By Jim Rossignol on August 7th, 2012 at 1:30 pm.
A post on the Day Z Dev team Tumblr confirms that the game is going standalone. Rocket writes: “That’s right, this is actually happening – DayZ will be developed as a standalone game, with me as project lead, by Bohemia Interactive. This is the fairy-tale outcome for a mod that many would have said impossible four months ago.”
The mod, which just past 1 million unique players, will be developed alongside the new standalone title. Rocket explains that the standalone game will “follow the Minecraft development model; fast iterations with the community alpha available for a heavily discounted price.” Lots more on this to come, and we’ll be talking to Bohemia at GamesCom next week.
07/08/2012 at 13:32 Novotny says:
What engine?
07/08/2012 at 13:33 BoZo says:
I cannot imagine it would be anything but the ARMA engine, hopefully the third iteration that is…
07/08/2012 at 13:34 Meusli says:
I don’t think it will be the new one as to make 2 games from unfinished code would be harder than making it with Arma code. I just hope it’s a better deal than the Iron Front one.
07/08/2012 at 14:29 ShineyBlueShoes says:
From what I’ve read the modders were already working with the devs to simultaneously port/develop the mod for the next version of the engine and the “finished version” was ultimately supposed to be on the new engine.
07/08/2012 at 13:35 Askeladd says:
rocket said something about a modified arma 3 engine in an interview AFAIR.. Dunno if this is still the case.
07/08/2012 at 13:40 Robin says:
arma 3 engine I hope.
07/08/2012 at 13:49 CalleX says:
we could hope for the ARMA3 engine. Even if noone has tried it yet other than the devs it seems smoother, which is the main drawback of the ARMA2 engine, in that it is so clunky and awkward, which the ARMA3 engine seem not to be =)
07/08/2012 at 13:58 Elmar Bijlsma says:
What it really needs is an engine not so easily hacked.
No point having a zombie survival horror if every now and again someone drops by the server you are on and kills everyone on the server with a bit of script.
I do hope that a commercial release also means the many, many rough edges get smoothed out. Doors should not be so deadly, doorsteps not such an obstacle to stealthy exploration, etc, etc.
07/08/2012 at 14:07 shuntonwoegi says:
i think i remember reading somewhere that they’re also developing a new engine somewhere so the zombie AI improves also
07/08/2012 at 17:23 InsaneSean says:
I heard it was going to be put onto the unreal engine 4
08/08/2012 at 01:19 Mattressi says:
I heard it was going to use Java.
08/08/2012 at 07:57 EPICTHEFAIL says:
I thought it was going to be Flash…
07/08/2012 at 13:34 Nemon says:
I wonder how many DayZ we’ll have to wait until the release…
07/08/2012 at 13:38 Askeladd says:
You are the patient type aren’t ya? It’s only bean announced!
07/08/2012 at 13:46 Lemming says:
wooosh!
07/08/2012 at 13:53 SquareWheel says:
Nope, you whooshed.
07/08/2012 at 13:55 Vorphalack says:
Hes bean played for a fool.
07/08/2012 at 15:51 Lemming says:
Damn I really did, didn’t I? I totally missed his misspelling of ‘bean’! *hangs head in shame*
07/08/2012 at 14:05 grundus says:
You clearly missed his intent and now you’ve gone and caused a flareup.
07/08/2012 at 20:57 SkittleDiddler says:
boo(o)sh!
07/08/2012 at 15:15 Unrein says:
This new standalone version will be an airfiel- I mean a minefield for Rocket.
07/08/2012 at 19:31 CrookedLittleVein says:
Hopefully it won’t cost an arma and a leg.
08/08/2012 at 01:23 Mattressi says:
I hope Australia doesn’t bandit :(
08/08/2012 at 05:59 DHP says:
Well, now that Michael Atkinson is gone we might be leaving the band-age :D
07/08/2012 at 13:34 ran93r says:
I have been on the fence about picking up Arma just for the mod. The main game itself doesn’t sound like my cup of tea but the more I read about DayZ the more I want to play it. I approve of this development.
07/08/2012 at 13:40 Stochastic says:
Yes, I’m excited. I’ve avoided DayZ thus far because of the general bugginess/lack of polish, but hopefully in another year or so I’ll be able to join in with the million who have already jumped into the fray and see what I’ve been missing!
