A DayZ developer session hosted by Bohemia Interacive’s Dean Hall was held at Eurogamer Expo today. In his talk, Hall spoke about changes coming to the ArmA 2 mod as it becomes a standalone experience.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Hall started the session off noting how pleased he was with DayZ’s reception. It has logged 1.3 million unique players in its six months on the market, and has 82,000 concurrent players at one time.
Being DRM-free, the mod has had no issue of in regards to piracy, but the biggest issue has been hacking and exploits. Hall hopes to address hacking more with the standalone version.
With development, Mojang’s Notch, Valve, and CCP have all given the team on DayZ some “really valuable imput and feedback,” as the team works towards a more authentic experience with the standalone version.
The DayZ team has really pushed for authenticity, tension, and freedom, and many “radical ideas are planned.”
PvE servers aren’t planned, as Hall wants the standalone version to be more “surviver vs the wild”; a new antagonist will be introduced; the zombies are being redesigned in both annimation and in the engine; players will be able to break ribs via a more complex damage model; weapons will be actual objects – they can jam, night vision goggles can be damaged and the battery can drain; and the inventory system is being changed.
“These aspects will radically change the DayZ experience,” said Hall.
DayZ standalone “has to be out by the end of the year”, Hall added, and the team is shooting for a December release with more additions to the game being added in January and February.
You can watch the entire development session below.
~ Source