Dev Diary

Dev Diary #7 — Night falls on schedule

2026-10-18

The world has a clock now, the night has eyes, and the weather got a lot more ambitious.

Night vision
Press N to flip your goggles down. Green phosphor, grain and a soft tube edge. Bright light is your enemy: a muzzle flash, a lightning strike or a torch in the face whites the view out for a moment. Every shot fired near you shows up in your goggles too.
— Mara Lind, Technical Artist

Day and night, for real
Time runs now. A full day takes about two real hours: around ninety minutes of daylight and a short, dangerous night. Server owners can speed up the day, the night, or both, with the same time settings DayZ admins already know.

Wind
The wind has a direction and a speed, it gusts, and storms push it harder. It makes the cold bite through your clothes when you're out in the open, and it carries your scent to the dead downwind. Stay upwind.
— Sol Reyes, World Designer

A few small things that feel big
A small dot at the centre of the screen when you're not aiming, which you can turn off. Scopes glide between zoom levels. A speed marker shows how fast you've set your walk. The main menu has an EXIT.
— Priya Shah, UX Designer

Weather that fights back (being designed)
We're designing the weather list server owners will control: normal weather, plus rare chaotic events like tornadoes, whiteout blizzards, flash floods on the Hudson, ice storms and a blood moon. Each one can be switched off or made rarer. None of it is in the game yet; this is where it's headed.
— Marcus Webb, Social Designer

Next up: guns and doors in your hands. Stowing your rifle on your back, doors you push open as you walk.

— Relentless Pursuit Studios

Dev Diary #6 — They can smell you

2026-10-17

A big day. The dead learned new tricks, the guns got friendlier, and Troy started going up block by block.

Fresh ones run
The dead don't all move the same. The newly turned are the dangerous ones: they sprint, climb and grab. The longer they've been dead, the more they rot. Runners tire, shamblers lurch, and the oldest can only crawl. A street full of recent dead is a very different street from one that died long ago.

Not every body is dead
With nothing to chase, the dead don't stand around. They sit against walls, slump in cars and lie in the road like corpses, and they get up when they notice you. Give that body on the sidewalk a wide berth.
— Viktor Hale, Encounter Designer

They can smell you
Blood, sweat, rotting food in your pack, a week without a wash: it all carries, and the wind carries it further. The dead follow a fresh trail right to your door. Bandage up, wash in the river, keep your food sealed and stay upwind.

Mind where you go
Yes, you'll need to relieve yourself, and yes, it leaves a scent. Never near your hideout. Somebody else's, on the other hand...
— Nadia Okafor, Survival Designer

Jammed? Press J
Guns jam. Press J to clear it and get back in the fight. A bad jam can take a couple of tries. Swap to a fresh mag on an empty gun and it chambers a round for you, no extra step. Scopes zoom with the mouse wheel now, and your aiming speed slows with the magnification so you can hold a long shot steady.
— Dex Kowalski, Combat Designer

Your controls, your way
The settings menu is now a full setup: resolution and ultrawide, graphics quality, audio and full key rebinding. Mouse speed has separate left/right and up/down sliders for moving, aiming and scopes. M opens the map, H your health, and Caps Lock is your radio.
— Priya Shah, UX Designer

Brownstones
Troy's rowhouses are going in the way they really stand: raised parlour floors, solid stone stoops and heavy cornices, with basement windows below and a small hedged garden out front. Every building sits on its own foundation, and every one has a way in.
— James Garnett, Building Builder

Next up: the rooms behind those doors.

— Relentless Pursuit Studios

Dev Diary #5 — Every gun has a voice

2026-10-16

Firearms started this week, and it's been a big one. Here's what each of us got done.

The armoury so far
Nineteen firearms are ready to show: a revolver and a big-bore pistol, compact SMGs, carbines and battle rifles, pump and semi-auto shotguns, and two bolt-action rifles for the long shots. Each one has its own handling. An M4 climbs for the first few rounds before you wrestle it flat, an SMG snaps and recovers fast, and a bolt gun makes you earn every shot.

Hold your breath
Aiming? Hold Left Alt to steady your sights. It costs arm strength, and push it too long and your breath gives out in a shaky gasp right when you wanted the shot.

Patch it up
Repair kits for guns and armour are going in. A field repair gets you back in the fight but wears the item down for good; a proper bench does better.
— Dex Kowalski, Combat Designer

Pick your mode
Press B to step through whatever the gun can do: semi, burst or auto. The ammo readout shows it at a glance: one cartridge for semi, three for burst, five for auto, right next to your round count. Guns with a single action just show the numbers.

Everything has a place
Pick something up and it goes into a free space that can take it. Every item takes its real size. Plate carriers take front, back and side plates over soft armour, and you can pull and swap them piece by piece.
— Priya Shah, UX Designer

Hands where they belong
Your character now holds each weapon properly: firing hand on the grip, support hand on the handguard, and a relaxed low-ready carry when you're just moving. In first person you see your own arms, gloves and sleeves, whatever you're wearing.

