Sit Rep 10

Changes are afoot. Be sure to read the whole post.

The DayZ Update

Oh, video game conferences– how I love and hate you at the same time. On one hand, it's very cool to get information about upcoming games from the various publishers who attend but on the other you have small development teams like the one associated with "DayZ" forced to take time away from development to attend.

For those of you wondering why 1.7.3 hasn't been released yet, look no further than the "GamesCom" conference that just ended in Germany as it's all-but-certain that it was the primary reason why we're still on version 1.7.2.5 of the mod.

But let's not dwell on what amounts to just another minor bump on the road for "DayZ." Let's instead focus on the fact that it's likely only a matter of days before we have a sweet new patch to put through its paces.

With valid information about the new version rather scarce over the past couple weeks aside from the downright obvious hints Rocket has been dropping about dogs being included in some capacity, I find myself in a bit of a speculative mood. Ergo, here are the top 10 things I'd currently like to see added, changed or refined in the mod.

• easier tent placement
• crossbow bolts as loot on zombies you shoot with said crossbow
• swimming without losing gear
• make zombie spawn-ins more realistic (i.e. don't just have them appear out of thin air or appear in the same spawn location and teleport to their proper location when the server gets around to it.)
• better/more effective pistols– perhaps somewhere between the 1-shot 1911 body kills of the past and the anno dump that's currently required with most handguns
• dogs as companions/pets
• zombified animals - dogs, boars, wolves, bears, cows... the works!
• radios for long-range communication
• better zombie animation/behavior - even slowed down, they're still too twitchy/glitchy. They still attack through walls and pathfinding is still often a problem. I know this has to do with them using the animal AI but maybe every so often one could use the human AI to make things more interesting? I know Rocket has talked about the idea of a "life cycle" for the infected. Perhaps newly infected could use the human AI then switch to animal as they exist longer or the zombie count goes up?
• security– anti-hack/anti-cheat improvements

I'm fairly confident that most if not all of these things are already being worked on by the development team but I find exercises like this fun and useful if only to help keep my critical and analytical thinking skills sharp. Of course, I'm sure I could come up with 10 more things to fiddle with almost immediately if all of this was addressed tomorrow but these are the "issues" that have most impacted my gameplay experience lately.

Speaking of gameplay experiences, here's another group gameplay video for you all.

And here's the episode I released late last week for those of you who missed it. Don't forget, YouTube and Twitter are your friends when it comes to keeping up with my video releases.

Finally, for those of you who are experiencing screen tearing and artifacting in "DayZ," there are reports that turning off "Threaded Optimization" for "ARMA II" in the NVIDIA/ATI Control Panels can resolve the issue. I haven't had a chance to confirm this myself but the "DayZ" dev team has tweeted a link to a reddit post about the issue that seems to be helping people on some hardware configurations. Here's hoping a patch resolves this for good without the need for GPU tweaks soon.

DayZ - http://www.dayzmod.com

Shout Out: Sanctum

Wanted to highlight another great co-op game from last year with this Shout Out. "Sanctum" is a hybrid of the tower defense and first-person shooter genres that expertly combines a lot of the best elements from both into a game that's just as fun and engaging to play alone as it is with up to three friends.

Those of you who read my "11 Best Co-Op Games of 2011" post will recall that "Sanctum" was #8. Since then, a lot of patches and DLC have been released for the game that have made it even better and I would seriously consider bumping it up a few slots on that list as a result if I were to do it over again today.

To help illustrate just how cool and crazy the game can get, here's a little video of me playing the last two waves on the third single player map, "Arc."

As you can see, you not only get to build and upgrade towers but define the path that the attackers take to their objective by building it yourself. This in my view is much cooler than simply dropping towers in pre-defined spots as it lets you get really creative with your gameplay without getting bogged down in overly-complex controls and systems.

I always really liked this game and it's only gotten better through copious post-launch support from the developer. If any of this seems at all interesting, you should definitely check it out. The thrifty among you should note that it is currently available for Mac and PC as a single purchase or discounted four-pack at a very reasonable price on Steam.

Sanctum (via Steam)

Opening the Taps

As you may already know, I've been thinking about ways to improve this blog for the past few weeks. As a result, I've decided to increase the frequency and diversity of my posts as a first step toward a more significant expansion later in the year.

