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DayZ now on Steam, Hall goes behind the scenes for new mocap
It's time for another DayZ dev blog, and this time the camera follows mod guru Dean "Rocket" Hall as he goes behind the scenes at Bohemia Interactive's motion capture facility. The occasion is an excuse to talk up the new zombie animations in store for the mod, and Hall himself even gets into act, donning a mocap suit and stutter-stepping across a greenscreen stage environment. DayZ is now available directly through Steam, provided you have Arma 2: Combined Operations installed already. Click past the cut for the full video blog.
DayZ mod for Arma 2 comes to Steam
Getting your DayZ on just got a little bit easier, as the popular zombie mod for Arma 2 is now available directly through Steam, making installation much easier. So long as you have Arma 2: Combine Operations installed, you can install the mod from within Steam itself, without the need for an extra program like DayZ Commander or the official installer.Be warned, the simple install will be the last part of DayZ that you will ever be able to consider "easy."[Thanks, Chris]
Initial DayZ video blog shows new stand-alone footage
A lot of stuff has been happening in the world of DayZ here lately, and creator Dean "Rocket" Hall has uploaded a fresh video dev blog to bring all of you zombie sandbox survival sim fans up to speed. Hall is joined by production assistant Matt Lightfoot, and the duo have a quite a lot to talk about over the course of the dev blog's 15-minute running time. Topics include major map improvements, the new clothing system, a streamlined UI, and the newfangled ability to spawn loot inside buildings. See for yourself after the break.
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."
Survarium challenges players to survive 'the green apocalypse'
If you're one of those bummed out by the lack of the apocalypse in 2011 because it meant that you couldn't exercise your survival skills, then Vostok Games' Survarium might console you. The team took many of the concepts that it was developing for the (now canceled) single-player Stalker 2 and decided to create a free-to-play MMOFPS out of it instead. In an interesting interview with PC Gamer, Lead Designer Alexei Sytyanov paints a picture of "the green apocalypse" that hits the whole world, causing mutations and a ravaged ecosphere. Sytyanov says that players will need to band together to overcome the odds: "On top of the story and game tasks, there is communication and competition between the players, all to add dynamics and unexpectedness to the gameplay. Each game session differs from the previous one. The game constantly encourages players to show their inventiveness and skills, abilities of strategy to achieve victory." From the sound of it, Survarium is a lobby-based MMO with timed sessions (Sytyanov says that these will go from 15 to 60 minutes based on the mode). Players can choose from PvP, co-op, or free play modes to explore the world, attempt to achieve objectives, and generally survive the best they can. Even with the lobby structure, Sytyanov indicated that there will be player actions that will persist: "Ultimately, the side accomplishing more tasks will impact the story. Therefore, it will decide whether that story object is to get preserved or destroyed for the entire world of Survarium."
DayZ standalone ambition expands, imminent closed test to dictate public release
DayZ creator Dean Hall acknowledged this morning that the standalone version of the hit mod missed its planned 2012 launch, and explained the reasons for the delay."The plan from here is straightforward. We will be releasing a closed test imminently, during which approximately 500-1000 people will assist in ensuring our architecture is correctly functioning," Hall wrote on the DayZ development Tumblr. "This closed test will be focused purely on architecture, not the game design. Once we have confirmed fixes for issues arising from the closed test, we will then reschedule an internal date for our public release."Hall also said the inventory system has been overhauled to make it more intuitive. Changes include use of drag-and-drop on "3D models rather than 2D pictures, and being able to add items/clothing to your character in 3D in the inventory screen."DayZ taking the "it's done when it's done" approach may be in its best interest from a couple angles. Given the title's similarity and proximity to the War Z debacle, distance and a polished product can only help the game when it's ready for public consumption.
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 creator Dan Hall 'depressed' about The War Z controversy
The gaming community has had itself in a frenzy as of late thanks to the drama-ridden debacle of The War Z's "launch" on Steam. In case you haven't been following this particularly juicy little chain of events, here's the story so far: The War Z launched on steam (still in beta, though not marked as such) with a number of features listed on the store page that, surprise, weren't actually in the game. The interwebs went into full torch-and-pitchfork mode, and after an "apology" from the game's developer wherein the studio apologized "to all players who misread information about game features," the game has been yoinked from Steam for the time being. But what does Dean Hall, creator of the similarly named ARMA II: Combined Ops mod DayZ, have to say about all of this? Not much, apparently, but in a post on the DayZ subreddit, he revealed that he has "been pretty depressed about the whole situation." He also confides that the entire debacle caused him to "seriously consider" whether he wanted to be involved in the game industry at all. Thankfully for the many DayZ fans, he hasn't thrown in the towel and development on DayZ continues. Whether this is the end of the whole The War Z debacle or just the beginning, however, remains to be seen.
