Written by T. Blake Braddy, @blakebraddy

On the surface, H1Z1 might look like another DayZ clone, but the development team at Sony Online Entertainment – which includes veterans of Planetside 2 – are pushing some features that distance it from such comparisons. Senior Designer Jimmy Whisenhunt and Graphics Programmer Ryan Favale took the time to provide some insight into how weather patterns will change dynamically within the game.

I saw a YouTube video of you switching between a variety of weather patterns and times of day, but can you talk about the dynamic in-game weather system?

Ryan Favale (RF): The dynamic part of the in-game weather system is controlled by the server which sends out various weather conditions throughout the days in the H1Z1 world. This allows players to experience different temperatures throughout the day, precipitation levels, cloud formations and wind patterns, and so on. Currently, we have a ‘starter pack’ of weather in the game, and we’ll continue to expand to different weather conditions as the game continues to mature.

Speaking of in-game occurrences, from how far away can other players see emergent events, like falling trees that you’ve chopped down? Is it standard, or area-specific?

Jimmy Whisenhunt (JW): If you can see the tree, you can watch it fall! You could be at the top of a mountain and see a tree fall in the fog way out in the distance. It’s actually quite frightening sometimes to see them fall in the distance. When you first jump into the game you have that ‘I’m alone in the apocalypse’ feeling, and then suddenly a tree falls and you’re like, “Oh god, I’m not alone out here!”

RF: Visible changes in the world, like trees chopping down, can be seen from within a few meters up to hundreds of meters away. The range depends on which type of action you are seeing. For example, you might not be able to see a player moving or chopping down a tree when they’re a couple kilometers away, but you may see a building blow up or something on the larger scale from that distance.

I like the idea of finding your undead self in the game to get your stuff back. Could you talk a little bit about how that works?

JW: If you die and a player does not interact with your body (IE: you die to zombies in an unpopulated area), eventually your body will turn into a zombie and the items you had on you at the time will go with the zombie ‘you’. You’ll have to hunt the zombie down to get all your stuff.

To take that idea a bit farther, will players be able to play as zombies in certain game modes?

JW: We’ve talked about this to some length, and we’ll see what the future holds. It could be fun for some game modes.

Do you plan on including a variety of in-game vehicles?

JW: Yes, we plan to have a variety of vehicles in H1Z1. We’ll have the off-roader available in-game when Early Access launches and it’s a great passenger utility vehicle. We’ll add more vehicles as we find the gaps that need to be filled in vehicle gameplay.

How much more complex do you plan on making the systems within the game? Are you still thinking of ideas that will fundamentally shift the way players look at the game?

JW: We’re constantly weighing new features against the systems currently in game and evaluating how systems affect each other. We’re looking for opportunities to add content that can and will change the way you survive, especially after Early Access. We truly want this to be a dynamic experience for players.

RF: We’ve talked a lot internally and with the players about what we’d like to implement after Early Access, such as features that alter how you will play the game, who you can be, different levels of immersion, the effect of various environments and rule-sets, etc. As for the weather, we plan on adding many more dynamic features throughout that will impact gameplay, immersion, and enhance “life” within the game.

H1Z1 is coming soon to Steam Early Access, but no firm release date has been set.