Former DayZ Creative Director Brian Hicks Advocates for More Player Control in Survival Games

Brian Hicks: Player Control is Key to Long-Term Survival Game Success

Brian Hicks, the former creative director behind the popular survival title DayZ and a co-creator of the battle royale genre, now serving as creative director at 775 Interactive, recently shared his insights on what makes a survival game truly last. He firmly believes that giving players significantly more control over their experience is crucial for a game's longevity.

In a discussion with an IGN journalist, where Hicks reflected on his career and his work on Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 with Hinterland, he stressed that players should be given access to all the 'levers and settings' that developers use to tweak difficulty and atmosphere. This, he argues, empowers the community and ensures the game remains fresh.

According to Hicks, this approach carries minimal risk, especially for non-competitive survival games. He cited 7 Days to Die as an excellent example, where nearly every variable can be accessed and altered via XML files. Hicks refers to this as 'soft modding'—the ability to programmatically change aspects of the game without needing full-fledged, 'hard' modifications. He noted that some other games, like Crusader Kings 3, already allow players to drastically alter mechanics through simple text file editing. However, many projects remain closed off, prioritizing the developers' initial vision but limiting player freedom.

While advocating for this player-centric philosophy, Hicks did acknowledge potential drawbacks. He conceded that a game could risk losing its distinct identity. He even described Minecraft as a 'victim of its own success' in this regard, having evolved into more of a platform than a singular game. "I think, unfortunately, to some extent Minecraft has become a victim of its own success. It exploded to insane scales, and now player expectations of what Minecraft is are extremely fragmented. There's Minecraft content I know nothing about, even though I worked on the publishing side of one of the games in the franchise," Hicks stated.

Nevertheless, Hicks believes that many developers shouldn't fear following Minecraft's path. He suggests that the potential loss of a rigid identity is a small price to pay for the widespread recognition and lasting engagement that comes from empowering players. For gamers, this perspective offers a promising future for the survival genre, potentially leading to more adaptable, community-driven, and endlessly replayable experiences.