''I didn’t want any sense of balance at all. I wanted it to be an anti-game'': Dean 'Rocket' Hall on Day Z (Part 1)

[Matty]

Great concept, but I too don't know if I want to purchase Arma just to play the game, as I doubt I'll probably play arma itself very much.

[imcloughy11]

Given the darkness and night and lack of electricity.. I would LOVE to see some underground bunkers/cellars etc with petrol generators all that can be used but of course sparingly/with a posse. else risk giving away location given their noise.
You can imagine being lost at night and see some lights/hear a generator running be instantly loured to what will probably be death anyway.

Generating some electricity could also be used for some pretty powerful features such as charging cordless powertools, batteries, crafting and so forth.

Heaps of potential, great start! Good luck.

Yeah generators would be great, couldnt stay bunkered up forever as you'd still have to go scavenge for water/food/fuel. The light given out would be enough of a risk to use it sparingly or setup traps. I know i make a beeline for any flares i see in the distance when im wandering around.

[imcloughy11]

One thing I hate about mods.. particularly with ARMA, is that they're usually a complete pain in the **** to install and make work. Anyone having problems with DayZ at all, other than the constant updates?

Use Six Updater, it does all the work for you. Auto updates them as well.

[Antipop]

Awesome work Tim

Looks good. Dean is such a nice guy as well. He really did think on his feet quickly haha.

Matt

[DarkMellie]

I agree with Disco somewhat, ArmA 2 is a difficult beast to handle, even with launchers an six updater. Could some kindly soul put up a guide with as much detail as Mearhere's recent RBr install guide?

I stopped playing ArmA 2 for almost a year at one point as something went wrong with my ACe install and severall un-re installs wouldn't fix it.


In regards to DayZ I think I'll hold off for now until it's a bit more stable... although one of the Bi guys (@fontynd) did make an installer for it. I had no idea the dev was alreau in Bi until this article either!

[imcloughy11]

What issues did you have with Six Updater? you can right click a server and add it as preset, it will automatically download and enable the mods the server requires. No effort on your part.

[DoHo_]

I still have no idea what to think about this. It seems pretty cool, and it's getting a lot of coverage, but games/mods like this that have no goals/end goal get really boring really fast.

If they could include trading, "building" "bases" or some sort of larger resource system where groups of players could work together to control, or free, said resources, it could be interesting. Even with no "end game" I think it'd be pretty cool to rejoin a game and find out the base you were holding up in had been over run either by zombies or humans, and a new supply route/checkpoint was established somewhere else so you would have new/evolving (and hopefully not repetitive) goals.

That's just my brief thoughts.

[shlaimon]

in arma3 you can terroform ground and build underground bunkers.

[sgt_Pitt]

Either find somewhere to hole up at night, or scavenge for flares/chemlights during the day.
And yeah, it's an Alpha release.

Lol what does this even mean? "Hole up for the night". You mean don't play for 8 hours...

"Scavenge flares during the day" that's great and all..but what if you log in and it's pitch black already?

And before you say jump on another server, what server? lol only 2 full aussie servers

Anyway i'm being picky, yes the game is super atmospheric, and awesomesauce.

[Mearehear]

Played it for awhile last night, and it sure does have its issues, but it also does have some decent bits of devilishly devious fun!Take the pitch black nights for example. At first I thought "well this bites! I understand reality and all, but whats the point if I can't see a damn thing" But then...

...I am in the blinding darkness, but I can just make out the outline of some buildings nearby. I can tell by the sound I am walking on the edge of the road. I duck into the outline of a bush to my side and throw a flare out towards the buildings, instantly lighting up the area with an eery red glow.

Over the chat, an unknown survivor types
"Who just threw a flare, who is out there?

I stay silent, hiding in my bush, at a safe distance from the light.

"Who just threw that flare?!"

I stay silent, but throw another flare, just off to the side of the first one. It is a relief to be able to see things again, yet I continue to hide in the seemingly safe cover of darkness.

Again,
"Ok, someone just threw another flare, who is there?"
"Friend?"
"Are you a friend?"

I still stay silent, keeping my cover. Then I notice the lone survivor run through the soft glow of my flares. He seems panicked, darting left and right in the light. Then into the light wanders a few of the undead, who quickly notice the panicked survivor.

"Bang! Bang!"

He starts unloading his gun into the "zeds" as he backs away, trying in desperation to keep the rapidly growing horde at bay.

My mind doesn't even debate for a moment whether I should come to his rescue. I raise my gun sights from my prone position, and steady for an easy shot. The zombies are really beginning to overwhelm him.

"Bang!"

I fire off my gun, and the lone survivor who had so innocently been seeking reassurance of a friend, falls into a heap on the ground. The zombies all begin to feast upon the carcass of my kill, and I lay in wait for my chance to go raid his remains.

That was just your life..The darkness had become my friend.

[Ashigaru]

You cold ****!!! Nice work

[Devourer221]

yeah that reminds me of earlier today when a mate and I were in the small airport scavenging, we saw a couple of survivors come through and heard their gunshots took cover and waited till they came past and unloaded into them.

Funniest part was seeing in side chat one guy saying to the other guy WAIT THERES 2 OF TH... godddamnit... xD

[Tajin]

I remember chasing a group of 5 surviors across half the map at night after firing a single bullet at one of them near the balota airfield.

I wasn't running directly after them, instead I went in the same direction roughtly 500m to their side and kept checking their heading to figure out where they would go. Thanks to my former time in ArmA2 I know my way around pretty well and managed to keep track of them, no matter how hard they tried to loose me.

Every now and then, after a while, they calmed down thinking they had finally lost me. Meanwhile I was waiting for exactly those moments, when they would slow down and regroup, only to strike again and enjoy their panic on the sidechat.

"Sniper !!! Watch out."
"I think the shot came from the east."
"Run!"
"I'm bleeding, where is everyone?"
"We're running north, hurry!"
"Which way is north?"
...


This cruel game continued until at some point the server crashed. I wasn't aiming at their heads and I didn't actually kill any of them but I had an awesome time playing cat and mouse with that group and I think in a weird way they also enjoyed it. (It sure was a pretty intense experience for them)

Not once did they actually spot me.

[Snazz]

games/mods like this that have no goals/end goal get really boring really fast.

Depends on whether the gameplay experience itself engages you.

How fun is a game really if you just play it to reach an end goal, gain levels or unlock items? Then once you do, what's left?

It's all quite subjective of course, but this unique mod raises these matters as an 'anti-game'.

If they could include trading, "building" "bases" or some sort of larger resource system where groups of players could work together to control, or free, said resources, it could be interesting. Even with no "end game" I think it'd be pretty cool to rejoin a game and find out the base you were holding up in had been over run either by zombies or humans, and a new supply route/checkpoint was established somewhere else so you would have new/evolving (and hopefully not repetitive) goals.

That would be great IMO. Something like that might be planned, Still early days.

[GaryChan]

It's stories like Mearehear's and Tajin's that have left me no choice but to re-install ARMA... Can't wait to get stuck into this.