DayZ Devs Toyed With F2P Model for Standalone Release

[MikeWehner]

DayZ Devs Toyed With F2P Model for Standalone Release

The cult zombie survival mod had a chance to go free-to-play in its retail iteration.

At his "Designing DayZ" panel today at GDC in San Francisco, DayZ lead Dean "Rocket" Hall revealed that after the decision was made to move forward with a standalone title, the team put some serious consideration into using the free-to-play publishing model.

"I looked at signing with a lot of companies, and a lot of them were really interested in free-to-play. And we're talking about a lot of money, like, stupid money. I just felt like - I just knew it wouldn't work," Hall explained. "It was because DayZ is about survival. You can't buy your way into that. If you buy your way into that, you're hijacking it."

Hall and his team are currently working with Bohemia Interactive on the standalone DayZ title, which - if the recent developer blogs are any indication - appears to be a very pure representation of the mod that has already garnered over 1.7 million players. No firm release date on the standalone version is currently available, but the game is currently in its alpha testing phase.

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[valkeminator]

Good for them, I would find it very game breaking and destroying immersion should we are able to buy a can of meat in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Good for them, I would find it very game breaking and destroying immersion should we are able to buy a can of meat in the middle of nowhere.

Or worse, if it was like the War Z where you can:
a) Buy weapons, armor, ammo etc with IRL money to completely imbalance the survival.
b) LOSE EVERYTHING you bought with IRL money if it's equipped on a character who dies...

Good job on keeping the game the way it should be Rocket!

 

[GAunderrated]

Good for them, I would find it very game breaking and destroying immersion should we are able to buy a can of meat in the middle of nowhere.

Or worse, if it was like the War Z where you can:
a) Buy weapons, armor, ammo etc with IRL money to completely imbalance the survival.
b) LOSE EVERYTHING you bought with IRL money if it's equipped on a character who dies...

Good job on keeping the game the way it should be Rocket!

If the WarZ did anything right, they pretty much gave rocket a blueprint of everything NOT to do with DayZ. Good for him for trying to make a great game and not a cash grab.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Yeah, I am glad they avoided going F2P. It just can't work in a game where your scavenging and trying to just survive.

Spoiler: Who could possibly be dumb enough to to put in microtransactions into Day Z?

 

[Strazdas]

Well, the mod was F2P. (like really, you could have a free low resolution half assed Arma 2 version legally, and use DAYZ on it. it would look terrible, but it would play just the same).
though i didnt expect this to go F2P anyway, standalone usually means "hey we made this great mod now pay us for it".

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well you could have just made it cosmetic items, because visual recognition in this game is key for social interaction it would probably earn a pretty penny.

But F2P does remove the options for modding and your own servers which are actually key to keeping a community that will make the genuine experience and not random troll fests.

 

[Rainboq]

Honestly, if you could buy cosmetic things, like character skins, or different character models, etc. would work, so long as it doesn't actually effect the balance of the game at all. If that was their model, it could work just fine.

 

[snekadid]

Honestly, if you could buy cosmetic things, like character skins, or different character models, etc. would work, so long as it doesn't actually effect the balance of the game at all. If that was their model, it could work just fine.

So you say, until someone buys the camo skin or the gillisuit and starts hunting people like predator.

 

[Rainboq]

Honestly, if you could buy cosmetic things, like character skins, or different character models, etc. would work, so long as it doesn't actually effect the balance of the game at all. If that was their model, it could work just fine.

So you say, until someone buys the camo skin or the gillisuit and starts hunting people like predator.

That's assuming they sell those. I was more thinking things like hair colour, male or female players, glasses. Nothing that would really effect balance, but would allow the player a degree of self expression.

 

[Rainboq]

Honestly, if you could buy cosmetic things, like character skins, or different character models, etc. would work, so long as it doesn't actually effect the balance of the game at all. If that was their model, it could work just fine.

So you say, until someone buys the camo skin or the gillisuit and starts hunting people like predator.

That's assuming they sell those. I was more thinking things like hair colour, male or female players, glasses. Nothing that would really effect balance, but would allow the player a degree of self expression.

so you mean they could turn something that is already a standard in a game and make it only acessible through extra payment and that would be okay dokey?

I think you missed the point of what I was saying. Something like basic character customization, which if it exists in DayZ I have yet to find despite my dozens of hours in game, would be something you do with micro-transactions, or have unlock-able through things like finding items, or through time spent alive, etc. Like say, you can buy a flightsuit as the starting gear for your character for like a dollar, or you can unlock it when you manage to get a chopper into the air.

 

[Rainboq]

Honestly, if you could buy cosmetic things, like character skins, or different character models, etc. would work, so long as it doesn't actually effect the balance of the game at all. If that was their model, it could work just fine.

So you say, until someone buys the camo skin or the gillisuit and starts hunting people like predator.

