What’s DayZ Standalone

DayZ Standalone is a large-scale, open-world survival sandbox game from Bohemia Interactive, a.s. being built within and alongside their new proprietary game engine referred to simply as Enfusion. It is the direct result of the wildly successful fan-created DayZ Mod based on another in-house title: ArmA II.

Originally conceived and planned by the Mod’s creator Dean Hall, work on the Standalone version of the game commenced in 2012 with the assembly of a very small team intent on delivering an experience often referred to as a “polished version of the Mod.” This would have involved technology changes at a more basic level to support an improved version of the same kind of gameplay users had expected coming from the Mod.

In the time since principle development has commenced, the Standalone has had its vision refocused into something far more ambitious and involved. DayZ now has the full weight of an entire development team behind it, dozens deep with designers, artists, programmers, and more. This team is developing the Enfusion engine as part of the game’s creation, giving it the supporting structure needed to implement all of the promised features, make room for future goals, and deliver the tools necessary to enable its community to create content as well. This is uniquely aggressive within game development, as most games are built upon finished or, at most, tweaked versions of established platforms.