Although H1Z1 is deep in clean up mode, that doesn’t mean forward progress isn’t still being made. Producer Steve George and Senior Game Designer Adam Clegg spoke with us a bit about the upcoming features players will be able to see in the next few months, including a female zombie model, skin tinting, guild functionality, better base-building features, different types of zombies, and new points of interest like a giant hospital that will situated in the north. They also shared a few new images!
George told us that the players have had a positive response to the clean up process. “The whole idea here is to get the game in a state where it doesn’t feel like early access anymore so we can get to the next level,” he explained. As for incoming features, George said the first focus is on “getting the guild system out, and once that is working then jumping straight to base building.” This is where players will see items like construction boxes that were discussed at E3. It makes sense that the two will be close together, as the systems are very much intertwined. Clegg elaborated by explaining that the guild is like an offline group that will allow members to continue building even when others aren’t logged in.
In the next month or so players will also be able to visit the newest area to be introduced to the map: the hospital. Clegg emphasized that it is a large, multi-story gameplay space that will also include special items that will help players out (like an advanced med kit). At the same time, female zombie models will also be introduced, which is only the beginning to even more variations of zombies. Clegg told me, “The female zombie is going to let us introduce different types of zombies as well.” Instead of just the same zombies shambling toward you to attack, players can be greeted by crawling zombies, screaming zombies, exploding zombies — basically undead with different skills and speeds that will require different tactics to deal with. A part of all this variation includes adding in multiple skin tints so players and zombies both can be different ethnicities. After that, players will see the new profession system with its accompanying perks.