One shell at a time
Shotguns load the way they really do. Each shell goes into the tube on its own, you can stop halfway if trouble shows up, and the pump chambers the first round.
— Tomás Rivera, Animation Designer

One more thing: take to the skies
A flyable gyrocopter is coming, if you can find one, or salvage the parts to get one back in the air. It's loud, so every survivor, scavenger and infected for miles will know you're up there, but a post-apocalyptic world just wouldn't be right without one.
— Sol Reyes, World Designer

Next up: taking your gun apart and building it the way you want.

— Relentless Pursuit Studios

Dev Diary #4 — Staying alive is a skill

2026-10-15

Nadia here. I look after everything that keeps you alive, or slowly doesn't. This week the second big piece of the game landed: your body.

Every wound is its own problem
Get shot in the leg and it's your leg that's hurt: you limp, you can't sprint, and it bleeds until you deal with it. A light bleed needs a bandage, a heavy one needs pressure and a tourniquet, and a broken bone needs a splint. Each wound sits where it happened, and you treat each one.

Blood is a real resource
Lose enough and you go pale, then shaky, then you drop. Saline and blood bags bring you back, and yes, a friend can give blood for you.

Down, not out
Take too much and you go down instead of dying outright. A teammate can drag you to cover, patch you up, and if your heart stops, start it again with CPR. Alone, you get a few seconds to decide whether to hang on or give up.

Treating each other
Bandages, splints, meds and surgery work on yourself or on someone else, and the game makes sure two people can't waste supplies on the same wound.

Your gear, at a glance
The new inventory screen puts everything you carry on one page: weapons down the left, your survivor and every piece of gear in the middle, and your rig, pockets, backpack and belt in one scrolling column, each item taking its real size. The world stays faintly visible behind it, because nothing pauses out there.

One character, done properly
Coming next is a Character screen that shows your survivor on a server, how long they've lasted and what they've learned. Deleting one will take a deliberate five-second hold, so you never lose a character by accident.

Next up is firearms: handling, recoil, armour with real plates, and taking your gun apart to build it the way you want.

— Nadia Okafor, Survival Designer, Relentless Pursuit Studios

Dev Diary #3 — Your body is the HUD

2026-10-14

Priya here. I look after everything you see on screen, and today the whole HUD got rebuilt.

Your stance at a glance
Bottom left, a grey figure shows how you're standing: upright, kneeling or prone. It's a real soldier from the game,
helmet, night vision and pack, rifle shouldered, so you read it without thinking.

Six things keeping you alive
Health, Food, Water, Stamina, Bio and Radiation, each with its own weathered icon. When a bar runs low the icon starts
to blink; when it's critical the icon glows red. Bio and Radiation work the other way: empty while you're fine, filling
up as sickness or a dose builds. Next to them, a glass thermometer shows your body temperature.

Noise and sight
A small speaker shows how far you'd be heard, with waves that grow the louder you are, and rain will cover your noise.
An eye beside it shows how much you stand out. If something you could see is watching you, you'll know. The speaker
and the eye sit right beside your quick bar.

Your quick bar
Ten slots, 1 to 0: rifle, sidearm, pistol and knife first, anything you like after. Painted steel frames, worn to rust at
the edges, and you can hide the bar for a clean screen.

Finding your way
Wear a compass and a heading strip appears up top. Find a GPS with a charged cell and you get a handheld screen with a
map. A paper map you unfold in your hands, but it won't tell you where you are: you work that out from streets and
landmarks. Mark it up as you go, and remember that whoever takes your map takes your notes.

Looting that respects your time
See something on the ground? One press and it's yours. Open your inventory and everything within reach shows up: loose
gear, open crates, and the bodies around you, the dead and the undead alike. Containers and bodies take a quick search
the first time; once you've searched one, it stays revealed for you.

One survivor
You make your survivor once. Die, and you come back as the same person. Start fresh only if you choose to, and you start
from nothing.

The sky is the enemy
Radioactive rain drifting up the Hudson, a mist that lingers in the low ground before it clears, and weather that can
freeze you one hour and roast you the next. Every building holds heat differently, so board up the windows, patch the
roof and light a fire. A sealed room keeps the mist out; a broken window lets it creep in.

Under the skin
The body got deeper too: internal bleeding, chest wounds, broken ribs, stitches, IV drips and transfusions with real blood
types, and surgery in stages that someone else can finish if you're interrupted. Climb ladders, lean around corners,
crawl, and drag a downed friend to safety. Nobody can rob you while you're out cold. And the more you practise, the better
a medic, runner or hauler you become.

More soon.
— Priya, UX

Dev Diary #2 — What hunts you, and how you survive it

2026-10-13

Viktor here. I design the things that want you dead. Today the whole team locked in some of the biggest pieces of the
game, so this one's a long one. Everything below is designed and on its way; we'll show it on screen as it lands.

