DayZ Developer Explains Standalone Delay

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By Catherine Cai
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Where's the DayZ standalone game that was promised for the end of 2012? Dean "Rocket" Hall explains the delay and outlines the progress made in the game.

The ArmA II zombie survival mod DayZ piqued the gaming world's interest, generating so much popularity in such a short time that ArmA II publisher Bohemia Interactive decided to help employee and mod creator Dean "Rocket" Hall turn the mod into a standalone game. Hall had the drive and the ambition to put together the mod in a matter of months, and hoped to deliver the DayZ standalone game to fans by the end of 2012.

Now that it's 2013, it's clear that the standalone DayZ missed Hall's target date for release. Hall's written up a blog post on the official DayZ Tumblr, providing an explanation as to why the standalone's been delayed.

"I suppose I should start with the question everyone wants to know… where is DayZ Standalone?" he wrote. "Obviously, it’s not here. At Eurogamer I said that DayZ had to be out before the end of the year and that’s come and gone. I still stand by that comment, to achieve what we had originally wanted, we did have to be out by the end of the year - and we’ve failed to achieve that.

"Put simply, DayZ Standalone isn’t here because we 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 we all dreamed it could be. This blew any initial plans we had dictated to pieces."

However, that doesn't mean that the team hasn't made significant strides in development in the past few months. Hall's plan from here on out is to host a closed test for 500-1000 people. Unfortunately, this closed test is only to make sure architecture is functioning, and not for any game design. The good news is that once the kinks had been worked out in the closed test, public testing will be scheduled.

Hall then went on to explain what had been implemented in the standalone. "One of the most profound and major architectural changes has had its initial implementation completed, this is the overhaul of the inventory system," Hall stated. "In fact, the inventory and item management system was completely removed and rewritten from the ground by Jirka, one of the original engine programmers. The work that has been completed on this groundbreaking, and it going to fundamentally change the DayZ experience." This means that players will now be able to pick up individual parts of an item. The inventory revamps allows for item durability, meaning that things such as batteries will degrade over time. 3D models and drag-and-drop functionality have also been added to the inventory system, making it much more intuitive for players to use.

Besides the major inventory revamp, there have been a host of other improvements. The UI has been streamlined in a way that's "greatly inspired by Minecraft" and new textures are being worked on to make DayZ look (and feel) more post-apocalyptic. The maps, despite the imprisonment of lead architect Chernarus map Ivan Buchta in Greece, have also been improved due to written correspondence.

Despite the progress,the DayZ standalone still isn't far enough in development for Hall to release any footage of the game. That's probably a good indication that we won't be seeing a playable build of the game for months to come. 

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Catherine Cai
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ChiefScooter
    If the game is awesome and has few bugs, I am all for waiting!
    Reply
  • rantoc
    Is it just me or doesn't the typical "has been streamlined" mean dumbed down?
    Reply
  • fnh
    The maps, despite the imprisonment of lead architect Chernarus map Ivan Buchta in Greece, have also been improved due to written correspondence.

    Who says you can't work even if incarcerated? Joke aside, seems to me an espionage charge looks frivolous when you're allowing a suspect to correspond not with immediate family members mind you, but the company?
    Reply
  • JJ1217
    Haha, I bought the War Z thinking it was the standalone Day Z thing. It was a terrible game, thank god that was the only time where Steam would give out refunds.
    Reply
  • alidan
    JJ1217Haha, I bought the War Z thinking it was the standalone Day Z thing. It was a terrible game, thank god that was the only time where Steam would give out refunds.not the only, but a rare exception none the less.

    rantocIs it just me or doesn't the typical "has been streamlined" mean dumbed down?you ever play dayz?if you want to talk about streamlining, lets say, mario, yea that's dumbing it down, you want to streamline.... cod, that again, is dumbing it down.

    but dayz? its needlessly complex to the point that its difficult to do anything without intimate knowledge of every single button on the keyboard what it does, what menues are where, and how to get to them.

    streamlineling a game like that inst dumbing it down, its taking the needless complexities out of the game in favor of better menus and a less stupid user interface.

    now, lets tale something like world of warcraft, and disregard any of the combat and leveling crap, that game is just as complex as it needs to be for the game it is. now imagine wow, the same as it is now, but instead of an easy menu system, you had to navigate it only with the keyboard and minimal mouse gestures, and common options like auto attack where 4 buttons and 6 menus deep. thats how i see it. taking the needless crap out and making it easier to jump into and not so much of a trial by fire experience.
    Reply
  • aeurix
    Dayz while not a polished game at all, was intense and thrilling when I played it. You know the game is not completely refined, but it has the hint of a new genre or at least a step in the direction of a new genre. The inventory system was one of the worst I've ever used, and even after a few months of playing it was painful to use... If they can keep the same elements that made it a success as a mod, I think it could be as popular as Counterstrike was for HL.
    Reply
  • AndreT
    I accidentally deleted a coyote backpack full of stuff once just because of how complicated the user interface is. It needs "streamlining" to avoid such accidents. I will happily wait for a more user friendly DayZ if they get it right.
    Reply
  • Parsian
    as long as they dont take away the ArmA's realism that was inherited by DayZ, I am all fine with waiting. DayZ truly can take some stream lining, you do not need the tactical order's menu or multi level menus since they are only for ArmA's use.
    Reply
  • grz09
    It would be awesome if they incorporated ACE mod in standalone dayz, more realistic.
    Reply
  • johnsmithhatesVLC
    Yeah they really need to fix the MANY bugs. Disappearing backpacks, zombie glitch hits, graphical glitches, magical back packs that can fit engines and other stuff that made the mod painful to play. I really don't care how long it takes but I want this crap polished to an actual playable game.
    Reply