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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 now an official standalone project
DayZ, the Arma2 mod that's taken on a life of its own, will now become a standalone product. Lead developer Dean Hall will remain project lead, with Arma developer Bohemia Interactive as publisher.Hall explains the game will follow the Minecraft development model, with "fast iterations" and a community alpha available at a "heavily discounted price." He also notes that development and updates to the mod with continue in parallel with the standalone product.
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 War Z zombie MMO coming soon
So how does a hardcore post-apocalyptic zombie sandbox experience grab you? No, we don't mean DayZ, although that one's pretty cool too. There's a new kid on this particular genre block, and it's an MMO called The War Z. It's brought to you by Hammerpoint Interactive and Arktos, and IGN has an interview scoop with a couple of the principals. "We started thinking about doing a zombie game last year and began developing a quest-based MMO set in a large, zombie-infested world. Players would be able to explore and unlock new areas on the map as they progress through quests assigned to them in-game," explains executive producer Sergey Titov. What about the DayZ connection? There really isn't one aside from coincidental timing. DayZ is a mod for an existing military sim title, whereas The War Z is a stand-alone MMO with a dedicated team behind it (and an upfront cost of $29.99). Is it really an MMO, though? That's in the eye of the beholder, we suppose, but it does have a huge open world, PvP, and the ability to support 250 players per server. The War Z also features dozens of skills and social niceties like bounties and in-game notes (no profanity, though; blowing off zombie heads should never result in inappropriate language). If the War Z name sounds familiar, it might be because you're thinking of Paramount's World War Z property that we've talked about before. As with DayZ, though, the two projects are unrelated save for the similar names and the horror sub-genre. The War Z is currently undergoing internal alpha testing, with a closed beta expected later this summer. IGN says the final game will be out "before the end of the year."
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.
Over 500K attempting to survive in Arma 2 mod 'DayZ'
DayZ, the zombie-focused mod for ultra-realistic shooter Arma 2, has reached the 500,000 user milestone, the dev's Twitter account revealed today."Congratulations everyone, with your support through tough times, mistakes, troubles, and technical problems, we now have over 500k users," the tweet revealed. The 'Alpha Version' of DayZ, which requires Arma 2 and its standalone expansion Operation Arrowhead, was released in April 2012.Speaking earlier this week at the indie-focused event, Rezzed, mod creator Dean Hall said his free mod will soon eclipse sales of Arma 2 at the rate it's being downloaded."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," Hall said during his talk, according to Eurogamer.Hall, who works for Arma developer Bohemia Interactive, revealed that an estimated 400,000 users had experienced the mod by Friday, July 7, and noted an average of about 10,000 new users were jumping into the fray each day.
