It's not set in stone but it has been verbally set out into the interwebs thanks to lead project creator Dean “Rocket” Hall. At this year's PAX Hall made it known during a Q&A that the alpha Standalone for DayZ is scheduled to appear this June for the public.
It's crazy watching the PAX footage of Rocket being mobbed by all those people. He's like some sort of celebrity. But I think Bohemia has played it really smart having a “face” attached to one of the most popular games of 2012, if not the most popular core game of 2012.
Rocket doesn't just walk everyone through some of the advancements of the DayZ Standalone – such as the brand new inventory system, which we finally get to see in all its glory – he also takes time to talk with average gamers from the community who asked some pretty smart questions about the animation system, the network code, combat, the new radio communication and more. It certainly makes WarZ look like a product in a completely lesser category of gaming.
Dean also puts realistic expectations on when we can expect some of the more advanced features of the Standalone to launch, such as vehicles, which is set for release sometime in September, well after the initial alpha launch in June. By year's end the team would like to get base building done and finished.
You can learn more about DayZ and the progress of the development by visiting the official DayZ tumblr. With the network client-server infrastructure being the biggest hurdle at this point – to cut down on hackers, of course – at least we're starting to see a potential release date for the standalone, which is pretty cool.
