For the longest time, fans of the apocalyptic zombie title "H1Z1" has been hyped up in the area of Early Access. And for the longest time, developer Sony Online Entertainment has not really given a proper definitive date on when fans would be able to enjoy the title.

But if a new response from SOE president John Smedley is to be believed, the date for the Steam Early Access may come as early as this year. In response to a fan question, Smedley had answer positively when asked if fans could get an early access date before the year ends. "For [Christmas], could we please get an [early access] date or new installment of Survivor Radio [for H1Z1]?" the fan had asked as quoted by Gamezone.

Another interpretation of this statement, according to Gamezone, is that Smedley may have also been responding to the Survivor Radio, though fans would hope that it is also about the Steam Early Access date. But given how long "H1Z1" has already been in production and considering what has already been included in the game since it was first released as a test game to fans, some may already want to enjoy the game beyond developer's build.

PlayStation Experience may be the best venue to announce any developments for "H1Z1" and this would be an especially great day for them given any assured announcements. "H1Z1" does not yet have to be playable on the December event, since the PS4 version of the title is not slated to come out until the pC has already hit Steam early access.

First vs. Third Person Orientation Explored

One of the features that "H1Z1" has over SOE's other title PlanetSide 2" is the ability to move between first-persona and third-person in the game. And it appears that this in itself is a big deal, because there are many elements that affect the game in this condition, animation-wise.

To be able to program character modes in the game, SOE's Timothy Lochner shared via the official "H1Z1" blog the changes that they have made in order to make the animation for the title even more fluid. Since the two modes differ completely, there was a need for SOE to make sure that what they called Proxied Character or the character controlled by the server to know what will be added and triggered in the game.

The decision that comes with this actually affects a lot of the gameplay in development and SOE has gone through quite a lot of revisions in order to perfect elements such as the matched audio and animations. According to the developer, one way to see the improvement in this aspect is to check out livestream gameplays from before and livestreams that were done more recently.

Community Talk On Monetization In-game

"H1Z1" fans have also gathered around and tried brainstorming for themselves which items in the game the developer may be able to monetize without changing the flow of the game, but also ensuring that the game is still fair for those who may not want to make a purchase. Over at Reddit, some of the suggestions for "monetizable" goods in the game include the following:

- Vehicle skins, though a fan had mentioned that hopefully. Monetized weapons and vehicle skins will not include those that are powerful enough to change the game

- Character slots and base decorations

- Absolutely anything that would affect the gameplay for other players

- Anything related to base building, meaning the styles for foundations and buildings

"H1Z1" PvP look (Credit: YouTube/SattelizerGames)

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