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[ultrazilla]

You paid cash money for a game that is in Alpha state, and are complaining that you paid for some guys vision and he's bailed because he made a million dollars.

1) He has not left Bohemia.
2) The team have not finished the game.
3) You don't know how much money he made.
4) This doesn't really set a precedent for anything.

1) End of this year.
2) This is obvious and not in contention.
3) No, not an exact amount but millions. Easily.
4) Sure it does. He has now established himself as a developer who can't finish his first major project. It doesn't exactly instill confidence in me to support him or his new studio.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

That's the right attitude. Yes, you're a sucker. But that's OK if you learn and never do it again. I can only hope and pray for the end of this nonsense where consumers fund games months to years in advance. These beggar developers used to apply for their own funding where they'd still a have dog in the fight during development. Now there's less incentive and it leads to anticonsumer behavior.

I take it you don't like Kickstarter then? Does it really matter to you how others choose to spend their money? If you think it's leading to "anticonsumer behaviour" and poor quality games, just avoid those games and developers altogether and it shouldn't be of concern to you, should it?

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

I'm not surprised, he seemed more interested in gallivanting across the world on his adventures. Wasted £20 on a bunch of promises, I won't be buying "early access" again in the future.

 

[RulkezX]

Seriously, them saying it was going to be in alpha for more than a year after already spending 18 months working on it was hilarious, the project lead bailing on it just takes it to a whole new level. The Alpha was just about as bare bones as possible , especially given they were building upon already existing mechanics and had teh lions share of a game engine to work with.

This game is never ever going to be a final release.

"I feel like DayZ is a fundamentally flawed concept," he went on, "and I've always recognised that. It's not the perfect game; it's not the multiplayer experience, and it never can be, [with] the absolute spark that I want in it."

"lol can't actually make the game we promised, thanks for the money though, I'm of on my travels again bibinoa"

 

[Sendou]

All this Kickstarter/Greenlight/Early Access stuff is quite clearly at your risk. Caveat Emptor and all that. I've never ever paid for anything on Kickstarter, and I've never been disappointed.

Of course but it's not like it's unwarranted to complain when stuff like this happens.

 

[Dinosaur Tamer]

All this Kickstarter/Greenlight/Early Access stuff is quite clearly at your risk.

Of course it is. I am not denying that and it's not like I wasn't aware of that. I am just saying they tricked people to make more money and will probably lose customer trust over it. As they should.

 

[Burger]

1) End of this year.
2) This is obvious and not in contention.
3) No, not an exact amount but millions. Easily.
4) Sure it does. He has now established himself as a developer who can't finish his first major project. It doesn't exactly instill confidence in me to support him or his new studio.

1) So complain in a year?
3) So Dean Hall is a millionaire? Prove it.
4) Like John Romero set a precedent whereby he said you would be his bitch but then Daikatana came out and clearly nobody was his bitch?

Dean still has a year or so at Bohemia. Why not believe in him until the day he leaves before writing off his entire future?

 

[Sendou]

Dean still has a year or so at Bohemia.

"By the end of this year". So ten months at best. Probably less.

 

[Erdem]

Welp, glad I didn't buy into the hype.

 

[Spaghetti]

it's interesting to see the mentality of people in here thinking dayz is just down to a single person.

even big aaa games with 'faces' like kojima or levine attached are more than just those people.

don't be dumbasses. bohemia know dayz is a start of a cash cow potentially on sub-minecraft levels, they're not going to let the game stagnate and rot.

 

[Nabs]

I'm surprised he didn't just leave after the success of the mod to make his own game.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

Kind of shocking, but at the same time I wonder if this will help focus development a bit. Hall always seemed like a reach-for-the-stars kind of guy, and at this point in the game I'd much prefer proper zombie pathing and dynamic loot over helicopters and heart attacks.

 

[J-Rock]

https://twitter.com/rocket2guns/status/437920713677099008

 

[elyetis]

By the end of the year the game should be in beta and nearly finished,

In beta, maybe, but nearly finished I highly doubt that. I kind of stopped checking every new patch note, but from my understanding zombi respawn only got there recently, and loot respawn still isn't in, my pessimism is probably speaking, but when 'basic' fonctionality ( even if it does depend of the far more complex necessity of having good server performances ) take that time to get in, base building, vehicules, and every of those things which got pitched to us, by the end of the year ? I sure hope so, but don't hold my breath on it.

