DayZ (Zombie Survival, Persistant World)

[Drake Sigar]

Night time in game becomes VERY creepy at times. Hearing the zeds around you, realise you've walking into a tree for 10 mins, following the odd flare or sounds of gunfire...

Everyone also seems far more eager to find company. I can understand that, all I wanted to do the whole time was find someone to hug.

I took a gander at an online Arma 2 map. My last point of reference was Balota in the south-west, which means I should be heading directly for the capital city of Chernogorsk. I'm reluctant to leave the coast because it's such a huge landmark and an infinite supply of drinkable water (I know, right?), but Chernogorsk is a death sentence. Could skirt round it or just head north. I'll wait till daylight though, crawling around at night is too scary.

[MadJax]

Cherno is a no go zone for me, made the mistake of going in there once and was betrayed by a guy I'd teamed up with for an hour, just as we were fighting a horde and a player hunter at the same time..

This game is unforgiving :D

[Drake Sigar]

Something wrong again? Sounds aren't coming through properly, or the action menu. I died when I logged in, ended up respawning on the other side of Cherno. I suspect a lot of people died during the log because I found one of those player killer towers and picked an advanced backpack and assault rifle off the corpse. :)

[Web Cole]

So I wanted to float some ideas and do some crowd sourcing before there is a propa DayZ suggestion forum. What mechanics do people think would increase teamwork, and lessen the "lone survivor Deathmatching everyone they see" tendency? My thoughts so far:

More Things That Require 2 or More Survivors

If something functionally requires more than 1 person to accomplish, and it is desirable to do so, you have just created teamwork! :P In the same vein as blood packs, what if it required two players present to repair a vehicle? Or (I'm not really sure how this would work) if larger items required 2 people to carry them?

Limit the Map - Compass - Hunting Knife - etc Slots

If the item slots where your Map etc go we're limited to say 2/3 slots, it may encourage people to team up together and to specialise; ie The Navigator, The Hunter etc.

Survivor Groups and End Game Mechanics

If there were a bunch of "End Game" mechanics that were introduced, for example securing territory or resources (petrol/gas stations?) and those end game options were only accessible through survivor groups - analogous to a squad system - it should make people want to band together.

[Kelron]

More Things That Require 2 or More Survivors

If something functionally requires more than 1 person to accomplish, and it is desirable to do so, you have just created teamwork! :P In the same vein as blood packs, what if it required two players present to repair a vehicle? Or (I'm not really sure how this would work) if larger items required 2 people to carry them?

This should be doable using existing Arma mechanics. I believe some static weapons require 2 people to carry, as they split up into 2 large parts. Definitely want to see construction of some sort in.

[jp0249107]

Survivor Groups and End Game Mechanics

If there were a bunch of "End Game" mechanics that were introduced, for example securing territory or resources (petrol/gas stations?) and those end game options were only accessible through survivor groups - analogous to a squad system - it should make people want to band together.

This. Some kind of optional factions system the could secure a small building or apartment complex that would serve as a base of operations would be amazing. I'd buy ARMA II and OA just to play this mod if that were implemented. I'm already just waiting for the game to smooth out a bit before setting down thirty bucks to play this, but that would cement the purchase right there. Heck I'd buy the mod itself if it were stand-alone.

[kataras]

For me the game is boring alone anyway, I find it self-evident that it's much more enjoyable and safe in groups. (or maybe I m just crap at it alone)
Limiting the knife etc slots doesn't sound like a good idea. What happens if your hunter or navigator dies and re-spawns alone and naked?
Some eventual kind of factions wars would be nice, with HQ's and bases. I wonder though how you would make sure that another faction doesn't take over your base while you re not playing.
However I think this is where the game is evolving towards, since there are already gangs, loners etc. I am not sure if it needs to be forced through some mechanic. Overall it's pretty interesting I think from a sociological point of view!

[Mistabashi]

I'd have to say that the appeal of the game for me is that there aren't any contrived or enforced mechanics like that, I'm more interested in seeing how people organise themselves into groups without them. I don't think players or groups should be able to "own" territory beyond simply being there and hopefully out-numbering or out-gunning any other groups who try to take it from you. I'd imagine that as servers get a more stable population then diplomacy will kick-in by default; if you keep seeing the same faces you're going to be a bit more careful about who you make enemies of.

