'DayZ' Standalone: Alpha Update Expected This Week

Zombie survival horror “DayZ’s” experimental branch is adding a plethora of new additions and fixes that will improve the standalone game.

“DayZ” launched on Dec. 17 on Steam Early Access in an alpha release. After one hour, the game had recruited 19,000 users. During the first 12 hours, the title drew 88,000 players. After 24 hours, “DayZ” had been downloaded 172,500 times. The open-world multiplayer title was created by New Zealand game designer Dean Hall and developed by Bohemia Interactive. “DayZ” is a standalone version of the award-winning mod of the same name.

On Dec. 18, Bohemia Interactive CEO Maruk Spanel wrote a blog post about the game’s progress, saying “First day of ‘DayZ’ (Alpha). Hours passed: 24. Copies sold: 172,500. Survivors online: 142,403. Bugs discovered: many. Work ahead: hard.” On Dec. 17, “Gears of War” creator Cliff Bleszinski tweeted about playing “DayZ,” snapping a screen shot of a discovered glitch in the game.

“DayZ” is a basic survival horror game, where players take on tasks to gather food, supplies, medicine, clothing and water in a 225-square-kilometer setting. Items can be collected in random places such as abandoned vehicles, homes and barns. Players can also pick up weapons that serve as protection from other players or the undead.

The “DayZ” standalone game began development in August 2012 following the success of the original mod. Dean Hall joined forces with Bohemia Interactive and took over as project lead. Three months later, he posted an unedited video clip of the game’s multiplayer mode to YouTube, saying that the footage “makes no effort to mask the variety of bugs.” Hall has talked about moving the game to next-gen consoles like the PS4 or Xbox One, although no specific date has been set for either system. Though the game has experienced a number of bugs, its popularity has continued to increase, with more than 1 million users currently playing.

Improvements will go into effect on Feb. 7 and will address a number of game issues. It will also add the use of machetes and hardhats and the implementation of police stations and health centers producing loot. More changes are detailed below.

Known Issues:


- Spawns: Loot is not spawning in military tents


- Spawns: Some structures in Svetlo currently do not spawn loot


- Server: Servers under load can delay actions from the client


- Graphics: Only 4 dynamic light sources will be rendered at one time currently
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Crafting: Attachments dependent on other attachments (e.g. flashlight on M4) may be lost when painting weapons (will appear on ground, eventually)

When will this be in stable?


We expect stable to be updated before the end of that week (by 7 February 2014).

Is mouse acceleration being fixed?

It is not fixed in this update, but we plan to make control changes. It is not as simple as turning it “off” as the speed your character turns is not dictated by the mouse itself, but your movements combined with the type of weapon you have, how tired you are, etc.

New:


- Actions: chambering SKS round from pile, loading 10 rounds from pile

- Actions: You can uncuff other players with the hacksaw


- Actions: Cannot use an item (e.g. drink/eat) if it is “Ruined”


- Actions: Interactions with items reworked. Drinking/Eating/etc… more robust and user-friendly


- Actions: Restrained players cannot use inventory or action menu


- Animations: Player now can take and hide rifle in crouched run


- Animations: SKS reload animations


- Animations: firing weapon when sprinting will transition player into the aimed run(with some temporary limitations)


- Crafting: FNX45 pistol can be chambered with single round


- Crafting: Opening cans with combat knife added


- Crafting: Opening cans with machete added


- Crafting: Painting Motorbike Helmets to Black and Green


- Crafting: Waterbottles and canteens now allow pouring water between them


- Effects: Magnum revolver ejecting shells when reloading


- Effects: Magnum revolver sounds – gunshots, reloading


- Effects: Mosin ejecting shells when cycling


- Effects: New Mosin sounds – gunshots, cycling, reloading


- Gear: Improvised courier backpack added


- Gear: Machete added


- Gear: Hard hats added in various colors


- Gear: Motorcycle Helmets have black visor variants


- Gear: Small, uncomfortable, and silly (but cute) children’s school backpack


- Gestures: Clapping Gesture added, default F5 key


- Gestures: Pointing Gesture added, default F6 key


- Login: Player queuing system introduced. Penalty waiting time added for switching server or disconnecting a server quickly


- Login: Players receive a login timeout when disconnect, increased if disconnect within 30 minutes of joining (max 5 minutes)


- Login: When players logout, their avatar sits on ground for 30 seconds. Players must make sure they logout somewhere safe


- Server: Player spawns now cached by engine directly, increasing performance


- Spawns: Added Bubble goose jackets into the loot spawns


- Spawns: Added SKS rifle, speedloader, ammunition piles and boxes and SKS bayonet into the loot spawns


- Spawns: Healthcare Center now spawns loot


- Spawns: Police stations now spawn loot


- Systems: Hunger and Thirst slightly modified.


- Systems: Notifications added to UI for hydration and high energy


- Systems: Fractures can now occur due to melee and shot damage, not just environmental


- Systems: Fractures (arms/legs) now saved and loaded correctly from database


- Translations: Added strings for all consumable items (Gas canisters, Batteries etc) and container items (First aid kit etc) for English, with some Spanish and Russian


- Zombies: Different types of Military zombies now have tougher attack values and improved durability


- Zombies: Engine dynamic obstacle checking (zombie, another player)


- Zombies: Svetlojarsk zombie spawns added

Fixed:


- Actions: morphine injection can be used on other player effectively fixing his broken legs and item correctly positioned in hands


- Actions: Keys won’t disappear after uncuffing


- Actions: loading ammo works for sprayed Mosin variants


- Actions: Read/Writing notes with paper and pen now works again


- Actions: reviving with epinephrine or defibrillator works also if player blood is below 500 units of blood


- Actions: Actions on another player no longer have an unlimited distance (max 2 meters)


- Art: Bug allowing players to clip through geometry of the police station building.
 - Animations: fixed an issue where reload in prone would leave some residue sound clutter at the end of the reload animation

Are you excited for the "DayZ" update? Leave a comment below.

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