That being said, Dean having his own studio is something I'm looking forward. I hope he will try to get that perfect multiplayer experience with an engine where they don't have to spend years fighting against the engine itself ( which is pretty much what seems to be happening with DayZ Standalone ).

 

[ultrazilla]

it's interesting to see the mentality of people in here thinking dayz is just down to a single person.
.

Can we drop this silly argument/point already?

We all know that when Steven Spielberg directs a movie that it's not JUST HIM creating the whole damn movie. There's a huge crew behind the scenes that work on the film as well.

But you know what? It's marketed as a "Steven Spielberg Film" not "Steven Spielberg Film with 12 dozen crew members"

And we go see those Spielberg movies because ultimately what he puts up on the screen is his vision and that's why I buy a ticket for it. The crew members merely help him get his vision on the screen.

In this case, it was because I wanted to play a game based on DayZ creator Dean Hall's vision. Not the people helping create it. Sure they help, but I bought into the game based on what Dean Hall envisioned and said, not what the behind the scenes people said.

 

[Bboy AJ]

I take it you don't like Kickstarter then? Does it really matter to you how others choose to spend their money? If you think it's leading to "anticonsumer behaviour" and poor quality games, just avoid those games and developers altogether and it shouldn't be of concern to you, should it?

No, I hate Kick starter. And yes, it is a concern to me because these practices succeeding means they will likely be emulated. I don't do microtransactions but they are successful. So hello Dungeon Keeper and Forza 5.

 

[shuri]

Rocket is pretty terrible at handling projects. He's had those weird phases where he would play games all days instead of working on dayz, or posting on reddit. He suddenly left to climb the everest (?) without any real prior announcements and he left the dayz mod into the hands of total idiots who KILLED the popularity of the mod with the most ridiculous ideas and concepts that ruined everything.

The fact that the alpha was launched into such a primitive state after A YEAR (?) of delays, with tons of basic gameplay concepts from the mod missing was baffling...

People were happy because the very basic core of the game was working, but it was so basic compared to the mod or the other mods of the mod..

 

[DCDW]

I was talking to my friends who play this and I predicted something like this would happen. Something about the janky ArmA engine told me it wouldn't be able to accomadate the developers plans. It started as a game mod (just as incomplete as the stand alone), and they might have dug themselves in deep selling the standalone. Hopefully it's not as bad as I believe it to be (the shitty engine and all) and the team can put it all together, but I have a feeling it's all one giant clusterfuck.

 

[Drinkel]

DayZ doesn't strike me as a game that needs a man with a grand vision overseeing every little detail. The mod got the ball rolling and proved there was interest in the concept and that was probably his most important contribution. The rest of the team should be more than qualified to keep up the development and the vision. This should have a negligible effect at most.

 

[J-Rock]

Can we drop this silly argument/point already?

We all know that when Steven Spielberg directs a movie that it's not JUST HIM creating the whole damn movie. There's a huge crew behind the scenes that work on the film as well.

But you know what? It's marketed as a "Steven Spielberg Film" not "Steven Spielberg Film with 12 dozen crew members"

And we go see those Spielberg movies because ultimately what he puts up on the screen is his vision and that's why I buy a ticket for it. The crew members merely help him get his vision on the screen.

In this case, it was because I wanted to play a game based on DayZ creator Dean Hall's vision. Not the people helping create it. Sure they help, but I bought into the game based on what Dean Hall envisioned and said, not what the behind the scenes people said.

All I got from this is that you are an angry uninformed consumer.

 

[ultrazilla]

All I got from this is that you are an angry uniformed consumer.

Should have team killed you when I had the chance. Hahaha.

Angry? Naw. Sucker? Yes. Uniformed? If my boxers and t-shirt count, I guess.

 

[Fistwell]

Well, who told you to fund it? It's Early Access. Why people pay for something that isn't even close to being finished is beyond me. "Yay, support the developers!" I hope that crappy mentality ends soon. Hopefully the gaming community will start remembering they're consumers and not cheerleaders.

