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Incoming DayZ update to include fire, tweaks to physics, player control
If you've been wishing campfires would help give away the position of DayZ's, uh ... "spirited" brand of survivors at night, this might be your month! Developer Bohemia Interactive is planning on implementing a patch that gifts the destructive element to players, both for building campfires and igniting flammable objects. Reworked physics and player control are also planned, as is a fix to address messaging spam. Citing strong fan feedback as an inspiration, Bohemia's patch will implement 1:1 movement between mouse controls and the head of a player's avatar. Weapons are planned to act differently, though - the more cumbersome a player's equipped bargaining tool is, the longer it will take to swing in a different direction and fire. A system will also be added to let players charge projectiles, be it an item or the arrow they're aiming from a bow. Lastly, Bohemia hopes to fix a messaging problem where the "client and server 'spam' messages at each other, hoping that some of the messages get through." The studio believes this is the major hurdle in surpassing the 100-player limit per server. The fix is expected to appear on experimental servers sometime next week before appearing in this month's update. No word yet on a patch to make the rest of DayZ's player base as awesome as (NSFW language) fire extinguisher guy. [Image: Bohemia Interactive]
Arma 3 takes us all for a ride with Kart DLC [April Fools!]
The first official (and totally not real) bit of premium DLC for open-world shooter Arma 3 is kart racing. Arma 3 Karts includes (well, it would, if it existed) time-trial races and open-world kart battles, with seven versions of vehicles to choose from. "Since we're already in the zombie business with DayZ, we felt the next logical expansion would be to take on karting," (real) Creative Director Jay Crowe writes on the Bohemia Interactive blog. "Our sandbox could not be called complete without karts, and thus we set ourselves the goal to recreate this pure form of racing. Welcome to Arma 3's World of Karts: drive / overtake / win." Arma 3 Karts is due out in the second quarter of 2014 (no, it isn't). [Image: Bohemia Interactive]
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 standalone sells 1.7 million, update due soon
Humanity's morbid fascination with the zombie apocalypse continues unabated as DayZ creator Dean Hall has revealed that the standalone, retail release of his open-world hit has racked up over 1.7 million sales. Hall revealed this figure earlier today at the ongoing EGX Rezzed event in Birmingham, UK. He also noted that the original version of DayZ, a modification for Bohemia Interactive's military simulation ArmA 2, has been downloaded over two million times to date. But Hall didn't attend the event simply to crow about his game's success. According to Eurogamer, Hall also revealed that DayZ's next update will arrive before the end of April, and that it will include a crossbow, fireplaces that players can use to prepare food and a prototype system which should allow loot to respawn within DayZ's expansive yet sparse world. [Image: Bohemia Interactive]
DayZ's dev team is doubling up
DayZ may be losing creator Dean Hall toward the end of 2014, but the popular zombie sandbox project will be gaining several additional developers. "We are inducting a large number of new people to the team, effectively doubling the whole project," wrote Hall on the DayZ dev blog. GamesIndustry.biz reports that Hall also reiterated his intention to move on, but stated that he will remain "in a leadership role until at least the end of the year."
Dean Hall is leaving behind DayZ and Bohemia Interactive
Games are a bit like children. You work with other people to craft them, to help them go from little more than a twinkle in your eye to something capable of surviving without you. Dean Hall created DayZ, but he's jumping ahead to the part where he metaphorically kicks it out of the house and tells it to get a job. Or he's kicking himself out of the house... the metaphor is a bit tortured, but the important point is that he's leaving DayZ behind. Why leave a game that's still early in testing and doing well? As Hall puts it, keeping him on the project could eventually lead to his being someone who tells others how things are done rather than adapting along with a changing game and culture. Instead, he's heading to New Zealand with plans of opening a different studio. The changeover is not happening immediately but should take place before the end of the year. [Thanks to Zipzopboobidybop for the tip!]
World of Darkness drawing inspiration from sandbox survival games while EVE CE goes on sale
CCP assured World of Darkness fans that the project is "evolving rapidly" despite recent layoffs, will have a presence at Fanfest in May, and is even taking cues from sandbox survival games for its development. CCP CEO Hilmar Pétursson told RPS that survival games have given the team inspiration for World of Darkness' social dynamics: "DayZ and Rust have shown us the power of a sandbox when you bring it into a more recognizable context. The creators of those experiences often reference EVE Online as an inspiration for their things. We're now cross-inspired by what we're seeing there. How the absence of all these structured game mechanics -– by just allowing these natural interactions to happen -– that is something we're definitely incorporating into how we think about World of Darkness." Speaking of EVE, the space game's collector edition has gone on sale for $99.99. This 33% discount will last from today through February 17th.
