Production context
Canonical source
GDD/02-World/01-World-Design.mdDecision markers4 confirmed · 2 recommendations · 1 TBD
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Use these required Feature Specification areas during review. The imported GDD below is canonical; items not stated explicitly remain unresolved.
- ReviewPurpose & Player Value
- ReviewScope
- ReviewOut of Scope
- ReviewTerminology
- ReviewFunctional Behavior
- ReviewStates & Flows
- ReviewRules & Edge Cases
- ReviewDependencies
- ReviewAcceptance Criteria
- ReviewOpen Questions
Canonical GDD content
Setting — [CONFIRMED]
Modern post-apocalyptic. A contemporary world some time after a zombie outbreak collapsed society: abandoned towns, highways, gas stations, farms, military checkpoints, industrial sites. Grounded, recognizable, decayed. This setting pairs naturally with photoreal art and MetaHuman survivors.
Structure — [CONFIRMED]
- Open world, single persistent map per server.
- World Partition for streaming (UE5 standard) — the map is authored as one persistent level streamed by distance.
- [CONFIRMED] large target; [TBD] exact size. Build small first (one dense region) and expand via streamed regions / Data Layers. Do not author a giant map before the core loop is proven (see ../00-Overview/02-Scope-and-Constraints.md).
Regions & POIs
The map is a set of Points of Interest (POIs) connected by traversable terrain/roads. POIs are the reason to leave base and the flashpoints for PvE/PvP.
| POI type | Role |
|---|---|
| Towns / suburbs | Mid-tier loot, moderate zombie density |
| Gas stations / stores | Quick scavenge stops, fuel for vehicles |
| Military / police sites | High-tier loot, heavy zombie presence, PvP hotspots |
| Industrial / factories | Crafting resources, boss spawn candidates |
| Farms / rural | Food, water, low-tier safe-ish starting areas |
| Boss arenas / lairs | Designated boss encounter locations |
- Loot/threat gradient: safer low-tier areas near spawns; richer, deadlier zones (and bosses) farther out. This gradient is the difficulty curve in an open world.
- Build suitability: some terrain supports basing better than others; resource availability varies by region to drive movement.
Resources in the world
- Harvestable nodes: trees (wood), rocks/ore (stone/metal), scrap (from wrecks/structures), water sources, wild food.
- Resource distribution by region encourages travel and contestation. See 01-Gameplay/06-Inventory-and-Items.md and ../01-Gameplay/07-Crafting-and-Progression.md.
Day/Night & weather — [CONFIRMED] day/night cosmetic; rain wets
- Dynamic day/night cycle for atmosphere. Night does not change zombie behavior, loot, or temperature decay in v1.
- Implemented with a dynamic sky/lighting setup (e.g., Sun/Sky + dynamic time-of-day). Day/night stays decoupled from survival/AI tuning.
- Rain is the exception: it applies wetness to rain-exposed pawns (visual; temperature hook [RECOMMENDATION]). Full spec: ../01-Gameplay/11-Wetness-and-Rain.md. Rain does not change zombie AI or loot in v1.
- [RECOMMENDATION] still light night-time darker for mood; provide light sources (flashlight, fires) as QoL. Fire as a dry source is part of wetness, not a night-survival mechanic.
- Fog, snow, and other weather types remain visual-only until separately designed.
Streaming, lighting & performance
- Nanite for static environment geometry; Lumen for global illumination/reflections (see ../06-Art-Audio/01-Art-Direction-and-MetaHuman.md).
- World Partition + HLODs for distant geometry; One File Per Actor (OFPA) is enabled (the project already contains
__ExternalActors__/__ExternalObjects__). - [RISK] photoreal open world + many players + AI hordes is heavy. Establish a performance budget early and profile continuously. Server-side, AI and replication cost dominates; client-side, Nanite/Lumen and MetaHumans dominate.
Spawning
- Player spawn: fresh spawns at map-edge/coastal-style safe zones; respawn at owned bed/sleeping bag if available.
- Zombie spawn: density per region via spawn volumes/managers; dynamic horde events. See ../03-Enemies/01-Zombie-Design.md.
- Loot spawn: container-based at POIs on a respawn timer; server-authoritative.