07/08/2012 at 13:42 nuronv says:
I’ve been putting off getting the Arrowhead expansion, even the steam sales goading didn’t make me cave.
Once the standalone version comes out I will be throwing my money at it.
07/08/2012 at 13:47 Lemming says:
I got the Arma 2 pack and wish I hadn’t. That said, I’ll keep the standalone version on my radar and give it a go if it appears alot more refined.
07/08/2012 at 14:09 MajorManiac says:
Speaking as an ARMA fan. If you own it and the main campaign is boring, you should really try playing the many other game modes available both in vanila and with mods.
As the ARMA 2 engine is so flexable you can play custom senarios from Car racing, Assaults, Defence, or my favourate; an all-out dynamic war accross the entire map. Warfare is a bit like playing Company of Heroes from a first person perspective.
…And any of these games can be played co-op if you wish. Also you can create any senario you wish using the in-game editor. Recreating your own simplified version of DayZ wouldn’t take very long.
07/08/2012 at 21:01 SkittleDiddler says:
I don’t think most complaints about Arma stem from the actual campaign or game modes. The engine and gameplay are just so awkward that they take potential enjoyment in the game right out of some people, myself included.
09/08/2012 at 09:20 MajorManiac says:
Thats an interesting point. Its a little strange (given the huge number of mods) that there don’t seem to be any mods that improve/simplify the controls.
Still, I have found learning the controls a very rewarding experience. Once you get used to them, the game’s dynamic options really start to open up.
Having said that, I would love to see a crossover of ARMA’s huge maps and thoughtful gameplay (ie. players not constantly charging to their deaths) with Battlefield’s simple controls and sharper FPS movement.
07/08/2012 at 15:04 Euphoric says:
I bought it when it was on sale at Steam, I was also on the fence – everything I had read about it hyped it up etc., so my curiosity got the better of me.
I gotta say though – I was totally disappointed. Yes the concept is fantastic, the engine is just “nice”, it has a good atmosphere to it. But the zombies themselves are freaking awful. They look awful, they interact horribly and they’re pretty much the same 4-5 models repeated. If they were allowed to participate in the Olympics they would win just about every track event out there – the shear speed that they move is laughable.
I expected more – and wasted $29.
I’m hoping The War Z does it better.
07/08/2012 at 16:40 Joe Duck says:
“I’m hoping The War Z does it better”
Really? Based on what? A screenshot? Well, good luck hoping, specially if your analysis on a game like DayZ is solely based on zombie animation.
08/08/2012 at 18:08 Starky says:
Based on nothing, the word “hope” is a clue. He hopes it does it better…
And to be fair to him, the zombies are fucking awful, buggy monstrosities in DayZ. The mod is fun despite them, not because of them.
Now if you could trade those zombies for the Resident evil 4 zombies (parasite infected zombies are still bloody zombies), the the number of them by say 5 fold…
08/08/2012 at 04:28 Mattressi says:
I would probably wait until Day Z’s direction has been finalised somewhat. The mod has changed a lot since the first round of articles about Day Z – back then there was a way to tell the hardcore murderers apart from the regular people and there was also a way to communicate at a distance (global chat). Now, however, the only way to tell if someone is good or bad is to get within 20m of them, aim at them and listen for a faint heartbeat noise. Communication is only possible within ~80m of someone.
In theory, this should make the “is he good or bad?” uncertainty of it even greater. In reality, all it’s done is meant that everyone shoots everyone on sight. I stopped playing because it got so bad. Since there is literally no way to tell someone’s intentions, other than a faint heartbeat if you manage to get within 20m unseen, you can either shoot someone and gain their gear or you can not shoot them and, at best, not get anything – at worst you die. So, as I said, everyone shoots everyone.
I’d definitely hold off for a bit, but that’s just me. Some people like the added emphasis on shooting everyone, while others hate that human interaction which doesn’t involve speeding metal is very rare now.
08/08/2012 at 13:50 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
Rocket said in a recent interview with Machinima that he’s bringing back automatic bandit skins in some form in 1.7.3.
07/08/2012 at 13:35 PaT2090 says:
Well that escalated quickly.
07/08/2012 at 13:39 Groove says:
Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart.
