Status Report - Week of 17 Nov 14

[SMoss 2101]

 

Player Interaction is arguably the cornerstone of what makes DayZ magical. Be it friendly or hostile, direct or at a distance - the interactions between players within Chernarus is what makes the world come alive without a structured narative or reason to be. The drive to stay alive, and survive in itself compels the player to create their own story by way of the journey. You see the stories told through pictures, forum posts, youtube videos, and twitch streams all over the internet. As we move towards our Christmas break, making those experiences be as fluid and enjoyable as possible on a development build is a personal goal for the team. Server performance, and security fixes rank just as high as the remaining content and feature additions on the board for November, and the weeks available in December outside the holidays.

Recently I have taken to spending more time on the newly supported private shards, exploring their communities and observing the playstyle differences between their player bases and the public hive. First person only camera perspective seems to be increasingly popular within the private shard market, and I've personally had some amazing player interaction in those worlds. For those still on the fence when it comes to trying first person only servers, I strongly encourage you to give them a chance. Restricting the perspective to what your character can actually see has a large impact on how people approach the game, and other players.

As we approach the end of 2014 and look back at all the challenges, and accomplishments of the DayZ Early Access I can not help but get excited about the possibilities in the new year. A passionate and active community has allowed us to grow and adapt the design and functionality of the project so much more than the traditional development method does. Being able to deploy, test, and research how systems are utilized, and the impact that they have on the player base rather than the traditional closed method of development and hoping that when your titles hits shelves it has the effect and reception you had hoped, is amazing.
I can't wait to share the work left in 2014 with you all, and hopefully spend my Christmas in Chernarus.

(Not a bandit) 

- Brian Hicks / Lead Producer
 

Standup Notes for the week of 17 Nov 14
(Note: Standup notes are not a change log - they are a quick high level look at tasks the teams worked on throughout this week)

 

Art:
• Prison Complex
• High fidelity V3S instrument panel 
• Military Tent & Ground Model
• Prison-themed zombies

Animation:
• Steyr Aug reload animations
• Player Suicide Animations in Progress
• Vehicle animations
• Animation changes for new controls
• Zombies with new AI

Design:
• Configs and scripts for V3S Praga 
• Config and scripts for prion disease
• Vehicles
• Cooking
• Configuration for Military Tent

Programming:
• Critical inventory fixes
• Vehicle settings for physical simulations
• New gamecontrols
• Loot distribution improvements
• Gameplay & Player Statistics
• Client/Server crash triage & bugfixing
• Character connection issues (protecting players from attack while logging in/before being able to move)

[Rags! 1966]

" and hopefully spend my Christmas in Chernarus."

 

Forever alone...

[blackberrygoo 1416]

Awesome ! The dev blogs are getting short lately and I think we all know what that means :) big patch coming soon !!!

[Thumper1999 48]

I cant wait for those vehicle's   :)

[TheFarm 158]

• Configs and scripts for V3S Praga

Well based on past items im pretty sure thats the last step. Should be an interesting thanksgiving weekend.

[Nebulae3 420]

We need venchile and base building soon - so much more interesting to play

And pls. fix the tent issue - so it stays persistance on a server even after weekly downtime so we don't

need to pick it up on tuesday and to move all the loot, because it's almost a full time job. ))

Edited November 23, 2014 by Ori42

[Thumper1999 48]

Dayz Developers are you going to fix the black and white screen bug next update?

[MrPandaCubs 1]

Quite frankly, now please don't get angry for my plain opinion... I am sadly disappointed with the DayZ developers. I believe that they need to stop implementing more features and fix the ones that are already there. I mean, I open a door and it breaks my leg! Come on now... something's wrong. I enjoy DayZ very much so and live to see it grow! I am just sad that the developers don't listen to our opinions. If they do I apologize.... All I want to ask is that you simply fix the errors in the game now and then focus on implementing more accessories.
 

