The DayZ standalone is getting pretty damn close to catching up with its big brother, the Arma 2 mod. The original has been downloaded 2 million times, while Bohemia Interactive have shifted 1.7 million copies of the standalone; it’s not that much of a surprise according to our DayZ review. No wonder all the zombies are hiding in floors and walls – that’s a lot of survivors trying to kill them (but more often each other).
At EGX Rezzed 2014, Dean “Rocket” Hall also revealed the DayZ roadmap, laying out plans for updates. To keep up with all of this, Bohemia Interactive purchased another studio, Cauldron Studios, renaming them Bohemia Interactive Slovakia. This new team will be focused on DayZ.
The next update for the survival game, which is currently in Early Access, is planned for late April, but potentially as soon as in two weeks.
On the list of improvements is a prototype loot respawn system, where the detritus of civilisation will reappear once a region has been picked clean for a certain amount of time – so there will be less of the frustration of exploring and finding absolutely nothing to scavenge because others got there first.
Fireplaces, ovens and crossbows are also going to be implemented. Shooting, cooking and eating, that’s what life is all about.
Server improvements are in the works, with the update allowing for quicker delivery of future updates. Server admins will also get the ability to accelerate time – up to 64 times quicker – which will no doubt freak everyone out.
Hall let slip some plans for later updates which will include ragdoll physics, improved pathfinding and an upgrade to 64-bit which will future proof DayZ. And since you’ll be getting a crossbow, he’s throwing in some animals to hunt, to boot. You could always just run them over in your customisable quadbike, of course, which is also being planned.
End game items like helicopters, planes, boats and trucks – the use of which will involve finding parts across multiple servers – are on the docket for Q4 this year and beyond. Imagine that. Flying through the skies, launching rockets at half naked survivors as they attempt to open a can of beans. Glorious.
Further down the line DayZ will have to get along without Hall, however. Last month he announced that he’d be parting ways with Bohemia Interactive in 2015 so he could set up his own multiplayer studio back in New Zealand.
Cheers, Eurogamer.