Suggestion: Radio / Music System Expansion for More Immersion

P

prodidjei

Refugee
Hello survivors and developers,

I would like to suggest an idea to improve immersion and variety in 7 Days to Die, especially for players who spend a lot of time in single-player mode.

### 🎵 Core Idea: Expand Music Variety via Radios & Devices
Currently, the in-game music is quite limited. It would be great to introduce:
- Radios, cassette players, or similar devices
- Ability to find “music mods” (different genres, tracks, or playlists) as loot
- These could be installed into:
- Vehicles
- Base structures

This would make exploration more rewarding, as finding new music would add variety to gameplay.

### ⚠️ Gameplay Impact
To keep balance and realism:
- Playing music could attract zombies, especially at night
- Louder devices = higher risk

### 📡 Radio Signals & Dynamic Events
Another idea is to add:
- Occasional radio signals from other survivors
- These signals could include:
- Coordinates
- Small missions or events

This would make the world feel more alive and less empty.

### 🎮 Why This Matters
From personal experience, as a long-time player since Alpha 15, the game can sometimes feel repetitive in solo play.
Adding a system like this would:
- Improve immersion
- Add risk/reward mechanics
- Encourage exploration
- Make bases feel more “alive”

This is just a small part of what could be done with such a system, but it has a lot of potential.

Thanks for your time and for continuing to develop this amazing game!
 
I would say the only game I've found compelling on the "radio" front has been Fallout 4 with the DJ and the selection of music.

For this game, I want to suggest an alternative, which would be to let the user give it different streaming sources. This way TFP doesn't have to find and bundle a bunch of music. But I admit, that's not all that different from just having your computer play a stream on a different application at the same time the game is running... what I do now. The potential would be to localize the sound to game radios.

As for missions, there's a Ham Radio activity with real-world (thus game) applications. Using a directional antenna, you can get a bearing on a radio broadcast (usually with some error). Taking multiple bearings lets you develop an idea of where the transmitter is. Finding a transmitter might make for an interesting quest.

Oddly enough, I vibe coded a little "fox hunt" game last week that has lots of "find the transmitter" complications.

 
Meh...I just listen to Resident Evil 2 game music/soundtrack through Spotify, instead of listening to the 7 Days music. It really makes 7 Days more immersive. The only downside is not able to hear zombie's footsteps clearly in buildings.
 
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Any sound or music updates would be nice, though I almost always music in games down to 30% or less. I find it distracting or unnecessary in most games. Especially a game where you want to be immersed in it. After all, why would you hear music while out in the woods or most other environments unless you are just always walking around with headphones on. Now, there are games where the music actually is okay and I leave the volume up for those, but they are pretty rare.
 
Radios (in Fallout, at least) were implemented for gameplay purposes, i.e. for Three Dog or Mr. New Vegas to log running commentary on the game world and/or the player's journey through the wasteland. It was part and parcel of the game's aesthetic and worldbuilding, iow. Any songs included in 7 Days I'd think best fitted to the theme of the game world itself rather than being a playlist of contemporary music, but TFP would have to license any music used for such a purpose and licenses are uber-expensive. Interplay wanted to use 'I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire' for the first Fallout game's intro, but had to settle for a less well-known Ink Spots song and that was recorded in 1941, so I can just imagine how much licensing more recent music might cost. If it's not public domain, it's probably too expensive and if it doesn't fit the game's themes and worldbuilding, I wouldn't think it belongs in vanilla; is personal preference; and would better be handled with modding and/or, as zztong suggested, just streaming music of one's choice on a separate application, if not just playing your old CDs in the background.

Like Riamus, I'd find it distracting and unnecessary and definitely wouldn't engage with it for...reasons.
 
I disagree with some of the statements mad here.