      On the other hand, I must say DayZ has come a LONG way! I love DayZ man! :D It is a great game unlike any other and every single aspect matters! You become a player that you want to be.... Taking one wrong step can spiral into a long dreadful hostage situation... but it can also turn into a giant loot fest for you! Doesn't matter... Thanks so much DayZDevs for being such awesome and attentive creators! Yes, of course, you guys do have some flaws, however in all, you guys aren't that bad!

Keep up the GREAT work guys! <3 
Much love,
~MrPandaCubs

[ChainReactor 922]

I believe that they need to stop implementing more features and fix the ones that are already there.

 

Look, while I get your point from a gameplay-only point of view, that is just not how software development works. While they create, change or improve code, bugs will occour. There is no way around that. Fixing most bugs in this stage of development would be pointless because the ongoing programming would bug the bugfixes again. It would just be a waste of dev time and manpower. And some bugs aren't even bugs but rather unfinished content, persistance or zombie clipping in example.

 

So, it might sound silly, but throwing in all features and then fix the bugs afterwards is the most efficient way of creating a game. They do however fix bugs that are stressed enough by the community, like suicide ladders or wallclipping, so yes they do listen to our opinions and yes they do something about it. Players just need to be aware that they report and upvote the bugs on the feedbacktracker and that bugfixing a certain problem can take a while too.

[Ironhuge 69]

I'm crossing fingers in hope that the devs are actually producing a entirely new game on the side, using the early access as a feature request and platform to keep the public busy.

 

Let the h8rs h8 on me, but I really do think this game has been discarded.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Ironhuge

[rag (DayZ) 3]

Ironhuge - No hate, we all have opinions, mine is that this game is amazing, and the improvements are happening.... yes bugs here and there, but getting less imo.

 

OP - nice post. On the private v public, I could not agree more, no contest at all. Private hives seem to have much friendlier players... ofc a lot will still "friendly friendly" BAM BAM... still a lot are bandits... game would be boring and lose it's touch without those things . BUT and here is the big but for me. I have not come across hackers yet in private, sure they are there, but I believe literally every time I play public... its pretty much every time. Enter Electro and it is every time for certain on high pop server.

2 examples.

Number 1 - FPV - pulic

last night 2 friends (bami ish) in electro get befriended at a watering hole, they are dying from thirst - 3 players, kitted approach... they chat, give food... 5 mins later after a nice chat BAM BAM (fair enough, hey it's their playstyle) - 3 more of us (fully kitted travel 30 mins south, we know the 3 killers still there as our 2 bambi friends watch as bambis on respawn) We get there, follow lines from Cherno to Electro, way up in the hills and about 5 mins from each other - suddenly we all here music loudly over comms... all 3 of us killed instantly, no signs, no shots nothing - just dead) Hackers, certainly, can I prove, no - btw they were the only others on server.

I have come across hackers floating, through walls, stealing your weapons out of hands from distance etc, nothing like this, but like I say, no proof, so not complaining etc

Also to add, I believe 0.51 work on counter measures for hackers, + private shards is going to reduce this impact significantly

 

Number 2 - Private shard (Septic Falcon I think)

5 of us go to berizino (looking for a fair fight)

I am the only sniper (although I was pretty S**te :))

Others go in, Berizino is busy, quite a few there all with blue back packs, our 4 engage in conversation with the other group - all friendly... I am watching from usual spots (down into cop shop flats etc)... I meet a bambi ish who claims to have befriended the other group and then been shot (who knows the truth) - anyway - we say to others... we are here, we are looking for a fight... nice clean fight. This occurs around the flat area and gives about 3 hours of great fun. GG guys btw. 4/5 of us die... numerous times for some. Great times, fair fights, no hackers - just players wanting to have a scrap.

I could give lots of examples of meeting, travelling with and having great experiences with players... this it appears to me on Private is a lot more common.

 

Point I am making is - agree with OP Private are fantastic - You meet much nicer players... sure bandits, etc .. game would not be the same otherwise... but FAIR play..

If you haven't tried Private I recommend for whatever play style (I like them all)

 

Keep up the good work,

Black Mamba / Derpy / Broken Legs = enjoy your public servers,  your soon there will be nothing left for you but others of your "kind" :P as you will get banned from Private servers