We've mentioned Z2, an upcoming new map, a few times. Now, Senior Artist Alen Lapidis is here to give you more insight into the design and the process:

“At this point in the process, the terrain geometry has been generated based on Design's needs for game play. The mountains, internal hills, and valleys are formed to connect the towns and locations on the map. In these shots, we're establishing height/slope rules to ensure rock only appears where rock would be exposed naturally, breaking into rubble at its base and transitioning into grassy fields and dirt in the depressions. A zone-wide mask has to be made for each texture used. Afterwards, a coverage map will be generated to help add color variety and depth to the textures on the terrain. This will give cavities more darkness, rocky peaks a sun bleached quality, and scatter some yellow and green in the fields to help the grass have a natural patchy look rather than being uniformly lush. The mountains along the perimeter of the zone will then get snow-capped peaks and the water bodies their rocky riverbeds.”

As you can see, work continues on Z2 here at Daybreak! Be sure to follow @H1Z1JustSurvive and @H1Z1KOTK for more behind the scenes looks at the development of H1Z1.

Source: h1z1.com