Having a radio integrated into the game is not the same as listening to music from your computer.
Let me explain why:
  1. Having music on by default distracts and covers ambient noise, which in some cases can give you time to react to threats (dogs/zombies)
  2. Having a radio playing music or broadcasting some message inside the game world, frankly is more immersive in my opinion.
  3. The radio could be added to the workstations crafting books
  4. The radio could be used in many innovative ways to provide information to the player.
  5. The radio could be used to add lore to the "story", especially in the next versions
  6. They could still allow us to have custom music by adding to the settings an option where you can pick a path on your drive with MP4s.
  7. The radio could replace the early warning system for storms, so that you only get a warning IF you build a portable radio for your vehicle or build one inside your base. Right now the alarm siren plays even when you're stranded in the middle of the desert! Doesn't make sense!
  8. The radio could be used to have someone ask for help which in turn will auto-start an optional mission.
  9. They could allow us to connect the radio to the loudspeakers in our base, which will make it "useful" in a wider area if we want.
I think a radio would be a great addition to the game if done along those lines.
 
The point isn’t about adding specific songs, bands, or music genres, but rather about replacing the small set of default soundtracks in the game. The music could be electronic and instrumental, with no lyrics, but still varied in style so it enhances the atmosphere without being distracting. Something similar has already been done in Car Mechanic Simulator.





As for radio signals, quests, and alerts for storms or the blood moon — I completely agree that these features would greatly improve immersion and make the game feel more atmospheric.
 
Jost Amman said:
I disagree with some of the statements mad here.

Having a radio integrated into the game is not the same as listening to music from your computer.
Let me explain why:
  1. Having music on by default distracts and covers ambient noise, which in some cases can give you time to react to threats (dogs/zombies)
  2. Having a radio playing music or broadcasting some message inside the game world, frankly is more immersive in my opinion.
  3. The radio could be added to the workstations crafting books
  4. The radio could be used in many innovative ways to provide information to the player.
  5. The radio could be used to add lore to the "story", especially in the next versions
  6. They could still allow us to have custom music by adding to the settings an option where you can pick a path on your drive with MP4s.
  7. The radio could replace the early warning system for storms, so that you only get a warning IF you build a portable radio for your vehicle or build one inside your base. Right now the alarm siren plays even when you're stranded in the middle of the desert! Doesn't make sense!
  8. The radio could be used to have someone ask for help which in turn will auto-start an optional mission.
  9. They could allow us to connect the radio to the loudspeakers in our base, which will make it "useful" in a wider area if we want.
I think a radio would be a great addition to the game if done along those lines.
Click to expand...
Nothing to do with OP's post or your suggestions, which are reasonable enough and incorporating radios as part and parcel of worldbuilding is innocuous enough an idea, but it reminded me.... Anyone else noticing this? Dystopian science fiction writers have been anticipating it coming down the pike as far back as the 1930s.

I, for one, am beginning to grow a little alarmed about what the industry at large as well as many players are beginning to think of as "realism" or immersion in a video game. And I know I'm not alone. Actually beginning to hate those terms myself, actually. Watching movies on virtual TVs; washing and drying virtual clothing in virtual washers and dryers; washing virtual dishes in virtual dishwashers; powerwashing virtual houses. Standing over virtual stoves to ensure virtual food doesn't burn. As long as the friction of mundane tasks is removed in order to make them seem "enjoyable," it would appear the aim is to recreate the real world in virtual reality. Must be partially why video game abstractions don't bother me in the least.

"People don't want to play our games. They want to live in the world's we create." Author redacted. That man should probably be barred from public speaking because he's a perfect window into the mindset of some of the most creepy, dystopian trends I've ever seen come about in the industry. I don't think it's even conscious, but executives apparently want us to live, work and play in their video games like Zuck wanted us to live, work and play in his "metaverse." And how'd that work out for him? People live in a real world with real lives and real relationships. It's become so dystopian itself, the temptation to escape from it without committing Seppuku is actually provided as a reason many players play video games at all these days. Seems like everyone from the tech billionaires to the neighbor down the street is looking for an escape hatch...into oblivion.
 
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