With World War Z, our popular zombie shooter, we've added a few free updates after the launch, including new modes, missions, weapons, special zombies, cosmetics, and more. The most sought-after feature for players far, coming out tomorrow: Horde Mode Z.
At this historic moment, it's a good time to step back and see what made World War Z stand out from the crowd as a fun experience, and how this will reach new mode. In this article, we will share progress information on how we separate ourselves from the challenges that come with it.
World War Z throws a smart number of zombies into players. Up to 500 on screen at a time, full streaming for you. The game was created from the ground up with this purpose in mind, and having our Swarm Engine was the main reason we succeeded, because it allowed us to adapt and adapt to what we needed.
We had one simple and effective rule: The more space you fill up, the more interesting it looks. The hordes need to be big and dangerous, while maintaining good performance and clipping quality. When we first tested the game, players often didn't shoot because they thought they were decorating the backdrop until it was too late. The towers built by zombies – climbing on top of each other to form a growing mass of uneducated meat – are also absent because they look cool; if you don't join them, they will reach high enough to reach any high point you managed to protect.
The biggest technical challenge of having too many zombies is to make the game more efficient than standard internet communications. When the holes are distant their AI is simplified but, as they approach, each zombie can appear in a group to be independent of its actions. It has taken a lot of work to make this transition as seamless and unforgettable as possible.
To combat zombie hordes, players are given extremely powerful weapons: heavy weapons, explosives, and natural objects such as air-to-air missiles. Most of these safeguards will be included in future Horde Mode, as there is a different preparation phase between each and every one of the more difficult waves. Players will use mud, electric fencing, barbed wire, pottery, and more.
Six classes allow players to take up different roles and powers. The Exterminator excels at killing guns, but is weak at special zombies, advanced enemies with special behavior. Slasher is ready to cover some of his coworkers, especially from the nearby special zombies. At first we were skeptical of Slasher, because the melee battle isn't focused on the game, but it turns out the class is fun and effective because in terms of its other related features, such as the Stun Gun. With Horde Mode Z, these roles will be moved to their limits, and we're super excited to see which combination comes out on top.
As far as the stories we wanted to tell, we were super excited to create real-life character stories within World War Z lore and worked with our writers from the beginning of the process. We decided to approach this original book by telling the story of people who are usually caught in these extreme situations. For this reason we have tried to limit the number of military characters. As we would be telling stories from different corners of the globe, we had different characters of characters with completely different backgrounds. In games, we show their personalities in two ways: what they look like (how they dress, their expressions, and their features), and what they say during the trip (what we call a "conversation battle").
Having a unique atmosphere like World War Z definitely helped keep us away from other zombie archers, but we believe our commitment to creating humorous stories with a wide variety of characters has come a long way. The huge crowds and technology that developed to create the great World War Z games made us stand out, and we can't wait to show how well this translates into the future Horde Mode Z.