Welcome to Dev Blog Week 73 of the DayZ Badlands Expansion.
This 4th dev blog is brought to you by our colleagues from the environment team. They’re going to give you an overview of what PvP might look like in Nasdara, as well as the nitty-gritty on how some of the environment assets in Nasdara are made.

We really enjoy putting these dev blogs together, and if you have not already, please wishlist DayZ Badlands. Your support means a lot to us. 

This is a hefty one, so let’s just jump right in.

Disclaimer
The information shared in our development blog reflects a work in progress. The details discussed are subject to change before release. We intend to share these progress updates to provide some insights into the development process and foster community trust. Thank you for joining us on the road to Nasdara!

Long-range sniper battles in DayZ tend to create unique, engaging, high-intensity duels that players know and love. Whether it’s landing the perfect 500m shot or hearing a round crack overhead and scrambling to escape, those moments define the tension that makes DayZ so memorable. 

But Nasdara isn't just about sniper gameplay through empty valleys. On the contrary, this terrain is densely packed with farmland housing, small settlements, large villages, and cities. Many of these POIs offer tight CQB gameplay in urban environments, and feature more gameplay focus on interior spaces, multi-story apartments, and rooftop access to spice things up. 

We try to strike a good balance. While taking the high ground may feel rewarding, you have the same chance if you are stuck below. The terrain complexity will offer flanking possibilities, the rocks  will offer cover, and the foliage will offer concealment. Smart movement now matters more than ever. So let us get into more details. 

Inspiration for the Environment 

Many empires and countries fought in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, which Nasdara takes a lot of inspiration from. Afghanistan in particular can be referred to as the “Graveyard of Empires” due to historical examples of foreign powers invading the country. The likes of the British Empire and the Soviet Union found long-term occupation and political control to be more difficult than anticipated. Military forces over the past century have spoken about the harsh atmosphere that a desert environment entails. Not only due to bodily needs, but also because of the varying transitions between open areas which allow snipers to dominate, as well as the cluttered maze-like streets that enable easy ambushes.  

Nasdara draws a lot of inspiration from real-life geography and events, but gameplay balance is important to the core of DayZ. Whilst there is less vegetation compared to other maps, there is still plenty of bush coverage. There are also trees, walls, and fences that provide cover across fields. The dried-up rivers of Sefid-Darya and Siyah-Darya also allow for a natural path of protection throughout the landscape. Whereas many assets are used to block line-of-sight and provide cover in urban areas, escaping through back alleys is a viable option, as is hiding in a nearby building or using your tools and surroundings to survive. 

The city of Kabul has been described as a labyrinth. We wanted to replicate a similar feeling with the cities in Nasdara. Streets are packed with life. Street vendors, vehicles, and other clutter can be found in the civilized areas of the map. You will get lost in the alleys of building blocks or the dense market areas. But they can also provide an easy escape from pursuers by using your surroundings to hide, provide cover, or break the line of sight. 

Verticality has always played a massive part in the core gameplay of DayZ. Whilst the odd apartment block or any tall building helped players overcome their opponent on previous maps, Nasdara offers this in a new way of focused urban combat. Blocks of buildings reach up higher than ever before. City housing dwarfs the streets and makes urban areas feel like a concrete jungle. 

Players must use these new buildings to their advantage or to simply take in the views and scout ahead. We know players like to camp in buildings, and with the introduction of more vertical structures, these locations are sure to attract players who prefer that playstyle. What is the counter to this? Don’t worry, more vertical structures will not entirely favor those who prefer to camp at these locations. There will be neighboring structures, or even taller ones nearby, to potentially give you the edge over your opponent. Not only will other structures help, but using your surroundings will provide you with a better approach. Certain buildings that will definitely be occupied by campers have structures or props in place to assist you in dealing with these players. So watch your back if you begin to make yourself comfortable in a building. 

Another aspect of urban settings that we are fully taking advantage of are the interconnecting rooftops. They also provide an overview of the busy streets below, where players can easily be picked out. A game of cat and mouse may occur where players below will have many options for cover due to the cluttered surface. Traversing rooftops isn’t just a bonus for PvP. They provide quick access to neighboring buildings, allowing you to enter them from a different area, speeding up how fast you loot or hunt. It may be safer or it may not. You will have to learn as you play.  

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/Bazaar Assets

The Bazaar is a set of modular buildings based on traditional Middle Eastern covered markets. There are six pieces that connect together, including an entrance, straight sections, turns, and a corner, all of which allow for different market layouts. Inside, you'll find arched walkways, domed ceilings, various shopfronts, and details like hanging signs, carpets, and scattered goods. One of the shop types is a fortified gun store that spawns military loot. The whole set is meant to give Nasdara's towns a more authentic feel, while also providing interesting spaces for players to explore and fight through.

