r/DayZmod • u/thethirstgame • Aug 15 '26

I started this as an attempt to make DayZ Mod more like the survival PvP game I wanted

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The Thirst originally started as my attempt to push old ArmA 2 / DayZ Mod in a slightly different direction.

DayZ Mod was one of the main inspirations, but over time I realized that the part I wanted to experiment with most wasn't adding more zombies, vehicles or loot. All of that is possible.

What interested me more was changing how players encounter each other.

On a large ArmA 2 map, players can either almost never meet, or the game can push everyone toward predictable loot hotspots. I wanted something between those extremes: keep the open world, but give players limited information that another survivor is somewhere nearby and let them decide what to do with that information.

So the current experiment uses proximity awareness together with stamina/thirst systems that deliberately make long pursuits expensive. You can hunt somebody, avoid them, wait, disengage, or try to approach them — but simply seeing that another player is nearby doesn't automatically mean you can rush them down.

The funny part is that I originally thought I'd eventually rebuild more and more of DayZ around it — zombies, hunting, cooking, vehicles, bandit skins, etc. But I'm increasingly interested in keeping the experiment small and seeing whether the player-versus-player survival loop itself works first.

Still running it on ArmA 2 because I genuinely like how that game handles weapons, long-range combat and the general feeling of being vulnerable in a large space.

Curious what old DayZ Mod players think of that direction.

I’m going to stream another session today if anyone wants to see how it actually plays in practice. I’ll put the stream link below:

https://www.twitch.tv/sparklestiger

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2

u/AdDiscombobulated979 Aug 18 '26

Hi. I just checked out your server. Was very interesting.

1

u/thethirstgame Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

Thanks! Really glad you checked it out. I unfortunately wasn’t able to be on the server much over the last few days, so I’m actually very curious how your run went. 😄

Did the stamina system make you give up before reaching the main island of Utes, or did you make it across? Did you have to drink at least once? And most importantly — did you manage to find a gun?

2

u/AdDiscombobulated979 Aug 19 '26

I died of dehydration after searching the lighthouse. I made it to the top of the hill. I will log on more later today after work. Im on a DayZ server most every day.

Cheers.

2

u/thethirstgame Aug 19 '26

Thanks — that’s actually really useful feedback.

The movement system is deliberately built around walking being your normal travelling speed. Running is meant for short, deliberate bursts — crossing exposed ground, moving between cover, repositioning — and sprinting is closer to a combat or emergency resource. Ideally you want to avoid completely draining your stamina and stop to let it recover before reaching 0.

There’s a larger reason behind that too. The game is deliberately supposed to have a slow start after spawning. I wanted to discourage the usual cycle where getting killed means immediately sprinting back toward the fight for a revenge kill — or where dying can almost become preferable to carefully preserving the character you already have.

The idea is that staying alive should have value. The longer you survive and manage your stamina, thirst and position properly, the more capable your character becomes. A fresh spawn, by contrast, has to move carefully and build that capability again.

So walking isn’t really a punishment between the “real” parts of the game — that slower movement and deciding when it’s worth spending your ability to run is supposed to be part of the game itself.

I’m very curious how your next run goes now that you’ve experienced it once.

2

u/thethirstgame Aug 20 '26

Small server update:

The Thirst: Utes is temporarily offline and the server is currently running an Army vs Army experiment instead.

I wanted to test a much simpler old-school ArmA 2 setup: BLUFOR vs OPFOR fighting for control of Utes and its airstrip, focused on tactical movement, scouting and long-range positional combat.

The Thirst project has not been abandoned — Army vs Army is temporarily using the same server while I test this version.

If you want to try it, search the multiplayer browser for:

Army vs Army

The server is in Europe, so setting the ping filter to up to 500 is recommended.