That's assuming they sell those. I was more thinking things like hair colour, male or female players, glasses. Nothing that would really effect balance, but would allow the player a degree of self expression.

so you mean they could turn something that is already a standard in a game and make it only acessible through extra payment and that would be okay dokey?

I think you missed the point of what I was saying. Something like basic character customization, which if it exists in DayZ I have yet to find despite my dozens of hours in game, would be something you do with micro-transactions, or have unlock-able through things like finding items, or through time spent alive, etc. Like say, you can buy a flightsuit as the starting gear for your character for like a dollar, or you can unlock it when you manage to get a chopper into the air.

yes, because you clearly can unlock things in real life when you do the same thing more often.
i knew i should have recieved that damn tofu costume from resident evil 2 after eating so much of it.

yes, its a game. its a game about survival. you either find the suit or you dont.

getting free shit through "archievements" is contra productive to scavenging and pretty damn immersion breaking.
and whats the point to get into a military base, crawling with zombies if you can unlock one or buy that flight suit straight away.

on the other hand that you can tell others your brave tales when you saw from a top of the hill at the base, crawling with zombies and instead of going in and scavenging in hopes to find what you desired you just popped up your "buy shit" screen and purchased it right away.

plus the game is currently being developed into a stand alone game.
that means basic character customisation(body height, eye, hair and skin colour etc.) will most likely be included...

*counterproductive.

And I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on that. For example, if you bought it, rather than unlocked it through doing something difficult (like getting a helicopter), it could be off colour, or maybe ripped up a bit, something along those lines. The point is, its entirely cosmetic, and as long as its kept within the aesthetic of the game, it won't be immersion breaking.

Look at the hats in TF2. Team Fortress 2 is an extremely silly game, and the goofy hats add to that aesthetic.

 

[Rainboq]

Honestly, if you could buy cosmetic things, like character skins, or different character models, etc. would work, so long as it doesn't actually effect the balance of the game at all. If that was their model, it could work just fine.

So you say, until someone buys the camo skin or the gillisuit and starts hunting people like predator.

That's assuming they sell those. I was more thinking things like hair colour, male or female players, glasses. Nothing that would really effect balance, but would allow the player a degree of self expression.

so you mean they could turn something that is already a standard in a game and make it only acessible through extra payment and that would be okay dokey?

I think you missed the point of what I was saying. Something like basic character customization, which if it exists in DayZ I have yet to find despite my dozens of hours in game, would be something you do with micro-transactions, or have unlock-able through things like finding items, or through time spent alive, etc. Like say, you can buy a flightsuit as the starting gear for your character for like a dollar, or you can unlock it when you manage to get a chopper into the air.

yes, because you clearly can unlock things in real life when you do the same thing more often.
i knew i should have recieved that damn tofu costume from resident evil 2 after eating so much of it.

yes, its a game. its a game about survival. you either find the suit or you dont.

getting free shit through "archievements" is contra productive to scavenging and pretty damn immersion breaking.
and whats the point to get into a military base, crawling with zombies if you can unlock one or buy that flight suit straight away.

on the other hand that you can tell others your brave tales when you saw from a top of the hill at the base, crawling with zombies and instead of going in and scavenging in hopes to find what you desired you just popped up your "buy shit" screen and purchased it right away.

plus the game is currently being developed into a stand alone game.
that means basic character customisation(body height, eye, hair and skin colour etc.) will most likely be included...

*counterproductive.

And I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on that. For example, if you bought it, rather than unlocked it through doing something difficult (like getting a helicopter), it could be off colour, or maybe ripped up a bit, something along those lines. The point is, its entirely cosmetic, and as long as its kept within the aesthetic of the game, it won't be immersion breaking.

Look at the hats in TF2. Team Fortress 2 is an extremely silly game, and the goofy hats add to that aesthetic.

you dont seem to get it.

the point about survival is to find things that could help you to survive/live longer in a hazardous enviroment hazardous situation.

its a "try to stay alive as long as posibble" thing.

the stupid shit with hats (i hate hats) in Team Fortress 2 works because its a team-oriented arcade shooter.
there is no penality on dying other than loose a few seconds to be able to respawn.
and there is nothing else that affects your health other than bullets and rockets from enemy players.
its a fast paced game. you dont have to think about keeping yourself hydrated, fed and protected from environmental conditions.

and it would just suck if you find a coat and its just a "cosmetic thing" instead of protecting you from the cold at night/hypothermia, allowing you to spend the night outside without having to set up a camp.

it would suck if you find a raincoat and its just cosmetic instead of protecting you from getting a cold.

lets go even further and say how much it would suck if you found a Riot Protective Suit and it would give you no protection because its just a cosmetic thing.

I think you just missed the point of what I said. What I was getting at would be minor cosmetic items that your character would spawn with, perhaps to give some sort of individuality and possibly add a level of backstory to the character. Like a character spawning on the shore in a tattered business suit.

I fully understand the mechanics underlying DayZ and the principles of the gameplay, and what I've suggested would not subtract from them in the way you're describing.