arma-ii
Latest
Bohemia Interactive acquires a new team for DayZ and assembles a roadmap
Are you ready to kill your fellow survivors and take their stuff in DayZ? If so, you've got plenty of company; according to creator Dean Hall, the game has sold 1.7 million copies on Steam thus far. It's given the team good reason to expand, at that. Bohemia Interactive has acquired Cauldron Studios, now renamed Bohemia Interactive Slovakia, and will be putting that team to work developing more content and systems for the zombie sandbox experience. Hall also outlined a roadmap of the game's coming updates, stating that the end of April should see the inclusion of fireplaces, loot respawns, and crossbows. New pistols and AI pathfinding are next on the list, followed by a 64-bit upgrade and the inclusion of animals for players to hunt and cook. Whether you're looking forward to what comes next or just like the current state of beating up players and taking what they've found, if you're a fan of the game you should take a look at the full rundown.
DayZ griefers force victims to sing
It may be the most genial stick-em-up of all time. A group of DayZ bandits are ambushing players in game for a truly sinister purpose: to make them sing. In the following video, you can see and hear players sneak up on unprepared foes, force them to their knees at gunpoint, and then offer them a choice. Either they sing their national anthem or they get shot. The bandits don't make their victims sing the entire thing and are recorded saying that they'll help them out with in-game supplies if they go along with it. You can preview the spectacle after the jump.
DayZ won't be released in 2014
If all of the reminders from Bohemia Interactive weren't enough to convey the message already, DayZ is still very early in its testing process. A recent post summing up the game's third week in early access mentions that the team is not expecting to be further than beta testing by the end of 2014, stating once again that the only people who should purchase the game's early access are those who want to be a part of the development process. Aside from that, the development team is looking toward future features including customizable vehicles, structures, and in-depth mechanics for hunting and cooking animals in the wild. At 875,000 copies sold, it seems that the game is carving a niche for itself among zombie survival enthusiasts even if it is still very early in its development. Take a look at the full list of planned improvements to the game in the post.
.jpg.cf.jpg)
Seven zombie-infested MMOs for the survivalist in you
Let's talk zombies and post-apocalyptic futures. Sure, the undead have become an overused and watered-down genre, but it's easy to see just why it's so successful -- it practically has something for everyone. The horror fans love it for obvious reasons; there's nothing scarier than the reanimated dead. Sandbox fans and survivalist maniacs love that it represents what happens to society when everything -- and I mean everything -- breaks down. MMO fans adore it because it's all about teamwork and developing a society from the ground up alongside other people. So even though the genre is getting spread a bit thin, it's still as promising as any other. I thought it'd be a good idea to round up many of the current zombie MMOs and pseudo-MMOs so that over the holidays you can celebrate by ignoring your family to bash in a few previously deceased skulls. You can thank me later when all of the training you receive while playing these games helps you survive the coming zombie apocalypse.
DayZ still not ready for release
You can't really call what's happening to DayZ a series of delayz, since the game haz never formally announced a release date. But a lot of potential playerz are still waiting patiently for the standalone version to see the light of day. Lead developer Dean Hall took to Reddit recently to respond to player questionz regarding the long-awaited standalone and explain why the game still isn't out. In short, it isn't the game itself; it's the strain of keeping the game going around a large enough number of people. According to Hall, the big element holding the game back iz the continued work on ensuring client stability and framerate with a large enough number of playerz and zombiez. Hall cites 15 FPS az a bare minimum for the game to function, something that haz yet to be achieved even with existing optimizationz. Not that thiz will assuage those looking forward to playing the standalone version of the zombie survival simulator, but at least it clearz up the reasons for the wait.
Hands-on: Infestation: Survivor Stories, aka War Z, is worse than actually being killed by zombies
If there's one thing we know about the games industry, it's that no success goes uncopied. World of Warcraft breaks a million subscribers, everyone starts building WoW-like MMOs. Minecraft showers its creator with enough money to buy his home country, voxel-based crafting games fall like rain. It's just how things go. It should come as no surprise, then, that some studio somewhere would attempt to piggyback on the success of DayZ, Dean Hall's ridiculously popular mod for Arma II. The title, which drops players into a dangerous, zombie-filled open world and challenges them to survive, resonated so immensely with gamers that a clone wasn't so much probable as it was inevitable. But Infestation: Survivor Stories, formerly known as The War Z, is more than just a clone of DayZ. It is a charmless, cynical, and craven rip-off packaged with one of the most sinister microtransaction models ever implemented into a game, and it's developed by a company that has on multiple occasions proven itself to be only shades away from a dedicated fraud factory.