The big worry I have is that it'll be easy for a server to end up with an entrenched group of regular players who have all the equipment, and any new players joining will just be easy pickings for them. I guess the game lends itself to roleplaying, the experience is going to be largely dependant on the behaviour of the players, so is probably more suited to community servers (much like Minecraft really).

[Drake Sigar]

I'd have to say that the appeal of the game for me is that there aren't any contrived or enforced mechanics like that

Indeed. The game doesn't really need a factions system or a base of operations because it already has those things, albeit at a basic level. There's nothing stopping players from gathering cars, equipment, & tents at a nice piece of land and working together.

Perhaps there should be more encouragement to do so though. As I said on the Arma II forum, killing someone for their fancy equipment is a legitimate way of survival, hunting down freshly spawned characters in the starting areas is retarded. This morality system I've heard about sounds like a good idea if done properly.

[Harlander]

I really think this mod could hook into ACRE pretty nicely. Imagine big radio transmitters that you can lug about and set up, so that anyone with a radio can hear your beckoning call or threats to keep away. The lovely crackliness effects of buildings and hills in the way would give a bucketload of extra atmosphere too.

[Mbaya]

Loved the video, looks like a great mod...rough around the edges for sure, but I'm going to keep an eye on this.

I can't help but think, seeing what this mod has already achieved...why oh why haven't we seen a major studio attempt at this sort of game? (not to discredit the mod makers, I simply mean I think this sort of project deserves a lot more attention and funding!).

[crudemik]

Holy cow, I tried this yesterday for the first time, I survived for 5 hours and I think it was one of the top game experiences I've had. I blogged about it http://crudepixel.com/2012/05/oh-my-dayz/ - RPS should totally investigate the game, it's remarkable. I actually filmed it all, here's a small clip of me entering a town for the first time while looking for my mate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95kle...layer_embedded

I eventually died by human hands not zombie. I was on the top floor of a building with a sniper rifle when someone started taking potshots at me, this turned into a protracted fight. I didn't realize that he had a partner who flanked me and shot me in the back as I tried to ascend a ladder. BASTARDS.

[Cooper]

I played it for about two hours yesterday. In the time between spawning and death I had come out with an excellent little survivor tale; full of hurried sorties into barns, frantic survival at a village, the hunting of a player killer, resulting fatal wounds and eventual suicide by jumping off of a lighthouse...

Some kind of end game mechanic where groups of players can 'hold' areas and reduce zombie spawns. And even something as simple as being able to create 'caches' where you can hide stuff you collect (I hate not being able to carry two pistols) would be enough to make this game great.

I highly recommend playing on US servers. They are daytime during UK evenings (and also late at night in the UK they tend to have spaces available) and the ping is never so terrible as to be crippling (and ARMA seems to deal very well with pings of about 100-150ms)

[Harlander]

Tents are used to create caches, at least. I mean, if they're working properly in the current version.

[Xari]

Holy damn, I bought Operation Arrowhead just for this mod because of the infinite amount of hype and I don't regret it. On my first character, I died within 10 minutes simply because I wasn't sneaking. On my second, I managed to make it to a city where I was revealed by an unknown's flare, prompting a horde of zombies to chase me through the entire damn place before I was mercilessly sniped by said unknown player. Tense.

[FSW]

Looks amazing. I have Arma 2 so I just need Operation Arrowhead right? Cheapest way to buy that would be?

[Cooper]

http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-ARMA2...tion-arrowhead
A tenner at Gamersgate (50% off) but may be cheaper elsewhere.

[FSW]

Cheers. That looks cheapest.

[alset85]

We need our own server running this. I've no interest in playing with random griefers on the internet.

[Unaco]

We need our own server running this. I've no interest in playing with random griefers on the internet.

Not going to happen for a while. Besides, random people/griefers are part of the game/real aftermath of a Zombie Apocalypse.