DayZ

DayZ Standalone Alpha is OUT!!!! The wiki has now been switched over to focus on the standalone! Please add information to DayZ Standalone Wiki to help make this as great of a wiki as the one for the mod!

DayZ Standalone is the much hyped follow-up to the DayZ Mod created by game developer Dean Rocket Hall. On 14 August 2012, Rocket announced that DayZ would become a standalone game that does not require Arma II. Development of the standalone version was headed up directly by Rocket, in conjunction with Bohemia Interactive, the publisher of Arma II. With this announcement, Rocket turned the mod version of DayZ over to the community for continued development. Some of the main goals for creating the standalone were to fix bugs and prevent hacking, two things very difficult to do under the previous Arma II architecture.

DayZ Standalone utilizes the Take On Helicopter engine, which is a branch of the Arma II Operation Arrowhead engine Real Virtuality. The engine has been heavily modified even including code from ARMA III.

Roadmap (by Dean Hall @Rezzed 2014)

Next Update (announced to be at end of April, as of 11.06.14 there wasnt any)

Respawning Loot Prototype (work in progress)

• World divided into quadrants
• Quad resets when empty X time
• Includes resetting doors
• Door state randomly set on world start

Accelerated Time (in experimental)

• Removed as part of lag / desync fix
• Comfigurable by servers admins
• Up to 64x faster day / night cycle
• Rules for Hardcore t.b.d.

Throwable Items (in experimental)

• Everything that can be held in hand
• Different materials react differently
• Uses "Bullet" physics SDk
• Calculated on server

Player Controls (partly implemented)

• Mouse Acceleration issues
• Dexterity
• Freelook
• Physics based movement
• Jumping considered

Short-term (Q2)

Ragdoll (work in progress)

• Nearly functionally complete
• Based on "Bullet" physics lib
• Includes falling characters
• Dragging unconscious / bodies
• Blended body injuries

New AI pathfinding (completed, will be in experimental soon)

• Animals and Zombies
• Techniques
• Voxelization
• Walkable polygons
• Navmesh optimization
• Object Avoidance
• First iteration nearly complete
• handles interiors, small objects

64-bit (completed, will be in experimantal soon)

• Compiling!
• Server can use more memory
• Helps with
• Physics integration
• Vehicle physics
• New zombie AI
• Possibly much more

Prototype Animals (in experimental)

• Prototype implementation
• Allow player "hunting"
• 6 new animal types
• Starting from scratch
• Wandering

Persistent Objects (working in progress)

• All objects or just some?
• Save state of everything
• Decide which to permanently use

Advanced Weather Effects (working in progress)

• Snow and fog
• Weather will affect player
• Ballistics affected by weather

World Containers (working in progress)

• Refrigerator
• Oven
• Cupboards

Medium-term (Q3)

Multi-thread / Multi-core (working in progress)

• Multiple threads on Multiple cores
• More zombies... (5 to 10 times more than now)
• More players...
• More animals...
• Probably more server focused
• New game engine ("Infusion")

Advanced Animals (working in progress)

• Hostile animals
• Neutral animals
• Companion animals

New Zombie Behaviour (working in progress)

• More responsive
• Redeveloped "agro" system
• More benefits to stealth

Central Loot Economy

• Control loot numbers centrally
• Set for all servers per hive

Barricading (working in progress)

• Physics based construction
• Mainly focused on existing buildings.

Basic Vehicles (working in progress)

• Small Vehicles
• Bicycle / Motorcycles / ATV
• Possibly includes small car
• Customizable / Configurable-like weapons
• Physics based ("bullet" Physics SDK )

Modding Support (working in progress)

• Probably tied with private hives
• Full support for mods
• Steam Workshop integration

Player Statistics (completed, but game is too buggy to release it)

• Steam Achievements
• Database interaction API for developers

Horticulture (working in progress)

• Growing plants
• Persistent to server
• Prototype to come earlier

Long-term (Q4/Qx)

Advanced Vehicles (working in progress)

• Cars / Trucks / Planes / Helicopters / Boats
• Upgradable components
• Similar approach as weapon attachments

Extended barricading (working in progress)

• Existing barricading to full construction
• Allows players to create new structures
• Persistent to that server

Advanced Social Mechanics (working in progress)

• Faction identification methods
• Spawn systems tied to controlled locations
• Better UI support for trading.

Release Date and Pricing

DayZ Standalone was released on December 16th, 2013 on Steam for $30.
The game is available to be purchased as part of the Alpha Development Participation stage, similar to Minecraft's sales model.
An official date for the final release is yet to be set.

Trivia

• When DayZ Standalone was originally announced Rocket had originally indicated the desire to see a release by the end of 2012.
• 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.
• An Alpha version of DayZ Standalone was playable on the floor at E3 2013 and allowed attendees their first actual playthrough of the standalone game.

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.