Dying Light 2: Reloaded Edition News

Pilgrims!

We're kicking off our month of celebrations for our 2nd anniversary right now! From now until February 19, each 24-hour period from 12PM CET will bring new blessings to Villedor. Log in each day to see just how the world has been altered! Plus, we've got some great rewards for you to earn!

During our celebrations, you'll be rewarded for saving Survivors and PKs in trouble throughout The City. For saving these citizens, you'll be gifted Red Envelopes which may contain anything from Old World Money to mutation samples.

Additionally, for completing each of the goals, you'll be rewarded with great and valuable items from the Dragon Warrior Bundle, so you’ll be able to earn the entire bundle for free before it even arrives in the Store later this month! So what do you need to do? Let’s take a look:

Participation Goal: Collect 1 Red Envelope
Reward: 3 Red Envelopes

Warm-up Goal: Collect 25 Red Envelopes
Reward: Sky Piercer Ji + Blueprint
Weapon Description: Shock your foes with this weapon’s effect or deal more damage by throwing it at them .

Personal Goal: Collect 50 Red Envelopes
Reward: Legendary Dragon Warrior Outfit

Community Goal: Collect 4,000,000 Red Envelopes
Reward: Tigerwing Paraglider + Chi-Tu Charm
Charm Description: Affix this to your weapon and take advantage of the decreased stamina usage when fighting.

Additionally, you’ll be able to claim the Azure-edged Dragon Mask through Pilgrim Outpost for free during our Year of the Dragon celebrations, so don't miss out!

And finally, even though we're getting ready to see out winter, you may notice that Villedor's been hit by one last cold snap. Enjoy the snowy conditions while you can, Pilgrims!

Hello everybody! Let’s give Tymon a break this time – I’m Rafał Polito, Techland’s Technology Producer. I’m mainly involved in creating and maintaining tools used by our developers. One of my current focuses is also on user-generated content (UGC). My goal is making sure that content creation is as easily accessible as possible, not only for developers but also for gamers.

We’re very lucky to have a community that’s really creative, and this ingenuity naturally lends itself to building maps. But usually it’s more or less a niche interest, available only to those who dig deep into dev functionalities – both for the game creators and those who like to play them. This is why I’ve spent hundreds of hours buried in developer tools to make them more approachable for our players. On top of that, we partnered with mod.io, which was a huge step in terms of opening UGC up to a wider audience. Now, you can access the maps by just pressing a button in the main menu, on PC and consoles alike.



But that’s playing, what about the creating part of the equation? Our (and mine, personally) never-ending love for UGC and teaching other people resulted in the first ever Community Workshops related to our Community Maps project! We invited top creators from all over the world to our headquarters in Wrocław to pass on our knowledge, discuss, brainstorm, and learn about their expectations regarding the future of Developer Tools and UGC.

We are always #CommunityFirst, which we work hard to show in our daily actions and relationships we aim to build. Social media exchanges and meet-ups are great, but I’d like to take it a step further and interact with the members of our community in a tangible and productive way. This is why the goal of the workshops was to equip our guests with the literal and metaphorical tools for them to grow as creators – show them a way that could lead to becoming developers. We know some of them see a future in gamedev, so it’s really fantastic to be able to watch their work, how passionate and meticulous they are.

Me with our 9 happy workshoppers:

The workshop crew, in alphabetical order: bub, Crex, Hank_Hill, HENeral, Liliannismo33, SrgRespawn, TheAhmetIbrahim, X_0, XAndUkarE + me

So, what exactly went into these workshops? For two full days, the top map creators had an opportunity to meet and talk to the developers in our office, particularly to Techland’s Developer Tools team.

Our devs were all praise:
“I was surprised and excited to see that our guests had unique backgrounds and skills, suited to working in different areas and with diverse features. They gave the impression of one, united team that had been creating games of their own for years. Sometimes, I felt that they knew more about our tools than I do, or our developers! I also had a feeling that we’d known each other forever, even if our previous communication was only online.”

During the first part of the workshops, we focused on theory: what goes into designing a good map, and what aspects are extremely important to make it successful. For example, it turns out you don’t have to create a painstakingly perfect 20-hour-long scenario for people to want to play it. Sometimes, all it takes is a cool idea for 5 minutes of fun – if it’s executed well. We also had a discussion about the specific projects created by our community members and studied each case separately. Additionally, we discussed a few tips and tricks on how to save time and maximize results.
Engrossed in map creation:



The second part was all about practice – our guests had to pick a random idea and inspiration, lottery style. Here are some examples:
Pitch black: make a map where the infection progress is the primary threat;
Gravity: make a map where a different gravity setting is the main gimmick;
Picturesque: make a map where visual beauty is the main focus.

