H1Z1 (PS4, post apocalyptic MMO, free to play)

[2-0-Sixx]

Sony Reveals New MMO H1Z1
Zombies, middle America, and crafting, oh my!


Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley revealed today that the company has been developing a free-to-play MMO called H1Z1.

"It’s a massively multiplayer game in which players fight for survival in a world where death is the only sure thing," Smedley said. "The H1Z1 virus devastated mankind and left nothing but death and destruction in its wake and a world nearly empty of human life where the remnants of humanity are in a fight against extinction against those infected with the virus."​

Smedley addressed the similarities between H1Z1 and other survival/zombie titles by pointing to many of the features that SOE hopes will make H1Z1 rise above the rest. Some of the features Smedley spoke of include multiple servers with different rule sets that can hold "thousands of players," crafting, an in-game economy built around a trading system, and many more.

"It uses our proprietary next-gen Forgelight engine and that means we’ve had a lot of really cool technology to work with to make the game we wanted to make," he added. The game will also use the roadmap system from Planetside 2 to "clearly communicate what features we’re working on."​

Smedley also stated that the game is designed to allow players to become part of the design process.

"We’ll be opening it up for Player Studio creations too so expect player-created items to make their way into the game," he said. The design team is putting emphasis on "player ownership and building."​

The game's newly formed subreddit is "very open to answering questions," and the team will be doing a livestream of a playtest session next week. Be sure to keep checking back to IGN for more news as it develops.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

It’s been 15 years since H1Z1 was first encountered and what’s left of the world before is overrun with the Infected. Humanity has been reduced to hiding in the shadows, searching desperately for food and water and anything that can help to survive even for another day. But the Infected aren’t the only dangers in the world. Everyday life in the Apocalypse means dealing with all kinds of wild animals and the brutality of other survivors, as well as finding your next meal and a safe place to sleep. It also means scavenging or crafting anything that can help you live just one more day. In H1Z1 every minute of every day is borrowed time and fearing for your life… unless you are the Danger (talking to you Walter), but life can and will go on… even in circumstances as dire as this. Humanity has not given in to the Infected. There are still pockets of humanity and the fight goes on!

Smedley continued, "To use a simple reference I’m sure everyone interested in this game will get… we want our players to make Woodbury from The Walking Dead if they want to. Or take over a prison. Or fix an old car so you and your friends (yeah we have multiplayer vehicles) can run zombies and players over mercilessly, and revel in the sheer delight of hearing a zombie scream as you light it on fire, or craft a gun to take down your friends and enemies alike. Our goal here is to provide emergent gameplay that will allow our players to make the world their own the way they want to. One of the best things about H1Z1 being an MMO is the fact that with a lot of people playing, we’re able to see all different kinds of gameplay. If you prefer a quiet life as a farmer raising crops… we’re going to make sure your zombie apocalypse fantasy is complete. If you’re like me and you want nothing more than to kill everything that moves, by all means see how that goes. It’s going to be a blast!"

 

[gimmefreemusic]

I'm really hype for this, gonna be fun as hell rolling with a squad robbing everyone and killing zombies haha. Shit like this got me reeeallly happy I decided to ditch microsoft. They can keep their robot call of duty, I'll take all kinds of sick indie games instead.

I seen dayz devs wanna bring it to ps4 too but this game may kill that idea.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

They can just learn from day z the good the bad and make something better

 

[Count_Slapula]

This game basically looks like War Z/7 Days to Die with a lot of potential. Open world zombie survival games are becoming over abundant atm though, there is wayyyy too many. This will be a treat to console gamers that have no clue about how prevalent that genre is on comps.

They can just learn from day z the good the bad and make something better

Yeah, standalone is beyond garbage. The community is surpassing everything the developer is attempting to do in the game. They are lacking content so I hope this game doesn't suffer the same fate.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

“Here is something that you can do here [in H1Z1] that you can’t do in other games, light things on fire. You will be able to burn down trees, burn down stuff and that is going to be a lot of fun,” he said in an interview with GamerTalkLive.

