Day Z Enters Public Alpha In December
Fans have been more than giddy over the news that the DayZ mod for Arma II will be receiving its own standalone game. This version of the game will be releasing for purchase in an alpha form later this year in December as announced by Dean Hall, the mod’s developer, at the Eurogamer Expo. Hall made a promise that the price would be “cheap” since he wants to follow the footsteps of the Minecraft model that’s gone over so well.
With this announcement Hall wanted us to know that the December date isn’t a targeted release window, rather it’s necessary for the game’s development. Hall explained, “We’ve decided that we don’t need to sell a heap of units in order for us to be okay with where it’s going. The more units we sell of it, the more ambitious we get, because the project has better resources.”
The Minecraft approach is a phenomenal structure. Players spend money on actual products and get to have a voice in what needs to be fixed. Not only that, but they’ll be able to see the changes and updates taking place live. The game is going to be a living work-in-progress, but that didn’t seem to hurt Mojang at all.
Hall isn’t oblivious to the game’s competition, and says that the necessity of getting the alpha release out in December is an effort to stave players away from any “clones” that are sure to come up. He understands that he’s shouldering the responsibility to make the game the best it can be, and I think Hall can achieve something great with DayZ. We’ll be looking forward to later this year, and hopefully you will too.
