In an interview with Eurogamer at this year’s Eurogamer Expo, the creator of the very successful ArmA 2 mod DayZ has confirmed that players will be seeing the standalone version by the end of this year. The good news? "It's going to be cheap" says Dean “Rocket” Hall.

Confirming suspicions that we would be seeing the game by the end of the year, Hall goes into depth saying that the sudden rush to getting the game out is due to clones, the biggest one being The War Z. While this attempt is "suitably vague to stop clones", the DayZ creator also states that the rush for December release is one that is cautious and sensible, however will allow them to push more boundaries after release.

"Maybe they will make a better game - I don't know. 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.
"Should I sue anyone who ever mentions something to do with zombie horror - will that make a better game? And the whole premise of of DayZ, and the whole premise of our development is we're going to make an awesome game. That's what we're selling. We're going to price it low and lots of people are going to play it. If we compromise on that, we're screwed.

Recently the DayZ standalone blog was updated to reflect the process that has been going on in the background since the announcement of Bohemia Interactive taking on publishing reins. The post talks about how the biggest roadblock has been Dean "Rocket" Hall himself, with the sudden wave of press and interviews that has caused him to lose focus on the project.

The blog update outlines a rough road map for the title, with a push for more enter-able buildings on the infamous Chernarus map, plus more disease ridden zombies including the potential for children victims. Talking in the Eurogamer interview, Hall ensures that "performance optimisation and bugs are other top priorities", and that an entirely new security system has been evolved to combat hacking.

Mentioned in the interview was the biggest setback, the two ArmA 3 developers that were recently detained in Greece over claims of spying on military bases. The developers were part of the ChernarusPlus remodelling, and Hall ensures everything humanely possible is being done to bring them back home safely.

You can read more on the Eurogamer interview which gives an even more in-depth preview of just what is to come from the standalone version of the zombie infested title, and you can also check out the latest blog post for DayZ standalone over here.