]

But if you're playing as a group, the way you're describing it (individual clues per player) would get terribly complicated. Everyone would want to follow their own trail of clues.

Not to mention that every single combination of clues would have to be scripted and coded, and within a day I guarantee, every outcome possible would be posted on this here forum rendering it pointless again.

I'm not simply meaning to bash your idea, it's just that the logistics of what you're suggesting are almost impossible for a game of this scale, with a community like we have.

And you would get your ass chewed out big time if a trail of breadcrumbs led you to dropping a nuke on the whole server! Funny as it would be.

Wouldn't that add to the tension of it, and the realism of the zombie apocalypse?! It's one of the core points of most zombie media, that the main characters disagree on where to go next!

I agree it would be pretty difficult to code an interesting and meaningful version of what I'm suggesting. I think randomisation would be the key. Sure there would be a number of common threads but the exact locations could vary (in the clue-stye version).

If it was just a barebones collectibles version of this suggestion (the collectibles are randomly spawned player-specific items) it would be much simpler. Less interesting, but still you'd want to be more careful if you manage to collect a handful and you want to get them all.

@Hetstaine Like I tried to make clear, don't get hung up on those events if you don't like them. Consider the idea itself rather than the specific "rewards" I randomly thought up. What would be more suitable? What's so kiddy gamey about nuking the map or getting body armour or directing an air strike at a target location? And if you personally aren't looking for a quest type game there's nothing forcing you to go for collectibles, like I said in my OP you would just continue playing exactly the way you want.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

I believe the "kiddy game" comment was referring to the unlockable super powers, and it would be hard not to disagree.

Either that or he means collection of piles of things in the first place. If you've ever played any Assassins Creed did you find all the flags/feathers/other shit? probably not, it's feckin' boring.

I still grind my teeth when I think about super Mario 64 - collect the 8 red coins.

EDIT:

:|

Just had a Hazy Maze Cave flashback

Edited October 5, 2012 by Chabowski

[noblebrutus@live.co.uk 26]

I'm definitely up for trails of notes, newspaper clippings, etc. Some note trails could lead to loot I guess but it might be hard to implement.

Player left notes would work (even if the majority are spam). I could imagine an RP style clan creating trails on a specific server etc...

Most of your reward ideas are either overpowered or just unfair on other people in the server.

If scripted trails were left, then players should have the option to 'sync trails'. I could imagine a separate, perhaps community based, group handling the story writing for the trails while the devs do what they do.

[lolsworth 0]

I believe the "kiddy game" comment was referring to the unlockable super powers, and it would be hard not to disagree.

Either that or he means collection of piles of things in the first place. If you've ever played any Assassins Creed did you find all the flags/feathers/other shit? probably not, it's feckin' boring.

I still grind my teeth when I think about super Mario 64 - collect the 8 red coins.

EDIT:

:|

Just had a Hazy Maze Cave flashback

Okay well I've deleted the examples I had up of possible rewards, because people are getting obsessed with them rather than thinking about the actual concept of collectibles.

I totally get that not everyone will be interested in something like this. But that's one of the strengths of this type of game and this suggestion. There's nothing forcing anyone to do it, and it doesn't negatively affect anyone. It only adds depth to the game.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

You shouldn't delete things from posts, incase people are reading this in the future and don't have a point of reference. (forum etiquette)

It's my personal preference if I don't like fetch quests, I just assume others don't either.

Read NobeBrutus's post,(above) for a decent compromise, I would rather just leave it out TBH.

EDIT: The community would have far more creative trails, seeing as they (I) tend to think of these things while playing, and the Devs are too busy building the game.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Chabowski

[Hetstaine 10852]

@Hetstaine Like I tried to make clear, don't get hung up on those events if you don't like them. Consider the idea itself rather than the specific "rewards" I randomly thought up. What would be more suitable? What's so kiddy gamey about nuking the map

You answered your own question :) Nuking the map is kiddy gamey.

Collectibles i could not give a rats about as long as it only affects the player for his own 'experience'. The way you are putting the idea across is that it will affect everyones experience so in order for that to work everyone is forced into collecting trinkets to out collect someone else before they nuke you. or end up with awesome armour or whatever. Just plain not interested in that type of gaming which is why i am here at dayz and not in other level up/perk/collect this that whatever type of game.

As had been said many times before and again above by Chabowski and others..i can see players coming up with better ideas in game once we have the tools that Rocket is attempting to give us. The whole concept of collectibles is sterile to me.

The reason why i pointed out and reposted your 'awards' system was because i wanted to point out that none of those ideas were very good. Not to get hug up on them , but you just did not have anything interesting in there at all, which further degraded the concept.