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Over the weekend, DayZ creator Dean Hall released another developer diary video to talk about the current status of the standalone game. The good news is that the team hit another milestone and cleaned up a few features, the bad news is that it's still not ready for Alpha release and Bohemia Interactive won't be able to hit their internal release date. But we're getting there.

In the meantime, the DayZ mod is now playable on the beta version of Arma 3. As for the full standalone release, it could still be a while, but with good reason.

The above 17-minute video showcases new gameplay (featuring overly loud gunshots that make it hard to hear Hall), highlighting the new animations and improved first-person gameplay. Hall talks about the status of the game and what they're working on for the back-end to support the eventual launch and high player counts.

Informational Highlights:

  • Client updates region you're in - more efficient with thousands of items, loads of zombies and players.
  • New bleeding system allows for blood from point of wounds.
  • Gun mods/attachments: suppressors, extended mags, etc.
  • Database being upgraded to support large number of players for release.

Hall admits that there's really not much to play and enjoy until the fundamentals of the game are in and working properly. He understands that it can be frustrating for eager fans, but they want to do it right instead of rushing something that doesn't work.

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As for the original DayZ, a popular, albeit super buggy mod for Arma 2, it is now working for the Arma 3 beta. Thanks to the updated Real Virtuality game engine, even with the same zombies, it looks much better and benefits from an improved inventory system. Zombie animations however, are still borderline out of control - at least that element can be sometimes entertaining.

For more on the standalone DayZ watch this great presentation from Hall at Rezzed 2013. Here are the highlights of that session:

  • Players use up different amounts of calories depending on temperatures and how much physical strain they endure.
  • Pirate radio stations featuring content chosen by community. Players can place radios on ground as bait.
  • Disinfectants and human blood that must be kept cold, purification tablets for water.
  • Can create improvised explosive with things like duct tape, flares and butane.
  • Weapon attachment system: all guns redesigned, can add silencers, etc.
  • Zoom in from 3rd person to 1st person with weapons.
  • ARMA II sounds in the game will be replaced with original content after gameplay is refined.
  • Oculus Rift support coming eventually.
  • Zombies spawn at very beginning, and zombies killed in an area stay dead until players leave and new ones spawn in. There are also roaming zombies.
  • There are super rare items that literally may be one-of-a-kind.

Worth the wait?

DayZ is being built for PC.

Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.