What this means is that I will be doing away with the "Sit Rep" posts that I've been making for the past 10 weeks and instead turn "The DayZ Update" into its own weekly feature. This will allow me to post about other games at other times while still providing regular "DayZ" content updates on Mondays.

As much as I love "DayZ" and remain completely enthusiastic and excited about it, I don't believe it would be practical or sustainable to do a blog that focuses solely on it. Those of you who remember me from "Gaming's Edge" will recall that I play a wide range of games and I honestly don't see myself being happy covering just one in the long term.

The bottom line is that there will be more content here than ever before focusing on more games and gaming-related topics while still providing the weekly "DayZ" fix I know a lot of you crave. :)

Bonus content begins this week. Be sure to stay tuned and thanks to everyone who has been visiting on a regular basis. The extra traffic these past few months has done a lot to convince me that all the additional work required to expand "Vortex-1" is worth my time.

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Like an infected corpse, the "Sit Rep" will rise as "The DayZ Update" starting next Monday! Until then, be on the lookout for some sweet bonus content here on the blog!

Set Rep 9

Is this the beginning of the end? Apparently, it's the "end of the beginning."

The DayZ Update

With 1.7.2.5 finally released this past Friday and the long-awaited official announcement of DayZ going standalone, it's been a pretty busy week for fans of the little mod that could.

The new patch brings slowed-down zombies, the return of humanity-based player skins and a host of minor bug fixes; though graphical artifacting is still a noticeable issue around military areas/infected for many.

While new patches are always exciting and I'm happy to receive them with open arms, it's hard not to pine for the 1.7.3 version Rocket has already alluded to that was held back in favor of the 1.7.2.5 hotfix so as not to risk massive problems during the peak weekend play hours.

It seems all but certain based on hints Rocket has dropped in the forums that dogs will be included in 1.7.3 in some capacity– be they friendly companions or evil zombie antagonists. I'm betting on the latter. :) It also seems likely that other major changes will accompany 1.7.3 as they did when we went from 1.7.0 to 1.7.1 and such.

In any case, it will be interesting to see how things evolve now that Rocket has dedicated resources at his disposal to further develop "DayZ" (the mod) even as work on the standalone "DayZ" game ramps up.

Regarding my adventures, I recently acquired my first L85A2 AWS, which I'm pretty excited about pressing into service but as with any good loot, the concern over being killed by hacks, glitches or simple bad luck has once-again reached a fever pitch. It never fails. The longer you live in "DayZ," the more you worry about dying. :)

Still, we're managing to have some fun:

And here's the Bonus Reel from last week. Remember to follow me on YouTube and/or Twitter to know as soon as these are posted. As there's no Bonus Reel for this week's episode, I'm going to be posting Episode 006 later this week and end my 1.7.2.4 content with Episode 007 next Monday.

DayZ - http://www.dayzmod.com

Shout Out: Spotify

While not directly gaming related, Spotify is a cool music service with a large catalog of music from and inspired by games. I've been using it for several months now and I think it's definitely worth a look for music fans. The "free," ad-supported service for Mac/Windows lets you do most of the important stuff but mobile users will have to pay a monthly fee to access anything beyond the free radio streaming.

To keep things on topic, here's a link to a gaming-themed playlist I did during E3: Monday Music Madness - E3 Edition

The Future

Still pondering the future of the blog. I think I may have come to a conclusion about it but I want to give it another week to be sure before making any sort of announcement.

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Until next time, have a good week folks!

Sit Rep 8

A bit more free time equals a bigger update this week:

The DayZ Update

Been doing a lot of group/squad play in "DayZ" lately. What can I say? It's just more fun with friends. I feel like we're getting better with each session and it's only a matter of time before we are ready to take on some of the more hardcore areas of the map as evidenced by this week's video.

Unfortunately, we've also started running into a lot of hackers recently. I've always known that hacking was a bit of an issue with "ARMA" and its associated anti-cheat solution "BattleEye" but it seems like the massive popularity of "DayZ" has created a serious gap between the hackers and those trying to prevent their exploits.

