As we’ve reported yesterday, lead DayZ developer Dean “Rocket” Hall will be leaving Bohemia Interactive in the future. That being said, he’s not gone yet, and won’t be for the most part of this year. There’s still a lot to work on in DayZ, and Rocket knows he is needed. To dismiss skepticism over how DayZ will evolve without his involvement in the future, Rocket has been kind enough to publish a new (and lengthy) devblog, showing off what the team is currently working on, and taking the time to explain some core features and mechanics.
[promo title=”Lighting and physics”][/promo]
The devblog goes through multiple topics, some of which were already known or suspected to be in the works, while others appear as a novelty. Engine-wise, the DayZ team has been working to increase the light effects in the game, making flashlights more viable and realistic. These changes apply to other items that act as a light-source, and should progressively make night-time play more engaging and viable. Of course, there’s still no indication as to what exactly will be done with the brightness and gamma levels, which turn night-time servers into black and white versions of daytime servers. But, any progress is well received, and the new lighting system is expected to land on experimental soon.
A lesser-known feature that already seems to be working surprisingly well is the physics system. The introduction of physics in the game was not among the core features of the upcoming months, but heck, we’re not ones to complain. Players will be able to throw objects, and these will react realistically upon collision with the environment. The practical use of the system? Well, things like throwing a full clip to your friend in dire times are a good example of what can be done via physics. As it is now, the physics system looks surprisingly polished. The main issue (and the reason it hasn’t been released to experimental yet) with it is that it still needs serious QA work to prevent client or server crashes. The original Arma 2 engine (on which DayZ is built on) wasn’t designed with such mechanics in mind, so implementing them is easier said than done.
[promo title=”Hunting, animations and map design”][/promo]
Moving on, Dean speaks about hunting. Professional hunting game developers were brought on board to make sure that animals feel alive and react in a realistic manner. There will be a great variety of animals to hunt and kill, and cooking will become a core element of the game. The portable gas stove is already in a working condition, and camp fires will soon follow. Cooking various type of meat will be essential to survival, so you’ll need to be able to take down all kinds of game. To help with that, new weapons will be introduced, including the bow and the crossbow. The bow animations are not even close to being ready, but arrows already stick inside targets (such as zombies), and have been built around real life physics, meaning they will bounce off surfaces.
Speaking of animations, the DayZ team has been hard at work to improve animations all around. Motion capture technology is being used to upgrade the current animations (which are sometimes falling short, especially in melee combat) and the new movements look surprisingly good already. It’s work in progress, but it’s definitely an addition that many DayZ players are eagerly anticipating. While there is one team working on animations, another team is working on map design and improvements. Many police stations and clinics have been added all around Chernarus already, and many old locations have been modified and improved upon. There are plans to bring in new structures (such as prisons) too, but Rocket wasn’t too generous on the details, arguing that the development team wants players to explore and discover the new areas and buildings on their own. We can’t argue with that logic. What he did mention though is the fact that ensuring each and every building spawns loot is a priority right now. In this regard, DayZ will be getting a nice addition through the implementation of loot-holding containers (such as drawers or refrigerators), making exploration more dynamic and loot locations more diverse.