Nether adds crafting, creature mode, and tribes
The mean streets of Nether are easing up a bit on players, as Phosphor Games has patched in a slew of helpful systems for its February update. The trio of new features includes crafting, a creature mode, and tribes. Crafting encourages players to scavenge from their adventures and fashion gear and weapons to use and trade. If being a bad guy is your thing, then the new creature mode allows users to step into the twisted role of a nether to stalk victims. And tribes, Nether's version of guilds, are now in the game with bases, a skill tree, and special objectives to be patched in later in the month. Players who join a tribe from now through February 15th will earn special bonuses including currency and a free uniform. We've got a video showing some of the February update features after the jump, so get a move on, little doggy! [Source: Phosphor Games press release]
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.
Humble Weekly Sale: Bohemia Interactive madness
The Humble Weekly Sale is ready to rumble with a lineup of Bohemia Interactive games: Arma 2, Take on Helicopters, UFO: Afterlight, Alpha Prime, Arma: Gold Edition and Arma Tactics. Those are all "pay what you want," but throw down $6 or more and add Carrier Command: Gaea Mission and ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead. DayZ, the Arma series mod, is free on Steam but requires Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead, so basically you're getting DayZ in this deal, too. The standalone DayZ developed by Dean Hall and Bohemia is on its way, and the Early Access version sold more than 1 million copies in a month.
Ask Massively: Giveaways, zombies, and capturing the spirit of Ultima Online
This week in Ask Massively, we're answering questions about eerily quiet games, giveaways, and capturing the spirit of classic sandboxes and The Walking Dead. Holden asked, "Why has Perpetuum dropped off the map? I never hear about it anymore. The only time I even remember it is when I am doing searches for (more) robot/mech desktop wallpapers. Once monoclegate blew over, it was as if Perpetuum fell of the face of the earth, but it seems that it is still around from glancing at the website." This was such a good question that we went digging for an answer before we even added it to Ask Massively. It had been a long time since we'd reported on Perpetuum because it had been a long time since Perpetuum had made a big splash in the news. Readers speculated that the game's playerbase has shrunk over the last two years, but in fact over the winter holiday, developer Avatar Creations posted a dev blog detailing plans for a newbie tutorial island intended to bolster the new player population. Hopefully Holden and other fans of the game will enjoy this "island of noobs" (Avatar's words, not mine!).
DayZ devs taking time, beta not planned until close of 2014
With over 875,000 copies of DayZ standalone sold in Early Access, the development team is going to take its sweet time getting to a final release version. In a recent update on the official DayZ development blog, the team said, "Please keep in mind that we do not expect to reach Beta status sooner than the end of 2014." "The level of support and confidence we have received from the DayZ community makes us even more dedicated to the game than we were in the past 16 months of DayZ standalone development," stated the post. "In the short term, we're going to focus on the most critical problems you're experiencing [at the moment] and at the same time we're going to work on the road to the DayZ Beta." Over the year, the team plans to continue working on "server performance, stability and security," along with hunting, gathering and "more complex interactions with the environment and crafting options." The launch strategy publisher Bohemia Interactive and DayZ creator Dean Hall are using for the game isn't that much of a surprise. Hall told us last year at Gamescom the best thing that could happen is if DayZ, which started its undead life as a runaway mod success, fell off the radar for a while. Hall said at the time, "I think if DayZ has a soft launch it's the best thing that can happen to it." We don't know if having nearly a million sales is a "soft launch," but the team clearly isn't in a rush.
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.
DayZ destroys Hall's early sales expectations
DayZ's standalone client continues its surprisingly successful run, topping 800,000 sales in three short weeks. Creator Dean Hall says he and Bohemia Interactive "had very ambitious plans for 2014, already, however this amount of sales was completely unexpected." Hall goes on to explain that he would've considered 250,000 sales in the first quarter to be a success, "so to move nearly 800,000 in under a month is crazy." Finally, Hall recommends that gamers do their homework before shelling out $29.99 for the zombie survival sandbox's early access client. "I would recommend a very careful and critical review of whether purchasing now is such a good idea," he wrote on Reddit. "There are many problems which can ruin your gameplay experience. These are being actively fixed, but if you delayed your purchase by a month you would pay the same price but it would be a better experience."
