The War Z - Zombie Survival MMO

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[H]ard|Gawd
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http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/19/the-war-z-a-new-zombie-survival-experience

This was just recently posted in the Steam Sale thread around a DayZ discussion. Thought it deserved it's own thread.

In the article they state players will be able to sign up for beta through their site and by pre-ordering the game. I see no site for The War Z or for the developer Hammerpoint Interactive. Post it if you know it! :)

EDIT: Site is now live
http://thewarz.com/

Sign up for closed beta is on the site.
Site says game will be released this fall.
Article says closed beta testing will start before the end of summer.
 
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From the comments at the bottom of the article, as well as googling the developer and the game title, it doesn't look like there is an active site up at this time. Will update when it becomes avaialble.
 
From the article...

Also, we will allow players to rent and manage their own server from inside the game without leaving the game UI.

I like this idea. Will give us the option to have our own [H] server. And it will definitely be [H]ardcore mode only.

My thoughts....
Combat - Combat is going to be a huge one for me. Interested to see how it pans out. When I think of the MMO setting in a world with guns, I usually think of games like APB which lack hitboxes like traditional FPS games. Hitboxes in a zombie game are especially necessary for the obvious reason of having to shoot them in the head to kill them, as well as shooting off limbs to slow them down, etc.

Realism -- this will be another big one. In terms of a survival game, I like some of the ideas in DayZ that have come from it being on the ArmA combat sim engine. Things like certain amount of space in a backpack and weight restrictions should be apart of this kind of game. Running around with a bag with 6 backpack slots full of 15 different kinds of guns and 5000 rounds of ammo like Rambo would take away from the survival aspect of the game.

Skills - Definitely want to keep with the FPS layout and I'm hoping skills will be what they mentioned in the article -- passive skills related to better accuracy, healing wounds better, etc. I'm not interested in seeing an MMO UI layout with usable skills mashing 1 2 3 4 5.

Map - They are referring to their maps as separate worlds that you unlock and progress. Makes it sound more like a single player game. I will want to see more about this moving forward. I'm hoping that by owning your own server you will be able to set the available map(s) and ruleset. Also curious to see the size of each map. Hopefully they are expansive like the Day Z map. It would be very cool to have multiple Day Z sized worlds. EDIT: Map size has been said to be between 200-400 km2 per world vs. Day Z which is 225 km2.

Voice (& more Realism) - I don't like that in most games you can voice chat with players from across the map. Really makes no sense, and allows PKers to easily pinpoint who you are and where you are. Also this game is going to have a 250 player server, so obviously they will have to make some kind of choices to restrict voice chat because that's just way too many people. I'm thinking that you can voice chat to anyone within earshot, and maybe pick up some sort of radio equipment in the world that allows you to communicate via frequencies with other players. Player made groups would have their own private channels but still be required to have some sort of walkie talkie deal to be able to communicate outside of earshot. Maybe this is starting to get too technical but if they are making their end goal about staying alive as long as you can, I think they should have smaller things like this that make it hard on the players.
 
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Thanks for the website info in the OP. Signed up for the closed beta. Definitely can't wait to try this out. I'm having quite a bit of fun with DayZ.
 
I know this has been in development before dayZ but I wonder if they came up with the name after dayZ was announced.

Anyways it looks pretty good for only being a year into development and releasing in several months (how?) . Registered for the closed beta :)
 
Interesting. And you can rent and manage your own server form within the game? Never have heard of that being done before. I'm curious how that will work out. I'll have to keep my eye on this one.
 
I am really liking the look of this game! Glad that it will be on DX9.0C. Won't need a mega pc to run it! :D Btw, found this forum www.thewarzgame.com/forums . If you find anymore sites let me know please, will book mark them!
 
I can't wait!

While the DayZ mod is great, I really like they're building a game from the ground up JUST for this. No longer will they be restricted by the original game, as DayZ was simply a mod
 
It looks like an interesting game. When I first read about the game, the MMO part scared me, as I assumed it was the whole pricing structure WOW clone syndrome. I dig that they are taking the MMO to it's core meaning, lots of players playing together. If they pull off the mechanics right, it could be an epic game!
 
Yeah, sounds more like a multiplayer online game than a MMO type. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Just depends on how one views it.
 
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/27/t...s-interview-on-weapons-game-systems-ambition/

Newest interview and updates

Think of Battlefield 3 and think of War Inc. Battle Zone. I think those two examples best depict what the shooting and gun handling experience will be.It’s taking the reloading realism of War Inc., for example, where if you drop a half emptied clip and put in a new one, you effectively just lost all the bullets that were left inside the old magazine. Firing will have similar ballistic characteristics as you see in Battlefield—that is, if you shoot at longer distances, you’ll have to take distance and bullet drop into account.

