DayZ standalone alpha is a "recipe for disappointment" except for hardcore fans

DayZ's upcoming standalone alpha isn't going to be a lot of fun for those who aren't excited by an inside look at development, creative lead Dean "Rocket" Hall has warned.

In an update on the DayZ forums, Hall stressed that the build to be released through Steam Early Access will be "a true-blue apha".

"Massive areas of the engine were entirely reworked, involving a large team of people over the last 12 months. Much of what these achievements will enable won't be seen for many months - so I really plead for anyone who is on the fence to take a skeptical approach - watch streams, read reviews, watch some let's play and form your opinion," he said.

"You could always come back to the game in three, six months time and buy it then. Buying early will be a recipe for disappointment, it's a chance for those who want to be part of that whole process. For them, the process is as much as part of the game as the whole experience. For many, this is the opposite of what they want. To enable a smooth launch, we really are targeting it at a core audience who want to get deeply involved in a very barebones experience that is a platform for future development."

The rest of the update concerns advances Bohemia has made on holding frame rate steady despite increased player counts, and is quite interesting.

"Overall, the mood on development is quite upbeat. We're all pretty tired, as it has been very late and long working days. We had a new programmer and new designer start this week, and some assistance from the ArmA 3 team to prepare the creation of our own audio team," Hall added.

"We're looking forward to getting the Alpha out into Early-Access. I think that while some might be disappointed that this is not some feature-packed, graphically focused, masterpiece - we've been focused on addressing the major architectural issues and it's represented a massive body of work over the last 12 months."

Thanks, Polygon.