As a consumer, I paid 20 something € for a game I've played and enjoyed 200+hrs already. The game might not be close to finished, but it can still be enjoyable. Buying it isn't necessarily intended to be a selfless act of funding its development.

Disappoing to know the game will never be more than a jogging simulator.

I got my 90 hours in.

In 90 hours, you haven't figured out how to do more in this game than run around?

by the end of the year ? I sure hope so, but don't hold my breath on it.

Good call. Could prove dangerous to hold your breath that long.

 

[J-Rock]

Should have team killed you when I had the chance. Hahaha.

Angry? Naw. Sucker? Yes. Uniformed? If my boxers and t-shirt count, I guess.

Sorry. Typo. I meant "uninformed consumer". I'm sure you know what I'm getting at.

 

[ultrazilla]

Sorry. Typo. I meant "uninformed consumer". I'm sure you know what I'm getting at.

I do J, I'm having fun.

I'm just venting. I wouldn't characterize it as anger but more upset. BTW, his recent responses on Twitter seem to indicate he won't be leaving until his work is done. I hope he sees his vision through to the end.

 

[Zaph]

3 - How much of the DayZ earnings are you personally seeing? (I understand if you don't want to answer this one.)

Saying specifics can be tough, I think (but I'm not really sure why, it just seems like it's rude to say how much you earn or bragging or something).

But I get a royalty, and I get paid. I also sold (assigned) the rights for DayZ to Bohemia so I was remunerated there too. Compared to royalty rates for other "artists" and such I am probably doing very well. Compared to game designers (who mostly don't get royalties) I'm doing extremely well.

My royalty rate is not insignificant (it is fairly significant).

Dude made bank, and will continue to make bank from all future sales and sequels.

Can't really blame him for taking the financial security and using it to do new things. The games industry is weird - developers are underpaid, undercredited and overworked, yet people expect them to be loyal just because. I can't think of any other industry like this, especially in the entertainment sector.

If people enjoy using Kickstarter/Early Access (and similar services), great, knock yourself out. But remember you're only ever paying for what you're getting at the time of transaction - which sometimes is exactly nothing. Anything that comes after the transaction should be considered a bonus.

 

[KaiserBecks]

Wow. People bought the game because of his "vision"? I bought it because I enjoyed the (free) mod. The Steam Page clearly states this:

WARNING: THIS GAME IS EARLY ACCESS ALPHA. PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE IT UNLESS YOU WANT TO ACTIVELY SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAME
AND ARE PREPARED TO HANDLE WITH SERIOUS ISSUES AND POSSIBLE INTERRUPTIONS OF GAME FUNCTIONING.

If you don't like the Early Access model, don't support it. But don't buy the game on the basis of whatever you think the guy was selling while he repeatedly and vocally advised you not to do so.
If you can't handle this, the only thing you'll get out of Early Access is a nice discount. The hype around this game was mainly based on word of mouth.
Not because of empty promises but because of experiences people made with the mod.

That said I actually welcome this. Rocket presented a great idea, but Bohemia and the community are perfectly capable of taking care of the rest once the game is in beta.

 

[Bookoo]

To be fair... the most important element of the story is that I am continuing to work on DayZ for the rest of the year, and more if required.
While I have outlined this intention before (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1vulr2/i_am_dean_rocket_hall_creator_of_dayz_and/cevx2m1[1] ), it's better that everyone knows my intention now, all the "drama" and panic comments... and then in a week nobody will give a crap and we're back to normal.

He posted this on /r/dayz.

 

[Haines]

Lol. This guy is such a joker

 

[Whompa]

Take the money and run much? No seriously, I find this announcement a load of shit.

Paying 30 dollars for DayZ felt like a bad decision. I know it's still in alpha, but will it ever get out of alpha? Will this game ever surpass its predecessor, a game that felt like an alpha in the first place?

I bought into the hopes and dreams of this guy...hope that he has some big things planned for DayZ this year.

 

[Burger]

Take the money and run much? No seriously, I find this announcement a load of shit.

Paying 30 dollars for DayZ felt like a bad decision. I know it's still in alpha, but will it ever get out of alpha? Will this game ever surpass its predecessor, a game that felt like an alpha in the first place?

I bought into the hopes and dreams of this guy...hope that he has some big things planned for DayZ this year.

