Dear Bohemia,
in 2012, Dean Hall has announced he will be making his DayZ mod into a full standalone game with you, Bohemia Interactive, as the developer of the game. Wikipedia states that on October 29, 2012, " development of the mod officially transferred to a largely community driven effort with the release of version 1.7.3.". This, along with some official statements, was the starting point of developing DayZ Standalone as a full game. In October, 2013, Dean Hall has stated that the team was "100 percent focused on getting the alpha out the door." I believe, both personally and because of anecdotal evidence, that the development team had consisted of at least 100 people during the time period of October 29, 2012 - January, 2014.
During the time of announcing DayZ Standalone, DayZ MOD for Arma 2 had over 1.1 Million players. During the late 2012, the developers with Dean Hall as the main developer have announced and said that they will be shifting weapons (and similar items) to the realm of "entities", making it possible for them to have upgrades and so on. Along with that, they (because I am not sure how many of 'them' are still working 'there' now) have also said that they are working on a brand new, better and more practical UI.
Announced first for a release in the late 2013, DayZ SA missed it's target release and following a radio silence, and I believe what was intense development and even more intense pressure from the higher ups of Bohemia Interactive, DayZ SA - Early Access has released on Steam in January, 2014.
In February 2013, we were told that the development team continues to grow in size, moreover, the maximum player count on a server was aimed to be 150.
Looking at the relatively (relative to today) rapid development of DayZ SA (EA), I think there is not much more to say about this period of the development. The player numbers were huge, sales were good.
Console release:
I believe that sometime in 2013, Dean Hall has been excited for a future console release on both of the main consoles, Xbox and Playstation. However, [he] " was put off by Microsoft's ban on self-publishing and their history of charging money for game updates though the development team was not counting the Xbox One out. The development team will not be considering the console version further until the game has been released fully on PC. " I think we all see the connection with the 1.0 release here - but this has been pointed out many times by the community. Nothing new.
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Fast forward to the release of version 0.61, I found this very interesting comparison (source: https://dayz.gamepedia.com/Development )
Here's an overview of what we started with in the 0.28 release:
- Weapons: 7 (Mosin, M4A1, FNX45 + 4 melee)
- Attachments: 31 (23 attachments + 8 mags/clips)
- Ammunition Types: 5 (7.62x51mm, 5.56mm, .45 ACP, 12 Ga. Buckshot, 12 Ga. Slug)
- Clothing: 43 (2 sunglasses, 6 hats, 3 helmets, 5 masks, 7 shirts/jackets, 1 holster, 1 gloves, 4 vests, 3 pants, 11 shoes)
- Equipment: 35 (3 backpacks, 4 containers, 3 cooking, 3 devices, 5 light sources, 1 repair kit, 9 tools, 7 other)
- Food & Drink: 15 (4 canned, 3 dry, 3 fruits, 3 sodas, 2 bottles)(not counting rotten variants)
- Medical Supplies: 20
- Resources: 0
- Vehicles: 0
As a comparison, we now have 75 total towns & cities and 516 total items. Here is where we stand as of the 0.61 release:
- Weapons: 85 (2 electric, 2 bows, 11 handguns, 18 rifles, 4 SMGs, 3 shotguns, 6 explosives/grenades, 38 melee)(+3 sawed-off)
- Attachments: 91 (54 attachments + 37 mags/clips)
- Ammunition Types: 13 (+5 arrow types)
- Clothing: 116
- Equipment: 108
- Food & Drink: 43
- Medical Supplies: 23
- Resources: 32
- Vehicles: 4
I think it's sufficient to say that, at the very least, up until 0.61 or 0.62, although far from optimal, the development of DayZ SA has been through both good and bad times. Despite the sales continuously decreasing, the team has been more or less consistent with the updates to the game. Yes, these updates came slow, but they did come eventually and we got to the point where 0.62 offered an experience that was very similar to that of the DayZ mod.
Here's my personal list of why .62 was good:
- Content.
Here's my personal list of why .62 was bad:
- Bugs
- Systems not working properly
- Cheating (duping items and all kinds of other cheating)
- Horrible performance (even worse if compared to .63)
With the continuously slower and slower development pace, throughout the years, I grew more negative and hateful towards Bohemia Interactive as a whole - including CEO's, developers, coders, designers, every single person that represents the company and the game. Year after year, we have been hearing 'but's' and 'maybes' and 'ifs' and 'whens' and 'in the future's and, oh, let me not forget the biggest one. ROADMAPS.
Your very first roadmap from 2014 shows this:
- Driveable vehicles
- Wide variety of native animal life
- Player created constructions in the environment
- Extensive interactions with the environment and crafting options
- Streamlined user actions and interface
- Upgraded graphics and physics engine (including ragdoll, etc.)
- Control and animations expanded and improved for fluidity
- Support of user mods
A THANK YOU:
Fast forward to 2019, you have achieved most of this roadmap. Despite vehicles being broken and buggy, and "player constructions" having issues with persistence, I must say: you came through on your promise. It's been four to five years and you came through and I think that's great. Here, I must applaud and thank you for the amazing game you have (and hopefully still are) creating.
