DayZ Standalone

On 14 August 2012, Rocket announced that DayZ would become a standalone game that does not require Arma II. Development of the standalone version will be headed by Rocket, in conjunction with Bohemia Interactive, the publisher of Arma II. The current mod will continue to be developed by the DayZ team alongside the standalone game.

Rocket has confirmed that prior to releasing the standalone game, development will focus on fixing bugs and preventing hacking.

DayZ will utilize the Take On Helicopter engine, which is a branch of the Arma II Operation Arrowhead engine Real Virtuality. The engine is being heavily modified, including code from Arma III.

Media

- Rocket hosted a Q&A on Reddit about the future of DayZ: Rocket's Reddit Q&A

- Rocket interview with PCGamer about the standalone: here.

- DayZ Developer Session with Rocket at Eurogamer Expo: here.

-The first look at the DayZ standalone with Dean Hall: here.

- Follow DayZ standalone on Facebook here.

Features

The initial focus will be to redevelop the existing mod as a standalone, rather than immediately adding new features. This will provide a near identical game to begin with, but will provide a solid foundation upon which to later expand. Rocket has described this philosophy as "small steps, big dreams."

The following are some of the features suggested by Rocket:

• In-depth storyline
• Crafting system
• Underground construction
• Destructable environment
• New inventory management
• Improved HUD
• Improved audio and visual cues
• Improved zombie AI/pathing
• Zombie lifecycle
• Improved security
• Weapon and gear degradation
• More accessible buildings
• and much more

Dev Blogs

• The end of the beginning - August 2012
• The integration begins - September 2012
• Whatever you say it is it isn't - October 2012
• Dev Report - November 2012
• Where is the standalone release - January 2013
• Where do I start? - January 2013
• DayZ Video - January 2013
• Ivan is back - Feb 15th 2013
• Behind the scenes - Feb 21st 2013
• Quick video - March 2013

Release Date and Pricing

Rocket has not announced an exact release date, but had originally indicated the desire to see a release by the end of 2012. This has now been moved to early 2013.

"We are still working towards a target for an initial foundation before the end of the year, but we will slip this date if needed. We will not compromise the project for the short-term gain of meeting this date,' stated Hall firmly."

Dayz standalone will utilize a Minecraft-like sales model; this will allow players to pay a much lower price for early access to the alpha/beta releases while helping to fund development toward the final product.

Multi-platform Development

Rocket has indicated interest in developing DayZ for consoles (Xbox/Playstation), but the PC version will be the focus. A console version will be produced if the standalone version is successful.