DayZ developer creating a new game using Improbable's technology
RocketWerkz, New Zealand's studio founded by Dean "Rocket" Hall, the creator of DayZ, teams up with Improbable. This British company operates in the area of technology enabling the creation of realistic real-time simulation.
Dean "Rocket" Hall is one of the most interesting figures in the industry. When a year ago he announced that he intended to leave Bohemia Interactive where he was the project lead of the popular network survival game DayZ, it was hard not to be curious about his plans for the future. These have recently become much clearer: in December the New Zealander founded RocketWerkz studio in his homeland, and now he has announced on Twitter that he is going to parter up with British company Improbable known for work involving the cutting edge technologies.
Dean "Rocket" Hall is a game developer based in New Zealand who became famous after creating DayZ mod to ARMA 2. It became so popular that soon Czech studio Bohemia Interactive (Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, ARMA series) decided to develop a standalone title based on the mod, employing Hall as the leader of the project. DayZ debuted on Steam in Early Access as a separate production in late 2013 and became an instant hit. Despite this success, in February 2014 "Rocket" announced that he was going to return to his homeland and create his own independent studio there; ultimately, he managed to do so in December.
The company seated in London has attracted media attention before. Composed of former employees of such companies as Google, Crytek, Ubisoft and Lionhead, it focuses on developing systems that enable developers to create realistic, complex, real-time simulation. Improbable's website says that the company intends to completely change the face of interactive entertainment. How do these ideas translate into practice? We can read about is on Wired website. The editors were thrilled with all new possibilities that were particularly evident during the presentation of the demo version of The Jackal Story. After an epic battle that took place in the virtual world, the map was filled with bodies of dead soldiers. However, the corpses did not just disappear after a while; they were torn to shreds by jackals lurking in the area. The more dead bodies littered the ground, the faster the population of predators grew. Soon they became a threat to the players who could choose whether to try to eliminate the attackers, build a shelter, or even attempt to lure another animal species, partial to jackal meat, to this territory. What’s most important, this entire simulation was not scripted.
It is not hard to guess why Hall is so interested in the cooperation with Improbable. "The technology I had always wanted and tried to make was finally here", he recalls his first meeting with Herman Narula, CEO of Improbable. "I didn’t need a ten year plan to make my grand visions of multiplayer come true. I could do it now." The New Zealander tried to revolutionize multiplayer games as soon as working on DayZ, but as he says, it was difficult due to technological limitations. When the game turned out to be a huge success, Hall felt that he had become a burden to the rest of the team. "My ideas are radical. I have no interest in half measures. I do not want to make safe games." Coming back home and setting up his own studio are the next steps for "Rocket" in the direction of creating titles that "no one has yet dared to create."
On paper, the whole idea looks visionary, but we are in for a long wait before we can actually see any effects of the cooperation between RocketWerkz and Improbable. Hall's first project, announced back in June, is a single player economic game; "Rocket" himself refers to it as a warm-up project before working on major titles, ensuring that he remains most passionate about creating mass multiplayer productions.