DayZ standalone version jacks up graphics, player customization
The race to a DayZ standalone version release is on, and creator Dean Hall is feeling excited and confident about the progress being made. Hall posted a list of improvements that the team is currently working on, from graphics to customization, and gave an update regarding the testing process. DayZ standalone's graphics are clearly improved from the ARMA II-modded version, and Hall includes side-by-side comparison photos of a town to show just how big of a difference the new engine makes. He said that the team is working on vehicle, character, and weapon customizations, although players will find that the real avatar customization will come while engaging in the game proper. One notable entry on Hall's list is the fact that the team is building the servers to be "MMO-like" so that hacking and cheating will be markedly more difficult. He also said that while external testers haven't been invited into the beta yet, this will happen once the full server/client architecture is completed.
DayZ standalone version should arrive by April
What everyone seems to be clamoring for these days is a standalone version of DayZ, the hit zombie survival game by Dean Hall. The creator opened up to Reddit on the progress of the version and his feelings on being confused for the maker of The War Z. Hall says that DayZ's standalone version should come out before April, although he allows for wiggle room if something comes up between now and then. The team is being cautious about pulling the trigger on testing, too: "Slowly we'll hand out the first keys and get a few servers running. Then we will reassess. It could go really well and we open up quickly, or it could go badly. Don't expect the tech test to be fun, or very pretty." Past the release of the standalone version, Hall said that he has plans to create a new map that centers around a western city. Hall also addressed his frustration at being confused with The War Z: "I am angry about The War Z. I'm very angry. I'm quite hurt personally because anyone can see how similar the words are, and while the average gamer knows the difference, individual people don't. I've had family members and close friends mistake the difference and confront me about what they believed was unethical behavior they thought I was making."
Why DayZ isn't a standalone title yet
You may have noticed that it's no longer 2012. (If not: Hello and welcome to the world of tomorrow!) You may also have noticed that, despite all expectations to the contrary, a DayZ standalone game has not yet been released. That's because, according to creator Dean Hall, the dev team "had the chance to go from making a game that was just the mod improved slightly, packaged simply, and sold -- to actually redeveloping the engine and making the game the way [the team] dreamed it could be." The new plan is for a closed test of 500-1000 participants to happen in the near future, after which the internal release date will be adjusted as the team feels necessary. As the team has taken extra time to polish things up, a great deal has changed. Items have more complexity now -- picking up a shirt from a player who suffered from cholera may well get you infected, and shooting a player in the head in an attempt to get his night vision goggles may result in damage to the goggles themselves. The UI is being streamlined and simplified to be "straightforward and functional just like in Minecraft." Map redesign and refinement is being slowed down by the continued imprisonment of the team's lead architect.
DayZ mod is going for the hobo appeal
For all DayZ fans who feel that the inclusion of powerful weapons and relatively plentiful supply caches don't accurately portray their personal vision for a horrible post-apocalyptic zombie world, then a new mod in the making might do the trick. Called DayZ 2017, the mod seeks to progress the game world forward five years to a time when everything's a lot harder to come by. Modder Luke Hinds explained his reasoning on the DayZ 2017 website: "I now want to go back to basics and really focus on what made Rocket's mod really tick with players, and that was scarcity and threat. The main changes will be taking out most loot and making what's left very rare." Hinds cites films such as The Book of Eli and The Road as inspiration. He created "hobo-like" characters who look far more worn-down and a combat that slants more toward melee than ranged. DayZ 2017 hopefully will arrive by the end of the year. Recently, the makers of DayZ cracked down on a different mod that sought to monetize the game through a bounty system.
DayZ cracks down on 'Bounty' mod
You'd be hard-pressed to find a dedicated DayZ player who doesn't think the game's already exciting enough. Even so, there is a trio of gamers who have decided that the hardcore zombie survival mod needs some spicing up. Hence, the creation of a real-money version of the game called DayZ Bounty. DayZ Bounty requires players to pay per life but offers income in return if the gamer is good enough to take out NPCs and other humans. Co-creator James Ortiz said that it made the game far more interesting: "We figured that if people had a value on their life... there'd be something to fear besides the zombies." Unfortunately for the Bounty team, DayZ's creators are calling for an end to the mod. A spokeperson for the development team said that Bounty "undermined" the title, and asked for a cessation of the project. "It changes the focus of DayZ from being a creative, enjoyable, gritty gaming experience to a game that is based almost solely on financial gain," the spokesperson explained, "and that is not something we want to be associated with."
