DayZ Creator Says the Game's Success 'Ended My Old Life'

Dean Hall, the creator of the zombie survival game DayZ and founder of RocketWerkz, has a complicated history with his biggest hit, which started as a mod for Arma 2 in 2012. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Hall reflected on how the game's explosive popularity changed his life forever, comparing it to a kind of death. "When DayZ happened, it was like dying," he said. "It ended my old life. My relationship with everyone who I knew up to that point changed completely."

Despite the upheaval, Hall acknowledges the positive impact the game had on his career. "It was obviously an amazing thing that happened to me," he added. "I loved making the mod, and I loved that feeling, and I've been chasing it ever since."

The mod, which was built for Arma 2 and its expansion Operation Arrowhead, became so popular that Bohemia Interactive, the developer of Arma 2, soon announced a standalone version of DayZ, with Hall as the project lead. Hall, who sees himself primarily as a modder rather than a traditional game developer, offered advice to aspiring developers: "People think I'm a game developer who came up from [being] a modder, and I would say I'm a modder who makes games during the day. I was born a modder, and I will die a modder. And I think if there's a lesson out there for any aspiring game devs, I think it's mod games. You will learn even faster than making them."

In February 2014, Hall stepped down from his role as project lead on DayZ to found his own studio, RocketWerkz. The studio has since released titles like the VR strategy game Out Of Ammo and the space survival sim Icarus, and is currently working on Kitten Space Agency. This upcoming game serves not only as a spaceflight sim but also as a proof of concept for Hall's contribution-based development model. "With Kitten Space Agency, the game is completely free," he explained. "It's funded entirely by contributions. So that really puts it in front of the gamer's face. If you want this game to exist, how much is it worth? Because it's all on you."