A quick look at the "Cheat Reporting" forum for "DayZ" will give you a good idea of just how pervasive and annoying the problem has become for legitimate players.

It's been so bad the past few days that I've had trouble getting decent footage for future DayZ Updates and I find myself torn between showing said footage or cutting it out.

On one hand, I have been posting unlisted YouTube videos of incidents on various servers to serve as proof in the aforementioned "Cheat Reporting" forum but I am very reluctant to share those videos publicly because I don't want to do anything that might encourage people to continue hacking.

On the other hand, I wonder if it's fair to edit such incidents out as it might give the impression that hacking isn't the common and destructive issue that it currently is in the game.

For next week's update, I have some cool regular gameplay footage that ends with our entire squad being wiped out at once by a hacker. I could end the episode before the incident occurs to deny the hacker the potential satisfaction of seeing it but it would give a false impression of what actually happened in the game. 

My current thinking is that it might be best to simply end the episode by explaining what happened to us without actually showing it. This would require you folks to take my word for it but I feel like it would be the best way to accurately convey the experience we had without giving the hackers what they want.

I'm hopeful that these security problems can be resolved with changes to the "DayZ" mod, "ARMA," "BattleEye" or some combination or extension of the three. I find myself wondering if the 1.7.2.5 patch that was originally planned for Wednesday, August 1st has been delayed due to the development team(s) trying to find a solution to these issues for the next round of patches. I certainly hope so.

Finally, for those of you who aren't already following me on Twitter and/or YouTube, here's the Bonus Reel from last week's video. If you want to know as soon as those are posted in the future, subscribe to my Twitter feed and/or my Youtube channel.

DayZ - http://www.dayzmod.com

Shout Out: DayZ Commander

I'm a firm believer that competition is a good thing when it leads to innovation and improvement so I was keen to check out "DayZ Commander" after it was recommended to me via a few different sources.

Those familiar with this blog will note that I've endorsed the use of "Six Updater/Launcher" in the past as the "official" updating/launching platform for "DayZ" and I still do; however, "DayZ Commander" has a lot of really unique and interesting features going for it that make it worth a look– such as the ability to find friends across servers based on their "DayZ" character name and an automated process for getting the latest ARMA expansion beta running via Steam without having to manually shuffle files around– just to name a couple.

I also have to say that I prefer the user interface in "DayZ Commander" and a lot of the thoughtful little touches incorporated into it like its enhanced server filter that makes it dead simple to find just the sort of server you're seeking.

You should keep in mind that "DayZ Commander" only supports "DayZ" whereas the "Six Suite" supports tons of other "ARMA" mods.

There don't seem to be any issues with having them both installed on the same computer but I would suggest only running one at a time as they both have the potential to manipulate ARMA and DayZ-related files.

DayZ Commander - http://www.dayzcommander.com

The Big Picture

I've been thinking a lot lately about the future of this blog. Now that more people are visiting it on a regular basis, I've been thinking a lot about ways to make it a more worthwhile experience for everyone.

In my mind, there are a few different ways things could go. I could make it more specific and specialized by making it a pure "DayZ" blog or I could expand it a bit to make it more about gaming in general– the way it used to be before I fell headfirst down the "DayZ" rabbit hole.

Either way, I'm also considering the possibility of bringing more writers on board to not only produce more content but provide alternative voices and points of view for the topics being covered.

I can think of a lot of ways that the blog could be improved by going in these different directions so a lot of it simply comes down to me deciding which direction I want to go and being comfortable with that decision.

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that I don't want it to become stale or predictable. I think, much like "DayZ," it needs to evolve to reach its full potential and I'm going to spend some time over the next few weeks figuring all that out.

As usual, comments are welcome. I obviously need to make my own mind up about what direction to take things in but I'd certainly be interested to know what you'd like to see happen.

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Until next time, have a good week folks!

Sit Rep 7

Didn't have any opportunity to work on this during the weekend so I need to keep things short this time.

The DayZ Update

Continuing the video content this week with my first group gameplay video. Things definitely could have gone better but I think we learned a lot from the experience and I'm hopeful that the video will be useful or at least entertaining for everyone.

If possible, I will try to get the rest of the useful footage from this session posted before the next Sit Rep but no promises.