One thing that I think is quite different is weapons stats. In most games (including our own War Inc.), you have to compromise between reality and gameplay fun. That is, your guns should feel different and fun, even though it doesn’t make much sense in the real world—after all you don’t really expect that two guns built on the same platform and using the same bullets will do dramatically different damage. So this is what’s different between War Z and other shooters—weapons stats are much more in line with the real world. It’s more simulation than just a fun shooter.

you can’t expect just to go into any house nearby and find an M16 lying there. You may be lucky and get your hands on a shotgun or handgun there, but stuff that is military grade can only be found near military installations, police stations, military roadblocks, etc.

Really liking most of what I am hearing about this game.

As of now, we don’t have solid plans for VOIP communication built into the game. This may change based on feedback we get from the closed beta test, but so far universal feedback we’re getting is “don’t worry, we’d love our teamspeak, we don’t need anything else.”

I think just about the only piece I disagree with is regarding VOIP. He's saying they are getting a lot of feedback regarding TS and Vent are perfectly fine, that's all we need. I can see some people coming from FPS games where they regularly play with friends, but 250 players is a much larger scale. Proximity based VOIP would be a great addition to the game IF implemented correctly. I find myself thinking I will be teaming up with strangers in a lot of situations exploring the world by myself or with a friend or two. At the very least, I feel that group based VOIP is essential in a survival type game. They are going for maximum realism with a lot of other aspects, I don't see the point of skimping here. Not to mention, I'm not interested in giving out my private Vent info to every stranger I stumble upon that I team up with. If realism is one of the games main focuses, then I would think DYING won't be a very hard thing to do. Not trying to stop and type a paragraph to my group mate while we are fleeing in terror from a group of zombies.
 
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Not sure I'm liking the "if you reload you lose all the rounds in that magazine" mechanic. I think they had that in Rainbow Six and it was really annoying. I prefer the ArmA 2 mechanic where you keep the mag but it just has less rounds in it. Realistically that makes a lot more sense than just ditching the mag entirely.
 
Not sure I'm liking the "if you reload you lose all the rounds in that magazine" mechanic. I think they had that in Rainbow Six and it was really annoying. I prefer the ArmA 2 mechanic where you keep the mag but it just has less rounds in it. Realistically that makes a lot more sense than just ditching the mag entirely.

I actually didn't think about that at first. It's more realistic to lose the mag than to keep the ammo, but if they go by mags and keep half empty mags then I guess that's even more realistic (I wouldn't throw away perfectly good bullets either). I'm not sure how inventory management works but I would think for simplifying some aspects of the game you would just have stacks of bullets for certain weapon types. I guess it's more realistic to have magazines as well but it's one extra step in managing inventory. Unsure if they will do just plain ammo or mags+ammo. Bag space is going to fill up quick!
 
Well being that it's supposed to be a realistic survival game, I can't see them doing "pooled" ammo unless it's for a shotgun or something.
 
Well being that it's supposed to be a realistic survival game, I can't see them doing "pooled" ammo unless it's for a shotgun or something.

Well I think there will be certain limitations on realism where they decide it's "just not worth it" or too complex or irritating to implement. What those specific areas will be, I have no idea, but undoubtedly there will be some. For instance this one is on your checklist, but to the next person like myself, it might not even be on their radar (until someone points it out). It does make the MOST sense, but we will have to see. Definitely not a deal breaker for me, but it is a survival game, and the point is to try to stay alive. Someone trying to survive isn't going to dump a half empty clip on the ground and keep moving. If that's what they choose to do though, then I'll be spending the whole clip before reloading.

In GENERAL though, I'm impressed and happy with the route they are going on shooting realism. Most non "combat simulator" type games, especially outside of pure FPS games, are very unrealistic with their approach to guns....with stuff like: ridiculous amounts of ammo, ridiculously large clip sizes, unrealistic shooting, lack of bullet drop, lack of hit boxes, etc etc etc etc. The fact that they are taking points from Day Z and incorporating as much as they can to make it a true "realistic" survival game is plenty enough to make me very excited to try it out.
 
Fair enough. Like Rocket, I am curious to see if they can actually pull off all of the features they are touting (but have not actually demonstrated yet). Here's what Rocket had to say about it:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/19/what-does-day-zs-creator-think-of-the-war-z/

I particularly like this quote, and I think DayZ players who hate on ArmA 2 would do well to remember it:

Dean Hall said:
Because those things are hard to do, and Day Z is only possible because it rests on the shoulders of ten years of development in a fantastic engine.
 
