DayZ Wiki – Everything You Need To Know About The Game

DayZ is an online open world zombie survival first person shooter developed and published by Bohemia Interactive. Originally beginning as a mod for Bohemia’s military tactical shooter Arma 2, the mod’s popularity prompted the team at Bohemia to remake it into a full-fledged, standalone game.

Development

DayZ was originally a mod created for Arma 2, developed by Dean Hall. After the popularity and success of the mod, Bohemia Interactive decided to turn DayZ into a full-fledged separate game, and brought on Dean Hall as the project lead for the game. Development began in full in 2012, with the initial scope being only to retool the mod to remove any bugs, server issues, and other similar flaws and then release it as a full-fledged game later in the year. However, in January of 2013, Hall confirmed that the game had missed its original planned launch because the scope of development had expanded significantly, and Bohemia Interactive was planning on making DayZ a larger game that went beyond the scope of just the mod itself.

In 2014, Bohemia Interactive acquired the Slovakian development studio, Cauldron, and its team was brought on to aid the development of DayZ. The focus of development has been primarily on creating client-based servers similar to many massively multiplayer online titles to remove the possibility of hacks and exploits and some unnecessary features that were part of the engine that was originally used for the game. Bohemia Interactive finally released the game in an early alpha stage as its first playable build on Steam’s Early Access program in December of 2013. The alpha stage build of the game was released at a lower price, with the intention being that prices would be driven up as more features were added, up until the point of the game’s full launch.

The alpha build was described as being a perfunctory, barebones experience of the game’s final intended build. The purpose of the build was to root out errors and bugs in the game and its server model, optimize the network bubble, while the funding Bohemia would receive from purchases of the alpha version would also be instrumental in continuing the development of the game. Extra features have been continually added to the game since its alpha launch, while the developers have also continually kept up with fixing bugs and performing optimzation checks based on players’ feedback. Dean Hall left Bohemia in 2014.

A PlayStation 4 version of the game was also announced by Bohemia Interactive during Gamescom 2014. Dean Hall had stated earlier that though an Xbox One version of the game was on the cards as well, Microsoft’s policies on restricting self-publication and on charging for updates made to the game had made Bohemia reconsider. However, an Xbox One version of the game was also finally announced at E3 2015. DayZ launched in early access on Xbox One through its Game Preview program in August of 2018. Bohemia Interactive stated that the full version of the game would launch on the Xbox One and the PS4 simultaneously, whenever it would be.

Bohemia Interactive had stated in 2014 that the final release of DayZ would be in 2016, however this did not end up happening. As of November of 2017, the game was still in an alpha stage of development, while its beta has not yet been made playable to audiences. Bohemia announced in 2017 that the game would enter beta in the first half of 2018, however it currently still remains in alpha. A full release for the game has been announced for later in 2018. It was also announced that server hosting and a single player component would also be added to DayZ at some point in the future. Bohemia Interactive have also confirmed that DayZ will hit 4K resolutions on both the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, however whether these will be native or dynamic has not been confirmed.

Gameplay

DayZ is set in the fictional eastern European nation of the post-Soviet Republic of Chernarus, where an outbreak of a plague has turned its population into zombie-like infected creatures. Players are put into an open world 225 km² large map where they are tasked with surviving the harsh environments and everything it contains, while also being tasked with either co-operating or fighting against other players also in the map. As the game begins, players are giving little to no resources, and must gather what they can find and scavenge in the environment. Survival is a key mechanic in the game, and things such as thirst and hunger must be maintained by regularly finding and consuming food and water.

Players must also find items of clothing, which are not only important in terms of survival and, for instance, keeping players warm in the cold, but also provide extra storage space in the inventory for items and weapons. In terms of weapons, most of what players find is restricted to melee weapons, such as knives. Firearms and guns are also found throughout the map, but these are much rarer to find. Players can also look for attachments such as scopes to attach to their weapons to enhance their performances. While surviving, players must also be on the lookout for other PvE elements, such as surviving against the infected. PvP is also integrated into the game, and players can either co-operate with other players, or fight against them to acquire their loot and gear.

Voice chat is also an option for players to communicate with each other, as is text chat, while a whisper chat option will also be added to the game eventually, which allows players to communicate with specific other players. Radios are also planned to be included at some point, as well as two-way encrypted communications, while players will also be able to manage radio towers. Other modes of communicating include waving in-game to other players, or holding up their hands to signify that they have surrendered or mean no harm. Public domain books such as War of the Worlds and Moby-Dick also scattered throughout the map for players to find and read. If players get injured, they must make sure they do not lose too much blood. Too much blood loss can cause severely impaired vision, and depending on how bad the damage is, players can even lose consciousness.

Hunting of animals and cooking food is also an option in terms of collecting food and resources. Other planned features to be included to the game later on include vehicles, base building (where players can safely store their loot and resources), installing security systems around built bases, ragdoll physics, and support for user created mods.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.