'DayZ' standalone alpha hits December, developer not worried about clones

The standalone alpha build for DayZ will be released before the year is out and will be "cheap," most likely hitting in December, reports Eurogamer.

"There's no 'we hope it is'; it has to be," creator Dean Hall told Eurogamer regarding the game's planned release. "And it's going to be cheap. We've decided that we don't need to sell a heap of units in order for us to be OK with where it's going. The more units we sell of it the more ambitious we get, because the project has the better resources.

"If we can achieve that in December, then in January and February we can start to do all the cool stuff, move to more ambitious features," he added.

DayZ began as a zombie survival mod of Bohemia Interactive's military simulation Arma 2, before the studio decided to make the add-on its own standalone game. Hall said that the studio hopes to get the game out quickly, and Hall himself has been intentionally vague regarding its content to avoid conceptually similar games, like Hammerpoint Interactive's The War Z.

"Maybe they will make a better game - I don't know," Hall said. "Maybe what they're doing is not cool to me, but the way I look at it is what are my options? What could I do? I could stand up here and be very critical of anyone who does a clone copy of the game. What would that actually achieve other than making me look like a dick? It's not going to result in a better game."

Hall says the premise of his game is to make "an awesome game" and keep its price low, and that how he feels regarding DayZ clones is not important.

"I have to be realistic about it and say the responsibility is on me to make a good game," he said. "And that's just life."