DayZ creator on game's 'delay,' console ports and why he's holding back on showing it
Dean Hall has been on a roller coaster of 16-20 hour days since his highly successful ArmA 2 mod, DayZ, broke free and was officially announced as a standalone project in early August. Hall had previously expected the standalone version to launch in December, but that release window was cast in doubt yesterday. "We really don't know, it's still our target," Hall told us when we got in touch late yesterday to discuss the state of DayZ. "But the architectural changes are scheduled to be complete next week. These are still on track to be completed then. But we don't entirely know what effect these changes will have, if any, on everything else. So there could be a massive amount of unforeseen work that comes out, we just don't know until it's done and we test." According to Hall, "The changes we've been making are so fundamental to the game that estimates can be a bit of a stab in the dark. The lucky thing is, so far nearly everything has taken less – even much less – time than we expected. So we won't know until next week, and we'll let people know the plans from there. Regardless, we'll be into some open testing this year anyway, as we need to capacity test. So the likelihood of seeing something is high even if we did push our release date." DayZ has not been delayed, but it may be pushed back if development doesn't proceed to Hall's satisfaction. "We haven't announced a delay yet," he said. "We're just saying, if it comes down to it, we will slip the date no matter what effect it would have on sales - rather than ship something we believe is not ready as a first step. We're also trying to be honest about the uncertainty over the impact of these major architectural changes. Initially, this was just going to be 'mod on steroid'. This is now really a refurbishment of the engine specifically to suit DayZ."
DayZ standalone features new engine, moving to MMO client-server model
DayZ creator Dean Hall has updated the mod's dev blog regarding potential release dates for the standalone client. Hall and his team initially targeted a late 2012 street date, and that's still on the table. However, "we will slip the date if needed," Hall says. "We will not compromise the project for the short-term gain of meeting this date." His blog entry details the expanding scale of the DayZ project, which is more or less running on a new engine. "We are moving to the server-client MMO architecture model. We are making weapons and items 'entities,' meaning we can support customization and variables assigned against items," Hall explains. "This is a massive departure from the previous engine. In many ways, once this phase is completed -- one could effectively say that DayZ is running on a new version of the engine. While the graphics may look the same (for now), under the hood so much is being completely rewritten."
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."
The Firing Line: On Star Citizen, DUST 514, and DayZ
Welcome back to The Firing Line, folks. While I don't have any nifty sequel announcements or contentious community issues for you this week, I do have some interesting tidbits on three upcoming shooters that you might have missed. Join me after the cut for a chat about Star Citizen's hardcore aspirations, DUST 514's PC potential, and DayZ's upcoming standalone client.
First DayZ standalone screens take a trip to the country
A standalone version of DayZ, the little Arma 2 mod that could, is currently in development and project lead Dean Hall has shared the first images today. They're not exactly what you might have expected. There are no zombies, no humans-slash-backstabbers to look at; just a quaint country house untouched by the plague affecting the outside world.The standalone version of DayZ will launch in an alpha version this December. Project lead and mod creator Dean Hall has said DayZ will follow the Minecraft model with quick, incremental updates.To see more shots of the DayZ country manor's interior, check out the source link below.
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.
Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival
Thanks to viral content, word-of-mouth praise, and a passionate, growing fan base, Arma II mod DayZ has become one of the most talked about games in the industry. We sat down with Bohemia Interactive's Matt Lightfoot to get an idea of how exactly this game came to be, why it has exploded in the way it has, and how he'd attempt to survive a real-life zombie apocalypse: Massively: Could you give us some idea as to how DayZ came to be? What was the inspiration for the game? Matt Lightfoot: DayZ was created by Dean Hall, a former soldier in the New Zealand Armed Forces. He originally came up with the inclination to make a survival game when he was doing survival training in Brunei. The zombies come from Dean's discussions with his brother Richard, who is a world expert on influenza. Dean created it in his spare time after moving to the Czech Republic to work for Bohemia.
The Firing Line: What DayZ means to core gamers
The death of the core gamer has been greatly exaggerated. Yes, MMORPGs (and gaming in general) have kowtowed to the influx of new-school players flush with cash but lacking time, and the genre has reinvented itself and turned its back on virtual world enthusiasts in the process. There's still hope, though, and so far it's not coming from any of the usual sandbox suspects in the MMO space.
DayZ lead wants game on consoles, 'having meetings' about it at Gamescom
DayZ project lead Dean Hall "really hopes" the game is successful enough to justify a console version. Speaking to us today at Gamescom, the developer, who has been thrust into the spotlight thanks to the incredibly successful Arma2 mod, told us the only stumbling block is DayZ needs to be successful enough to justify a console version."You're not going to put it on the consoles if you're only going to sell 100,000 units or something like that," he said. "DayZ will be driven by its PC development and it will innovative on that. And, once we're at a point, we'll take it and do a Mac version, 360 and PS3."Asked if he's met with any of the console developers, he immediately chimed back, "We're meeting with them here."DayZ's publisher, Bohemia Interactive, does have a console background, and Hall has been a producer on console games in the past and knows "the pitfalls and horror that's involved with it."