Unlike other zombie games, H1Z1 will feature dynamic zombie AI resulting into different experience every time the player plays the game. “H1Z1 is the first game that we will be putting out that will have emergent AI. The zombie themselves have their own individual AI, they are not on some pre-programmed script and they actually think of themselves.,” he explained.

He also believes that H1Z1* features the deepest crafting system ever. “This game has the deepest crafting system that I have ever seen in any game. If you find a vehicle, you have to find a battery, you have to refill the cell, find spark plugs. We are not screwing around, this is going to be a hard game. If people don’t like hard games that don’t play this game. “


[...]

"Our Map Editing system allows us to quickly add massive areas. We want to make sure we clearly understand how the players are playing the game before we do that. On Planetside 2 we made a mistake by making multiple continents before we had a strong enough idea of what worked and what didn't. This game is different. We're doing it smarter."

Smedley went on to confirm an Early Access period in which a "massive" map will be open for players--but this "massive" map is only the beginning. "Over time (very quickly) they'll magically just be able to keep going further than they've gone before. It's a very unique way of doing it, but we actually think this is a better way to go."

Smedley also talks about nailing the atmosphere of a zombie apocalypse, something that the MMO genre's somewhat immersion-breaking traditions seem at odds with. "Zombie Apocalypse isn't going to be any fun if it's like Disneyland on Spring Break and super crowded," he believes. "We want remote.. haunting... being scared when you see someone. Your first instinct needs to be to hide. If there are 20 players in your view it's not a very convincing Apocalypse "

"So how many players per server? Who knows. As we add more land the number of people we can hold on a server goes way up."

In a previous post, Smedley also explained:

"We’ll have urban cities and desolate wide open places. All connected seamlessly. Our focus is building a sandbox style of gameplay where players can build shelters out of resources in the world. They can even work together to make amazing fortresses complete with weaponry to help defend against both the Infected and other players."

 

[mrtonguetwista]

Following up on yesterday’s live stream of SOE’s upcoming, free-to-play “hardcore survival game”, H1Z1, president John Smedly gave up a few more details, answering a number of frequently asked questions.

Without giving a “politically correct dodgy b.s. answer”, Smedly even went into some of the differentiating factors between SOE’s game, and Bohemia Interactive’s popular zombie survival game, DayZ. The similarities are clearly there, and thus comparisons are bound to be made. Here’s how he handled it on Reddit:

We will have first and third person?

“Third person will not give you LOS over obstacles. We intend to make it more of a preference. I find myself switching to it occasionally but I love combat in first person. To those who say we can’t serve two masters – play the game before you judge.”

Vehicles will be in third person only? Could this change?

“Maybe but that’s what we’re putting in for now.”

Why was there so much stuff around 15 years later

“We wanted to show you how the mechanics worked. Simple as that. We intend to make surviving a lot about catching your food. Longer term about growing it and protecting it.”

How is this different from Day Z?

“Saw this a lot. Not going to give some politically correct dodgy b.s. answer. It is a survival in a Zombie Apocalypse game. So is Day Z. They have made a brilliant game (first I might add). They have a great vision for it and can count myself and most of the people on our team as fans and contributors.”

He also added that, in the long run, the studio plans on ”making this about a persistent world with a big landscape with thousands of players.”

“The way we would like to see this roll out is much more like players building small enclaves or pockets of territory and hold out against a legitimate zombie threat that’s ever present while others go it alone taking their chances” Smeldy wrote. “These player built structures, forts and towns are one of the ways the players try to carve out some small space in a dangerous world.”

He explained that H1Z1 would feature a deep in-game economy heavily dependant on crafted items. “Players will be able to become manufacturers.. sell bullets, arrows.. etc. The in-game economy will be entirely player driven.”

Early access to H1Z1 is launching next month for $19.99 and will launch as a free-to-play title on the PC and PlayStation 4 at an unannounced date.

 

[JackArtist510]

ill never leave the house again

 

[T-Rip]

I might have missed it but is there a subscription fee or upgrades gonna cost money?

 

[mrtonguetwista]

 

[HERESY]

Premise looks good. The graphics can use work, however.