DayZ development screenshots released
The development as DayZ as a standalone title is rolling ever forward. To give fans a hint of the sort of progress being made, the development team shared a few work in progress screenshots of some interiors in the game. The art team's recent focus (as you might've guessed from the content of the screenshots) has been on going through and giving each building an interior. Moving forward, the developers will be working on balancing complexity within cities and an interest in scavenging opportunities with a need for greatly increased performance.%Gallery-168382%
DayZ receiving a standalone version before the year is out
Are you interested in zombie survivalist fantasies but not interested in buying an unrelated first-person shooter? DayZ has already garnered a fan following despite being a mod for an existing game, but a standalone version of the game is in the works for release before the end of the year. Creator Dean Hall has stated that in terms of what the team wants to accomplish (some of which was outlined in our interview on the game), the alpha version absolutely has to be out by the end of the year. Hill has not named an exact price, but he has made it clear that the standalone version will be cheap. He's also made a point of stating several of his longer-term plans for the standalone version, including the spread of diseases, makeshift first-aid remedies, and the eventual inclusion of vehicles. All of it is very ambitious, but that's part of the reason that the team is dead-set on having the standalone game out before the end of December.
Gamescom 2012: DayZ stand-alone to have instanced building [Updated]
Rock, Paper Shotgun caught up with Arma II modder Dean Hall at this week's Gamescom. The braaaaains behind the zombie-centric DayZ mod revealed that player-driven construction is in the works for the mod's eventual stand-alone client. Hall says that the feature will probably take the form of underground bases accessed via portals (think a grate in the ground). He's leaning toward having players dig out the space, pour concrete, set up hydroponics, and possibly even have the structure collapse around them if it's a particularly gruesome day. DayZ's stand-alone client will also feature a revamped Chernarus that features more buildings you can actually enter as well as more detail and "entirely new areas." [Update: There are also talks of the game coming to consoles.] Every summer, the gaming industry descends on Cologne, Germany, for Gamescom, the world's largest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment. Massively's on the scene in 2012, bringing you all the best scoops, impressions, and interviews from the MMOs at the show!
The Firing Line: This is not a PlanetSide 2 NDA violation edition
For the record, I really, really wanted to write about PlanetSide 2 for this week's Firing Line. Alas, NDAs or some such. Blargle, bollocks, and boo-hiss on all of that. Anyhow, there is more to the MMO shooter space than Sony Online Entertainment's sci-fi sequel, right? Guys? Yeah, OK, as intros go, this one is pretty weak. But like I said, I'd rather be talking about that time when I [edited] a Terran Republic [edited] outside of [edited] but it was [edited] [edited] [edited] Mosquito. That's not all, as we also [edited] and then [edited] [edited] by some [edited]. Oh, right. We can't talk about that just yet, so join me after the cut for this week's most interesting non-PlanetSide 2 shooter news.
DayZ becomes a standalone project
DayZ, the little mod that could, has grown up and moved out of the house. The Arma II mod will now be developed as a standalone project by Bohemia Interactive with lead developer Dean Hall as the project's boss. The mod and the standalone game will continue to be developed side-by-side, so if you're invested in the mod, now you can keep on keepin' on just as you have been. Like Minecraft, the game will have an alpha version available for a big discount, and alpha will go through fast iterations. Hall promised more information in the coming weeks.
DayZ surpasses one million unique players
Less than a month ago, Arma II mod DayZ surpassed the 500,000-player mark. As of this morning, over one million of you have tried the game since its inception earlier this year. According to the counter on the mod's official website, players have killed over 22.5 million zombies and accumulated nearly 1,220 years of total play time since the game went live. DayZ is the brainchild of Dean "Rocket" Hall, and it transforms the modern military shooter Arma II into a post-apocalyptic sandbox infested with zombies and murderous fellow players. The object of the game is to survive as long as possible. Hall added injury effects as well as the need to eat and drink in order to heighten both the difficulty and the sense of realism.
The Firing Line: DayZ, Forge, and Rapid Assault
A couple of interesting items came across The Firing Line desk this week. One of them was the fact that PlanetSide 2's beta will be cranking up inside of a month. And there was much rejoicing. OK, now that that's out of the way, the other items concern games that are decidedly smaller in scale but no less interesting. Join me after the break for a look at the latest from the devs behind World War II Online (or Battleground Europe, if you prefer), and a new title called Forge. Oh yeah, and 500,000 of you are playing something called DayZ.
DayZ shooter mod reaches 500k users
What do you get when you cross a hyper-realistic open-world shooter with a zombie-driven third-party mod? A certified phenomenon with more users than your average MMORPG, according to our friends at Joystiq. "Congratulations everyone, with your support through tough times, mistakes, troubles, and technical problems, we now have over 500k users," DayZ dev Dean Hall tweeted yesterday. The mod has taken the shooter world by storm with its blend of realism, unforgiving gameplay, and brain-munching undead. The project turns Bohemia Interactive's Arma 2 into a desperate fight for survival in a world ravaged by zombie apocalypse. While the mod isn't technically an MMO, its persistence and massive world are certainly MMO-like. DayZ is on track to overtake the sales of the game on which it is based. "Currently we're running 22,000 concurrent at full peak, and 10,000 off peak, which is pretty huge numbers considering the original data structure and system was designed to handle 100 concurrents and two servers," he said.
