DayZ’s Dean Hall answers questions on Standalone release, engine plans and The War Z

Dean “Rocket” Hall, creator of zombie survival mod DayZ, recently took part in a Reddit AMA thread, answering questions on the development of the upcoming standalone version of the game. During the Q&A session, he outlined new features and release plans. He also talks frankly about the impact of controversial rival The War Z, saying “I am angry about the WarZ. I’m very angry. I’m quite hurt personally because anyone can see how similar the words are, and while the average gamer knows the difference individual people don’t.”
When asked if DayZ Standalone – originally due for release last year – would now surface before April, Rocket said, “Yes I think so, but anything could happen and usually does. We’ll know more when the results of the tech test are out. Any dates before then would be pure speculation, and my last speculation didn’t work out so good.”
He also confirmed that Standalone’s focus will be firmly on the Arma 2 engine. “My real hope, is that the next “DayZ” comes out and get’s it’s big break in ArmA3. I made a space mod for ArmA2 that I never released, maybe I might make that for ArmA3! I guess someone will mod DayZ for ArmA3 and it will probably be great for it, that’s the awesome thing about this community.”
Inevitably, the issue of The War Z was also raised. “I don’t think I’ve ever said they weren’t competition. But I have said … that competition doesn’t necessarily mean lower prices or better quality for the consumer (automatically). It can actually mean that companies get carried away competing for something that isn’t important (such as perception, or marketing).”
“I’ve had family members/close friends mistake the difference and confront me about what they believed was unethical behavior they thought I was making,” Rocket adds. “I really don’t think anyone can understand just quite how exasperated that can make you feel when you’ve gambled everything on something, put your whole self and reputation on the line. So it hasn’t made my life very pleasant and I disagree entirely with the conduct and how consumers have been treated.”
You can see a full digest of the DayZ development progress highlighted in the AMA here. It covers everything from individual feature tweaks, to the possible tease of a new map: “I think DayZ needs a new map, [Bohemia Interactive] made, that features a western city… let’s just say I have plans.”
Thanks, CVG.