A NEW HOPE: Will2k's Dying Light Single-player campaign [WIP]

[will2k]

3 hours ago, Radu said:

When?

My plan was to release in end May-early June and as the saying goes "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"

I had a series of unfortunate and unforeseen setbacks that inevitably delayed the above plan of release.

My mother is going to have surgery by the end of this month and this is a priority (family comes first ) with all the pre-surgery appointments and taking her to the doctor and whatnot.

Next, I found a new and better way to implement my NPC dialogues and player monologues so i had to re-adjust and re-write considerable chunks of dialogs and the corresponding quest script lines.

To add to this, Techland patched the game in early June which in turn screwed the developer tools; the map started crashing at loading screen and couldn't work on it for a week 

Finally, E3 happened and everyone, developer Techland and the active player base, has their eyes on Dying Light 2. Any content for DL1 will probably go unnoticed so we will wait a bit until DL2 hype sets down a  notch 

The map is 95% done and under active development, so that is reassuring after all the above setbacks.

Thanks everyone for the continuous support and for sticking around for this long, I hope it will be worth it in the end 

[blackdog]

Good luck with putting the finishing touches, you deserve a lot of attention for such a massive job.

I hope Techland can find a way to highlight your creation too!

[will2k]

Another 2 months hiatus, but justified 

As I mentioned in my last post above back in June, my mother had her knee surgery in July. I've been by her side for over a month now as she slowly re-adapts to the simple task of walking, through intensive and painful physical therapy and rehabilitation.

All level design activities were basically on hold for all of July and a considerable part of August. I resumed work by mid-August, at full speed to cover the last remaining 5% of this project. I also went back to earlier parts of this campaign that were designed in late 2017-early 2018, and did a visual overhaul as well as scripts/quests cleanup to bring them to the level of the later parts of 2018 and 2019.

But wait, there's more . I also added 2 new side quests and a player challenge on top of the already existing 5 quests.

Some interesting facts and features:

- More than 1100 lines of quest script
- 400+ lines of dialogue and player monologue with custom dialogue audio
- Custom original storyline that ties into the main game and its expansion
- Proper rewards for each quest (XP, cash, items, weapons...)
- Vast open world, free to explore
- Plenty of areas to explore and loot, with secrets, easter eggs, crafting blueprints, weapons...
- Scripted NPCs to interact and chat with
- Boss fights
...

The campaign is mostly done, I'm putting the final touches and doing some tweaks/polish before the public release, which will be announced soon on this page. Stay tuned.

Here's a 5 min short video showcasing random gameplay in the newer parts of the campaign (the actual map is twice the size of what is shown in the video). No quests, special events/fights, or spoilers are shown in the video so people will get the full experience, spoiler-free, when they download and play the campaign.

Thanks to everyone who offered feedback, cheers, and general support during the almost 2-year lifespan of this massive project; truly appreciate it.

 

[will2k]

Scripted NPCs gameplay/dialogue

Another short video (5 min) before public release.

The video showcases scripted NPCs going about their various daily activities in the survivor hub called "The Sanctuary". The video also shows some NPC dialogues, and how NPC activities change during the day, and when transitioning to evening, then night.

Someone is a mechanic, others are farmers and tool makers; some folks stand guard to protect the safehouse while some lazy asses just sleep or play guitar all day long . Many kids are also playing games under the watchful eyes of the guards.

Many NPCs switch between activities that change as the day progresses (1:45 in the video). In the late afternoon/early evening, most stop their activities to catch some rest while others play cards and hit the bottle  (2:28 in video)

Finally, at night, most go to sleep while a few remain alert to guard the place (3:35 in video)

As usual, the video is spoiler-free with no critical tasks or quests shown; the small dialogue shown in the video is also not affecting the quests or storyline.

 

[will2k]

It's mostly done

I noticed a pattern while looking at the timestamps of my earlier posts here in this WIP thread: I seem to go offline for 2-3 months, then pop up with a major update, then go totally dark for another 2-3 months, then show up again, then radio silent,...you get the point 

Real life has been a rough ride for the past couple of months and development time took a hit but as always, I was able to fight back and compensate in a big way.

I added not one, but 2 new big side quests that tightly integrate and complement the main story quest. A new addition is also a quarantine zone challenge (takes place in a newly created additional map) which brings the total to 2 main storyline quests, 8 big side quests, 1 parkour timed-challenge, and 1 quarantine zone challenge.

Since the campaign takes place in a vast open world, that is free to explore (1km+), I added fast travel through the tunnels/sewers system once the whole map is unlocked and accessible.

And for the icing on the cake, I created an intro movie fully animated in-game in first person perspective to keep player immersion.