Fair enough. Like Rocket, I am curious to see if they can actually pull off all of the features they are touting (but have not actually demonstrated yet). Here's what Rocket had to say about it:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/19/what-does-day-zs-creator-think-of-the-war-z/

I particularly like this quote, and I think DayZ players who hate on ArmA 2 would do well to remember it:

Agreed. I believe nothing until I see it. I do think it's admirable that they responded to that quote though by saying they aren't just throwing a wish list of features out to the public. They have already implemented, or in the process of implementing, all of the things they have put out to us thus far (so says the developer). I'm cautiously optimistic.
 
Mostly their timeline for all of this stuff is what I am skeptical of.
 
I haven't played Day Z yet, but I feel like mods like these should stay mods for a long time (ala Counter Strike) before they ever attempt something like this.
 
Agreed. I believe nothing until I see it. I do think it's admirable that they responded to that quote though by saying they aren't just throwing a wish list of features out to the public. They have already implemented, or in the process of implementing, all of the things they have put out to us thus far (so says the developer). I'm cautiously optimistic.

I'm disregarding everything they say until I see some beta reports, and so should everyone else. I've seen hype threads for this game popping up on every game forum I read, and it's all completely unsubstantiated. So far, they've shown nothing.
 
Supposed to be very similar from the sound of it (although they claim it's been in the works "for years" :rolleyes:).

Regardless, you really think they put all this together in the few months that Day-Z has been public knowledge?
 
They've already promised a beta by the end of the summer and potential release in the fall. They can only hold out so long before we start seeing video footage and beta impressions. It's not like they have pushed it so far out that it can become the next vaporware. We should know more within the timeline they gave, or assume that they are full of shit, lol.
 
Regardless, you really think they put all this together in the few months that Day-Z has been public knowledge?

No, but the concept is WAY too similar to just be like, "Oh, yeah, it's exactly like DayZ but we've had the idea for years..." Come on. That just makes it sound like they're trying to one-up Rocket. Plus, the extremely coincidental timing for this announcement, with a "full release" in the fall? I doubt it.

My guess is they were going in a somewhat different direction and then redesigned based on the popularity of DayZ.

That said, it would not surprise me at all if this game got "delayed" for up to a year, if not longer.

EDIT: Plus, think about this: if it was in development for a couple years, and due to be released this fall (like 2-4 months), wouldn't they be able to release some actual gameplay videos proving any of these features?
 
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No, but the concept is WAY too similar to just be like, "Oh, yeah, it's exactly like DayZ but we've had the idea for years..." Come on. That just makes it sound like they're trying to one-up Rocket. Plus, the extremely coincidental timing for this announcement, with a "full release" in the fall? I doubt it.

My guess is they were going in a somewhat different direction and then redesigned based on the popularity of DayZ.

That said, it would not surprise me at all if this game got "delayed" for up to a year, if not longer.

EDIT: Plus, think about this: if it was in development for a couple years, and due to be released this fall (like 2-4 months), wouldn't they be able to release some actual gameplay videos proving any of these features?

not necessarily to the gameplay video part. thats at the developers discretion doesnt suprise me.

but i totally agree that they are definitely using a lot of dayz for inspiration. heavily
 
No, but the concept is WAY too similar to just be like, "Oh, yeah, it's exactly like DayZ but we've had the idea for years..." Come on. That just makes it sound like they're trying to one-up Rocket. Plus, the extremely coincidental timing for this announcement, with a "full release" in the fall? I doubt it.

My guess is they were going in a somewhat different direction and then redesigned based on the popularity of DayZ.

That said, it would not surprise me at all if this game got "delayed" for up to a year, if not longer.

EDIT: Plus, think about this: if it was in development for a couple years, and due to be released this fall (like 2-4 months), wouldn't they be able to release some actual gameplay videos proving any of these features?

I believe in one of the interviews they said they were going in a slightly different direction when DayZ hit the scene. They enjoyed the game and followed the forums of DayZ for what fans wanted. They saw the popularity and decided to tweak their game to better align with DayZ's community.

To be honest, it isn't hard to fathom that two are working on this at the same time. With the popularity of COD_ZombieMode, L4D, The Walking Dead, and just about every other zombie game a MMO based on it was a legitimate step. Just a mod beat them to it. So now they have the advantage of tweaking to what made that mod successful at the risk of just being labeled copycats. I think they'd take that advantage.

Heck, DICE had the same advantage with Desert Combat and BF2. They got to see what would make them successful with their title at the risk of some labeling them a ripoff. Foresight when bringing something to market is a very valuable asset and they are going to exploit it. Business smart.
 
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Heck, DICE had the same advantage with Desert Combat and BF2. They got to see what would make them successful with their title at the risk of some labeling them a ripoff. Foresight when bringing something to market is a very valuable asset and they are going to exploit it. Business smart.

Well, DICE hired on the team that did the DC mod specifically to have them work on BF2 IIRC, don't really think that's quite the same thing. But yeah, they saw how popular the DC mod was and decided to make BF2.
 
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