07/08/2012 at 14:10 Phinor says:
Here’s the question to end all this non-sense: was there a trident?
07/08/2012 at 14:36 westyfield says:
http://i.imgur.com/8VfXT.gif
07/08/2012 at 15:20 Groove says:
Tridents, like angry forks.
07/08/2012 at 17:58 BrendanJB says:
So, is this Reddit, now?
Is that what’s happening?
07/08/2012 at 19:35 mentor07825 says:
Bort bort
07/08/2012 at 13:36 Groove says:
I’m really excited, I came late to the party and held off on buying AMRA 2 in hope that the stand-alone would come quickly and be the definitive version.
So, wooo.
07/08/2012 at 15:14 Smashbox says:
Woo.
07/08/2012 at 16:11 BAshment says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KObzgw5ER6A
07/08/2012 at 13:37 Unaco says:
Good stuff. Congrats to Rocket, getting his ‘little child’ made into a full game… and good on Bohemia supporting this. ‘Tis a good day for gaming.
07/08/2012 at 13:38 valient says:
I’m kinda glad it is with Bohimia because without the Arma engine starting from nothing could take a really long time and some if its complexity would have been lost, Dayz is great because of how hardcore arma is about everything.
07/08/2012 at 13:38 DanPryce says:
“Hey, do you love DayZ? Now you can get the version that doesn’t come with a free military shooter!”
I jest, of course. Good on them.
07/08/2012 at 13:38 Malibu Stacey says:
I suggest people read the linked post in full before replying with outrage. May save some time..
07/08/2012 at 13:39 akeso says:
Of course this is announced AFTER the steam sale when so many people picked it up…
07/08/2012 at 14:01 Vorphalack says:
There probably wont be any playable code until well into next year, the ARMA 2 mod has some life in it yet.
07/08/2012 at 15:23 Unrein says:
Actually, Rocket has said they’re going to have a playable standalone by christmas, or even earlier.
07/08/2012 at 16:30 Sarissofoi says:
In what year exactly?
07/08/2012 at 17:06 Unrein says:
This year!
07/08/2012 at 17:07 Vorphalack says:
I’ll put my ”I’ll believe that when I see it” hat on standby.
07/08/2012 at 13:40 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
This is excellent news, though not in the least a surprise. I do wonder how the mod + game development in parallel will work though—I’m guessing the mod will still be the testbed for gameplay, while the full game gets new artwork, animation, and a map.
07/08/2012 at 13:41 Snids says:
This is great news. I just wan DayZ in the most polished, playable state possible.
07/08/2012 at 13:41 zeroskill says:
This is great news. PC gaming wins a little bit today.
07/08/2012 at 13:44 lunegov says:
Oh, please developers, I do want Dayzee with ability to transmit voice in game environment. I mean, if I shout in my mic, every player (or zombie) can hear it in the radius depending on how loud I shout. Technically it seems to be not so coplicated. Just transmit player voice to existing audio engine. But imagine: you can call for help, chat with strangers. And if you cough crouching through the village, you can attract every walking dead around. Hm?
07/08/2012 at 13:50 Unaco says:
That is how Direct does/should work in ArmA2.
07/08/2012 at 13:52 shaydeeadi says:
Turn your mic off?
07/08/2012 at 14:11 coldvvvave says:
Cheaper mics have no switch on/off buttons. At least some.
07/08/2012 at 14:28 shaydeeadi says:
Except you use caps lock to turn voice comms off and on in Arma.
07/08/2012 at 14:25 RDG says:
This. I would love to test my girlfriend’s patience and/or my relationship the next time she’s crawling through a horde of zombies <3.
07/08/2012 at 14:54 Mad Hamish says:
That’s already a default feature in Arma2. Press “,” or “.” to cycle through comm channels, CapsLock to speak. Direct is the only one that works in DayZ and it works just like you described. Though I don’t think you can agro zombies with it. They just investigate.
07/08/2012 at 15:17 lunegov says:
YOU KIDDIN ME! Wow. I gonna check it tonight.
07/08/2012 at 15:34 Mad Hamish says:
Sneak up and make funny noises. It’s great. I like to whistle. In the hope that some day I can be this bad ass
07/08/2012 at 22:07 shaydeeadi says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQevZiMCWbo
07/08/2012 at 15:30 HothMonster says:
Capslock speaks on direct channel by default. No matter what text channel you are in.