Finally, a LOT of time has been spent on art passes and polishing, backstory embellishment, as well as bug fixing to make this campaign a smooth ride from start to finish.

After 2 years (on and off), this campaign has evolved into a game (or DLC) on its own with roughly 4-6+ hours of gameplay. If I were using a licensed engine (UE4 or Unity), I would've probably released it as a standalone game  

As I stated in the opening paragraph, campaign is mostly done: just doing some final touch ups as well as some intensive playtesting (and waiting on some feedback from a tester); once all is green, the campaign will go live

Thanks again to everyone who's been on this train ride with me for the past 2 years with support and uplifting cheers; special shout out to @blackdog and @Radu 

Some new screenshots to make up for the lack of updates in the last 3 months

 

The new quarantine zone

 

A new sidequest where the player will probably shit their pants

 

The sewers leading to the countryside (intro movie)

[Radu]

Will 2 FUCKING k!

@will2k How have you been doing? Hope there's nothing serious going on, but know we're always here looking out for each other!

Edited November 25, 2019 by Radu

[will2k]

2 minutes ago, Radu said:

Will 2 FUCKING k!

[Lizard]

Hey man! This looks incredible. I should propably play it some time soon.

Hit me up if you want some feedback from the guys that worked on DL 1   Maybe I will be able to forward it!

Edited November 25, 2019 by Lizard

[leplubodeslapin]

It's sick ! I'm glad you're able to release this before DL2 comes out, I'm sure a lot of people are interested in playing such an extensive campaign.

Maybe Techland can help you to promote the campaign ? I don't know much about Dying Light custom campaigns but this seems very impressive and totally deserves to be under the spotlights !

[Lizard]

13 minutes ago, leplubodeslapin said:

It's sick ! I'm glad you're able to release this before DL2 comes out, I'm sure a lot of people are interested in playing such an extensive campaign.

Maybe Techland can help you to promote the campaign ? I don't know much about Dying Light custom campaigns but this seems very impressive and totally deserves to be under the spotlights !

You are totally right! This deserve some attention

[will2k]

17 hours ago, Radu said:

Will 2 FUCKING k!

@will2k How have you been doing? Hope there's nothing serious going on, but know we're always here looking out for each other!

Thanks mate! appreciate the support, concern, and care 

16 hours ago, Lizard said:

Hey man! This looks incredible. I should propably play it some time soon.

Hit me up if you want some feedback from the guys that worked on DL 1   Maybe I will be able to forward it!

Thanks

I might ask you to forward them a technical question though 

I had this question channeled to the DL1 designers back in early 2018 through the community manager; I got a reply that sadly did not work for custom maps then I presume the designers got busy with Bad Blood, and DL2, and never got a follow up answer.

I'll hit you up with a PM with the details

14 hours ago, leplubodeslapin said:

It's sick ! I'm glad you're able to release this before DL2 comes out, I'm sure a lot of people are interested in playing such an extensive campaign.

Maybe Techland can help you to promote the campaign ? I don't know much about Dying Light custom campaigns but this seems very impressive and totally deserves to be under the spotlights !

Thank you 

[Lizard]

23 minutes ago, will2k said:

Thanks

I might ask you to forward them a technical question though 

I had this question channeled to the DL1 designers back in early 2018 through the community manager; I got a reply that sadly did not work for custom maps then I presume the designers got busy with Bad Blood, and DL2, and never got a follow up answer.

I'll hit you up with a PM with the details

Sure thing! Go ahead

[blackdog]

On 11/25/2019 at 6:18 PM, will2k said:

Real life has been a rough ride for the past couple of months and development time took a hit but as always, I was able to fight back and compensate in a big way.

 

You’re the man @will2k! Another impressive update and persevering for so long This is crown jewel level for a portfolio.

Sorry only just seen this, thank you for the mention, I’m honoured.

Once again I repeat that this needs to be distributed by Techland as an update to the game. I was wondering what can we do to make it happen, maybe a bunch of is tweeting at Techland, some petition…

[will2k]

On 11/30/2019 at 8:34 PM, blackdog said:

You’re the man @will2k! Another impressive update and persevering for so long This is crown jewel level for a portfolio.

Sorry only just seen this, thank you for the mention, I’m honoured.

Once again I repeat that this needs to be distributed by Techland as an update to the game. I was wondering what can we do to make it happen, maybe a bunch of is tweeting at Techland, some petition…

you've been a constant voice of support, grazie  

Let me release the campaign first, then we'll see how things flow from there on 

[will2k]

The moment when the light dies down

 

These singles in your area want to chat with you...These NPCs want to talk to you and give you side quests.