Devs ramp up development as DayZ passes 800,000 sales
ArmA 2 mod turned standalone zombie apocalypse simulator DayZ has topped 800,000 sales less than a month after its Steam Early Access debut, an accomplishment that creator Dean Hall hopes will speed the game's ongoing development. "We ([ArmA 2 developer Bohemia Interactive] and I) had very ambitious plans for 2014 already, however this amount of sales was completely unexpected," Hall said in a recent Reddit post shortly before DayZ hit the 800,000 sales mark. "Honestly, 250k within a quarter was what I would have considered a success. So to move nearly 800,000 in under a month is crazy." Hall's exuberance seems appropriate, given that less than a week ago the DayZ team was celebrating the sale of 400,000 copies of the game. At a price point of $30 for the Steam Early Access version of the game, 800,000 copies sold adds up to $24 million. Even after you subtract the fees taken by Steam proprietor Valve Software, the cost of building the game, and other miscellaneous business expenses, that's a very sizable chunk of cash, which Hall believes will improve his team's ability to add new features to DayZ. "We'll be finalizing our roadmap in mid January, but it is safe to say that this kind of result will be having a very positive effect on that roadmap," Hall wrote.
DayZ sells 400,000 copies in its first week of early access
The holiday season makes zombies of us all, as we lurch hither and yon through a combination of exhaustion and overeating. So it's totally understandable that you may have forgotten to really check in on the activities of DayZ's early access during the holidays. But now we're all back up and running, and it turns out the game did quite well for itself, with 400,000 copies sold during its first week of early access on Steam. The official update stresses once again that the game is still very much in an early state, and the people who purchase it should be ready to take part in the ongoing development progress rather than expecting to get a finished game. While the team has understandably been taking a bit of a break over the holiday season, the game has its immediate future already mapped out. Despite the delays, the game seems very much alive in its current state.
DayZ moves 172,000 copies in first 24 hours of early access
The standalone version of Arma II zombie survival mod DayZ, which stealthily went live via Steam's early access program earlier this week, has generated $5.1 million in its first 24 hours of availability. According to Bohemia Interactive's Maruk Spanel, DayZ moved 172,500 copies on launch day and 142,403 players were online at the time of his last update. Creator Dean Hall has been celebrating the successful launch with regular tweets on the game's sales and performance, but he took a moment to remind possible buyers that this version of DayZ is still very much a work in progress: Please do not just buy the game because you heard it was cool. Many streamers are now streaming. Visit this and view the (many) bugs first. Early access to DayZ will run you $29.99.
DayZ standalone releases alpha on Steam
DayZ's "true blue" alpha launched on the Steam store today for $29.99. The release is part of Steam's early access program with a caveat posted that players should not purchase it unless they're OK with "serious issues and possible interruptions of game functioning." The launch was accompanied by a trailer which has since been pulled from the Steam store due to its graphic nature. Lead developer Dean Hall bemoaned the move on Twitter: "At the last minute, despite being told of the contents of my trailer for DayZ, Steam pulled my trailer due to censorship." The video is still on YouTube if you're curious, although be aware that it is NSFW and has a scene of a suicide.
DayZ alpha will be an actual alpha
Early adopters are in for a rough ride when the standalone version of DayZ first enters Steam's early access program. According to a post made by Dean "Rocket" Hall on the game's official forums, DayZ's initial limited launch will be "a true-blue alpha." Hall noted that because the team is rebuilding "massive areas of the engine," many of DayZ's core features will not be seen for months. Buying early will be a recipe for disappointment. It's a chance for those who want to be part of that whole process. For them, the process is as much a part of the game as the whole experience. For many, this is the opposite of what they want. To enable a smooth launch, we're really targeting it at a core audience who want to get deeply involved in a very barebones experience that is a platform for future development. In other words, it's an alpha. Dean did not provide a release date, so we'll continue to keep this filed under Soon TM.
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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.
