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Hall takes a break from DayZ, pursues dream of climbing Everest

Jef Reahard — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Post-Apocalyptic, Sandbox

If you're anxiously waiting for Dean "Rocket" Hall's standalone version of his ultra-popular Arma 2 mod DayZ, you'll have to wait a little bit longer.

Hall is currently climbing Mount Everest as part of a two-month vacation from his development duties on Bohemia Interactive's zombie-themed post-apocalyptic sandbox. "Although the timing is poor for my sabbatical, it is not something planned on a whim and involves non-refundable costs of up to $100k," Hall writes on the DayZ website.

"This is going to take as long as it needs to," he continues. "We want to release our initial alpha under the architecture it needs to avoid hacking and security issues -- this is the only remaining task stopping us from releasing the alpha."

Hall takes a break from DayZ, pursues dream of climbing Everest originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DayZ mod is going for the hobo appeal

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Culture, MMOFPS, Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous

For all DayZ fans who feel that the inclusion of powerful weapons and relatively plentiful supply caches don't accurately portray their personal vision for a horrible post-apocalyptic zombie world, then a new mod in the making might do the trick. Called DayZ 2017, the mod seeks to progress the game world forward five years to a time when everything's a lot harder to come by.

Modder Luke Hinds explained his reasoning on the DayZ 2017 website: "I now want to go back to basics and really focus on what made Rocket's mod really tick with players, and that was scarcity and threat. The main changes will be taking out most loot and making what's left very rare."

Hinds cites films such as The Book of Eli and The Road as inspiration. He created "hobo-like" characters who look far more worn-down and a combat that slants more toward melee than ranged. DayZ 2017 hopefully will arrive by the end of the year.

Recently, the makers of DayZ cracked down on a different mod that sought to monetize the game through a bounty system.

DayZ mod is going for the hobo appeal originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DayZ cracks down on 'Bounty' mod

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business Models, Culture, New Titles, MMOFPS, Miscellaneous

You'd be hard-pressed to find a dedicated DayZ player who doesn't think the game's already exciting enough. Even so, there is a trio of gamers who have decided that the hardcore zombie survival mod needs some spicing up. Hence, the creation of a real-money version of the game called DayZ Bounty.

DayZ Bounty requires players to pay per life but offers income in return if the gamer is good enough to take out NPCs and other humans. Co-creator James Ortiz said that it made the game far more interesting: "We figured that if people had a value on their life... there'd be something to fear besides the zombies."

Unfortunately for the Bounty team, DayZ's creators are calling for an end to the mod. A spokeperson for the development team said that Bounty "undermined" the title, and asked for a cessation of the project. "It changes the focus of DayZ from being a creative, enjoyable, gritty gaming experience to a game that is based almost solely on financial gain," the spokesperson explained, "and that is not something we want to be associated with."

DayZ cracks down on 'Bounty' mod originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DayZ development screenshots released

Elisabeth Cardy — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, Previews, News Items, Post-Apocalyptic, Dev Diaries

The development as DayZ as a standalone title is rolling ever forward. To give fans a hint of the sort of progress being made, the development team shared a few work in progress screenshots of some interiors in the game.

The art team's recent focus (as you might've guessed from the content of the screenshots) has been on going through and giving each building an interior. Moving forward, the developers will be working on balancing complexity within cities and an interest in scavenging opportunities with a need for greatly increased performance.

Gallery: DayZ work in progress interiors

DayZ development screenshots released originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DayZ receiving a standalone version before the year is out

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous

Are you interested in zombie survivalist fantasies but not interested in buying an unrelated first-person shooter? DayZ has already garnered a fan following despite being a mod for an existing game, but a standalone version of the game is in the works for release before the end of the year. Creator Dean Hall has stated that in terms of what the team wants to accomplish (some of which was outlined in our interview on the game), the alpha version absolutely has to be out by the end of the year.

Hill has not named an exact price, but he has made it clear that the standalone version will be cheap. He's also made a point of stating several of his longer-term plans for the standalone version, including the spread of diseases, makeshift first-aid remedies, and the eventual inclusion of vehicles. All of it is very ambitious, but that's part of the reason that the team is dead-set on having the standalone game out before the end of December.

DayZ receiving a standalone version before the year is out originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival

Mike Foster — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Interviews, MMO Industry, Interviews (Massively's), Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous, Sandbox

Thanks to viral content, word-of-mouth praise, and a passionate, growing fan base, Arma II mod DayZ has become one of the most talked about games in the industry. We sat down with Bohemia Interactive's Matt Lightfoot to get an idea of how exactly this game came to be, why it has exploded in the way it has, and how he'd attempt to survive a real-life zombie apocalypse:

Massively: Could you give us some idea as to how DayZ came to be? What was the inspiration for the game?

Matt Lightfoot: DayZ was created by Dean Hall, a former soldier in the New Zealand Armed Forces. He originally came up with the inclination to make a survival game when he was doing survival training in Brunei. The zombies come from Dean's discussions with his brother Richard, who is a world expert on influenza. Dean created it in his spare time after moving to the Czech Republic to work for Bohemia.

Continue reading Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival

Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DayZ becomes a standalone project

Elisabeth Cardy — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: New Titles, News Items, MMOFPS, Post-Apocalyptic, Dev Diaries

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 becomes a standalone project originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DayZ shooter mod reaches 500k users

Jef Reahard — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game Mechanics, News Items, MMOFPS, Sandbox

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.

DayZ shooter mod reaches 500k users originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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