A zombie RPG, or ZRPG as it is known by its creators, is in the pipeline for the newly formed independent developer DoubleBear. At the helm of DoubleBear is Brian Mitsoda, who has worked for Black Isle Studios, Trokia Games, and Obsidian Entertainment. Mitsoda is best known for his work on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as character designer and lead writer.
That's a lot of RPG experience coming to this title -- Black Isle Studies is responsible for the original Fallout and Baldur's Gate games, Trokia for the already mentioned Vampire, and Obsidian is known for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2 and expansions, and the recently announced Fallout: New Vegas. If there ever was an RPG to be excited about, this is it!
Mitsoda has revealed information on ZRPG himself, just yesterday. Read on for the details!
Was hoping to save this for a rainy day, but it is cloudy here in Seattle today, so here we go. As the speculators have correctly guessed, yes, DoubleBear's first game is indeed a Zombie RPG, which we have fondly referred to as a ZRPG internally. Before people start running in all kinds of directions with that, here's what I will confirm:
-Set during the breakdown of society as emergence of zombies causes widespread panic and disorder.
-Slow, shambling zombies. Spreads like a virus/bite transmission. No, you are not a zombie, that would be stupid.
-Serious examination of a national crisis or natural disaster. Humans and a lack of order are a bigger threat than the undead. Think Hurricane Katrina, Children of Men, Dawn of the Dead NOT Resident Evil, Return of the Living Dead, zombie shooter-type games.
-Game is about survival. Scavenging resources, exploring the area, dealing with other survivors, and managing a "shelter" of sorts are the main focus of the game. More on this later.
-Game is open-ended. There are characters and events that could happen, but the story depends on where you go, what you do, and who you meet. Of course, there's a lot more to this and we'll go into more details as time goes on.
We'll be here often shooting down the wildest of theories and discussing our systems in more detail. Let's start the old back and forth, shall we?
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Addendum: In my haste to get this post up, I didn't realize that Mitsoda had revealed more details in subsequent posts. My summary:
- Set in the real world, present time
- Will use a skill-based system; appears to be similar to Fallout's
- Food is an important, manageable resource; you and your party will need to eat when playing in hardcore/iron man mode. Food can also expire!
- Zombies will be slow and unintelligent, but if left alone, they can swarm the player
- Allies have personality quirks that can be encouraged/discouraged
- No karma meter, though allies can approve/disapprove of your decisions and this will influence the group's cohesiveness
