Along with revealing a vision for Dying Light 2 Stay Human as far along as 2027, in an upcoming interview with us here at AusGamers, Techland spoke of the learnings the studio is still taking away from its first two Dying Light games (and change), and teases more on that upcoming fantasy RPG joint.

“At Techland we are growing constantly,” enthuses Tymon Smektała, Dying Light 2 Stay Human creative director. “Like, we are getting bigger and bigger, not only in terms of the people that we have on board and the projects [that] we take [on], but also in terms of our own ambitions as developers.

“Our CEO [Paweł Marchewka] creates the framework for us to actually have that kind of creativity,” he tells us. “We don't have to report to investors, we’re not on the stock exchange, we’re not a first-party studio. So whatever we do will not make or break a new console launch. We are free to make our own mistakes.”



Tymon attributes much of the creative freedom at the studio to Paweł Marchewka’s creative side, telling us he is “constantly looking for new ideas and the next shiny thing to focus on”.

As part of our lengthy chat on all things Techland and Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Tymon reiterated time and again that the studio’s culture is one of growth and learning, and of fostering ideas and the time it takes to gestate projects properly.

“He [Paweł Marchewka] pushes us to keep that creative spirit within the company. He creates a space, and the financial resources for us to actually be able to do that,” he says proudly. “When we start a new project, we always start with ‘what's going to be unique about this?’. This is a part of our pre-production methodology. We start with defining why this game will be unique. What will make this game different from anything else out there? We don't start with looking at ideas from other games that we can copy and translate to our own game. We start with defining where we want to be brave, where we can take the risks that we want to take. To create something new.”

In relation to something new, there’s been no secret made of Techland’s loosely-described ‘first-person open-world action RPG’ it has in the works, and there’s a healthy level of excitement and cheeky transparency around the project, in an almost teasing light.

“We are definitely in a better place, but there's still a lot for us to learn,” Tymon humbly admits. “We are not a studio like BioWare which has 30 years of making RPGs. But, again, we are in a much better place than we were after Dying Light [1].

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"I'm sure we will learn a lot as a company; an organisation, from it. So if the next one is Dying Light 3, hypothetically speaking, it'll definitely benefit...”

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“We have sort of revealed or announced that there's a project being worked on; a AAA open-world fantasy game. Which will definitely use all of the experiences from the ‘zombie games’; Dead Island, Dying Light… [and] not because of zombies, but because of all of the RPG systems [and] narrative solutions we have created. The new project is really an amazing game. It tries to do a lot of things in a very unique way. I'm sure we will learn a lot as a company; an organisation, from it. So if the next one is Dying Light 3, hypothetically speaking, it'll definitely benefit.”

He also hopes the work and effort and creativity driving Techland to new heights, will elevate the studio among its peers, and in the annals of great developers.

“There are masters out there who have been doing similar things for many, many years. We still look up to them, and hopefully our next project … will put us in the golden circle of game developers. There's this huge motivation for every member of the team to learn new things and develop their professional skills. I hope our next project will show that progress and show that growth as developers.”

Stay tuned for more from our chat with Tymon Smektała, right here on AusGamers.