This week we'll talk about infected AI, and our plans for the next few months regarding these systems. Looking forward towards our October stable branch update (0.50) and on-wards to the November update we plan on slowly implementing the next iteration of A.I. for the infected into our experimental and later stable branches. The intent with this iteration is focused on several key points for gameplay:
Stealth as a viable method of tactics vs infected A.I.
Vastly reduced range-of-vision
Smaller corner to corner cone of vision
Infected hearing ability refactored to compliment stealth as viable gameplay method
The impact of the intended new behavior extends past the obvious gameplay areas and into server performance and navmesh compliance. As the gameplay programming team begins the process of implementing this new system into DayZ, so will begin the process of removing the legacy A.I. system used prior. Starting fresh with this new system should reduce the load on the DayZ server process and allow us to begin experimenting with new methods of distributing the infected, as well as increasing the amount of infected spawned per server instance.
As well, the changes in A.I. navigation in complex scenarios should have a strong positive impact on the positioning of infected A.I. when players attempt to trap/ditch/elude them in and around structures and terrain features.
On the service side, the architecture has been completed to support and rent private shards of the central hive. We have updated our DayZ server rules for the public hive to reflect the differences between public hive and private shard servers - both of these rule sets can be viewed here:
http://dayz.com/files/pdf/Server_Hosting_Rules_Public.pdf
http://dayz.com/files/pdf/Server_Hosting_Rules_Private.pdf
Once our partner game server providers have completed the final touches on supporting the rental of these new server types in each of their systems, you will begin to see private shard servers show up in the in game server browser. - Brian Hicks / Lead Producer
Chris / Lead Artist
"Tech:
To follow on from last time, I received word that the bug preventing shadows from being cast onto our prototype bushrag was fixed so we will begin polishing it and generating any other assets needed for its crafting.
Weapons:
Work continues on the AKS-74U and AK-74. I decided with Peter that we will keep the AK101 in the game for now and visually distinguish it by the black furniture and dark-plum magazine. By contrast, the AK74 will be given wood furniture and a brown magazine. The AUG needs a bit more time but I can tell you we have pretty big plans for it. We're exploring the idea of converting your AUG from carbine with the AUG built-in optic to an HBAR with an ACOG if you find the right parts. We'll keep you appraised of the latest developments.
Character:
Work continues on women's clothing and new zombie types - in particular, a farmer zombie. He's a little pudgy but can still pack a punch."
Peter / Lead Designer
"We’ve got a lot of things in the pipe right now. We’ve taken a look at some of the remaining issues with struggling from restrains and burlap sack. We’ve fixed them and they look good to go. No more simple holding of the key to set you free from your restrains. No more reconnecting with burlap sack on head with ability to see through it. We will also add the possibility to restrain survivors with rope, duct tape and even wire, which was added recently for use with snare trap. We are also looking at how to implement muting of the player when he will be wearing duct tape over his mouth. As well duct tape will have some usage for repairing stuff, unfortunately it's not visualized but we will research what we can do to deliver also some visual feedback to patched items. Apart from that we fixed plenty of smaller issues down the road and added some touches like proper animations for some actions.
A good amount of new feature work is in progress - first working iterations of horticulture and barricading are ready and will be in the game in upcoming experimental version available for you to try out and meanwhile we will iterate and build upon them further. Right now there is tomato plant that may be cultivated and harvested for its crop, and lock pick which can be used to locking and unlocking doors of structures.
Interesting things are happening right now. The gameplay programming team has started work on several key issues for their area - new controls and new inventory. Both of them will take a longer time to implement but it will be worth the time and effort invested to their implementation. Both features are very vital for the game and make it a lot more fluent. I will talk about them in little more detail next time. For now we have managed to make first prototype of controls working which allowed us such things like charged melee attacks and also possibility to use melee attacks with firearms. Also we are working on new sensors for AI, so prepare yourself for proper AI of zombies and animals in the future. We all know that stealth approach was one of the most crucial mechanic in the mod and personally I really missing it and I'm looking forward to some tension and raised heartbeat while I will sneak behind their backs trying to be as quiet as possible."
Standup Notes for the week of 13 Oct 14
(Note: Standup notes are not a change log - they are a quick high level look at tasks the teams worked on throughout this week)
Art:
Multiple crafted leather items
Women's shorts, sweater.
Polishing bush rag and 3D camo for weapons
Double pistol grip MP133
Prison Uniform
Steyr AUG
Zombie skeleton tweaks
New Signage for buildings
Animation:
Player Unarmed Sprint polishing
Player animation graph bugfixing
Zombie hits processing
Wring clothes animation in progress
Restrained struggle animation changes
Design:
Bugfixing
Configs and scripts for new items (small stone, seeds, wire, radio)
Patching items with duct tape
Doors damage
Locking doors
Temperature and wetness tweaks
Added loot to new structures
Drinking from both wells behave the same
Cannot use object/surface actions while throwing
Advanced melee
Horticulture
Barricading
Animal and zombie AI
Construction
Controls
Inventory
Programming:
Critical inventory fixes
Unintenional weapon switching
New game controls
Server performance issues
Gameplay statistics
Loot distribution improvements
Door states persistency