07/08/2012 at 16:43 Joe Duck says:
*facepalm*
It is called VON and it is one of the trademark ARMA features. Simply press CapsLock to speak. But be careful, zombies hear it.
07/08/2012 at 19:00 psyk says:
indeed, this guy says it nicer
http://campdayz.com/2012/06/17/how-to-use-direct-communication/
08/08/2012 at 16:29 KilgoreTrout_XL says:
Halo 2′s chat implemented an almost identical system (though your teammates could hear you no matter where you were)- worked perfectly too.
I’ll just be over here…
07/08/2012 at 13:59 oWn4g3 says:
I hope the game will feature some nice animations. It has always been the weak point of ARMA games but is much needed in situations in which you want to identify what your own character or comrade is doing.
07/08/2012 at 14:11 fionny says:
TAKE MY MONEY!
07/08/2012 at 15:14 Unaco says:
Woo… Yeah… I need it aswell.
07/08/2012 at 14:19 derbefrier says:
i just hope whatever he does i better not see one building i cant enter. Its so damn frustrating to be running from a pack of zombies to think “i’ll take refuge in this house” only to find you cant enter it. It will be cool to see what he does with a full release
07/08/2012 at 14:24 Unaco says:
I almost forgot… Obligatory: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?12-Arma-Forum
07/08/2012 at 14:53 cool4345 says:
sigh..
Where was this genre (survival horror) 7 years ago when i had loads of free time?
The only survival horror game (that was co-op) that even existed for years was resident evil outbreak until they shut down the servers..
now it seems like loads of game developers are starting to jump onto the whole survival horror thing.
Class 3/4, the dead linger, dead state, zwei (kinda), that one other zombie survival horror that was mentioned on RPS a week or so ago, and now there’s day z that’s going to be another standalone game.
All over the last year or two.. i’d have thought that it would be a good thing, but they’re all coming out at the worst time when i’m getting less and less free time :/
07/08/2012 at 15:53 kyrieee says:
DayZ is more of an open world PvP game than a survival horror game
07/08/2012 at 16:57 lexoneir says:
Don’t worry you’ll just have no free time for the rest of your life, and then you’ll die.
07/08/2012 at 15:54 Belua says:
So… I’ve bought Arma 2 just for this, as it really isn’t my kind of game otherwise. I feel kind of… used right now, especially since I assume the standalone will be a somewhat better version than the mod, even if both are developed alongside.
07/08/2012 at 16:33 Neurook says:
They always said a stand-alone would be coming, and nobody forced you to buy Arma.
07/08/2012 at 16:52 Joe Duck says:
“used” how? You think they planned one million users in four months? Or the 1252 years 3 months and 26 days of gamed time? How is it that anyone could conceivably “use” anyone else in this story?
07/08/2012 at 18:24 akeso says:
It has been pretty clear they have been talking internally for a while now about moving forward with a Day Z game. It isn’t exactly far fetched to imagine them deciding to announce this after the steam summer sale so it wouldn’t affect sales.
I can understand exactly why this guy feels used: he was.
08/08/2012 at 09:45 Robin says:
No he wasn’t. People payed for Arma 2, not for DayZ. If they bought Arma 2 solely for playing a mod (in alpha state too), it’s their problem. A mod has no obligations.
Also the mod staff has always been very open about the project to go standalone.
08/08/2012 at 13:48 akeso says:
Those would be excellent arguments if we were saying he had been a victim of fraud.
07/08/2012 at 16:21 Sayori says:
So…? Everyone who bought ARMA just for DayZ just got screwed and they will have to buy another game?
07/08/2012 at 16:23 Dominic White says:
There are hundreds of other mods for Arma 2. You bought a game, you got a game, you got a mod – which is icing on the cake – you really don’t get to ask for anything more.
07/08/2012 at 16:43 Freud says:
I fail to see how you are screwed. You will be able to enjoy the DayZ mod for probably a year until the standalone is released.
I’ve already gotten my money’s worth and I still have a lot of DayZing to do.
07/08/2012 at 16:48 Joe Duck says:
Can you please exactly explain how they screwed you? What kind of support you expected? What was it that they promised? What are you losing exactly with the release of the standalone game? And what do you think exactly that they should do?