Then, we moved on to the game jam stage, when they got to create new maps. What followed was a conversation about individual progress and an idea sharing session. Towards the end of the day, we entered into brainstorming mode. We talked about Developer Tools, the future of this feature, and how to improve tools for the community. We showed some sneak peeks of upcoming updates, like mod support or new features in DevTools to support mod creation. We even showed our legendary City Builder, most requested by the community – but, in my opinion, it’s too complex and too big even for our developers to handle and so will remain our secret tool.

Just look what beauties our dev tools can help create*:

* Photo contains a screengrab of a map made by one of the creators that is work in progress and does not occur in game – image not representative of final quality.

Let’s take a look at what one of our guests had to say about the entire experience:
“The crew was awesome, very fun, charismatic, and positive people around. The plan for workshops was great, we had time to explore, time to chat, time to work and focus, then relax by the end of the day. The integration with other community map creators itself was something I think we all needed. There wasn't a moment where I felt lost.”

We strongly believe that community is the most important aspect of Dying Light. Meeting up with our map creators was a joy, an honor, and an inspiration all at the same time. Personally, I think that initiatives like the Community Workshops are the best thing that can come out of this symbiotic relationship between Techland and the folks that like our games enough to dedicate hours of their time to poke around the technical aspects. A lot of respect goes out to them and I hope we’ll be able to have a repeat experience next year. Let us know what you think about it on our reddit channel. To find more information on Community Maps, visit the dedicated area of Pilgrim Outpost. Who knows, maybe you’ll get inspired to create one as well!

Take care!

Grab ""Hakon Bundle"" for free & become the fierce nightrunner hellbent on survival. Arm yourself with charm, wit, and the tools necessary to navigate through the treacherous nights of The City.

Channel Hakon’s signature style (and charm) then pop some Infected heads with his trademark bow. And if you wanna be a real hot shot, add a fire bolt; that way things will really start heating up. But don’t worry if you can’t handle the heat (or you run into an old flame), Hakon’s paraglider will make sure you can make a quick getaway!

This bundle contains:

• Hakon’s Appearance — do whatever you need to survive, and look good while doing it.
  
• Hakon's Crossbow — aim steady, and let them take an arrow to the knee... or the head.
  
• Regular Bolts & Fire Bolts + Blueprints — become a proper firestarter with these special bolts. Just don’t forget to reload.
  
• Hakon’s Paraglider — this paraglider may help you flee from a horde of Infected or… a romantic exploit gone bad.
  

Visit the in-game store to grab it for free!

There's plenty going on this winter in Villedor, and more than enough to keep you warm on these cold days and nights! Stay cozy in the warm, get on Santa's nice list, and earn some gifts! But don't be surprised if you see a military aircraft in the sky dropping presents rather than the red-nosed reindeer! Plus, a familiar face from Halloween is back in The City!

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Let's give you a quick rundown on what to expect from Winter Tales: Gifts from Above:

Kill Naughty Infected & Loot Xmas Sweets – They decided to mess with The City’s holiday spirit again! Kill them and get those candies back!

Reclaim the Stolen Presents – Sweets aren't the only things you'll find on the Naughty Infected. They've stolen presents from those who really deserve them, so get them back!

Earn Winter Boons – Slay these festive-themed zombies, and get in the spirit with powerful effects.

Find Baka – Baka is here to make sure no naughty deed is overlooked, and the good ones are rewarded.

Santa’s Airdrops – Send letters to Santa and get your gifts. But be careful! Some zombies will try to take them for themselves!

Winter Elf Gear – Santa's filled some of his airdrops with unique Winter Elf Gear items. Each week will feature different items, so make sure to play each week to get your hands on everything!

Bazaar Christmas Tree – Trim some heads, spruce up the tree, and make sure to check for new presents under it every now and then.

Mischievous Helper Outfit – someone who helps spread holiday cheer needs to look the part, surely! Decorate the tree and get rewarded with this festive outfit!

Additionally, for completing each of the goals, you’ll be rewarded with:

Participation Goal: Collect 1 Winter Tales Present of any kind.
Reward: 800 Christmas Sweets

Personal Goal: Collect 60 Winter Tales Presents of any kind.
Reward: Dead of Winter Bow Blueprint and Deep Freeze Arrow Blueprint

Global Goal: Collect 9,000,000 Winter Tales Presents of any kind.
Reward: Gingerbread Infected Charm Blueprint



The event will end on January 5 at 12PM CET.