NEWS
by Mark Barley
'Day Z' mod inspired by rigorous military training exercises
Dean Hall, creator of the ArmA 2 mod Day Z, stated that the mod was formed from rigorous military training exercises.
In a recent interview with Dork Shelf, Hall told a story from his time in New Zealand's military; specifically a time where Hall was training for a special forces mission in Singapore where he had to spend extended time in the jungle alone. Low on food, Hall was the fastest to reach an extraction point mainly due to his drive for extra food. To his dismay, however, there were no extra rations.
“One guy, I don’t know how, but he managed to finish this exercise with some food left over. He gave me a biscuit, and I swear that, at that time, no one had ever done anything that nice to me. I started crying. Because someone gave me a biscuit,” he said.
After Hall's ordeal he needed surgery and seven weeks of recovery. After that his passion for video games and programming was renewed, thus Day Z was born. You can read the full feature here.