Sounds like you should have asked yourself some of those questions before you clicked the Buy button, right below that giant warning posted above.

Early Access isn't a Pre Order system.

Also if you brought into Dean's 'hopes and dreams' then.. well... isn't that what you are getting?

 

[Whompa]

Sounds like you should have asked yourself some of those questions before you clicked the Buy button, right below that giant warning posted above.

Early Access isn't a Pre Order system.

Also if you brought into Dean's 'hopes and dreams' then.. well... isn't that what you are getting?

Not when the guy leaves the team. Game is dead. The design isn't even in yet...it's bare bones as someone already said before. You should have someone capable of imputing some sort of design in it as the game improves with updates. It's as if the developers are just updating the game with superfluous details and ignoring he big elephant in the room...

 

[gutterboy44]

Wow. People bought the game because of his "vision"? I bought it because I enjoyed the (free) mod. The Steam Page clearly states this:...

WARNING: THIS GAME IS NEVER LEAVING ALPHA. DAYZ IS A FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED CONCEPT, IT'S NOT THE PERFECT GAME; IT'S NOT THE MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE YOU WANT IT TO BE, AND IT NEVER CAN BE. .PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE IT UNLESS YOU WANT TO ACTIVELY SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAME UNTIL I DECIDE TO LEAVE AT THE END OF THE YEAR
AND ARE PREPARED TO HANDLE WITH SERIOUS ISSUES AND POSSIBLE NEVER RESOLVED INTERRUPTIONS OF GAME FUNCTIONING

FTFY

 

[Burger]

Not when the guy leaves the team. Game is dead. The design isn't even in yet...it's bare bones as someone already said before. You should have someone capable of imputing some sort of design in it as the game improves with updates. It's as if the developers are just updating the game with superfluous details and ignoring he big elephant in the room...

He hasn't left the team.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Well, who told you to fund it? It's Early Access. Why people pay for something that isn't even close to being finished is beyond me. "Yay, support the developers!" I hope that crappy mentality ends soon. Hopefully the gaming community will start remembering they're consumers and not cheerleaders.

This is where I am at as well. I'm sorry for those individuals who feel slighted or those who feel the game will be lessened by his departure but this is the risk you take when you purchase an unfinished product.

 

[J-Rock]

Posted on Reddit:

in a year's time the game will be mostly feature complete

Posted on twitter:

I'm still working for another whole year, and more if needed. All I've said is that eventually, I want to do something else

I won't be leaving the project until my work is done, but when it is, I'm going home

Newsflash: Man wants to do something else once he is finished what he is doing now, more at 10!

 

[Tempy]

I should be surprised by the reactions.

But I'm not.

 

[Whompa]

He hasn't left the team.

I know...can you not read?

 

[TheSeks]

"I feel like DayZ is a fundamentally flawed concept," he went on, "and I've always recognised that. It's not the perfect game; it's not the multiplayer experience, and it never can be, [with] the absolute spark that I want in it."

This is kinda making me annoyed: I've already stated what he can do to get some of us that think it's a "flawed multiplayer experince" to play:

FIX. THE. GODDAMN. ZOMBIES. Make. Them. A. THREAT. But he still hasn't done that. Now the game is in "beta" and some of it is the (poorly chosen when going Stand-alone) Arma 2 engine quirks, but goddamn if the game doesn't have a ton of potential it isn't reaching just yet. Hopefully by the end of the year he allows people to host servers (or server hosting at least gets cheap) so people can explore with their friends without PvP/Kill on Sight players and have a goal of "survive against the zombies/other players trying to fuck your shit up" instead of "oh these zombies are an annoyance, shoot these other dicks: Deathmatch in Arma 2 zombie Mod edition!" that it is right now. :/

This is where I am at as well. I'm sorry for those individuals who feel slighted or those who feel the game will be lessened by his departure but this is the risk you take when you purchase an unfinished product.

I'm not slighted. I'm disappointed. Hall seems to want to do a lot of things (a lot of it is a bunch of shit that should stay out of the title for the sake of "game"-play, unless he wants to turn a true "hardcore sim" mode on) while forgetting the potential for a game there. Right now it's mostly a social experiment with no "end goal" outside of "just survive against other players." Which would be the same with zombies included, sure, but at least the zombies wouldn't be a minor annoyance and people would have to work together to clear them out and defend areas instead of just shooting at each other willy-nilly. :/

Hall leaving means this potential may not be seen if Bohemia doesn't do it.