07/08/2012 at 19:39 Sayori says:
Well, I personally do not feel but I don’t have ARMA II, neither I’m interested in the mod itself.
But so much people paid like 20 euro for the game to be able to play and suddenly(?! or not ?!) the dev announces the ARMAII mod will be abandoned and they will make it standalone, for which of course you will have to pay more money. How exactly you are going to enjoy it on ARMA II when it’s early alpha? I guess it will stay alpha, now they are going to work on standalone version.
Way to rip off the people.
07/08/2012 at 19:42 psyk says:
Mod makers stop making mod
Mod makers make mod standalone
Community leaves mod
All good reasons not to buy a game for a mod.
07/08/2012 at 22:03 Mctittles says:
Don’t worry. When I’m finished with my own game programming I plan on taking some time to create fixed zombie mods for both Arma II and Arma III in the same vein of DayZ.
07/08/2012 at 16:22 Dare_Wreck says:
Sigh… It had just occurred to me this past weekend that RFTC has been broken up for nearly 7 years now. The world may never see another band like them ever again, and this post’s title brings a tear to my eye…
07/08/2012 at 19:34 datom says:
RFTC is immortal. They never died – they will live as long as their is righteousness in the world. SPEEDO LIVES! PUNK IS DEAD!
THE KIDS WILL CARRY YOUR COFFIN
THAT’S ALRIGHT, THAT’S OKAY
THEY DON’T CARE WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE, WHO YOU SEE, WHAT YOU SAY
THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT
07/08/2012 at 16:51 netizensmith says:
Great news. I think. Pretty much the only game i play right now.
Oh, and if I may don my grammar Nazi cap a moment…
“Just past”? Come on chaps, you can do better than this
07/08/2012 at 18:49 AlienMind says:
Don’t forget to remove houses from the maps in which you can not enter albeit seeing a door. And windows.
07/08/2012 at 19:43 cptgone says:
with 1 million people hunting them, where do those zombies keep coming from? inquisitive brains want to know!
07/08/2012 at 20:20 Slinkyboy says:
So if I own the cursed Arma2CO game, I just get alpha for free?? Don’t tell me I gotta rebuy!!
07/08/2012 at 21:54 User100 says:
Why does everybody think making a standalone out of a mod will make it more stable?
It’s still a flaky mod on top of a flaky engine.
Only now the engine patches will come less frequently (sure the mod patches will still be plentyful, but I doubt Bohemia will put quite the same effort into supporting a standalone build as they do for their main engine).
It’ll be a mess like Iron Front, but with zombies.
07/08/2012 at 21:59 Mctittles says:
I’m sorry but “follow the Minecraft development model” made me laugh. I could not tell the public I was using that lazy development model with a straight face.
08/08/2012 at 01:13 Sidion says:
The game was awesome yes… But I am sick of it. The running got boring. The goal will never exist because Rocket believes himself to be above what others have said they want. I mean don’t get me wrong. With polish this game will probably be enjoyable for another few weeks… But a standalone done like Minecraft?
What happened to releasing things when they were FINISHED. The whole problem with doing things this way, is he’ll just start developing some amazing feature, then half way through give up on it and add something else.
The whole thing ends up as a boring bloated mess. The open world zombie game is cool, but I have this nagging feeling most of the people going gaga over it, simply never played ArmA 2. They’re more or less thrilled by an open world FPS rpg, and don’t realize DayZ is hardly the best example of it.
But whatever makes them money I suppose. Bohemia deserves more money.
08/08/2012 at 08:13 EPICTHEFAIL says:
This. The game, and the mod, for that matter, are objectively not good. I haven`t played it, but I`ve seen enough LPs to know that, once you get past the novelty, the game is mediocre at best. Also, I cannot for the life of me understand why developers behaving like Derek Smart (*snicker*) is suddenly considered a good thing.
08/08/2012 at 08:40 Shralla says:
And people wonder why I didn’t rush out to buy Combined Ops like everybody else.
08/08/2012 at 18:54 Continuity says:
Thank fuck for that. I don’t think I can take any more hackers, dupers, DC’ers… Now that this is going to a professional development team I expect… well, a lot to be frank.