Shout Out: The 2012 Summer Olympics

No, not the video game based on them but the actual 2012 Summer Olympics taking place in London as I write this. Take a break from button mashing and embrace the spectacle of real flesh-and-blood human beings pushing themselves to the limits of their physical and mental ability.

If you have any appreciation for the human body and the amazing feats it can be trained to perform, you should be watching the olympics. If not, fix that. :)

The 2012 Summer Olympics (via NBC)

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When I say short, I mean short. :) Until next time, have a good week folks!

Sit Rep 6

This is gonna be a big one...


The DayZ Update

I've been doing these for several weeks now and I've come to the conclusion that something has been missing from them. As much as I enjoy writing about "DayZ" and my experiences with it, I feel that words alone don't always capture what makes it such a compelling gaming experience.

So, I've decided to add some video to these posts whenever possible to (hopefully) make them more interesting and engaging for you and better convey just what this whole "DayZ" thing is all about from my perspective.

To kick things off, I have not one but two videos with commentary depicting trips through Balota, which is one of the scariest areas for new players to spawn into in the game.

The first takes place at dusk and has been tweaked with YouTube's automatic lighting adjustment tool to make everything a little easier to see. The down side to this is that scenes that were extremely dark look very blurry when adjusted in this manner but I figured it was better for things to be visible and blurry than completely dark.

I know a lot of people, myself included, don't generally enjoy video of this game in the dark; however, something happens at the end that made it worth keeping and posting for me, so I highly recommend skipping to about 45 minutes in if the nighttime setting isn't doing it for you– just so you can see the end.

The second video is much more along the lines of what I intend to do on a regular basis and should (again, hopefully) be entertaining and useful for anyone interested in "DayZ" videos.

And for those of you who just can't get enough of me playing and talking about "DayZ," here is the Test video I did earlier in the week that has a few minor A/V problems but was still worth posting in my opinion.

Beyond all that, I managed to make a pretty strong recovery from the horrifying incident that led to me losing my precious M14 AIM when I immediately got attacked by a random player with a hatchet as I was logging in while in the middle of the woods. I managed to shoot and kill him as I went down, but was unable to find the bodies having been quite literally in the middle of nowhere when it happened. :(

Fortunately, I was able to use that incident as an opportunity to make the above videos and in a matter of hours was able to build up a new character that has already gotten into all sorts of adventures that I'll talk about next time.

DayZ - http://www.dayzmod.com

Shout Out: QnOmniKai

I know this is starting to feel like a "DayZ" blog and I promise to come up with a "non-DayZ-related" shout out for next week, but I do want to give it up for one of the best "DayZ" streamers on twitch.tv (QnOmniKai). If you like watching people play "DayZ" live, this stream is hard to beat with its quirky, good-time feel, giveaways, viewer participation and generally positive tone. Chat is well moderated for the most part and Kai generally comes across as a good guy trying to have a good time with a good game and good friends. Definitely worth a look if you ask me.

QnOmniKai (via twitch.tv)

Development Update

Wrapping up a lot of the game logic and game data manipulation code this week. It's all still fairly brutal but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Should have it pretty well in hand by the end of the month.

Unfortunately, I'm still very much behind with regard to my self-imposed development schedule as a result of several of these recent programming tasks taking significantly longer than I'd originally predicted. Everything will get done eventually but it's looking doubtful that I'll be able to finish the game before the holiday game release season starts.

This has me thinking that it may be a better idea to wait to announce and release the new game until after the holidays so that I can spend more time polishing it and avoid the situation I found myself in with "Powergrids–" struggling to get media coverage amid a sea of triple-A game releases.

In any case, I'm going to need to start dividing my time between developing the new game and some paying work in the not-too-distant future to keep myself afloat financially but I still have a few weeks left to focus and get as much done as I can before circumstances change.

In the meantime, I'll try to make these development updates interesting, but I may need to stop doing them every week if I can't think of anything more compelling to say than "I'm doing a ton of really boring and difficult work that's essential to making a great game." :)

Powergrids - (My current iOS game.)

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Whew... That was a lot of stuff! Until next time, have a good week folks!

