Greetings Survivors,
For this week we have a bit of info on a subject which many of you have been enquiring about - Persistence. Our Lead Producer Brian Hicks will be talking a bit about what the team has been working as of late in regards to persistence, and also, he will fill us in a bit in relation to both server performance as well as player position desync. Also, Lead Designer Peter Nespesny will inform us of the work being conducted on vehicles. This includes both upcoming vehicles as well as operation/maintenance of these.
Contents This Week
Development Board Spotlight
Dev Update/Hicks
Greetings Survivors,
The team is still working hard on the last few issues blocking a stable release of 0.58 - I'll highlight a few of them in this Status Report as well as go into how some of the changed systems are now operating, and how they should be operating once 0.58 hits stable.
Last we discussed:
- Server Performance (Degrading)
This issue has been resolved, and we're seeing a 3x increase in server performance on the current 0.58. As well, the degrading curve of server performance over large spans of time has been resolved. Thus, the experimental branch servers will be operating on a 12 hour restart schedule now.
- Player Position Desync
Still being worked on, the gameplay programmers have made some improvements on this issue - but its still not where we would like it to be for stable. We'll continue to iterate on this, and keep you apprised in the Status Reports. For now, current experimental servers should show a marked improvement in this area.
Now onto the meat for this week. As frequent experimental branch users are aware, we've been operating experimental with full persistence enabled. Dynamic events have been respawning, and cleaning up - and we've been conducting extensive testing on Quantity Maximum Cleanup, and Lifetime Cleanup.
The above picture shows the loot concentration (against a black backdrop for our color blind users) right after last Friday's experimental update. The item quantity sits right around an average of 21,000 items globally.
This picture, shows the same server - 3 days later. The item quantity is *the same* (Approx 21,000 items globally) but the saturation is much lower, with the items massively spread out across the map. This issue can be tied to two issues - One, lifetime (age of a particular item) cleanup not functioning for items "dropped" on the ground - and per building maximum not yet functioning.
Todays experimental build is aimed at resolving both of those issues. With the first iteration of per-building maximums, and bug fixing on item lifetime cleanup, we'll be monitoring the loot heat maps - as well as aiming for another experimental update tomorrow (assuming everything works out alright) with point-of-interest structure limits.
- Brian Hicks / Lead Producer
Dev Update/Peter
Transportation in DayZ is a crucial part of gameplay, especially on such a large landscape as Chernarus offers. Whenever you want to reach inland for a higher chance to find better loot, get to the Chernogorsk hospital for medical supplies to help your friend in need or ambush the bandit camp hidden in the woods - hiking is the least viable option. As you want to reach your goal as fast as possible, you find yourself looking for the vehicle which suits your current needs best. Version 0.59 will come with a big update to vehicles content and I'm happy to see it's shaping up pretty well. You can look forward to a car fest with 3 completely new vehicles made from scratch just for DayZ including a slick sedan, a sturdy off-road and a spacious bus. All of these vehicles will have different handling characteristics and specifications you can experience in real life for example bigger turning radius and slower acceleration of the bus, higher top speeds of the sedan or perfect contact with uneven surfaces of off-road.
Apart from that as I mention earlier we are adding long awaited vehicle parts. To repair and maintain your vehicle you will also need to utilize a broad spectrum of tools already available in game, may it be the lug wrench for mounting the wheels, screwdriver to attach the doors or wrench to connect the battery. Some of the tools will have specialized purposes like the lug wrench while others will be used for more interactions within vehicle and its parts. I want to see characters using their tools directly from hands interacting with the exposed parts of the vehicle to reinforce the visceral experience of actual activity. All vehicles and their parts were designed, modeled and prepared according to this goal so I hope it will turn out really well and adds to more sophisticated gameplay instead of instant abstract actions.
I will end my part of Status Report in a bit hyped spirit with insight into the future where I can see vehicles like helicopters, planes, boats and bikes. (Of course we're doing bicycles!).
Keep those tools handy... see you in Chernarus folks!
Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer
Community Video: "Epic Melee Fight"
Yay!!! For this week we bring you yet another one of those videos that show what some players are up to when not so much focusing on deatchmatch battles at NWAF or living out the hermit lifestyle in the outer rim of the map. There's not so much to it really; one rooftop, 11 players, and no firearms whatsoever. Take a couple of minutes if you will and let yourself be entertained by the chaotic brawl that ensues once the referee reaches the end of his countdown.
The video was most kindly brought to us by TopeREC TV. If you have a couple of minutes to spare, I highly recommend that you take a look at his channel.
You can also follow TopeREC via the following channels:
http://twitter.com/TopeREC
http://www.twitch.tv/toperec
http://www.facebook.com/Toperec
As always, if you have a nice video containing DayZ footage you'd like to share, or if you have come across some DayZ footage from other content creators, just post it in the Gallery section of the DayZ forums and we'll happily have a look.
Header image credit: Tydirium
- Michael aka SMoss / Community Manager