Quest designer, level designer, technical level designer, open world designer, you may have heard of them all. Together, they aim to fully immerse players, making them believe not only in the unraveling narrative but also in the choices they’ll have to make. The world of Dying Light 2 Stay Human changes based on those player decisions, andour designers had to deliver a grounded experience while accounting for every possible outcome. Read our interview with the Lead Open World Designer, Cezary Nojszewski, and Level Designer, Jacek Kowalski, to find out how they pulled it off.

What is the simplest way to describe the term “Open World Design”?

Cezary: By ‘open world,’ we mean both the map’s design in the game and everything the player encounters in it. If we look at it from the player’s perspective, we can identify it as the placement of subregions, the story behind them, the enemies that dwell there, and their difficulty level.

Open World Design includes all the activities that are not considered quests, for example: freeing the village overrun by bandits, delivering fresh water to the neighborhood, enemy encounters. There are also minor incidents, like meeting a lost merchant who asks the players for help or helping a stranger who’s been bitten by a snake.

To sum it all up, there are a lot of smaller activities the player can partake in, and our job is to balance them all. We want them to feel there’s always something waiting for them at every corner, without it becoming overwhelming at the same time.

What were you responsible for during the development of Dying Light 2 Stay Human?

Cezary: My job during the development of Dying Light 2 Stay Human was designing the hubs and the settlements. They’re sort of ‘safe spaces’ for the players to rest, recuperate, shop, meet new quest givers, and repair or upgrade their weapons. More specifically, I was responsible for the functional aspect of a location’s design. But that’s not all. I was also responsible for the storytelling aspects of those places, which are crucial to how we go about introducing them in the game. By exploring, the player can notice how inhabitants behave and how the world itself changes based on their decisions. Every location in the game has multiple versions. Which version the player sees depends solely on the choices they make.

How do you come up with the story?

Cezary: It starts with the creative brief, where multiple teams provide their input since they’re all involved in creating a hub — think art direction, gameplay, and quest design.

Even though the hubs and settlements are very diverse, every player will recognize them by their consistent characteristic elements, like your resting and stash area, inventory cache, shops, or the craftmaster’s workshops. During the development of the hub, the quest design team gives us a list of characters that are crucial to the story of this location. We also consult with the narrative team about the feel of the place in order to determine its backstory and what role it plays in the world of the game.

We don’t determine a location’s atmosphere solely based on its story needs. Our job is to discuss and align our vision with the Game Direction Team. A fine example of that is how our players must move around a location and each zone has its own set of constraints — like the fact they can’t start fights in the hub. Those rules must be consistent throughout the whole game.

As you’ve probably noticed, we must gather a lot of data, which is then used as the basis for our so-called ‘paper design’. That is when we present the idea for a location, show site or floor plans and references for each stage of development to make it comprehensive. Our primary objective is to first create a foundation for our players that will make it easy to navigate in the end. Once our plans gets the green light, we develop them in our engine.

Jacek: From here on out we place blockout pieces of geometry in the engine for spots like the main square, the player’s rooms, shops, etc. At the same time, we must take into consideration the technological aspects, such as the required processing power of certain elements. We plan ahead, so our engine for the game can run smoothly.

How does the Open World Design connect to the player’s choices in the game?

Cezary: While creating the open world experience, we tend to use the player’s decisions to change it. For example, the Bazaar – its appearance, inhabitants, and even their mood – will differ depending on which faction the player decides to team up with. The classic example of a world-changing decision is helping a stranger in need. If players decide to help them, that NPC might later reappear in the game. The other great example is the Fish Eye. There are various possible states that it can appear in game, and they alternate depending on the main character’s actions. Though, there is no way to see all of them in one playthrough – it’s simply impossible.

What are the most important design considerations that are i essential for Open World Designers?

Cezary: We aim to create an immersive and engaging experience. But even though the player holds great power by being able to shape everything around them, we need to make sure that the world stays alive if they choose to be idle. The locals will still need to perform their everyday tasks, regardless if players decide to interact with them or not. Our job is also to make sure to depict the consequences of said interactions on a larger scale, and not just during quests. Settlements are a great example of that. Once the bandits are driven away, those open locations can be reinhabited by the locals, and the faction that takes their place will depend solely on whom the player teamed up with. This area is then “reborn” and becomes a new stop for new shops, restocking supplies or it can create a new spawn point.

Jacek: Another important aspect is the day and night cycle, both from the gameplay and storytelling perspective. We had to create daily routines for our NPCs and base them around the existing rules of the world. This means that during the night, they look for a safe place to hide, gather in groups around the fire, rest, and turn on UV lights everywhere. If players decide to stop there during dusk, they’ll notice the locals are hiding. When they venture out of the hub, they will encounter the Infected, human enemies, and other people inhabiting this world. Taking the same way back puts them in totally different scenarios than before. All of this breathes life into the ever-changing city, further immersing the player in its world.

Cezary: Another important aspect of our job is to work both hard and smart.

Jacek: We’re not only adding NPCs onto the map but also designing a system that generates them for us. Dynamic agendas, which is a tool we use for managing spawns and the behavior of NPCs, let us increase or decrease the population and add new character models while keeping in mind each one will need to talk. That’s why we work with the programmers, the Narrative Team, and the Audio Team to develop a dialogue system that gives all the NPCs speaking lines. It saves us a lot of time and perfectly represents why game designers need to collaborate with other teams — animators, artists, sound engineers, etc.

Cezary: A project of this scale would not be possible without the type of teamwork we do here at Techland.

What was your favorite assignment that you worked on for Dying Light 2 Stay Human?

Cezary: The Floating Fortress! This location is full of subtext and details that tell the story of the Peacekeepers. It’s a place where storytelling operates on multiple levels and layers. Look no further than the class conflict or the personal stakes of everyone who’s in there and willing to get out into the world torisk their lives on a day-to-day basis. The player can encounter some serious stories about the ups and downs of living in Villedor. They can also get a glimpse of more lighthearted scenes like kids playing together, which implies that by the end of the day, all people really want is just a bit of normalcy.

And who is your favorite NPC?

Jacek: That one guy who talks to his goat ;)