DayZ Previews: The Standalone Makes a Splash at PAX East

2012 was a whirlwind year for DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall and after a highly successful run with his mod for ARMA 2, Bohemia Interactive gave Rocket its blessing to work on a standalone version of the game, providing him with the financial and logistical support necessary to undertake the project.

Over the past couple of months we've seen bits and pieces of the mod here and there in the form of screenshots, blogs, and video blogs, but PAX East was to be where Rocket would give players their first live look at the upcoming game. We spent some time with Rocket to discuss the DayZ standalone and get a short preview of some of the interesting bits he'd be showing off at the PAX East panel.

One of the interesting things we learned about the project is that the DayZ standalone isn't really based on ARMA 2 and it isn't really ARMA 3, either. The underlying technology is kind of a mish-mash of whatever the team needed for their project. For example, some tech, such as the improved controls of ARMA 3, was leveraged to enhance the DayZ experience.

The team is also updating the skeleton used in the game (the first time in eight years) to improve motion and animation. This also means separate skeletons for first and third person, which should allow for better melee combat, something that will be much more common in the DayZ standalone than it is now.

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