John Smedley explains how H1Z1 is different from DayZ

Following on from last night’s livestream, Sony’s John Smedley has taken to Reddit to explain how H1Z1 differs from DayZ.

For some reason, a lot of people have apparently been comparing H1Z1 to DayZ. Smedley stated that he wasn’t “going to give some politically correct dodgy b.s. answer”, and noted that both games are about “survival in a zombie apocalypse”. He added that DayZ did it first, and that DayZ is excellent.

With that out of the way, Smedders actually started discussing differences. One of the big ones is that H1Z1 wants people to build enclaves and stake out bits of territory to hold off the encroaching zombie horde. Players will be building forts, towns, and other structures to try to carve out little safe havens in a dangerous world, while other players roam the environment scavenging.

Equally, they want a player-driven economy based around crafting. Players will be manufacturing and selling things like bullets and arrows, and becoming the primary sellers of these things to other players. Food will also be a major thing, not just in terms of scavenging (or hunting) but in terms of growing and protecting crops.

The Reddit post answered a few other “common questions”, too. H1Z1 will support both first and third-person play, but third-person won’t give you line-of-sight over obstacles, and vehicles will only support third-person – for now, at least.

That stream today didn’t go quite as planned.. the server they were on had an issue and we had to restart it. That meant we didn’t get time to show everything we wanted to.

Next week we will have a lot more to show including crafting, building and a lot more about the survival aspects of the game. All that stuff is in there. Not all of it’s perfect but it’s really getting fun. So we’ll show it to you. Didn’t mean to take the extended ride in the jeep.

Answers to common questions I saw:

1) 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.

2) Vehicles will be in third person only. Could this change? Maybe but that’s what we’re putting in for now.

3) 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.

4) 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.

We’re making the game we’re making. Long term we plan 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.. 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.

We also want to make sure we have a deep in-game economy that is heavily dependent on crafting. Players will be able to become manufacturers.. sell bullets, arrows.. etc. The in-game economy will be entirely player driven.

So this is our take on the Zombie Apocalypse with a lot of friends and hopefully some great enemies both living and dead. We’re proud to be up front and say we love Day Z and the job they’ve done and we hope they enjoy what we make too.

I can say this another way.

I love 28 Days and 28 Days Later I love World War Z I love Warm Bodies (oh come on you did too you) I love Night of the Living Dead.. and all the other ones. I love The Walking Dead.

And so do most of you. So sure. We’re another Zombie Apocalypse game. Call it what it is. But our goal is to make ours fun, accessible, hard core and super, super deep. As time goes on we hope our take on the end of the world by zombie is fun and lots of people get to try it. You’ll also have all the information you need when you start Early Access for $19.99. You can watch others stream it. You can decide to wait till we switch it to Free to Play. Either way you’ll see our roadmap and you’ll see if it’s something that’s for you.

Have a good one,

Smed

Take a look at the Reddit post for the full details. Smedley stuck around and answered a few other questions in the responses – like how teamwork is heavily encouraged, and going bandit will result in a much harsher and more difficult experience – so it’s well worth having a read.