Sony Online Entertainment have finally announced their previously teased free MMO as a zombie survival sandbox MMORPG, H1Z1. Until now very little information was available outside of a few PC screenshots of the game but John Smedley of Sony Online Entertainment took to Reddit today to offer more information on H1Z1’s mechanics, features and development process.
Inside his Reddit post Smedley explained that H1Z1 will include many elements that make the game unique among the flood of zombie related titles released thus far. The game will boast a persistent MMO game world that will allow for thousands of players on a single server. Multiple servers will be available and the community will have the opportunity to influence the rule sets used on each one.
Sony Online Entertainment also revealed that they will be using the popular Developer Roadmap system seen in PlanetSide 2, offering the community the opportunity to influence the development of features and mechanics as they’re created. The Player Studio will also be support, allowing the more creative amongst us to add new items and gear to the game in exchange for a cut of the profits.
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. It’s also designed from the ground up for our players to
become part of the design process. The Roadmap system that we built for
PlanetSide 2 will be used extensively to clearly communicate what
features we’re working on and what you can expect and when.
GameTalk Live have also just recently posted a new video showcasing some early gameplay footage of the game alongside a brief Q&A with Smedley himself. Check it out below:
Note: This is very early footage and there’s vehicles already in-game, there’s also some good evidence to support the rumors of a PlayStation 4 release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu-bpNaNw88
An official Website has also been revealed although currently it contains little more than an atmospheric background and a link to the games Reddit page. Stay tuned for more information next week as SOE livestream current gameplay footage from H1Z1.