[url=http://i.imgur.com/3TMuVxs.jpg][img]http://i.imgur.com/3TMuVxs.jpg[/img][/url] Afternoon Survivors, Another status report Tuesday comes around with Brian, Peter, Viktor, Mirek and Adam. They will share the latest info on where we are at in the development process. [h1]Contents This Week[/h1] [list] [*]Dev Update/Hicks [*]Dev Update/Peter [*]Dev Update/Viktor [*]Dev Update/Mirek [*]Dev Update/Adam [*]Community Spotlight [/list] [h1]Dev Update/Hicks[/h1] Greetings Survivors, Over the last two weeks we've been doing a lot of iteration, and regression testing on the critical issues preventing 0.61 Experimental/Unstable branch update. As you all may recall, those issues are server side performance and player to player sync. For the end user, that translates into A) How fluid your actions are in game (As well as how functional AI is) and B) How you see, and hear other players (Think sliding, player position, and gun shot sounds). The gameplay programming team (lead by Miroslav Manena) has made some big improvements in the issues previously mentioned regarding poor performance in high ping situations, and in the player to player sync. We're no longer seeing the jittering/hitching we previously saw in the 100+ MS range, and player to player sync issues are greatly reduced - however we are still able to reproduce them in some situations. The list of stable blockers includes several other issues (of which I will list below) but experimental blocking issues really currently is isolated to getting server performance to an acceptable rate with the dynamic spawning of infected and 40-60 player population, and knocking out the last issues with player to player sync listed above. This is where the bulk of gameplay programming, and QA resources are currently focused. I can say personally from the frequent multiplayer test passes we have been doing nearly every day these last two weeks, I have not encountered a single case of traditional desync. However, that said - I am personally holding my breath until we see how this performs under a larger player population such as the experimental/unstable branch. In addition to that, we've taken a look at some of the feedback on our forums about the .61 version of the server browser and its filtering options and made changes accordingly. You can see the latest look of it on our Trello, which should be linked below. [url=https://trello.com/c/GymMxe86/135-61-server-browser][img]http://i.imgur.com/kHqqUFm.jpg[/img][/url] Additionally, I wanted to take the opportunity to wish our Community Manager Smoss a fond farewell. Michael is pursuing some new and awesome opportunities that have come his way, and has spent the last few weeks bringing up to speed a new member of our Community Team - Baty!. Baty is a devout DayZ lover, and internal hire for us. She has been working with us for quite some time now on the support and test side of the fence, and brings with her a strong knowledge of DayZ as an active member of the Czech and Twitch DayZ communities. I'll give Baty an opportunity to introduce herself below: "My name is Zuzana Cinková alias Baty Alquawen. Videogames have taken a part in my life as long as I can remember. My favorite genre is tactical FPS, RPG and survival games. I have five years long experience on gaming scene in several roles like journalist, PR, marketing and community. I worked on communities for Czech region of Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Rocksmith, Rayman series etc.), Codemasters and SEGA franchises for 4 years. The beginning of my DayZ journey started on 28th December 2013 since then I have more than 1500 hours of private gameplay time. I play a lot of styles - role-play, survival, friendly and PVP which I play with my clan on dedicated servers. My hobbies are streaming games, cosplay and cats (yes, I am crazy cat lady). My work at Bohemia Interactive started as tester and now, I am fulfilling my dream to be community manager. I really hope that all this is a great foundation for my DayZ community work. So... Friendly?" And finally - once again I'd like to remind you all to swing by the forums. We try to take an active role there as much as possible, and discuss our perspectives on the state of the build, as well as share insights into development in general. Over the last few weeks I've shared some videos and screenshots of 0.61 development, and healthy discussion has into development in general. [url=http://forums.dayz.com/topic/235270-the-frequency-of-updates/]http://forums.dayz.com/topic/235270-the-frequency-of-updates//url] - User Azeh inquires into development update frequency [url=http://forums.dayz.com/topic/235170-exp-update-061/] http://forums.dayz.com/topic/235170-exp-update-061/ [/url]- Ongoing discussion on 0.61 0.61 Must Fix Issues: [list] [*]Client crashes after exiting title [*]Player to Player Sync [*]Using Cancel action on Item in Hands will cause item to be stuck in hands [*]Dynamic Shadow issues on specific structures [*]Server Performance under ideal load [*]Magazine volume inconsistent between players [/list] 0.61 Milestone Goals: [list] [*]Server Login Queue [*]Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update. [*]Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology. [*]Dynamic Spawning of Infected. [*]Predators (Wolves) [*]Dynamic Shadows [*]Network Synchronization Improvements [*]New Server Browser [/list] [i]- Brian Hicks / Creative Director[/i] [b]Dev Update/Peter[/b] Doors. There are myriad different ones across the whole of Chernarus. Small ones or large ones, single or doubled-sided, in structures or in the open, all these doors are waiting for you to interact with them. Let's focus on their core functionality now which is opening and going through. It's interesting to observe how such a simple action is causing so much trouble. Opening toward you, a door won't hesitate to displace your position in the world and in some specific cases, clip through you or, in the worst case scenario, break your leg (which was a common problem in the mod days, some survivors were more afraid of doors than infected). And it doesn't end at characters. A good example is shooting vehicles into orbit once collision geometry of doors penetrates vehicle geometry, which is easy to achieve as swinging of doors are driven by simple rotating animations ignoring physics completely during the swing. These issues are just unacceptable and they are crippling the overall experience. There are a few possible ways to address and resolve this problem. For example, the easiest choice will be to remove all the doors. While this sounds like a silly idea, it's still a functional one. However, don't worry, it's clearly not a suitable solution for DayZ as doors should also act not only as obstacles for navigation through the environment, but they should also offer a tactical advantage against infected or other survivors, especially with advanced barricading in the future. Another option will be locking characters into the animation of opening the door. You know the drill, hand catches handle, press it down and start pulling the door toward you. Once done, you are free to move again. Such a solution, as visually appealing as it can be to watch, can become frustrating in the long run, especially in competitive environments where every second counts, and I bet we all agree that fluid movement and responsiveness is crucial for DayZ. From my point of view there is one solution which is very close to ideal, and we started to experiment with it; doors which swing in both directions. At first I thought it a bit unacceptable as we are trying to stay as authentic as possible, and such doors are quite rare even in real life. However, from a gameplay perspective it solves plenty of issues and I would be happy to make concessions as a designer and a player if its helpful. The most valuable benefit is that they will never interfere with you and your movement through the doorway, as they will always swings away from you when opening. It's true that some door placements needs to be adjusted so they don't collide with each other. Also there are some structures where such a door design doesn't make much sense, from the top of my head, jail cells or outhouses, but for the greater good it could be worked through. On the other hand, garages are more of a problem with such an approach, as it will be possible to put a vehicle in, close the doors from the outside, and then never be able to get back in as collision with vehicles will stop them, but every problem has a solution. Also barricading will benefit from this door behavior, as planks could be physical objects where, so when you try to open a door against them, the door strikes the planks. Or jamming the door with a barrel will be a possibility. While it still could have some very specific issues which can be tackled on their own I think it's the right approach and I hope we will succeed with it as it will add to the experience and overall in-game possibilities. Break on through to the other side... see you in Chernarus folks! [i]- Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer[/i] [b]For the full status report, please use the following link:[/b] [url=https://dayz.com/blog/status-report-25-oct-2016] https://dayz.com/blog/status-report-25-oct-2016 [/url]