H1Z1 Interview: Dynamic Weather, Forgelight Engine, Micro-transactions And More

H1Z1 is an upcoming survival horror zombie MMO video game under development at Sony Online Entertainment. Taking place across United States, this is no simple and easy MMO. The developers have made it clear that the game will be extremely challenging and players will have to build shelters and craft weapons.

GamingBolt caught up with the game’s designer Adam Clegg to talk about the title’s weather system, the PS4 version, micro-transactions, the Forgelight engine and more. Check out his response below.

Leonid Melikhov: H1Z1 has a dynamic weather system that we haven’t seen in any game before. It has rain clouds that move from region to region. What else is there about the weather system?

Adam Clegg: Our weather system is dynamic; it comes and goes as like a normal weather system does. What makes it different is it actually affects you. We are not just putting the rain in the game because it looks cool, we are putting rain in the game because we want it to put out camp fires. We wanted to make you cold, we want to make sure that when rain comes you’re actually aware of it and you’re going try to survive.

Leonid Melikhov: I know there is going to be rain…but what about snow?

Adam Clegg: Snow…you know one day we’ll probably wanna add snow. I know our graphics programmer actually talked about it, but for early access it’ll probably just be rain right now.

"As far as the PS4 version is concerned we are actually concentrating on the PC release. No one in the development team is working on the PS4 [version] and we are focused 100% on PC, for now."

Leonid Melikhov: I think it’d be a nice setting to have different seasons such as summer.

Adam Clegg: Oh yeah, for sure.

Leonid Melikhov: H1Z1 is being built on Forgelight Engine which is the same engine used for PlanetSide 2. What kind of adjustments have you made to the engine to accommodate H1Z1 since its vastly different game from PlanetSide 2?

Adam Clegg: So, we had to rip out a-lot of the PlanetSide 2 shooter code because we didn’t want it to be a really tight action first-person shooter style game. We wanted it to be more survival, so we kind of tuned things there, we built the world just completely different. PlanetSide 2 is a PvP 3 empire 100% first-person shooter. Our game is a survival game, so we built the world completely different. But a lot of the backbone is there, it’s the ForgeLight Engine, it’s able to handle thousands of players, it’s able to make these massive worlds. It has this awesome sky and weather, it’s really great, the engine is really powerful, you can kind of create any game you want to.

Leonid Melikhov: We do know that the PC version is coming out later this year. Do we have an exact date? Furthermore when will the PS4 version happen?

Adam Clegg: The PC version release, basically, we are not ready yet. The team sat down and there were two things that we actually learnt. What do the players want, which is big and they want a lot of things, and we can accommodate them as we plan for it. And the other thing was what do players expect. I think players expect a lot from the game and they don’t talk about it since they are expecting to be there and there were a lot of things we did not had in the game that players were expecting. We did not want to launch early access without those things missing. So once things are in place and we have a polished alpha then we will push it as early access. So no date just yet.

As far as the PS4 version is concerned we are actually concentrating on the PC release. No one in the development team is working on the PS4 [version] and we are focused 100% on PC, for now. [laughs]

"We’re actually talking about the marketplace and right now it is just about selling consumables. We’ve talked about a lot of ways to monetize the game, we’ve actually asked our players on our own Reddit thread. But for now, it’s just going to be consumables and any good ideas that the players come up with."

Leonid Melikhov: What is the latest update on in-game micro-transaction? I know you guys have claimed it won’t be unfair, so how are you planning to make it fair?

Adam Clegg: We’re actually talking about the marketplace and right now it is just about selling consumables. We’ve talked about a lot of ways to monetize the game, we’ve actually asked our players on our own Reddit thread. But for now, it’s just going to be consumables and any good ideas that the players come up with.

But anything that’s the core loop of survival – if it’s a backpack that gives you more slots , if it’s something you can armor your vehicle up with, if it’s something that keeps you warm, we’re not gonna sell any of that. It’s going make sure you have to craft that or find in the world.

Leonid Melikhov: Will there ever be a scenario where the player is being attacked or followed by 100’s of zombies? After all the game does intend to scare.

Adam Clegg: Yeah, I mean there is going be scenarios where you’re attacked by a massive horde of zombies. If you’re running through a town and there is a lot of good loot there we’re gonna protect it with the zombies, but that’s definitely something you going to be aware of. If you create a lot of noise and explosions the zombies are going to come after you.

Leonid Melikhov: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about H1Z1?

Adam Clegg: For sure, definitely check out H1Z1.com. Also, go to our Reddit thread and ask us any questions about the game.

Leonid Melikhov: Sounds awesome, thank you so much Adam.

Adam Clegg: Yeah, no problem, thank you!