 

[CoLaN]

The vision behind the game was awesome.

Too bad that the real game is just a buggy, awkward deathmatch game. The zombies are ridiculous, the threat comes from other players who mostly shoot you in the face as soon as they see you.

Leaving the project after so many promises, and calling it a flawed concept on the way out is a sign of disrespect to the people who paid for the alpha.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

Hall leaving means this potential may not be seen if Bohemia doesn't do it.

I still think it's impossible for them to ignore the fact that this game has pretty much been dominating Steam since it came out. Why wouldn't they put a full team on this and double-down? The sales are there.

 

[Stasis]

It was only $30, but it's still kind of annoying. Not even the fact that he's leaving really, but that does add to it. The whole story. I doubt the game will ever even be worth $30. This "getting in early" thing is becoming pretty overrated and a couple of burns have kind of ruined early access & crowd-funding for me. That $30 is a bottle of some of our favorite wine. Even when shared with another couple and basically having just one glass of it provides infinitely more enjoyment than this Day-Z release has so far.

You have a couple people constantly defending it/him, but most of us have realized that it is what it is. It'll never amount to anything. And I'd bet none of his future endeavors will either.

I'm glad some of you have managed to have fun and/or believe in the title's future, but how many people do you think would request a refund if they offered it? I'd bet more than 50% of initial buyers. Not the same story for every alpha/early access title out there.

 

[Gaz_RB]

Really sad to hear. DayZ really is Dean's baby. But by the time he leaves it will probably be feature complete, so that's good at least. Sad to see him go though.

I don't see why people are complaining that they got screwed over with early access just because he is leaving. I got a good 100 amazing hours out of the game.

 

[alr1ght]

Guy is probably loaded from DayZ. It must be a great feeling to be able to create something and not have to deal with the monetary aspects.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

DayZ seems to be hindered only by Bohemia and their engine. It's buggy, poorly optimized and can't seem to handle this sort of game without it being awkward. Tucked under these issues is a fantastic idea for a great game. Them running the entire thing and owning the entire IP... doesn't instill confidence this will be fixed.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

I don't feel much is going to change from now until he leaves and/or "completion".

I don't think DayZ is a fundamentally flawed concept at all. I do think it being a glorified mod of Arma 2 is. Melee, zombies, etc. are all kinds of wonky. The game would be great being built from the ground up.

I guess he can't diss Bohemia's engine while getting paid by them, but opting to insult the concept of DayZ is weird.

His future "perfect multiplayer experience" needs to be ground up and he needs to polish his vision.

 

[Baleoce]

"I feel like DayZ is a fundamentally flawed concept," he went on, "and I've always recognised that. It's not the perfect game; it's not the multiplayer experience, and it never can be, [with] the absolute spark that I want in it."

The perfect multiplayer experience: "I want to chase that."

What does this even mean? What's a perfect experience? Why is DayZ "a fundamentally flawed concept"? What makes a particular strain of "multiplayer experience" the holy grail? You can't just throw that out there and not expand on your point xD

 

[El Sloth]

Doesn't seem like too big of a deal to me. He says he'll stay until the game is finished or longer if he's still needed.

His only mistake is announcing this now instead of waiting until he was actually going to leave. Not sure what he was expecting.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

This absolutely diminishes the DayZ brand and my confidence in the final products overall quality.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

DayZ seems to be hindered only by Bohemia and their engine. It's buggy, poorly optimized and can't seem to handle this sort of game without it being awkward. Tucked under these issues is a fantastic idea for a great game. Them running the entire thing and owning the entire IP... doesn't instill confidence this will be fixed.

I still think the ultimate love-child for a video game would be DayZ and State Of Decay. All of State Of Decays gameplay and mechanics within DayZs world.

Has there every been a Bohemia game/engine that isn't riddles with bugs and jank?

 

[Ingueferroque]

It's okay, lots of games don't get out of alpha.

Good thing nobody is out of money.

Missed something? Haha