As i am building an open world custom map for Dying Light i sporadically think about how i'd like to experience the map i'm building, and i try to incorporate that into it.

I'm gonna post about two things i'll incorporate.

Free time to explore.

One thing that bugs me in games that have open world maps is the constant urgency of missions in a quest.

This urgency is especially present in a game's main campaign, which pulls you from the start, until the finish, telling you "go do this or that, and it has to be done now!"

Not just that, but whether it's 12pm or 4am, you can go up to the quest giver (is what i'll call the NPC's from who you get the next mission) and start a new objective.

Maybe the quest giver had some other thing to do, and is not available to give you your next objective right now. Maybe he'll only be back in a couple of days. Maybe he's not sure of what the next objective should be yet, and tells you to come back some other time.

What i find myself doing, as a player, is having to ignore that i'm playing a character in a videogame, to be able to go explore, taking me out of the game completely.

Who in their right mind would go explore the wilderness, looking for puma skins, just to craft the highest-tier, rainbow bandana for themselves, that is nothing more than aesthetic, when Joseph's wife is missing?

So what i'll be adding to my main quest is a couple of natural pauses from the campaign. Pauses that occur in the game world, and not brought by my decision as the player.

Dying Light allows for scavenging for money. And trading cash for items. I'll be using this system so the character can pay to get their next mission "unlocked" right away - imagine the QG can't speak to you right now, as they need to go do something, in which giving him money would eliminate the need for him leaving, and he's there to give your next mission. I can choose whether i want to spend the money or not. I can choose not to spend money and wait for the QG to come back, giving me natural time to explore, or go scavenging for money, if i don't have enough. More exploring (as scavenging).

So that's how i've figured out how to naturally give time for exploring.

Moving NPC's

This one is easy.

I'll be moving QGs to a location very nearby from the last time the player interacted with him. Place him in different animations. I can even move him far away, so the player will need to find them, for their next objective. I can hint the player where the QG might be, on many levels; for example, someone else tells me where he is, or there's a note i pickup and read, or the QG previously told me he'd be heading wherever "in a couple of days".

Because, people don't stand around for days in the same spot!

This makes it feel like the NPC's have a life, and also promotes exploration. Simple and easy.