Sit Rep 5

Yup... Definitely Mondays. :)


The DayZ Update

In good alpha software fashion, last week's "DayZ" update to 1.7.2 was quite the event. For a good chunk of the week, there were some pretty scary problems such as players losing all their gear when changing outfits and enough server instability to make a Windows admin blush but things fortunately got sorted out by the weekend and we were treated to a pretty stable 1.7.2.3 build that has brought the infected behavior one important step closer to where it needs to be.

It's now much easier to dump aggro by breaking the zombie's line of sight and going quiet and their new tendency to not attack what they can't see goes a long way toward dealing with the classic "I'm being attacked through a wall" issue, but God help you if there's a window in that wall. :)

Still, the improvements and tweaks are quite welcome and the game once again feels like it's progressing toward true greatness.

In terms of my personal adventures with it, took a trip up to "Devil's Castle" with a buddy, which was very cool to see in person and yielded a few nice items like a pair of binoculars and an ALICE pack. Also managed to hit up a barracks for an AKM and a PDW, which I'm starting to appreciate as an alternative to the Makarov. Sure, it has terrible stopping power, but you can still kill zombies with a single head shot and the fact that you can use various high-capacity 9mm magazines in it makes it feel more useful than I'd originally given it credit for being the first time I found one.

Even got to do some hunting having finally acquired all the necessities for killing, gutting and cooking animals in the wild. It's funny how excited this game can make you about finding a book of matches.

But the real coup was looting an M14 AIM with 3 DMR mags in a deer stand. I'm still kind of in shock at my good fortune with that one and now live in a constant state of fear knowing that I will eventually lose it.

All things considered, a very productive weekend and a great time for those of you interested in getting into the game with the various sales on "ARMA II" in effect. Don't know about those sales? You would if you were following me on Twitter. :)

DayZ - http://www.dayzmod.com

Shout Out: Lord of the Rings: War in the North

As promised, I have a special video shout out this week for one of the best, most overlooked co-op games of 2011.

Not sure if this will be a recurring thing or if I'll use more video here in the future. I was immediately reminded working on this how much harder and more time consuming it is to produce video content, but I certainly won't rule it out if only to keep those skills from going away completely.

I should also mention, if you're new to the blog and looking for more co-op possibilities, you may want to check out my "11 Best Co-Op Games of 2011" post as well.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North (via Steam)

Development Update

Not a lot to talk about this week. Been slogging my way through a lot of boring work with data structures, establishing how relevant game data is tracked, manipulated and stored. It's one of many totally un-glamorous yet absolutely critical aspects of game development that doesn't make for good blog posts but will absolutely make a better game, so wade through it I must. :)

Powergrids (My current iOS game)

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That's it for now. Nothing to tease for next time but I have a few ideas. Have a good week folks!

Sit Rep 4

heh - Looks like Monday is going to be the day for these. Can't seem to get them done during the weekend. Oh well– moving on...


The DayZ Update

It must be time for a new patch because I'm starting to feel too comfortable with 1.7.1.5. Sure, there are about a million problems with it but being on the same build for a couple weeks has made it a lot easier to work around them. Spent some quality time in Stary Sobor and Novy Sobor this weekend and came away from it re-thinking my approach to the game.

For me, the best, most interesting part of "DayZ" is the survival element. Scavenging, exploring the environment, keeping the infected under control– that sort of thing.

That's not to say that I'm against PvP. I totally get it. It's an exhilarating part of the experience when there's some point to it but a lot of what passes for PvP in "DayZ" is just lame. People shooting unarmed players or shooting each other just because they can.

I understand. Shooting people in the face is fun. I do it all the time myself in other games but I can't help feeling like a lot of the people who are playing "DayZ" are kinda missing the point of it. Where it's at its best; where it really shines is when it shows how much more people can do when they work together and help each other thrive.

Of course, often times this leads to groups of players banding together simply to take advantage of smaller groups and solo players but at least they're experiencing the co-operative aspect of the game. And to be sure, there are such groups that engage other players with an impressive degree of skill and style. See this week's shout out for more on that.

My point is that it would be nice if folks put a little more care into the way they play "DayZ" and put themselves into the mindset of actually being in that situation and thought about what they would really do if they couldn't just re-spawn. But of course, they can re-spawn, so there's nothing for them to lose beyond their gear, which an experienced player can effectively replace in a few hours.