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CRITICISM:
I think you know very well what I'm going to say now. Lies, lies and empty promises is the very thing that will destroy Bohemia Interactive as a company, just as it is destroying Electronic Arts, Activison Blizzard and those similar to them. I understand the corporate environment well enough that I am aware of how much power you have (or rather, don't have) as mere "developers" over the direction the game development and, probably most importantly, funding, is going. But, excluding Brian, I do not understand how not a single one of you has the humanity and conscience to anonymously leak all the shit that is going on. Here's my proposal and an idea how to fix the community and restore our faith in the game. If this happens, whether it's gonna be official or in the form of an anonymous interview, I believe this will bring back all the hype and, furthermore, will decrease negativity not only in this subreddit, but throughout the entire public opinion about NOT ONLY DayZ, but Bohemia as a company.
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
- What is the exact number of people working on DayZ as of January 26th, 2019?
- Furthermore, what is the exact number of people working on: Coding (in the broad sense, including works on animations etc), Animations, Graphic/Visual design, New Models. I also want to know how many (if any) people are specifically in the position of a Manager, and how many people are working on things like Roadmaps/planning/etc.
- How many hours do you work per day? CEOs and MANAGERS too, please.
- What is the average wage as a 'worker' (by that I mean the people doing the actual work) in Bohemia Interactive? I'll be satisfied with just knowing the wage of any random person. NOT the CEO's though.
- Why do you constantly under-deliver and, as of a new trend, also under-promise (although in the past it was over-promising, the end result is still the same = under delivering)?
- I want a detailed explanation on how exactly do you, as of right now, in the current 1.0 version, implement one new firearm into the game, so that it is working properly as it should be. I believe giving a DETAILED insight into how this development works will either clear up confusion among the community, or destroy Bohemia as a company and it's reputation.
- Without giving away any important details (such as specific source code that could be stolen), I want a step-by-step explanation how exactly does the development work in Bohemia Interactive, specifically on DayZ. I want to know why, exactly, does it take anywhere between one to three months (and keep in mind that is still only a mere PROMISE) to implement two new guns and furthermore, I want to know why is it possible that modders working for free have already implemented many, many more guns. Let me also say I do not care about the quality of the guns or the bugs associated with them, because the numbers of players playing on servers with weapon mods serve as evidence that these guns work just fine.
- Tell us exactly what does a ROADMAP mean to you and what is the exact process of making one. In detail, please.
- Talk to us exactly and specifically about the issues concerning Server Performance, why has it been an issue since 2014, and why is persistence also an issue since 2014. I want to know specific details. You may very well use professional language for this. I am sure some of our skilled modders will understand it. Furthermore, I'm quite sure they would be able to provide better solutions than you were able to come up with the past 5 years.
- Tell us exactly why have you released this game without finishing it. I do not want any more 1.0 status reports style of BS. I want an honest explanation, a leak of secret information that the public should not see. The Status Report concerning 1.0 was a L I E. You have not managed to fix most of the CORE SYSTEMS and FEATURES, yet that was (according to that SR) the very and only reason for pushing 1.0 out BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. I want to know why. Was it because of Steam EA policy? Was it because of finances? CEO's decision? Tell us.
- I want to know exactly what have you all been doing since January 2nd, 2019. According to your latest SR, you have all been working and yes, I have seen the bugfixes coming. I have not seen a single improvement to the game however, or any of the core bugs fixed.
- I want to know exactly why are we not getting the fast content updates that were supposed to be rolling out one after another right after .63 drops. Let me please, once again, emphasize that I want a detailed and honest explanation. I do not care about "development is hard" and "we found more bugs". Be specific. Tell us exactly which bugs, or which problems have you encountered. As a followup question, why don't you hire a person that will do specifically this and only this, that is, communicate with the community?
- Why is the loot so abundant now and where are the survival elements of the game that WERE THERE IN .63? Is this an attempt to make the game casual to increase sales?
- This is not a question, but a guide on how to NOT answer my questions. Do NOT answer with "it's because we are focusing on this or that". Because that's bullshit, and you're not. And if you are, show me a video of a coder at work. Because at this point, I am starting to believe you are all just a bunch of lazy people slackin off, playing your game more than you're working on it.
If I forgot something important, please feel free to comment and I'll edit it into this post.
If you, people working for and in Bohemia Interactive, do not answer these questions, whether anonymously or officially, you are officially turning into an EA clone, driven by profit and cold, sociophatic behavior.
Last but not least, I am going to point out the obvious. The total price for your ARMA 3 game with all the DLC and expansions included is a minimum of 74, 97 € on Steam. DayZ, as of right now, costs 44,99 €. This leads me to say that:
We, as a community of people just like you or anyone else, will absolutely understand any (honest) answers you will give to the questions I posted above. We will absolutely understand if you simply say something along the lines "sorry folks, it's all about money". Moreover, I think this would even strengthen the reputation of the company. Honesty goes a long, long way (not only) in the gaming industry. But as long as there will be deception, lies and fake promises coming from you each and every month, the reputation of your company and even you as human beings, personally, will plummet down.
My last words: If there is not a single person in BI that has enough conscience and humanity to answer my questions, even anonymously, I do not think you qualify as human beings. Developing a game and seeing all the lies being told to the players that you are creating the game for, I would probably go crazy from not being able to tell them the truth. But let me tell you this. Every single indie (or not) game studio/company that was honest with its customers has always stood through the test of time. I have always thought you, Bohemia, are one of these companies, but the recent Status Report was the last nail in your coffin.
TL;DR: Just tell us the truth because it's fucking obvious and you are insulting every single player and member of this community by thinking that we are blind enough to not see it. Also, if the question number 6 is not answered, or answered in an unclear, shady way, we all know what's going on and should move on to a different game and different company.
Submitted January 26, 2019 at 01:29PM by Erik912 http://bit.ly/2FU3H83
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