Tag: day z mod

Day Z Makes the Jump to Standalone Game

day z standalone

Day Z, the mod scene’s recent obsession, is now wearing the big boy pants: that’s right, Day Z will be a standalone game developed by Bohemia Interactive and headed up by Dean “Rocket” Hall.

The new Day Z will follow the Minecraft route where people can purchase an Alpha that will be continuously and quickly iterated upon. Day Z the mod will exist alongside the full title, and will continue to be improved upon as well. There isn’t much more information availible at this time, but the new Day Z has its own website, so check there for updates.

It’s kind of crazy to think that almost three months after our interview with Dean Hall, when his mod was just gaining steam, Day Z is fast on its way to becoming a fully-fledged game. Not that being a mod was a knock against it, but I think Bohemia is moving in the right direction by turning it into a Minecraft-style title with a community Alpha. This allows the game to retain the same feel while at the same time moving it out of the mod scene (and of course, generating new income).

As always though, we’d love to get your thoughts on this development. Is Day Z becoming a standalone game good news for the players? Should it have stayed a mod indefinitely? Could this be a move by Bohemia to get out ahead of the recently announced The War Z, or has this been in the cards for a while?

Source – Day Z Dev Blog, Day Z Game

Emergent Gameplay and Persistent Worlds: The Day Z Interview

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In this day and age it only takes one good idea to get your indie title or mod noticed by the gaming community at large. It needs to be something that the big studios aren’t doing but everyone clamors for. The team behind the Arma 2 mod Day Z managed to find their zeitgeist by transforming Arma 2’s 225 km squared landscape into an open-world zombie survival sandbox. When the world is covered by zombies and you’re struggling to survive, the gloves come off and that’s exactly what this mod encapsulates.

Players live an average of four hours, just to give you an idea of how tough it is to survive out there. You start off with meager supplies and you need to keep yourself fed, watered and breathing all while contending not only with hordes of roaming undead but also other players. It’s safe to assume in Day Z that everyone is out for themselves and the game features a humanity meter to chart your interactions with other survivors. Malevolent players can earn a “Bandit” ranking that changes their outward appearance and makes them a target for frontier justice. There are a ton of player guides to help you out, but the true genius of Day Z is the moment to moment gameplay and what emerges out of that.

A video chronicling some of what happens in Day Z by YouTube user SideStrafe.

Day Z requires both Arma 2 and its expansion Operation Arrowhead, and the Combined Operations package has cracked the top five sales on Steam, surpassing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Here’s a handy installation guide for Day Z to get you started on your journey, including some tips for living longer than a few minutes.

Since Day Z has taken off in such a huge way, we decided to get in touch with the developers behind the mod and ask them a few questions. Dean “Rocket” Hall was kind enough to provide us with some answers about how the mod came about, what sort of reaction they’ve seen from Bohemia Interactive, and what’s next for Day Z. Continue reading Emergent Gameplay and Persistent Worlds: The Day Z Interview