The undead
The strain killed most people. Some of the dead came back with nothing left but instinct. They wander by day, and they
find you by sight, by scent and by sound. Their eyes catch movement before anything else, so a survivor who freezes in
the open can have one shamble right past. Your smell carries, though: sweat, blood, a wound you haven't dressed.
And like anything dead, they rot. The freshly turned are the worst of them: still whole, still able to run, climb and
grab. The longer they've been dead, the more they fall apart: slower, weaker, losing their senses, until the oldest
can barely drag themselves along. A fresh one is the one to fear.

The Shades
Not everyone the strain took is dead. The Shades are still alive, and something of who they were is still there: the
coat, the face, the habits. They're fast and aggressive, they hunt in packs of two to five, and when one is badly hurt
it breaks off and runs.
They can't bear UV light. Sunlight burns them, so by day they nest in the dark: basements, tunnels, gutted buildings.
A blacked-out room at noon may already be taken. At night they come out. The oldest and worst of them, the Night
Hunters and the rare Greys, rule the dark hours.
UV is your best friend. A UV lamp is a wall the Shades won't cross, and it hurts them, but it won't kill them. And it
won't hide your camp from the dead.

A bite is a clock
Survivors are immune to what's in the air, but not to a bite. A bite starts an infection that climbs from 1 to 100.
Find a cure in time and you live. Once it reaches 95, there's no going back. When you turn, you become one of them,
undead or Shade, and you walk off into the world still wearing everything you had. Your next survivor can go and
take it back.

Food that matters
Food has real weight now. Canned and packaged food lasts; fresh food spoils fast. Meat comes raw, cooked, burnt or
spoiled, and eating it wrong can make you sick. Cook over a fire, a camp stove or a grill, boil your water, and smoke
or dry meat to make it last. Hunted deer, bear, birds and fish, farm eggs and milk, and food foraged from abandoned
orchards are all on the list, along with simple meals like stew.

Ammo for every gun
Every Western calibre we use is planned, each with its own loads: 9mm, .45 ACP, .357 and .44 Magnum, 5.7x28,
5.56 NATO, 7.62 NATO and .308, 12-gauge, and .50 BMG, plus arrows and crossbow bolts. Full metal jacket, hollow point,
armour-piercing and tracer for rifles and pistols; buckshot, slugs and birdshot for shotguns. Armour matters: a fresh
plate either stops a round or it doesn't, and you'll learn which.

Tools for server owners
Community servers will get a full admin toolkit: player management, item spawning, teleporting, a live map, weather
and time control, base and claim tools, and a permissions editor with roles. Every action is logged, and official
servers keep the strongest powers switched off so they stay fair for everyone.

Make your survivor
The character creator is designed: male or female, then face, skin tone, hair, beard, eye colour, and scars and
tattoos, all on a live 3D model you can turn and zoom. Then a name, and into the world. No classes and no stat points:
everyone starts equal, and you get better by doing.

The armoury
Here's a first look at what you'll be carrying. The M4A1 is already in, with real magazines you load round by round, reloads and feed failures. Coming in behind it:
- Rifles: AR-15 pattern carbines and rifles, a 7.62 battle rifle, and modular rifles you can build up.
- Hunting and long range: a bolt-action hunting rifle and a long-range sniper rifle.
- Close quarters: submachine guns and compact PDWs.
- Shotguns: a pump-action and a classic double-barrel.
- Sidearms: service pistols and revolvers.
- And more: grenades, a riot shield, bows and crossbows.
Every one of them can be modded, wears out with use, and can jam when you least want it to.

Next up: the first infected on screen, and the creator built.

— Viktor Hale, Encounter Designer, Relentless Pursuit Studios

Dev Diary #1 — Dressing the survivor

2026-10-12

Hi all, Jules here. I look after our items and content, and this week a lot of that work was about one question: what
does a survivor actually look like up close?

Clothes that sit right
Twenty pieces of clothing got their models this week: flannel and thermal shirts, a fleece, five jackets from leather
to a down parka, cargo trousers, jeans, boots, gloves and a bandana. Every piece is layered on a real body: a T-shirt
under a flannel under a jacket. The hard part was making sure skin never pokes through the cloth when you move, crouch
or raise your arms, and that there's always a complete person underneath. We shot every piece from the front, back,
side and with arms raised until it held up.

One face, one body
We also matched the head to the body, so the neck joins cleanly and the skin is one tone from head to toe. Hair and
beards are in testing now. They're the first pieces of the character creator.

A new front door
The main menu is in: two scenes from around Albany rotate behind it, and the lettering is set in a font we picked to
match the art. If you mod, there's a folder where your own background pictures join the rotation.

Next up: character creation, and the first of the dead on screen.

— Jules Ortega, Content Engineer, Relentless Pursuit Studios