It makes me think. Perhaps you should only be able to have one death per-server, per-month or something like that? Something that gives death a real sting, and perhaps the game should actively mess with people who kill players; spawning more and more-potent zombies around them or de-spawning attractive loot as they approach it. I know Rocket has been experimenting with the humanity system so sub-systems like this might already be in the works but it seems to me like something the game really needs to evolve.

DayZ - http://www.dayzmod.com

Shout Out: Sacriel

As I mentioned in "The DayZ Update," this week's shout out focuses on a YouTuber who highlights high-level "DayZ" gameplay. There's not a lot more to say about his channel but if you really like PvP in "DayZ" and are looking for some well-done videos on the subject that show just how effective a group of players can be, this guy's stuff is definitely worth a look.

He also has a nice (if slightly outdated) "DayZ Beginner's Guide" video that's a solid starting point for new players and some cool videos for "Battlefield 3" and some other games as well.

Sacriel - http://www.youtube.com/sacriel

Development Update

Unsurprisingly, not a lot of feedback on last week's questions. This re-enforces my long-standing theory that the surest way to not get any feedback on your content is to ask for it. :)

Some of you may be wondering about my own thoughts on those questions, so I'll address them:

I believe in Universal Apps. If I buy an app for the iPhone, I want to be able to use it on my iPad and I want it to make effective use of the characteristics of that device– namely, the larger screen. As a developer, I am acutely aware of the extra work this adds to a project but I've always believed that it's time well spent and something that consumers appriciate even if they're not able to take advantage of it at the time of purchase.

I'm a fan of the "Apple TV." I think there's a tremendous potential for that device to be used in conjunction with other iOS devices beyond the basic connectivity already established via "Home Sharing" and "AirPlay." Will my game support the "Apple TV?" Perhaps. It's one of the features that's currently on the bubble that I may need to cut to get the project wrapped up in a reasonable amount of time but I'm definitely interested in doing more with "Apple TV" and there's always the possibility of a post-launch update for it.

Multiplayer is something I wrestle with when it comes to iOS development. On one hand, I like the idea of providing a wide array of real-time multiplayer modes that involve multiple devices on the same network or communicating with each other via "Game Center," but I hesitate to invest a lot of time in features that might not see a lot of use from the average player. With things like leaderboards and achievements to stimulate competition and provide goals to players, how important is full-blown multiplayer in a mobile, turn-based strategy game? For example, I love co-op gameplay as a general rule but is this the right project for it? I believe it might be but again, can I get it implemented in time and what might I have to sacrifice to do so?

These are the sorts of questions and dilemmas developers face all the time and inevitably we all have to come to our own conclusions about them but I thought you might enjoy getting some insight into that process and having the opportunity to voice your own opinions about it.

Powergrids - (My current iOS game.)

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That's it for this week. I've got something (hopefully) interesting and cool lined up for next week's shout out, so look forward to that! :) Have a good week folks!

The Ground Branch Kickstarter

I tweeted about this the other day but with just 24 hours left to go for their Kickstarter, I wanted to give a quick shout out to BlackFoot Studios and their tactical FPS "Ground Branch."

I know, I know. "Another military-themed shooter?" but before you "meh" this one you should really check it out:

It may seem like a minor point to some, but I've definitely lamented the slow and steady demise of realism from the FPS genre over the past ten years. "Battlefield," "Call of Duty," "Ghost Recon," "Rainbow Six" and many others have lost their edge to varying degrees and we're fast approaching a state where "ARMA" will be the only game in town where tactical FPS gameplay is concerned.

Don't get me wrong. "ARMA" is a very cool sim and I'm absolutely looking forward to "ARMA III" but the FPS genre has more than enough room for multiple games with an emphasis on realism and I am very much in favor of a game that fills the gap between pure action and pure simulation.

 If you agree, check out the "Ground Branch" Kickstarter and tell your friends about it. They still have a lot of money to raise in the next day, but stranger things have happened.

And yes, there will be a "Sit Rep" this weekend. :) And yes, I would still like to read your comments on my most-recent Development Update. :)