Research

During the research phase, we took a look at a lot of real-world locations across the Middle East and Central/South Asia:

•  Muy Mubarak Masjid (Kandahar, Afghanistan) – A palace and shops complex that features an inner courtyard, with stores facing outward and along interior paths.

• Haji Bahudin Market (Kandahar) – A modern shopping market with a similar concept.

• Taktak Street Bazar (Kandahar) – A street market full of carts, shops, and bird sellers with cages.

• Marko Bazar (Pakistan) – Studied via drone footage; notable for solar panels on rooftops.

• Dara Adamkhel (Pakistan) – A famous gun market where weapons are sold and manufactured; features U-shaped shop clusters and street-level stores.

• Turkish street bazaars (Istanbul) – Temporary weekly markets that transform parking areas on specific days.

Based on real-world research, we settled on a modular approach for the bazaar system and defined it first as a 2D layout as seen below:

This decision was driven by several key factors:

• A modular kit (Entrance, Flat, Flat Half, Right, Left, Corner) allows environment designers to assemble bazaars of varying sizes and configurations. By adding variations of the Flat piece, larger bazaars can be built without looking repetitive.

• Our research revealed that real-world bazaars in the Middle East/Central Asia share common structural DNA: covered corridors, arched entrances, interior courtyards, and rooftops with domes - a key and instantly recognizable silhouette element. 

• The design incorporates elements critical to DayZ's gameplay: ladders for rooftop access and verticality, openable doors and gates, and gun shops as distinct loot points that players can identify through signage. The rooftop ladder heights were chosen to match with neighboring assets, enabling traversal across connected rooftops of different heights.

• The bazaar pieces were also designed to sit alone or alongside existing assets (e.g. House_2C2), allowing us to create even more variations of different bazaar configurations.

Before sending the bazaar blockouts to our artists, we tested several variants in our engine, just as quick and dirty blockouts, mainly to answer the following questions:

• How wide should the corridors be?

• How tall do the arches need to be to feel right?

• Where do players naturally expect to find entrances, shops, and rooftop access?

• How do different piece combinations read when placed in the context of different towns?

Pictured below: early inner courtyard concept based on one of the refs. We ultimately decided against this because it made the inner courtyard feel more like a palace rather than a chaotic marketplace.

After answering these design questions, we created final to-scale blockouts. These final versions were modelled on a grid with repeating, same-sized elements, allowing artists to reuse pieces and save time.

Top down view of a bazaar piece blockout showing modular proportions and the roof dome fitting logically into the building structure:

Example of final environment designer blockout vs final asset:

We also introduced windows from the domes and a few enterable interior apartments, creating extra tension and gameplay opportunities.

During our feedback rounds, we generally focus on gameplay, asset believability, and occasionally touch on art topics as well. With these assets, we focused on keeping them consistent with each other as they are designed to be used together. We also made sure the artists pay special attention to the insides of the building, which are generally not seen when connected to a second bazaar piece. Sometimes we like to place the bazaar as a single standing structure without any adjoining bazaar piece. So it was important that the inside wall also looks somewhat good.

Other examples of feedback we gave:

• Making sure all unopenable doors are barricaded

• All windows are broken or barricaded

• Architectural believability (ceiling material, shape, roof trims, pillars)

• Clear player paths for comfortable navigation and looting

Screenshot from WIP assets reviewing material consistency:

Texturing before/after feedback:

Player path cleanup:

Our initial asset request only featured gun shops and a few residential apartments in one of the variants.

During an internal playtest, we noticed that the bazaars could use more deliberate spots that focus on loot, so we requested extra shops be added.

The generic shops feature mostly generic loot, while the gun shops feature military loot. There is also some loot that spawns along the corridor, thus rewarding exploration.

Pictured: regular shop vs gun shop. Note the signs with guns on them which mark the gun shops, as well as the iron bars on gun shop windows. These elements help distinguish the gun shops from regular shops.

Thank you so much for reading!

We hope this has given you some insight into what you can look forward to in DayZ Badlands. Speaking of things to look forward to, you’ll be able to enjoy some of the assets in Nasdara, namely one of the firearms (SCR-17) featured in this blog, as soon as the 1st of July next week with the Experimental branch of the Road to Badlands update. Stay tuned to learn more about it in upcoming release articles.

A lot of things are happening, and will be happening over the coming weeks. This week, we invited some community members to Prague to try out DayZ Badlands (amongst other things). We’re also planning to discuss a new interesting feature in the next dev blog on July 17. You're going to like this one for sure.

As always, big love from us!

The DayZ Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/

Since multiple people usually contribute to the environment, and most of the screenshots include their work, here’s a special shoutout to Florian, Jacques, Katie, Mike, Nejc, Ramiro & Suvi.

PvP in Environment Overview: Mike Docherty
Inspiration for the Environment + PVP in Practice: Jacques Bellamy
Bazaar Assets: Nejc Kokalj
Capture Support: Lynn
Editorial Support: Özgür, Tom, Lynn